News

The campus will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary during the 2009-2010 academic year. We plan to join the party by hosting a “Library Alumni Open House” October 16th from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The library has employed hundreds of students over the years. Student Assistants perform many essential functions: processing materials to be “shelf ready,” shelving books, staffing the Circulation Desk so that their fellow students borrow materials, and providing reference assistance under the guidance of reference librarians. In short, Student Assistants are crucial to the library’s ability to serve the campus. We literally could not function without them. In fact, when our staff members are at meetings and someone asks, “Who is running the library?” we always answer, “The students, of course!!”

We are trying to locate ALL former library Student Assistants so that we can invite everyone who has ever worked at the library. If you are a former library Student Assistant, please be sure that we have your contact information so that we can invite you to the party. If you know others who worked in the library during their student days, please share their contact information with us so that we can invite them to the party and encourage them to come. It will be wonderful to see “old friends” and to catch up! Please send contact information to: sasbury@umd.umich.edu or call 313-593-5236.

The Berkowitz Gallery, located on the third floor of the Mardigian Library, will host the annual Holocaust and Armenian Genocide Commemoration on Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. The event will feature presentations by Samuel Totten, of the University of Arkansas, and Roger Smith, of The College of William & Mary, as well as a discussion period and refreshments. The event is free and open to the public.

For more details please, including how to R.S.V.P., visit the Voice/Vision website.

Laptops are a necessary tool for many of today’s students, but with most battery charges lasting only several hours, the need to plug in becomes crucial in order for them to study. In response to this need, the library recently renovated an area on the 4th floor to add outlets for ten study carrels.

The library opened in 1980, at a time when personal computers were just starting to gain in popularity and were not very portable. Access to electricity for student use was not an issue, and the majority of the outlets in the library’s public area were intended to be used for vacuum cleaners! No one dreamed that within 25 years, many students would be walking around with devices that needed to be plugged in.

For the last several years, the need for more outlets has been at the top of our students’ “wish list.” Library staff members have worked with the university’s Facilities Planning Department to study the problem and recommend solutions. A recent electrical survey revealed that the building is coming close to maxing out the building’s power source and that we have limited options for adding more outlets. In response, we are trying to maximize the outlets and available power that we do have: signage has been added to help students identify outlets not easily seen; tables and study carrels have been shifted closer to floor outlets; and power strips have been added to take full advantage of outlets we do have.

Our latest effort to provide more electrical access involved moving display cases and art glass from the 4th to 3rd floor and bringing single-sided carrels from the 3rd to 4th floor. Electricians were able to add a few additional outlets on the 4th floor for a gain of ten additional study spaces with power. We frequently see these carrels in use; in fact, the electrician was still packing up to leave when three students sat at the carrels and plugged in!

The move also resulted in a nicer display area on the 3rd floor for the Alfred Berkowitz Gallery and its wonderful collection of art glass. The move was a great win-win solution for both students and art lovers!

April 2009 R.E.A.D. (Read, Eat, and Discuss) Meeting

Book: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Date: Wed., April 8, 2009

Time: Noon to 1:00 p.m.

Location: 1210 ML


Books selected for 2009/2010:
Tues., 9/29 - Dreams From My Father: A story of race and inheritance by Barack Obama
Wed., 11/18 - The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Feb. 2010 - The Book Thief by Marcus Suzan
April 2010 - Three Cups of Tea: One man's mission to promote peace...one school at a time by Greg Mortenson

The deadline for Reserve course lists for the Summer 2009 term is Monday, April 27, 2009. Lists and materials submitted by this date will be available for student use on the first day of classes. Requests for Reserve items that are received after the deadline will be processed on a first come, first served basis. We cannot guarantee that items requested after the deadline will be available at the start of classes.

Submit the online form to create your course list. Or, use the MS Word version of the form (found at the same URL) to type your list and email to the Reserves Department. Handwritten forms are not accepted.

Reserve items may be dropped off at the Circulation desk; photocopied articles may be mailed to the Library Reserves Department, 1270 ML. Reserves policies and procedures are available online. For more information please contact the Reserves Coordinator at 313-593-5457 or library-reserves@umd.umich.edu.