Book Collection - Faculty are encouraged to recommend books for purchase to assist Students with research and curriculum needs. Click here for the Book Request form. Faculty may check out books for a semester.

Magazines/Journals/Newspapers - The Library's online resources provide a vast array of articles for both browsing online and for student and faculty research. Magazines, journals and newspapers subscribed to in-print are also available at each library.

To suggest titles for purchase, contact your library liaison.

Magazines, journals and newspapers may be checked out for brief periods with permission from a Reference Desk Librarian.

Audiovisuals - College departments may request audiovisual materials to be housed in their department or in the library. Click here for the Audiovisual Request form.
Faculty may check out audiovisuals for 7 days.

Course Reserves - Faculty may ask that library materials be placed in the Reserve collection for student use. Faculty may also place their own material on Reserve. The check out time allowed for these items is set by the faculty member. Click here for the Reserve Materials Request form.

Online Forms

Your Library Liaison

Students have access to computers at all three campus libraries on a first come, first serve basis. Faculty may bring a class to the library, but notify the Reference Desk Librarian in advance. Computers have MS Office 2007 and some educational software. All computer users at the Pensacola campus will be assigned a computer by presenting their PJC Picture ID cards at the Circulation Desk. Computer use is limited to 2 hours. Printing is limited to 20 pages per day. There are no color printers in any of the libraries. Milton and Pensacola libraries have a scanner.

Faculty, staff and students have remote access to ebooks through the catalog, as well as to online articles from the library's online databases through the library's homepage. An activated PJC picture ID is required.

Copy machines are available in the libraries. Copy cards are available from a dispenser for $1.00 (.50 for the card and 10 copies at .05 per copy). After initial purchase, cards can be updated by inserting additional dollars.

Microfilm/microfiche copies are .15 per page. Pay at the Circulation desk.

The Global Learning Outcomes implemented by PJC include INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: Students will use effective strategies to collect, verify, document, and manage information from a variety of sources. The PJC libraries provide quality resources in the Google age through library and remote online access to electronic books and articles. To assist faculty with this GLO, we provide workshops, handouts, for-credit courses, and other information.

Credit Library Courses

To set up a workshop or library class visit, contact the Reference desk at your campus. Or use the form provided here.

Criteria for effective library assignments   (brief list from Virginia Tech University Libraries )

Presume minimal library and research knowledge. Students may know how to use Facebook and most claim to know how Google operates, but most do not understand college research. They may not know what you mean by such words as article, scholarly, peer-reviewed, journal, abstract, primary source, etc.

Explain the assignment clearly, preferably in writing. If the assignment requires the use of a certain number or types of sources, state that clearly, with examples if possible.

Test your assignment. What may seem like a workable assignment, may not work in practice. Ask someone to test it for you.

Ask librarians for help. Librarians can help by providing feedback regarding useful sources. Librarians work with students conducting research, so are familiar with student research behavior.

Be careful when assigning current or local topics. Current topics do not lend themselves to scholarly research because scholarly articles appear only after magazine and newspaper articles. Local topics tend to appear in local newspapers.

Be careful of topics that are too general or too specific. If students must decide what to research, give them examples of workable and acceptable topics. Most students will need to either broaden or narrow their research. Students may need help formulating a thesis statement.

Avoid a mob scene. Dozens of students using one book, or one of any single library resource can cause problems with accessibility, loss and damage. Use course Reserves in the library if there is a need to assign material from a single source.

Avoid scavenger hunts. These tend to have very little real research skills value. Google and other search engines do not provide a good way to learn how to research college level sources.

Be clear in your use of "the Internet." Students may ask if they can use "the Internet." Most consider that to mean a Google search. If you want students to concentrate on more academic or scholarly material, require that they use library sources such as books and articles from print magazines, newspapers and journals (these are available online, but require access through the library's homepage and login Click here to see the Most Used Article Sources.

Click here to see a subject list to all the article sources. Click here for an explanation of using the library's online article sources.

If Google is acceptable, you may want to mention Google Scholar and how the preferences can be set to pull articles from library subscriptions. Click here for instructions on setting Google Scholar preferences to PJC.

If you do not want them to use open search engines like Google and Yahoo, make that clear. Be sure students understand that most library resources are accessible on "the Internet," are password protected (so cannot be accessed through regular search engines) and can be accessed from home.

Be clear in your use of "library computer." Be sure students understand whether you mean the library catalog or library articles online rather than a computer, or literally, the computers in the library.

Ideas to get started. Consider something other than a traditional research paper. These could be annotated bibliographies, a book review, or something as simple as a fill-in-the-blanks assignment that requires identifying and citing several sources on a topic.

Refer students to librarians for help. Remind students that librarians are available to assist them.

Refer students to the library's Research Paper Help site, or, if the library has prepared a handout for your topic, refer students to these. If you would like a handout for your topic, contact your liaison

Handouts tailored to a research assignment - Click here for examples.

Handouts on Citing Sources - For printable citing handouts prepared specifically for PJC students click here.

"How to . . . " Research Handouts - For printable, graphic instructions for using several library resources.

Research Paper Help site

Reference Assistance for Faculty, Students, Staff - Reference Desk manned when libraries are open. Phone and email service available also when libraries are open. Click here for contact information. Click here for library hours.

Click here for virtual "chat" service provided by statewide librarians during expanded hours.