Thoughts From the Ref Desk

Did you know that the MTC Library conducts an art contest every spring? It is in honor of National Library Week. I think I can speak for all of the Airport Library employees when I say that we really look forward to this every year. The entries are always amazing. Think you have what it takes to win our annual contest? Or you just want to look at all of the entries? Here’s everything you need to know.

1. Although it is in honor of National Library Week, the art does not have to have a library or reading theme. It can have any subject matter under the sun! Portraits, landscapes, depictions of animals, abstract works and even sculpture have been entered in the past.

2. The contest is open to students, faculty and staff of MTC. It does not matter which campus you attend. But the art will be submitted and on display for the judges at Airport Library, so that is where you should bring your piece.
3. Any original work of art can be submitted, including (but not limited to): painting, drawing, 3-dimensional, graphic design or photography. The piece can be framed or unframed. When you bring it in, there’s an entry form you fill out. This form helps us ensure that we get all of the pieces back to the artists.
4. The grand prize is a $100.00 savings bond.

5. The art will be on display in the library between April 13th-19th. But in order to be considered for the grand prize, your entry must be in by April 4th.

If you have questions or need more information, get in touch with Karen, who works at the Airport campus library. Her email is rodmank@midlandstech.edu and her phone number is 822-3540.

What is PASCAL??

It stands for Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries. It is a consortium of all the academic libraries in the state, so it includes big university libraries like Clemson and USC, as well as small academic libraries like Winthrop. It includes both public universities and colleges (like College of Charleston) and private schools (like Newberry College). It also includes all of the technical college libraries– this includes Midlands Tech.

What is the point of all of these libraries joining forces? What exactly are we talking about? Why do we belong to this group?
PASCAL works together on many projects which benefit colleges and university libraries across the state. But I want to talk about their new “PASCAL Delivers” program. That is what is really exciting to me.
Not too long ago, someone at PASCAL had a great idea — why not join forces so that we can offer ALL colleges and universities in the state access to each others’ collections? Why not allow all the schools to lend and borrow items to each other easily and quickly?

This was a novel idea, since up until then, the only way to lend and borrow books between all the colleges and universities in SC was to use interlibrary loan, which is great, but it’s expensive and takes about 2 weeks per book.

So PASCAL came up with a more streamlined system. They hired their own courier, who drives all over the place, solely for the purpose of picking up and dropping off the books at all the schools. This is often much faster than using the mail or a delivery service like FedEx, not to mention cheaper. Now, books can arrive in about 3 days, with no cost to the college or university library. All the schools are members, so all the schools borrow and lend at no charge.

The wonderful thing for you is that this service is free and available to you, whether you are a faculty member, MTC staff employee or a student. So the next time you want a book and the MTC Library doesn’t have it, try ordering it from PASCAL! Some other college in the state is bound to have what you need.

Want to give it a try or learn more? Check out our PASCAL page!

The MTC Library has recently added some new databases.

If you are interested in health or nursing information, you will be happy to see that we have a new version of CINAHL, in addition to a new nursing database from Ovid.
Also, if you like InfoTrac, they have recently updated their Health and Wellness Resource Center. It is full of great information, especially for consumers. It’s fun to look at the “Health Assessment” tab to see if you or someone you know is at risk for a major disease. The “Trusted Sites” tab takes you to some fantastic websites.  It has a great new health directory feature, too. Now you can find contact information for health information centers (hospitals, non-profits, research institutes, etc.) anywhere in the country. There’s also an easy-to-use drug search. They have done a great job updating this database. Don’t forget that this database covers alternative medicine as well. You can find herbal remedies for anything from acne to warts!
If you would like to see all of our Nursing/Medical databases, click here.