Virtual Library & LIRN

Welcome to the South Hills Virtual Library!

South Hills School of Business & Technology's Learning Resources System

The Virtual Library provides South Hills faculty and students with access to various online resources. It is organized into the following categories: General Resources, Class Specific Resources, and Program Specific Resources.

Download the Library Manual [4.5MB] for instructions how to use library and LIRN resources.

Accessing LIRN: Library and Information Resources Network

LIRN provides access to millions of full text articles, news releases, book chapters, and reference items like encyclopedias, plus e-books, audio, and video resources.

 
 

To gain access to LIRN, click here to log in to Canvas. Once logged in, enter into a course, and you will find the LIRN Library link on the left-hand menu.

General Resources

Online Libraries & Digital Books
Local Regional Public Libraries
Public e-Libraries
Penn State Libraries
How To Use Google Books
  • Full View - Allows you to view any full page from the book. Available only if the publisher or author has asked to make the book fully viewable, or if the book is in the Public Domain (out of copyright). PDF versions of Public Domain works can be downloaded, saved, and/or printed.
  • Limited Preview - Displays a limited number of pages from a copyrighted book as a preview if the publisher or author has given Google permission.
  • Snippet View - Displays basic information about a copyrighted book plus a few sentences (a snippet) to display your search term in context.
  • No Preview Available - Displays only basic information about a copyrighted book.
  • The Advanced Search allows you to limit searches to Full View only.
Book Websites
Digitized Collections
Articles
News
General
Technology
  • First Monday - Articles about the Internet and global information infrastructure
  • Internet.com
  • Magportal.com - Magazine articles about the Internet
  • Wired - Computer and technology news in business, medicine, culture
Business
Health
Reference Guides & Online Tools

Class Specific Resources

Business Law
Business Law
Microsoft Office & Windows Tutorials
Microsoft Office & Windows Tutorials
Online Keyboarding Classes

Program Specific Resources

Engineering Technology
Engineering Technology
  • ASTM International - (formerly American Society for Testing and Materials) Research Project
  • Architectural CAD of Weebly - This course focuses on architectural drafting for Engineering Technology students. Students learn the principles of light construction including types of construction, structural members, and details. Building codes and specifications are also reviewed. The students draw complete projects in CAD software.
  • Centre County Pennsylvania GIS - Resources available are aerial photos, topographic maps, tax maps, zoning, soils, and much more. This site is free and allows the user to print a copies of the maps they create.
  • efunda - efunda is an online publisher for original engineering content and software. They offer over 30,000 pages of engineering fundamentals and calculators.
  • Engineers Edge - Includes dimensional data on standard hardware, material, finishing specifications, typical design criteria, and manufacturing processes.
  • MatWeb - A materials information database with data on 24,529 materials including metals, plastics, ceramics, and composites.
  • PASDA - (Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access) Lesson Plan: Resources for Site Development
  • Periodic Table of Videos - Short videos about every element on the periodic table, plus other cool experiments and chemistry stuff
  • U.S. Geological Survey - Lesson Plan: Resources for Site Development
  • Web Elements - Lots of information on each element in the Periodic Table.
  • Wolfram Alpha – This site aims to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything.
  • Wolfram Demonstrations Project - Animations that illuminate concepts in science, technology, mathematics, art, finance, and a remarkable range of other fields.