The Glendale
Community College Library is an invaluable resource for students. The
facilities offer a quiet study space, endless resources, computers, and
professional librarians to help find information.
Academic achievement and
usage of the library are linked, according to various studies such as those of
Ying Zhong and Johanna Alexander, present in their article Academic
Success: How Library Services Make a Difference , where they mention,
“The library assumes an important responsibility to facilitate students’
education, providing services, programs, and resources to assist students in
being more effective and efficient in their academic career—to succeed
academically.”
For these reasons, the
GCC library is a great place to study.
The library has several
different spaces. Upon entering, there is a circulation desk to the left where
materials are checked out and returned, a reference desk straight ahead,
several desks for studying behind the reference desk, and a spread of computers
behind the study tables. Surrounding this are shelves upon shelves of books.
These areas are
well-utilized by students, who typically occupy the computers and study tables.
Student Lisette Lamas demonstrates this in
describing her favorite place in the library. “My favorite place would be here
on the computer. Doing homework, and then if I want to, I can listen to music
while I do my homework,” she says.
After catching a glimpse
of the library, one might think that’s all there is, but, according to GCC librarian
Elizabeth Salina, the library has more to offer. “We
have a quiet study corner. And, in the group study rooms, too, we have flat
screen TVs where you can project through an HDMI cord that you can check out up
there.” She gestures towards the circulation desk. “We have laptops you can
check out, so you can work on presentations,” Salina explains, going on to add,
“and then we have white boards in those group study rooms.”
These
are some of the lesser-known services the library offers students who need to
study. However, the library also offers places to rest with some light reading
and relaxation. “We have, like, a reading area right there; back there we have
popular reading and magazines that you can sit when you have some chairs, and
you can comfortably rest,” Salina describes.
Along
with the facilities, the GCC library has a trove of resources. When asked,
Salina delves into a description of the information resources the library
provides. “We have your textbooks that you can use in the library here if
you're waiting for your textbook to come in. We have books that you can check
out; we have magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals, and different kinds
of media both in print and online that you have access to as a student.”
Besides
for physical materials, there are numerous online resources, accessible through
the link to the library on the Glendale Community College website. Salina goes
to her computer, doing an online search. “You can do your research here or from
home, and this One Search will find articles, books, and videos,” she explains.
“It’ll find resources,” she mentions, “and it tells you how to cite, how to
print them out.” The One Search allows students to search for information,
which can be limited by specifying more details in the academic search engine
or by limiting the types of material wanted on the sidebar at the left.
When a
research project arises, the library is a smart place to do it, seeing as there
are resources and librarians available. Student Lamas demonstrates this,
saying, “When I come to the library, I come to do, you know, my homework, and
then I come for the books for some resources for my research and stuff.”
The
importance of these resources in one’s college education is made evident by S Basheer and A Razzaq in their article Impact of College Library on
Student’s Academic Achievements, which
explains that “it is found among other things that students in college
with good library resources and full time librarians performed at high[er]
levels than students with minimal or no library resources.” This shows that the
library is a great place for students to acquire research information from, for
they will have access to resources and can get help if necessary.
The GCC library is more
than its facilities and resources. As Salina says, “Anything,
any information question [students] have in support of their studies, or even
their personal life, if we can help, we do.” The GCC library is its librarians,
always ready to help.
The
benefits of working in the library are endless. According to Karen Brown in her
article Academic Library
Contributions to Student Success: Documented Practices from the Field, “Academic librarians are establishing
connections between different aspects of the library (e.g., instruction,
reference, space and facilities, and collections) and numerous academic success
factors (e.g., student retention, persistence, GPA, engagement, graduation, and
career preparedness).”
With all of the benefits
the GCC library has to offer students, what better place to get schoolwork
done?
Web
Sources
http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/national/baltimore/papers/141.pdf
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/42166/1/MPRA_paper_42166.pdf
http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/value/contributions_report.pdf
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