Monday, May 12, 2008

End of Spring semester...

It's hard to believe that our Spring 2008 semester has come to an end already!! At least for me, once we get past Spring Break in March, it's all downhill from there! I did get two very significant Library projects completed in these last few short weeks however. First, checkout the NEW and IMPROVED Library webpage at www.mr.mnscu.edu/library Many thanks to our Web-genius Kim Johnson for implemeting my somewhat vague ideas and using her talents to create a "leaner, cleaner" Library webpage for our patrons! Plese feel free to post your opinions about the "new look" for the Library Web page - I am always interested in your feeback and your suggestions! My goal is to have a Library Web page that is "user friendly", logically arranged and interesting to view.



My second accomplishment was to complete the "Course QuickStart" project, which can be viewed from the Library Web page address above. If you are a student, click on the "CourseQuickstart" link to see if a course you are taking is listed there. Just click on the name of the course and you'll then see a comprehensive list of all the BEST resources the MRC Library has to offer for that particular class, including books, movies, newspaper & magazine articles, and more. Plus, you'll find other helpful links such as an Assignment Caluclator to help you plan your term papers or other homework projects; a link to help you with those pesky MLA or APA citations; and links to research Web sites and Web pages. If you do NOT see your class listed on the Course Quickstart page, please give a strong hint to your instructor that he/she can contact the Librarian and I will happily create a page for that course too! Again, if you have ideas on how I can improve this research tool, please post them to me...



If you are browsing the MRC Library shelves, you might notice that there seems to be more empty shelf-space than before. That's because I am now involved in doing some "extreme weeding" ! The strength of a collection does not lie in the sheer number of books on the shelf - a big collection does not equal a valauble collection. So I am slowly weeding the Library collection and getting rid of old, outdated, damaged, irrelevent, never-circulated books to created a more valuable, more relevant collection for our patrons. However, for those of you who are book-lovers like I am, please note that "getting rid of" books does NOT mean they are going to the Dumpster - instead, any "de-accessioned" volumes will find good homes. Most will be sent to the Better World Books program in which the books are sold and part of the profits go to our "literacy partners" such as "Books for Africa". Some will go to the personal libraries of our faculty and students. The remainder will be donated to the AAUW Book Sale where more book-lovers will buy our cast-offs for their own collections and the proceeds will go to charitable causes.



So, how did YOUR school year go? What were the highlights of this year for you? What were your best accomplishments? And what are your plans for this summer? Just keep in mind that the MRC Library is open Monday through Friday until 4 p.m. even during the summer, and we'd love to see you again! Stop in and find some good "summer reading" or check out the video & DVD collection for those cool & rainy or hot & muggy days :) Enjoy your summer and hope to see you next fall!