InterComInterCom September 2012 Newsletter Published by College Communications: Contact Lee Rasizer at (303) 360-4728 or [email protected] It’s August 23. Fall semester is looming. Birds are chirping. CRUNCH TIME Loons are howling. And the last-minute rush is on at the Administration Building. As chaos goes, this wasn’t the pressed doors of a Black Friday sale or daily life on the Justin Bieber security detail. This is more like multiple loose ends, the shoelaces of a kindergarten class variety: Tie ‘em up; send ‘em off. It’s Thursday, Aug. 23, two business days before fall se- mester classes officially begin at Community College of Aurora. Students need their ID card photos. Procrastinators seek that course they just have to have but which may have filled long ago. Core classes such as English, Math, Biol- ogy and others that are integral degree prereq- uisites often fall within those parameters, even though they’re offered on numerous occasions. Some financial aid requirements are only now being realized by late-arriving students and ad- dressed with a countdown clock accompaniment. But CCA’s staff has the wherewithal to deal with these issues courteously and professionally. If this particular day, and many others like it, has its own soundtrack, Kathy Jackson, CCA’s official greeter, is the featured artist. The self-proclaimed mother of the col- lege doles out “baby dolls,” “dears” and “love yous” even while activity swirls around her, confidently sending people in all directions like an Administration Building version of the NFL’s Peyton Manning, who’ll famously flap like a bird at the line of scrimmage to ensure everyone is on the same page. “I have a gift to see when people are lost and confused,” Jackson explained. “Nine out of 10 times, I’m right.” On this day, there’s plenty of confusion and loss. But those traits aren’t shared by the staffs tasked to deal with the waves of people and flurry of questions, some asked A line forms outside of Enrollment Services, left, and in the hallways inside the room Aug. 23 as students seek guidance that will allow them to tie up all the loose ends for the beginning of classes while wobbly children in the infant stage toddle in their that open in just a few scant days. The rushes weren’t sustained, though, but instead went in a series of waves throughout the day as CCA employees remained on task and efficiently eased out the traffic. Please see Rush / Page 8 INSIDE: Raytheon partnership with CCA’s expanding Computer Science Department helping workers maintain certification trainings / Page 5 InterCom September 2012 Newsletter Page 2 Seek,Seek, andand youyou shallshall findfind Megan Kinney has transformed CCA’s library by taking a Bring out the old, technological leap and incorporating 21st century tools Bring in the new • Two new databases were added at CCA. Credo Megan Kinney isn’t a data miner in the classic face-to-face talk with an employee – if the student is akin to an academic Wiki. America’s Historical sense. even got to the library. Newspapers traces headlines from 1690-2000. But CCA’s director of Library Services is using “The bigger thing for me was that the LRC had a • Students beginning in July were increased every instrument in her ever-expanding toolbox to very low profile,” Kinney related. access through EBSCO – a premium research try and ensure that staff, students and faculty can There was some technology in place, but Kin- service -- to at least eight other databases, unearth the information necessary to ease the class- ney brought to the job a firm commitment to its including “Points of View,” which is well-suited to room experience. expansion and use. Sources now are inarguably discovering extensive and balanced research for Whether it’s door to door or face to face, online more eclectic, modern and plentiful, and can be ac- public speaking and English classes. chat to video conferencing, Kinney is intent on not cessed in a variety of new-fangled ways, including • About 4,000 outdated physical titles were only spreading knowledge on efficient information via smart phones and other gadgets (see accompa- removed from the collection, while around gathering, but also wants to kick up your Kindle, nying chart). 30,000 e-books were made available. invigorate your I Pad or animate your Android de- “My thing was taking down barriers and making vices with search capabilities that can find a needle it easier to find information, while taking advantage • Through an integrated library system, more in a high-tech haystack. of the fact that mobile technology is interesting,” she than 540,000 books, DVDs and CDs and an three additional e-book collections will be fully “It’s about opening up the whole universe,” Kin- said. accessible in the fall through Aspen Cat, a union ney said. “Because people don’t know one percent of Kinney is so passionate about getting people dig- catalog that combines the collection of 34 what they really have access to.” ging deeper into information she’s even hosted vari- academic and public libraries. CCA was one of The amount of information immediately at one’s ous technology ‘petting zoos’ to try and familiarize the first two academic libraries to join as part of fingertips at the Learning Resource Center was lim- students, staff and faculty to new learning tools, as a Colorado library academic ‘cooperative.’ ited when Kinney joined the college in November well as just clear up any uncertainty on how to use 2010. certain devices in a laid-back atmosphere. • Real-time chat help for research assistance became an option through the library website 24 It was a place to find books. About 11,000 physi- “We’re on the radar now,” Kinney said. “People hours a day, seven days a week. cal titles were housed between CentreTech and are asking what we’re doing now. They’re interested. Lowry. There were a set of databases students could … We’re getting at what people really need. And • Mobile applications through individual vendors use and a basic website. It housed an open computer throughout the process we asked people what it was were introduced. Additionally, Quick Response lab. There were about 8,000 e-books that didn’t get (QR) codes are being introduced to CCA’s e-book collection that will allow the researcher to view much use. And the interaction with staff meant a See library / Page 3 other available books on a similar subject. InterCom September 2012 Newsletter Page 3 Left, Kevin Dunbar, assistant librarian, aids a student with a research query. At right, staff and faculty learn how to use library resources with their gadgets during one of the Tech Petting Zoos established to encourage ‘This is a real college library, curiosity and learning by giving people rather than a video service’ time to play with new From Library / Page 2 session for an evening or a weekend, technologies. which I’m totally willing to do. Give they needed, and basically did that, your students extra credit if they go to while bringing in other things they it, and they can log in and watch me may not have known they needed but online talk about how to do research librarians. She then began document- ney received Perkins Grant funding now see value in.” that wouldn’t even take a class session. ing formally over the last two semes- to provide comprehensive research But Kinney is eager to push the We have the software.” ters the academic progress. assistance in open computer labs at envelope even further, with the co- The end goal with this refined re- It has proven to be a major boon. Lowry and potentially have custom- operation of faculty. She and her staff search is better sourcing, more criti- “No one had ever shown them how ized, touch-screen kiosks that allow already made 44 visits to classrooms cal thought, increasingly accurate ci- to do it one on one and when they get students to interface with the entire last fall; about 60 more in the spring tations and less plagiarism to those it, they got it,” Steele said. college’s bevy of available informa- to provide students, and faculty, with who have the time to log on and take The LRC not only is busy serving tion. the available research options CCA advantage of interactive, real-time as- its library function, but the computer “People don’t know how much it now provides. But with staffing and sistance. lab continues to provide students has changed,” Steele maintained. “It’s time constraints a real issue, reaching “It’s come light years,” said history with help via trained work-study aids. like the changes for this fall. I’m so ex- an even wider audience took fore- adjunct Ginny Steele, who actually There’s tutoring and writing support cited, because for the first time we’ll thought. has worked in three libraries, both and makeup testing housed there, too. have a range of materials available to So Kinney devised online instruc- public and private, in her career. “This “I want instructors telling their our students online and through this tion sessions and short online tutori- is the kind of services our students students, ‘Go over there,’ and what collaboration that we’ve never had als in an effort to push the envelope need. And this is a real college library, I really want is students to tell other at this level. From 30,000 to 500,000 further.