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In the wake of Susan's leaving, we have changed some of the responsibilities of the remaining librarians, and there will be more changes when Cindy joins us. Among the current changes, Jen Masciadrelli is now responsible for Archives and for the research instruction program, while Amanda Pippitt has taken on the Reference collection and service to the School of Music. Our newest librarian, Barb Bolser, has immediately been thrown in the thick of things. In her role of Continuing Education Services Coordinator, she recently did library research instruction for an offsite PACE class in Mattoon. As she describes it, " Part of the instruction for these students, as they return to college, is an introduction to library services and to research methods and techniques. This falls in line with Millikin University's ongoing belief that strong library instruction is the basis for classroom success. While offsite classes offer their own unique set of challenges, the enthusiasm of the students makes the effort worthwhile." She encountered some, shall we say, interesting technological challenges in doing this instruction; but encouraging a solution to those challenges will prove beneficial to Millikin's overall off-campus instruction ambitions. Barb's own enthusiasm overflows when she talks about story telling, a particular interest of hers that she was able to showcase for two sections of Ngozi Onuora's Children's Literature classes the other week. Barb not only demonstrated the art of storytelling for these Elementary Education students, but also provided instruction in the theory and method of storytelling. If the students' enjoyment of the stories was any indication, Barb says, this will prove a valuable experience for their future classrooms. Barb will also be doing a storytelling program for the students and parents at Brush College Accelerated School in November. Other off-campus service: Amanda Pippitt proctored the ACT exams on campus on October 23, and I have agreed to run (unopposed) to Chair the Decatur/Macon Country Heritage Network Board in 2005. Our student workers are another crucial component of the library staff. Amanda Pippitt has updated this page of pictures of our treasured student staff.
We now have the New York Times available online in full text! The ProQuest database covers 1999-present and provides both indexing to the newspaper (which we have long provided) and, now, full text as well. It is linked from several places on the library home page: from How Do I find? -> newspapers; from Quicklinks News ; from Periodicals databases - Alphabetical; and also from the off-campus users page where the link is configured for off-campus access.
You will soon be noticing new colors in our local online catalog (Millinet). We are making this change to make it clearer when you are using the Millikin catalog as opposed to the state-wide ILCSO catalog. There will be no change in functionality, however. This change is Jen Masciadrelli's work.
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An article in the Aug. 6, 2004 issue of the news digest The Week (p.40) cautions that "there are dangers lurking all around you", beginning with "Fact: More people are killed by teddy bears than by grizzly bears." (Think button eyes, viruses and germs.) "In fact, everyday events are more likely to cause you harm if for no other reason than they happen every day." Books are among the dangers revealed. "If you think you can avoid injury by shunning sports and curling up with a good book, think again. ... [Y]ou should know that in an average year, 10,683 U.S. citizens lose their battles with what the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ... categorizes as `books, magazines, albums, or scrapbooks', and another 1,490 are clobbered by magazine racks and bookends." And that's only what is reported. "How can that be?" you ask. Here are some of the dangers enumerated in the article: paper cuts, damaged toes when a book falls on them, losing one's balance when reaching for a book, repetitive stress from shelving books, scratches from staples in magazines, back strain from lifting book boxes or hefting over-full school bags. In fact, one of our very own librarians stumbled on a bookcase at home not that long ago and broke a toe! And you thought the
only danger with books was what you could learn from them! Though as to
that, Banned
Books Week (BBW) is designated every year at the end of September to
bring to widespread attention to examples of the written words that some
people fear and challenge. This year's BBW (September 25 - October 2) may
have passed, but this "national celebration of First Amendment rights"
is always topical.
Now that you have registered, be sure to also vote!! To quote one of the posters around campus: "Protect your right to complain - vote!" I remind you of the library's extensive web page with election-related links. The link to this page is featured on the library's home page. Meanwhile, in my other job, as Director of International Programs I am just now concluding shepherding eighteen students' applications for studying abroad in the Spring semester 2005. There sure is a lot of paperwork! But I am enjoying seeing this new (to me) side of the University's services to its students.
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| Staley
Library
Millikin University 1184 West Main, Decatur, IL 62522 phone 217-424-6214 fax 217-424-3992 |
©2001+ by Millikin University Board of Trustees MU web disclaimer Comments? Send us a message |
| This newsletter page format was first created on August 27, 2002 | |
We
registered 158 new Macon County voters in the library this September and until
the very last possible minute on October 5, with the great majority (117) of those
registrations happening the last couple of days. In fact, we turned away
another couple of dozen people after the deadline had passed! Six library
staffers shared this work; and then once a week, Amanda Pippitt brought the
week's forms to the Macon County office building downtown. We are quite
pleased about making this contribution to the election process.
