Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Become a Master Student!

Becoming a Master Student is the title of a popular textbook for the College Success Skills course at SPC, and the text offers many useful tips on how to become an achiever in the academic arena. SPC’s librarians have been working closely for years with many of the instructors of the College Success Skills course in teaching research strategies, one of the major success skills outlined in the book for becoming a master student.

Students in the College Success Skills classes are frequently introduced to the library’s online resources and given a tour of the library. Much emphasis has been given in the past ten years to online library resources, and the SPC Library Online offers links to many excellent full-text article databases and several electronic book collections.

In attending a Virtual Reference Desk Conference recently, I was impressed by a statement from a UCLA librarian , Gary E. Strong. Gary commented that although UCLA Library’s web site gets millions of visits yearly, the UCLA physical libraries continue to be heavily used by students and faculty, also. Every carrel is full!

So in the new year, continue to “unbury the library’s treasure” at SPC that Becoming a Master Student speaks of in the chapter entitled “The Library: the Buried Treasure.” You can also find a quiet study space at your campus library, locate “the very best book for your research topic,” access course math tapes, or get help from a librarian if you encounter difficulty in finding the exact resources that you need.

Pat Barbier, Librarian

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