Back of the Class – JCCC Billington Library

The Face of Family

The governing qualities of the law – and concepts like ‘best interest of the child’ – become jumbled from traditional viewpoints when there are non-traditional families involved. If it is best for the kids to go with Mom in a divorce, what happens when there are two? Or none? And in some cases, that means that the court approved an adoption into that family, meaning that nontraditional legal standpoints had been challenged.

There have been quite a few cases used to define and redefine family law as families continue evolving in appearance, and while those countless court cases are spread across a number of databases, Courting Change: Queer Parents, Judges, and the Transformation of American Family Law by Kimberly D. Richman collects interviews with families, lawyers, judges, and other legal minds and non-traditional family experts to assemble a collected view of the issues in equality from household to household. An excellent source for students pursuing careers in law, people with an interest in LGBT issues and studies, or anyone interested in the changing face of the American family.

Back of the Class # 2

Well, it isn’t really the second week, but it is the second update. In the second week, we were broken into groups and asked to start putting together a report on a flooring product. Our group chose bamboo flooring, and the research began.

Here’s a research tip for this update: instead of digging through database after database for articles, try out our federated search tool.

Can I do this from home?!

If you are a JCCC student, then yes you can.

alright!

When you load the home page, you’ll see an articles tab in the middle, revealing some pre-arranged categories. Something as specific as Interior Design isn’t really there, so you gotta be creative. There will be relevant articles in “art”, “business”, and others.

To cut out some guessing, there’s a link that says “Multi-Database Search“. That takes you to Central Search (requires JCCC login if off-campus). This tool digs through lots of databases at once. Once in there, you can enter your search terms above and select multiple categories below. Thus, I put in “bamboo flooring” for a keyword search, and select the categories of “business” and “science and technology”. I probably could check more, but I figure bamboo flooring is a manufactured product that is relatively new, and it is a big part of the Interior Design world right now. Business and Science/Technology should return plenty of results.

You’ll get articles that are often linked to the full text, and at least an abstract to let you know if the article is relavent. It isn’t perfect, and it may not catch all available subscriptions we have, but it certainly trims down the time when you’re not 100% sure where to start. Don’t be afraid to try it!

Back of the Class: Week 1

The depth of my originality sticks to “of the” ilk.

This is the first of at least weekly posts about the class I’m now taking at JCCC, and more specifically, what the library can offer in expanding the value of the class.

I’m currently enrolled in an Interior Design class, and the very first day, we went to the library to learn about several databases which can assist you. Due to the generality of “first days”, today’s post is quite general as well.

Most of the information covered in the librarian presentation is available on this LibGuide. In addition to the LibGuide, keep in mind that we still get products. Take, for example, this gem:

Opportunities in Interior Design and Decorating Careers is a book that was added just today that came across the New Item RSS feed. Much like other disciplines taught at JCCC, we’re constantly developing the collection for users with up-to-date and relevant materials. Unfortunately, we take a pass on purchasing textbooks, but nobody’s perfect.