Georgia Highlands College Libraries in the Spotlight!

by Elijah Scott

Georgia Highlands College has undergone substantial changes in recent years, and our libraries have grown and evolved as well. GHC has locations in Rome, Cartersville, Marietta, Douglasville, and Dallas, Georgia. We have libraries at Rome, Cartersville, and Dallas, and we have an excellent cooperative arrangement with the Southern Polytechnic Library for our students at the GHC Marietta campus, with a GHC librarian housed at the SPSU library.

Ga Highlands College: Rome Library

The GHC Floyd Campus in Rome is considered to be the main campus. The Floyd Campus Library underwent a major renovation in 2011, and now houses approximately 60,000 print books, 100 periodical subscriptions, two computer labs and an open computer area, a tutorial center, testing center, four group study rooms, and a conference room. At the Cartersville Campus, the library was opened in 2006 as part of a new academic building. The Cartersville Campus Library houses approximately 11,000 books, a computer lab and an open computer area, a tutorial center, four study rooms, a conference room, and a massive stone fireplace. The library at the GHC Paulding Campus in Dallas was opened in March 2013 in newly-renovated space in the Historic Paulding Courthouse, and houses approximately 4,000 books, an open computer area, two study rooms, and a conference room.

Since GHC is a commuter college with multiple physical locations, our libraries make use of electronic resources and services to best meet the needs of our students, faculty, and staff. We currently provide access to over 90,000 ebooks and 32,000 digital videos, and we are available to our students, faculty, and staff by live chat, text message, email, Facebook, and even Twitter, all via our virtual reference site at http://ask.highlands.edu.

The Cartersville Campus Library

Our libraries work closely with faculty to insure that our collections meet the changing needs of our students. For instance, in 2011, the college became a limited-mission, four-year state college, and now offers its first bachelor's degree, the RN to BSN completion program. Our library collections, both print and online, were enhanced to support this new program. To help support the college's global initiative, the library applied for and received the Muslim Journeys Bookshelf in 2012. To ensure that our students have access to the most current technology, the library has purchased a 3D printer and a 3D scanner, which will be available not only to students, faculty, and staff, but also to members of the community. We were fortunate to receive a financial contribution from a local company, Brugg Wire Rope, LLC, to help with the purchase of this technology.

Our libraries are incredibly busy, and our library faculty and staff are the ones who make it all happen! During FY 2012-2013, we:

• Won the GHC Department of the Year Award!
• Circulated 7,275 items
• Loaned 834 items to other libraries and received 465 (GIL Express & ILL) items from other libraries
• Recorded approximately 173,107 visits:
  • Rome – 56,915
  • Cartersville – 106,986
  • Paulding – 9,206
• Answered 9,435 questions
• Taught 229 research training classes for 4959 students

More information about Georgia Highlands College Libraries can be found at https://www.highlands.edu/site/library.