New SGA bearDVDs--September 2010

The Big Bang Theory Season One, PN1997.9 TV COM .B54 2007
The Big Bang Theory Season Two, PN1997.9 TV COM .B54 2008
The Bounty Hunter, PN1997.9 AA LEG .B68 2010
Date Night, PN1997.9 COM LEG .D38 2010
Death At A Funeral, PN1997.9 COM BC .D4 2010
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, PN1997.9 COM TC .H37 2004
Hot Tub Time Machine, PN1997.9 COM SIT .H68 2010
The Kite Runner, PN1997.9 DRA RLT .K58 2007
The Little Princess / The Secret Garden, PN1997.9 DRA RLT .L58 1995
Mamma Mia! The Movie, PN1997.9 MUS COM .M36 2008
National Lampoon's Van Wilder, PN1997.9 COM TC .V36 2002
One Tree Hill Season Seven, PN1997.9 TV DRA .O5 2009
The Runaways, PN1997.9 MUS BIO .R86 2010
She's Out Of My League, PN1997.9 COM ROM .S54 2010

If you would like to suggest a title for the SGA bearDVD or Tarver DVD collections, then contact the Media Center Supervisor at marcum_rg@mercer.edu or use the form at http://tarver.mercer.edu/inc/media/mcsuggest.php

Library Computer Facilities Survey

We would like to make sure that the computing facilities located in Tarver Library are adequate. To that end, we have created a short survey to see how we can better meet your needs as the semester progresses. We would like to collect as much feedback as we can before October 10, 2010. Thank you for your participation! Survey link here

What are you reading?

The Chronicle of Higher Education includes a regular feature reporting on the top ten best-selling books on college campuses. The latest list is below and includes a link to the catalog showing locations within several collections in the Tarver Library.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Love the One You're With by Emily Griffin

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Letting Go: A Parent's Guide to Understanding the College Years by Karen Lewis Coburn

The Shack by William P. Young

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Twilight (the Twilight Saga, Book 1) by Stephenie Meyer

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Now, we want to hear from you. What are you reading, or listening to, or suggest that we should consider purchasing for our collections?

New Additions - September 2010

The following titles are now available in the Tarver Library Media Center. This list will be updated as new titles arrive.

DOCUMENTARIES
Shop 'Til You Drop: The Crisis of Consumerism, HC110 .C6 S56 2010

FEATURE FILMS
King Lear (Sir Laurence Olivier), PN1997.9 SHA TRA .K5 1983

TELEVISION
Glee: The Complete First Season, PN1997.9 TV MUS .G54 2009b

Featured Government Website in September

USA.gov is the U.S. government's official web portal to all federal, state, and local government web resources and services. As the catalyst for a growing electronic government, USA.gov helps citizens navigate through government red tape. At USA.gov, you can apply for benefits online, contact a government agency, or use the Internet's most comprehensive search of government websites — all from one easy location.

Whatever you want or need from the U.S. government, it's here on USA.gov. You'll find a rich treasure of online information, services, and resources.

Please use the Help link page to learn how to accomplish government tasks and access government information and services through USA.gov.

Please check out GobiernoUSA.gov, the official Spanish language web portal of the U.S. government.

View USA.gov Tutorials – Help Finding Government Information Online


The image of the USA.gov Word Cloud was generated with the 73 most popular words on USA.gov.

In addition, please check them out at at Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Hot Document in September

The Condition of Education 2010

The Condition of Education 2010 covers all aspects of education, with 49 indicators that include findings on enrollment trends, demographics, and outcomes.

"The Condition of Education 2010 consists of five sections of indicators, as well as an additional “special section” that examines high-poverty schools using data drawn from various indicators in the volume. Each section begins with a summary of the general topic areas covered by the indicators in the section. Each indicator consists of a page with key findings and technical notes, one or two figures and/or tables on the adjacent page, and one or more supplemental tables, found in appendix A. The supplemental tables feature the estimates used in the indicator discussion as well as additional estimates related to the indicator."

Tarver Library has a print copy of this document in its government documents collection. Or you can just view the link to The Condition of Education 2010 in Brief.

Do you have my textbook?

It’s the time of year when we get a lot of questions textbooks, so before you come and ask “Does the library have my textbook?” let me save you some time and say...probably not. And the next question is "Can we get textbooks through Interlibrary Loan (ILL)" and the answer is....no.

I know, I know it sounds really mean, but we do have good reasons for this so if you keep reading for a bit I'll give you a brief explanation.


We usually don’t purchase textbooks because they are really expensive and the publishers push out new editions so often that books become obsolete very quickly.  If we purchased every textbook for every class we wouldn't be able to buy all of the other books you may need for your research or anything else.  While you may find a book that's being used for your course, its very rare and its likely an older out of date edition, meaning that page numbers and information would likely not match up with the information your professor wants you to have.

Students also ask us if we can get their textbooks on Interlibrary Loan (ILL). The answer is no.  Just as we don't buy the textbooks most other libraries don't buy textbooks.  Even more important its frowned upon in ILL to borrow textbooks as it puts other libraries at a disadvantage and generally goes against ILL rules (there are a set of rules nationwide that govern ILL policy.)  Please don't ask and please don't make the request for your textbooks via Interlibrary Loan because it could hinder our ability to get other books from libraries.


So while we appreciate your visits to the library and we want you to get your books and information here, but we don't intentionally purchase textbooks and we can't borrow them through Interlibrary Loan.