Have 6 months Really Passed in LibraryLand?

It has indeed been that long -- guess time really does fly when you're having fun. We spent most of the months of September and October teaching information literacy classes in Room 123 -- the new Instruction lab. This room has 40 computers and is very popular with faculty. Where else can they get their students all in one room and working on software programs all together? The other buildings on campus have computers here and there -- 10 in one lab or perhaps 20 in another.

This month is Aviation History Month so we created a display (see photo) with a timeline of aviation history and included some old model planes we have in our collection as well as some rare pilot books. Perfect for an aviation university such as ours.

This new Hazy Library has an additional 40 computers upstairs in the Information Commons -- the place to see and be seen! It gets so busy up here that the computer stations are soon filled, and students spill over downstairs to the Instruction Room computers or borrow a laptop.

We are now working on completing an application/proposal to enter the John Dana Cotton Awards sponsored by ALA -- an award for outstanding marketing and advertising programs in libraries. We're pulling together the information to submit our application detailing all the work we did for Opening Day @ the Hazy Library in March, 2008. Wish us luck! If we win, then Suzie may go to Washington D.C. for the award ceremonies -- RAH!!!!

The Bravest Librarian

Some days we are busy from early morning to late day, reading, writing, planning and meeting.

But while our work is busy and important, it can't compare to THIS librarian imbedded with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq.

Read her blog and view these incredible pictures from Tikrit here @ http://101dayswith101st.blogspot.com/

Now this is a BRAVE librarian!

What I found on the Way to something Else: U-M's (Michigan) EJournal site

It all started with watching the streaming vid of the Dalai Lama from the University Michigan's website. His Holiness was in Ann Arbor April 20th to celebrate Earth Day. The Dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment introduced the UM President Mary Kay Coleman who then introduced the Dalai Lama.

On the way to finding the School of Natural Resources and Environment, I came across the UM Libraries (19 in all) website and looked for ideas on how to re-design our own ERAU-Prescott Hazy Library website.

From the UM Harlan Hatcher graduate library website, I found the eJournals link where one can choose from a list of dozens of topic areas (http://www.lib.umich.edu/ejournals/) And from there, I clicked on Natural Resources and Environment -- whoah!

653 titles appear with journal titles and websites ranging from Acta Oecoligica to Agronomy Journal and onto Country Living Gardener, Endangered Species Bulletin, Human Ecology, Journal of Animal Science, North American Journal of Aquaculture, Plant Diseases and USDA Bulletins. I'm in information heaven here!

WOW! the New Hazy Library & Learning Center

It's week 2 in the new Library. The official Opening Day of Embry Riddle's new Christine & Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Library and Learning Center went off exactly as planned with balloons and snacks galore, flowers on the desk and two writing pads on both downstairs and upstairs floors for users to write their comments.

Patrons commented most on the SPACE, window views of the mountains and main campus, the 'blue' lit staircase, the utter newness and fresh smell of a 35,000 sq. foot facility devoted to Books and magazines, DVDs (main floor) and the HUGE Information Commons with 40 computers upstairs (adding tot the 40 desktops in the downstairs Instruction Room), as well as the state-of-the-art Media Center with production suites for video editing.


For now, we're still in the Honeymoon stage, wandering around and figuring out how everything works. With so much space to manage, it will likely take about 6 months to get truly acclimated, but we have much to do meanwhile. New Library CDs informing new students about the services offered here in the library, fresh signage pointing to the new spaces and how to monitor all this space!

More insights about the new library later as we approach May's official Dedication for the new library (May 3, 2008).

A Day in the Life

Today's issues ranged from helping student find books about the topic of teaching ESL (English as Second Language) to helping another student edit his film review paper for a Communications class.

Never a dull moment in LibraryLand ...

LJ Series "Job Satisfaction": Take This Job and Love It - 2/1/2008 - Library Journal

LJ Series "Job Satisfaction": Take This Job and Love It - 2/1/2008 - Library Journal

Small Library Winter

A single inch of snow was all it took to shut down the university this morning.

Even as Facilities plowed the roads around campus and lay down cinders, some people declined to come to work citing poor driving conditions. One librarian even told of sliding down her driveway in the car with all the ice and snow. Another told of gliding down snow-covered hills on the way to work. Those of us who made it to work have the promise of 'flex-time' for being here even though the university was officially 'closed' this morning.

According to the old-timers in Prescott, this small mountain town in northern Arizona used to have lots of snow in its pre-global warming days. Winter today is now relegated to the occasional dusting that causes students to run outside and try their hand at lobbing snowballs. And, now, half a day later, the snow is nearly gone except for the occasional patch lying in a cool northern exposure up against a tall pine tree. Flurries in the air and a promise of more ...