If students at the Douglasville campus need to checkout a book for a research paper, they won’t be visiting the school library, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, students are directed to a computer lab that has been officially designated as the school library.

While the Douglasville location is the only Highlands campus that does not possess a traditional library, it has yet to be a hardship on students. In our technologically ingrained culture most students already use the web to answer their own daily questions, so it is not a tall order to ask students to take their research online.

Through this virtual library, students have access to a myriad of online resources, are able to speak to live librarians and can also checkout books from other Georgia Highlands locations with the expectation of receiving them within just a few days.

Virtual reference centers allow schools to bypass the financial hardship of a proper collegiate library while allowing more space for classrooms and seating for students.

So while the Douglasville location is lacking a traditional campus library, it is still meeting the needs of its students virtually and doing so with excellence.

Not to knock the physical, tangible glory of a good book, but with research resources like GALILEO, students have entire educational references available instantaneously through a few tiny keystrokes. It is an advanced simplified system that, might be easier to use than the traditional book stacks.

With digital copies quickly becoming as available as their hardback predecessors, students have the option to forgo the hassle of digging, flipping and lugging around the heavy informational references of the past.

While some might see the lack of those catalogued library corridors as a shortcoming, others may see it as an eco friendly, resourceful innovation of the modern educational system.