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Leeward Community College

The Big Library Read: A Very Typical Family

July 13, 2023 by Cheryl | 0 comments

Screenshot of cover art for A Very Typical Family.

The Big Library Read, hosted by OverDrive, comes but thrice a year. If you’ve been wanting to join in on the fun, you’re in luck! The summer Big Library Read is happening NOW, July 13-27, 2023.

Billed as “the first global ebook club,” the Big Library Read offers one title, free of charge, to OverDrive users around the world. This summer’s selection is A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey.

About the book

Cover photo of A Very Typical Family.

Natalie Walker is the reason her older brother and sister went to prison over 15 years ago. She fled California shortly after that fateful night and hasn’t spoken to anyone in her family since. Now, on the same day her boyfriend steals her dream job out from under her, Natalie receives a letter from a lawyer saying her estranged mother has died and left the family’s historic Santa Cruz house to her. Sort of. The only way for Natalie and her siblings to inherit is for all three adult children to come back and claim it—together.

Written with delightfully dark humor and characters you can’t help but cheer for, A Very Typical Family is an uplifting family drama that will have you reveling in the power of second chances.

Accessing the book on OverDrive

Ready to read? Just click on these direct links to access A Very Typical Family on OverDrive:

If this is your first time using OverDrive, you’re in for a treat! More than 500 ebooks and 4,700 magazines are available for your reading pleasure. We also have a small (but growing) selection of audiobooks–perfect for making those long commutes a little more bearable.

OverDrive screenshot.

For reading on the go, be sure to check out OverDrive’s mobile app, Libby. Borrow ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines, then read/listen to them right from the app. You may also manage your loans, even across different OverDrive library collections (such as the Hawaii State Public Library System’s). Click on the graphic below for a video introduction to Libby.

Libby promotional graphic.

A discussion board for A Very Typical Family is available, but beware of spoilers! Happy reading!

New Ebooks on JSTOR

May 9, 2023 by Cheryl | 0 comments

Images of book covers from new JSTOR ebooks.

More good news for ebook lovers! We have recently gained access to 8,000+ titles on JSTOR, including more than 1,000 from University of Hawaiʻi Press! A few notable titles are pictured below.




Cover image of Night is a Sharkskin Drum.

Night is a Sharkskin Drum

Haunani-Kay Trask


Cover image of Kanaka Oiwi Methodologies: Moolelo and Metaphor.

Kanaka ʻŌiwi Methodologies: Moʻolelo and Metaphor

Katrina-Ann R. Kapā‘anaokalāokeola Nākoa Oliveira




Unlike many other database platforms, JSTOR puts no restrictions on the number of simultaneous users or the amount of material that may be downloaded and/or printed from each licensed ebook.

Our JSTOR ebooks are included in our Library Catalog (Primo), but exploring the JSTOR platform directly may also be helpful, since book chapters and journal articles are integrated and cross-searchable.

To access JSTOR, start at our A-Z Databases page and select JSTOR from the list. As with all of our electronic resources, access is available to current Leeward faculty, staff, and students. If you are off campus, you may be prompted to enter your UH login credentials first.

Screenshot of JSTOR home page showing Leeward CC access indication and search terms in search box.

If you see the “Access provided by Leeward Community College” message at the top of the page, you are ready to discover our licensed content on JSTOR. To get started, enter your search terms in the box. If you are looking for a specific book title or author, you may select the appropriate option show in the drop-down menu.

Screenshot of JSTOR search results page showing filters for "Content I can access" and "Book Chapters."

The filters in the left sidebar allow you to refine your search results. Although we have more than 8,000 licensed ebooks on JSTOR, we do NOT have access to every title on the platform, so it is a good idea to keep the “Content I can access” button checked. To filter for book content (not journals), select the “Book Chapters” box.

This 7-minute video offers helpful tips for searching JSTOR.

For more information on JSTOR, including working with items of interest and using the Text Analyzer tool, please see this earlier blog post.


New Hawaiʻi-Pacific Ebooks!

May 2, 2023 by Cheryl | 0 comments

Cover shots of various new ebooks.

We are excited to provide new electronic access to some treasured Hawaiʻi-Pacific titles!




Cover image of Fragments of Hawaiian History.

Fragments of Hawaiian History

John Papa ʻĪʻī


Cover image of Ruling Chiefs of Hawaiʻi.

Ruling Chiefs of Hawaiʻi

Samuel Kamakau



Other new additions:

Tales of the Menehune
Mary Kawena Pukui

Hawaiʻi Island Legends: Pele, Pīkoi, and Others
Mary Kawena Pukui

Arts and Crafts of Hawaiʻi
Peter Henry Buck

Folktales of Hawaiʻi = He Mau Kaʻao Hawaiʻi
Mary Kawena Pukui

He Moʻolelo Kaʻao o Kamapuaʻa = [A Legendary Tradition of Kamapuaʻa, the Hawaiian Pig-God]
Lilikalā Kame’eleihiwa

The Works of the People of Old = Na Hana a ka Po’e Kahiko
Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau

Ka Poʻe Kahiko = The People of Old
Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau

Tales and Traditions of the People of Old = Nā Moʻolelo o ka Poʻe Kahiko
Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau

Please note that most of these ebooks are limited to one simultaneous user, so if another person is currently accessing the book, you may need to check back a little later.

As with all of our electronic resources, access is available to current Leeward faculty, staff, and students. If you are off campus, you may be prompted to enter your UH login credentials first.

Electronic Resource Access Models

June 21, 2022 by Cheryl | 0 comments

Line drawing of a person with a frustrated expression, looking at a computer.
“I could have sworn I saw it here before . . . “

Has this ever happened to you? You stumble upon a series on Netflix, watch every episode, and really enjoy it. A year later, you decide to re-watch it, only to find that it has vanished without a trace! What happened?

In short, Netflix doesn’t own all of the content that is made available through the platform. They negotiate licensing agreements with the content owners, and some of these agreements expire. If you want guaranteed access to your favorite show, you usually need to purchase it, either on DVD or through a different streaming service.

Many of the library’s electronic resources operate in much the same manner. Read on to learn about two of our main access models–subscription and perpetual–and how the type of model may affect the resources you use.

Subscription model

Drawing depicting a financial transaction between a streaming video company and a user.

With the subscription model, we usually pay an annual fee that gives our users access to everything that is currently included in the collection. Examples of subscription resources:

What’s great about this model?

  • It offers a large amount of content that would be unaffordable if purchased individually.
  • The collections are continually refreshed with new content.
  • There is usually no limit to the number of simultaneous users.

What’s not so great about this model?

  • We cannot select the individual titles included in the collections.
  • A relatively small amount of content is removed periodically, and we have no control over what is removed.

If you’ve ever found yourself in a situation where you can’t find an ebook or video that you know you’ve seen before, chances are it was a subscription title that was removed from the platform. Vendors generally add and remove content throughout the year, but some do their large removals in the summer and at the end of the year.

For example, this is the list of ebooks that will be removed from Ebook Central after June 30, and this is the list of videos leaving Academic Video Online after July 11.

Perpetual access model

An hourglass on its side.

With the perpetual access model, we purchase the titles we want, and they are ours for as long as we have access to the platform. This purchasing model is available on many of the same platforms that offer subscription collections.

What’s great about this model?

  • We select only the titles we want, so we have greater control over the collection.
  • These titles will not disappear unexpectedly.
  • Some ebooks are priced for one, three, or unlimited simultaneous users, so we may select the option that best fits our needs.

What’s not so great about this model?

  • Not all titles are available for purchase, and some are only available for one user at a time.
  • Prices can be very high, depending on the title.
  • Titles in rapidly changing fields will be outdated in a few years.

How can I tell if the ebook or video I want to use for my class is going to be there for sure?

Unfortunately, you probably can’t tell, so it’s best that you contact your library liaison or lccref@hawaii.edu to check. If your title is part of a subscription package, it is sometimes possible to purchase it under a perpetual access model, as well. For some streaming videos, limited-term licenses may also be available; this works well in situations where the video is needed for 1-3 years, but not permanently.

Memo pad with "remember" written on it.

The key takeaway here is that it is a good idea to contact us if you are planning to use an ebook, streaming video, or other library resource for a class assignment or other important purpose. We cannot guarantee that perpetual access will be available for everything, but we will make every effort to prevent unpleasant surprises from happening.

Now, if Netflix would only bring back Friends . . .

Cameron’s Collection for Student Mental Health

April 13, 2021 by Cheryl | 0 comments

The library is pleased to provide access to Cameron’s Collection for Student Mental Health, a set of 30 ebooks curated by Gale eBooks.  The collection provides easy-to-read information on mental health topics relevant to college students, such as anxiety, depression, addiction, positive psychology, wellness, and more.  While not a substitute for professional care, the collection may be useful for students who wish to explore these topics privately for personal use or research.

Leeward students, faculty and staff may access the collection via our A-Z Databases page.  Off-campus users may be prompted to enter UH login credentials.

A-Z Databases screenshot

Click on any title to view the ebook, or do a search across all titles in the collection:

Screenshot showing Cameron's Collection main page and search feature

Screenshot showing search results

Gale eBooks’ document tools allow you to change the font size, listen to the text being read aloud, translate it into many different languages, download/print the pdf file, and more.

Screenshot showing Gale eBooks document tools

If you have any questions about this collection or any of our other library resources, please contact us via email (lccref@hawaii.edu), phone (455-0379), or live chat.

New Best Sellers: Jan 19-22

January 19, 2021 by An | 0 comments

Best Sellers Collection

Click on the book’s image to place a hold in the book’s Primo record. Use the “Get It” feature to make the request.

Tower of Nero Vanishing half : a novel Pull of the stars

Looking for a book that we currently don’t have in our collection? Please suggest a book title by filling out our Best Sellers & OverDrive Suggestion Form.

New Best Sellers and OverDrive Reads – December 2020

December 14, 2020 by Jason Yamashita | 0 comments

Best Sellers Collection

Click on the book’s image to place a hold in the book’s Primo record. Use the “Get It” feature to make the request.

A burning: a novel Djinn patrol on the purple line: a novel The dragons, the giant, the women: a memoir Infinity son Mexican Gothic The rise of magicks Untamed Utopia Avenue: a novel

OverDrive Collection 

Click on the book’s image below to access the item’s Primo Search record. In the record’s “View Online” section, the provided link will direct you to borrowing in OverDrive. Note: Long Time Coming is an audiobook read by the author, Michael Eric Dyson.

"Divided We Fall book cover." "Long Time Coming book cover." "From Equity Talk to Equity Walk book cover." "How to See Yourself as You Really Are book cover." "The Big Sort book cover."

Featured OverDrive sub-collection this month: Job and Career Preparation.

Are you new to using OverDrive? We have some tips for you on our OverDrive Collection Basics LibGuide.

Looking for a book that we currently don’t have in our collection? Please suggest a book title by filling out our Best Sellers & OverDrive Suggestion Form.

We Are Thankful for New Best Sellers and OverDrive Reads

November 20, 2020 by Jason Yamashita | 0 comments

Best Sellers Collection [New Window]

Click on the book’s image to place a hold in the book’s Primo record. Use the “Get It” feature to make the request.

All boys aren't blue : a memoir-manifesto Black girl unlimited : the remarkable story of a teenage wizard The color of air : a novel If it bleeds Magic lessons : the prequel to practical magic Our time is now : power, purpose, and the fight for a fair America The room where it happened: a White House memoir Stamped : racism, antiracism, and you The world that we knew : a novel

OverDrive Collection [New Window]

Click on the book’s image below to access the item’s Primo Search record. In the record’s “View Online” section, the provided link will direct you to borrowing in OverDrive [New Window]. These titles are also featured in the “Race, Civil Rights, Equality…Zeitgeist!” sub-collection [New Window].

"Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man book cover." "Just Us: An American Conversation book cover."

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man – Inspired by Emmanuel Acho’s YouTube channel [New Window], this is the audiobook format for this 11/10/20 publication.

Just Us: An American Conversation – Watch Claudia Rankine discuss her inventive and timely new book [New Window] for the Chicago Humanities Festival on 9/24/20.

Also available on OverDrive: Shuggie Bain [New Window] by Douglas Stuart, the 2020 winner of The Booker Prize for Fiction.

 

Looking for a book that we currently don’t have in our collection? Please suggest a book title by filling out our Best Sellers & OverDrive Suggestion Form [New Window].

New Best Sellers and OverDrive Reads – November 2020

November 2, 2020 by Jason Yamashita | 0 comments

Best Sellers Collection [New Window]

Click on the book’s image to place a hold in the book’s Primo record. Use the “Get It” feature to make the request.

The Black Flamingo A long petal of the sea : a novel My dark Vanessa : a novel The last romantics The ballad of songbirds and snakes House of earth and blood : a Crescent City novel Supernova The mermaid, the witch, and the sea The perfect fraud : a novel Apeirogon : a novel The great Gatsby : the graphic novel Food fix : how to save our health, our economy, our communities, and our planet--one bite at a time Atomic women : the untold stories of the scientists who helped create the nuclear bomb Why we're polarized

OverDrive Collection [New Window]

Click on the book’s image below to access the item’s Primo Search record. In the record’s “View Online” section, the provided link will direct you to borrowing in OverDrive [New Window].

"And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again." "Along Together book cover." "YouTube Channels for Dummies."

Featured OverDrive sub-collection this month: For Your Health and Wellness [New Window]

Are you new to using OverDrive? We have some tips for you on our OverDrive Collection Basics LibGuide [New Window].

Looking for a book that we currently don’t have in our collection? Please suggest a book title by filling out our Best Sellers & OverDrive Suggestion Form [New Window].

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