To start your research, go to the Brown Library home page at www.vw.vccs.edu/library. From the home page, you will find information about the library; including hours, staff members, and circulation policies. You will also find links to resources and services such as the book catalog, the electronic databases, interlibrary loan, and Ask a Librarian.

Use the "Ask a Librarian" link if you wish to contact a librarian. You may contact by email, by phone, or through a virtual reference chat service known as LRC Live.

Use the "Book Catalog" link to find out what books we own and then come to the library to check them out. If we do not own the book you need, you can request it through the "Interlibrary Loan" link. Use the "Databases" link to find articles in periodicals such as newspapers, magazines and journals. Many of these articles are full-text and immediately available. If you do find an article that is not full-text, you may use interlibrary loan to order it. Please be aware that this service usually takes a minimum of two weeks.

Most of the library databases are provided by the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA). This is a consortium of Virginia’s college and university libraries. VIVA provides access to library and information resources consisting of over 200 databases. If you click on "Databases" from the library home page you will see a list of the most popular ones. At the bottom of the list you will see a link to VIVA that takes you to a more complete listing of all VIVA resources.

In addition to the VIVA resources, Brown Library has its own subscription to the JSTOR database. This is also available under the "Databases" link.

On-Campus Access
From the library computers, Brown Library is set as the default home page. If you do not see this page, click on the home button on the toolbar at the top of the screen. If you are on one of the pages within the Brown Library web site, you can always return to the home page by clicking on "Library Home" from the orange and purple bar running across the bottom of the screen.

From the campus computer labs, Virginia Western is set as the default home page. From there, you can find the library by clicking on "QuickConnect," and then on "Library." You can find "QuickConnect" in the middle of the screen next to the words "Start Here."

Off-Campus Access
From on campus, anyone may access all of our resources, including the electronic databases. From off campus, however, access to the electronic databases is restricted. The databases are restricted because they are available only by subscription. As part of our subscription agreement, we provide access to students and staff of Virginia Western Community College. These subscription agreements are standard between libraries and database vendors. For this reason, it is necessary for students and staff to provide a login/password when accessing the restricted databases from an off-campus computer. For directions, click on "Off-Campus Access" from the library home page.