Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Learning Resources Centers (LRC) and libraries have now made it easier for students and employees to access more than 70 databases both on- and off-campus.  These databases, provided by college subscriptions, state resources through Magnolia, and the Mississippi Virtual Community College MELO consortium, provide a wide range of books, pamphlets, information and films that students can use for research, study, career exploration and entertainment.

“The LRC staff on all campuses have been working diligently to offer students an easier way to reach the staff and resources when needed, whether they are on campus or at home,” said Melissa Davis, assistant dean of Learning Resources at the Jackson County Campus.  “Online access is more important than ever. The ability to easily link, embed, and log-in to resources is essential to teaching and learning online and a must for modernizing our library services.”

“We are always looking for ways to make access to our resources easier for students and instructors,” said Dr. Vanessa Ritchie, assistant dean of Learning Resources at the Perkinston Campus. “Moving to modified and online instruction this past year has been a challenge and we wanted to ensure that both instructors and students can meet that challenge successfully.”

Dr. Adrienne McPhaul, assistant dean of Learning Resources at the Harrison County Campus, said that the college has been working quickly to increase access to existing library resources and to provide subscriptions to requested resources.  Enhancements include a website redesign, library chat and email services, the migration to a new integrated library system and catalog (Atriuum) that allows for easy browsing and for users to place holds on books, and adding databases like JSTOR, JOMI, and Kanopy.

“We are also increasing our outreach to faculty and students so that they are more aware of all the content that is available to them for research and curriculum support,” McPhaul said.  “EZproxy is one way our libraries are removing barriers to actually accessing that content.”

MGCCC students and employees can login to library databases by visiting the library’s homepage at mgccc.edu/library.