The Impact of NC LIVE
We asked library patrons across the state of North Carolina to tell us about how NC LIVE has helped them attain their personal and professional goals. Here are some of their stories.
Carl is the Senior Research Scientist at the Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute in Asheville, a nonprofit that helps children with disabilities. He uses scholarly articles through NC LIVE to support his research, which he publishes with open access.
How has NC LIVE helped you?
“I primarily use ProQuest Central to identify studies of different research reviews of factors related to child, parent, and family positive functioning. And we use that research to determine whether or not what I think happening in families is supported in the research.”
How much money and/or time have you saved with NC LIVE?
“The purchase of commercially available databases is beyond the financial ability of a not-for-profit organization. NC LIVE’s collection of databases saves hours and hours of time which would otherwise have to be spent searching multiple databases individually.”
What is the value of NC LIVE?
“I can almost always find the most recent articles on ProQuest. It is more likely to include full-text articles of studies that are not available in other databases, including Google Scholar. ProQuest Central is my go-to source for locating a broad range of studies conducted in different fields of inquiry.”
Why support NC LIVE?
“I get requests almost every day for information about the work that we’ve been doing. Freely available library resources are necessary for North Carolina citizens to have easy access to a rich source of information on many different topics.”
Gwyneth has always loved history, but when she graduated from Meredith College last spring, it became harder to find the sources she needed to pursue her interests. Now, she uses NC LIVE through Wake County Public Libraries to create museum exhibits and explore her passion for preserving North Carolina’s cultural heritage.
How has NC LIVE helped you?
“Once I graduated from Meredith, I discovered that researching without the institutional platforms was difficult. NC LIVE is a blessing because it enables me to follow my passions and work more efficiently without a need for a university connection or having to work with an overcomplicated system.”
How much money and/or time have you saved with NC LIVE?
“It helps guarantee that I have scholarly resources that I can use for my exhibits. We can't afford to buy every single book or article or magazine out there, especially about very particular topics. It also makes my job so much easier because I don't have to spend countless hours on all these rabbit trails trying to find this one exact thing.”
What is the value of NC LIVE?
Gwyneth said she has saved “easily hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. And I'm saving it both personally, but the county is saving it too, since I'm employed by the county.”
Why support NC LIVE?
“Access to information is part of why we are so educated and able to do all the things that we can today. This is what makes us better historians, better scientists, better politicians. It broadens our horizons, helps us to understand the world at large in far greater detail.”
Jenni is one of two librarians at a Wake County public high school that serves over 2,000 students. She uses NC LIVE resources to learn about of all of the books in her school’s library and to help students find the resources they need to succeed.
How has NC LIVE helped you?
“Well, I think it helps students two ways. Number one, just getting the content that they need. There's just such a wealth of information that's available through NC LIVE that’s fairly easy for them to get to just by simply getting a library card. And then I think the other thing is the experience that they get in practicing research skills that they'll need in the AP classes and higher ed.”
How much money and/or time have you saved with NC LIVE?
“It's hard to put a number on it, because there are so many things there, but the database that we subscribe to costs about $2,000 a year just for that one. NC LIVE has such a long list of databases in so many different disciplines and big-time subscriptions, it's beyond anything we can possibly afford.”
What is the value of NC LIVE?
“Especially in AP classes, the students are doing more complex research, and they need something more that they're not finding in the high school-oriented database that we most often use with them. And so we'll encourage them, if they don't already have a library card, to get one online, which is really easy to do, and then to explore the research options there.”
Why support NC LIVE?
“So that these resources are accessible to everyone. Resources are not the same at every school, and so having a place where students can go beyond their school to access all of these things, to get to build their research skills, to become aware of what's available beyond the school, it's a benefit to every student.”
Matt teaches rhetoric and composition at both Appalachian State University and Western Piedmont Community College, so he knows how hard it can be for students to find reliable sources for their writing. He promotes NC LIVE as a one-stop shop for research as he helps students reach their academic potential.
How has NC LIVE helped you?
“NC LIVE is a great resource for articles and database use. I encourage my students to use the articles. Once you get into the academic databases, everything is peer reviewed. It also cites it for the student in MLA or APA format. They can download it; they can email it to themselves. It's just an efficient all-in-one package for students.”
How much money and/or time have you saved with NC LIVE?
“Time is probably the biggest one. Students aren’t having to run through a scavenger hunt for things since NC LIVE is broken up into different subject areas. That makes it much easier for students, and for me, to find sources.”
What is the value of NC LIVE?
“People in the community can get on and use it, so it's not just academic. It's not just college students. It's really something for any North Carolina resident to use to better themselves, educationally and culturally. Otherwise people are left with not-so-good sources, so I feel like it's a great, vetted place.”
Why support NC LIVE?
“Especially on the community college side of things, I feel like these students are getting a great value through NC LIVE. Whether it be articles or videos or test prep or other things, it’s completely free. All they have to do is have their student access, and they're able to get in and use it—off campus, on campus, it doesn't matter—and it's completely free.”
In addition to being a logistics management officer and a graduate student, Mike is a full-time pilot. He uses NC LIVE to save time on his business school assignments so that he can focus on his job and his family. As he works on his MBA at East Carolina University, he also uses NC LIVE resources for building his personal investment portfolio.
How has NC LIVE helped you?
“Once I was able to get access to all this stuff, I’ve used it not only for my strategic management class but also a couple other data analytics classes, so it’s been very beneficial for both of those.”
How much money and/or time have you saved with NC LIVE?
“At least $500 per semester that I’m using it.
As far as time—it would take me weeks or months, even, to come up with the same data that these analysts come up with.”
What is the value of NC LIVE?
“For my professional goals, having the ability to go in and research companies is beneficial for the educational parts of my program and studying. But for my personal finances, it also gives me access to companies that I can research and do things like pull financial data and a very detailed analysis to even see if I want to invest in them.”
Why support NC LIVE?
“If I have a question about a specific topic, I know I can go in there and get the research done. I like that. I know that is valuable to not only me as a student, but for a lot of students in my field, both at the graduate and undergraduate level. I feel like that’s a worthwhile expenditure for my taxes.”
Sidney started using NC LIVE to learn a new language so that she could better support her Spanish-speaking patients. Then she discovered how much money she could save on eBooks, music, movies, and other entertainment by using NC LIVE resources through the Greensboro Public Library.
How has NC LIVE helped you?
“I was trying to learn Spanish, but all the other websites, like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, want you to pay for it. So when I saw this one, I was really shocked that they had it on there for free. The first time that I used it, I realized it had different components, like you can repeat what the lesson is teaching you. It’s comprehensive, even though it's so easy to use.”
How much money and/or time have you saved with NC LIVE?
“I think Duolingo for the year is around $40 or $50 a year. Rosetta Stone, I think you get a lifetime supply, but it’s like $200, and that’s an up-front investment."
What is the value of NC LIVE?
“It's more than just entertainment and hobbies. Like, if you're not in school—if you just want to do some research on anything, you want primary sources. It's important to be able to just go to the library and get that information. Honestly, if you can't go to the library and get that information, where else can we really go?”
Why support NC LIVE?
“Everyone doesn't have the financial resources to get these anywhere else. For people that can’t afford it, that's a barrier to someone possibly being able to learn a language or an added barrier to someone trying to learn about their ancestry. Money shouldn't be the reason why someone can't listen to music or can't can't learn a new language.”
Stan is a retiree living in the Triangle, where he uses both the Chapel Hill and Durham County libraries. He likes using NC LIVE to get trustworthy consumer information without leaving the comfort of his home.
How has NC LIVE helped you?
“The thing I mostly use NC LIVE for is to access Consumer Reports. I had to get tires for my wife’s car, and it was easy to find this article on tires, which was from late last year. I think if I had to shuffle through a year’s full of issues, I’m not sure I would have found it, or it would have taken me longer.”
How much money and/or time have you saved with NC LIVE?
Stan said he has "saved thousands" on product recommendations from Consumer Reports.
What is the value of NC LIVE?
“Some people don’t always have access to transportation. We have a friend—he’s a couple years older than I am, even—he gave up driving. So if he wanted to go to the library, it would be pretty burdensome. He might have to call a cab or Uber or something like that. So I think having this access at home—where they want it, when they want it—is very, very important.”
Why support NC LIVE?
“I think the more information that people can have available—especially given the disinformation and downright lies on social media sites—being able to go to something you have some trust in is very important. It’s urgent. It’s critical. I feel that strongly about how useful it is.”
Vanessa works full-time as a dental assistant, but she plans to return to school to become a certified dental hygienist. She used NC LIVE through Wake County Pubic library to study for her entrance exam, saving her hundreds of dollars.
How has NC LIVE helped you?
“It has helped tremendously—I did very well on my exam! It was great because the test that you have to take is on the computer, and it was nice to be able to take a practice test just like I was going to have to take.”
How much money and/or time have you saved with NC LIVE?
Vanessa said that she has saved at least $150 on ATDH test prep with LearningExpress Library.
“It costs so much to even attend school. I’m just trying to do my best, and I don’t feel like I should have to pay even more just to have good resources.”
What is the value of NC LIVE?
“Honestly, it’s the time—I work full time, and I’m going to go back to school. My time is very valuable; I don’t have a lot of it.
You really can’t put a price on that, being able to just take my laptop out and open it up whenever I have 15 or 20 minutes. I can easily pull some articles, save them to my computer, and get them later. I don’t have to always pop into the library and sit there for a couple of hours to do my work.”
Why support NC LIVE?
“It gives everybody an even playing field. It gives everybody the opportunity to have access to the same information at no cost. Everybody’s allowed to perform their best and, hopefully, get ahead in life or reach their personal goals.”