Distance Education Users

Library Cards

All WCC faculty, staff and students, whether part-time or full-time, must have a WCC picture ID made by the Student Affairs Office to which the Erwin Library barcode may be affixed.

All WCC faculty, staff and students are encouraged to apply for either a new or an updated Erwin Library card online using the fillable PDF library registration form with several options for submitting it and receiving the Erwin Library barcode sticker to affix to the back of a WCC ID card.  Complete instructions are available on the Library Card Application page of this website.

A current Erwin Library card must always be presented at the circulation desk to check out any materials, use any materials placed on Academic Reserve, or to sign in to use a computer workstation.

A third party may present an absent Erwin Library patron’s card to check out materials for the absent patron, but the patron whose card is used will have full responsibility for the good condition and return of the items.

Reference Service

Distance users may call the Erwin Library Circulation Desk (919.739.6891, or, ext. 6891 on-campus) for help searching the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) as well as any of the research database, internet and paper resources.

The Ask a Librarian online form may be used to direct an email reference request to the Reference Librarian, or the Reference Librarian may be phoned directly at 919.739.6890, or ext. 6890 on-campus.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Distance users who do access the Erwin Library in person may make ILL requests online using the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request form, or place requests directly using either the OPAC for materials owned by libraries in the Community Colleges In North Carolina (CCLINC) consortium, or the WorldCat database for materials owned in other libraries all over the world.

Interlibrary loan materials must be picked up within a week of the patron’s notification that the material is available for pickup.

Although interlibrary loaned books will not be mailed to a patron, copies of articles requested on ILL can be mailed as a scanned PDF copy to email, or as a photocopy using surface mail, from the library to the distance user’s home, if campus access is severely limited.

A third party presenting a distance user’s Erwin Library card may pick up and return the ILL items for the distance user; however, if a distance user will not be accessing the Erwin Library in person to pick up books, or have a third party to do so regularly, he or she should request ILL service at a public or academic library in his or her neighborhood.

Online Databases

The Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) may be searched remotely from any computer that has Internet access, though holds may be placed only with a Erwin Library card barcode.

Erwin Library users will now find a group of tabs on the homepage providing a portal to all options now available through WCC Single Search for making the most of the library's ever-expaniding collection of electronic, as well as print, resources.

Accessible through the WCC Single Search aggregate database are over thirteen thousand video-recordings, as well as thousands of electronic books, articles and images from twenty-two research databases in addition to those subscribed to through NC LIVE.

A single login using the individual’s Erwin Library barcode is required for remote access to all of the research databases available from the Erwin Library homepage.

If a WCC instructor places a link on a Moodle class page to any of the videos from the Erwin Library's subscription resources, the video may be accessed using the patron's library barcode after clicking on the link in Moodle.

A reminder:  your computer must be set to accept cookies for the library barcode login to work; however, once you are logged in, during that entire session you will not be prompted again for the login barcode as you switch between databases conducting your research.

Library Card Application
Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)
WorldCat (for ILL)