WMLA Seeks Your Input

Western Massachusetts Librarians, Trustees and Library Users:

This upcoming Tuesday (March 6), members of the Western Massachusetts Library Advocates (WMLA) will be attending a joint meeting with members of the Massachusetts Library System (MLS) Facilities Committee, as well as several of our Legislators and aides. The topic will be the future of the MLS facility in Whately and service to librarians in our area.

WMLA would like to articulate the views of the librarians in our area on this topic. To do this most effectively and accurately, I am asking for input from our membership. If you would like your views to be heard and represented at this meeting, please feel free to share them with me. I will be presenting a report on WMLA’s perspective—and to do this accurately, I will need input.

Thanks for your attention and suggestion. And have a great weekend!

Eric Poulin, President, Western MA Library Advocates

Eric Poulin

Greenfield Community College

UMass Amherst Libraries Redesign Science and Engineering Library

UMASS AMHERST LIBRARIES
REDESIGN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING LIBRARY

     The UMass Amherst Libraries have renovated the Science and Engineering Library (SEL) to accommodate more students and optimize the available space.  Construction was completed for the spring 2012 semester, and the area is now open for student use.   The renovated space holds eight new group study rooms, each with a whiteboard and computer, as well as 46 new individual computer stations.  

On the third floor, power outlets were added to the study tables.  The space is constantly busy, and students are utilizing both the individual desks and the new study rooms.

On the busiest day in 2011, 1,273 people visited SEL, and over the course of the year Library staff answered 8,461 questions at the service desks.  The Library was challenged to accommodate this level of traffic before the renovations.

Although the renovated space came as a surprise to many, there was a great response when students found out about it.  “I noticed there was a sign saying it was closed during the construction phase, and when I came back a few days later, it was open,” said Civil Engineering major, Greg Olson, 2014.  “It is a good alternative to the crowded library, and it is close to all my classes so it is easy to come in between.  I usually come at least once a day.  There is easy access to computers, and the white boards are really helpful for group study sessions.  It’s awesome.”

Megan Colwell and Kristen Richard, both Kinesiology majors in the class of 2013 said, “Before we were in the small two-person rooms upstairs and they were freezing. This is so much better, we come every day.”

“More than anything else, students were asking for more computers,” says Maxine Schmidt, head of the Science and Engineering Library.  “And every semester, groups worked on projects huddled around laptops on low tables on the main floor, talking in whispers so they wouldn’t disturb others.  The students on the third floor in the quiet areas had no outlets for their laptops.  This renovation took care of all of those issues.  In phase two of our renovation, which we hope to have ready by fall, we will redo the lobby and entry area.”

The UMass Amherst Libraries include the Science and Engineering Library (SEL) in Lederle Lowrise; the Image Collection Library in Bartlett Hall; the Music Reserve Lab in the Fine Arts Center; and the W.E.B. Du Bois Library and Learning Commons, located at the heart of the UMass Amherst campus.

For more information, contact Maxine Schmidt (mschmidt@library.umass.edu, 413-545-6739).  

MLA Conference 2012 - Book to the Future

Book your plans now, and set aside May 9 and 10 to attend the 2012 MLA Conference, to be held at the DCU Center in Worcester. With a theme of Book to the Future, program sessions will take a look at where libraries are headed, the use of technology in libraries, and much more. Conference highlights will include sessions with ALA President-Elect Maureen Sullivan, author panels, the annual Book Cart Drill Team exhibition, a Pizza Party Trivia & Auction dinner, and exclusive time for visiting the vendors in the exhibition hall. Pre-conference events on May 8 include the Digital Commonwealth Annual Conference. The official conference hotel is the Hilton Garden Inn, conveniently adjacent to the DCU Center. For conference information as it develops, follow this link:

http://www.masslib.org/conference/2012Conference/

Make sure your future includes a visit to the 2012 MLA Conference in Worcester!

The Soul of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Tribute to the Black Church

A program of gospel music, poetry, and oratory will be presented, featuring artists from UMass Amherst, St. John’s Congregational Church, and the Springfield community on February 26, 3 p.m., at the St. John’s Congregational Church, 643 Union St., Springfield.

The program will include St. John’s Congregational Church Choir, Progressive Community Baptist Choir, and others, in addition to readings and multimedia presentations.

In 2011, the Du Bois Center at UMass Amherst entered into a collaborative partnership with St. John’s Congregational Church in Springfield, Massachusetts. The partnership links the Church to UMass Amherst’s educational and cultural resources while building awareness of the Du Bois Center.

Each year, the Church and the Du Bois Center co-produce a tribute event featuring gospel, poetry, and oratory in the Du Boisian tradition, performed by multiple choirs and UMass Amherst students and faculty. 

For more information, contact Brooks Fitch, 413-545-6483, duboisfriends@library.umass.edu.  

GCC Library bets on the Pats!!!!

The Librarians at Greenfield Community College are so
confident that their beloved New England Patriots will be victorious in this
weekend’s Super Bowl against the New York Giants that they have decided to put
their books where their mouths are.

The staff of the GCC Library has agreed to a friendly wager
with the Librarians of the Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Library at Corning Community
College in Corning, New York. The
Libraries have agreed to exchange books of a regional flavor, depending on the
result of Sunday’s matchup.

Eric Poulin, Coordinator of Library Services at GCC, pitched
the idea to Sarah Weisman, the Associate Dean of Learning Services at Corning,
and Corning President Kate Douglas. Douglas
was a longtime administrator and faculty member at Greenfield before becoming
the 6th President of Corning this past July.

Poulin says that he is very much looking forward to watching
a Patriots victory this weekend and receiving a few titles with a regional New
York flavor as a result.

If the Patriots win, the Corning librarians will send a
package of books to Greenfield that are New York-themed, including a title by
Elmira, NY children’s author Ted Arnold, as well as Summer In a Glass—a book about the wineries of the Finger Lake
region, where Corning is located.

If the Giants win, the GCC Library will send a package of
books to Corning that are Massachusetts and New England-themed, including the
children’s classic Make Way For Ducklings
by Robert McCloskey, as well as Home Town
by Tracy Kidder. Kidder is a member of
the Board of Trustees at GCC.

Part of the agreement between the two libraries is that the
titles will have book plates attached to them to commemorate the historic
wager, and to acknowledge the victory by the opposing team.

The game is a rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl, won by the
Giants by a score of 17-14.

Fundraiser @Mount Holyoke College President's House for South Hadley Public Library Building Project

Library supporters and advocates are cordially invited to a reception hosted by the South Hadley Public Library Building Committee and Mount Holyoke College President Lynn Pasquerella to support fundraising efforts for a new library in South Hadley:

Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 5:15 to 7:00 p.m.

The President's House 45 College Street Mount Holyoke College

To support South Hadley’s public library and attend this event, please contact the South Hadley Public Library Building Committee by February 9 at <MHC.SHPLreception@gmail.com> or by telephone at 413-534-7735.

A minimum $50 per person donation is requested with all proceeds to fund the construction of the new South Hadley Public Library.  Drinks and light refreshments will be provided.

Naming opportunities are still available for leadership donations and specific information about leadership partnering will be available at the event.  More information about the new library project may be found at its website, www.shadleylib.org/NEWSHPL.html. 

Parking is available in the south end of the Village Commons parking lot. Please pass through the gate on the south edge of the lot to go to the President’s House.

Exhibit: To The Village - An Experiment in American Democracy

UMASS AMHERST LIBRARIES HOST EXHIBIT

TO THE VILLAGE SQUARE:

AN EXPERIMENT IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

~ Lionel Delevingne and the Antinuclear Movement ~

The UMass Amherst Libraries host an exhibit, “To the Village Square: An Experiment in American Democracy,” through May 1, 2012, in Du Bois Library on the Lower Level and continuing on Floor 25 in Special Collections and University Archives.  The exhibit features photographs by photojournalist Lionel Delevingne covering the antinuclear movement.

New England was the epicenter of the antinuclear movement of the 1970s and 1980s.  Sparked by the proposed construction of nuclear power plants in Montague, Mass., and Seabrook, N.H., a grass-roots movement blossomed in the region, drawing on a long tradition of non-violent political protest.  Shortly after arriving in the United States from his native France in 1975, the photojournalist Lionel Delevingne began covering the antinuclear movement, including the long history of civil disobedience and occupation at Seabrook, the aftermath of the Three Mile Island disaster, and other protests from New York to South Carolina and Europe.

Delevingne is a recipient of many awards including the National Endowment of the Arts/Humanities (NEA), University & College Designers Association (UCDA), University Professional & Continuing Education Association (UCEA), and Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

“To the Village Square” includes dozens of Delevingne’s photographs, some of the movement’s most memorable images, along with materials drawn from the rich antinuclear collections held in the UMass Amherst Libraries’ Department of Special Collections and University Archives.

For more information, contact Anne Moore (545-6888, amoore@library.umass.edu).