The news @ Western Libraries
What's Up with all this Construction?
Posted on Tue, 2010-06-22 10:00
On the Wilson Side:
PW 608: A project to renew exterior brickwork on the original Wilson building (1928) and on the Arts Annex building is underway. The general contractor is Sterling Construction Co., based in Bothell. Work will be happening until the last half of August for this project. The exterior work generally consists of rebuilding some areas, and cleaning, repairing, re-pointing, and sealing all brick and cast stone masonry walls of the original Wilson building. Scafolding will be assembled on the upper levels of Wilson Library. Most of the work on the north side of the building will be accomplished from lifts. At times, windows near their work areas will need to remain closed due to the cleaning methods. There may also be periods of time when the north entrance to the library will need to be closed when work is being done around the entry portico.
PW 620: Additional compact shelving has been added to WL 190. The collaborative study area and café in WL 279 will be completed toward the end of the total project – late July/early August. Also available then will be the new audio/video editing booths and practice presentation room in HH 219. The general contractor for this project is Regency NW Construction, headquartered in Bellevue. Their prime subcontractors are from Whatcom County – Diamond B Constructors of Bellingham for mechanical work and Pinnacle Electric from Blaine for electrical work.
On the Haggard Side:
PW 620: Another part of PW 620 which has been under way for the past few months includes the work that is nearing completion on the HH 233 general university computer lab. This new computer lab, which will be 24 hours in the Fall, will be up and running for the beginning of Summer Quarter.
PW 614: This project includes upgrades to many general university classrooms and computer labs around campus. One of those is HH 245. The project will install a curtain that will allow the room to be divided in two when desired. While the room will still be available as a 32-seat lab, it will also be possible to have two 16-seat labs there simultaneously. In other words, when teaching a smaller class, half of the space can still be made available for general student use or for another small class or workshop. The work stations themselves will be reoriented to a north-south arrangement rather than an east-west arrangement. There will be two teaching podia in the room, two projectors and screens. Printers will be located at each end of the room. The room will be closed for the summer while this work takes place. The general contractor for this project is Colacurcio Brothers Construction from Blaine.
LibQUAL Results are in!
Posted on Tue, 2010-06-08 10:00
The LibQUAL Results Are In!
The initial data summary and comments have been added to the LibQUAL webpage http://library.wwu.edu/assessment/libqual.
The Western Libraries 2010 LibQUAL results indicate that overall the Western Libraries is increasingly effective at meeting the expectations of students and generally meets or exceeds the overall mean scores of universities and colleges that administered the survey during the 2009 survey cycle. But our survey results also indicate that the expectations of our varied user groups do not always easily align with one another. The updated LibQUAL page also includes numerous representative comments drawn from the more than 800 submitted by survey participants.
Over the summer we will begin a closer examination of the data, analyze of all 858 comments to further inform the data, and begin planning for a Fall 2010 LibQUAL Summit which will bring together administrators, university faculty and students for a lively discussion about your library’s future.
Get Biking!!!
Posted on Tue, 2010-06-01 10:00
Sun's out! Enjoy the lazy days of summer in the Northwest ...
time to slow down & bike the county!
Whatcom County offers great scenic biking. Check out the links for city & county route maps, safety
videos, local events, tips on commuter biking, and much more!
New Research Mentoring Class for Fall 2010!
Posted on Tue, 2010-06-01 10:00
The Libraries is excited to announce that it has developed a Research Mentoring class (LIBR 397) that is now on the schedule for Fall 2010. This class will give upper-division students the opportunity to help newer students learn how to do research and connect them to resources that will help them academically succeed. Woodring students, in particular, will get relevant hands-on experience in this class.
Rationale:
There is a longstanding need to increase mentoring connections between students of different academic levels on campus. Students in lower-division courses will benefit from interactions with upper division students who can encourage and assist in the navigation of academic support services on campus. This course will help create a network of people that better connects students to research resources.
Course Goals:
• To train student mentors so that they can play an integral part in the learning process for the students they mentor.
• To create meaningful and relevant networks that help students connect to resources and engage in scholarly research and writing.
• To create understanding, through hands-on experience, about the role of service-learning and peer mentoring within an academic community.
Interested? Want to know more? Contact,
10 Things to Love About the Library
Posted on Tue, 2010-06-01 10:00- Web-based catalog and databases that you can access anytime, anywhere
- Comfy chairs, quiet study areas, work tables and group study rooms
- The Skybridge
- Librarians with subject expertise to assist you with class assignments and papers
- Online course reserves
- Over 100 computers that connect to the Internet and printers including laptops for checkout
- Popular reading collection in the Daylight Lounge
- Feature and foreign films available for checkout
- Citation clinics, Reading Series, Study Breaks, Knitting Circle, art exhibits, events for one and all
- Your needs and suggestions matter to us!
New changes in the Library!
Posted on Tue, 2010-06-01 10:00Phase 2 of the STC co-location project in the library is currently under construction, adding audio/video editing booths and a practice presentation room at the west end of HH 218, where the copy machines were formerly stationed. These will be operationally connected with the Student Technology Center, and another step on the way to the learning commons.
General university computer lab HH 155 will be relocated to HH 233 over Spring Quarter. The lab closed at the end of winter quarter and will reopen in its new space for the beginning of Summer Quarter. The collections that are currently in HH 233 have been relocated to Wilson 4-West.
The Modern & Classical Language lab has moved into a temporary space created in the eastern third of Wilson Library 280 (Wilson 2-North). We hope to have this space completed so that the MCL furniture & equipment can be moved over the March intersession. While the MCL permanent lab is slated to eventually be located in the renovated Miller Hall, it will not be available until some time during the 2011-2012 academic year.
More Compact shelving –
The north end of Wilson 1-East now has additional compact shelving. The room is currently closed for construction. Paging for materials there is handled by the Haggard Circulation Services desk.
As with previous projects, I will provide periodic updates as to progress. Please contact me at any time with your questions, concerns and comments. Thanks.
Rick Osen
Director of Planning and Administration/
Interim Assistant Dean for RADM
Libraries
Western Washington University
Western Research Repository
Posted on Tue, 2010-06-01 10:00Western Libraries is exploring the creation of a Western Research Repository. You can read more about such repositories with examples and faculty narratives at http://libguides.wwu.edu/Western_Research_Repository. Some benefits of a centralized digital location for faculty research and scholarship could be to:
• support T&P with increased visibility of faculty scholarship
• create peer reviewed online publication of faculty and student work
• propose an alternative to predatory journal costs
• make federally funded research available to the public
If you have any questions please feel free to contact the Libraries' Digital Assests Task Force members: Jeanne Armstrong, Robert Lopresti, Peter Smith and Margaret Fast.
Materials on the Move
Posted on Tue, 2010-06-01 10:00
The books (A-BJ) in HH 233 have been moved to Wilson 4-West in order to make room for a 24 hour study area and a relocated computer lab. The relocation of general university computer lab HH 155 will take place over Spring Quarter and the new 24 hour space should be ready by the beginning of Summer Quarter.
If you need assistance locating any of the books that were moved please feel free to ask for help at the Reference Desk.
Special Collections Re-opens Feb.16
Posted on Tue, 2010-06-01 10:00Special Collections Re-opens February 16
WWU Libraries Special Collections is pleased to announce that starting Tuesday, February 16, 2010, we will be open for business in our new home on the 6th floor of Wilson Library.
Hours will be 11 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday, or by appointment.
Access to Wilson 6th floor is by the southwest elevator or stairs, located near the south entrance to the microforms collections—if accessing from the Haggard side of the library, turn left down the hallway immediately after crossing the Skybridge; from the north entrance into Wilson, turn right immediately after passing the Media/Circulation Desk.
We look forward to welcoming all visitors to our new space!
After Hours Tutoring and Writing Help in the Library
Posted on Tue, 2010-06-01 10:00
