Summer in the Heart of Campus...

What are the Library staff up to this summer? We are preparing for Fall by readying the collections, facilities, and ourselves for the upcoming semester. Here are some projects we're working on:

Weeding the collections: you will see fewer print periodicals and books that are out-of-date or no longer supportive of teaching and research needs at Stevenson.

New layout at both School of Business and Greenspring Campus library locations: there will be additional seating in the School of Business (welcome news for the students who reside there and like to study and work in the SB Lib.) The Greenspring campus library will sport some new furniture and signage, all chosen based on what students said they wanted to see there (thanks to all of the students who helped us: students in Dr. Leeane Bell's, Dr. Derek Greene's, and Milagros Ponce de Leon's classes laste year).

Leisure Reading Collection: a group of library staff members is working on acquiring books that students can read to relax. One of the library's aims is to encourage leisure reading, an activity that is necessary to growth, according to a new study called To Read or Not To Read. The study "confirms that...
reading is an irreplaceable activity in developing productive and active adults as well as healthy communities. Whatever the benefits of newer electronic media, they provide no measurable substitute for the intellectual and personal development initiated and sustained by frequent reading."

As you can tell from the above list, making our libraries the very best that they can be to enhance campus life and support teaching and research is the goal of the library staff. See you in the Fall!

Change in the air...

Look around and you'll notice some positive changes in the Library at the Greenspring Campus. Students in Dr. Bell's OCO class last semester asked for a media viewing room, and we luckily had a vacated office site that we could convert. We've also added some brightly-colored new signs to indicate what is where and, in particular, what to find on the second floor. Check it out!

Also new this semester: we are hosting two library interns. Marc Grossblatt, a recent SU graduate, and Mike Kiel who is just about to graduate with his Master of Library Science at UMCP. Marc is exploring the possibilities of a future career in librarianship, while Mike is gaining field experience prepatory to landing his first professional job. We're happy to have both Mike and Marc.

April is around the corner, and it is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month,a personal interest of mone. If you'd like to learn how you can help, I have a wonderful guide for you here. The guide, entitled Animal Welfare Advocacy: Web Sites to Educate and Inspire, presents the leading animal welfare organizations that have websites where you can locate quality information on this important topic. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Welcome back, or simply welcome for those who are new to Stevenson University! Both libraries (Greenspring and the School of Business) will close early this week, and regular hours will resume when classes begin on January 12th. I want to remind you that if you have a need for Reserve material to be made available to your students, please contact a library staff member as soon as possible. We have been busy over the Winter Break updating the Library website, adding databases, and getting things ready for you and your students. We are also responding to suggestions we have received from students in Dr. Leeanne Bell's OCO class last semester, so watch for some improvements. One that we are working on is creating a group media viewing room on the first floor. New computers were purchased by the IT Department (thank you to Tom Hopkins and the IT Staff for this) and installed in the LRC 17 Library Instruction Room. The new machines, in addition to upgraded wiring, should make the LRC 17 lab comparable in terms of speed with any lab on the Greenspring Campus. Again, thanks to IT, we expanded wireless coverage to the Library Second Floor. And last but not least, we were able to purchase a new microfilm machine: this baby makes it possible to email yourself a tiff format image of your article! Watch for announcements of library tours and workshops during the first few weeks of the semester. Have a great Spring Semester and please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!