Atlantic Cape Libraries

The Atlantic Cape libraries have a variety of free tutoring services available to all
students again this fall semester. We have on-campus and remote options available for
nearly all courses.

Tutors are available on campus during scheduled hours Monday-Thursday in the library.
Details are on the library’s tutoring webpage. It is walk-in, no appointment needed.  For
those who cannot make on-campus hours, we can often schedule individual Zoom
meeting session with a tutor by request.

Our tutors also host weekly drop-in Zoom sessions for some subjects. Meeting links are
in Blackboard in the “Tutoring Services” course shell. No appointments, just join a
meeting through the link in Blackboard.

Additionally, students can have writing work reviewed by a tutor remotely by sending
their work and assignment instructions, and any other pertinent information, to
tutoring@atlanticcape.edu.  Writing tutors review student emails 7 days a week.
Finally, students have free access to Brainfuse, an online homework help service.
Brainfuse access is through the link in the Tutoring Services course shell in Blackboard.
Brainfuse staff can assist with most science, math, business, computers and healthcare
subjects.

All information is available on the library’s tutoring page:
https://library.atlanticcape.edu/Tutoring4Students
Call the library or email your questions to tutoring@atlanticcape.edu

Michael Sargente

During July, Atlantic Cape's Center for Accessibility, the Spangler Library, and the Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation hosted a Patient Art Show. This exhibit celebrated the creativity of young patients with disabilities, highlighting how art can be a powerful tool for healing and expression.

The show, on our Mays Landing campus, featured diverse artwork from children aged 3 to 16. Each piece shared a unique story, illustrating art's role in processing experiences. 

One featured artist was Nikos, a 6-year-old navigating spina bifida. His vibrant drawing of Superman captured his spirit. Nikos's art reminds us that local resources, like the Children's Specialized Hospital, offer vital support to our community, along with the incredible dedication of doctors and physical therapists who make a profound difference in patients' lives.

drawing by 16 year old Gabby of a sunset setting with palm trees on a beach and a palapa with two chairs and the sea in the background. 

Visit the library to see all of the artwork. 

Contribution by Nick Alexander

The Atlantic Cape library will continue to offer all current tutoring services right on up until the very end of the semester.  On-campus tutors will be here through Thursday May 15^th and remote and online tutors will be available through Saturday, May 17^th. 

Tutor support for summer courses begins as soon as summer session classes begin Monday, May 19^th.  We plan to have some tutoring staff on campus but most of the summer course support will be offered remotely, through scheduled Zoom sessions and by individual appointments.   Tutors will also be available by email to review student writing work or just answer questions. 

tutoring@atlantic.edu

Online help with our external tutoring service provider Brainfuse remains open and available 24-7, free of charge, to all current students through their link in Blackboard.

Current information, updates, details and schedules can always be found on the library & tutoring services webpages.

For most of us, when we hear the word “library,” we think “borrowing books.” And that makes sense, because it’s been true for well…centuries. According to Oxford Open Learning’s website, libraries started developing in the U.K. some 1500 years ago (you read that right) and the first one is thought to be dated some 5,000 years ago in Southwest Asia. It further notes that the world’s oldest known library is “believed to be The Library of Ashurbanipal, which was founded sometime in the 7th century B.C. for the ‘royal contemplation’ of the Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal” with a collection of over 30,000 clay tablets—imagine!

It’s safe to say that libraries have come a very long way since then—from tablets to…tablets. Or laptops, to be precise. Today, you can visit your Atlantic Cape library and check out not only books on countless topics, but laptops. Taking a math class? Check out a graphing calculator, and nursing students and faculty can borrow anatomy models. If you have a study group, pop into one of our study rooms—your table, chairs, and whiteboard await you. 

In addition to making learning more conducive, your Atlantic Cape library is the place to go if you want to dial it back a bit. Stop by and work on a jigsaw puzzle in peace and quiet. Meet a friend for a game of chess, or park yourself on one of our big comfy couches at the Cape May campus library, and flip through a magazine. Check out the billboard for upcoming events and services (sign up to The New York Times with your student ID!). Get some work done at one of our computer banks, or print off an article or paper for class. And take advantage of our tutoring program—see the tutoring page for more information.

Whether your goal is to expand your knowledge or take a tiny break from it, think about giving your campus library a second look!

by Kate Chadwick 

An article about Atlantic Cape Community College, titled Fueling Local Futures, appeared in the Fall issue of Cape May Magazine, a Cape May-based coastal lifestyle publication with subscribers across the country. The article was written by Marjorie Preston, and focused specifically on the Cape May Court House campus, the smallest of Atlantic Cape’s three locations. It was also mentioned at length in the From the Editor letter in the issue, referencing her personal connection to Atlantic Cape during a difficult time in her life. 

“Although our subscribers are primarily people who look at Cape May as a vacation destination, I’ve always felt that it’s important to regularly include a story that speaks to and about the people who live and work here,” said Editor Kate Chadwick. “And to remind those valued visitors that every resort town everywhere has a backbone of people who make that place their home, and whose work and community spirit make that resort the destination that it is to tourists.” 

The article begins broadly with the question “Why community college?” and then hones in on exactly what Atlantic Cape provides not only for its students, but to the communities that surround its campuses. “I feel that it’s an underutilized resource for locals, and, with the CMC campus’s recent alliance with the zoo, for vacationers, too,” Ms. Chadwick said, referencing the successful Zoo Camp summer program and more generally, the Alex Ernst Memorial Education Center, home of the college’s Zoo Education Program. “Further, I wanted local people to be aware of the opportunities available to them at a local community college, particularly for the nontraditional student.” 

Atlantic Cape’s culinary program is a focus of the article, as restaurants are of course pivotal to any region with a tourism-based economy. The recent addition of the Cape May County bizHub to the CMC campus is also mentioned, with its broad range of resources available to current and potential small business owners in the community. The article was peppered with quotes from both college staff and students, and rounded out with a letter from an Atlantic Cape alumni who now works at Cape May Magazine, Cassidy Jones, who was also pivotal in getting the story published.   

“I thought it was an important story to tell because of obvious sentimental significance, being an Atlantic Cape graduate, but also because of my peers whose journeys were so positively impacted by the school,” Ms. Jones said. “I think looking back on the experience I have a lot more praise because I realize now how hard life can be, and how easy Atlantic Cape made it for people in tough situations to have access to a real education. Publishing the story in Cape May Magazine allows readers to peek behind the touristy curtain of Cape May and get a glimpse of who the people are that keep the operations running, the Cape May County workforce that is supported by local resources like Atlantic Cape." 

Content by Kate Chadwick

There’s a great Seinfeld episode based solely around a late library book that Jerry took out of the New
York Public library in 1971 while still in high school, and the hilarious pursuit of its return by the library’s
“enforcer,” the aptly-name Mr. Bookman. In the episode, Jerry refers to the library good naturedly as
everyone’s “pathetic friend, who is willing to do anything if you’ll be friends with them.” To paraphrase,
he says “walk in there, take whatever you want, bring it back whenever.”

It’s an excellent—if mildly derisive—assessment of the library’s place in our society: a stalwart friend,
ready to lend and assist at all times, at no cost to the patrons. Kind an helpful staff, ready to assist you?
Yes. Need a book? Done. Audio or e-books? Yes. Free use of a computer? Check. Tutorials and
workshops, open to the community? Indeed—and the list goes on. You could call libraries our society’s
unsung heroes—and that’s exactly why the Unsung Libraries Initiative was creating, to highlight libraries
whose work matches this year’s NJLA themes of Simple Kindness and Breaking Barriers.

The initiative recognizes libraries that provide great service to their communities, and 12 libraries will be
visited and recognized over the next year. Ultimately, one of those 12 libraries will receive the NJLA
President’s Aware. And on July 24, President of the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) Jeff Cupo
visited the Spangler Library to recognize Janet Hauge’s application, to the delight of library staff.

In President Cupo’s remarks, he indicated that he received a lot of impressive applications. “But the
work you and your staff are doing, and how you are going so far above and beyond the traditional
academic work most people probably assume you do, really stood out,” he said. “It's very clear that you all truly care about your students and all the different issues they are facing in their lives, and I love the hard work and kind and creative efforts you all are doing to meet those challenges.” He further remarked that he was thrilled to begin his 12-library tour with a visit to an academic library. 

 
President Cupo toured the library and then met with full-time staff members to talk about the creative,
compassionate work being done to help students succeed at ACCC. The discussion included the various
ways that all library staff continuously strive to improve services, touching on everything from
expanding textbook reserve collections to providing snacks. It was noted the staff always find ways to
say yes. The libraries at Atlantic Cape Community are an excellent example of just how the College
works hard to break whatever barriers may impede the success of our students and community.

Viewing today's solar eclipse from Atlantic Cape was pretty exciting. About 84.5% of the sun was covered in Cape May, 84.1% at the Atlantic City campus, and about 86.2% in Mays Landing. This got me thinking about future eclipses, when and where. NASA has it all figured out. On August 12, 2026, there will be a solar eclipse, with the best locations being Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia, and a small area of Portugal. So if today was thrilling, imagine experiencing it with 100% coverage in one of those locations! 

We're excited to announce that the archive of Atlantic Cape’s literary publication has been digitized in an accessible format for anyone to view. This is a project that was started during the early days of the pandemic when library front desk staff were working from home. Once back in the library, library staff worked on it as time allowed, which explains why this project took almost four years to complete. Take a look at the completed project:  https://library.atlanticcape.edu/rewrites 

Some history

• The Laureate Club was established in the first year of the College's existence.

• Issues were published under the title The Laureate in 1970 and 1971.

• From 1974-1977, the magazine appeared under the title Celebrations.

• In 1981, it appeared under the title Silhouette (content will be posted soon).

• Beginning in 1983, the magazine has been issued annually under the title Rewrites.

Help fill the gaps

• The Missing Years

  • The library currently has no issues of the magazine published before 1970, but the club has been in existence since 1968.

  • No issues have been found for the years 1972 and 1973.

  • No issues have been found for the years 1978-1980.

  • The 1982 issue has not been found.

Anyone who owns or knows of the whereabouts of any of these missing issues should contact the library at library@atlantic.edu

Want or need to know more about AI in the classroom, in the workplace or in your leisure space? Then the Ai guide will be your new best friend. No, it hasn't been created using AI, but by one of the Atlantic Cape Librarians with input from other librarians and faculty. 

It provides information and resources for Ai and ChatGPT, with published articles, research and commentary on the capabilities of ChatGPT and its applications to academic and business environments.

The guide includes:

• Books, ebooks and media
• Details about ChatGPT and uses
• Info on academic integrity (we are a college, afterall)
• Detecting Generative Ai text
• Current Tools and Research in the field of Artificial Intelligence

Research and uses for ChatGPT and related tools are just getting started. New material will be added to this guide on a continuing basis.

If you have suggestions for articles to be included in this guide, email us at library@atlanticcape.edu. Please put "FOR AI GUIDE" in the subject. 

The Atlantic Cape math tutors are happy to provide assistance with all of your math questions. You can meet them here. 

Hi everyone! My name is Joseph Bertero. I'm originally from New York and moved to New Jersey in 2007. I graduated from Kean University with a bachelor's in Accounting in 2012 and moved on to finish an MBA in 2014. It was hard for me to leave academia so I began as a tutor at Mercer County Community College in 2016. I work full time for Verizon as a 2nd generation technician, a trade that my father lead me into. It is a team oriented job that love and have a passion for. I also love football. I coach the 8th grade varsity football team along with head coach Mike for Egg Harbor City. I like to think of math the same I think about football. You have to practice, it's not a spectator sport.

Hello world! I graduated from ACCC with an Engineering A.S. degree in 2019 and started tutoring the same semester. Currently, I am working towards an Electrical Engineering B.S. degree in Arizona State University's online program. My studies are concentrated in electric power and energy systems, meaning power generation, distribution, and utilization. 

I love all things mechanical, like old cars and clocks! I have spent the past number of years, blood, sweat, and tears, slowly rebuilding a disheveled Jeep TJ. For a few years, I worked at a small delicatessen in Brigantine where I had an opportunity to operate and maintain a plethora of interesting machines like slicers, grinders, and saws. I also love gardening and the resulting fruits of labor. And, yes the beautiful sunflowers are from my garden.

I am available to provide assistance with courses in mathematics, physics, engineering, and programming in C++. Feel free to reach out any time.

Hello everyone! My name is Roman Segov and I’m an International Student in the US, originally from the cold and harsh region of Siberia in Russia. I pursued my early studies at Siberian Federal University before I came here. Currently, I am enrolled in Atlantic Cape Community College for Computer Information Systems. My passions include coding, traveling, and music. I have several instruments I play daily. I believe in the beauty of mathematics and I would like to share it with you. Helping people to improve brings me joy. Once, an old math teacher of mine said, “You can’t teach someone. They have to learn on their own”. I believe that ultimate responsibility lies with the learner, but having an experienced person who guides you makes your learning journey the most effective and rewarding.

My name is Lisa Stuart-Smith and I am EXCITED to offer my educational services to you.  I worked as a Principal and Assistant Principal at Leeds Avenue School in Pleasantville, New Jersey for 21 years.  Prior to becoming an Administrator, I taught Health and Sex Education for 7 years......again, in the Pleasantville School District.  I LOVED THE TEACHING JOB!!  It was very rewarding and I never knew what was going to come out of the mouths of my students.
My hobbies include going to the gym, attending concerts, and playing games with family and friends.  I also have a passion for traveling.  I have vacationed in Dubai, Australia, Thailand, Portugal, and Morocco....just to name a few.  

My methods of teaching are not conventional.  I believe in making instruction fun and engaging, not necessarily pen and paper.  I am offering my talents to students who need assistance with language arts, writing, and basic math.

My name is Tracy Wang. I was born in the United States but I have been back and forth from China to the US throughout the years. I am currently a Junior Marketing Major at Towson University. I graduated from Atlantic Cape Community College last year, and it was truly a fantastic experience to meet other talented people from other countries. Also, being a Statistic tutor really enhances my ability to communicate in English and constantly help others who struggle. For those who have or have not joined my Zoom session before, I want you all to know that I have been in the same situation when I felt stressed about a course, so I am here to help, and always feel free to reach out to me.

More information about the tutoring program can be found on the library website and here. If you have any questions, email tutoring@atlantic.edu.