Discus: 24/7 Access to South Carolina’s Virtual Library- a great resource for all ages!

Beaufort County Library has a wealth of information online that is accessible 24/7 at our website, http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/ [1]. DISCUS, a compilation of thousands of newspapers, magazines, and reference books available online, is one of Beaufort County Library’s greatest unknown resources.

Whether you have procrastinated on a school project and need trustworthy resources ASAP or are looking for full text newspaper articles online, DISCUS provides you with free access to these resources anytime and anywhere. Don’t be tempted to rely on a Google search for your information needs. While Google is a great resource for certain needs, Google often times yields poor quality, commercial, and irrelevant information. DISCUS is designed to pull information from the most up to date and recognized publishers. Try their new Smartsearch feature, which allows you to enter search terms in one box and retrieve information from multiple databases. Smartsearch gives you an easy and effective way to search multiple resources at once.

DISCUS is not just for the middle, high school, or college student; DISCUS has useful resources for all ages. For example, by using DISCUS, you have the ability to search current and past issues of popular newspapers and magazines, such as New York Times, Atlanta Journal- Constitution, Time, Newsweek, etc. Need a review or discussion guide for your next book club discussion? Using Books and Authors and Book Review Index Online Plus, you can find expert book reviews, as well recommendations for your next book to read. As you can see DISCUS has a lot to offer for all ages. Ask our reference librarians about accessing DISCUS from home today!

Below is just a sampling of some of the features that DISCUS has to offer:

Books & Authors (Gale)

For librarians, teachers and readers of all ages Readers’ resource for fiction and nonfiction books

• Search by title, author, etc.
• Book jacket images, book reviews from more than 30 sources
• User-friendly tools that allow users to store reading and search lists and create reviews and ratings

Business & Company Resource Center (Gale) (1980 - present)

For college-level and adult researchers and advanced high school students Comprehensive magazine, journal and reference resources for business, management and investment topics, with Newsletters ASAP and Predicast’s PROMT databases

•  Articles from academic and general business, industry and management periodicals, newsletters, newspapers and newswires (4,000+ indexed titles; 2,900+ full-text)
• Investment and broker research reports
• Company and association directory listings from a number of sources
• Additional content from reference sources covering industries, company histories, associations, brands, market share and more
• Twenty-minute delayed stock quotes

CultureGrams

Perfect Resource for research reports on countries Country reports that provide snapshots of the world’s cultures

• Separate editions for: World, States, Provinces and Kids
• 200+ United Nations-member countries included, with reports containing history, customs, family, lifestyle, recipes, economy and more
• Each U.S. state, the District of Columbia and the 13 Canadian provinces are included, with reports containing maps, flags, symbols, history, economy, geography, population and more
• Video stories, slideshows, a worldwide photo gallery plus create-your-own data tables

Custom Newspapers (Gale)

Full-text articles from hundreds of U.S. and international newspapers  

• New York Times (1985-); Christian Science Monitor (1996-); The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC; 2000-); Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1996-); and other domestic papers
• Times (London; 1985-) and other international papers
• Updated one to three days after publication of the print newspapers
• Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center (Facts on File) For high school students through adults Complete career research database of jobs, skills, and resources
• Information on more than 3,300 jobs and 94 industries, organized by the 16 career clusters created by the U.S. Department of Education
• Articles and videos providing advice on job applications, the interview process, professional behavior, career skills, and more
• Sample résumés and cover letters
• Searchable entries on scholarships, internships, fellowships, and more

Health & Wellness Resource Center (Gale) (1980 - present)

For advanced middle school students through adults Portal to health information from a variety of sources for general users; includes “Alternative Health Module” content

• Full-text articles from 400 health, nursing, allied health and medical journals, including 30+ alternative health periodicals • More than 700 health-related videos from Healthology, Inc.  
• Health-related articles from 2,200 general interest magazines
• Medical encyclopedia articles, pamphlets, drug information and hospital directory, including alternative health reference titles and herbal medicine information
• Access to health news and key health Web sites

Nursing Resource Center (Gale)

For nursing students Collection of core content from recognized reference, textbook and journal publications in the nursing field • More than 20 full-text reference books

• More than 200 animations from Blausen Medical’s Human Atlas, covering all major body systems
• Search results returned in tabs that correlate to the nursing process
• Disease and drug overviews, sample care plans and a Nursing Toolbox

Opposing Viewpoints In Context (Gale)

For middle school students through adults Database of contemporary social issues with content structured to promote critical-thinking skills and information literacy  

• More than 400 reference book titles
• More than 8,700 pro and con viewpoint articles
• Periodicals, podcasts, reviewed Web links, images, statistical tables, charts and graphs
• Content levels may be selected for retrieving appropriate results
• Includes Lexile reading levels for periodical content
• Content correlated to social studies and science curriculum standards for middle and high school

Small Business Resource Center (Gale)

Resources for prospective and current entrepreneurs and business students

• Full-text periodicals, news sources, reference books and Web site links
• Hundreds of sample business plans created by real-life entrepreneurs
• Updated continuously