Library search has changed

Library search has changed, bringing books, media, and database holdings to a one-search option.

The DCCCD libraries’ launched a new integrated library management system in June, creating a new way to search for materials.

The library catalog link on the Richland College Library home page will take students into the Primo search interface, which brings together library holdings for a one-stop search.

Richland students may search for books, media, database articles, newspaper articles, ebooks, and more, depending on information needs. Students – and professors – are encouraged to log into the library search screen at the beginning of their searches to take full advantage of new features.

Registered students will log in with district email, while district employees will use their 3X4 logins already in use.

Search is set to default to physical books and media at students' individual campus libraries; the drop down menu offers broader options.

Please contact your liaison librarian with any questions or to set up classroom orientations.

Hot town, summer reading in the city

Grab your sunscreen and sweet iced tea, because these sizzling reads are fresh off the press! Whether it’s a psychological thriller, action-adventure, or a compelling love story, the Richland College Library is your place to grab this summer’s hottest reads.

The Trials of Apollo: the Dark Prophesy. Let the sun shine on this brand new series from Rick Riordan! Apollo, god of the sun and music, is cast down to Earth as an awkward teenage boy, charged with the task of restoring the Oracles that have gone dark. He’ll have to enlist the help of a dragon, a sorceress, and the son of Hephaestus to defeat the evil Triumvirate. With a marvelous mix of action, pop culture, and droll humor, the Dark Prophesy expands Riordan’s singular twist on classic mythology.

Dragon Teeth. While you’re waiting in mild agony for the new season of Westworld, check out this new novel by its creator, Michael Crichton. Nothing gets as hot as Texas in the summer…unless it’s the Wild West during the days of the gold rush. Two paleontologists pillage, deceive, and sabotage each other in the hunt for dinosaur fossils. Filled with Old West villains, lost treasure, and historic discoveries, this adventure will leave you wanting to pick up a fossil hunter’s hammer and sieve.

Into the Water. Cool down by going Into the Water. Paula Hawkins, whose debut The Girl on the Train exploded onto the literary scene, delivers another captivating thriller. When two women are found dead in the river that runs through the sleepy English town, the water isn’t the only thing that is disturbed by their deaths. Secrets, suspense, and darkness drip down into the reader’s imagination as only Hawkins can eerily achieve.

Crazy is My Superpower. AJ Mendez Brooks didn’t become a WWE superstar overnight. Labeled a “nerdy, loud, crazy, freak,” this unconventional girl with unconventional heart and drive pushed through labels and expectations of what a girl wrestler “should” be. With humor and wit, AJ opens up in this inspiring autobiography about embracing her weaknesses and transforming them into her greatest strengths.

The Sun is Also a Star. A dazzling story of love, the universe, and fate that brings people together. Set in New York, two teens fall in love amidst familial expectations, the looming threat of deportation, and the illogical nature of life. Bittersweet, yet hopeful, Nicola Yoon’s new novel will have you believe in the power of possibility.

Those with current DCCCD employee and student I.D. numbers may link through the titles above and log in to request items be taken to their favorite college libraries for pick up. Ask at the reference desk.

-Ariel Slick

Supreme Court Anniversaries: Loving v. Virginia

"Cohabitating as man and wife against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth"

 

 Rats tickled her feet.

 

Mildred sat in a dirty jail cell, some months pregnant, while rats crawled along the floor. Her husband's family managed to pay the bail for him, but she was stuck until the authorities felt like letting her go. Although they were arrested together, her white husband Richard found more sympathy from the state of Virginia than she did, as a woman of mixed racial background.  Their crime, classified as a felony under state law, was simply being married to one another.

 

Virginia, like many other southern states, had passed "anti-miscegenation laws" in the early 1920s to prohibit interracial marriage to protect the "dignity" of the white supremacist philosophy that ruled the South with an iron grip.

 

They were ultimately released, but banished from Virginia for 25 years. Mildred and Richard Loving moved to Washington D.C., where they hoped their union would be more accepted. However, city life and ostracism took their toll; they missed their friends and families deeply in Virginia, and the big city was too dirty, expensive and chaotic. They simply wanted to go back to their quiet little hamlet and live peacefully, surrounded by those they loved.

 

Although the Supreme Court would ultimately rule in their favor, it took nine long years for Richard and Mildred's marriage to be officially recognized in 1967. The June decision in Loving v. Virginia formally legalized interracial marriage throughout the United States, as 24 states still had laws against miscegenation. However, despite the ruling, many states were reluctant to amend state law in accordance with federal law, and Alabama became the final state to remove all language referencing miscegenation in 2000.

 

Loving marks a triumph for love and civil rights. Today approximately 12 percent of marriages are interracial, and couples, married or not, no longer have to fear the state invading their intimate privacy on the grounds of racial differences.

 

To learn more about the Lovings or the history of interracial marriage in the U.S., check out these titles:

 

Essential Supreme Court Decisions: Summaries of Leading Cases in U.S. Constitutional Law 

 

Virginia Hasn't Always Been for Lovers: Interracial Marriage Bans and the Case of Richard and Mildred Loving

 

Interracialism: Black-White Intermarriage in American History, Literature, and Law

 

Tell the Court I Love My Wife: Race, Marriage, and Law: An American History

 

-Ariel Slick