Meet your Hamersly staff: Elaina Glasscock

Each term, we introduce you to a few of the people who work to make Hamersly your favorite place on campus to do research, study, print your papers, meet with a group, or simply kick back and read in a quiet place.

This week, meet Elaina Glasscock. You won’t see her at the library’s busy first floor desks, but if you visit the WOU Archives or enjoy one of our quarterly exhibits on the 2nd and 3rd floors, you are benefiting from her hard work.

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What do you do in the library? I work in Archives and Exhibits, most of my time is spent filing newspapers, finding information for exhibits, and going through the archives to help answer reference questions.
How long have you worked in the library? Since August 2013.
What is your major and year in school? I’m majoring in Art with an emphasis in painting, and I am currently in my Freshman year.
What is one thing about the library you think everyone should know? That there is a community puzzle on the third floor! Also, there is more than one set of Encyclopedia Britannica on the second floor, which is awesome.
What is the last good book you read? The last good book I read on my own time was A City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge. She’s an incredible writer and I adore her work.
What was your favorite book as a kid? Oh gosh, there are too many. Can I list three? The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and the entire Anne of Green Gables series by L. M. Montgomery. But there are so many more that could be on this list.
Tell us a fun fact about you! I read all seven Harry Potter books in one week (spring break, my Sophomore year of high-school).

Thanks!

Over the last three weeks, 326 students gave us opinions on study spaces, equipment, and a library coffee shop. Thank you to all!

217 of those students submitted their names for the incentive drawings. Here are the winners:

Subway gift cards: Stephanie Stuckey, Riley Nix, and Stacie Loose

Grand prize ASUS Transformer tablet: Carol Downey

Keep your eyes open for another upcoming survey from the library, coming out soon!

The student lounge is getting a face-lift

Moderate renovations to the student lounge will begin Monday (May 12th) and continue for about two weeks. During this time, the student lounge will be closed. We expect to re-open it after Memorial Day, but we will keep you posted with more specifics as the work progresses.

When the lounge re-opens it will have a teaching station, projector, and room for more computers (we have plans to add computers over the summer), so that it can be used as a classroom in a pinch. Its main function will still be as a 24-hour student lounge, however, and it should re-open in time to serve that important purpose during dead week and finals week. Thank you for your patience!

New library system coming in June

For the first time in over two decades, the library is transitioning to a new library management system. This system handles important library functions like circulation, ordering, and cataloging physical materials, as well as the many electronic materials that we own or license, such as databases, ebooks, and ejournals.

The system also includes Primo, the online search interface that you will use to locate library materials within Hamersly Library and at our Summit partner libraries. The new system is shared among the 37 academic libraries in the Orbis Cascade Alliance, the consortium behind the Summit borrowing system.

Why are we switching? [wpspoiler name=”More about new library system” ]The simplest answer is that we are required to as a member of the Alliance. The deeper answer is that the core technology we currently use has been appended and stretched to accommodate new needs over the last 22 years, and it’s now restricting our ability to serve library patrons’ evolving needs. The benefits of the switch include:

updated technology that supports more efficient library operations;
collaborative purchasing of library collections among Alliance members;
lower software maintenance costs;
more efficient Summit borrowing;
enhanced search and discovery of library resources;
collaborative workflows between libraries;
shared preservation initiatives.

The library staff is currently in the thick of migration activities, and we expect to switch over to the new system June 23. Prior to and during Fall term, we will have tutorials and workshops to assist you in learning the conventions of the new interface. In the meantime, I encourage you to take a look at our Primo FAQ for more information; we’ll be adding to and updating the FAQ over the summer.

This is a large scale project, and there will be bumps in the road. We and our colleagues at other libraries are working hard at smoothing the path and will be doing so for some time. We need and appreciate your patience. Our top priority through the transition will be to maintain library services at the level that you expect and require. Please communicate with us if you have questions, concerns or issues as we move through this transition.[/wpspoiler]

The library is offering a new course starting Fall Term

Attention students! Starting next fall (Fall Term 2014) your favorite librarians are teaching a new course.

LIB 225: Advanced Research for College, Work, and Life bridges the gap between the basic-level research you did in you 100-level introductory courses, and the advanced-level research that is expected of you in 300 and 400 level courses. [wpspoiler name=”More about new library course” ]

In this class you will:

Develop advanced research techniques specific to your major
Prepare yourself for today’s information-driven workplace
Build information-seeking skills you will use after college and for the rest of your life

For Fall Term, LIB 225 will be offered on Monday and Wednesday from 12-1:50pm. If you have any questions about the course, get in touch Elizabeth Brookbank at brookbanke@wou.edu. [/wpspoiler]

New Books in the Recreation Collection

We just got a fresh, new batch of books for the Recreation Collection on the first floor of Hamersly. We have something for everyone: Oprah book club picks, literary award winners, celebrity memoirs, historical fiction, and more.

Below is just a sampling of our new arrivals. Browse the collection online or in-person to see all of our recreational books!

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, the bestselling author of The Secret Life of Bees. Call Number: REC KID

Frog Music by Emma Donoghue, the bestselling author of Room. Call Number: REC DON

One More Thing by B. J. Novak. A collection of short stories by the actor who played Ryan the Intern on The Office. Call Number: REC NOV

Things a Little Bird Told Me by Biz Stone, one of the co-founders of Twitter. Call Number: REC STO

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, winner of this year’s National Book Critics Circle prize. Call Number: REC ADI

Longbourn by Jo Baker. The story of Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen as told from the servants’ point of view. Call Number: REC BAK

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, winner of this year’s National Book Award. Call Number: REC MCB

Meet your Hamersly staff: Robert Monge

This week, meet Robert Monge, one of our Instruction Librarians. If you take courses in the College of Education, there’s a good chance your class will get a visit from Robert at some point. Here’s more about him:

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What do you do in the library? I am an Instruction Librarian. I teach students how to do research, and I create digital tutorials. I am also the library liaison to Teacher Education, Special Education, Health and Physical Education, Interpreting, and Rehabilitation Counselor Education.
How long have you worked in the library? Six years
What is your education and professional background? I have a Master of Arts in English Literature and a Master of Library and Information Science. I taught college composition courses in Colorado and Virginia for five years before going back to school to get my library degree. I worked as an instruction librarian at the University of South Dakota prior to coming to Western.
What is one thing about the library you think everyone should know? The library at its core is about information and access. It is a place that connects people with the information they need in order to understand, create, and change the world.
What is the last good book you read? The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
What was your favorite book as a kid? And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss
Tell us a fun fact about you! I once won 3rd place in The Dirtiest Kid in America Contest

Stream videos for class or fun with ‘Films on Demand’

Watch online streaming videos about everything from biographies of famous musicians to the history of unions in the U.S. to tips for writing fiction from famous writers (and much more!) for free. Use the videos in Films on Demand for class, to learn something new, or just to satisfy your curiosity.

Films On Demand is almost like the library’s version of YouTube, except it’s all legal and appropriate for use in class assignments!

[wpspoiler name=”More about Films on Demand” ]

The vast Films on Demand archive currently includes more than 6,100 complete titles and 63,000 shorter video segments. You can browse by subject, such as Health & Medicine, World Languages, Nursing, Criminal Justice & Law, or Archival Films & Newsreels, under the ‘Collections’ menu option. Or you can simply search for videos using keywords.

Happy watching!

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New Spring Term Library Exhibits

Our Spring 2014 exhibits include:

Maple Hall: Celebrating 100 Years
Dedicated in 1914 as the ﬁrst campus gymnasium, Maple Hall celebrates 100 years of service to the Western Oregon University campus. This exhibit features the many activities and people associated with Maple Hall. Through its evolution as a gymnasium, student recreation center, ROTC training, and dance studio, Maple Hall remains a place for active learning and a place to showcase creativity.
Located: 2nd floor gallery

[wpspoiler name=”More about Spring Term Exhibits…” ]

Herstory & History
Abstract images of woman abound in history, representing some of the most enduring human ideals – sovereignty, justice, nature itself. These images are juxtapose with history to see some to the ways in which image and reality interweave and influence the forming of gender rules and roles by successive generations.
Located: 3rd floor galleries

These two new exhibits will run on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the library until June 13th, 2013. See our flyer for more information.

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Meet your Hamersly staff: Jonathan Hillerich

This week, meet Jonathan Hillerich, one of the friendly faces you will often see at the library Information Desk.

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What do you do in the library? I work at the Information/Reference Desk.
How long have you worked in the library? I started working here in Spring 2012.
What is your major and year in school? Pre-pharmacy (a WOU pre-professional program), and I’ll be done after this term.
What is one thing about the library you think everyone should know? That not all the computer and printing problems that happen in the library are our fault (most of them aren’t)! And that we have amazing librarians and staff that will do anything and everything they can to help you.
What is the last good book you read? Tweak by Nic Sheff
What was your favorite book as a kid? Loved me the Goosebumps series
Tell us a fun fact about you! I own over 100 hats