South College Library Blog - Library at South College

October's Featured Ebooks: Spooky Season

10/20/2025

Ashley Hoffman

Ebooks

Did you know that the South College Library provides students, faculty, and staff access to over 100,000 ebooks? October is officially Spooky Season, so let’s get into the spirit with books about the paranormal, occult, and downright scary.

Spooky Season

Theorising the Contemporary Zombie by Conor Heffernan (Editor); Scott Eric Hamilton (Editor)
Publication Date: 2022

Zombies have become an increasingly popular object of research in academic studies and, of course, in popular media. Over the past decade, they have been employed to explain mathematical equations, vortex phenomena in astrophysics, the need for improved laws, issues within higher education, and even the structure of human societies. Theorising the Contemporary Zombie defines zombiism as a means of theorizing and examining various issues of society in any given era by immersing those social issues within the destabilizing context of apocalyptic crisis; and applying this definition, the volume considers issues including gender, sexuality, family, literature, health, popular culture and extinction.

A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture by Violet Fenn
Publication Date: 2021

An exploration of the continuing appeal of vampires in cultural and social history. Our enduring love of vampires—the bad boys (and girls) of paranormal fantasy—has persisted for centuries. Author Violet Fenn takes the reader through the history of vampires in “fact” and fiction, their origins in mythology and literature, and their enduring appeal on TV and film. The book delves into the sexuality—and sexism—of vampire lore, as well as how modern audiences still hunger for a pair of sharp fangs in the middle of the night.

Haunted Homes by Dahlia Schweitzer
Publication Date: 2021

Haunted Homes is a short but groundbreaking study of homes in horror film and television. While haunted houses can be fun and thrilling, Hollywood horror tends to focus on haunted homes, places where the suburban American dream of safety and comfort has turned into a nightmare. From classic movies like The Old Dark House to contemporary works like Hereditary and the Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, Dahlia Schweitzer explores why haunted homes have become a prime stage for dramatizing anxieties about family, gender, race, and economic collapse. This lively and readable study reveals how and why an increasing number of films imagine that home is where the horror is.

Haunted Kansas by Lisa Hefner Heitz
Publication Date: 2023

Who's that? Is someone there? A whisper of air brushes your cheek. Then all is still. Maybe it was just the wind. Or maybe it wasn't....The evanescent apparitions of these tales have frightened and at times amused Kansans throughout the state's long history. Yet this is the first book to capture for posterity the lively antics of the state's ghostly denizens. Besides preserving a colorful and imaginative, if intangible, side of the state's popular heritage, Heitz supplies ghost-storytellers with ample hair-raising material for, well, eternity. Maybe that person breathing softly behind you has another such story to share. Oh, no one's there? Perhaps it really was just the breeze off the prairie.

Witchcraft and Adolescence in American Popular Culture by Miranda Corcoran
Publication Date: 2022

In the decades since the Second World War, the teenage witch has emerged as a major American cultural trope. Appearing in films, novels, comics and on television, adolescent witches have long reflected shifting societal attitudes towards the teenage demographic. At the same time, teen witches have also served as a means through which adolescent femininity can be conceptualized, interrogated and reimagined. Drawing on a wide theoretical framework—including the works of Deleuze and Foucault as well as recent new materialist philosophies—this book explores how the adolescent witch has evolved over the course of more than seventy years.

Vampirology by Kathryn Harkup
Publication Date: 2021

Our fascination with the vampire myth has scarcely diminished since Bram Stoker's publication of the classic Dracula tale in 1897, but how much of the lore is based in fact and can science explain the origins of horror's most famous fiend? Vampirology charts the murky waters of the vampire myth – from stories found in many cultures across the globe to our sympathetic pop-culture renditions today – to investigate how a scientific interpretation may shed light on the fears and phenomena of the vampire myth.

You can find these and more through the South College Library’s digital collection on the library website.

South College Library's Name the Skull Contest

10/13/2025

Ashley Hoffman

Anatomy, Physiology

Did you know that the Nashville Resource Center is home to a skull?

No, it's not just for Halloween. Some of our Resource Centers offer hands-on anatomy models for students to use for study. One of our most personable anatomy models is this skull, posing here with Nashville-based Instruction Librarian Dayani Boatman.

Even if you don't have access to this glorious specimen, the South College Library has several excellent digital anatomy tools to help you study from anywhere.

AccessMedicine's 3D Human Anatomy Modules
AccessPhysiotherapy's Anatomy & Physiology Revealed Tool

Want to learn more and have a chance to win? Read on for the contest details and rules!

Name the Skull Contest Rules

Between October 15-31, 2025, visit the Name the Skull contest page.
Complete the brief tutorial on the library's digital anatomy resources and answer the required questions.
Submit a name for the Nashville Resource Center's skull as well as your name and email address. You may only submit one entry.

Library staff will vote on the winning name in early November. Stay tuned to the Library Blog to find out who wins!

ENTER NOW

Meet Your Library Staff: Ashley Hoffman

10/06/2025

Lana Carter

No Subjects

Ashley Hoffman is the Outreach Librarian, based at the Marietta, GA learning site. She has been with South College since August 2025.

Name the question you get asked the most and share your go-to solution.

“Where are all the books??” is the question I get the most these days. As a newly opened learning site, it’s true that the Marietta Resource Center doesn’t have a lot of books on the shelf (yet), but what people may not realize is that we actually have access to over 100,000 books on our website! You can find all our eBook collections at https://library.south.edu/home/ebooks.
Point to one resource you wish students utilized more and why it matters.

We have an amazing South College Library Blog that has tons of research tips and highlighted resources for students that is published twice a month. There’s tons of great information on it—and even some fun contests that students can participate in!
What’s one behind-the-scenes task that, if skipped, students would feel tomorrow?

A “thankless” task that library staff does is wipe down all of our lending laptops with disinfecting wipes between uses. Believe me, once cold and flu season is in full swing, you will thank us for this extra step!
What inspired you to seek out a job in libraries?

I have always loved reading, but beyond that I’ve always loved helping people. I started working part-time at my college’s library while I was in school and I’ve worked for a library ever since. My favorite jobs have been the ones that let me directly put students in touch with the resources they need for their schoolwork.
If you could recommend one book that everyone should read, what would it be?

I’m a science fiction fan, and I’m forever recommending the book The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin to people who love reading but are skeptical about science fiction. This book has such a rich world to explore, such important themes, and such a fascinating “twist” at the end that I could discuss it for days. I’ve successfully converted two people into science fiction readers with this book!
Bonus Question: What are your favorite spooky stories?

I have always loved the short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. The creepiest one to me is “Berenice,” which—to explain it very badly—is all about a man obsessed with his fiancée’s teeth. I’ll let you read the story to find out what I mean.