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The always busy and helpful library staff at the front desk of the Holly Learning Resources Center. From left to right, LRC Director Shirley McLaughlin, Library Assistant Lisa Levine, Librarian Terry Wyszynski, Librarian Carol Fleming, and Library Assistants: Rebecca Davis, Angela Calhoun, and Robin Wiggins.
Name: Learning Resources Center
Director: Shirley McLaughlin
Location: Holly Building
Hours: Mon. - Thurs: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Mission: To support the mission of the College and to enhance the teaching/learning process through provision of adequate, up-to-date resource collections in formats consistent with prevailing technologies; provision of access to the collections of other libraries; promotion of user-directed electronic database searching; provision of instruction in the use of resources to enable users to function in an information-driven society; and promotion of lifelong learning opportunities.
- The Holly Learning Resources Center (LRC) is comprised of three major components: the Library, Audiovisual Services and the computer lab. The Library has a collection of over 45,000 books and approximately 5,000 AV titles. The Library has cooperative borrowing agreements with 14 local colleges and UNCA. A-B Tech library users have access to any title available for checkout in the Southeastern U.S. through interlibrary loan arrangements with the State Library of North Carolina.
- The LRC computer lab, the only completely open lab on campus, has 15 workstations and two networked printers. A lab assistant is on duty during all hours of operation.
- The staff librarians will conduct bibliographic instruction classes for any faculty member who requests it. These classes inform students about the resources available in the LRC. Often, the instructor and librarian will collaborate to customize the bibliographic instruction for a specific assignment.
- One of the most utilized resources is NC LIVE. NC LIVE is a collection of approximately 50 electronic databases accessible in the Library and off-site through a password provided by the LRC staff. The databases range in subjects from African-American poetry to the Wall Street Journal.
- On an average day, over 350 patrons will utilize the LRC. During the month of September the daily traffic averaged 529 users, with 3,052 books and AV materials checked out. In 2002-03, approximately 21,000 items were circulated and the traffic count was almost 80,000.
- The Library houses a number of multi-purpose rooms to accommodate a variety of functions that support the College's instructional programs and the community. These facilities include four group study rooms, a classroom for bibliographic instruction, a general purpose conference room, and a state-of-the art teleconference center with satellite downlinking capabilities. The LRC also has a professional level video studio where live productions can be taped. After taping a production, it can be edited in one of the two video editing suites. Individual AV equipped carrels and two preview rooms are available for viewing AV materials. A "self-help" room is provided for students who are working on projects. This room contains a variety of equipment such as mat cutters, drymount presses, light boxes, an opaque projector and work space to accommodate large-scale projects. Gallery space is available for exhibits on a scheduled basis. Each year, the LRC hosts a number of exhibits, including the annual Spring Faculty, Staff and Student Art Show during April and May.
- The LRC staff consists of a director who is a librarian, two additional full-time librarians and four part-time librarians, three full-time and two part-time library assistants, one library technical assistant, a full-time coordinator of AV services, a part-time audiovisual technician, and four part-time computer lab assistants. They are responsible for staffing the front desk, circulating library materials, assisting students, faculty and staff in research projects and assignments, acquiring materials (over 3,000 books and AV items are acquired each year), monitoring the computer lab, providing video production services for the College as well as assisting students with video projects, producing live tapings of campus activities for archives, instructing students and faculty in the use of LRC resources, circulating materials through the interlibrary loan program and maintaining accurate inventories of all LRC materials and equipment.
Scholarship Changes Course Of Winner's Life
LeeAnne Garvey wasn't even planning to go to Bele Chere that day, but a friend coerced her, and her life hasn't been the same since.
For the past 15 months, Garvey, the mother of a 17-year-old, had been facing challenges in her life. She was contemplating going back to school and making serious efforts to get her life on track. She went to the A-B Tech booth at Bele Chere to see if there was any new literature on programs, and decided on a lark to enter her name into the free tuition drawing. Little did she know as she dropped her slip of paper into the box, that she was going to get a clear sign that she was making the right choices.
Three days later, she got the letter saying her name had been drawn for A-B Tech's free tuition scholarship. "I was with a friend, and he said afterwards that he had never seen anyone scream, laugh, and cry at the same time," Garvey says. The next day she was in Vice President of Student Services Dennis King's office filling out the paperwork and registering for classes. She is currently finishing her first semester with a full load and working toward an A.A. degree. Afterwards she plans on transferring to a four-year college, continuing on to get her masters and become a licensed counselor. All this from someone who six months ago was just playing around with the idea of going back to school part time.
Even now, as she speaks about all that has happened since August, she is filled with emotion. "I daily say thank-you for receiving this scholarship. If I had won a car, it wouldn't have meant to me as much as an education. If I was just doing this on my own, I know I wouldn't be as involved as I am now. This has opened my eyes and given me the power to change."
Painting The Town
"This year's turnout was the best ever," says Decorative Restoration Instructor Derick Tickle about the more than 250 people who attended the Dec. 7 Decorative Restoration Open House. The open house, which features the work of the graduating class, is a good way for the community and future employers to view the newest crop of painters, explains Tickle. It is also valuable for recruiting new students into the program.