Today we live in a society in which information is readily available by clicking a mouse, tapping a screen, or turning a virtual page. It is called the Digital Age. Where do libraries fit into the Digital Age? Libraries provide patrons with the resources and skills they need to perform a task at hand. This task may vary from conducting research for a research paper to learning about a new medical diagnosis. While libraries have long provided access to and organized print information, they are now providing access to and organizing digital/electronic information for their patrons. At the Northeast Alabama Community College Library, access to resources, both print and electronic, are available in an unprecedented volume. Students may access library services and resources through the library webpage, their Blackboard™ accounts, and various other ways.

“In today’s learning environment, college libraries must offer their students electronic resources to stay relevant,” said Dr. Julia Everett, Director of the NACC Learning Resources Center. “Libraries, like anything else, evolve. Today, we don’t drive the same type of car people drove fifty years ago. Similarly, the library of today is very different than the typical library from fifty years ago, even ten years ago.”

The roles of librarians have changed in this age of information revolution and libraries spearhead this. A part of this role is to teach students how to discern what is creditable information and what is not. But being able to discern that is only a part of the information revolution, not the main focus.

While the NACC Library continues to purchase print resources, such as books, magazines, and journals, electronic resources, such as eBooks and subscriptions to electronic databases are being purchased. During the 2013-2014 academic year, NACC’s electronic books accounted for almost 15% of the circulation at the NACC Library. Currently, the NACC licenses both fiction and nonfiction electronic books in an attempt to appeal to students’ research needs, as well as their desire to read for recreation. Electronic databases and eBooks enable NACC students to perform research on or off campus 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The NACC Library webpage acts as the virtual gateway to the library’s resources and services. From the library’s webpage, students may place items on hold, text a librarian, request a book via interlibrary loan, view online tutorials regarding library resources and services, check out an eBook, and much more. In the last year, the NACC Library has also created research guides/LibGuides that are subject and program specific. These research guides contain tutorials, as well as examples of books, eBooks, journals, magazines, databases, links to websites, and more. Instructors can post links to these research guides on their course Blackboard™ pages or on their syllabi.

Another way in which the NACC Library is promoting its services and resources to all of its students, but particularly its online students, is through Blackboard™, which is the software NACC uses for its online classes. The library has created a Blackboard™ course so that when students are enrolled in an online course, they see the library’s resources and services within the Blackboard platform rather than having to exit from Blackboard™ to go to the library’s website.

For more information about the NACC Library, visit http://www.nacc.edu/lrc/default.htm.

Call Dr. Everett at college extension 2226, or email her at everettj@nacc.edu. 

For more college information, go towww.nacc.edu or download the free App at the Apple App Store or by going towww.naccmobile.com.