In Spring a Young Man's (or Woman's) Fancy...

...turns not to Love, as might be expected and hoped for, but to Finals and Graduation!

The Library has been a hive of activity since we returned from Easter Break. Everyone is studying in groups or working on those last papers. We welcome the activity but we do find ourselves needing to do a little more shushing, as did our fore-mothers and -fathers in days gone by.

Shushing patrons is not a favorite librarian activity: we prefer as a rule to be genial and helpful. Perhaps this is overcompensation for those grade school, middle school and high school librarians all too ubiquitous in my day (I am NOT going to tell you what century) who delighted in correcting, glaring at, and otherwise making life in the school library a nerve-wracking experience. This behavior seems to have disappeared, probably since Dr. Spock's famous book was published! And all to the better!

We want you to love being in our library as much as we love it. However, we do need to remind you from time to time of the rules: no loud conversations (unless you are lucky enough to snag a study room upstairs and can close the door), and no real food.

M&Ms can be overlooked! Etudiez bien!

Library Renovation

We recently had our official Architect's Walkthrough of the Library at Stevenson in preparation for the planned renovation, which I understand is scheduled to take place after the Summer of 2009. It seems like a long time to wait, especially when there are aspects of our current configuration that are not very functional. However, we will use the time wisely to plan and get input from our user community. Here is what we are planning to do:

• Library Staff will write a Strategic Plan in May 2008 which will serve as a guiding document for the Renovation


• Faculty member Esther Horrocks will work with advanced anthropology students to gather ideas from students about library spaces (Fall 2008)


• Library staff will take field trips to renovated libraries and bring back ideas and photographs for discussion
  

Here's what we don't know:

• How will we gather input from Faculty?
  
• Should there be a Library Design Committee with faculty and student representation?
  
• How will we convey our needs to the Architect?
  

Stay tuned for the answers!

Celebrating Our Past in the Library

If you haven't yet done so, stop by and spend a couple of minutes with Carol Maxwell's lovely tribute to St. Julie Billiart, foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. This exhibit features a photograph of the statue of St. Julie which stands in the grounds of the Sisters' home next door to campus. There are also historical shots of important buildings associated with her life, and the sunflower motif, reflecting St. Julie's famous quote about following God as the sunflower does the sun. Carol has done a beautiful job of creating an exhibit that embodies the spirit of "the smiling saint."

In tandem with the above exhibit, I had the privilege and pleasure of sharing my experience of reading St. Julie's biography last week with the Villa Julie community, including 3 of our friends from the convent next door.