If you are on an SPSCC campus (Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater Craft, or Bowen Nursing) and connected to the SPSCC wifi, then library materials should open for you with no additional login being used. 

If it does not, or if you are off an SPSCC campus, then you will need your ClipperID and password to login.

This is your school email and password, much like you would use for logging into Canvas for your classes. 

I suggest that you start your session by logging in via the website: login.spscc.edu - this will log you in to almost everything on campus with your ClipperID and password. You will also need to do the security verification but this one time lesson will cover your work for several hours without having to constantly log in and authenticate. 

The Librarians are always here to help! You can stop by during our open hours of 8 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, Book an Appointment with us, or use the Chat with a Librarian 24/7 feature if it's outside open hours. 

You can also stop by to visit the Writing Center, located in the Library. They can help you with your writing - including finding your voice, strengthening your argument, or citing correctly. 

We recommend booking an appointment before coming in so they can look over your work before you arrive and you can spend that time getting feedback. 

Quick Search

Search for books, articles, videos, and other resources using just one search.

To find Databases not listed here, you will use the Database list on the SPSCC Library page. You can search either by subject or use the A-Z list if you know the specific database name.

Searching Databases

Be aware that searching databases is not like searching on Google. Google uses natural language searches like "how big do killer whales get?" or "where is the nearest thrift store?". Google results are also based on "sponsored" sites (sites that pay to come up first) and what are popular sites. 

Vice versa, database results are based on relevance to the search terms you put in the search. So you will need to create what is called a search string. 

You start with a subject, such as "Rhetoric". This is your subject or keyword 1. 

Some keywords will have multiple possible terms. Take something like "Social Media" - you can search that or by specific apps (like Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, etc.). To search ALL of them, you would then add the word OR in between the options. So it would say "social media OR Twitter OR Facebook OR social networking". The OR tells the database that you are looking for any of those terms. 

You can add multiple keywords together with the word AND. This tells the database you are looking for results with keyword(s) 1 AND keyword(s) 2. Using the social media example, your search string would then say: "social media or facebook or twitter or instagram or snapchat or tumblr or social networking AND rhetoric". 

Databases like Academic Search Complete are great about prompting you with possible versions of your keywords. So even if you are using the Quick Catalog search to look at multiple databases at once, you can practice building your search string in a database. 

Again, if you get stuck, ask a librarian for help!

The SPSCC Library is organized under the Library of Congress (LC) call number system. This is different to the Dewey Decimal System you may be familiar with from K-12 school or the public library, Timberland Regional Library. 

The Library of Congress call numbers start with letters, from A to Z. The letter is the over arching subject and then the subsets of it continue with the next letter before continuing with numbers. Below are the sections I would check for physical materials in the library at Olympia campus. 

When searching in the library catalog, if the book is a physical copy it will have a call number: such as PN173.A7R6 for Aristole's Rhetoric. 

If a book says "View Online Options", it is a digital copy of the book and you can read it on your computer. 

If you are on an SPSCC campus and on the school wifi, it should open right away. If you are not on campus then you will need to login with your ClipperID and password. 

Most of the online books in our system are multi-checkout, so your entire class can read the book at the same time. 

If you have issues with access, please Email the Library (being as specific as possible!) and we will look into the issue and get back to you. 

What are Journals?

Journals are regular publications of articles that report on current research within a specific subject or area. Many journals are often academic or scholarly but there are also journals for fields like business and film. 

Journal articles are written for experts by experts and so can be unfamiliar and overwhelming when you first start reading them, especially because you don't read them start to finish. The best way to read articles are to read the abstract or summary, then the introduction, then the conclusion. If you understand what those are saying, you then skim read the body of the article. 

Many journals are Peer reviewed - meaning that the journals require that submissions are evaluated by other experts in the field before the article can be published. Not all articles in a peer reviewed journals have been peer reviewed. Nor does peer review mean that the article is completely correct and factual. You will still need to do your own research about the author, their credentials (traditional and non traditional), and evaluate if the source is worth including in your research. 

What is Open Access?

Open access is the free, immediate, and online availability of research articles or other scholarly work where the rights to reuse the work are coupled in with its digital accessibility. 

When looking through the databases on the SPSCC library website, you will see the words "Open Access" highlighted in bright green next to a few. In addition to those, the journals below are open access and focused on Rhetoric and Rhetoric Writing. 

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