South College Library Blog

We’re excited to announce the launch of the South College Institutional Repository! The South College Institutional Repository, managed by the Department of Library Services, serves as a hub for the preservation and dissemination of scholarly works produced by the South College community. This digital archive facilitates the discovery of research and academic contributions from faculty, staff, and students.

The Institutional Repository serves to:

• Preserve and provide long-term access to scholarly output.
• Enhance the visibility and impact of South College research.
• Facilitate scholarly communication and collaboration.

While currently featuring graduate theses, dissertations, and capstone projects, the repository welcomes submissions from faculty, staff, and students across various formats.

The link to the IR can be found on the Library homepage.

Want more information about the Institutional Repository? See the Institutional Repository Information Page on the library website under the Resources tab. 

And if you're looking for a quick guide to searching the repository, we've created a handy video tutorial called "Institutional Repository 2025" to help you navigate and find what you need.

Take a moment to explore the Institutional Repository and see the amazing work being done here at South College!

Did you know that the South College Library provides students, faculty, and staff access to over 100,000 eBooks? Find eBooks related to your academic studies, personal interests, and self-improvement. Do you enjoy reading fiction books? The library’s collection includes novels, collections of short stories, and poetry too.  

Leading with Love and Laughter: Letting Go and Getting Real at Work by Zina Sutch & Patrick Malone 

Leadership is often seen as a set of skills, not a human connection. Zina Sutch and Patrick Malone argue that effective leadership requires love and laughter. Science supports this, showing that empathy and positive emotions lead to better decisions and motivation. However, traditional leadership training focuses on technical skills, neglecting emotional intelligence. The authors emphasize the importance of caring for employees and fostering a positive work environment. By leading with love and laughter, leaders can build stronger teams, improve performance, and boost morale. 

Taking Care of Our Own: When Family Caregivers Do Medical Work by Sherry N. Mong 

Mixing personal history, interviewee voices, and academic theory from the fields of care work, the sociology of work, medical sociology, and nursing, Taking Care of Our Own introduces us to the hidden world of family caregivers. Using a multidimensional approach, Sherry N. Mong seeks to understand and analyze the types of skilled work that family caregivers do, the processes through which they learn and negotiate new skills, and the meanings that both caregivers and nurses attach to their care work. Taking Care of Our Own is based on sixty-two in-depth interviews with family caregivers, home and community health care nurses, and other expert observers to provide a lens through which in-home care processes are analyzed, while also exploring how caregivers learn necessary procedures. Further, Mong examines the emotional labor of caregiving, as well as the identities of caregivers and nurses who are key players in the labor process and gives attention to the ways in which the labor is transferred from medical professionals to family caregivers. 

The Remote Worker's Handbook: How to Work Effectively from Anywhere by The Staff of Entrepreneur Media & Jason R. Rich 

Remote work offers unparalleled flexibility and freedom. Top companies like Apple, Amazon, and UnitedHealth Group are embracing hybrid and remote models, allowing you to shape your career around your lifestyle. The Remote Worker's Handbook provides the essential tools and strategies to thrive in this new era of work. Learn how to master remote work, from effective time management techniques and virtual communication strategies to building strong professional relationships online. Discover how to optimize your workspace, whether it's a dedicated home office or a co-working space, and leverage the power of cloud-based tools, virtual calendars, and free services to boost productivity. With The Remote Worker's Handbook, you'll gain the knowledge and skills to navigate the remote work landscape, advance your career, and unlock your full potential. 

Art Therapy with Veterans by Rachel Mims 

This informative guide explores the use of art therapy in various settings to support military veterans. With contributions from diverse experts, the book offers valuable insights into the effectiveness of this approach, including its use in addressing military sexual trauma, moral injury, and countertransference. By highlighting successful programs and providing practical guidance, this resource empowers therapists to offer essential support to veterans and inspire the development of future initiatives in military communities. 

Carrying On: Another School of Thought on Pregnancy and Health by Brittany Clair 

In the 21st century, expecting parents are overwhelmed by conflicting advice. Carrying On offers a unique perspective, tracing the origins of common pregnancy practices. By exploring the historical context of prenatal vitamins, weight gain guidelines, ultrasounds, and birth plans, the book empowers parents to make informed decisions. It provides the necessary context to navigate the complexities of modern pregnancy care and challenges conventional wisdom. 

Data & Analytics for Instructional Designers by Megan Torrance 

Data and Analytics for Instructional Designers equips instructional designers with the tools to harness the power of data. By exploring key concepts, data specifications, and learning metrics, this book provides a practical guide to using data to design, improve, and evaluate learning experiences. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, this book offers clear explanations, real-world examples, and actionable steps to help you make data-driven decisions and enhance the effectiveness of your learning programs. 

It’s clear that the digital age is upon us, and information is moving faster than ever. Let’s take love letters and Valentine’s Day, for example. Although it is a holiday that lives in extremes (you either love to hate it or hate to love it) as soon as the Christmas decorations come down, stores are filled to the brim with pink hearts and chocolates for your love.  

At its onset, the holiday we celebrate today may have been unrecognizable to many of us. The earliest versions of Valentine’s Day are believed to stem from a pagan holiday, Lupercalia, which celebrated fertility. Men and women were paired together when their names were drawn from a hat, and “valentines” were exchanged. (Hiru News, 2024).   

Later, the holiday underwent a Christian makeover and was named for a Catholic priest whose deeds blur the line between fact and legend. Legend has it that when a Roman emperor outlawed marriage for young, able-bodied men, believing single soldiers served the empire better, St. Valentine secretly married lovers. He was eventually caught and executed, but not before penning a final love letter to his sweetheart, signed “Love, your Valentine.” (Salem Press, 2024).  

From there, the holiday grew into a widely celebrated day of love and romance. People continued writing handwritten notes for their valentines until the invention of the printing press, which made mass production of such cards possible.  

Fast forward to the late 20th century and the rise of the internet, and we see the emergence of email; a brand-new way to send a little e-honey. Declarations of love could now be shared not only with your valentines but also with 300 of your closest friends and family in the form of words, graphs, exploding GIFs, and much more. We no longer have to wait days or weeks to receive messages, and it is fascinating to think about how quickly the landscape of communication has changed.  

At South College, we are committed to staying at the forefront of the digital age. All the resources and methods today’s students and leaders need can be found on our library website. Whether you are looking for inspiration from a 17th-century poet on the meaning of love or the latest research on stem cells, you will find it cataloged within our vast databases.  

For example, I used our library database’s concept map tool to explore the history of Valentine’s Day. This is an excellent resource for beginning research on a topic. It generates a web of related topics that you can add to your search or expand into a new map with a different central focus. For visual learners, this tool is invaluable for connecting large concepts and data, enabling more holistic research. To access this map and other tools navigate to the library homepage, and under the search bar click “Advanced search”. You will find the concept map under “Research tools”.  

So, this Valentine’s Day, while reflecting on how love letters have evolved over centuries, consider exploring the library’s resources. You might just find inspiration for your next declaration of love or your next big research project!  

References  

History of Valentine's Day, and why we celebrate. (2024, February 14). Hiru News.   

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A782381925/STND?u=southcollege&sid=ebsco&xid=bb08259e  

St. Valentine’s Day. (2024). Salem Press Encyclopedia.   

https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=566eccea-c07e-3b31-b370-cb0109e82176