New Service Offered to Faculty!

The Birmingham-Southern Interlibrary Loan Department will begin delivery of Interlibrary Loan articles via email to the faculty today. The email will say Birmingham-Southern College Document Delivery Notification (ILL number or something similar) and the article will be attached. Please note all articles cannot be delivered via email due to format and/or problems with the quality of the article. Where possible, we will email, but you may still have to pick up paper copies of some articles. In that case, we will notify you the article is available at the Circulation Desk. ILL Department Janice Poplau Jimmie Chicarello

Did you know...

... that the BSC Library has a collection of more than 5,000 children's books? While intended primarily for education majors, the "Juvenile Collection" is also a useful resource for members of the BSC community who have children, younger brothers or sisters, or simply a youthful take on life! The collection is located on the ground floor of the library. It includes both fiction and non-fiction books, any of which may be checked out for one week at a time. Recent acquisitions include the top 100 picture books (from School Library Journal's list) not already owned by the library.

Please feel free to browse through the children's books next time you're in the library, and relive your childhood with a refreshing dose of Maurice Sendak, Tomie de Paola, or Dr. Seuss.

"This is June, the month of grass and leaves..."

... so wrote Henry David Thoreau. For some strange reason, he neglected to note that it is also the month that summer school begins at BSC. As the summer term gets underway, we hope you will have a chance to make use of the Library and its re-designed website. Library hours during the summer are as follows: Monday - Thursday: 8:00am - 10:00pm Friday: 8:00am - 5:00pm Saturday: 1:00pm - 5:00pm Sunday: 2:00pm - 10:00pm We've opened up a new space on the ground floor of the Library, a "screening room" which can be reserved by students interested in watching videos on the big screen or editing audio & video files. There are some important changes to the website as well: we've provided a "quick search" option for the library catalog (so you can look for works by Thoreau, among other things); a direct link for people to check their library accounts; and the option to chat with a librarian. Links to the Library's Blog, Podcasts, and Facebook page run across the bottom of the homepage. And in response to student input, several of the Library Research Tools now have new names (Databases, Ejournals, Research Guides, and Research FAQs). We continue to be interested in your feedback and your suggestions for improving any aspect of library service - either via this blog, through the library's suggestion box, or in person. Here's to a serene, sunny, suggestive summer!

New look for the Library website

The library is planning to launch a new site on June 1. We've aimed to keep all the functions of the old site, add some new functions (such as a catalog quick search and live chat assistance), and streamline the look just a bit. We welcome your feedback - either on this blog or via the library's suggestion box. Let us know what you think!

Congratulations, Graduating Seniors!

Finals are final-ly over! We extend our congratulations to the Class of 2009...and thank you for returning your books in time to graduate! :-) We'll be lying low in the library until the start of summer classes. The library will be open from 8 am to 5 pm for the next 3 weeks, and closed over the weekends (as well as for Memorial Day) until June 8. Enjoy the break!

Finals Week in the Library: Extended hours and more room to study

Library hours during finals week are as follows: Thursday 5/7: 8 am - 2 am Friday 5/8: 8 am - 10 pm Saturday 5/9: 9 am - midnight Sunday 5/10: 2 pm - 2 am Monday-Wednesday, 5/11-5/13: 8 am - 2 am Thursday, 5/14: 8 am - 10 pm Friday 5/15: 8 am - 5 pm Saturday-Sunday, 5/16-5/17: Closed The Library has opened up a new Screening Room on the ground floor, with a wide-screen TV/DVD player for screening movies and room to relax & hang out. During finals week this will be open as a space for students to take a break from studying. Beginning in the summer, this room will be available for students and faculty to schedule for watching films, working on group projects requiring projection from a laptop to the "big screen," and editing audio or video files (a well equipped computer is on its way!).

The Library Electronic Classroom will be open to students during library hours for finals week (5/7 - 5/14).

Good luck with finals!!!

Ed LaMonte's Retirement Lecture

The BSC Library is honored to present podcasts of the retirement lecture of Dr. Ed LaMonte. They are located at: http://orgs.bsc.edu/podcasts/E_LaMonte_20090428.mp3 http://orgs.bsc.edu/podcasts/E_LaMonte_04282009.mp4 The top URL is to the audio version, and the second URL is to the video version. They may take a few moments to load. Dr. LaMonte's retirement lecture took place on April 28, 2009, in the Norton Auditorium, and was entitled "Putting it All in Context." We hope you enjoy the podcast. Steve Laughlin