Library booksale continues HALF-PRICE!

The library’s Homecoming booksale continues this week at HALF-PRICE!  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 1 PM to 4 PM.  Everything (including yearbooks) is $1.00 or less!  There are still hundreds of items to browse—come see what we’ve got!  Questions?  Contact Jeff Harbin at 423-461-8495.

Thanks, everyone for a successful booksale!  If we don’t see you this week, we’ll see you at next year’s homecoming.

Booksale art contest submissions on display!

It wasn’t easy to pick the winning image in the library’s first annual Homecoming Booksale Art Contest–we received nearly 40 pieces of art from several different students.  Since so many of them were so good, we’ve decided to put some of the most outstanding pieces on display in the library.

The display is on the main floor of the library, behind the the desk of Jack Weinbender, our Library Assistant.  We’ve displayed at least one piece from everyone who submitted.

So stop by, take a look, and gaze in wonder at the artistic accomplishments of your fellow Milliganites.  We can’t wait to host this contest again next year–thanks again to everyone who entered!

Winner of the Library Booksale Art Contest!

The Library is proud to announce the Michael Kaal is the winner of the First Annual Homecoming Book Sale Art Contest!  Michael’s photograph of aspen trees will soon be sprouting up all over campus and the surrounding community as the poster and postcard image of this year’s Library Homecoming Booksale.  In addition to the free display of his art, Michael will receive 2.5% of the total booksale proceeds.  Congratulations, Michael!

Thanks to all students who entered the contest—we received nearly 40 pieces of art, and we look forward to hosting the contest next year!  See you at the booksale Homecoming weekend, October 23-24!

Homecoming Book Sale art contest – WIN MONEY!

The library is having an art contest! The Homecoming book sale is coming up and we need some creative students to put their talents to work to design the promotional material for the library’s biggest event of the year.  If you win, your original work will be the poster and postcard image for this year’s sale.  Additionally, the winner will receive 2.5% of the book sale proceeds! Last year, that was about $50, but thanks to your eye-popping image, we expect this year’s sale to be bigger and better!

Entries must be two-dimensional, no larger than 11” x 17”, submitted in a sealed envelope (with contact info and a brief bio) to Jeff Harbin by Friday, September 25, 2009. The library staff will add text regarding the book sale to your image.

If you have any questions please contact Jeff Harbin, Public Services Librarian, at jeharbin@milligan.edu or 423-461-8495.  We are excited to see and display your artwork!

Meet our newest librarian!

Please join us in welcoming Meredith Sommers, our new Information Resources Librarian/College Archvist, who began work with us on July 13th.

Meredith is a recent graduate of the School of Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh, where she also received her BA, in Classics (while she, like Librarian Assistant Jack Weinbender, counts the Greek language as one of her major loves, please don’t ask her to translate, as it’s been a few years . . .)  At Pitt, she worked as an undergrad in the Fine Arts Library, and as a grad student in the library’s preservation department, where she repaired some books and built protective boxes for others.  She is most proud of her work rebinding Audubon’s Ornithological Biography of America, a five volume set.  (See her work on Volume 2 here).

Meredith is very much looking forward to getting to know Milligan, and to exploring beautiful Northeast Tennessee with her husband, Jon, and two children, Nathaniel and Cora (22 months and 10 weeks, respectively.)

Meredith is taking over from Ginger Dillon, who resigned in May to get married and relocate to the Washington, DC area. “We were sorry to see Ginger leave us, but we are very excited to have Meredith joining our library staff,” says Director of the Library Gary Daught.  Meredith’s job responsibilities will retain much of the hybrid character as when Ginger occupied the position—dividing her time between the Library and the Milligan College Archives.

But there has been some tweaking. As Information Resources Librarian, Meredith will be responsible not only for acquisitions and processing of books and media, but she will also manage the Library’s print and electronic journal and magazine subscriptions.  Daught asserts that the nature of information resource handling in libraries continues to change, requiring new skills and new ways of working. “It’s important for staff to be adaptable, remain flexible, and not to allow position descriptions to become too hardened.  Still, points of personnel change provide the most natural time to rethink and reconfigure.  The departures of Ginger and Jan Ricker (earlier in February) gave us a chance to seriously reevaluate our staffing needs in this area.  It seemed to make sense to bring the management of our various information resource types together under one position.”

Initially, Meredith will spend roughly two-thirds of her time developing workflows with Library information resource management, and one-third of her time as College Archivist. However, it is hoped that she can gradually increase the time she dedicates to archival work.

Next time you’re in the library, be sure to say hello to Meredith, the newest member of our team.

Library closed Friday July 31st

The library will be closed all day Friday, July 31st for Milligan’s annual Faculty/Staff Work Day.  Remember, www.milligan.edu/library is always open!

Library closed 10 AM-2 PM Tuesday, July 21st

The library will be closed from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Tuesday, July 21st for a staff meeting.  Remember, www.milligan.edu/library is always open!

Meet our new Librarian Assistant!

Please join us in welcoming Jack Weinbender, our new Librarian Assistant, who began work with us on June 15th.

Jack is a first-year student at Emmanuel School of Religion.  He recently graduated from Johnson Bible College in Knoxville with a B.A. in Biblical Studies and a minor in Audio & Radio Production.  Following his junior year at JBC he married his high-school sweetheart— the former Tiffany Mathews—and, in his words,  “dragged her from her home in Salem, Oregon to the hills of Tennessee.”  Tiffany is enrolled in the Milligan College nursing program.

Jack hopes to earn his M.A. in Religion within the next few years, then earn a Ph.D. in order to teach.  According to Jack, he loves his “wife, the Greek langauge, J.R.R. Tolkien, Apple computers, bluegrass music, anything by Larry Hurtado or James Dunn, the X-Files, and barbeque sauce—in that order.”

He notes, “I hope to help in analyzing statistical data to aid in understanding the present state of the Library to foster an informed decision-making atmosphere.”  In addition to working with library statistics and reports, Jack will staff the library reference desk one night per week once the Fall semester begins.  He will also organize and maintain library invoicing and communication with the Business Office.

Library Director Gary Daught notes, “I am very excited by the complexion of the Library Staff. I feel like we have been able to construct something of a ‘dream team’ as I consider the skills, professional dispositions, and high level of engagement [staff] bring to the Library and its mission among the Milligan College learning community. I cannot wait for us all to get started working together. It’s going to be fun!”

Our new Information Services Librarian/College Archivist, Meredith Sommers, joined us July 13th, completing our library staff.  We’ll post a profile on her next week!

What we did on your summer vacation, Part 1

“So, what do you, like, DO at the library all summer?” is one the most frequent questions students and faculty ask library staff as one school year ends and another begins.  I mean, it’s only reasonable to expect that library staff  play Scrabulous and Minesweeper in an empty library all summer while kindergartener-sized tumbleweeds roll past the periodicals racks.

Well, it may surprise you to learn that we do quite a bit!  Though we still have plenty of summer students, faculty and staff, and camp kids to keep us company, we still find time both to carry out our normal duties and to work on bigger projects and initiatives.  Here’s a taste of what we’ve done between graduation and today…

• Our biggest news first…we completed our library staff by hiring two new library staff members:  Jack Weinbender, our new Library Assistant whose first day with us was June 17, and Meredith Sommers, our new Information Resources Librarian/College Archivist, who will begin  July 13.  We’ll post profiles of both of them soon on this blog so you can get to know them better!
• Mary Jackson tagged dozens of new web resources for the library’s del.icio.us page
• Ordered, cataloged, processed, and shelved hundreds of new books, DVDs, and CDs
• Gary Daught, Mary Jackson, and Jeff Harbin attended BCLA Shared Catalog Committee meetings at Maryville College at the end of May
• Jeff cleaned up and shifted photography lending shelves
• Jeff shifted S-Z section of lending books
• Gary presented on the peer review process to two Scholarly Communication classes in Milligan’s M.Ed. program
• Jeff refreshed new book display with over 150 new books, not one of them published before 2008
• Jeff attended two online Interlibrary Loan tutorials and exponentially expanded pool of potential DVD and CD lenders
• Gary attended a webinar on WorldCat Local, and implemented Milligan’s “quick start” WorldCat Local environment
• Readied reserve shelves for next year, removing many outdated items and adding course-relevant materials, and moved out empty shelving unit to create more space in reserves area
• Gary closed out the fiscal year, reconstructed acquisitions fund code hierarchies, and reallocated funds in the library management system
• Gary initiated a review of current periodical/journal subscriptions with faculty
• Added extra shelving unit to provide more room for growing DVD collection, shifted current items and moved furniture to create more space in DVD room
• Jeff cleaned up and organized both the circulation desk and the Interlibrary Loans area
• Gary and Jeff wrote a grant proposal for the library’s “Librarians Bearing Gifts” faculty outreach project
• Worked with faculty to improve our lending collection of music books
• Gary and Jack organized receipt of and binding requests for M.Ed. theses
• Gary and Jack eliminated backlog of periodical check-ins
• Obtained ten additional circulating student-use laptops, bringing our total to twenty.

Whew!  And though the days of summer are quickly sifting through our fingers like so many grains of Myrtle Beach sand, the library staff has much more to accomplish in the 5 1/2 weeks (!) before the fall semester begins.  Be sure to check out Part 2 of this update as the new school year draws closer.

Library closed Monday, May 25th and Friday, May 29th

The P.H. Welshimer Memorial library will be closed Monday, May 25^th, for Memorial Day, and Friday, May 29^th for a staff conference.

As a reminder, the building is open all summer Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and catalogs and databases are accessible 24/7 on the library’s homepage.