Meet your Hamersly staff: Jonathan Hillerich

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 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

Meet your Hamersly staff: Samrid Aryal

This week, meet Samrid Aryal, the student employee who has been with us the longest in our current batch!

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What do you do in the library? I work at the Information Desk. I help patrons with technical troubleshooting, general questions, and help them with finding research materials/articles.
How long have you worked in the library? About three and a half years
What is your major and year in school? Information Systems major, Senior
What is one thing about the library you think everyone should know? That they can check out board games, video games, projectors, laptops, and other equipment from us.
What is the last good book you read? The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
What was your favorite book as a kid? The Arabian Nights
Tell us a fun fact about you! I am the first international student from Nepal to attend WOU.

Get Spring Break reading suggestions

Do your Spring Break plans include lying on a beach, couch, or [you fill in the blank] with a good book? Need some ideas for what to read? Fill out this short form and your WOU librarians will get back to you with a book or three you might like!

(Photo: “couple reading books” by Erin Kelly. Licensed under Creative Commons http://flic.kr/p/bHeP8R)

WOU’s history is at your fingertips!

Valentines from WOU scrapbooks University Archives (located in Hamersly) houses a treasure trove of WOU materials dating back to our founding in 1856. Some of these items are digitized and available online, such as past yearbooks and letters from early Monmouth settlers. Some are physical and can be accessed by contacting Archives staff, such as student scrapbooks from the 1920s.

So, whether you’re working on an assignment, looking for photos of a WOU-alum family member, or just hoping to satisfy your curiosity about WOU’s rich history, University Archives can help!

Scott Carter finalist for the Oregon Book Award–again!

Congratulations to Scott Carter! He is a finalist for his 2nd Oregon Book Award for Scott William Carter

his book, Wooden Bones, which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2012. The nomination is in the Children’s Literature category. The awards are presented at a March 17th ceremony.

By day, Scott is the Information Technologist in Hamersly Library’s Technology Resource Center. Come twilight and 5 p.m. Fridays, he turns into Scott William Carter.

In 2011, Scott won for The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys, also published by Simon and Schuster. That award was in the Young Adult Literature category.

Your WOU librarians can give you books to read for fun, too!

What better way to spend a stress-free winter break than curled up with a good book?! The Recreation Collection on the 1st floor of Hamersly has something for every type of reading preference – from sci fi to romance to poetry.

Want a suggestion? Fill out the form below (or here) and your WOU librarians will get back to you with a book you might like.

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New Fiction in our Recreation Collection

The long Thanksgiving weekend is plenty of time to breeze through one of the new fiction books we’ve added to the Recreation Collection on the first floor of Hamersly. We have something for everyone: fast-moving thrillers, hair-raising horror, poetry about pups, romantic historical fiction, funny detective stories, dystopia science fiction, you name it.

Below is just a sampling of our new arrivals. Browse the collection to see all our recreational books, and check one out before you leave campus!

The Circle by Dave Eggers. Call Number: REC EGG

Doctor Sleep (sequel to The Shining) by Stephen King. Call Number: REC KIN

Dog Songs by Mary Oliver. Call Number: REC OLI

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Call Number: REC ROW

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. Call Number: REC GIL

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood. Call Number: REC ATW

The Sound and the Furry by Spencer Quinn. Call Number: REC QUI

New Nonfiction in our Recreation Collection

Looking for something to read, but fiction isn’t your thing? We just added a bunch of fascinating new nonfiction books to our Recreation Collection on topics that range from cadaver dogs to the Lance Armstrong doping scandal to Downton Abbey – and everything in between:

What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs by Cat Warren. Call Number: REC WAR

Wheelmen: Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever by Reed Albergotti and Vanessa O’Connell. Call Number: REC ALB

The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight by Winston Groom. Call Number: REC GRO

Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey by Emma Rowley and Gareth Neame. Call Number: REC ROW

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell. Call Number: REC GLA

One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson. Call Number: REC BRY

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink. Call Number: REC FIN

New Memoirs in our Recreation Collection

If you find reading about other people’s lives inspiring, have we got some books for you. We just added four new memoirs to our Recreation Collection, each with a captivating story to tell. Need more convincing? Two of these books were recently featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Check them out:

Driven: From Homeless to Hero, My Journeys On and Off Lambeau Field by Donald Driver. Call Number: REC DRI

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai, with Christina Lamb. Call Number: REC YOU
(Watch Malala’s interview with Jon Stewart)

My Story by Elizabeth Smart, with Chris Stewart. Call Number: REC SMA

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida, Translated by K.A. Yoshida and David Mitchell. Call Number: REC HIG
(Watch translator David Mitchell’s interview with Jon Stewart)

The Library has movies!

Find lots of great movies in the library – from Oscar winners to blockbusters, and everything in between. Most are available in both DVD and Blu-ray. Newer films (within the last three years) are on the 1st floor in the Recreation Collection, and older films are on the 2nd floor. You can also browse movies in the library catalog.

Here are some of the most recent additions:

Zero Dark Thirty	Skyfall	Life of Pi
Lincoln	Beasts of the Southern Wild