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!

Gearing up for the Fall Semester

Like everyone else around here, the library staff are prepping for the beginning of classes.
I will be presenting information at the new faculty orientation on Thursday, and will hopefully be posting some new tutorials to the website in the next couple of weeks.

Our hours will be returning to normal next week:
7:30am-11pm Monday -Thursday
7:30am-5pm Friday
10am-1pm Saturday
4-11pm Sunday

May Term Hours

Throughout May term, Smiley Library will be open from 7:30am until 8pm, Monday through Thursday, and 7:30am until 4pm Friday.

The Last Day of Class!

Today is the last day of class at the Fayette campus of CMU! Students, if you have books checked out, they are due by May 12th, Faculty by May 25th. Also, anyone who has accrued fines over $5.00 during the semester must pay these fines at the library or the business office before the end of the semester!

Faculty Forum powerpoint on the web

The powerpoint I used to accompany last week's Faculty Forum has now been posted on the library webpage under "Classroom Resources".

If you are interested, take a look!

Thanks to all who attended and those who continue to show an interest in Smiley Library!

Libraries of the Future!

On April 27th, I will be presenting the topic "Libraries of the Future" at the Friday Faculty Forum. Come one, come all!

Current happenings

There are a few new things going on at Smiley Library that I wanted to share with all of you. First, check out the new library webpage, with its easily accessible link on the CMU homepage under “Stay Connected”. Included in the new page are an online Interlibrary Loan form, “Ask A Librarian” link, and some additional resource pages. If you have a subject web link or resource you would like added, please let me know.

Class instruction sessions are starting to wrap up. If you would like to schedule general or targeted instructions sessions for you students, just email us.

I had a good response to the library survey distributed in February. Thanks to everyone who took time to fill it out, and I will distribute the results, if anyone is interested. Several people mentioned interest in a faculty instruction session or forum on “What future libraries will look like”. I would be happy to provide either or both, depending on interest.

Also, I am planning on adding a library blog to the website, so in the future interested parties can keep up on new developments at the library, rather than my sending an email to everyone. I hope to have this up and running by the end of the week.

Finally, book orders are trickling in. If you sent in an order, I’ll send you a note (or grab you as you come in the library!) when the items have arrived and are ready to circulate.

That’s all for now. Have a great day!

Welcome to the new library blog!

Thanks for checking out the new library blog! I hope to keep this page update with everything going on at Smiley Library. Feel free to post comments, or sign up for the RSS feed, to receive updates.