Throwback Thursday

Watch this space to visit scenes and relics of the Alexandria Library of Yesteryear.

Back in the day periodical articles were searchable on microform (microphotographic reproductions that needed to be viewed in a special enlarger.  See above).

Before the NOVA Nighthawk.  Before ACEPrint.  Before NOVACard.  Before FASTprint.  These were NOVA's Library Cards.

Summer Session

Summer semester is now underway!  Although the 12-week session is already underway, there is still time to register for the 5-week, 6-week and 8-week sessions!

Summer semester also means the Library returns to business as usual.

A Librarian is on duty to assist with research needs and homework help:

Monday - Thursday 8.30am - 9.00pm

Friday 8.30am - 5.00pm

Also check to see if we have your course textbook, which can be used FOR FREE.

Need a calculator?  Check one out for 4 hours or overnight!

Looking for quiet study space?  Head upstairs.  Group study space?  Right next to the main reading room.

Need help from off-campus?  Ask a Librarian.  24-7.

Exams conclude, Semester Ends

And everyone -- students, faculty and staff -- breathed a sigh of relief.

During Library Extended Hours over 250 students were served between 9-10pm during the four days the Library stayed open late.

And thanks to Student Life who provided snacks for study breaks.  

ENG111 Library Displays, Part II

More engaging Library displays from Professor Schroder's ENG 111 students:

Creativity by M. Daniela Gravina and Martha Salcedo.  It's interactive!  It lights up!

Suicide Prevention by Scarlet Zelaya and David Arter

EXTENDED HOURS - FINAL EXAMS - SPRING

It's that time of year!  Spring is in the air, the trees outside the Library's magnificent two-story windows are bursting into leaf:

and FINAL EXAMS are almost here!

Which means it's time for 

LIBRARY EXTENDED HOURS!

From April 30 - May 3 the Library will be open extra hours:

8.30am -- 10.00pm

SNACKS WILL BE SERVED

Students Display in the Library

This semester Professor Carlos Schroder's ENG111 students were tasked with conducting research on the resources and services of the campus library, and developing potential ideas for Library displays highlighting topics of potential interest to the campus community and featuring resources from the Library collection.

These proposals were submitted to Alexandria Campus Librarians who selected several top contenders to mount actual displays in the Library.

Here are the first three:

Filmosophy by Joel Halbedl and Yasmine Abubakr

 Organ Donation by Ursula Campos

Women in Sports by Kanesha Bullock and Romeo Escalante

National Library Week!

April 8 - 14 is National Library Week!

Celebrate with a FREE bookmark:

March Madness

Not the Ides of March (PR2808.A2 C45 2012)

How march became madness : how the NCAA tournament became the greatest sporting event in America.

GV885.49.N37 E56 2006

Road Works

Bisdorf Drive is under construction:

How's this for a Spring Break Project?

Ways of the world : a history of the world's roads and of the vehicles that used them.  TA1015 .L39 1992

The road taken : the history and future of America's infrastructure HE355.3.E3 P48 2016 

Spring Break

Looking for a quiet place to study?  Look no further!

March 12 - 16 is NOVA Spring Break, which means there are NO classes.

Library will be open 8.30am - 5.00pm Monday - Friday.  Check the website to verify other campus office hours.

Environmental Horticulture Returns

In 2015 the Library launched a new experiment to grow wild celery inside the Library in special grass-incubator tubs, all in an effort to help restore & save the Chesapeake Bay.  Read about our grass-growing history here.

The Grasses for the Masses effort is sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Participants in the program grow wild celery (Vallisneria americana), a type of underwater grass, in a simple grow-out system in their homes for 10-12 weeks. After 10-12 weeks of grow-out, participants will gather to plant their grasses in select local rivers to bolster grass populations and help restore the Bay.

The grass-growing project was initially brought to the Library and maintained by members of the Library staff.  This year's crop was initiated and being tended by the Alexandria Campus Green Club.

Read more on the Bay:

Turning the Tide; Saving the Chesapeake Bay.  HC107 A123 H67 2003

World Languages Literature

(With thanks to Professor Davis's Pagina de espanol de NOVA Alexandria)

NOVA’s Alexandria Campus Library continues to build their collection of books in Spanish and other languages. To help you spot these titles on the shelves when you are browsing, the librarians have implemented a helpful new system. They have placed clear lime green labels over the call number of any book in a language other than English (at least 50%, so the labels are on bilingual books, too). It’s not limited to Spanish-language books, but once you are in the Spain and Latin American literature section, those books are much more noticeable.

Look for this system soon in the feature films section!

Learning English

If you are learning English as a second (or third or fourth) language, the Library is here to help.  Come to borrow dictionaries, text books, or investigate our ESL (English as Second Language) resources in the dedicated ESL collection:

The ESL section was recently updated with brand new shelving!  Ask at the Research Desk for further assistance, or to find online resources at www.nvcc.edu/library

Spring Semester!!

Spring Semester sessions began this month (16-week session began Wednesday 10 January and the 14-week session began January 24th).

Library hours returned to normal:

Monday - Thursday: 8.30am - 9.00pm
Friday: 8.30am - 5.00pm
Saturday and Sunday: closed (please note the Woodbridge Campus and Medical Campus Libraries are open on Saturdays!)

You may have an expensive textbook assigned for your course.  The Alexandria Campus Library knows that textbooks are expensive and students are short of money!!

The majority of the textbooks used in classes taught on the Alexandria Campus are available for use FOR FREE in the Library!

Just as if we have a copy of your text and what the use policies are.

Students may make photocopies or take pictures of  the textbooks for their own use.

Happy Holidays!

Winter Break is upon us & the College (including the Library) will be CLOSED from noon on December 21 - January 2nd, reopening on the 3rd.

And don't miss our amazing Book Tree!

Sp[ring Classes begin January 10th.

Final Exam Jam!

It's the week of Final Exams and once again the Library comes to the rescue with more stress reduction activities

And of course more SNACKS (thanks to the Office of Student Life!)

Finals conclude on Friday 15 December.

Intersession (no classes) runs from 18 - 21 December.  The Library will be open 8.30am - 5.00pm the 18th - 20th and 8.30am - noon on the 21st.  The College closes at noon on the 21st for the Winter Break.

College reopens January 3rd, again for intersession hours (8.30am - 5.00pm).  Spring Term classes begin on January 10th.  Register Today!

Final Exams

Are almost upon us, and Extended hours in the Library were a great success.

Hundreds of students used the Library during the late opening hours, taking advantage of research assistance, study space, to work on final projects, and of course SNACKS:

(thanks to the Office of Student Life for providing the snacks)

Library staff make extended hours possible by voluntarily re-arranging their schedules to keep the Library open longer.

One student left this memento:

Extended Hours

Stressed out about exams?  Come to the Alexandria Campus Library December 4 - 7 and study late with us.

The Library will be open until 10pm Monday through Thursday to allow extra time for studying.  Study break snacks will be served (with thanks to Student Life Office!).

Also, de-stress for success activities will be on offer  including stickers!

(this image is composed of 3,996 stickers and took less than a day to complete!).

Chinese Heritage Festival

The Alexandria Campus Library was pleased to welcome the campus Chinese Intercultural Club for a Chinese Heritage Festival on November 29th.

The Festival included a lecture on Traditional Chinese Values by Professor Karl Zhang of George Mason University, traditional music performed by Lili Zhang, selections from the Library collection on China and refreshments!

Professor Dali Tan (AL) and Professor Zhang (GMU)

Lili Zhang

Thanks to the Office of Student Life for providing refreshments & support!

Guy Fawkes Day

Remember Remember the Fifth of November!

Guy Fawkes Day, or Bonfire Night, is almost upon us.

Commemorating the failed 'Gunpowder Plot' to blow up the English Parliament in 1605, Guy Fawkes Day combines celebrations, pyrotechnics, fireworks, history, folk memory, and even Doctor Who!

Faith and treason : the story of the Gunpowder Plot.  DA392 .F76 1996

Guy Fawkes: or, a complete history of the Gunpowder Treason, A.D. 1605 : with a developement of the principles of the conspirators, and some notices of the Revolution of 1688.  ONLINE

Spooky!

Halloween is right around the corner and some resident ghouls and goblins have moved into the campus Library:

Beware the Library Ghost.

For some reason Halloween always brings out cobwebs.  The spooks and sprites must not have dusters.

Read a spooky booky:

Ghostland.  An American History of Haunted Places.  BF1472.U6 D53 2016

Halloween Encyclopedia.  GT4965 .M673 2011

Spellbound: Inside West Africa's Witch Camps.  BF1584.A358 P35 2010

BOO

Happy Diwali!

"Diwali, the festival of lights, sees millions attend firework displays, prayers and celebratory events across the world every autumn.

Celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains for a variety of reasons, the main theme is the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil.

Here we take a look at one of the most significant festivals in Indian culture."

Read more.

Hinduism.  BL1202 K475 2008

Essential Hinduism.  BL1202 .R55 2006

Book Art

We gave our student assistants Exacto knives & glue and let them loose on some old books.  Here is some of the art they created:

(above:  a "burning" book.  Most appropriate for Banned Books Week)

All these and more are on display in the Library.

Constitution and Citizenship Week

Constitution Day (September 17th) will be observed at NOVA during the week of September 18 - 22.

September 17th is also designated as Citizenship Day:

In 1952 Congress repealed this joint resolution and passed a new law moving the date to September 17 to commemorate “the formation and signing, on September 17, 1787, of the Constitution of the United States.” The day was still designated as “Citizenship Day” and retained its original purpose of recognizing all those who had attained American citizenship. This law urged civil and educational authorities of states, counties, cities and towns to make plans for the proper observance of the day and “for the complete instruction of citizens in their responsibilities and opportunities as citizens of the United States and of the State and locality in which they reside.”

Alexandria Campus will observe both commemorations with a series of talks given by faculty, as well as appropriate resources to read or watch available in the Library:

America's constitution : a biography.  KF4541 .A87 2005

The genius of America : how the Constitution saved our country--and why it can again.  KF4541 .L334x 2007

The Amendments to the Constitution Bill of Rights and beyond.  DVD KF4557 .A44x 2008

Student Success Conference a SUCCESS

The 2017 Student Success Conference wrapped up with the Grand Prize Drawing on Thursday 14 September in the Library.  Amidst popcorn and sodas Interim Dean Matt Todd drew tickets for a chance to win two Chromebooks.

Both lucky winners were present!  Congratulations!

 (students enjoying the final Library Open House, popcorn fest and prize drawing)

This year's conference included sessions on:  Blackboard, Healthcare, Time Management, Microsoft Office, Course Scheduling, Leadership, Volunteer opportunities, Google, video-making, campus resources such as Library, Tutoring, TILT, Student Services, Open Computer Lab and more!

Many thanks to the Office of Student Life which funded the conference.

There were over 500 student participants.

(Courtney Boland, Tutoring Coordinator and one of the conference planners)