Renew and get hold notices via SMS

Just a quick reminder that you can renew, get hold notices, and late fine notices on library materials via text messaging. Get info @ http://plsinfo.org/access/sms.htm and sign up with a quick text. This service that launched last year is a great way to manage a few key features of your library account through a simple text.

Check 511.org before you drive

Before driving you might consider looking at 511.org. This site features up to the minute reports on traffic accidents and congestion on freeways in the Bay Area. The rainstorms today most likely contribued to the number of accidents on 280 and 101 today. So, it's a good idea to plan ahead and check for any traffic issues and reroute your travels accordingly.

President Obama declares October 2009 as Nat'l Information Literacy Awareness Month

On October 1, President Obama declared October 2009 as National Information Literacy Awareness Month. For any of you that know what information literacy is, you will know that this is a very momentous occasion for the White House to acknowledge such an important issue.

For those that don't know about information literacy, it's best summarized as the ability to determine an information need, locate, retrieve, critically analyze, and utilize that information. It may sound elementary, but it's not as easy at it sounds considering the amount of information that comes at us everyday. Our hope is that this initiative can help to generate programs that can successfully address information literacy needs on a national and local level.

For more information about President Obama's proclamation, see the press release at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-National-Information-Literacy-Awareness-Month/.

Mistress of Spices author to speak at CSM

We are pleased to announce the President's Lecture Series to take place at CSM Theatre on Friday, October 2 at 11am. The Mistress of Spices, by Dr. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, is the featured book of the 2009 San Mateo County One Book, One Community campaign.

More information about the author and this College of San Mateo event can be found on the Library website.

LIBR 100 still open for enrollment

We are still enrolling CSM students for Library 100. This 1-unit course (CRN# 92304) meets 10/15/09 through 12/10/09 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:10-10am.

This 8 week course is a great way to develop excellent research skills and it also satisfies the Basic Information Competency requirement - a graduation requirement for SF State students. We hope to see you in the Library!

WebAccess Issues

We've gotten some reports that WebAccess has been down a bit over the last few days. We hear CSM's tech team has been working with the vendor to get the issue fixed. They hope to have everything running smoothly by Wednesday.

Just checking in

We're now a few weeks into the Fall semester at CSM and most of you have fallen into a rhythm and are starting to get deep into your research. Don't forget about all the great resources that you can find in the library including helpful librarians, eBooks, and subscription databases. If you can't make it into the library and you have a library card, you can still access all these resources from home. The library's online resources can be found here at http://collegeofsanmateo.edu/library/databases.php. If you need help navigating these materials, you can call, email, or IM a librarian. See our contact information at http://collegeofsanmateo.edu/library/reference.php. Good luck, and don't forget to write.