Welcome to the PCC Library! 

The Library supports the curriculum, students, faculty, and staff of Pueblo Community College. Our circulating collection contains over 25,000 items, not including the Reference collection and audio-video tapes held for faculty and in-house use only.

First Floor

Upon entering the Library, you noticed the security gates; these are to deter theft, ensure items are properly checked-out, and to ensure other materials remain in the Library for your use when you need them for a class or research paper.

Past the gates on your right is a children’s section with games, puzzles, and toys. There are also children’s books and videotapes that can be checked out. [Note: Campus policy is anyone under 13 must be accompanied by their parent.] Opposite the children’s section, notice the new books area, the photocopy machine, books for sale on the discount cart, paperback shelves, and a carrel with stapler, scissors, and related supplies for your use.

In this same area, note the waist-high brown metal cabinets; they contain the Library’s microfilm and microfiche collection. Opposite them are the microfilm and microfiche readers. At the end of these cabinets are notebooks with the journal collections of the Pueblo Library District, CSUP, Pikes Peak Community College, and regional hospitals; these will help you quickly locate periodicals locally.

The collection of books on the first floor is Reference; these materials do not circulate outside the Library. The tables in the middle of the Reference area hold print indexes to periodicals; they include Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, Index to Dental Literature, Radiology Index, and Business Education Index. Indexes provide citations which lead the user to the appropriate periodicals; the Library staff will help you locate the full text article you need.

In the far corner of the first floor, the latest issues of our periodical and newspaper subscriptions are displayed. These can be read anywhere in the Library, but can not be checked out. The Library retains the current month plus two previous months of newspapers, and numerous back issues of periodicals, either in print or on microfilm.

In the center of the first floor is a computer terminal that searches the Public Access Catalog (PAC), also called the CARL terminal. This is your gateway to books, audio-visual materials, and periodical titles in the PCC Library collection. The PAC terminal is also a gateway to:

*Other Colorado library catalogs
*Ingenta: index to 13 million articles and 29,000 journal titles

Computer Carrels house terminals that access the Internet and a variety of databases:
ACLIN: Access Colorado or now "Colorado Virtual Library"
EBSCO Host: full text magazines, newspapers, business journals, and medical resources
FirstSearch: gateway to 14 databases
Encyclopedia Britannica
GaleNet
Grove Dictionary of Art. The world's best single source for art information.
LOIS: Full-text U.S. Supreme Court, Appeals Court, District Courts, and CO case law
MEDLINE: index to 3,500 medical journals; it also provides abstracts of the articles.

Carrel 18 is a stand-alone terminal that allows you to use CDROM or software that accompanies textbooks. In support of our community-service mission, Carrels 19 and 20 provide only Internet. Except for carrels 18-20, all terminals provide Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) for students.

Those first-floor carrels without computers contain audio-visual equipment which allow you to watch videotapes, laser disks, or filmstrip/cassette programs, listen to audio cassettes, audio CDs, etc.

The Reference Desk is directly opposite the front door; help is available in locating resources, whether in print, CDROM, audio-visual, or online format. The Reference staff can help you search thousands of databases, libraries, and information resources worldwide.

The Check-out desk is where you will check out your Library materials, using your PCC or community ID card. After registering at the check-out desk, a Library bar-code is put on the back of your student ID card, which permits you to borrow five (5) items, including videos. Without a student ID, patrons are registered as community members and may check out two items. The check-out desk is also where you ask for tip sheets to help you in your studies or borrow ready reference items like telephone books, zip code directories, and biology lab manuals.

The second floor houses the circulating collection. Books and audiovisual materials are inter-shelved to allow maximum patron access to the collection. The second floor also has study rooms for small groups and typewriters for preparing assignments. You don’t have to reserve these rooms.

The PCC Archives---the institutional history and memory of PCC---is also on the second floor. Please contact the Reference Librarian for more information or assistance.

The Pueblo Hall of Fame Room, Room 210M, honors PCC’s history, highlights those elected to the Hall of Fame, and serves as a center of historical reflection for the community.

Take a minute and look out the second floor windows, orienting yourself to the remainder of the PCC campus. The Medical Arts building is on the left, the College Center is straight ahead, and the Central Administration building is on the right. Out of sight on the right are the Industrial Plant and the Gorsich Advanced Technology Center. The central plaza to your front is named Hoag Plaza, in honor of an important Pueblo citizen and PCC benefactor.

This concludes your self-guided Library tour. We hope you are comfortable using this facility and will ask for help if you need it. Check our Library home page. You can also access the Library collection via CARL. Contact us with questions or concerns at (7l9) 549-3305.

Tip Sheet #40 (May 2006)