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.

I came across an article describing a recent study done at the University of Michigan Cancer Center. The study looked at the information that patients were able to find on their own compared with what they found with a librarian's help: 95 percent of the 513 Patient Education Center's visitors who participated indicated that they found new information with a librarian's help. "For 65 percent of visitors, the professional search returned information they had not obtained from other sources, and an additional 30 percent said the librarian provided some new information. Only 4 percent of users said they found all the same information on their own." Finding information about a health issue can be lifesaving, so this survey says something important about the role of information professionals in a world where everyone assumes that a Google or Wikipedia search is all they need.

While the librarians at Villa Julie don't often have to help with life or death questions, we are helping to educate healthcare professionals as well as paralegals, fledgling business professionals, and other participants in our society, our economy, and our environment. Part of what we are trying to help them learn is how to navigate the world of information, and how a trained librarian can help them to efficiently find the best resources.

Reference Librarians spend a lot of time every day of the week working with subscription databases, search engines, reference materials, and more kinds of information than can be listed here. Researching facts and finding needles in haystacks is what we do best because we are doing it constantly. The library staff behind the scenes (i.e. in the Workroom) are also constantly interacting with information resources to figure out which ones best support the curriculum here, and how to best organize and make them available so they can be found.

So, the next time you have an information need that you suspect may require more skill than typing a few search terms into Google, stop by the big blue "Ask Me" sign in the library and do just that! It's why we're here! And we love a challenge!