TSTC Library News - Library Guides at Texas State Technical College

What is Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints?

09/02/2024

Amanda Suiters

Philosophy & Ethics, English & Composition

Having a clear, compelling point of view on today’s most debated political and social issues requires finding the most credible facts and insights. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints simplifies your search by bringing together thousands of resources to provide authoritative articles, research reports, videos, and statistics. Opposing Viewpoint steers you away from unreliable content that online browsers sometimes serve up and helps you draw your own conclusions about global warming, the minimum wage, and hundreds of other debated topics.

Access at tstc.libguides.com/ovp

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Users Can Now Use Libby Reading App in 10 Languages

08/06/2024

No Subjects

As readers from all backgrounds enjoy eBooks and digital audiobooks on their smartphone or tablet, they’re discovering one of the best resources is their digital college library. To better serve the needs of TSTC’s diverse reading community, the award-winning Libby reading app is now available in ten languages. This new feature allows English and non-English speakers to easily browse and borrow eBooks and audiobooks in their native language.

Libby users can access all the helpful information and guides within the app in Spanish (Latin America), French (Canada), Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Swedish and English. If a user’s device is set to one of these languages, Libby will automatically display in that language.

TSTC serves their diverse community with hundreds of eBooks and audiobooks in a variety of languages for free including Spanish.

Named one of Popular Mechanics’ 20 Best Apps of the Decade, Libby seamlessly connects first-time users and experienced readers with TSTC Library Services' digital collection. Libby was created by OverDrive, the leading digital reading platform for libraries worldwide.

Readers may start reading or listening for free with with their TSTC OneID. This service is compatible with all major computers and devices, iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phones and tablets and Chromebook™. Through Libby, readers can also “send to Kindle®” [U.S. only]. All titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period and there are no late fees. Readers can also download titles onto Libby for offline use.

To get started enjoying ebooks, audiobooks and more, download Libby or visit tstc.libguides.com/overdrive.

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Introducing Libby

07/22/2024

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Introduction to Libby
The free Libby app is the easiest way to get started with eBooks and audiobooks from TSTC Library Services. All you need to do is download the app and sign into our library using your TSTC OneID to begin browsing the digital collection.

Getting Started
Getting started is easy! Just follow these simple instructions:

Install the Libby app from the app store on your Android or iOS device.
In Libby, follow the prompts to find Texas State Technical College and sign in with your TSTC OneID.
Browse the digital collection and borrow a title.

What you'll need:
What do you need to enjoy free instant access to digital eBooks and audiobooks?

Your TSTC OneID
Internet Access
A smartphone, tablet, or eReader (Kindle, Nook, etc)
The free Libby app, which can be downloaded for free from your device's app store

Borrowing Privileges:

Titles are automatically returned at the end of the lending period. No late fees! /li>
Check out up to 3 titles at a time.
Borrow titles for up to 21 days.
You can place a hold on 10 titles at a time.

Quick Tips:

If a title is not available, you can place a hold.

After you place a hold, view your spot in line by going to your Shelf, tapping Holds, then tapping Wait List.

You can view your place in line for a hold.

After you place a hold, go to Shelf > Holds and tap the calendar icon. You'll see your approximate wait time, the number of copies in use, and the number of people waiting.

You can save time by saving your preferences.

Tap Preferences at the top of your library's home screen, or at the top of any list. Adjust your filters and default sorting option. Tap Apply Preferences.

You can explore more book recommendations.

Tap Explore at the top of your library's home screen to discover your next great read. Search by subject, popularity, what's available, and more.

You can add more than one library card.

Tap the Libby icon in the top right corner, then tap Add a Library. You can search by name of zip code.

Need Additional Help?
There is an in-app support feature to help answer frequently asked questions.

Visit: https://help.libbyapp.com/

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Who invented baseball? Doubleday? Cartwright?

06/26/2024

No Subjects

Whether you believe Abner Doubleday or someone else (e.g. Alexander Cartwright) invented American baseball, today we pay homage to the Union general who stepped up to the plate and changed the game forever.

Read this 1916 snippet from the Trenton Evening Times to learn more about his contribution: https://ow.ly/UUx050REotW.

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Architects of Innovation: Women in Engineering

06/23/2024

Engineering

Happy Women in Engineering Day! Today we tip our hats to the women who are the architects of innovation. For those looking to support future Women In STEM leaders, take some lessons from Dr. Cristal Glangchai in her book VentureGirls.

VentureGirls by Cristal Glangchai; Sandy Rustin (Read by)

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780062799586

Publication Date: 2018-05-08

As the female CEO of a tech startup, Dr. Cristal Glangchai was outnumbered twenty to one. At Google, Twitter, and Facebook, women currently fill just ten to twenty percent of technical jobs. Glangchai offers a unique solution based on her own experience as an engineer and entrepreneur as well as the founder of the VentureLab, an academy of entrepreneurship and technology for girls. Practical, accessible, and filled with success stories, VentureGirls argues that a key part of raising strong, confident young women is giving them the tools of entrepreneurship to engage in STEM.

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World Rainforest Day 2024

06/22/2024

Occupational Safety & Environmental Compliance

Did you know that rainforest create their eponymous rain themselves, and this moisture is spread around the globe? This World Rainforest Day, take a look at Tony Juniper's decades long work in rainforest conservation.

Rainforest by Tony Juniper

Type: eBook

ISBN: 9781642830729

Publication Date: 2019-09-19

In Rainforest: Dispatches from Earth's Most Vital Frontlines, a prominent conservationist provides a comprehensive view of the crucial roles rainforests serve, the state of the world's rainforests today, and the inspirational efforts underway to save them. In Rainforest, Tony Juniper draws upon decades of work in rainforest conservation. He brings readers along on his journeys, from the thriving forests of Costa Rica to Indonesia, where palm oil plantations have supplanted much of the former rainforest. Despite many ominous trends, Juniper sees hope for rainforests and those who rely upon them, thanks to developments like new international agreements, corporate deforestation policies, and movements from local and Indigenous communities.

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Navigate Curated Content on Over 300 Issues

06/20/2024

Amanda Suiters

Philosophy & Ethics, English & Composition

Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints helps you easily navigate curated content on over 300 popular issues.

Access at tstc.libguides.com/ovp

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Happy Juneteenth!

06/19/2024

English & Composition

Celebrate diverse voices through the magic of storytelling. Here are a few suggestions to get started!

Nonfiction

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander; Karen Chilton (Narrated by)

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9781464046162

Publication Date: 2012-07-01

Civil rights advocate and accomplished lawyer Michelle Alexander broaches a topic worthy of national conversation. Alexander argues that criminals convicted by our justice system face the same obstacles- legal discrimination and disenfranchisement- African Americans faced during the Jim Crow era.

Becoming by Obama, Michelle

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780525633709

Publication Date: 2018-11-12

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United StatesIn a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

How to Be an Antiracist by Kendi, Ibram X.

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9781984832221

Publication Date: 2019-08-12

Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America—but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it.In this audiobook, Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science, bringing it all together with an engaging personal narrative of his own awakening to antiracism. How to Be an Antiracist is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond an awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a truly just and equitable society.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Angelou, Maya ; Winfrey, Oprah (FRW)

Type: eBook

ISBN: 9781588369253

Publication Date: April 20, 2009

Maya Angelou's debut memoir captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right.

Well-read Black Girl by Edim, Glory

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780525639565

Publication Date: 2018-10-29

An inspiring collection of essays by black women writers, curated by the founder of the popular book club Well-Read Black Girl, on the importance of recognizing ourselves in literature. Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers the rest of their lives-but not everyone regularly sees themselves on the pages of a book. In this timely anthology, Glory Edim brings together original essays by some of our best black women writers to shine a light on how important it is that we all-regardless of gender, race, religion, or ability-have the opportunity to find ourselves in literature.

Fiction

Short Stories

Lot by Bryan Washington

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9781984839664

Publication Date: 2019-03-18

In the city of Houston — a sprawling, diverse microcosm of America — the son of a black mother and a Latino father is coming of age. He's working at his family's restaurant, weathering his brother's blows, resenting his older sister's absence — and discovering he likes boys. Around him, others live and thrive and die in Houston's myriad neighborhoods: a young woman whose affair detonates across an apartment complex, a ragtag baseball team, a group of young hustlers, hurricane survivors, a local drug dealer who takes a Guatemalan teen under his wing, a reluctant chupacabra. Bryan Washington's brilliant, viscerally drawn world vibrates with energy, wit, and the infinite longing of people searching for home. With soulful insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot explores trust and love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms.

Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat; Robin Miles (Narrated by)

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9781501987083

Publication Date: 2019-08-27

Everything Inside is at once wide in scope and intimate, as it explores the forces that pull us together, or drive us apart, sometimes in the same searing instant. In these eight powerful, emotionally absorbing stories, a romance unexpectedly sparks between two wounded friends; a marriage ends for what seem like noble reasons, but with irreparable consequences; a young woman holds on to an impossible dream even as she fights for her survival; two lovers reunite after unimaginable tragedy, both for their country and in their lives; a baby's christening brings three generations of a family to a precarious dance between old and new; a man falls to his death in slow motion, reliving the defining moments of the life he is about to lose.

General Fiction

Americanah by Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780593910450

Publication Date: 2024-02-19

Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be Black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post–9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.

Science Fiction

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler; Lynne Thigpen (Narrated by)

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9781980013952

Publication Date: 2019-01-15

God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman's diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs-and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.

Fantasy

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart; Nicola Lambo (Read by); Tamika Keaton-Donegal (Read by)

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780063063426

Publication Date: 2021-04-20

This Jamaican-inspired fantasy debut about two enemy witches who must enter into a deadly alliance to take down a common enemy has the twisted cat-and-mouse of Killing Eve with the richly imagined fantasy world of Furyborn and Ember in the Ashes. Divided by their order. United by their vengeance. Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom--and vengeance. Jazmyne is the Queen's daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother's power. Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain--except the lengths they will go to win this game.

Beasts of Ruin by Gray, Ayana

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780593414781

Publication Date: 2022-07-25

After having promised to use her new powers to serve Fedu, the cunning god of death, and assist in his plans to remake the world, Koffi finds herself a prisoner in Thornkeep—a luxurious mansion with well-manicured gardens. But Fedu’s beautiful realm is a lie. Koffi and many other darajas are trapped there by a deadly, inscrutable mist, making escape impossible. But something within the mist calls to Koffi, igniting her magic. It soon becomes clear that the very thing imprisoning her could be the key to not only her freedom, but finally unlocking the remaining mysteries of her own magic, allowing her to fight the god of death and perhaps even win.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by James, Marlon

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780525526858

Publication Date: 2019-02-04

In the stunning first novel in Marlon James's Dark Star trilogy, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child. As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying? Drawing from African history and mythology and his own rich imagination, Marlon James has crafted a novel unlike anything that's come before it: a saga of breathtaking adventure that's also an ambitious, involving story.

Romance

Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant; Jordan Cobb (Read by)

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780063058132

Publication Date: 2021-01-05

A charming debut romantic comedy filled with Black Girl Magic. Perfect for fans of Mary H. K. Choi and Nicola Yoon, with crossover appeal for readers of Jasmine Guillory and Talia Hibbert romances. Sixteen-year-old Tessa Johnson has never felt like the protagonist in her own life. She's rarely seen herself reflected in the pages of the romance novels she loves. Tessa just needs to find some inspiration in a real-life love story of her own. And she's ready with a list of romance novel-inspired steps to a happily ever after. She's well on her way to having her own real-life love story, but is it the one she wants, after all?

The Davenports by Marquis, Krystal

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780593634783

Publication Date: 01-30-2023

The Davenports delivers a totally escapist, swoon-worthy romance while offering a glimpse into a period of African American history often overlooked. The Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in a changing United States, their fortune made through the entrepreneurship of William Davenport, a formerly enslaved man who founded the Davenport Carriage Company years ago. Now it's 1910, and the Davenports live surrounded by servants, crystal chandeliers, and endless parties, finding their way and finding love—even where they’re not supposed to. Inspired by the real-life story of the Patterson family, The Davenports is the tale of four determined and passionate young Black women discovering the courage to steer their own path in life—and love.

Coming of Age

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; Bahni Turpin (Read by)

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780062677082

Publication Date: 2017-02-28

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer.

Swing Time by Smith, Zadie

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780735205642

Publication Date: 2016-11-13

Two brown girls dream of being dancers-but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It's a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either. Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend leaves the old neighborhood behind, traveling the world as an assistant to a famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one percent live. But when Aimee develops grand philanthropic ambitions, the story moves from London to West Africa, where diaspora tourists travel back in time to find their roots, young men risk their lives to escape into a different future, the women dance just like Tracey-the same twists, the same shakes-and the origins of a profound inequality are not a matter of distant history, but a present dance to the music of time.

The Vanishing Half by Bennett, Brit

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780525637165

Publication Date: 2020-06-01

From the New York Times best-selling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, Southern black community and running away at age 16, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.

Satire

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Braithwaite, Oyinkan

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780525643296

Publication Date: 2018-11-19

Korede is bitter. How could she not be? Her sister, Ayoola, is many things: the favorite child, the beautiful one, possibly sociopathic. And now Ayoola's third boyfriend in a row is dead. Korede's practicality is the sisters' saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood, the trunk of her car is big enough for a body, and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures of her dinner to Instagram when she should be mourning her "missing" boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit. Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she's exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola's phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she's willing to go to protect her. Sharp as nails and full of deadpan wit, Oyinkan Braithwaite's deliciously deadly debut is as fun as it is frightening.

James by Percival Everett

Type: eBook

ISBN: 9780385550376

Publication Date: 2024-03-19

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.

Historical Fiction

Homegoing by Gyasi, Yaa

Type: eAudio

ISBN: 9780451484192

Publication Date: 2024-06-05

The unforgettable New York Times best seller begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia's descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. The other thread follows Esi and her children into America. From the plantations of the South to the Civil War and the Great Migration, from the coal mines of Pratt City, Alabama, to the jazz clubs and dope houses of twentieth-century Harlem, right up through the present day. Homegoing makes history visceral, and captures, with singular and stunning immediacy, how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation.

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Its Fathers Day!

06/16/2024

No Subjects

Let's not forget to celebrate fathers and father figures everywhere. Learn about how this dad-tastic holiday came to be!

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Camping Adventures Await

06/12/2024

No Subjects

Gather 'round, fellow adventurers! Trade in blue light and social media for a starry night and campfire stories. Unplug and recharge in your very own backyard.

Millions of Americans enjoy camping trips and they've been doing so for more than a century. You can find the history of American Camping and more at your library.

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