Saving the Bay...

...one blade of aquatic grass at a time.

Above:  Michelle Jerney-Davis plants wild celery in the Chesapeake Bay after growing the grass in the Library.

Underwater grasses in the Bay are in danger from pollution and run-off, but are a vital component in the environmental stability of the Bay.  Aquatic grasses help clean the water, provide oxygen, help prevent erosion and provide habitats for shellfish, waterfowl and fishes.

Above: the Library's grass, in its new home.

Thanks to Library Specialists Kevin O'Hagan and Michelle Jerney-Davis who partnered with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to bring the grasses to the Library, raise awareness about the Bay and clean-up efforts, and worked with our BIO/ENV faculty on this semester-long project.

Book Spine Poetry Contest

To wind up the Spring Semester the Alexandria Campus Library hosted a Book Spine Poetry contest.  Students were challenged to select lyrically-titled books and arrange a stack to form a poem.  Finalists were selected and library users voted for their favorite.

The winning poem:

was by Margaret Ransom:

Winners were awarded a Barnes & Noble gift card.

Some participants were so enthused they even made book-spine poems in the book stacks!

Extended Hours

During the last week of classes and final exams the Library served 201 students before 8.30am and 452 after 10.00pm for a total of over 650 students served during times the Library would normally be closed.

Extended hours are made possible by Library staff voluntarily re-adjusting their schedules to come early and stay late to keep the Library open for study and research and additional 19 hours.

9 gallons of lemonade, 80 bottles of water, and a seemingly endless supply of cookies, chips and snacks were consumed.

British Politics

The UK General Election was held today.

To follow the latest developments from newspapers around the world, visit the Library database page and click on LexisNexis, Factiva or Proquest to view full text newspaper articles from around the world.

Want to see what resources the Library provides for Political Science, or research a political topic in greater depth?  Visit our Political Science Research Guide. 

Not sure how the General Election works in the UK?  The British Parliament has some answers.

Or just read a good book: