Libraries Week

Libraries Week

PRC Learning Resource Centre Facts

This is week is the first ever Libraries Week and so this We hope you will forgive us this slightly self-indulgent blog post. We are using it to promote what we do for students at PRC and UCP and the difference we can make (not that we can be complacent - we always aim to improve!).  During the week we have been tweeting (@lrc_prc) a number of facts about the LRC throughout the week. Here are some statistics for you.

• At PRC we had 14,000 visits to the Learning Resource Centre in September this year.

Last academic year

• we had 118,342 visits between September 2016 and April 2017. March 2017 was the busiest month with 21,966 visits.  
• we had over 8000 visits to our Moodle pages.
• there were over 10,000 search sessions on our electronic databases. (Apart from e-books, Childlink is our most-used database).
• of these, over 3600 were for access to e-books.
• we loaned out laptops over 6500 times 

So what does the Learning Resource Centre at PRC do? (This is not an exhaustive list)

We help students (and staff) learn by

• providing an environment and equipment for independent learning
• help students find resources for their assignments/ courses.
• purchasing print resources to help students research and learn including books and a number of magazine subscriptions.
• delivering training sessions and activities to give students the skills to research and find information
• providing blended learning activities or training on Harvard Referencing
• helping students navigate the internet and promote e-safety.
• purchasing and set up access to quality electronic resources (including authentification in and outside college)
• providing and administering a computer system which manages the loan of books, fines, overdue letters and notifications  and includes providing a catalogue of everything available so it is searchable.
• promoting literacy and reading to help improve language and vocabulary as well as for pleasure/ wellbeing and as a way to relax and unwind (e.g. our Loyalty scheme)
• helping with queries around using the PCs.

Library quotes

The author Neil Gaiman has said "Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one". See the video below.

Stephen Fry has said "Libraries are where minds flourish and grow. They are like a kind of water supply".

See  #librariesweek on Twitter for more quotes, events and a general celebration of libraries. You may be surprised what goes on in a library and what librarians do! See the video below to see what one group of American librarians did to promote their library catalogue (and no we won't be doing anything similar!)