The College of Charleston’s Libraries have many exciting new services for faculty and students for the fall of 2013.

New Library Research Portal: More information is now available in one place, through the use of a new discovery portal on the library’s website. In the past, researchers would have to enter search terms into multiple portals to access the library’s various resources. With the new search engine, a single search will access articles, books and other catalogued material found in the College library’s classic catalog, the Lowcountry Digital Library, the PASCAL (Partnership Among  South Carolina Academic Libraries) catalog, and even WorldCat, a resource for library materials worldwide. Access the new research portal.

Early English Books Online (EEBO): The EEBO database provides full text, digital images of every book printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and every book in the English language printed abroad, from 1475 to 1700. From the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare, this incomparable collection now contains more than 125,000 titles. Libraries possessing this collection are able to fulfill the most exhaustive research requirements of graduate scholars – from their desktop – in many subject areas, including English literature, history, philosophy, linguistics, theology, music, fine arts, education, mathematics, and science. The College has access to EEBO thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the Library. Access EEBO.

VAST/Academic Video Online: VAST gives faculty and students access to a variety of videos, that can enhance the classroom experience and enrich student understanding of material in an extensive array of disciplines, including history, art and architecture, business, counseling and therapy, dance, opera, theatre, musical performance, anthropology, health and rehabilitation, opera, nursing, science, women’s studies, black studies, LGBT studies, and more. On a single platform, you have an online repository of nearly 20,000 video titles. Most of the videos are fully transcribed in addition to being indexed for subjects, people, places, release date, language, publisher, and video type. Additional tools allow you to make custom clips and create playlists, and share those clips and playlists. The College has access to VAST thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the Library. Access VAST.

Online Reservations for Addlestone Library Study Rooms: Group study rooms in the Addlestone Library can now be reserved online in order to ensure space for group meetings. The time slots are 1 hour long, and you can reserve up to 2 hours per day. Reserve study room.

Free, Easy to Use Scanner: The Addlestone Library has acquired two new state-of-the-art document scanning kiosks (known as the Knowledge Imaging Center or KIC). KIC scanners provide convenient scanning of all types of documents. Intuitive touch screen controls make using the scanners quick and easy. Documents are saved either to a USB flash drive or sent to an email account. The environmentally friendly KIC allows users to read documents electronically without the need to print them out. You can even save scanned documents in audio format, which can be played back on any portable digital audio device. The walk-up KIC scanner is located in the library’s first floor copy room, beside Java City. A seated KIC scanner, which is handicap accessible, is located in the main computer lab on the first floor.

Research Consultations: Students and faculty should be aware of a valuable library resource: research consultations. Reference librarians are here to help students and faculty, and while you can always approach the reference desk for on-the-spot help, it may be more valuable to schedule a research consultation. Just fill out the online form, and our reference librarians will do background research on a topic before meeting one on one with you. Librarians can find books, databases and journal articles that will be helpful as you begin your project. You can save valuable time by avoiding lengthy, irrelevant searches and focusing on topic-specific library resources. Schedule a research consultation.