Introduction To Library Resources

The library offers many sources of high-quality information. From the library home page you will be able to find library hours and contact information, a floor plan, and additional resources to help you.

Print Resources

The library catalog lets you look up printed books, as well as material in audio-visual formats. Change the drop-down list from Chemeketa Community College to All CCRLS libraries in order to view and request books from other libraries in the system. You can also pass your search through to Summit, the catalog of 34 college and university libraries in Oregon and Washington. You can request items from the CCRLS libraries or from Summit and have them delivered to a library that is convenient for you. For more information, see

Your ID card is your library card. You can also use a public library card from a library in the CCRLS district. Books check out for three weeks at a time. Magazines and journals check out for one week at a time. The periodicals that the library subscribes to are indexed in our article databases.

Electronic Resources

The library has many resources available in electronic form. Most are available through the library's Database Page. If using databases from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password. Host-provider students may obtain a special user name and password from their instructor.

Electronic books
Online reference books
Articles from magazines, journals, and newspapers
Other reference databases
Streaming video

Online Reference Books

Oxford Reference Online: Premium Collection has hundreds of full text reference books published by Oxford University Press, combining "quick reference coverage of the full subject spectrum with the rich resources of the Oxford Companions." Users can search a single source or the whole collection, which includes numerous subject dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, English dictionaries, and quotations & proverbs. The Oxford Companions are one-volume subject encyclopedias.

Gale Virtual Reference Library has the full text of reference resources primarily related to art, history and psychology. For a complete list of titles go to Gale Virtual Reference Library and click on "Title List."

Literature Resource Center has the contents of many literary reference books published by Gale. It also contains literary criticism appearing in journal articles.

Finding Articles

The library has many indexes to magazines and newspapers available in paper or electronically from our database page. Some of the most popular resources are:

Gale databases: The library subscribes to more than 20 databases through a service called Gale. Gale databases include both general and specialized subject databases. One of the most general databases is Academic OneFile How to use, which has the full text of thousands of magazines and journals. It indexes the majority of Chemeketa's paper periodicals, as well.
Issues & Controversies How to use: This is a magazine that the library subscribes to online. Issues & Controversies covers current and controversial subjects. *A good place to look for a current topic, if you don't have a very specific idea.
CQ Researcher How to use: Like Issues & Controversies, this is a current-events magazine available online or in the library's reference collection. *A good place to look for a current topic, if you don't have a very specific idea.
Oregonian How to use: Full text of the Oregonian newspaper.

If using databases from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password.

• How to use the indexes •

All the online indexes are easy, but each works in a slightly different way.

Issues & Controversies and CQ Researcher

Just click on the name of the database. You will see a small search box at the left side of the computer screen. Type a key word, for example "family," and press the Enter key. A list of topics will appear at right. Just click on the one you like.

If using databases from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password.

Academic OneFile

If using databases from off campus, you will need your My Chemeketa user name and password.

Once you have chosen your database by clicking on Academic OneFile, a screen with a search space will appear. Type your search word or phrase in the space. For more complete instructions, see How to Use Gale Periodicals Databases.

Many articles have links to full text, where you can read or print the article online. If an article has full text, you can also e-mail it to yourself. More information on printing, saving, and e-mailing articles is at the Gale database instructions page.

If the magazine is one the library has in printed form, you will need the name of the magazine and the date to find it on the shelf.

Oregonian

There is a page on how to use the Oregonian online at http://library.chemeketa.edu/instruction/oregonian.htm.

Other Reference Databases

Some reference databases are available only on campus. Some, such as ReferenceUSA, which contains U.S. business and residential directories, or ARTsource, which has images, are available remotely.

Streaming Video

Theatre in Video has high-quality, professional productions of plays in streaming video format. It is available both on and off campus.

Obtaining Materials from Other Library Systems

If the article you want is not available online or in our library system, you can request an interlibrary loan.

Please allow extra time for interlibrary loan. The amount of time needed depends on many factors, including how many libraries have the item. It may take from a few days to several weeks; allow a minimum of one week.

Internet Sources

To find Internet sources for your topic, try the Useful Sites or Search Tools at the library's Internet Search Center. Sections of special interest on Useful Sites include Statistics, Speech, Writing, and Government & Law.

Citing Your Sources

If you need to turn in a list of your sources, you will need to know how to cite them in MLA or APA format. General guides are available in "Useful Sites, Writing" (see section above). Citation formats for electronic resources to which Chemeketa subscribes, including those on this page, are given at Citing Sources From Online Databases.

Getting Help

For help with information resources, phone Chemeketa's friendly reference librarians at 503-399-5231, e-mail reference@chemeketa.edu, or use our online form.

Updated by Reference.