Visiting the SCC Library

 The SCC library will be open this fall, but with a few differences. We are opening the Central, Cherokee County, and Downtown Campus Libraries under limited hours to serve the needs of SCC students, faculty, and staff.

 

Central Campus

Mondays and Thursdays: 7:30am-5pm,

Tuesdays and Wednesdays: 7:30am–7pm,

Fridays: 7:30am-1:30pm

(students, faculty, staff only)

 Cherokee County Campus

Mon thru Thur: 7:30am-5pm, Fri 7:30–11:30am

(students, faculty, staff only)

 Downtown Campus

Mon thru Thurs: 7:30am-5pm

(students, faculty, staff only)

        •Books and DVDs to check out
       • Student computers, wi-fi, and printing

       • Limited equipment - copier, scanner, etc.

 Virtual Library: Available anytime (see library website, http://library.sccsc.edu)

       • Research and general assistance via our Ask-a-librarian email service

       • Electronic databases, e-books, and streaming videos

       • Library Research Guides for various assignments and subject areas

Need to return Library materials? No late fees or fines will be charged for the remainder of the fall semester. If you have items to return, you may use the outdoor book drop, next to the front door of the LIB building on the Central Campus. Or simply bring the items in during our opening hours.

In order to preserve the health and safety of our students and staff, the SCC Library will be operating under recommended guidelines for social distancing and cleanliness. Please note that the library will be adhering to the following procedures:


       •   Students are required to wear masks while using the library. If you do not have a mask, please ask library staff to provide one.
       •   Only SCC students, faculty, and staff will be allowed in the library at this time.
       •   Library patrons should disinfect their own computer/workspace with the provided alcohol wipes before and after each use.
       •   Study rooms are currently open on a first come, first served basis. Students must clean their computer/workspace before after using the study room.
       •   Please use only the computers without the yellow signs and maintain a distance of six feet or more from other students and staff.
       •   The printer at the Central Campus Library is now located at the Circulation Desk. After sending print jobs to the printer, please see Library staff to release your copies from the print queue.
       •   Library staff are still available for assistance with research, MLA and APA formatting, and other services. Please ask for help at the circulation desk.
       •   Headphones are not currently available. Please supply your own.
       •   Library loan services (PASCAL Delivers and Inter-Library Loan) are now available. Ask Library staff or see this post for instructions on requesting materials.
       •   Library materials may be returned at any time in the outdoor drop box at the Central Campus Library.
       • Some library material/equipment may be unavailable during this time.

We are also ready to assist you online at http://library.sccsc.edu/askalibrarian/

Please let us know if you have questions or concerns.

New SCC Library Catalog!

This summer, the SCC Library debuts our new catalog system. Now you can search the collections of the SCC campus libraries as well as other South Carolina college libraries, all from the same site! The new catalog also has advanced user account features. You can request items, check the status of your checkouts and holds, and more!

Take a look at this how-to guide for help. And as always, when in doubt, ask-a-librarian.

Rules for Visiting the SCC Library

The SCC library will remain largely virtual this summer, but we are opening the Central Campus Library on a limited basis to serve the needs of SCC students, faculty, and staff.

At the library: Central Campus, Mon-Thurs. 10am-2pm (students, faculty, staff only)

       • Books and DVDs to check out
       • Student computers, wi-fi, and printing
       • Limited equipment - copier, scanner, etc.

Virtual Library: Available anytime (see library website, http://library.sccsc.edu)

       • Research and general assistance via our Ask-a-librarian email service
       • Electronic databases, e-books, and streaming videos
       • Library Research Guides for various assignments and subject areas


Need to return Library materials? No late fees or fines will be charged for the remainder of the summer semester. If you have items to return, you may use the outdoor book drop, next to the front door of the LIB building on the Central Campus. Or simply bring the items in during our opening hours.
In order to preserve the health and safety of our students and staff, the SCC Library will be operating under recommended guidelines for social distancing and cleanliness. Please note that the library will be adhering to the following procedures:

       •   The Central Campus Library will be open Monday through Thursday, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. All other campus libraries are currently closed.
       •   Students are required to wear masks while using the library. If you do not have a mask, one can be obtained at the SCC Book Inn.
       •   Only SCC students, faculty, and staff will be allowed in the library at this time.
       •   Library patrons should disinfect their own computer/workspace with the provided alcohol wipes before and after each use.
       •   Study rooms are not currently available.
       •   Please use only the computers without the yellow signs and maintain a distance of six feet or more from other students and staff.
       •   Please ask for assistance with locating library materials. The shelves are currently off limits.
       •   Library staff are still available for assistance with research, MLA and APA formatting, and other   services. Please ask for help at the circulation desk.
       •   Headphones are not currently available. Please supply your own.
       •   Library materials may be returned at any time in the outdoor drop box at the Central Campus Library.
       • Some library material/equipment may be unavailable during this time.

We are also ready to assist you online at http://library.sccsc.edu/askalibrarian/

Please let us know if you have questions or concerns.


Earth Day 2020 Climate Quiz

Commemorate Earth Day 2020 with our

Test your knowledge of the earth's climate conditions with this multiple-choice quiz. Use the SCC Library's science databases (http://libguides.sccsc.edu/az.php?s=123904) or online searches to help find the correct answers. Watch out for internet misinformation about climate change! It's everywhere! Use only authoritative sources!

A grand prize winner will be randomly chosen from all 100% scores. The winner will receive this sturdy climate change mug, which reveals predicted sea level changes when hot liquid is added.

The quiz is open until Monday, April 27, 2020. So let's get started!

The Oddball Oscars

It may not be Oscar season, but the SCC Library is now stocked with the best Academy Award-winning films of 2019 on DVD. Such as...

1917 – Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Best Supporting Actor (Tom Hanks)

Bombshell – Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Ford v Ferrari – Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing

Harriet – Nominee, Best Actress (Cynthia Erivo)

Jojo Rabbit – Best Adapted Screenplay

Joker – Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix), Best Original Score

Judy – Best Actress (Renee Zellweger)

Knives Out – Nominee, Best Original Screenplay

Little Women – Best Costume Design

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Best Supporting Actor (Brad Pitt), Best Production Design

Pain and Glory – Nominee, Best Actor (Antonio Banderas), Nominee, Best Foreign Film

Parasite – Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director (Bong Joon-Ho), Best Foreign Language Film

Richard Jewell – Nominee, Best Supporting Actress (Kathy Bates)

Toy Story 4 – Best Animated Feature

Pretty great lineup of award-winning features, right? And speaking of the Oscars, what could be a better opportunity to review some of the weirdest bits of trivia concerning Hollywood’s famous awards ceremony? Let’s take a moment to congratulate the winners of …

1. Best Sibling Rivalry

In 1941, Olivia de Havilland was nominated as Best Actress for Hold Back the Dawn. Spoiling the moment for Olivia was her younger sister, Joan Fontaine, receiving the same nomination that year for Suspicion. Though the two made efforts to appear gracious in public, a childhood of bitter competition for mama’s approval became a bitter competition for the Academy’s love. Joan took home the Oscar, but the sisters became estranged, engaging in occasional public feuds until Joan’s death in 2013. Olivia not only eventually received two Oscars to his sister’s single win, but outlived nearly everyone in Hollywood, still with us today at the age of 103.

2. Least Nominated

Cinematographer Hal Mohr holds the distinction of being the only Academy Award winner who was not officially nominated. Mohr won his Best Cinematography Oscar for A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1935 as the result of a write-in campaign. Talk about a popularity contest! The Academy has since changed the rules to disallow write-in votes.

3. Best Snub

Not everyone who wins an Oscar is all a’tingle with delight. When Dudley Nichols won for Best Screenplay (The Informer) in 1935, he was in a snit about the Academy’s ongoing conflicts with the Writer’s Guild, so he refused the award. George C. Scott went Dudley one better by not only refusing to accept his 1970 Best Actor award for Patton but publically slandering the ceremony as a “two-hour meat parade.” But the Best Snub award goes to Marlon Brando, who refused his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather to protest Hollywood’s depiction of Native Americans. Brando sent Apache activist Sacheen Littlefeather to the awards ceremony to read a statement on his behalf, eliciting both boos and cheers for the political protest. Ah, the Seventies.

4. Most Deceased

Screenwriter Sydney Howard was the first person to receive an Oscar from the Great Beyond (for Gone with the Wind in 1939), and both Peter Finch and Heath Ledger received “Best” awards for films released shortly after they had died (for Network and The Dark Knight, respectively). However, the Most Deceased award clearly goes to composer Larry Russell, whose Best Musical Score Oscar for Limelight was awarded in 1972, eighteen years after his funeral.

5. Best Windbag

By a long shot, Greer Garson holds the record for longest Oscar Acceptance speech. Winning her Best Actress award for Miss Miniver in 1942, Garson, with finishing school poise, delivered a six-minute speech, pontificating on the nature of awards and their meaning in a world of sacrifice. It’s no wonder that the Academy began strictly enforcing a 45-second cap on acceptance speeches or that Garson never again won an Oscar.

6. Least Dressed

At the 46^th Academy Awards in 1974, David Niven was onstage, awaiting the arrival of Elizabeth Taylor to announce the winner of Best Picture. Instead of Liz, a notoriously naked man named Robert Opal “steaked” across the stage, flashing the peace sign. Streaking, the art of sudden public nudity, was enjoying a popular trend during this period, and Opal was a keen practitioner. Opal often streaked at city council meetings in Los Angeles to protest the ban of nudity at public beaches, but this appearance was definitely his most glamorous. The Best Picture winner was The Sting, but by that time nobody cared.

7. Biggest Losers

1977’s The Turning Point received eleven Oscar nominations, but didn’t win in any category. In 1985, The Color Purple also gained eleven nominations and won no Oscars. Could this be the unlucky curse of the number eleven? Or could it be the unlucky curse of films which center on female characters? Choose your own conspiracy!

8. Best Most Noms

With 52 nominations, composer John Williams holds the record for most Oscar nominations. He also has 6 Emmy nominations, 25 Golden Globe nominations, and 71 Grammy nominations. It helps that John Williams has composed the original score for every single motion picture released since 1968 (citation needed).

9. Most Delayed

In 1973, Charlie Chaplin’s film Limelight won an Oscar for Best Original Musical Score. Oddly, this was a full twenty years after the film’s release. Chaplin was on a promotional tour of Great Britain for Limelight in 1952 when he was informed that his reentry visa to the United States had been refused. This being the “red scare” period in America, Chaplin’s communist sympathies were frowned upon by government officials, and Limelight received little to no distribution in this country. Twenty years later, having finally become eligible for Academy consideration with an official Los Angeles theater release, Chaplin won his only competitive Oscar.

10. Worst Best

There have been many films criticized over the Academy’s history as being undeserving of their Best Picture Oscars. 1944’s Bing Crosby vehicle Going My Way is generally regarded as a real stinker (and was an upset win over the masterful Casablanca). The lackluster How Green was My Valley stirs resentment for winning over both Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon in 1941. And the less said about Crash winning Best Picture in 2006 the better.

Still, based on reviews and retrospectives of Hollywood classics, it seems no Oscar winner is more universally panned than The Greatest Show on Earth, winner of Best Picture in 1952. It’s generally assumed that the Academy wanted to award director Cecil B. DeMille for a lifetime of cinematic achievement and considered this their last chance. Ironically, DeMille made one last, far superior film, The Ten Commandments, which lost out for Best Picture in 1957 to Around the World in 80 Days, another film now considered one of the worst to have won Best Picture. Better luck next time, Cecil.

Works Cited

"Academy Awards." Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film, edited by Barry Keith Grant, vol. 1, Schirmer Reference, 2007, pp. 1-9. Gale in Context: U.S. History.
Edelman, Rob. “Mohr, Hal,” Writers and Production Artists, edited by Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast, pp. 612-614. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 4th ed., vol. 4, St. James Press, 2001. Gale in Context: Biography.
"Garson, Greer." The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, edited by Kenneth T. Jackson, et al., vol. 4,Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001, pp. 200-203. Gale in Context: Biography.
"Olivia de Havilland." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, vol. 33, Gale, 2013. Gale in Context: Biography.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. “Academy Award Trivia and Interesting Facts,” Liveaboutdotcom, Dotdash, 14Jan. 2020, https://www.liveabout.com/academy-awards-interesting-facts-1779239.

The SCC Library is Closed! What Should I Do?

Don’t panic! There is a wide assortment of essential library tools available through our SCC Library web page. Here’s a quick guide to what you need to know while we’re closed.

Contact a Librarian

Use the ask-a-librarian link to email your questions to our library staff. You can ask for research help, assistance with your paper formatting and citations, or general information. Our staff is working remotely 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and can respond to your inquiry right away.

Don’t Worry About Overdue Materials

The SCC Library will be waiving fines for overdue items for the immediate future. No need to renew items at this time. If you'd still prefer to return your items, you can do so at the Central Campus Library drop box next to the front door in the LIB building.

No Pascal Deliveries

The Library will not be receiving deliveries from our statewide inter-library system at this time. If you have received a book through the Pascal system, consider any potential late fee waived at this time.

Research Guides

If you are currently working on an assignment requiring library research, please look for your class on our Research Guides page to see if the assignment is listed. The research guides provide source recommendations, formatting help, and tips for using your research effectively.

Citation Help

Tons of vital information on formatting and citations can be found on our MLA and APA web pages.

Research

The SCC Library site provides direct access to databases, e-books, and videos for your research needs. Having trouble navigating these sources? Feel free to ask-a-librarian.

Tutorials Page

Need further instruction? Take a look at our tutorials page for tips on getting the right sources and using the library effectively.

Proofreading and Other Tutoring

The Learning Center at SCC is also available during our closure. If you need someone to proofread a paper (beyond research, formatting, or citation help) you can email the paper and assignment information to askatutor@sccsc.edu. 

Thirty-minute online tutoring appointments via ZOOM are also available. You may request an appointment using the following links:

Science https://forms.gle/g8KguHUNJhH3PNyh9

Math https://forms.gle/um5E2eqxBks7UhhG7

ASL https://forms.gle/XKhqhkKWA4jWN4Zo9

CPT 101 https://forms.gle/hh8QU8ARPbrDRz2C8

Accounting https://forms.gle/4Nb9Zjdh8fRLLTjCA

Wi-Fi Access 

Though the SCC campuses are currently closed, SCC wi-fi is accessible at various points outside certain campus buildings. See the guide below for information (click to enlarge).

More Information 

For more detailed information about SCC services available during the closure, please see this link on our main SCC web page.

Of course we hope to return to normal operations as soon as possible, but using the SCC Library web page will get you what you need and fast. And again, help from SCC Library staff is as quick as an email using the ask-a-librarian link. Let us know how we can help!

American History: 1860-1945 Brings History Alive

     The SCC Library welcomes an important new history database to our digital collection. American History, 1493-1945 is a huge collection of primary source documents and special features that cover American history from the early settlers to the end of World War II. This is an interactive database with advanced searching options to tailor the resources to your research needs.

The documents section can be searched by date range, theme, or document type, and includes historical documents and photographs digitized from their original source.

The interactive chronology presents key dates in American History in a convenient timeline format and is searchable by date, theme, or keyword.

The thematic guides feature arranges relevant documents and features according to theme.

The essays section collects the writing of leading American History experts on prominent topics.

On the video lectures page, America’s leading writers and historians tackle subjects such as Benjamin Franklin, Slavery and Emancipation, and the Declaration of Independence, among others.

There’s also a virtual tour of Mount Vernon, George Washington’s family home, featuring relevant photos and documents.

The History of America in 100 Documents feature presents documents from 1493 through 1859 to highlight key themes of these historical periods.

Mapping Gettysburg is an interactive map of the infamous Civil War battlefield, with letters, diaries, and images to make this legendary event come alive.

     American History has never been easier or more enjoyable to explore. Take a look at the American History: 1860 - 1945 database. Off-campus access is as easy as entering your SCC username and password (the same you use for the portal). And as always, ask SCC Library staff for help with this or any of our research databases.

The Art of Christina Ramsey Exhibit at the SCC Library

Our latest exhibit in the SCC Library is Pareidolia Botanica, a solo exhibition by renowned painter and digital artist, Christina Ramsey, on display February 3 through April 30. Ms. Ramsey will be giving an artist’s talk here in the SCC Library Monday, March 2 at 2:00 pm. This event and exhibit are open to the public.

From her dual studios in Spartanburg and rural Transylvania County, Christina Ramsey creates a diverse mixture of art, including acrylic paintings, sculpture, jewelry, digitally synthesized prints, photography, fabrics, and other mixed media. Her proximity to endless botanical subjects plays a greater role in her newest creations, the Pareidolia Botanica series.

These digital artworks are initially crafted from Ramsey’s photographs of our local flora and fauna, then manipulated digitally, mirroring and juxtaposing patterns and color. Ramsey sees these botanical subjects as symbolic imagery, exploring the meaning of self, our relationship to each other, and the spiritual connection we have to nature.

Born into a creative family in Atlanta, GA, in 1970, Ramsey began selling commissioned drawings, logos, and paintings at the age of fourteen. She was selected into the first Governor’s School of the Arts as a high school student in Kentucky, and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Eastern Kentucky University in Metalsmithing and Art History.

Ramsey exhibited her work in solo and juried shows in Cleveland, OH, and Louisville, KY, before settling in Lake Toxaway, NC, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She currently exhibited her art at the Dahliallama Art Gallery in Brevard, NC, as well as a variety of galleries in the Carolinas and Kentucky. See her work online at dahliallama.com.