Library acquisition base budgets have not increased for four years. Polk Library can no longer afford to provide multiple electronic versions of the same database and still provide books and periodicals needed for the curriculum. Librarians have to make decisions regarding how to provide the best electronic services to library users at the most reasonable price. In short, Polk Library is moving access to electronic information to the Web as a way to spend its limited budget as well as it can to increase access, provide full-text capabilities, and promote a more common searching interface for users. Polk Library is pleased to announce the opening of a new Library Hands-on Instruction Lab.
Librarians now have the opportunity of conducting hands-on classes for students.
Training sessions can include instruction about the library's increasing number of databases accessed via the World Wide Web, the online library catalog or about various library CD-ROM databases. Students can learn effective searching techniques from librarians and then get hands-on practice using various databases and search engines. The lab includes 19 trainee workstations and 1 instructor workstation. The lab uses a unique projection system that operates without a traditional LCD panel or video projector. A hardware system connects the computers together and broadcasts the instructor's computer screen to all trainee computer screens.