Why A Virtual Library?

Today's students often combine education with ongoing employment and other responsibilities. They need quickly accessible, reliable learning resources that are available to them anytime, from anywhere. They need online resources.

Unfortunately, many turn to general Internet search engines to obtain the information they need. Such information is rarely current and often erroneous. Moreover, the person conducting the search often is forced to wade through page after page of unvetted search results, and may be directed to websites that are little more than vehicles to push a particular viewpoint or commercial product/service.

For education providers, developing and maintaining a relevant, resource-rich on-site library for their students often proves cost prohibitive.

The solution? A high-quality virtual library.

A well-designed virtual library can:

• Deliver information resources to students that are current, authoritative, appropriate to their studies and easily accessible;
• Reinforce the library's role in the learning process by providing faculty with resources and content to develop and enrich class assignments;
• Help students become adept and confident in their use of information in a variety of formats, making them truly information literate; and
• Provide library resources and services to students in a cost-effective, scalable manner that allows for the easy introduction of new resources, as well as the prompt removal of those that are outdated.

What is the core set of resources and services provided by on-campus libraries?

Regardless of size, almost all traditional, on-campus libraries provide a core set of services and resources to their students.

• Bibliographic Instruction: Librarians teaching students how to use the library resources;
• Research Assistance: Librarians helping students determine how to get started on course assignments;
• Core Collection of Books: A collection of books that supports the school's curriculum and faculty research;
• Research Databases: A collection of general and topic-specific databases that provide abstracts and/or full-text of journal and magazine articles;
• Reference Assistance: Librarians answering student questions of a general nature or pointing students to the best resources on a given topic; and
• General Reference: Encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, maps and other reference works.

With Jones e-global library, we not only provide the same core resources and services of the traditional library, we deliver so much more, including:

• Online Tutorials
• Program Resources
• Online Books
• Gale Cengage Databases
• Ask an Online Librarian
• General Reference Collection
• Specialized Resources, including extensive government, financial aid and career development guides