By Tin Scruggs – Staff Writer – [email protected]
UNC Asheville students know the library houses thousands of books to check out, but most aren’t aware of the wealth of online resources available to them through the library website. The D. Hiden Ramsey Library looks after books and computers and provides many services to students and non-students alike.
“I’m studying for board certification for psychological pharmacy, so it’s a great place for me to come study,” said Nick Conte, an Asheville resident.
Leah Dunn, the university librarian, said this semester students should know how to utilize the many resources in the library.
“This library is well used as a study space for quiet study, but we have many services students are not aware of,” Dunn said.
1. They can fix your laptop. Bring an infected laptop to Student Technical Services. They can help cleanse computers of viruses, install anti-virus software and help with many applications and installations. They are located just to the left of the reference desk.
2. Borrow a laptop. Anyone can borrow one. They are available for check out, and though they must stay within the walls of the library, it is available if anyone wants to curl up with one a couch for up to five hours.
3. Use the online library. “We have a portal to lots of online resources. In fact, we’ve almost switched to having a majority of our articles and books online. It’s all there for you to access on and off-campus,” said Brandy Bourne, who works on the web services at the reference desk. There are tens of thousands of online journals, articles, and e-books, Bourne said.
“We also have popular magazines, you can stream music and videos, see high quality art, technology training videos, and statistics and government data,” she said.
4. Get research help. So many professors stress peer-reviewed sources. Library technicians can help find articles and peer-reviewed sources and show you how to cite it properly. Proper citations are a must for any class, and the librarians are eager to help.
5. Get editing help. The writing center also lives inside the library.
“They will basically help you write any kind of paper. And they’ll help with editing too,” Dunn said.
This is a great resource for students that need to figure out how to write a thesis, also how to cite sources properly, or to make sure their paper is grammatically competent.
6. Get an article. Occasionally, while browsing JSTOR, the full text of an article won’t be available, but librarians have a solution.
“Many articles have the option to request an item, even from around the world. Sometimes the other library will just scan the article, and email you a link to view it,” Dunn said.
7. Borrow DVDs. Forget Red Box or waiting on Netflix to come in the mail. Just head over to the library and check out their selection. They have everything from Pixar’s short films to complete seasons of Big Bang Theory, and it’s completely free.
Bourne, a UNCA alumna, said she is enthusiastic about helping students to find the sources they need.
“The website is pretty searchable, but sometimes it does take some time to really dig in and find what’s there because there’s so much,” Bourne said.
Asheville resident Nick Conte and his daughter Molly travel to the Ramsey Library on Sunday afternoon.