[Alumni-chat] Why Aren't the Students Using the Library?

[lwollin]

Whew. Thanks, Duffy! Glad to hear the library I
love is still alive and kicking!

Lucy Wollin (1961)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steven Duffy" <duffy at antioch-college.edu>
To: "Alumni Chat List" <alumni-chat at w3.antioch.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: [Alumni-chat] Why Aren't the Students Using the Library?


> Everything is relative.
>
> First of all......people use the library all the time......and are even
> banging at the door before we open.  which is now 10am
> with the budget cuts...and use reams of paper in all the printers and
> copiers.. do they read it all?
>
> It comes in waves...between classes....
>
> But with 207 people on campus how many would one imagine wouold be in here
> at one time?..especially
>
> when the weather has been outrageously warm and sunny...
>
> We had a Founder's day party all day Friday and the parade was an usually
> sweaty event for October.....
>
> on the way back from downtown Horace's Hair...a twenty foot tall puppet
> got stuck on a tree branch
>
> right by the President's house.....it took a little maneuvering to loosen
> up Ho's hair..
>
> afterwards we had speeches and cake and a fair..even a consensual kissing
> booth and karaoke and
>
> pin the blame of the student body game .....Leslie Pownall from the
> eighteis (visiting from Minnesota)  and I sat on a picnic
> bench..yacking..and enjoying
>
> some global warming......while students sang "stand by yer man" and some
> country songs that were
>
> alien to me...
>
> This campus really needs 800 folks here...so 207 are swallowed up...and
> most things appear quiet.
>
> There is a handful..here and a handful there.
>
> So if we had the full compliment of folks there might be twenty or more in
> here.
>
> Once upon a time, in the year of our lord 1991 we once had a sit-in in the
> library.  We were that season's 8th week crisis!!
>
> When the first computer lab came in(and the library had the only lab at
> that time) ..folks simply wanted a place to stay and keep processing those
> words, eh?
>
> So in mid fall of that year after some rangling and irritation I
> volunteered to readjust my life to keep the library
>
> open as late as the local bars...2AM.
>
> Since it was a major upheaval in my life..I made sure we all "partied"
> ...making the best of it.....which may have
>
> meant sending someone over to the c-shop at midnight to bring us back a
> snack.
>
> Joe Cali made me do a head count every hour to see if usage merited it 
> all.
>
>
> Monday nights were always the winner.    With about 500 folks on
> campus...it maxed at 44 and 20 more in the
>
> AV room watching a movie.  64 was the highest number!!!!!
>
> Of course..now you can  search the catalog from your room, or from co-op
> or AEA.  and do research using the
> Electronic Journal Center......those folks with a good computer and
> printer....are doing it remotely..and some folks
> also use electronic reserves...
>
> So some library visits are more virtual.   When those folks have problems
> you see them..."Hey, where are the
>
> tech resource people...my comouter crashed!"
>
>
> I know when there are other virtual problems cuz my phone will ring.  "Can
> you tell me my barcode?"
>
> "How come I can't download my e-reserves?"  (Turned out that they were at
> work at the base...and there were
>
> probably filters to prevent them from printing.hmmmmm)
>
>
> And in this age of resource sharing everyone  really shares everything
> whether it is electronic journals or interlibrary
>
> loan.   I get phone calls from adults who order things from all over the
> state and then have them shipped to a nearby
>
> library..like Central State..because they live around Xenia and that's
> where they wanted their pick-up location to be.
>
> Likewise someone who lives in Dayton may have their OHIOLINK (Interlibrary
> loan item) delieverd to UD...to save them
>
> time and gas money...a commute to and from YS from Dayton is $6 in gas
> money....and almost an hour and a half drive....total..
>
> Hopefully (from that record article)  folks will get Natalie's hidden
> message which is pretty much what Joe Cali's thoughts were and even the
> current people think..
> which is...
>     Make sure your information is reliable and refereed.   If you are
> just working with Barney Google.(what Joe Cali used to name it)
> ..welllllllll..  maybe it is age of mis-information...
>     and most librarians also tactfully and reticently say Wikipedia "can"
> be a good start.
>
>
> Today will be the second record breaking day of heat...93 or so. The
> promise of normal October weather is for mid week
> and beyond.
>
>
> Xoxox to Miz Deb.   I hope you have squeezed 10 minutes at Rye Beach for
> me.  I know your life is busy.
>
> and finally Founder's Day was fun...I went to the Lunchtime lecture given
> my Jim Malarkey...anthropologist who taught
>
> here in the eighties and then went on to help create some of McGregor
> schools programs.
>
> Jim's lecture was awesome and I learned alot about Horace and 
> Arthur.......
>
> if I can get ahold of some of text...maybe we can pass it along to yall.
>
> Don't forget to think about homecoming........while home is still there.
>
>
> Duffy '77
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