Virginia Library Association Annual Conference

Sylvia Rortvedt (LRS Associate Director) and Matt Todd (Collection Development Librarian) head to the Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia for the Virginia Library Association Annual Conference. Catch Sylvia and Matt present on Radical Trust on Thursday 1 Nov!

View the presentation!

And check back to see the results of the Radical Trust competition to Name Our Presentation!

And the winner is...

Radical Trust: Power Through the People

Thanks to everyone who took time to fill in evaluations and to vote on a title for our presentation!

Runner up suggestions:

Radical Trust: Trust, engage and use your customers or lose them

Radical Trust: The user is not broken

Honorable Mention:

Radical Trust: It’s not just for theology anymore (we love it!)

Here's a list of all the suggestions -- which one(s) do you like?

Power through the people!
It’s not just for theology anymore
Community building for engaged library services
Taking a leap of faith in the user
Community conversations
Asimov, first law of robots: First do no harm
At the root of service

Engaging our patrons
The user is not broken
Sharing authority with users
Multiple truths provide collective wisdom
Beyond the box: your way
Go with the flow—be willing to change
Trust, engage and use your customers or lose them
Transforming your library by empowering your users
Transforming librarianship
Creating communities
Question rules

And finally -- the best of the comments:

Someone suggested: "My only suggestion is to ask open-ended questions to engage your audience rather than polling close-ended questions. (Trust us.)" Great suggestion! Thanks.

Happy Hat-o-ween

Alexandria Library Staff celebrated Hallowe'en on 31 October with Hat-o-ween. Check out the hats!

Hats represented include pork-pie, beret, princess, halo, horns, cowboy, Redskins, pirate, Nationals, tri-corn and Uncle Sam. Find them all!

Testing staff came trick-or-treating (did they get a trick or a treat?):

Happy Hallowe'en to all!

Thanks to Library, Faculty Save Money!!

"Thanks to you I am saving money. I cancelled my Wall Street Journal subscription (which I barely I had time to read anyway) because I can get it for free through NOVA’s library. Thanks."

-- from a Humanities & Social Sciences Faculty Member.

Visit the "Articles Page": http://www.nvcc.edu/Library/databases.htm to access the WSJ online. Just click on "ProQuest" or "Factiva".

Ride the Shuttle to Arlington!

Need to get from the Alexandria Campus to the Arlington Center? Take advantage of the free shuttle:

Alexandria/Arlington Center Shuttle Bus Schedule
(Fall 2007)

·1 The shuttle leaves the Alexandria Campus (from DASH bus stop) at :
o 8:00 a.m.
o 11:30 a.m.
·2 The shuttle leaves the Arlington Center (from Hotel Parking Lot) at:
o 2:30 p.m.
o 5:00 p.m.

And don't forget to visit the Arlington Center Library Blog.

Why is the flag at half-staff?

Do you ever wonder why the Virginia State Flag flying in front of the Bisdorf Building is at half staff (as it is today, October 9th)?

You can check the status of the flag on the Governor's website.

LRS In-Service Day!

The Library will be closed the morning of Tuesday October 9th for a Learning Resource Services professional development activity.

The Library will be open from Noon until 7.30 on Tuesday 9 October.

After a productive morning we engaged with Web 2.0 applications, including wikis, blogs, Google Calendar, e-audio books, widgets, tag clouds, Virtual Machine, flickr, snapfish, YouTube, and Microsoft Windows Media. It's a brave new world of Web 2.0.

Festive Fall Book Sale Breaks Records!!

The Library's Annual Fall Book Sale was the best ever -- thanks to all NOVA students, faculty, staff and community members who support the Alexandria Campus Library.



Festive balloons led the way to the biggest Library Used Book Sale ever. Trade was brisk from the very beginning -- the Sale raised over $200 in the very first 30 minutes. In what has become a popular annual campus event, the Book Sale continued at the "Y" (the space just outside the cafeteria on the lower level of the Bisdorf Building) on Tuesday 2 Octobver from 10am until 6pm. A Grand Total of over $720 was raised, breaking the previous record set in the spring of '07.

What does the Library do with this money? Book Sale profits support a variety of Library collections, services and programs. In addition to supporting materials purchases, Book Sale profits allow popular Library events like the Late Night Study Break provided each evening the Library holds extended hours during the last week of classes and finals. Competition prizes, Library Lemonade, and give-aways are also funded through the Book Sale, in addition to special purchases such as some of the student art currently displayed in the Library.

Thanks to all for your support!

Where do the books come from that the Library sells? Books, videos and cassettes in the Sale are all donations. The Library accepts donations of books and other materials in good condition. Appropriate donations may be added to the Library collection, all other titles are sold in the on-going Book Sale just inside the Library front doors or in the annual Fall and Spring Used Book sales. (note that state law prohibits the sale of books purchased explicitly for the Library Collection -- no state money was used to acquire the books in the Sale. The Library depends entirely on donations to hold Book Sales).

Alexandria Campus Library services and collections benefit from the continued generosity of the campus community. Thanks!

Alexandria Campus Library featured in "Virginia Libraries"

The Altered Books exhibit, sponsored by the art department and on display in the Library through the Spring and Summer terms, was featured in the August edition of Virginia Libraries, the quarterly publication of the Virginia Library Association.

The Library also acquired (through the generosity of an anonymous alumni donor) one of the altered books that will now form part of the Library's permanent collection:

Stop by the Library and check out the latest edition of Virginia Libraries or to see Old Webster's Dictionary (above).