Finishing Up National Library Week: Your Library Staff

So technically Tuesday was National Library Workers’ Day, but it was also a high pollen count day, so there’s been a bit of a delay in posting (apologies).

We may be biased (acknowledging bias is an important part of information literacy, you know), but we have a great group of library employees. Your Durham Tech Library staff participate in councils, committees, mentoring, programming, advising, campus planning, and many other parts of the Durham Tech community. We recognize that the way to best help Durham Tech is to be engaged beyond the Library walls, while still providing our necessary services and spaces for collaboration, studying, and research. We support students by collaborating with other departments to provide Chromebooks, Crafternoons, and even help host the annual Art Show (coming very soon!). We facilitate reading groups and challenges and help with tech literacy. We’re proud of our role at Durham Tech.

Oh, and your Library staff can also help you check off that final box of your Read Great Things Challenge every year— A book recommended by a Durham Tech Library staff member either in person or on the blog.

Without further ado, here’s your 2021-2022 Durham Tech Library staff with a furry or book friend.

2021-2022 Durham Tech Library staff. More details in caption, including book or animal component and professional title
Top to bottom, left to right: Courtney Bippley, Main Campus Reference Librarian, and photogenic Kira; Kyle Minton, Reference Librarian (Main Campus and Northern Durham Center) and fluffy gentleman Otto; Susan Baker, Main Campus Reference Librarian, and Dewey (the book and symbolic cat); Meredith Lewis, Orange County Campus Librarian, and George, who does not like to be held except in certain very specific situations; Charles Farrow, Main Campus Library Technician and our rock, and Educated and Your Best Life Now; Lorell Butler, Main Campus Library Technician, sassy purple glasses, and Tune In; Stephen Brooks, Main Campus Reference Librarian, and Infinite Jest (an infinite book); Sasha Deyneka, all campuses Reference Librarian, the lovely Echo (the dog), and Uncle Tungsten (the book); and our kind and generous leader Julie Humphrey, Durham Tech Library Director, and her precious angel cat man Sumo.

Don’t hug a librarian without their permission, but a thanks is always appreciated if we’ve helped you.

It’s National Library Week!

April 3-9, 2022 is National Library Week, a time celebrate our nation’s libraries, library workers’ contributions and promote library use and support. This year’s theme is Connect with your Library.

Connect with your Library for National Library Week 2022-- Durham Tech and the American Library Association

How can you connect with your Durham Tech Library? Well, follow the blog (hi!) and you can definitely check out our social media (especially our much more active Instagram but also our less active Facebook). You can also attend some of our Crafternoons or other events, such as those in collaboration with Durham Public Library’s Library Fest (this year’s theme is FOOD). You can stop in and use our resources, such as our Tech Tools, Recording Room, or study areas. You can Book-a-Librarian for research assistance and instructors can schedule library instruction or refer their students to the library for assistance with research.

We’re here and ready to connect with you in person or virtually!

The American Library Association kicks of National Library Week by releasing the annual State of America’s Libraries report, which contains the most frequently challenged books from the previous calendar year.

Learn more about banned books in the Durham Tech Library Blog’s Banned Books Week post from September 2021.

Click through to see the most frequently challenged books from the past calendar year and the stats on who, why, and where these challenges take place.

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Explore the stage with our live theater database Digital Theater+

Durham Tech Libraries recently added a very exciting new database resource: Digital Theater+!

When Durham Tech students and instructors use Digital Theater+, they can explore high quality videos of award-winning plays, dig into the history of various genres of theater, and enjoy a Spotify-like curation of stories by theme. It’s an all-encompassing theatrical experience*.

*Stage fright not included.

Continue reading to see what the fuss is all about!

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New Books: Celebrating Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month was enshrined in law as an annual, month-long celebration on March 12, 1987, noting that “despite these contributions [by women], the role of American women in history has been consistently overlooked and undervalued in the body of American history.”

Who reading this can say they’ve done their studies and can score an A+ on NCpedia’s Quiz of North Carolina Women’s History? I like to brush up on my knowledge with their excellent Women’s History materials.

This year, however, Durham Tech got an up-and-close brush with Women’s History. The first woman Vice President, Kamala Harris, visited the school’s apprenticeship program and gave Durham Tech the opportunity to showcase its economic opportunities for students.

We see you asking, and the answer is yes: Durham Tech Library does have a copy of the Vice President’s memoir and her children’s book available for checking out!

Vice President Kamala visited Durham Tech’s Apprenticeship Program

Continue this celebratory spirit with the library’s resources from the comfort of your own home. Students and staff can start with Film-On-Demand’s “Women In Science Series” to keep in theme with the Vice President’s visit. For those seeking women’s history non-fiction ebooks, our Digital Dogwood Library offers a massive list of options.

Keep reading to see a gallery of new physical books available at the library to continue celebrating Women’s History Month! This week we’re highlighting the history of immigrant women and food, a vivid collection of interviews with women over 50, and so much more:

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Films on Demand: Nursing Current Concepts and Practices Collection

Calling all nursing students and instructors—we have a new audio and video collection for you!

Films on Demand Nursing Collection

Nursing: Current Concepts and Practices Collection from Films on Demand is designed to help students pass licensure exams and prepare for long-term job success. 

It includes titles from the last 5 years from trusted nursing education sources such as Medcom-Trainex, Elsevier, Medivision, American Academy of Pediatrics, and more! 

Because this is a database of only video and audio resources, it’s perfect for visual and auditory learners (and those who don’t have a preference but want to switch it up). 

Stuck in traffic? NCLEX coming up? It’s the perfect time to listen to a nursing podcast such as Nurse-Led Rapid Responses  

Nurse-Led Rapid Responses Podcast

Films on Demand is mobile friendly too, so you’re not tied to your computer. You can download the Films on Demand app from either Google or Apple and have it ready to go on your phone. 

Off-campus access is easy– just log in with your Durham Tech username and password (same as for Sakai or Self-Service) when prompted. 

Instructors can embed links to videos in your Sakai pages, create and share video playlists for your students, or even create quizzes. All videos have captions, interactive transcripts, citations, translation options, and public performance rights. Remember to use the Share button to get the link in order for everyone to access materials off-campus.

Want to learn more? Have questions? 

Connect with a Librarian to ask! 

New Books: Mushroom Guides, Pollinator gardens, Birding & More!

Say goodbye to those chilly evenings, readers, it’s Springtime! We’re celebrating the arrival of warmer weather and buzzing insects with a few new additions to our catalog.

Maybe you’ve heard about mushroom foraging and want to give identification a try, or you’ve spotted a few colorfully feathered friends that you’d like to identify. Are you starting to plan your garden? We’ve got books for all of that over at our Main Campus Library.

Keep reading to see a colorful gallery of these new additions to our catalog.

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Say goodbye to those chilly evenings, readers, it’s Springtime! We’re celebrating the arrival of warmer weather and buzzing insects with a few new additions to our catalog.

Maybe you’ve heard about mushroom foraging and want to give identification a try, or you’ve spotted a few colorfully feathered friends that you’d like to identify. Are you starting to plan your garden? We’ve got books for all of that over at our Main Campus Library.

Keep reading to see a colorful gallery of these new additions to our catalog.

Continue Reading →

What We’re Reading: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

the storied life of a.j. fikry by gabrielle zevin
Available at the Main Campus
(PS 3626 .E95 S86 2014)

A.J. Fikry owns a bookstore, which he and his late wife Nic started on a vacationers’ island in New England. The story begins with A.J. the widower wallowing in his grief each night with frozen dinners and red wine. As he works through his grief and begins to let people into his life, he finds meaning.


Title: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Author: Gabrielle Zevin

Genre: contemporary fiction

Read Great Things 2022 Categories: A happy or hopeful book; A book about community; Blast from the past: A book about family (2021), An epistolary book or a book that contains epistolary parts (2019), A book being made into a movie this year (2018)


Why did you choose to read this book?

My book club chose this as an upbeat book. We had been reading a lot of difficult or serious books–which I haven’t finished or quit reading–so this was a welcome change. This one was very light and breezy, without being simplistic.
It covers a lot of ground: love, loss and infidelity; books and reading; comedy, tragedy and hope.

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New Books Courtesy of the Durham Tech Foundation: Jazz, Law, and NC History

When generous individuals choose to give to Durham Tech Foundation, they directly support efforts to lift students up and help instructors succeed in the school’s academic mission. This collective support can build to something as momentous as the recent announcement about Durham Tech’s Housing Initiative.

Today, we’d like to highlight a recent gift from our foundation in honor of two long-serving Foundation Board Members, Judge Willis P. Whichard and vocalist and writer Lois Deloatch, in recognition of their volunteer leadership. Students and staff alike can check out these exciting new books, such as Ted Gioia’s comprehensive The History Of Jazz and the state-history resource North Carolina’s Revolutionary Founders.

Continue reading to see more about this recent addition to Durham Tech Libraries and get links to the books through the library.

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