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Published Sunday, August 24, 2008 in Education

College classes offered at new Central Library

By Brenda Pedraza-Vidamour

The Times-Herald

Can you take college classes at Coweta County's new library?

Yes, if you had enrolled in one of the University of West Georgia's undergraduate degree programs.

The Carrollton, Ga.-based university has a campus in Newnan in the Shenandoah Industrial Park. UWG's Newnan Center offers several undergrad and graduate degree programs in education, nursing, business and criminology.

Starting Aug. 29, some of the students majoring in early childhood education will be attending a children's literature class this semester at the Central Library on Literary Lane.

Through a collaboration between the university and the county's public library system, the Friday classes will be offered in a library meeting room from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. before the library opens to the public.

While the Newnan Center has increased enrollment over the past years, having a children's literature course at the library wasn't a space issue, according to Director Cathy Wright. The students needed to be able to work with the materials they'll be using versus only studying it online.

"The new library just has all the books they need to see and work with," Wright said. "They need to be right there where the books are to handle them and read them."

Barbara Osborne-Harris, the library system's director, said bringing the students to the library was a "natural marriage between the two" facilities.

"(Wright) and I thought it was a natural selection. If you have to read, use and touch the books -- not to have the book is a disservice to our learning educators," she said.

Osborne-Harris, who has a degree in early childhood education, began her librarian career in children and youth services. She studied Georgia Department of Education's performance standards to build a diverse and retrospective collection of traditional and contemporary children's titles. She explained she wanted it to be a teaching collection and is encouraged that the college wants to use it for instructional purposes.

"It mirrors what the children are learning in school," she said.

The library system will issue guest and student library cards for UWG students attending the children's literature course who aren't Coweta residents.

The idea to hold the college class at the library came about after Wright approached Osborne-Harris following her presentation at a local civic organization's luncheon.

Osborne-Harris said university officials initially doubted that the Central Library had the resources until after a summer visit and tour was scheduled. The class was then approved to be held at the east Coweta facility.

Osborne-Harris added she's currently in talks with university officials on the Newnan Center's nursing degree program.

"We're talking with them about providing bibliographic information exposure and teaching them how to use Galileo," she said.

GALILEO or Georgia Library Learning Online is the state's virtual library system.

UWG's Newnan Center has doubled its fall semester enrollment this year as a result of developing more degree programs and course offerings. Several renovations and expansions are under way to accommodate the new programs and increased enrollment including the construction of a lecture hall, nursing and biology labs. Earlier this summer, some of the campus' non-university programs were moved off site to free up the classroom space. For the first time, the satellite campus has started offering classes on Fridays.

"We don't have room for all the classes on Monday through Thursday, so we had to force them on Fridays," Wright said.

The Newnan Center's fall enrollment is 1,358, up from 700 students in fall 2006.