RCPL: Your One-Stop Back-to-School ShopBy Stephanie Bents, Youth Librarian | September 13, 2009Welcome back to school, students! Your success this school year depends upon not only using diligence to get your homework completed, but also going to the right source for the information you need. The quality of your essays, position papers, and other writing assignments are only as good as the information you used to write them. The public library has resources you can use at the library and even from the comfort of your home to get the job done right. Using the library’s databases gives you information that is sound and reliable, and these databases are nearly as speedy to use as sitting down at a computer and doing a Google search. For example, let’s say your English teacher asks you to research the meaning of the poem The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams. If you take the route of the typical student and do a Google search for “meaning of Red Wheelbarrow” and the author’s name, you will get over a million search results, but your teacher may be less than impressed if you use this material and have to cite Wikipedia as a source. Instead, if you decide to use the Rapid City Public Library’s Litfinder database, you will find better, more reliable criticism and explanations of this poem and your teacher will be impressed, rather than dismayed, by your research savvy and skills. If you are given the assignment of writing a position paper on a controversial topic, such as the health care bill that Congress is recently debating, use the library’s Opposing Viewpoints database, click on the Health Care Reform link on the front page, and you will have instant access to lengthy viewpoint essays as well as the latest magazine, journal, and newspaper articles on this topic. Click on the statistics tab and you can include facts, figures and charts on the uninsured or the cost of the proposed program in your position paper. Opposing Viewpoints even tells you how to cite your paper! Gale Virtual Reference Library contains full-text access to over 100 books that you can use for researching government, law, science, history, business and literature. To get an idea of how comprehensive this database is, click on the Title List link on its home page and a screen displaying all of the titles contained in this database will appear. Furthermore, this is one of the most convenient databases to use, since you can download articles to your MP3 players and listen while on the go. If you find you need a helping hand while studying after school, click on to the library’s Live Homework Help link, and a tutor will assist you with your math, science, social studies and English questions for free. This service is available to those in grades 4-12 and the tutors are available from 3-10 p.m., Monday-Sunday. Beginning college students in need of help can also access this site, and those taking a standardized test, such as a college entrance exam, can practice for free on this site. Attention teens! One more thing could make your school year a success, and that is volunteering to be on the library’s Teen Advisory Board (TAB). This group meets once a month to discuss library services to teens, such as programming, gaming, social networking, and buying teen books and movies for the library’s collection. The Teen Advisory Board is open to those in grades 7-12, and the application is available for download from http://www.rapidcitylibrary.org/TABapplication.pdf. Being a member of TAB is a way for your voice to be heard and also a way to develop leadership skills that you can use in school and beyond. Call Stephanie at 391-6139, ext. 2222 for more information. |