Augusta Technical College Library Children Collection in the Spotlight!

Jack B. Patrick Information Technology Center

By Eugenia McAllister

Augusta Technical College is a two-year college based in Augusta, Georgia. The Augusta Technical College Library consists of three libraries working as a single unit through an automated library system, online catalog, and collections that are available to Augusta Technical College students and the community we serve. The Jack B. Patrick Information Technology Center is a 50,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility that houses 27,000 square feet of the collections, resources, and services sufficient to support all of the College's educational, research, and public service programs.

Our Augusta Technical College Library Children collection provides an opportunity for children to explore their world through reading. Our purpose, at the forefront of our children's book selection process, is to promote lifelong interest in reading. What better time to start this process than now – summertime! Summer is a great time to select books for babies, toddlers, and juveniles. The reading exposure can be done in many instances: whether they are getting ready for bed; riding in the car to preschool; or, during their first plane ride. Additionally, during these periods of book exposure they just might start the process of learning their ABCs or XYZs.

Have you ever heard the saying, "looking for information is like looking for a needle in a haystack"? Well, looking through our children collection is a similar search but one is able to find wonderful books. In this collection, faculty, staff, students, and the community will find great children books with subjects concerning the fundamentals of basic reading; spelling; texts; and visual arts.
Eugenia McAlliste, Augusta Technical College librarian, shares her experience with the children's collection:

With summer in full swing and with the arrival of my "baby techie" granddaughters, I was faced with the question of how to occupy their time before bedtime and on weekends. Now all of our activities must work together: my after work visits to the gym; their visits to the activity romper room; supper [yes, that's what we call "it" in my house]; and baths with the soap ducky. With all of these activities what is a Nana to do? After all of this, we still have time to fill before the "night-night" of bedtime. I knew I did not want to spend every evening at my local bookshop or visiting the local Barnes and Noble at the mall. I just want to spend time quietly reading and answering their anticipated questions. I decided to take a closer look at our children's section here in the library. Wow, I found our children's collection to be awesome!

Here at the Augusta Technical College Library we remain focused on the providing the best of children literature. Our shelves are lined with nationally acclaimed authors that stimulate a child's imagination. We invite you visit one of our three locations or our website at http://www.augustatech.edu/library.html to share and explore for yourself.