Library Hours for the End of the Semester

The OCC Libraries will be open for normal service hours through the end of classes on Monday May 2 and open for limited service hours until the Summer I semester begins on Monday May 9. Please see the campus libraries page for intersession hours May 3-8. 

“My Account “ Feature Changing in Gale Databases

On April 28th the Gale databases will be retiring their current My Account feature. Instead, they will be linking the My Account features to your existing Google account, letting you save notes, highlights, and whole documents from Gale databases in your Google Drive account. More information on how this works and which databases are included can be found on the Gale Blog.

You can use any existing Google account to integrate with Gale, including your OCC student email account. To use your OCC student email account for Gale integration, sign in first at http://mail.student.oaklandcc.edu/.

You can also use a similar feature in the OCC Libraries Search Everything & other EBSCO databases. Just click “Sign In” in the green toolbar at the top of the screen when you are in Search Everything, Academic Search Elite, CINAHL, or other EBSCO databases available at the OCC Libraries and you can create a new account or sign in to one you have already created. Please note that this personal account in EBSCO does not tie to your Google or MyOCC account in any way, but it will allow you to save searches and documents from those databases.

Finally, as an alternative to saving items from the databases in a personal account, you might consider simply using the email feature built into the database to send documents or durable links to the email address of your choice.

Human Library at the Highland Lakes Diversity & Inclusion Fair

Flyer for the 2016 Human Library event

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be deaf?  What it is like to live with a mental illness?  What it is like to have survived cancer three times?  At the OCC Highland Lakes Campus Diversity Fair on Thursday April 7, the HL Campus Diversity Committee and OCC Libraries will host the Human Library event that allows “readers” to checkout volunteer “books” who represent multiple areas of diversity.  Human Books represent a cross section of society that have been stereotyped.  “Books” are not asked to be experts, but instead asked to be themselves and tell their story in response to questions asked by the “Reader”.  This exercise allowed “Books” and “Readers” alike to meet people from other walks of life that they may not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet.

The Human Library was started in 2000 in Denmark to help break down barriers and end prejudice. The idea was simple: if you meet people from other walks of life, people different than yourself, they become real and no longer belong to a faceless group.  Once people start talking and getting to know one another, it becomes harder to discriminate against others as we realize we are more similar than we are different.  For more information, please go to www.humanlibrary.org.

On Thursday April 7, at the OCC Highland Lakes Campus Student Center from noon – 5pm, our Human Library will have 23 Human Book titles.  Please come and check them out.

Submitted by Allison McFadden-Keesling

Faculty Librarian
Highland Lakes Campus Library

More Library Success Seminars Coming up in March & April

The are plenty of opportunities to attend Library Success Seminars coming up in March & April.  These sessions cover a variety of topics related to library research and are designed to improve your library success skills. Ask your instructor about extra credit for attending any of these seminars. See the Library Instruction page for more information about future seminars at all OCC campuses.

Auburn Hills Campus Library
These free seminars are held in room D206 in the Auburn Hills Library.

• So You Have a Pro-Con Assignment
  Learn how to locate resources that offer multiple perspectives on a controversial topic.
  Tuesday March 8, 12:30-1pm
• Michigan Libraries at Your Fingertips
  Learn how to use MeLCat to request materials from other libraries and have them delivered to an OCC campus.
  Tuesday March 15, 12:30-1pm
• Locating Primary Sources
  Learn how to find the raw material that helps us interpret the past.
  Tuesday March 22, 12:30-1pm
• Evaluating Websites
  Learn how to identify trustworthy websites. Not all .com websites are bad, and not all .edu websites are perfect!
  Tuesday March 29, 12:30-1pm
• Google Scholar & Google Advanced Search
  We can show you tips and tricks that will change the way you search the web.
  Tuesday April 5, 12:30-1pm

Orchard Ridge Campus Library
Seminars are held on Mondays 12-12:30 in the Orchard Ridge Library.

• March 7 - Evaluating Web Pages
   Learn techniques to determine if a web site has reliable information.
• March 14 - Special Seminar: Choosing a Researchable Topic
   Need a research topic? OCC Libraries have great resources to help you out.

Royal Oak Campus Library
Seminars are held in the Royal Oak Campus Library room C202. See full schedule here.

• Help Me Find & Narrow My Topic
  Tuesday March 15, 1-2pm
• Library Homepage Hunt
  Monday March 21, 5:30-6:30pm
• Help Me Find Good Websites
  Wednesday April 6, 3-4pm

Libraries Open For Limited Hours During Mid-Winter Recess

The OCC Libraries will be open for limited hours during the Mid-Winter Recess from February 29 through March 5.  The hours for the campus libraries will be:


Auburn Hills, Highland Lakes, Orchard Ridge & Royal Oak:
Monday - Thursday 9am-5pm
Friday 9am-4:30pm (open for fines & returns only - no reference services)
Saturday March 5 - closed


Southfield:
Monday - Thursday 8:30am-6pm
Friday 8:30am-5pm (open for fines & returns only - no reference services)
Saturday March 5 - closed