The Davis Family Library will be open 24 hours a day starting Sunday morning, December 3rd. Regular hours resume for Friday and Saturday, December 8th and 9th, then 24/7 resumes until 11 pm on Friday, December 15th. After 11 pm, you will need your ID to access the building. After 1 am, there will be no circulation services provided – the library will only function as a quiet study space.
Armstrong Library will have regular hours.
A full calendar of the hours can be found at go/hours
The library has millions of resources, but how do you start to find the exact title you’re looking for? The answer isn’t one size fits all. Check out the top ways to find sources below:
Librarian approved! These guides highlight relevant resources and databases on specific subjects and are a great place to start your research. go/guides/
Library search engine, results will show everything the library has access to. Use the filters on the left side to narrow your results down to a manageable amount. go/summon/
The traditional online library catalog, MIDCAT is a great tool when you know a specific feature of what you’re looking for like the author’s name, title, or subject of the work. go/midcat/
Fear not! If Middlebury doesn’t have the resource you want, you can still have it (though it might take a little longer than pulling a book off the shelves) Submit an ILL request for anything we’ll get a copy for you! go/ill/
Meet a librarian at the Research Desk or schedule a consultation, no question is too small. go/AskUs/
Some of the employees working within the libraries once had other roles and separate affiliations with Middlebury. Follow their (r)evolutions on the first Thursday of every month this semester.
Name: Kat Cyr
Former Role(s) on Campus: Midd Class of 2011, Japanese Major, Linguistics Minor
(also a Japanese Summer Language School Alumnus)
Current Role on Campus: Interlibrary Loan Associate
When was this photo taken?
When I was studying abroad in Kyoto in 2010. This was before we had established a Midd-specific school in Japan so I was there via the Associated Kyoto Program (AKP).
What were you doing in this photo?
I’d gone up to Kurama Hot Springs with a bunch of friends for a day of cultural enrichment (i.e. soaking in huge volcanic baths) and inter-college outreach (i.e. goofing about with fellow study abroad students from other schools). We had gathered a small group of Magic enthusiasts and were playing in between soaking sessions; we were using Japanese cards of course, so studying was still happening. We were just also in our fancy robes, sipping tea, occasionally amusing the other hot spring patrons. I seem to remember several little old ladies approaching us in the bath to chat. It was a delightful day.
How have things changed in your life since then?
I’m a couple years older, a couple degrees further in debt, now thoroughly obsessed with fiber arts, and very much turning into a crazy cat lady librarian. Also my Japanese is much, much better than it was then.
What hasn’t?
I still love hot springs, though my access to them is now non-existent. I also drink entirely too much tea, study Japanese whenever possible, and play geeky games on a regular basis.
What’s your favorite thing about your job?
I love seeing all the interesting books that people request through ILL. We see some really cool things requested for research purposes, from microfilm of obscure government documents to foreign language comics to massive road maps. As schools borrow things from our library we also get to see some of the coolest books from the stacks that I would never have thought we’d have. And then there are just the awesome book recs we get from people ILLing fiction of various kinds. ILL is a spectacular place to work if you love books.
What is on the horizon?
I’m currently working my way out of debt and trying to establish a home that is a little less temporary than my string of dorm rooms and office-provided apartments. Other than that, I haven’t thought that far into the future. Right I’m just taking things one day at a time.
For more posts like these, like our Facebook page.
In honor of Native American/Indigenous and Alaska Native Heritage Month, Dr. Irina Feldman’s Spanish 324 Class, Images of America, has collaborated with the Davis Family Library to develop a display including works that commemorate the many peoples belonging to these groups throughout the Americas. Visit the Davis Family Library to see the display and read more about how it all was shaped below. We thank Marlena Evans, Caleb Turner, Alaina Hanks, Oshin Bista and all the unseen laborers and sponsors who make these projects successful.
The display in the Davis Family Library lobby will be staffed by students from the class on the evenings of November 6th and 7th to answer your questions on this theme. Plan to join us at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, November 27th in the Robert A. Jones (RAJ) ’59 Conference Room when Chief of the Nulhegan Coosouk Abenaki Don Stevens will join the Middlebury College community for a talk on life in Vermont as a person of indigenous heritage. Also, stay tuned for Dr. Brandon Baird’s talk, “Unequivocally Authentic: Mayan Language and Identity in Modern Guatemala,” in the Carol Rifelj Lecture Series hosted by the Center for Teaching, Learning & Research on November 29th. The site go.middlebury.edu/calendar has more details. Continue reading
“I have to write a research paper. How should I start?”
We’re hearing this question a lot these days, and we aren’t surprised. The librarians at the Research Desk have helped many students begin working on research papers — and the process is a little different every time. Depending on the assignment (how long is the paper? what are the requirements and goals? when is it due?), the topic, and the prep work you’ve done already, we might suggest beginning in Summon, or MIDCAT, or… on a sheet of notebook paper where you’ll jot down a few keywords to get the thoughts flowing.
If this trending question has been on your mind lately too, go ahead and ask a librarian! Find us at the Research Desk in the Davis Family Library, behind the Circulation Desk at the Armstrong Library, or online at go/askus/.
Literatures & Cultures Librarian Katrina Spencer visits Downtown Guadalajara Mexico with the Spanish School in 2010.
Name: Katrina Spencer
Former Role(s) on Campus: Master of Spanish Grad Student, Class of 2010; Portuguese School, 2014
Current Role on Campus: Literatures & Cultures Librarian
When was this photo taken?
Summer 2010
What were you doing in this photo?
I was studying in Guadalajara Mexico, completing my last requirements for my degree. There was a scheduled field trip for touring the downtown portion of the city. Here we’re all in an historic governmental building. It looks like one of my classmates caught me reviewing photos in my camera.
How have things changed in your life since then?
A number of things have changed in the last seven years. I’ve gained some weight. ;) Traveled to West Africa. Studied Arabic. (Mastering Spanish certainly gave me the confidence to approach other languages, though just last week I had a “por vs. para” slip up.) Started working in the professional world. And. . . have finally approached persuading myself to explore meatless meals.
What hasn’t?
I still wear leggings around three times a week. My tennis shoes (Tigers ‘n’ Reeboks) and purse (long strap and slightly exotic design) preferences are rather equal to those in the photo. I still strive for an abstract ethos and ideology of “equity.”
What’s your favorite thing about your job?
I get paid well to listen to and help students I love.
What is on the horizon?
I still have an appetite to build on the minimal foundation I have in Arabic. There are so many things I want to read: David Sedaris, Toni Morrison, Nicole A. Cooke… I’d also like to meet my niece.
For more posts like these, like our Facebook page.
We are pleased to introduce a new tool that will make communication and collaboration easier regardless of your location.
In the fall of 2016, a team representing Academic Technology, the Digital Learning Commons at Monterey, ITS, and the Office of Digital Learning set out to identify a new video conferencing solution that would improve the ways we communicate and work with each other across Middlebury. The team selected Zoom Video Conferencing as the tool that best met Middlebury’s needs, and initiated a pilot program in January 2017. Due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback from academic and administrative groups, Middlebury is now making Zoom available to all users.
Zoom works with our existing video conferencing rooms and includes features such as video calls with up to 100 participants, screen sharing, breakout groups, webinars, and more. It’s quick to download and easy to use. Zoom will completely replace the Polycom software by January 1st, 2018. If you use a dedicated Polycom video conferencing unit in conjunction with an office or conference room monitor, it will continue to function and you can use it together with Zoom by dialing your Zoom meeting as described in our documentation.
To start using Zoom, please visit http://middlebury.zoom.us and sign in with your Middlebury credentials. We hope that you will find Zoom convenient and useful in your work. We invite your comments and suggestions about the service and our communications regarding it. You can submit feedback here.
For more information, please visit the Zoom web page.
For questions and other support, please visit the support page.
October is Disability Employment Awareness Month. Come to the Davis Family Library atrium October 2nd- 15th to see our display that includes books and DVDs that touch on a variety of themes related to disability. Also read below about the various efforts made to make our campus more accessible and inclusive. Many sincere thanks to Marlena Evans for her work in designing this month’s banner and to the Advisory Group on Disability, Access, and Inclusion for its generous guidance. Continue reading