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Friendly Library Aide Brandy talking with Benny Desantiago.
Did you know that you don’t have to be a CAC student to use the library? It’s open to the public and library personnel are standing by to assist!
The Central Arizona College (CAC) Aravaipa Campus Library is located at 80440 E. Aravaipa Road Winkelman, Arizona (although the campus is not actually located within the town site of Winkelman but on the road to Aravaipa off of Highway 77). The CAC Library is affiliated with the Pinal County Library and is open to residents of Pinal County as well as the students and staff at the Aravaipa campus.
Computer stations and books keep students busy at the CAC-Aravaipa library.
The library provides a variety of services for its students. Some of the services provided include: electronic periodical databases which allows online access to magazines and journals and full text reference books online (E-books) for research into a variety of subjects such as psychology, current events, health sciences, general sciences, philosophy and literature. The library offers access to 29 online data bases; 130,000 eBooks; 95,000 books and DVDs; and countywide access to 328,000 items.
In the library, you will find a quiet study area with a number of computer workstations and tables for everyone’s use. Computer stations have online access and Microsoft programs. There is also a pleasant lounge area where students, faculty and others can relax, read, check email and rest between classes. Free Wi-Fi is available for your laptop, tablet or smart phone at the library. Librarians and library aides are available to help with find and print online articles, answer questions on topics, find books for your project or paper, refine your research strategy, set up a bibliography and refine other research need. There are also electronic reference services including chat and email for students. Students can access articles eBooks and other resources online from home using their account on Blackboard.
The Aravaipa Campus Library is a busy spot at the college. Statistics from the 2015 – 2016 school year show that the number of annual patrons was 21,783; reference questions answered by library staff – 3,096; number of books and media checked out – 1,372; number of students who attended library instruction courses – 309; number of print materials – 12,203; overall electronic usage (databases) – 73,502; and the overall eBook usage for the district was 41,518.
Jesse, a student from Mammoth works with tutor, Diana Stirling.
The Tutoring Center is located in the library. Tutoring hours are posted there and students and tutors meet at the workstations. Library staff also help students with class work, computer programs and locating information.
Angelina, a student at CAC Aravaipa, said that she doesn’t have a computer at home so she does her homework and research using the computer workstations in the library. Jesse, a student from Mammoth, uses the library and learning center regularly for homework, to study and to meet with his tutor. He also meets and hangs out with friends in the lounge area and said he has been known to take a short nap there on occasion. “The library is very well needed,” he said.
The CAC Aravaipa Campus Library is open Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.. For more information contact the Aravaipa Campus Library at (520) 357-2821, Email: library@centralaz.edu, or visit their website www.centralaz.edu/library.
John Hernandez lives in Oracle. He is retired and enjoys writing and traveling. He is active in the Oracle Historical Society. He covers numerous public events, researches historical features and writes business/artist profiles.
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