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Shatford Library typically becomes a mainstay for students’ academic progress as finals week approaches, and its website also becomes a crucial tool. Since spring 2009 the library website has undergone an upgrade, offering new features that students could find useful.

“The goal was to create a site that is more efficient for students to do their research, and that is also 508 compliant [accessible for students with disabilities],” said Leslie Tirapelle, a systems librarian at Shatford Library.

“We wanted to reduce the number of clicks necessary for students to access the most-utilized resources,” she added, “such as the Library Catalog. and electronic subscription databases [such as articles from magazines, newspapers and peer-reviewed journals and e-books].”

On any given day, students make their way to a computer station within the library in search of information on just about anything.

Lara Bedrossian and Liam Kelly, both 19-year-old film majors, were seen researching information on the origins of the trumpet.

Both have gone through tutorials on how to use the website, and neither had a complaint about it.

“It’s a pretty understandable website, but I guess you have to be really specific in what you’re looking for,” said Bedrossian.

Kelly agreed. “I think [the website] has everything you need as long as you know how to work it,” he said.

Library staff is more accessible thanks to a few new features.

With the “Reference Chat with a PCC Librarian” feature, a student can log onto the site and instant message a PCC reference librarian. Similarly, students can now “Text-A-Librarian” with their phones for instant feedback.

“When one of our librarians is not available to chat or text, or if our library is closed, students can use the ’24/7 Live Chat Reference Service’ where an academic librarian [not necessarily from PCC] will answer the research question,” said Tirapelle.

Though these features have not fully caught on, they prove to be useful to students working on a tight deadline.

Todd Hodge, 34, used the website for the first time on June 2 to search for a book with a photograph of a particular U.S. river that he needed for a final project, but initially had some trouble.

“I couldn’t figure it out, so I actually went over to the reference desk and the lady over there was super cool, and she showed me what I was doing wrong,” said Hodge. “I’m of the opinion, when you don’t know the answer, ask.”

The website receives over 40,000 hits a month, but the Shatford staff is constantly looking for ways to make the site more appealing and useful.

“Services that are in demand are ones that allow students to access the resources they need any time, any place,” said Tirapelle. “A possible next step would be to look at developing a version of the website that is optimized for handheld, web-enabled mobile phones and devices.

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