Book Club Lunch Group

Interested in a Book Club? Don’t have time for formal meetings?

Join the Book Club Lunch Group!

We will meet twice a month during lunch and will talk about books or short stories of the groups choosing. These gatherings will be very informal, relaxed, and sociable. Come to all the meetings or just one! If you are interested, please contact Cindy Dudenhoffer, cmdudenh@centralmethodist.edu, or 248-6292

A new semester

I apologize for the lack of updates, but I've been out on maternity leave.

Now we are 3 weeks in to the new semester. Construction is continuing on the Information Commons renovation, and we are picking out furniture. Everything is painted and the carpet and computers have been delivered. It getting exciting. We are still on schedule to be officially done by the end of March.

Information Literacy sessions are starting up. We have scheduled several sessions for English comp classes. If other sessions are needed, just let me know!

We are also planning another book sale for this spring, and will hopefully have some activities for National Library Week in April. If you have ideas or would like to propose and activity, please let me know.

What's going on!

Greetings!

There is a lot going on this semester at Smiley Library! As you may already know, we are in the midst of preparations for the renovation into an Information Commons. Preliminary construction on the second floor is scheduled to begin during Thanksgiving break and will continue throughout the holiday break. All materials on this floor will be relocated to the 1^st and 3^rd floors, and with no restricted access to materials. The student computers will be moved into the old campus computing offices, periodicals and Reference to the 3^rd floor, and the circulating collection to the 1^st floor. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we are doing our best to ensure access to materials is still available. Below is the preliminary design of the 2^nd floor, which includes a computer center, increased soft seating, group study rooms, and an electronic collaborative classroom. All designs are based on feedback from the library survey conducted last spring. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks to the football and baseball teams and coaches for their help moving furniture!

Other new developments:

We have replaced ProQuest Psychology Journals database with the much more comprehensive Ovid PsychArticles. There is a separate link for off campus use for this database, located here: http://www.centralmethodist.edu/cmlibrary/catalogs.html#databases

I am launching a set of screencast tutorials for different library services. These should be up and running on the website before the end of October. They are aimed at distance learners without access to library instruction, but they should come in handy for CLAS students too.

The Faculty/Staff book clubs are steaming along. We have 7 groups with 35 students involved. Thanks so much to the faculty who have taken on this extra project! We can all look forward to the good works produced by each group!

We made over $400 at the Fall Booksale. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and supported us. We are planning another book sale in the spring.

And finally, I will be going on maternity leave around Thanksgiving (I hope!) so if there are any specific library needs you might have, please try and let me know ahead of time so we can plan accordingly.

Again, please let me know if there are any questions or concerns.

Book Sale!!

Come visit the Smiley Library Book Sale!
Thursday 10am-8pm
Friday 10am-5pm

Located on the 1st floor of the library!
Hardbacks $1.00
Paperbacks $0.50

Subject areas in Fiction, History, Juvenile, Philosophy, Religion, and Social Sciences!

Book Clubs and Book Sales

The Book Club kickoff event was a great success! About 35-40 students attended and about 30 signed up for clubs. If you are interested in joining a club, but couldn't come to the kickoff, just email or leave a comment!

The groups are:

Ron Nutter is reading Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Michael Pope is reading the Godbearing Life
Nancy Hadfield is reading the Human Fly and other Stories by TC Boyle
John Bellefeuille is reading The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
Janice Henson is reading the Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Maryann Rustemeyer is reading Dracula by Bram Stoker
Robert Wiegers is reading The Good, The Bad and the Mad
John Porter is letting the students in his group pick the book.

These groups are very informal, and will meet about one a week, depending on the schedule set by the students in each group. The activities and such are also set by the students and faculty in the group. You can contact the faculty member directly, or let me know if there is a group that sounds more interesting to you. It should be a lot of fun!!

We are also gearing up for the annual library book sale, Sept. 19-21. This semester's sale will inlcude lots of items from the areas of philosophy, history, religion, and social sciences. Hardcovers are $1 and paperbacks are $0.50!

Book Club Kickoff Ice Cream Party!

Come One Come All!

Join a Book Club!

Enjoy an Ice Cream Sundae!

Meet faculty in an informal setting!

All students and faculty are invited to the Eagle’s Nest Coffee House at

6pm Thursday Sept. 6^th.

An Ice Cream Sundae Bar will be provided, courtesy of the Learning and Teaching Center & Smiley Library. Faculty leading each reading group will be on hand to talk about their plans for the group, the book they have chosen, and to sign-up students. Be a part of a new venture at CMU!! Stop by anytime from 6 until 7:30pm!

Please feel free to email me with any questions!

Welcome Back!

Welcome to CMU for the Fall semester! It seems like everyone is still trying find there way around campus, get their schedules in order, and find a work-study job!

I will be visiting several classes over the next couple of weeks to share information on library resources, and tours will be going on as well. We are still working on some downloadable tutorials to help distance learners; hopefully they will be ready soon.

We also welcome some new folks to Cupples Hall: Jason Arthur, Collin Brink, and Cheryl Edwards will all be housed in the 4th floor offices. We also welcome Library Fellows Mark Hoehne, Jordan Rustemeyer, and Haley Anderson. Thanks to these student for taking on this added responsibility.

Last but not least, Maryann Rustemeyer and I are working on Faculty/Student Reading Groups. Any faculty interested in leading a group should attend an informational meeting next Monday, Aug. 27th at 4pm at the tables on the 1st floor of the library. This should be a fun new venture for both faculty and students, while encouraging literacy skills and life-long learning!