Library Gazette

See this post in the Professional Development blog.

On Friday, June 6th 250 students receiving recognition for their outstanding Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP) plus their families were on the campus of Wake Forest University to go on campus tours and attend various sessions. The ZSR Library hosted two such sessions, one entitled “In the Know: Rare Books and Archives” and one entitled “Information Technology at WFU.” These sessions were held at 11am and repeated at 12:45pm, each lasting 45 minutes. Megan Mulder led the session in Rare Books and Tim Mitchell escorted the student and parents from the Benson/Tribble patio to Rare Books.

Giz, Caroline, Erik and Barry Davis (our former student and summer replacement for Caroline) escorted their students and parents from the Benson/Tribble patio to room 204 and led the “Information Technology at WFU” session, offering students a taste of Lib100 and clickers, talking about technology, and asking questions about intellectual property, copyright and plagiarism during the 45 minute session. All together there were more than 100 people in the four sessions. Thanks to everyone who made this a successful event!

See this post in the Professional Development blog.

On Tuesday, May 6th, the new ZSR Journal Reading Group met in the ITC Screening room not only to discuss the article “Participatory Networks: The Library as a Conversation”, but also to organize the structure of the group. After some discussion, it was decided to meet on the first Thursday of each month at 11am to avoid as many scheduling conflicts as possible. The location was set for the screening room, which had a nice casual atmosphere and flexible seating.

Once a regular day, date and time had been set, the issue of how to pick the articles was discussed by the group. It was decided to ask for a volunteer at each meeting. This volunteer would then select the article for the next meeting and send out a link to the article two weeks prior to the meeting.
The next meeting will be Thursday, June 5th at 11am in the ITC Screening Room. Megan Mulder has volunteered to select the article and facilitate the discussion. Our final order of business before discussing the article was a discussion of the goals of the ZSR Journal Reading Group. The group agreed that “sharing, learning, and keeping abreast in the field of Library and Information Studies” was a suitable goal for this group.

Below is the article we discussed at the meeting and a link: Lankes, R. D., Silverstein, J. L., Nicholson, S., & Marshall, T. (2007). “Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation” Information Research, 12(4) paper colis05. [Available here].

Thanks to Erik Mitchell for getting this group started again. (Bobbie Collins reminded us a similar group had existed some years ago.) The ZSR Staff Development Committee is happy to be sponsoring these events. Check out the ZSR Staff Development site to register for the meetings.

Ever wonder what happens to the papers we place in the Cintas Security containers conveniently located on levels 2 (behind Circulation), 4 (in the Reference workroom), and 8 (in room 802)? Well today while walking in to the Library I happened to see the Cintas truck getting ready to load and shred the contents of our bins! I pulled out my trusty cell phone and took a picture.

As you can see from the photo, the Cintas Security containers are emptied into a large rolling bin that attaches to the side of the truck and is lifted up and dumped into the truck. The screen by the operator allows people to see the contents of the bins being shredded as they enter!

Check out these blog posts on the Old Gold and Black website:

There’s nothin’ like kickin’ it at Club ZSR until dawn

ZSR Begins Extended Hours for Exams

Also, a mention about the renovations in the 24 hour study rooms in the News and Opinion sections of this week’s OGB:

Students offer suggestions to renovate study rooms

24-hour rooms at ZSR need to become more cozy

I’ve decided to bring back an old staple to the Gaz, the book review! A friend of mine, a British expatriate living in Houston, keeps me supplied with British book recommendations that I might otherwise miss. His latest recommendation is by Alan Bennett, the author, playwright and Tony Award-winning actor.

Alan Bennett’s recent work includes the play “The History Boys” (made into the movie of the same name, DVD5238) and the novella I just read “The Uncommon Reader”. In the opening scene, Queen Elizabeth II is retrieving her wayward corgis from a bookmobile parked in front of Buckingham palace. Feeling obligated to check out a book, she begins a journey down a new path that creates consternation and conflict for not only her staff but also her subjects who must find a way to respond to the Queen’s new favorite question “And what are you reading?”

For a complete review of this work, see The Guardian Online.

The Library hit a little snag this week when wireless in our building started causing consternation amongst our busy student population. It was quite the mystery on campus as to why all of a sudden people were being kicked off the internet or not allowed on.

Upon further investigation from our Information Systems department, the problem was discovered, an issue with a recent security patch that affected the entire campus.

The good news, wireless on campus, and in the Library, is back up and running with no complaints, just in time to finish those research papers and end the semester on a high note!

On Friday, September 21^st from 7-11pm, the Z. Smith Reynolds Library hosted its fifth Get Game@ZSR event. This open video game night drew a good crowd of 32 students, along with five University staff and guests.

Once again, we held the event in the atrium. We had five screens and projectors in the atrium, one projector in the ITC Lobby and one in the ITC Multimedia Lab for a total of 7 screens, our biggest event to date, and for much of the evening, all 7 stations were in use! We had three Nintendo Wii consoles, two Guitar Hero stations, and an N64 and Gamecube station! We also had remote control cars and some other games to keep everyone entertained throughout the evening!

I want to thank everyone who helped set up for this event! Chris, Prentice, and Craig along with the RTAs, were instrumental in setup for the event! Caroline, Susan, and Tim got all the players signed in as they arrived and worked “security” at the front desk. Lynn joined us for the start of the evening to make sure we had everything we needed. Susan took some excellent photos and posted them on Flickr! There was an ample supply of pizza purchased and it was gone in the first hour! Sodas and candy fueled the gamers (and the staff) through the rest of the evening! At 11pm, after a great evening of gaming, we waved goodbye to the gamers and by 11:15pm the RTAs and members of the ZSR staff had everything broken down, packed up and were headed to the parking lot!

We have already begun planning our next event in Spring 2008, another tournament like the one held in Spring 2006, this time in conjunction with another school! We have to keep these events fresh and new in order to keep students interested in attending!

Z. Smith Reynolds Library and the Professional Center Library were invited to manage the WFU Lenovo Friends & Family program for this campus.

By using a WFU specific portal to Lenovo products, the Wake Forest Community (and their freinds and family) can get discounts on its entire product line, including ThinkPad notebooks.

To take advantage of these special prices visit:

http://www.lenovo.com/shop/deals/wfu

Visit often - special offers change frequently on items including:

• Notebook computers
• Desktop computers
• Monitors
• Security items
• Carrying cases
• Keyboards and mice
• Wireless accessories
• Storage
• And More!

5% of each sale goes directly to support your Reynolda campus libraries!