DISCUS Databases
DISCUS is South Carolina's Virtual Library and stands for stands for Digital Information for South Carolina Users. Discus is a collection of subscription databases with an array of resources ranging from books and magazines to maps and videos. This collection of databases provides high-quality publications in an easy to navigate format for students and teachers alike. Discus allows students to safely search for up-to-date information without sifting through advertisements and non-educational results found in search engines such as Google. Among the top reasons to use subscription databases is it prepares young students to find credible sources for later academic achievement.
The South Carolina State Library manages and administers Discus in cooperation with the state's school, college, and public libraries. Discus is funded primarily by an appropriation from the South Carolina General Assembly in collaboration with the K-12 School Technology Initiative. State funding covers most of the database subscription costs. Additional funding from the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) also supports Discus. These organizations make it possible to provide Discus resources to the public at no cost.
Advertising, Entrepreneurship, and Marketing Information:
Business research database covering advertsing, accounting, banking, economics. entrepreneurship, finance, management, marketing, and other business related areas of study. Contains market research reports, industry reports, country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses.
Collection of over 10,000 comprehensive MarketLine profiles on the world's most important companies from industries sectors including automotive, consumer, energy, financial services, healthcare, and technology. Profiles typically include: company overview, key facts, business description, history, key employees, major products and services, revenue analysis, SWOT analysis, competitors, company view, locations and subsidiaries.
Small Business Reference Center
Up-to-date information on topics related to small businesses and entrepreneurs, including buying and selling a business, managing employees, writing business plans, understanding legal information, marketing and more. Contains nearly 400 full-text periodicals, over 450 full-text reference books, and hundreds of business videos and provides state-specific resources with demographic data and other local information.
Biographical Sources:
Collection of over 600,000 biographies of people throughout history. Provides information about the lives, careers, and interesting facts of influencial people throughout the U.S. and World.
College and Career Prep Sources:
Provides auto service and repair information on more than 38,000 domestic and imported vehicles from 1974 to present from every major manufacturer. Includes step-by-step repairs with images from the original equipment manufacturers, maintenance schedules, labor estimates, technical service bulletins, specifications and diagnostic trouble codes and provides part numbers, diagrams, and pricing for thousands of the most commonly replaced parts.
Ferguson's Career Guidance Center
Comprehensive resource for career exploration and planning that covers 140 industries and career fields and thousands of professions. Provides career interest assessments that rank interests and suggests occupations and industries.
Comprehensive collection of college and career test-preparation tools, skill-building materials, and other career and life skills resources. Includes:
- Practice tests for GED preparation, job and career goals, undergraduate and graduate school admission, and US citizenship
- Skills building resources for help in resume building, interviewing, job searching, business writing, and core computer skills
- Tools for improving proficiency levels in reading, writing, and math for elementary school learners through adults
- Timed college prep tests, instant scoring and feedback, and free individual user accounts for saving works-in-progress and completed tasks
- Resources for Spanish speakers to assist with grammar, reading, math, GED preparation, and US Citizenship preparation
Culture and History Information:
Comprehensive source for coverage of more than 500 years of the African-American experience. Includes videos and slideshows, images, biographies of key people, events and topics, primary sources, maps and graphs, and searchable timelines showcasing the collective history and culure of African Americans.
Provides country, state, and province reports that provide snapshots of the world's cultures. Each report includes the history, customs, family, lifestyle, recipes, economy and more of the area.
Comprehensive U.S. and world history reference resource that provides full-text reference works, history periodicals, historical documents, biographies, photos, and maps along with video content on social, political, and cultural history from 1893 to 1985.
Online guide to South Carolina history sources and information provided by the State Library.
Collection of links to multimedia, primary documents, Discus resources, and interactive content pertaining to Sourg Carolina.
Current Issues and Trending Topics:
Opposing Viewpoints in Context
Database of pro and con viewpoint essays on contemporary social issues.
Points of View Reference Center
Full-text database providing essays and articles that present multiple sides of current issues and is designed to offer the full scope of controversial subjects.
Facts and General Reference Databases:
Credo Reference is a collection of full text subject-specific encyclopedias, biographies, chronologies, and dictionaries that provide images, audio files, and videos. Credo's topic pages and concept mapping visual search tool provide context and vocabulary, subject orientation, and pathways to further exploration.
Culture Grams provides cultural and statistical country reports that contain snapshots into the other cultures. Users can find maps, flags, recipes, famous people, interviews, photos, videos, and more.
Encyclopedia Britannica High School Edition
Provides encyclopedia articles, magazines and journals, videos, maps, dictionary and thesaurus entries.
Learn 360 provides multimedia resources, including high-quality videos, images, audio files, interactives, maps, and science experiments in English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Health, World Languages, Technical/Vocational Education, Music/Dance, etc. that can be streamed, downloaded, and integrated with Google Classroom.
Literature and Literacy Criticism Resources:
Comprehensive source for literary research on writers and their works that includes author biographies, literature overviews, plot summaries, theme/character analyses, and literary criticism.
Provides literary research on writers and their works that includes plot summaries, work overviews, literary criticism, author biographies, and more.
Readers' advisory product providing access to information on over 260,000 fiction and nonfiction titles and series
designed guide readers to reading materials of interest and to help integrate reading across subject areas in the classroom. Includes author read-alikes, book discussion guides, reading lists, searchable award lists and more.
Collection of articles that discuss and analyze the most studied poems. Provides an overview of each poem and study's its principal themes, images, form, and construction.
Collection includes critical overviews of short stories and includes discussions of plot, characters, themes, and structure as well as the story's culture and historical significance.
Teaching Books
Collection of resources about children and young adult books that includes read-along audiobooks, readers' advsory tool, author interviews, book guides, and lessons.
Tutoring Assistance:
Virtual live real-time tutoring assiatnce in any topic: 24 hours a day, seven days a week.