OPAC

OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) is the catalog for everything in the Westhill Library Media Center - books, videos, and other audiovisual materials.

1. Double click the OPAC icon on the desktop of the networked computers in the school. OPAC is not available outside of school.
2. OPAC can be searched by keyword, subject heading, author, title, and series title. Type search terms and click on the appropriate button.
3. Select listings that interest you and look at the full record. You will often find a summary of the content of the material you found.
4. OPAC is only available on the school network.

Using the Bookbag Function:

1. Use the "Add to the Bookbag" button to save items of interest in the "Bookbag."
2. Click the "Bookbag" button to see and print all the items saved in the Bookbag.

Using the Electronic Access Service:

1. Many records include a line "Elec. Access" for Internet sites about the subject of the book or video.
2. Click on that line - you will go directly to a listing of vetted/selected Internet sites for the subject. The listing includes a paragraph description in some detail describing each web site.
3. Click on the title of the web site and it will open directly.
   

REFERENCE COLLECTION

General Encyclopedias: World Book, Encyclopedia Americana, Comptons Encyclopedia, Academic American are some of the encyclopedias available in book form.

Subject Encyclopedias: Many special subject encyclopedias such as the Encyclopedia of Physics, Encyclopedia of Chemistry, Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History, Encyclopedia of African-American Cultural History, Ancient Greece and Rome, etc. are included in the Reference Collection.

Dictionaries and Thesauri: The collection includes general English dictionaries, dictionaries for a variety of other languages, visual dictionaries, and special subject dictionaries.

Sources for Literary Cricitism: A number of resources in the Gale series are available to find ciritical essays about authors and their works.

General Reference Books: Books and book sets to support the curriculum in Science, Literature, World History, American History, African American History are included in the collection.

GENERAL COLLECTION

Westhill High School's collection holds approzimately 20,000 volumes, including books, videos, maps, and laserdisks. Materials are purchased to support the district's curriculum and also to provide materials for leisure reading.

EQUIPMENT

All equipment is signed out at the AudioVisual desk.

Laptop Computers:

There are currently four laptop computers for short term loan for students who do not have access to a computer in their homes. Students and parents must sign an agreement form before loans can be made.

There are three laptop computers available for loan to teachers during the school day or for short term loan to be taken home.

TV/VCRs: The Media Center provides 13 TV/VCR setups on carts for classroom use. Teachers can sign them out ahead of time. About half of them are set to provide closed captioning for hearing impaired students.

Presentation Equipment: There are 2 LCD panels and 3 digital projectors that can be connected to a computer to project the screen image for presentations. The digital projectors will also work with a VCR for projection purposes.

Overhead Projectors: There are enough overhead projectors on carts for every teacher who needs one in a classroom for the school year.

Cassette/CD Player/Recorders: The media center can loan a cassette/CD player to teachers for short term use as needed.

Other Miscellaneous Equipment: There are still a number of filmstrip projectors with built-in cassette players, slide projectors, and cassette player/recorders available.