What's New @ Conant Library
Double-Sided Printing Now Default
Quick Print - Avoid the Lines!
Book Club Established
Kindles Have Arrived
Students' Sculpture Showcase, Dec. 3-16
Welcome Tracey Kry
Library Research Award Established
Library Satisfaction Survey Results
Extended Hours Fridays
New Group Study Area
Graphic Novels/Manga Added
Annual Graveyard Tales, Oct. 25
Spring 2010
Library Printers Defaulting to 2-Sided Printing
As part of our PaperCut campaign to reduce wasted paper, the Library will be changing all of our printers’ default settings to duplex (double-sided) printing. You can still print one-side if you choose to do so but we hope that, as a general rule, you use the double-sided setting. Faculty have been informed and have been asked to consider accepting double-sided assignment submissions.
Quick Print - Avoid the Lines
Need to print a paper or PowerPoint slides from your thumbdrive or e-mail attachment and all the computers are busy? Just go to the front Circulation Desk and the staff there will be happy to print it out for you! No charge for black and white copies!
Book Club Established
Conant Library has resurrected a book club on campus, and all are invited! The book club has met once so far this year to discuss The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. We will be holding our second meeting on Friday, February 26th to discuss Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood.
Atwood’s newest novel tells the story of two female survivors in a post-apocalyptic world. The New York Times praises the book, stating that “by focusing on her characters and their perilous journeys through a nightmare world, she has succeeded in writing a gripping and visceral book that showcases pure storytelling talents…”
Although The Year of the Flood serves as a sequel of sorts to Atwood’s 2002 work, Oryx and Crake, Publisher’s Weekly assures us “each novel can be enjoyed independently of the other, but what's perhaps most impressive is the degree of connection between them.” So if you enjoy The Year of the Flood, definitely pick up its prequel.
The book club meets at noon in the library, so bring your lunch and your book! If you have any questions, please contact Tracey Kry at x2234 or theresa.kry@nichols.edu.
Kindles Have Arrived
Thanks to a grant from the Central Massachusetts Regional Library System the Library has purchased 2 Kindles which will be available for loan to the Nichols community. Kindles are portable e-book readers (slightly over 1/3 inch thick with a 9.7 inch display, 4 GB storage capacity, able to hold about 3,500 non-illustrated e-books). One of the ways we plan to use the Kindles is to help fill interlibrary loan requests “on-the-spot”. We’ll let you know as soon as the Kindles are available!
Fall 2009
Students' Sculpture Showcase
From Dec. 3 through the 16, students in Sarajane Warren's ART 270 class will be exhibiting their sculptures in the Library's lobby area. Come take a look!
Welcome Tracey Kry, Patron Services Librarian
Please welcome Theresa (Tracey) Kry (pronounced kree), Conant Library's new Patron Services Librarian. Tracey attended Mount Holyoke College as an undergraduate, studying Film and History and earned her Masters in Library Science from Simmons College. She has worked in a number of different kinds of libraries in Western Massachusetts and most recently the Walt Disney Company in Florida. Entirely non-work related, she loves to play tennis, and to bake---so definitely stop by the library for sweets!
Library Research Award Established
Did you know that along with a good grade, the admiration of your fellow students, and the satisfaction of a job well done you might also receive up to $150 for a paper or project you complete this year?
Beginning this academic year Conant Library is giving 3 awards for undergraduate research---two for a paper/project completed by a sophomore, junior, or senior and one for a First-Year student. Individuals and groups can apply.
Think about the papers and/or projects you work on this year. If you use Conant Library and its resources to conduct research (and we encourage you to do so!) consider applying.
Details are available at: http://www.nichols.edu/library/instructionalservices/libraryresearchaward
Library Satisfaction Survey Results
The Library conducted it's bi-annual student satisfaction survey last year. 692 surveys were collected and analyzed. 31% of the respondents were First-Year students, 31% were Sophomores, 22% were Juniors, and 16% were Seniors.
We think the results were quite positive. Overall satisfaction with the Library's resources and services were generally very good: the mean for 'Overall Satisfaction' rose from 3.76 in 2006/07 to 3.93 in 2008/09 (a 3 indicated 'Satisfied and a 5 indicated 'Very Satisfied'). 11% indicated they were 'Extremely Satisfied,' 68% said they were between 'Very Satisfied' and 'Satisfied' and 18% said they were 'Satisfied'. Less than 1% indicated they were either 'Not Very Satisfied' or 'Not At All Satisfied'. 2% indicated they did not use the Library.
The mean satisfaction scores for all but one of the 14 resources and services students were asked to rate were above 3.5 and six were 4.1 or higher. the only mean score below 3.5 related to satisfaction with the availability of group study rooms (and that was 3.47). (For info on a new group study area see below.)
A full copy of the 2008-2009 Student Satisfaction Survey Report is available from Library Director Jim Douglas.
Extended Hours Fridays
Prompted by your requests, the Library will now be open until 7:00pm on Fridays throughout the fall semester. Do take advantage of this time to get those last minute projects done before the weekend!
New Group Study Area Added
One of the most frequent comments we received in last year's satisfaction survey was for moregroup study rooms. Although there is limited space available, this summer we were able to carve out a place for one more on the lower floor of the Library. This one is a little different that the others; there are no walls, the table is U-shaped, there are USB ports in the wall next to the large TV monitor, and it requires a wireless keyboard. The keyboard is available at the Circulation Desk. Student ID rerquired to borrow it.
Graphic Novels/Manga Added to Collection
Conant Library is pleased to announce that we have begun adding graphic novels and manga to our collection. Currently we have only a small number of titles but we expect to grow the collection rapidly. The collection will be kept on the shelves in the library’s lobby. Titles include: Sandman, Persopolis, Dresden Files, Sin City, Watchmen, Real.
Check out what we’ve got in the lobby or browse online via the online catalog by searching for Graphic Novels as a Subject search.
If you have a series or a specific graphic novel or manga title please let us know!
Graveyard Tales, Oct. 25, 9:00 PM
The Library will host ‘Graveyard Tales,’ its annual ‘fright night’ of tales of the supernatural on Sunday, October 25. This year we have four well-known members of the New England storytelling community, Len Cabral, Caitlin Davies, Sara DeBeer, and David Mello. We would also like to give everyone an opportunity to share stories about ghosts they have encountered first-hand or heard about, particularly if they relate to Nichols!
This event starts at 9 PM and will take place in the Library's Lobby area. This event is co-sponsored and funded by the Fischer Institute.