Jessica Luetger

Self Care and Mental Health Resources at MVCC Library

Covid-19, E-Resources, In the Collection, Virtual Book Displays / By Jessica Luetger / July 23, 2020 July 20, 2020

Times are tough, stress is high, changes are happening rapidly. With everything that’s going on, it’s important to keep taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, and mentally. In case you’re not sure how exactly to go about those last two, the library has collected books, e-books, and e-audio books to help. Included in the collection are videos of two panel discussions with MVCC Councilors about mental health in social isolation.

If you would like help with these resources, or would like to explore what else the library has available, please Ask a Librarian.

Click on the image below to see the collection:

Self Care and Mental Health Resources at MVCC Library

The Relevance of Octavia E. Butler’s Science Fiction

Award Winners, Diversity, E-Resources, In the Collection, Virtual Book Displays / By Jessica Luetger / June 22, 2020 June 18, 2020

Today would have been Octavia Butler’s 73rd birthday, had the multi-award winning author not passed in 2006. She left us with a body of work that inspires, captivates, and often provokes thought and emotion in readers. Her science fiction, typically centering black, female protagonists, was never afraid to discuss race, gender, or sexuality.

Often writing about where she thought humanity was headed, her work is still so relevant today. Some even claim she predicted our current political situation with charismatic political leaders and famous slogans about bringing the country back to some idlilic past that never really existed.

Butler’s novels have never been adapted for the small or large screen, however a TV adaptation of her novel Dawn is in the works with some impressive talent behind the wheel.

MVCC Library has almost all of her books available digitally. Click the image below to see the collection and Ask a librarian if you need help accessing e-books.

The Science Fiction of Octavia E. Butler

Why Be a Pirate When the Library Has Movies for Free?

Covid-19, General Information, In the Collection / By Jessica Luetger / April 27, 2020 April 27, 2020

Arrr… I see ye be lookin’ to watch some movies! Be they… legal?

The BBC recently reported that due to “lockdowns”, visits to film piracy sites have increased dramatically in many countries. This includes the U.S., where visits to those websites increased by 41% between February and March.

Sure, you could sail the choppy waters of illegal films on the internet…. OR, hear me out, you could just borrow movies for free from the library. You can save your doubloons and stay on the right side of the law with what MVCC library has to offer.

You can select a film from this curated collection:

Click on the image below to view the collection:

https://spark.adobe.com/page-embed.js

Or you can browse some our different streaming services:

**Your MVCC login and password are the key to free movie treasures untold!**

Hoopla – Streaming popular movies, television, eBooks, and eAudio

Swank – Popular Hollywood films

Kanopy – Popular films and documentaries

If you run into trouble with any of these library services, you can always ask a librarian for help!

The New Digital Life of the Book Cart

Covid-19, Education, History, In the Collection / By Jessica Luetger / April 15, 2020 April 15, 2020

Ah, the Book Cart. A librarian’s favored vehicle to promote timely, curated library books and movies. But, with the campus and library closed, the Book Cart remains sadly forlorn and unused where it was left. This could break a librarian’s heart, but we’re stronger than that! After all, we are more than a building! MVCC librarians have been working hard to move services online, and the Book Cart is no exception!

Meet the new Digital Book Cart! By clicking on the image below you can browse and borrow eBooks and streaming video from MVCC library’s collection. Today’s topic: Pandemics and Public Health. Check it out if you’re interested in our history with pandemics, the stories of our heath care workers, or the mental heath struggles we are facing.

Look for more of these “displays” in the future!

Happy Birthday Raspberry Pi!

In the Collection, One Book: I Robot, Science, Technology / By Jessica Luetger / February 27, 2020 February 26, 2020

Eight years ago a credit card-sized, affordable computer landed on the market, making computing and programming accessible to a wide audience. Since then, the Raspberry Pi has been a hit with scientists, hobbyists, students, and kids alike.

Take a look at these fun projects for beginners to get some inspiration!

The Library has several books and eBooks about the Raspberry Pi to get you started on your project. We also have resources on coding in Python and Scratch.

Have you been participating in this year’s One Book One College program? Use your Raspberry Pi to experiment with machine learning!

Pi day is coming up on March 14th (3-14!). Here’s how one academic library celebrated using the Raspberry Pi.

Katherine Johnson 1918 – 2020

Black History Month, History, Science, Technology / By Jessica Luetger / February 24, 2020 February 24, 2020

Today marks the passing of one of the great minds of mathematics. Katherine Johnson, a mathematician at NASA during the Space Race, contributed to projects such as America’s first human space flight, the first moon landing, and the Space Shuttle.

In 2015 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to civilians, for her 33 years of work with NASA.

She was best known for the calculations that helped put John Glenn in orbit around the Earth, the story behind Hidden Figures, available at the library in DVD, book, eBook, and eAudio format.

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

Equity, Inclusion, Science, Technology / By Jessica Luetger / February 5, 2020 February 5, 2020

The United Nations has designated February 11th as International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a day that highlights how important it is to encourage a new generation of women to enter into the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields. International Day of Women and Girls in Science aims to break down harmful stereotypes and narratives as well as promote policies that makes STEM fields more accessible to women and girls.

How Can You Celebrate Women in Science?

Download posters of your favorite female STEM role models created by female artists.
Watch a movie about women in STEM, such as Hidden Figures, or read a book about women in science.
Learn a coding language! Then read about how women were instrumental in early computer programming.
Check out these local and national resources from the Field Museum.

Introduce Girls and Young Women to STEM Careers

Moraine Valley supports women entering technology fields with its Women in Technology Mentoring program.
Know a girl entering eighth grade? She might want to sign up for Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day on February 20th at Argonne National Laboratory.
Girls aged 10-18 can get involved with Girls 4 Science, a non-profit dedicated to getting young women in Chicago involved in the STEM fields.

National News Literacy Week

Information Literacy / By Jessica Luetger / January 29, 2020 January 29, 2020

With so much talk about “fake news”, how do you know what’s real and what’s fake? The best way is to polish up your critical thinking muscles and learn some news literacy skills!

January 27th – 31st is National News Literacy Week, a joint effort from the News Literacy Project (NLP) and the E.W. Scripps Company. The goal is to increase awareness of news literacy as a life skill and to promote the importance of a free press in a democratic society.

How can you tell if you’re news-literate? Take the quiz or Get Smart About the News with some of NLP’s other resources.

Want to get better at spotting fake news and bad information? Learn a new media skill: lateral reading. Watch the video to learn more:

Librarians are always ready to help you figure out fact from fiction. Stop in at the library, call, text, or chat with us to get help!

I’m GLAD I Can Evaluate Science News

Information Literacy, Science / By Jessica Luetger / January 22, 2020 January 22, 2020

Despite my love of all things science, I’m often frustrated by how scientific discoveries get reported to the public. Studies are often oversimplified, misrepresented, blown out of proportion, or taken out of context to encourage readers to click on a headline. And since science influences so much of our lives, misinformation can be dangerous.

Okay, so you want to be well informed about new scientific discoveries and how they might impact you, but you don’t want to read a bunch of sciencey research papers every day. How can you know the news stories you’re reading are accurate? Well, the best way is to be like a scientist and discover the truth for yourself!

Above the Noise developed the GLAD criteria to help determine if a science news article is trustworthy or not:

Get past the clickbait
Look out for crazy claims
Analyze sources
Determine outside expert opinions

Check out the video to learn more:

Want to go further down the rabbit hole of science news reporting?

This bunny knows the importance of accurate and trustworthy science reporting.

Read about the Twitter account that highlights misleading science headlines.
Watch the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver segment on scientific studies
Find out what it takes to be a science writer from MIT
Read this short article from Forbes that helps you identify those clickbait science headlines

If you’d like help identifying good sources of science news, you should ask a librarian!

“I Want to Drive to Campus in Cold Weather for a DVD”, Said No One Ever

In the Collection, Music and Video / By Jessica Luetger / December 2, 2019 November 22, 2019

You ever think, “I’d like to watch a movie, but I don’t want to pay for it or leave the house”? Don’t worry, the library understands. Better yet, we don’t judge.

You can stay home AND warm while simultaneously NOT violating any piracy laws by streaming video through the library! Being lawful has never been easier.

Arrr, be ye downloading that video legally?

Browse movie titles in Hoopla, one of the library’s streaming services. Want to snuggle up with a good book or a graphic novel? They have those too! Music? You bet! You’ll need to create an account, but it’s free for MVCC students, faculty, and staff.

You also have access to the Swank Digital Campus, full of streaming Hollywood films just a click away.

Hoopla and Swank not your thing? Check out the classic and indie films found in Kanopy.

BONUS: these services are available even when the library is closed!