NW Library
The Jenna Welch and Laura Bush Community Library

  

Jenna Welch & Laura Bush Community Library
A Study/Learning Center for All Age Groups.

 

The Library is a combination academic/public library located on the campus of El Paso Community College's Northwest Campus in El Paso, Texas. It was formed in 2003 by an inter-governmental agreement between the City of El Paso and El Paso Community College. 

 

Mission Statement

The Jenna Welch & Laura Bush Community Library, El Paso Community College, Northwest Campus is an academic library partnering with the El Paso Public Library to provide family, youth and children’s services.  The library provides instruction, service, access to informational resources that enhance educational growth and personal enrichment.

Goals
 

  • Provide collections, technologies, and instructional services for EPCC students, faculty, staff, and the community. 

  • Provide services, programming and collections for children and youth through the partnership.
  • Identify new technologies to enhance classroom instruction and improve the quality of services offered to all library users.
  • Maintain friendly, knowledgeable bilingual staff to provide individualized, timely service.
  • Maintain welcoming, learning environment with up-to-date technology.

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    Service Community: Something for Everyone

    Children

    • Materials in a variety of formats for children
    • Programming: Story times and special occasion events. 

    Young Adults

    • Homework help
    • Quiet study areas and group study rooms
    • Teen Hangout program (currently only in summer)

    College Students & Faculty

    • Full range of quality academic library and information services.
    • Expanded resources and instruction to support the college curriculum
    • High end orientation classroom equipped with 35 computers
    • Video conference room
    • Quiet study areas and group study rooms

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    Programs of Special Interest

    Borderlands Research

    • Resources including books, journal articles, online materials and web guide to serve students and faculty and to support the college curriculum
    • Orientation sessions tailored to this curriculum. 
    • Web access to student articles published in Borderlands, a special annual issue of the El Paso Times

    Court Reporting

    • Resources including books, journal articles, online materials and web guide to serve students and faculty and to support the college curriculum
    • Orientation sessions tailored to this curriculum. 

      Pharmacy Technician

    • Resources including books, journal articles, online materials and web guide to serve students and faculty and to support the college curriculum
    • Orientation sessions tailored to this curriculum. 

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    The Collections

    Classification Systems in Use

    • Adult and young adult collections are arranged by the Library of Congress Classification scheme, reflecting the academic aspects of the library
    • Children's materials are arranged alphabetically by author. 

     

    Books (print and e-books)
    • Popular and scholarly nonfiction
    • Reference tools (non circulating books and online sources that provide overviews, background, and statistics, and more. 
    • Children's and young adult books

    For the general public, students of all ages, teens and children, as well as materials to support the college curriculum - many in Spanish or bilingual

    Periodicals
    • More than 100 titles of popular magazines and newspapers are available for leisure reading.
       

    Online Catalog, Databases & Internet

    • From the Northwest Community Library home page, users have both on site and remote access to the online catalog, which includes the collections of all campuses of El Paso Community College, and access to various websites with annotations.  
    • More than 80 subscription databases, many providing full-text with graphics

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    Library Instruction

    One of the library's primary goals is to establish a program of Information Literacy for lifelong learning by teaching library users to:

    • Recognize and define information needs.
    • Develop research skills for locating relevant information efficiently.
    • Critically evaluate information and its sources.
    • Use information effectively, responsible and ethically

    Study & Meeting Rooms

    • Two study rooms equipped with desktop computer, headphones and microphones. 
    • One videoconferencing room -- seats 10.
    • One orientation room with 35 computers with headphones, microphones and SMART technologies such as an interactive whiteboard and multimedia cart.   
    • Quiet reading room - seats about 40

    A Learning Environment For All Ages

    • The library's resources, programs, floor plan and furnishings were developed to provide an atmosphere conducive to study and learning, including quiet areas and study rooms.  
    • The public area includes 39 computers for general use, including some equipped with educational software for children.
    • The library is open to the public a total of 64 hours per week, including evenings and Saturdays.

     

    Resource Sharing/Collaboration

    Resource Sharing For Expanded Access

    As an academic/public library partnership, Northwest Community Library offers its users access to an outstanding base of shared resources from the El Paso Community College, Texshare, and the El Paso Public Library.

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