Come to the library workshop to find out how to stay organized using free online storage.
Thursday April 25th 2pm and 6pm Library Instruction Room

Gateway Community College is now home to a Library and Learning Commons that many in the state have said could be a model for other college libraries, with its beautiful use of space, its plentiful light, its technology and with collaborative study areas, study rooms and quiet study spaces. While it is a place for collaborative academic endeavor, it is also where students can engage in contemplative – quiet – study. This is the tone we must all embrace as a Gateway community this semester and the semesters beyond in our new Library and Learning Commons. Because the college has so many lovely spots now where students can meet and chat, including the lounge areas on the stair landings, along the Fairway, and in the cafeteria, students must leave their social conversations there and come to the Library and Learning Commons to research, to study, and to collaborate with an academic purpose. It is a beautiful setting and we want to make that beauty last, which is why we ask everyone to leave food and drinks in the cart outside the library.

We have much to look forward to this semester – as the Library and Learning Commons was awarded two grants that include: The Peace Studies Collection and The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf Collection. We are also excited about upcoming community outreach programs that will take place in the Library this semester. We will host an author and book signing event by Charlayne Hunter-Gault on Monday, February 4, 2013, at 5:30pm in the Learning Commons floor. She is an an award winning journalist and activist and an author of To the Mountaintop: My Journey Through the Civil Rights Movement; In My Place; and New News Out of Africa: Uncovering Africa’s Renaissance. The books will be available for purchase and signing in the Library. Other upcoming events include: hosting a film screening linked to our new Peace Studies Collection on Thursday, March 7th, 2013, as well as
sponsoring a “Big Read” program linked to the special collection focusing on personal nonviolent communications, on Monday, April 22, 2013. We plan to offer morning and evening sessions of each activity to reach as many students and community participants as possible. 

We are pleased to announce a campus-wide book club – for students, faculty and staff. Our first shared read will be GCC Humanities Professor Franz Douskey latest book Sinatra and Me: The Very Good Years, with Tony Consiglio. Professor Douskey donated five copies of the book to the library and we have ordered more. I encourage everyone to join us for the book club in March 13, 12:30 pm-1:30 pm and April 17, 12:30 pm-1:30 pm. Our collection is growing, particularly our ebook collection. We recently added 30,000 new titles,including 3,000 print books in every subject area, plus Oxford Quick Reference database, containing over 300 core reference titles from Oxford University Press.

We invite students, faculty, and staff to take advantage of all we have to offer. Our Library and Learning Commons staff is here to help assist you with your research, to answer your questions, so come and talk with us! Our Library and Learning Commons is a community resource for Gateway Community College and for our larger New Haven community. It is a gathering place where people can exchange ideas and learn from each other , a place where you can get lost in a book, find the answer to a pivotal research question and, move your education ever forward. I look forward to all we will accomplish together.

Best wishes for the Spring Semester.

Library Hours/Featured Events (http://gwcc.libcal.com/)

Online Reservation booking for Group Study room (http://gwcc.libcal.com/)

Student Research Scheduling (http://gwcc.libcal.com/)

Faculty Library Instruction Request Online (http://gwcc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=121344&sid=3001846)

Ask-a-Librarian & Live Chat (http://gwcc.libanswers.com/)

Library Subject/Course Guides (http://gwcc.libguides.com/index.php)

Library Workshops (http://gwcc.libcal.com/)

Jump Start Your Research Thu. March 14 2:00pm-3:00pm
Jump Start Your Research Tue. March 19 2:00pm-3:00pm

Resuscitate Your Research Thu. April 4 2:00pm-3:00pm
Resuscitate Your Research Tue. April 9 2:00pm-3:00pm

Research & Citation Help Drop-In Thu. May 2 10:00am-12:00pm
Research & Citation Help Drop-In Thu. May 2 2:00pm-4:00pm
Research & Citation Help Drop-In Thu. May 2 6:00pm-8:00pm

All workshops are held in the Library Multipurpose Room S217, 2nd Floor.
To register, please call 203-285-2057 or go online at http://gwcclibcal.com/workshops.
If the above times do not work for you, please contact us to arrange
for individualized or classroom sessions.

The award came as a result of an application developed by a GCC team that included Clara Ogbaa, Director of Library Services, who will also serve as project coordinator for the Muslim Journeys Bookshelf; Susan Chenard and Renee Gaines, both Professors of English in the Humanities Department. GCC was among only 10 organizations to receive NEH awards here in Connecticut, and one of only two in New Haven. Additionally, GCC was the only community college among state awardees; joined by Southern Connecticut State University, Eastern Connecticut State University and the Suffield branch of the Lincoln College of New England as the only Connecticut institutions of higher education to receive the Muslim Journeys Bookshelf.

Dr. Ogbaa, Carol Brutza, a GCC Social Science professor of peace studies and language literacy, and Martha Hayes, humanities professor, who applied for the grant, are building the collection and will facilitate the discussion series. Gateway offers courses in peace and conflict studies and the college embeds civic action, mediation, healthy responses to violence, nonviolent communication and collaborative conflict resolution into its interdisciplinary curriculum. Violent conflict is one of the most serious problems in the world today, and New Haven directly attempts to address community violence. The Gateway community is actively involved in many organizations that seek to understand the causes of this conflict and to examine ways to transform the culture to one of building a peaceful society.

The United States Institute of Peace is the independent, nonpartisan conflict management center created by Congress to prevent and mitigate international conflict without resorting to violence. USIP works to save lives, increase the government’s ability to deal with conflicts before they escalate, reduce government costs, and enhance national security. USIP is headquartered in Washington, DC, with offices in Baghdad, Iraq, and Kabul, Afghanistan. “USIP is pleased to support organizations like Gateway Community College and their contribution to the national conversation around international conflict – and methods for resolving those conflicts nonviolently,” commented USIP President Jim Marshall. As part of its congressional mandate, USIP devotes a portion of its budget to support organizations that will advance the field of conflict management by developing new techniques, establishing best practices, and professionalizing the field through education and training. The Public Education for Peacebuilding Support is a program of USIP administered by the Institute of International Education.

The Library and Learning Commons, in collaboration with the Social Sciences and Humanities departments, will host a discussion series, “Nonviolent Conflict Resolution: From the Personal to Communal, Local to Global.” The first in the series will be a March 7 film screening and a discussion led by scholars in the field. GCC will also hold a Big Read, a community-wide shared reading experience of a book with a theme of peace, and a book discussion on April 22.