Finals

Final exams are fast approaching.  There is a printed schedule near the printer at the Ref Desk, or find the schedule at this link: http://registrar.gpc.edu/final_exam_spring2015.html

New Secure Wireless Access for Students

I found this interesting announcement in the GPC Daily News & Information. No date announced for Dunwoody, but I'm sure students will appreciate having it.

-Margaret

New Secure Wireless Access for Students Starts March 27, 2015.
Students will soon have a choice between using a secure (encrypted) wireless connection and an unsecure connection. Beginning March 27, 2015, students at the Newton campus will have access to enhanced wireless services with other campuses shortly thereafter.

The secure wireless, JagTalk Secure, will require students to configure their personal computer and mobile devices to be able to access. The advantages to secure wireless include encrypted transmission of data, one-time authenticationgood for the lifecycle of a student’s GPC password (no more logging into wireless each time they step on campus or move to a different building) and access to GPC printing services from their personal computer or device.

The unsecure wireless, JagTalk Open, will not require students to configure their personal computer or mobile devices for access. Students who elect to use unsecure wireless will not be able to use GPC printing services from their personal computer or device. It will be up to the student to take appropriate measures to safeguard their data transmissions when using unsecure wireless. Also, use of unsecure wireless will require students to authenticate each time they come to campus.
Changes to Employee Wireless are also underway—more information will be made available for employees at a later date.

Ebooks

There may be some students seeking help with ebooks.  (There's a big reading assignment for a history class.) I assured them they could come to the desk for help, so here's where to look when you need help help: http://guides.gpc.edu/mobile

Basically, to read an e-book online is very easy: just open and read page by page. There is a slight difference between our 2 ebook databases.  Ebooks on Ebscohost (the old NetLibrary) comes to us through GALILEO and so requires a GALILEO login from off campus.  It also allows only one user at a time. Academic Ebooks on Ebscohost is much more liberal with unlimited simultaneous users.  Since we license it directly, it requires the GPC username and password for off-campus use. 

To "checkout" (download) the book, users must create an Ebsco account (free on the database homepage) and install a reader software (varies by device).  Look on Sonya's LibGuide for more help or see the help section from Ebsco at: http://support.ebsco.com/help/index.php?help_id=5542

Good luck with this.  If you want a live demo sometime, we can arrange that.

Please Use Ref Desk Printer

The library got a new printer at Circulation last November, which has already been used to print 3000 pages. The cartridges are pretty expensive, so we want to conserve them as much as possible, with circulation functions as the priority use.

Therefore, please use the ref desk printer whenever you print. That means that you'll need to change the printer selection, since the circ printer is the default on both ref desk computers for most of our profiles. Many of us already make the switch, with only an occasional oops when we forget. 

Thanks so much for your cooperation on this.

How to convert a PDF to a Word doc?

No one knows what kind of requests or questions will come your way at the reference desk. Today a student wanted to convert a PDF to a Word doc. I must say it was a challenge but I found this website that provided step by step instructions for this process.
Nitro is the website https://www.pdftoword.com/.

Step one: Select your PDF file to convert
Step two: Email converted file to:
Step three: Convert my PDF to Word

In addition, you may convert Excel and Powerpoint files.

Primary Documents --again

Dr. Simson's US History II classes ares starting their research on the eras of reconstruction and westward expansion.  They are organized in five topical groups to find both primary and secondary sources.
The groups are:

1. Presidential Reconstruction - how the president (Andrew Johnson) and other key national figures related to the president were involved in the years after the Civil War. That might include cabinet members, Democrats and moderate Republicans in the north, freedmen under black codes, and former Confederate army members.
2. Congressional Reconstruction - Members of Johnson's cabinet and radical Republicans such as Thaddeus Stevens who wanted complete reconstruction of the south.
3. Common people during reconstruction - particularly in the south, white and black, freemen and freedmen, missionaries, etc.
4. Wild West - Indian chiefs and generals. Black Kettle, Red Cloud, Chief Joseph, Sitting Bull, Kit Carson, George Hearst, and George Custer.
5. Wild West- common folks: businessmen, miners, railroad workers, farmers, cowboys, gun slingers, women (of good or ill repute), entertainers.

The assignment is in the assignment folder at the desk. (Sorry that print is so small.)

 It will be very helpful, especially for primary documents, to start with the LibGuide at:
http://guides.gpc.edu/HIST2112Simson

There are two good reference works noted on the LibGuide--both found at Call number E668. That will give some background to those just beginning their inquiry. Discover GALILEO also has a nice research starter on Reconstruction. 


More information:  Feel free to use open web searching to find repositories of information needed by students.  For instance, on the topic of missionary involvement in reconstruction south, check the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian Historical sites related to their mission societies.

The IT department sent out an email this week to the students. You may get questions so I wanted you to see what they received. It deals with GPC email on their phone or tablet, using Lynda.com to improve skills and getting Microsoft Office FREE. Click on the IT Update link below for more information.

IT Update