| Behind the Scenes at the Library |
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| Written by Amy Pachla | ||||
| Friday, 26 October 2007 | ||||
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Everyone knows that the Kenneth Shouldice Library is an essential student resource, but how many know that the library is categorized as an essential student service, just like Campus Security and Foodservice? Even if classes are cancelled due to weather, the library stays open. The library itself employs nearly fifty students. Academic Services, which encompasses the library, the Learning Center, the Career Center, and the Audio Visual department, employs fully one-third of all student employees. The overdue book fines are put directly into a scholarship fund. The library adopts houseplants. The cookie jar in Academic Services Director Dr. Fred Michels’ office is never empty. “You can be normal and still be a librarian.”
What else does nobody know about the library here at LSSU? To library instructor and acquisitions manager Ruth Neveu, the library’s best kept secret is the amount of information available online. Every October 1, the State Library of Michigan receives a grant from the federal government for the purpose of providing library databases to the people of the State of Michigan. The university, as a public learning institution, has access to these core databases. The university then supplements these core databases by purchasing additional databases specific to the different courses of study offered at LSSU. “Things have come a long way,” Ms. Neveu says, demonstrating just a few of the interesting things students can do online from the library portal in their MyLSSU accounts. For example, the CredoReference database contains 251 different encyclopedias, dictionaries, and reference materials in full text, and lists the entries in much the same way as Wikipedia entries are presented. The library portal also offers access to Google Scholar, the Bayliss Library catalog, inter-library book lookup, and an online inter-library loan requisition form. The online services are something of a living beast, growing every October 1 as a product of the federal grant, as well as through the efforts of campus groups and individuals. The biology department is currently trying to find a way to afford another group of full-text reference databases known collectively as “JSTOR”. As Ms. Neveu puts it, “Things are changing all the time.” One thing that hasn’t been changing is the staff. Librarian and Professor Beth Hronek, currently twelve years into her service, is technically the newest regular library employee. Just like all regular library staff, Professor Hronek is faculty, subject to the same publishing and presenting standards as all full faculty members. All the regular librarians also have Master’s degrees in Library Science, some more than one. The high level of personal and professional camaraderie fostered by the long term assignments and exceptional educational backgrounds serve to make the library not only an excellent student resource, but an excellent center of student life in general. A perfect example of this is the Cappuccino Corner. Dr. Michels campaigned for this piece of Foodservice offering in the library, a place that most people consider somewhere that food and drink are not always so welcome, for the benefit of the students. Dr. Michels always wants the library to be a place where students are, first and foremost, comfortable. This is no small task, considering that the LSSU library is open ninety three hours a week (the only other non-twenty-four hour business in town open more hours per week is Wal-Mart), but Dr. Michels is committed to the atmosphere, using the library space to display artwork and keep “adopted houseplants” (dorm room plants that must be left behind rather than driven home at the end of the semester). In return for everything the library affords students (and there is much more than can be mentioned here, for various reasons), Dr. Michels asks very few things in return. Mostly, he asks for responsibility. The library is open to students and the public alike (something not many university libraries do), and many of the services are free to all... except the library. Printing is free, but someone has to pay for the paper and the upkeep on the machines. Inter library loans are free to the students, but each one costs the library twenty five dollars. Some of the searchable online databases are pay-to-search, but the library picks that up too. There are other resources and items that students can obtain at the library at no or almost no cost, and the library provides all these things with a level of good cheer that one might not expect from the stereotypical “librarian type”. Student responsibility is the key to the continued availability of these resources. Students interested in knowing more about the library, the library staff, the library offerings, or Academic Services are always welcome to pay a visit. The Kenneth J. Shouldice Library Building is located on the south side of the main campus between the Row Houses and Crawford Hall. Bring homework, bring friends, but most of all, bring a sense of humor and a sense of academic adventure, because as Dr. Michels says, “We’re not just another pretty face on campus.”  Add as favourites (0)
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