Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
COUNCIL BLUFFS — Imagine a library without books, yet with more information than ever before available in an instant.
Cyberlibraries are becoming more common at colleges all over the country, including at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs.
“The times are changing,” said President Dan Kinney. “Colleges must adapt.”
With the fall semester ready to start, Iowa Western students will use the resources found in the cyberlibrary in the new student center.
“There are no books,” Kinney said. “Everything will be on databases online. We are not going to buy any more books.”
The existing books are being distributed to their respective academic departments.
“Now there are millions of books at the snap of a finger. Now they can click the mouse, and it's there. Now there's no limit to the access they have.”
In the past, Kinney said, if a book that was needed was available only at another college, it could be days before that book was sent to the Iowa Western student.
“Now, it's right there,” he said. “They want immediate response time.”
This new library is part of a $13 million student center that also features a culinary arts lab and a dining area with room to seat 400-plus — twice the seating capacity of the old facility in Ashley Hall.
The second-floor library features 60 work stations, plus eight study rooms. Approximately 160 laptops can be checked out, Kinney said.
Students may bring their own computers to the library, Kinney said, or work from elsewhere on campus.
“If they have computers in their dorm room, they can have access to the library from there,” he said.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
