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Showing posts from September, 2016

Beware the Book

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Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association September 25 to October 1 is Banned Books Week – seven days of celebrating our right to read books that have been challenged for reasons ranging from sex and offensive language (too many books to name) to the promotion of cannibalism ( Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein). Despite the popularity and longevity of cautionary tales like Fahrenheit 451 , book banning is still a reality, both nationwide and close to home: only earlier this month, the superintendent of Chesterfield County schools in Virginia reinstated three books that had been pulled from summer reading lists for sexually explicit language and violence. Deciding who can read what is an individual decision – according to Access to Library Resources and Services for Minors , an interpretation of the ALA's Library Bill of Rights , “Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents – and only parents – have the right and the responsibility to res

Free Book (To Keep!) in the Library

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Source: Amazon.com If you haven't already picked up your free copy of PVCC's Fall 2016 One Book, The Circle by Dave Eggers, then drop by the library: we have plenty of copies available, and getting one is as easy as registering for your tracking implant -- I mean, as signing up to let us know who's taking on the challenge. Don't forget to pick up a bookmark for more information on speakers, contests, and other events later in the semester. So what's The Circle about? When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who

Frustration Friday: How to Adjust the Volume on a Library PC without Knowing the Secret Password

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So your professor posts a video on Blackboard. You swing by the library to use a PC, log into your account, and click on the link. You plug in your headphones and go to adjust the volume -- but what's this? What does Windows mean, administrative password? "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your PC"? Windows is known for unnecessary changes and a user-unfriendly attitude, sure, but adjusting the volume shouldn't be this difficult. Where are you, A&P? Fortunately, it's an easy fix. You can take either one of two steps: 1) Unplug your headphones and plug them back in, or 2) Minimize your screen Either action will bring up a window that asks you to select the device you plugged in, like so: Select "Headphones" and click OK, and you're all set! Join us next week for another Frustration Friday, where we give you tips on how to take the frustration out of your library experience!

Information Nation: Stay Informed with New Books

It can be difficult to stay informed in a fast-paced world. Slow down and dig deeper into current events with one of the many new books available here at the library: Political commentator Phyllis Bennis tackles the complex issues surrounding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, relations between the U.S. and the Middle East, ISIS, the Syrian War, and other global concerns in two primers, Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict and Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror . In A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS , Robert F. Worth examines the aftermath of the Arab Spring five years on. Maajid Nawaz recounts the personal story of changing his political views in Radical: My Journey Out of Islamist Extremism and discusses Islam with with Sam Harris in Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue . And in Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West , the late prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, makes a bold call for tolera