Below are links and information for accessing materials, including books and articles. In order to obtain materials, you will first need a BCC library card.
Your card has a barcode on the back which is your password to accessing articles from our Periodical Index Databases and books from our Public Access Catalog. Simply enter the number beginning with 2739100....
For Articles: Once you have logged into our Periodical Index Databases, using the bar code on the back of your library card, you will be able to search for, retrieve and print out articles from your home internet connection.
For Books: In order to order books, you will not only need your BCC library card, but you will need to create a Personal Identification Number, or PIN. The Using the PAC brochure below offers a step-by-step guide to doing this. Please be aware that you can not use a public library card if you wish books to be sent to any academic library. You can use another current academic card from a CW/Mars member library to order books. Colleges who participate in the CW/Mars system include MCLA, STCC, HCC, AIC, Elms and GCC.
Databases - This is where you go to search for articles. Click here if you wish to go to our login page to access our Periodical Index Databases from offsite. You will need a BCC library card to access these databases. To learn how to use databases click here for brochures.
Upon clicking the link above you will be taken to an annotated A-Z list of our databases. You can search each database separately by clicking the their blue, highlighted name, or you can search any number of them together by clicking the check box next to their name and entering your search in the find box on top. This allows you to search different databases provided through different companies all at once with one common interface "find" box. . You can even search for books at the same time that you search for articles by clicking the check box next to the listing for the Jonathan Edwards Library public access catalog. Should you decide to search a number of databases at once, it is adviseable that you do so as an Advanced Search. Advanced searches allow you to search in a number of fields, including as keywords, as the main subject, or throughout the entire text
Do be aware that while it is convenient to search a variety of databases all at once, because each may be indexed very differently,results may not be as complete as they would be if you searched each database alone. Also, depending upon the time of day, the more databases you search in together, the more there is a chance that some of them may be timed out. And some databases, such as Cinahl, Medline and Lexis Nexis are just better searched by themselves. Therefore, if the combined, (also called federated) search doesn't render the expected results then try to search databases individually.
There are many databases to choose from. Some, such as Academic Search Premiere and Academic OneFile provide full-text articles from journals and magazines in all subject areas, others, such as such as American History Online, Biomedical Reference, Business Source Premiere, Grove Art and Contemporary Literary Criticism are subject specific. The best way to know which database to use is to try all options and to be flexible. The more you use the periodical index databases, the more expert you will become at searching these.
While we have many database providers, most of our databases come from two companies, EbscoHost and Thomson/Gale. (Infotrac) Other companies providing databases include Facts on File, Lexis Nexis, Grove, ProQuest, and Newsbank. Each database company has it's own look, although they all share certain common features, such as a find or search box, where you can type in your request. This is the template for EbscoHost. Click here to read the EbscoHost brochure. All of EbscoHost's databases look like this:
Most, but not all of the Thomson Gale databases look like this: It includes a find box for searching and allows you to decide whether you want full text or scholarly articles. (To read more, click here for the Thomson Gale database brochure).
Public Access Catalog - To find books, click here to enter the BCC Online Public Access Catalog, the online catalog of all the books in our collection.
NOTE: The current template for our Public Access Catalog is changing. We will be launching a brand new template and system in October 2011. The new system will have similar features, including a keyword, author, title and subject search, but the organization and look will be different. Once we have images to share we will include them here.
A Public Access Catalog provides a record of every item in the collection of a library, and where on the shelf that item is located. As we are part of the CW/MARS system, you can also look at the Online Public Access Catalogs of a number of academic and most public libraries throughout central and western Massachusetts. Click here for a brochure on how to use the PAC and how to set up an account or PIN. A PIN will allow you to order books from libraries to be sent to your academic library. You will also be able to track your circulation activity and see which books you have out, which might have fines, and the processing of any book requests you have made. In order to borrow books, you will need a BCC library card. You will also need to pick up your book at an academic library. (Not a public library).
In addition to BCC's Jonathan Edwards Library, and the CW/MARS member library catalogs, you can also search the Virtual Catalog, a state-wide catalog of libraries in all regions. This catalog includes the holdings of some of the University of Massachusetts campuses, as well as those of State Colleges such as Salem State and Westfield State College. To access the Virtual Catalog site, click here. You should use the Virtual Catalog only after a search has failed to yield results through the CW/MARS collections.
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08/31/2011, KCH
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