In observance of Memorial Day, The Sue Shaffer Learning Commons & Library will be closed on Monday, May 26. We pause to honor and remember the brave men and women who have given their lives in service to our country. Regular hours with resume on Tuesday, May 27. We wish everyone a safe and meaningful holiday.
For a complete list of hours click here.
Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), held annually on the third Thursday in May, promotes digital access and inclusion for the over one billion people worldwide with disabilities. GAAD highlights the importance of creating equitable and innovative digital experiences for all users.
The UCC Library supports digital inclusion through tools and platforms designed with accessibility in mind:
These are just a few of the many resources available that reflect our ongoing effort to make digital learning environments more usable and effective for everyone.
The UCC Library provides a comprehensive array of services to ensure that students, faculty, and staff with disabilities can fully engage with our resources and facilities. These include:
These services are provided in partnership with the UCC Office for Accessibility Services, and students are encouraged to reach out early to explore how accommodations can enhance their academic experience.
The UCC Library also leads initiatives to promote digital accessibility and universal design across campus. The Digital Accessibility Guide serves as a valuable resource for students, staff, and faculty. It includes:
We encourage everyone to explore these tools and consider how accessible design benefits all users. By prioritizing accessibility, we contribute to a more inclusive, effective digital world. Help us on the road to accessibility.
May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month—a time to honor and celebrate the rich cultures, histories, and contributions of AANHPI communities to the fabric of American life. From culinary delights to influential music and movies, such as Flower Drum Song, on Kanopy. AANHPI individuals have shaped our world in countless ways.
Did you know that instruments like the slide guitar and ukulele, rooted in Hawaiian culture, have influenced genres such as blues music? You can find videos on Or that AANHPI innovators contributed to the development of everyday technology like USBs and made vital advances in medicine, including the development of birth control for women?
You can also explore powerful personal stories like George Takei’s They Called Us Enemy, a graphic memoir that recounts his childhood experience in Japanese American internment camps during World War II.
Explore more about these incredible contributions through Gale OneFile: U.S. History and our library’s curated collection. Stop by to discover, learn, and celebrate!
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a crucial time dedicated to breaking the stigma surrounding mental health and encouraging open, compassionate conversations. It's a reminder that mental well-being is just as important as physical health and that seeking support is a sign of strength, not weakness. Whether it's through therapy, talking with loved ones, or simply taking time for self-care, this month invites us all to prioritize our emotional and psychological health—both for ourselves and those around us. Let's use this opportunity to educate, advocate, and support mental health every day.
The library offers many resources to help with good mental health. Films on Demand offers a valuable collection of videos addressing mental health and the stigma surrounding it.
Gale: health and wellness offers articles that support your mental health with mindfulness. Simple mindfulness exercises can be easily integrated into your daily routine.
Don't forget to stop by the library and explore our collection of mental health resources. Titles like The Mindful Way Through Anxiety: Break Free From Chronic Worry and Reclaim Your Life offer valuable insights and practical tools for navigating life with greater ease and self-compassion.
Let’s use this month as an opportunity to learn, support one another, and make mental health a daily priority.
“April showers, bring May Flowers” that is because April is National Gardening Month.
This month is a time to start planning your gardens and making them fruitful. We have many books to help you start planning your flower or vegetable garden, such as “Starter Vegetable Gardens”.
Watch shows such as the “Science of Gardening” which is available via Kanopy to help you learn how to get started! Also check our databases for more articles to help plant those wonderful gardens.
Looking for tips on how to get your children involved? Try reading this article by Sharon Cornwall, “Gardening with Children." Want to learn to garden in a new way? Check out “Planting by the Moons Phase” published in the 2025 Old Farmer's Almanac available via Gardening and Horticulture (a Gale OneFile database).
Grief is the word commonly used to refer to an individual’s or group’s shared experience following a loss. The experience of grief is not a momentary or singular phenomenon. Instead, it is a variable and somewhat predictable process of life.
From “Grief and Guilt” by Layne Prest (2024)
Life has its ups and its downs, its highs and its lows. Different people handle different situations in a multitude of ways. No matter who you are, no matter what you are going through, you are not alone. There is always some to talk to, there is always a reason to go on.
The UCC Library has a number of resources to help you understand and process what you are going through. Below you will find a listing of some of these resources (articles, books, eBooks, & films). You can access these digital materials by clicking on the links and logging in with your 800#. For physical resources, please visit us during regular library hours.
Art Therapy Has Many Faces: With Judith Aron Rubin. Produced by Judith Rubin, Psychotherapy.net, 2004. Kanopy, www.kanopy.com/en/umpqua/video/94838.
Bovens, Luc. Coping: A Philosophical Guide. Open Book, 2021. eBook Open Access (OA) Collection, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=a461f73e-6607-3e5a-bcf6-ba3d16cf1693.
Crowley, David. Time to Grieve: Daily Devotional Essays. CreateSpace, 2013.
Doka, Kenneth J. Living with Grief: Before and after the Death. Hospice Foundation of America, 2007.
Fisher, Shelley, and Jennifer Jones, editors. Breaking Sad: What to Say after Loss, What Not to Say, and When to Just Show up. She Writes Press, 2017. research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=711fdf03-975b-3f5d-900d-3ec99a34640a.
Frydenberg, Erica. Coping in Good Times and Bad: Developing Fortitude. Melbourne University, 2022. eBook Academic Collection, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=5ca5f615-65cf-3ddf-a86e-b5db353022eb.
Guide to Grief and Healing: What Is Grief. Produced by Injoy Productions, Films Media Group, 2018. Films On Demand, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=238702&xtid=284827.
Hooyman, Nancy R., et al. Living through Loss: Interventions across the Life Span. 2nd ed., Columbia University Press, 2021. eBook Academic Collection, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=28c84eac-41ef-3b03-b636-6de4264311dc.
How Your Brain Copes with Grief. Produced by John Medina, The Great Courses, 2014. Kanopy, www.kanopy.com/en/umpqua/video/5733551.
Powers, Susan. Ruthless Grieving: The Journey to Acceptance and beyond. Mystic Mermaid Publishing, 2015.
Prest, Layne A. "Grief and Guilt." Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health, Salem Press, 2024. Research Starters, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=32798043-291b-36c4-b380-8d4e56883774.
Renzenbrink, Irene. An Expressive Arts Approach to Healing Loss and Grief: Working across the Spectrum of Loss with Individuals and Communities. Jessica Kingsley, 2021. eBook Academic Collection, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=249a17fc-6413-35ce-8854-6886d6889258.
Reynolds, Charles F., III, et al. Grief and Prolonged Grief Disorder. American Psychiatric Association, 2023. eBook Academic Collection, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=80212623-a8bf-3f53-a261-ae1563871a61.
Volume 1: A Meaning-based Model (Grief Therapy Masterclass: Advanced Skills in Working through Loss). Produced by Psychotherapy.net, Films Media Group, 2023. Films On Demand, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=238702&xtid=296271.
The Wellness Series: Coping with Loss - the Process of Mourning. Directed by Alan Chriest, TMW Media, 2020. Kanopy, www.kanopy.com/en/umpqua/video/10283948.
Yalom, Irvin, and Marilyn Yalom. A Matter of Death and Life. Redwood Press, 2021. eBook Academic Collection, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=f8fa8435-2c71-344d-bcf3-b2dbc0d225cb.
For further readings, see this section of the Douglas County Resource Guide.
Library Staff are gearing up for our second annual library collection inventory. We will be physically scanning every single item in our library collection. We will also be reaching out to individuals who have items checked out to ensure they are aware of them.
We are asking you (faculty, staff, students, and community members alike), to see if you have any library items that are past due. If so, please return them to the library as soon as possible. Books can always be returned via our external book drop (in the parking lot), and everything (books, laptops, calculators, etc…) can be returned to our library circulation desk during our regular library hours.
The inventory will take place during the month of May. It should not interrupt our normal operations, and we will remain open during our regular library hours.
This helps us maintain an accurate list of all library materials currently owned by the college. It also helps us to identify gaps in our collection, and informs us what we need to purchase in the upcoming fiscal year.
Stay tuned for the next update!
This celebratory day is held annually on Thursday of National Library Week.
It's a day to rally advocates to support libraries. A specific action will be announced by ALA's Public Policy & Advocacy Office during National Library Week.
Follow @librarypolicy and @amlibraryassoc on Bluesky and other American Library Association social media channels for updates.
This year, as library funding is under attack, ALA encourages every library advocate to Show Up for Our Libraries by telling Congress to protect federal support for libraries. Use our tools below to take action and go to ala.org/showup for even more ways to take action for libraries.
Use this form to make a call in support of federal library funding. Enter your address in the form, and then click the call button to receive a phone call that connects you with your elected officials.
Call on Congress to protect IMLS
Use this form to email your members of Congress. Enter your address in the form, and then click the "Send email" button to contact your elected officials. Your message can be customized--tell your story!
Email Congress to protect IMLS
Follow this link for social media graphics and sample social posts to help get the word out!
Wednesday, April 9: National Library Outreach Day (formerly National Bookmobile Day), a day to celebrate library outreach and the dedicated library professionals who are meeting their patrons where they are.
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Library outreach at a Community College looks different than it may at a public library. We may not operate a bookmobile, but we offer a variety of services beyond traditional library services.
Did you know that we offer a digital chat service? Did you know that we offer Library Instruction sessions in your classrooms? Did you know that the library will lend resources (including staff) to help promote the College?
Do you have an idea of a way the UCC Library can provide more outreach? Tell us! You can reach library staff via the library website, your Canvas course shell, or text (541-835-8146, standard text-messaging rates apply)! You can also fill out the
Stay tuned for more information tomorrow on Take Action for Libraries Day!
Photography Month- Embrace the Journey
May is National Photography Month-a time to celebrate the art technique and creativity behind every great photo. Whether you're just picking up a camera for the first time or have years of experience behind the lens, the library has a wealth of resources to support your passion for photography.
Explore our digital and physical collection to find both books and eBooks on topics like Creative Photography, Black and White Photography, and editing techniques. If your looking to improve your post-processing skills check out our Photoshop tutorials on Niche Academy, including Photoshop Basics- a great starting point for editing like a pro.
For in-depth learning, dive into scholarly journals and articles available through Gale OneFile: Fine Arts. You'll find expert advice on everything from using reflectors effectively to mastering lighting techniques. Gale also features video tutorials such as how to capture stunning sunset photos. ideal for photographers of all levels. ERIC can also show you articles on taking pictures as a form of therapy called Phototherapy.
Prefer to learn through film? Kanopy offers a wide selection of streaming video content, including Fundamentals of Photography, which covers essential skills, and Photography for Birders, perfect for nature and wildlife, enthusiasts.
Whether you're interested in digital photography, nature shots, portraiture or simply learning how to take better photos with your phone, the library is here to help you develop your skills and explore your creativity.
Celebrate this month by picking up your camera and discovering something new- start your photographic journey with the library today.
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