With the new year comes change, and LIS is no exception. Check out the varied display of local books on the main level next to our DVD area. From Patti Smith’s Just Kids, to Chris Bohjalian’s The Night Strangers, you will appreciate our range of topics. One particular standout is from faculty and author Andrea Olsen, an absolute treasure in the dance department. Her recent publication, Body and Earth, An Experiential Guide, features a forward written by John Elder, & preface from Bill McKibbon, so you can’t miss, considering this Midd triumverate. Then there is the true story, The Man Who Cycled the World, by Mark Beaumont, detailing how he demolished the Guinness World Record in 81 days. Several outstanding novels are on the shelf; The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht is one of the ten best books on the NY Times Book Review, and Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin, is a National Book Award Winner, just to mention a couple. If you wander downstairs you will see popular magazines lining the front racks. Current issues of Esquire, PC World, Vogue, Mother Jones, Time, National Review and many others are conveniently displayed, so you can keep up with weekly news and entertainment events in a comfy setting. Add a cup of joe or hot tea from the cafe, and the joys of a Midd J-Term winter’s night can be cozy and as imaginative as you wish! Welcome 2012, and to your J-term!
Category Archives: Copy to LIS Blog
Access Services Conference – Atlanta GA
Valuable information was gathered at the recent Access Services conference held at Georgia Tech. Learning various customer service styles and techniques utilized in libraries ranging from student populations of 2,000 to 48,000 was eye-opening. The major takeaway was how change is the “new normal.” Integrating new technologies and innovation with excellent customer service were major themes. Tips on Reserves policies & procedures, merged libraries, media, student employees & professionalism at the Circ Desk, Reference, and privacy/confidentiality issues were topics of interest. Info regarding maximizing customer and employee satisfaction was particularly enlightening. Power Point presentations will be available from the conference site in January 2012, but I am receiving some of these presentations directly from specific schools for my reference. I will place them in our Conference folder in the 2011 Orgs drive.
LIS DVD Project – Watch Our Collection Grow
LIS has made significant changes over the summer, and we are especially pleased to inform you of the newly-augmented Browsing DVD section of the library. This section has been supplemented with over 80% of DVDs formerly confined to library viewing, housed behind the Circ Desk. These additions to the Browsing Collection provide an enhanced selection for you to select from and enjoy at home or wherever your laptop may take you for three days. Additionally, since we have had the good fortune to add the Music Library contents over to Davis, we now offer an extensive group of musical DVDs ( CDs are stored separately behind the Circ Desk). In the lobby Browsing area, select from a musical DVD collection diverse as Rebel Music ( Bob Marley’s life story) to Puccini’s Tosca to Superfly. Our documentary section is incredibly stimulating & most definitely something to write home about. (But you must restrain yourself. You can only take out 3 DVDs at a time). Some examples:
The Maysles Brothers‘ Grey Gardens (based on the fascinating, reclusive mother-daughter socialites Edith Beales).
Man on Wire, (an astonishing account of French high-wire artist who dared to walk and perform acrobatics on a cable between the Twin Towers 1350 feet above ground in 1974).
The award-winning (Sundance Film Festival) Andy Warhol from PBS. Producer/writer/director Ric Burns’ takes an insightful portrait of Warhol, who defined the pop art movement in the 20th century.
Thompson’s wild ride in Gonzo: Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. And what a journalist.
From the Bill Moyers Collection, B.T. Jones: Still/Here. Acclaimed choreographer Jones and his creative process.
Need I say more? These are just a few.
The TV Series section is also eclectic and fun (think Simpsons, True Blood, SNL, Mad Men, Smallville) while our current and classic feature collections encompass masters from the silent era, D.W. Griffith & Chaplin, on to Jack Cardiff, Hitchcock,Fellini, Truffaut, Wilder. All of the heavyweights are here. Check the amazingly varied titles in Midcat.
We have color-coded four sections to assist your search as you navigate through the shelves. There are posters to guide you to an area of interest. This continues to be a work in progress, but we welcome you to take advantage of our abundant & fantastic collection. We will keep you updated on the DVD project status as we proceed. Popcorn anyone?