Houff Library Blog

Houff Library is not open on Saturdays during the summer.  Come visit us Monday through Thursday 7:45am to 9:00pm and Fridays 7:45am through 5:00pm.  We have air conditioning!

Now you can watch our new 30 minute video and learn how to use Houff Library.  It is divided into eight sections, so watch as many sections as you have time.  Covered are how to look for books, how to find articles from our 200+ online periodical databases, why evaluating websites you use for college assignments is so important and lots more.  Click here for the tutorial (http://www.brcc.edu/library/tutorial/LibraryTutorial.html).

Houff Library now subscribes to Mergent Online and Mergent Horizon.  These databases can be access via the library’s website.

Mergent Online is the authoritative source for information on over 10,000 US companies listed o tohe NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ exchanges, 20,000 non-US companies representing 95% of the non-US global market capitalization, 8,000 inactive companies which have been merged, acquired, etc., and over one million privately held companies.  Mergent Online includes financial information, annual reports, executive biographies, and historical information outlining herger and acquisition activity and extensive bankruptcy and reorganization details.

Mergent Horizon is a detailed industrial classification system that maps companies to their core lines of business and captures relationship exposure to thier suppliers, partners, customers and competitors.  Byut classifying companies acording to their products and services, Mergent Horizon allows for true comparables by providing information that helps students understand a company and its competitive position in the marketplace.

BRCC students can now receive assistance from reference librarians at  24/7.  Houff Library provides this reference service through the QuestionPoint service, developed by OLC Online Computer Library Center, the Library of Congress and the 24/7 Reference Cooperative. 

In addition to providing access to librarians 24 hours a day, the service also includes a global network of cooperating libraries that work together to provide authoritative answers to reference questions.  If the librarian at Houff Library is unable or unavailable to answer a question, it can be sent to experts at another library, even if those experts are across the country or around the world.  If you have a question about New Zealand, you could actually get your answer from an expert in New Zealand. 

You may submit questinos to the service via the library website at any time of the day or night.

Rachel (Campise) McLawhorn is our new Evening Assistant.  She is a Blue Ridge alum who delivered the student keynote address at the 2003 BRCC graduation.  In the spring of 2000, she was the vocalist for the premiere of the Blue Ridge Alma Mater, Our Valley Home, and was part of recording the song in 2001/02 as a member of the Blue Ridge Chamber Singers.  With a long-time passion for baking, her current culinary success is a healthful update of zucchini bread.

The Virginia Community College Library System is pleased to announce that VIVA has acquired a subscription to Safari’s business and information technology eBook collection from ProQuest.

Safari eBooks includes titles from publishers such as O’Reilly, Addison-Wesley, Sams, Que,Cisco Press, Microsoft Press, and some 20 others. These publishers represent the leaders in the IT publishing industry, and we have access to over 3,000 of their titles.

New Databases

We now carry the following databases from EBSCOhost.  Click on the links for complete information about each database.  See our database title list or subject list to search each of these databases.

• Academic Search Complete
• Alt HealthWatch
• Associates Programs Source
• Business Source Complete
• Communication & Mass Media Complete
• Computers & Applied Sciences Complete
• Consumer Health Complete
• Economia y Negocios
• Education Research Complete
• Environment Complete
• Fuente Academica
• Health Source – Consumer Edition
• Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition
• Hospitality & Tourism Complete
• Humanities International Complete
• Legal Collection
• MasterFILE Premier
• MedicLatina
• Military & Government Collection
• Newspaper Source Plus
• Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
• Regional Business News
• Religion and Philosophy Collection
• Salud en Espanol
• Vente et Gestion
• Women’s Studies International

The Virginia Community College Library System is pleased to announce that the OverDrive Digital Collection is now live. Download an audiobook from OverDrive, transfer it into your SmartPhone, MP3 player, PDA, or burn it to CD, for free!

This new library service allows anyone with a MyVCCS login to download digital audiobooks. Check out up to 2 titles, which automatically expire after 14 days, so there are no late fees. Select titles can be burned to CD for personal use, and will not expire. There are currently 131 audiobook titles available in the opening collection. We expect the collection will grow as the colleges purchase additional audio content and expand the collection with video downloads, also available from OverDrive.

How does it work? Browse the VCCS OverDrive site, check out a title, and download the files to your PC with the OverDrive Media Console software (available for download from the VCCS OverDrive site). Listen to the audiobook on your PC with Windows Media Player or transfer content to WMA-compatible SmartPhones, PDAs, and MP3 players.

The temporary faculty offices in the front section of the library have been moved to our new building (the Fine Arts Center) and new classroom addition (J Building). The library is refurnishing their former beloved front scenic area with lovely new tables and study carrels.  Come up and study and enjoy the view!

Eli Klein is our new evening assistant.  He is a Blue Ridge alumni and former member of Phi Theta Kappa, who is currently enrolled at JMU pursuing a degree in Physics. He is an avid reader who enjoys a good book anywhere and anytime. His other hobbies include Tae-Kwon-Do and hiking.