Reference Department Information & Services
Information service is available at the Reference Desk whenever the Library is open. Reference Librarians respond to information requests from patrons who visit the Library, as well as patrons who telephone. Telephone reference service provides information that can be found quickly. For assistance with more involved research, patrons should visit the Reference Desk in person.
Audio, Video & DVD Recordings
The Audiovisual collection reflects the informational needs and entertainment values of the public. Items are chosen in the public interest by professional evaluation and represent a diversity of views and expressions of artistic taste. Selection of a work does not constitute or imply agreement with, or approval of, the content.
Internet Public Access Computers
The Mount Vernon Public Library has Internet access for the public in the Cyber Corner. Both Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers are available. Currently, patron access permits searching the Internet as well as accessing web-based E-mail. The Internet accessible computers are connected to a printer and downloading data to USB flash drive is permitted. Public access computers feature the MS Office 2010 suite of applications.
Job Information Center
The JIC functions as a Job Information Center as well as a center for educational information. The fields covered include employment, career exploration, small business start-ups, and higher education. Employment information includes posting of state, county and city (Mount Vernon) civil service openings. Extensive information on resumes, cover letters, civil service exams, and changing careers is available. General information on starting a small business can be checked out from the circulating JIC collection, along with materials on specific businesses. Career information is available in both pamphlet and book form. Class visits can be arranged upon teachers’ request. Educational materials include college and trade school directories, college catalogues on microfiche, high school equivalency study books, exam books, scholarships, majors etc.
Multicultural Reference
The Multicultural Reference collection includes reference sources that are concerned with various cultures and ethnicities, and which organize information based on ethnicity. All ethnicities are covered, with special attention given to the particular interests of Library users. The Multicultural Reference Collection recognizes and responds to the large and ongoing interest in Mount Vernon in multicultural studies and a multicultural approach to learning. The collection brings together materials from a wide range of subjects in which information is organized from an ethnic and/or racial perspective, particularly but not exclusively biographical, social, cultural, historical, and geographical information on American ethnic groups in the United States, and their lands of origin. Although the Multicultural Reference Collection cannot contain all potential sources, it does encompass the full range of ethnic and racial diversity, with special attention to the ethnic and racial interests of Mount Vernon library users, and the curriculum requirements of Mount Vernon schools.
Online & Database Services
Because of the library’s extensive collection, it serves as the library of last resort for locating materials and information that other public libraries do not own. Our reference librarians are able and willing to assist patrons and other county public libraries in locating information. For patrons of Mount Vernon, simply speak with a reference librarian at Mount Vernon Public Library, and if your question requires a database search, the necessary information will be forwarded to that department. For patrons from other Westchester public libraries, please contact your own public library, and the staff will forward requests to our searching department.
Community Information Services
The Library maintains an extensive catalog of services available to residents that includes type of service, location, personnel, and cost, if any. The catalog and a large selection of other service directories are located in the Reference Room at the Library.The Library maintains a clipping file of news articles pertinent to Mount Vernon fromThe New York Times, Mount Vernon Independent, and the Gannett Suburban newspapers, as well as many documents, including annual reports pertaining to local government and schools.
Magazines & Newspapers
Access to the Library’s periodicals collection is obtained at the Periodicals Desk, located in the Reference Room. The holdings include approximately 600 current magazines, journals and newspapers. The Periodicals Desk maintains a collection of over 22,000 magazines and newspapers, as well as 8,400 microfilms of magazines, government documents, and newspapers. In addition to various periodical indexes in print and CD-ROM formats, patrons may access many periodical indexes, including Ebsco Host. The Library indexed The Daily Argus (now The Journal News) from 1985 through August 15, 1998. This index is located near the Periodicals Desk in the Reference Room.
Metro Referral Cards
Many academic and special libraries in the New York City metropolitan area, including medical and legal libraries, limit admission to their own members. Thanks to a cooperative program run by the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO), access is available to Mount Vernon Public Library patrons to resources in participating libraries that are not available in Mount Vernon or other public libraries in Westchester. Students and researchers can obtain a yellow METRO Title Referral Card for access to a particular title, or a blue METRO Subject Referral Card for access to a wide range of resources on a particular subject.
There are limitations. METRO Cards are issued for limited periods of time, and do not give borrowing rights. METRO Card holders have no rights to special assistance, or even the level of assistance that the host library may give to its own members. Access to databases at participating libraries might or might not be available depending on contractual limitations. METRO Cards do not bestow a right to access, and although it happens infrequently, host libraries can refuse or withdraw access for any reason they think is appropriate. Patrons interested in obtaining a METRO Referral Card should apply in person to the Reference Desk.
Business Reference
The Business Reference collection includes sources for in-library use with information on companies, products and industries, starting a small business, investing, and taxation.
Special Collections
Special collections available through the Reference Department include the Haynes Collection, New York State Government Documents, Federal Government Documents and the Mills Law Collection.