Whew! Finals are over!

The Alexandria Campus Library once again provided extended hours to accommodate student research, final assignment & research needs through the last week of classes and final exams (April 28 - May 9).

The library opened early at 8am and closed late at 11pm, and served study-break snacks after 9pm to all those burning the midnight oil.

128 students came to the Library before 8.30am and 381 stayed past 10pm, for a grand total of 509 students who took advantage of the early opening and late closing to conquer the end-of-term.

Many thanks to Student Activities who provided a banquet of snacks and drinks as part of their "Stress Relief Week" for Finals.  And thanks to all the Library Staff who voluntarily re-arranged their schedules to come in early to get the doors open by 8am (or sometimes earlier!) and to keep the doors open all the way until 11pm.

Summer classes begin May 19th, when the Library's Summer Schedule will take effect:

Monday - Thursday 8.30am - 9.00pm
Friday 8.30am - 5.00pm
Saturday: closed

Congratulations Anne!

Instruction Librarian Anne Anderson was the 2014 Administrative/Professional Faculty winner of the Jean C. Netherton Award.

Named after a former provost, the award recognizes employees for outstanding service to the Alexandria Campus community, and is bestowed by the faculty and staff through Campus Council.

The Alexandria Campus Library boasts five Netherton winners on the current staff (l-r: Matt Todd, Anne Anderson, Kevin O'Hagan, Kim Gross, Bruce Carroll):

Congratulations Anne!

In Focus: Photography Month at YOUR Alexandria Campus Library

May is National Photography Month and YOUR Alexandria Campus Library is celebrating with a display of the photography books held in the circulating collection. Our photography-focused volumes span the entire history of the photographic enterprise, from the first crude daguerreotypes to the modern digital born image.

Patrons can come browse the books in our display to learn more about photography's place in American art, culture, and politics. Titles featured focus on the body of work or process of notable, and sometimes controversial, American photographers.

So come to the library and check out the exquisite, challenging, and arresting work of American photographers at YOUR Alexandria Campus Library.

Readers who are especially interested in the social and documentary powers of news photography might also enjoy a tumblr produced by the New York Times, The Lively Morgue. The blog features digitized copies of print images taken for the newspaper between 1896 and the widespread use of digital photograph. Click here to access the Morgue, and here to read more about the lone archivist involved in the project.

Notes and Noise: A Musical Event in YOUR Alexandria Library

Rock steady and be ready!

Just another relaxing, fun, and interactive community event brought to you by community members and YOUR Alexandria Campus Library.

Fast Five Friday: Finals Week Magazine Edition

It's finally here: finals week. YOUR Alexandria Campus Library Staff knows how busy our patrons are with final projects and exam preparation. Might we suggest some respite in the form of glossy magazines? These popular reading resources are perfect for a brief break as are they image heavy and designed to entertain.

Your Alexandria Campus library maintains subscriptions to popular magazines of many types. These titles can be found in plastic organizers on the shelves nearest the group study rooms.

Here is a brief highlight of some magazine titles perfect for curling up and escaping with:

Men of style (and their fans), take note. Gentlemen's Quarterly is your go-to resource for fashion and life-style advice.

Want to imagine a world in which wearing a sculptural couture doily is a valid and celebrated choice? Then Harper's Bazaar is your jam.

People magazine will satisfy if keeping up with celebrities is your guilty pleasure, but you need some human interest stories in the mix to assuage your guilt.

Rolling Stone is one of the most enduring veterans of the music and entertainment genre for a reason: the wonderful photography, the detailed artists’ profiles, and the quality of its investigative journalism.

Sports Illustrated is the premier American source for smart sports journalism and pushing the definition of swimwear passed its logical boundary.

So weary patrons, come take refuge in YOUR Alexandria campus library and check out our magazine offerings.

New Books at YOUR Alexandria Campus Library: 4-29-14 Edition

It’s that new book time at YOUR Alexandria Campus library.

This means that Lupita, Pharell and all the library staff are especially HAPPY to highlight some of the best new titles for our patrons.

The answer to the title question should be obvious, but do not let it prevent you from picking up Hutchinson's entertaining book about the process of drafting laws to adapt to societies' changing needs.

This beautifully designed primer on graphic communication is meant to instruct readers on the use of dynamic visual tools to convey messages quickly and effectively.

Every passionate reader has a work that functions as a touchstone in their lives and for Rebecca Mead that novel is Middlemarch. This memoir touches on what it means to be a reader and how our relationships to books can challenge, transform, and comfort us.

The human-rights activists and social provocateurs of the Pussy Riot collective have gone to great lengths and risked much to bring national and international attention to the repressive inner workings of the Russian political system. Read about what motivates these women in this profile by Russia-based journalist Masha Gessen.

Robert Hofler explains how counter-culture artists of the late sixties and early seventies confronted repressive societal standards with their work to usher in an era of unprecedented sexual and personal freedom in the US and UK.

This important book, about race and privileged, is a call to arms for all folks to challenge and change an unjust social system that arbitrarily benefits some while oppressing others.

Book Spine Poetry Contest: And the Winner is...

Winner of the grand prize $40 dollar Barnes and Noble gift card, and the book spine poet laureate of the Alexandria Campus Library is:

Love MyFace

Here are our other winners in rank order:

 

Second Place: Tahani

 

Third Place: Rida

 

Fourth Place: Ridha

 

Fifth Place: Daniel

Thank you to all our patron participants, and congratulations to all the finalists. Prizes will be awarded to our finalists on Monday.

Fast Five Friday: Let's Go to the Movies

There are only two more weeks left in the Spring 2014 semester, which means that our patrons could probably use a brain break. Never fear, because while YOUR Alexandria library is a primary source for things scholarly it is also a great place to access quality entertainment. 

Our feature film collection is a wonderful case in point. YOUR Alexandria campus library contains hundreds of films that cater to our patrons diverse viewing needs. The library’s movies range from very serious documentaries to lighthearted comedies. Patrons can locate these items by browsing the shelves nearest the stairs, or by searching through the library’s catalog for feature films. All movies in the collection can be checked out for a week at a time. Eager movie fans can also access and watch these films in the library using their own computers or using the library’s own audiovisual equipment.

One of the greatest things about film collection is its freshness. Our librarians are constantly adding feature  and documentaries film titles to our shelves that draw from diverse genres, cultures, and points of view. Here is a brief highlight of five of our latest movie acquisitions that reflect the richness and variety of our holdings.

Take out this classic by famed director Alfred Hitchcock when you crave suspense and a jolt of adrenaline.

 Imagine being a musical icon and hero to millions without ever knowing it. This documentary explores the unlikely stardom of one Detroit construction worker.

 This heartbreaking indie drama, about the caregivers and children in a short term foster care facility, is the perfect antidote to the overdone Hollywood blockbuster.

 This lovely French film, based on a true story, details the ways that friendships can shape and change us.

An awkward teen strikes up an unlikely friendship with a water park employee in this coming of age comedy.

Come into YOUR Alexandria Campus Library to borrow these titles or explore our entire collection.

New Books At YOUR Alexandria Campus Library: 4-22-14 Edition

Once again it is new book time at YOUR Alexandria Campus Library. We're all as pleased as punch as new books give us all a case of the

Here are some of the highlights from our latest group of titles.

Learn about the fascinating ways our individual disease fighting genes work to help us find mates, reproduce, and make personal decisions in this book by immunologist Daniel Davis.

This detailed and practical guide dispenses authoritative information about planning and executing successful tabletop and computer games.

Read about the fascinating and disturbing ways pregnancy is depicted in Hollywood films in philosopher Kelly Oliver's book.

Gil Reavill tells the curious tale of state trooper Edgar D. Croswell serendipitous discovery of a mob meeting in rural New York, and recounts how Croswell's discovery began a policy of robust mafia prosecutions by the Kennedy administration.

Randell Feezell uses the frame of sports to probe important philosophical questions. Explore his case for how athletics can teach participants and fans how to live meaningful, ethical, and compassionate lives.

After receiving this question from her 8 year old daughter during the 2008 election, author feminist Mariane Schnall set out to find an answer by interviewing a diverse range of American thinkers.

Book Spine Poetry Contest: Our Finalists

We're pleased to announce the five finalists of our Book Spine Poetry Contest. Congratulations to the poets who made it through the first elimination round.

The Finalists

LoveMyFace:

What if 

the future is not what it used to be?

Who will provide 

art as therapy?

Everyday Mysteries

Looking Out

Looking In

The ethics of identity

The agony and the ecstasy

The best American poetry

Daniel:

School Girls

Girlhood

The world’s youth

If you could be anything, what would it be?

What Matters.

Rida:

Dear life

I’m not crazy I’m just not you

Yesterday, I cried

The future is not what it used to be

Impossible

Ridha:

Ways of dying

Things fall apart

U-turn

Switch

Weep not, child
The beautiful ones
are not
yet
born

Tahani:

Something in the way she moves

I don’t know what to say -

Help

Yesterday, I cried

She’s gone.

Remember that the finalists are determined by the votes of our patrons. Votes can be registered on a white board by our circulation desk or via the comment sections on this blog.

Book Spine Poetry: The Last Day of Our Contest and Judgement Rounds

Thank you to everyone who participated in our book spine poetry contest. The staff has so enjoyed the creativity of our patron community. Reading the poems and watching contestants labor over their works of art was certainly the highlight of our National Library Week.

Here is the very last submission to our contest:

Akram

Now that all the submissions have been accepted, it is time for the judgement rounds. On Tuesday, Library staff will whittle down the field to five finalists. Wednesday the finalists’ submissions will be displayed near the circulation desk for public vote. The poem with the most tallied votes will win the grand prize of a $40 dollar Barnes and Noble gift card. Second, third and fourth place winners will receive $20 dollar gift cards. All contestants will be informed of their winnings via social media on Friday, April 25th.

Good luck to all the contestants. Keep following along on the blog, twitter, and instagram.

Fast Five Friday: Rock Me, Amedeus

Though it hardly seems possible, there are only three weeks left in the Spring 2014 semester. This means that our community is entering into one of its busiest times of year. So this Friday YOUR Alexandria campus is highlighting a force in our collection that can soothe, inspire, and energize our patrons: music.

The Alexandria Campus library’s music collection, while not extensive, focuses on essential works from the classical, jazz, and world music traditions with a few popular items sprinkled in.

Music in our collection can be found in two forms. Compact Discs can be found near the shelving by the stairs to the second floor. The rest of our music collection can be found in digital format through subscription databases.

Here is just a brief sample of the the types of music that can be found in the Alexandria Campus Library.

Find works by major classical composers in our disc collection.

Explore folk and traditional music from around the globe with our Putumayo compact discs.

Listen to recordings of American roots music using by utilizing the items in our physical collection.

Patrons can also use titles in our compact disc holdings to listen to standards from the American songbook.

Click here to access Music Online

NOVA patrons can also access all these musical genres, and more, through the Music Online database. Users who access this resource have the ability to search for and stream music by musician, genre, composer, time period, instrument, album, and language. Music Online also contains reference materials about the music and artists in its holdings, making it possible to simultaneously listen to a beautiful piece of music while learning more about the context in which it was created.

So while you are gearing up and preparing for the end of the semester, why not come to the library and check out some of the amazing music available through YOUR Alexandria library?

Book Spine Poetry: Fourth Day of Our Contest

We had many creative entries from our patrons on the fourth day of our contest.

Kirstin

Lori

Marvin

Feryza

Feryza

Remember, today is the very last day to enter and win a Barnes and Noble gift card!