In support of the Board of Regents’ open educational resources (OER) initiative with Affordable Learning LOUISiana*, and with the help of the staff at LOUIS, the Magnolia Library is pleased to provide access to over 250 freely available eTextbooks from the Open Textbook Library. These eTextbooks are discoverable through our online catalog search.
Through this search, you will find both electronic textbooks that BRCC was able to purchase through the Board of Regents initiative, and openly available textbooks that are part of the Open Textbook Library. The advantage of having these open educational resources available through the library catalog search is that they are more easily found by students. You can read more about the Open Textbook Library here: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/
To search the collection, click on the eTextbooks link to find the following screen:
A Keyword search for “Biology” yields the following results:
Clicking on the first title, and then to its Catalog Record, you will find the link to the book at the bottom of the record:
It is important to note that the eTextbooks from the Open Textbook Library are not the textbooks currently being used in classes. Right now these eTextbooks can serve as supplemental materials for your students. If you are interested in creating an OER or using an existing one for your class, please contact us in the library.
If you are wondering what other libraries are doing to support affordable course content and open education resources, take a look at this SPEC Kit: SPEC Kit 351: Affordable Course Content and Open Educational Resources (July 2016)
*Affordable Learning LOUISiana, an initiative of LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network, works on a national, state, and local level to develop partnerships between libraries and faculty to reduce student expenditures for required course materials. This is accomplished through promotion of open educational resources and by leveraging the cooperative abilities of the consortia.
The Mid-City Magnolia Library will be open until 10:00PM on Tuesday, November 29 for Long Night Against Procrastination. Students who need help finding scholarly sources for their papers can speak to the librarian at the second floor reference desk for expert assistance in finding the authoritative sources that they need for their research.
The library will also offer an adult coloring station for students who want to wind down and de-stress as they complete projects and prepare for finals. Coloring sheets, markers, and colored pencils will be provided.
 |
| Coloring Station held at the White Light Night 2015. |
More information about Long Night Against Procrastination can be found in the Online Learning Center Libguide.
In October, your BRCC library was very pleased to host a book talk with Clint Smith. Smith is a writer, teacher and Ph.D candidate at Harvard University. He is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and was named the 2013 Christine D. Sarbanes teacher of the Year by the Maryland Humanities Council.
Smith is also a 2014 National Poetry Slam champion, a Cave Canem Fellow, and his writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, The Guardian, and Boston Review. His TED Talks, The Danger of Silence and How to Raise a Black Son in America have been collectively viewed more than five million times. His first full-length collection of poems, Counting Descent was published in September 2016 by Write Bloody Publishing.
The event was very well attended, as Smith shared his experience and wisdom with our students. Our next visiting author will be our own Dr. Ikanga Tchomba as he discusses African Governance. Dr. Tchomba will host an open dialog on Nov. 10th at 6:00pm in the library reading room.
 |
| In memory of Shereen Marx |
The Baton Rouge Community College Magnolia Library is pleased to offer the Shereen Marx Book Award to an eligible student. The award is for a value of $300 to be used for the purchase of textbooks at the BRCC Bookstore for Spring 2017. The requirements for the award follow:
* Minimum 3.0 GPA overall for all courses taken through Fall semester 2016
* Minimum of 12 credit hours completed at BRCC
* Must be working towards a Technical Diploma, Certificate or Associate Degree from BRCC
* One letter of reference from a BRCC instructor
* Description of your plans for completing your program at BRCC and how you will use your diploma, certificate or degree
Please email librarian@mybrcc.edu to request a copy of the application to apply for this award. The deadline is Monday, December 19, 2016.
The BRCC Library Club is once again participating in the Toys-For-Tots program.
"Toys for Tots" in an initiative of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, whose goal is "to deliver, through a new toy a Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens."
This year the drive will be taken to all BRCC sites. Look for the festive collection box on your campus and please donate new, unwrapped toys. The BRCC toy drive will run from November 6 to December 4, 2016.
Look for the collection point on your BRCC site similar to the one pictured below at the Acadian site.
 |
| Acadian Toys-for-Tots collection point |
 |
| Associate Dean Jaqueline Jones reading to the Head Start Students at the Acadian site. |
The Library has begun a weekly reading session at the Acadian site. Above is a photo of one of Jackie Jones's reading visits with 3-4 year olds at the Acadian Headstart. They have been reading the "Lola" series. So far they have read, Lola at the library and Lola loves stories by author, Ann McQuinn. Jones said that she plans to read the entire "Lola" series to the children over the next few weeks.
Your BRCC librarians all participated in the 2016 Louisiana Book Festival held at Capitol Park.
This is a great way to raise awareness of BRCC and its programs in the community and city of Baton Rouge.
 |
| Logo and banner of the 2016 Louisiana Book Festival |
 |
| Jackie Jones with Curious George at the Book Festival |
