RLC highlights services, resources during National Library Week

INA, Ill. – This week, libraries across the country are celebrating the many ways they help their communities for National Library Week, and none have integrated new technologies and addressed student and community needs better than Rend Lake College’s Learning Resource Center (LRC). With new and constantly-progressing media, engaging spaces, and an online database filled with thousands of materials, the LRC is truly a hidden gem on RLC’s campus.

The college’s LRC is an open resource for students, faculty, staff, and community members alike. One simply needs a library card to take items out of the LRC. In print materials, the LRC has nearly 13,000 items to browse, including 75 magazine and newspaper subscriptions.

The LRC also has an extensive online collection, which includes dozens of electronic resources and over 70,000 e-journals, e-books, and audiovisual materials, such as videotapes, CDs, and DVDs. In fact, the Cloud Library has over 35,000 downloadable e-books for anyone to use on an e-reader.

For students, this means access to over 40 electronic resources and over 36,000 streaming videos. The Journal Finder and Electronic Library services online allows students to search for academic materials by title, subject, or article name.

Beth Mandrell, Reference Librarian, said the LRC is the perfect resource for any RLC student, no matter what they’re looking for or the services needed to find information.

“Libraries are learning spaces with comfortable seating, a place where new ideas and innovations begin because they have the information, on hand, to back them up,” said Mandrell.

The LRC is also a cooperating member of the Illinois Heartland Library System, which provides access to the catalog of over 500 member libraries – well over 10 million records – both across the state and nationwide. Many of these materials can be borrowed on a short-term basis called an interlibrary loan.

But the LRC is much more than a simple library with books and material to check out.

A 24-computer open lab is available for public use, plus two collaborative work pods of six computers each, which enables users to work together on a project and share on a screen. Users can also bring their own devices to link to the work pods via Wi-Fi.

Three study rooms are also available for a quiet study environment. The three rooms contain a combination of network and Wi-Fi computers, scanners, TVs, and DVD players.

Additional services at the LRC include a lactation room for new mothers, story time kits designed for preschool through third grade students, and a children’s library.

For more information, visit the Learning Resource Center on the Ina campus; call the Circulation Desk at 618-437-5321, Ext. 1308; or see the library’s website at www.rlc.edu/learning-resource-center. Tours of the LRC are also available upon request.

Library hours during the fall and spring semester are 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. Mondays – Thursdays and 7 am. – 4 p.m. Fridays. Summer hours are 7 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday – Thursdays. The LRC is closed Saturdays and Sundays all year, and on Fridays during the summer.

RLC students may have their Student IDs created at the LRC. Students and community members interested in library cards should contact the Circulation Desk. Community members must be over the age of 18 or be a high school senior and live within RLC’s district. Photo identification is required and community members will also need to provide proof of residency.

National Library Week was first sponsored in 1958, and is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries across the country each April. In 2018, National Library Week is observed April 8-14.