BY TASHA LUNNY
As book rentals slowly become obsolete, Conestoga’s library staff are helping guide students into the electronic age.
The Doon campus Library Resource Centre offers students more than just a place to study. Although the LRC offers many services to students from computers to rental DVDs, Linda Schneider, library director, insists the best available resource comes from the staff.
“We have really helpful, knowledgeable, friendly staff and they are there to assist the students and support faculty,” Schneider said.
Library staff offer students an easy way to narrow down overwhelming Internet searches with research help guides. Available online, students can access preselected resources that are related to their program.
Students can also stop in at the “one-stop-shop” service desk for in-person assistance, or go online with the askON chat for any research questions.
In addition to the print books housed on the shelves of the LRC, the online database offers thousands of ebooks, articles and journals on almost every topic. A four-digit pin, available at the service desk, can also give students access to these electronic documents from the comfort of their own home.
Second-year business foundations student, Rojin Abdullah, said the online database has provided her with a variety of information for past research projects.
“… They gave me different points of views of things I wouldn’t have thought about myself,” Abdullah said.
Rachel Caldwell, manager of client services and operations, urges students to take advantage of the staff’s assistance and said research skills are transferable not only between classes, but in future careers.
“We can have all the resources in the world but if people don’t know how to use them effectively and efficiently, what’s the point? That’s why we’re here … to help demonstrate and teach how those resources can be used to the best possible advantage,” Caldwell said.
As society continues to progress toward the online world, resources at the LRC are adapting as well. They have recently introduced streaming videos available online to faculty and students.
But that’s not all that’s going digital, items reserved by faculty for students to reference might be available online in the near future.
