Hail to the Chief

Matt Todd, librarian at the Alexandria Campus, assumed the Presidency of the Virginia Library Association at the Annual Conference in Portsmouth, VA. The gavel was passed at the second general session on Friday 22 October.

(above: Matt Todd receioving the gavel from out-going President John Moorman)

Library staff at the Alexandria Campus marked the occasion with a few decorations in Matt's (oval?) office:

Virginia Library Association Conference

The Virginia Library Association holds its Annual Conference in Portsmouth on October 21-22.


Highlights include:


* Offers something for everyone - at a reasonable cost!
* Ballroom dancing at the social - including free lessons!
* Grand opening of Exhibits to feature Porte Towne Magic Jazz Band (comprised of Portsmouth students!)
* Jefferson Cup Luncheon (Award Recipient TBA)
*Special screening of "Hollywood Librarian"
*VLACRL's "Conference within a Conference"

See you there!

Library Use Continues to Grow

Recent statistics from the Virginia Community College System shows healthy use and steady growth in Library resources across the Commonwealth's Community College Libraries:

A few numbers:

1,141,491 -- number of searches made in the online Library catalog

1,596,834 -- number of connections to VCCS e-resources

2,513,890 -- number of full-text articles downloaded

Use of e-resources has increased by over 70% in three years.

Some more stats to ponder:

At the Alexandria Campus regulalry circulates nearly 1/3 (33%) of the college total. Use of circulating books at the Alexandria campus is increasing.

Alexandria Campus Library - on the Nightly News

Fox 5 came to the Alexandria Campus as part of its coverage of the White House Community College Summit. Cameras rolled in the Library.



Reference and Instruction Librarian Anne Anderson (above) was caught in action -- teaching research skills to an ESL 42 class. Don't miss her at 1:24 and again at 2:00 on the video. Professors Brian Delaney and Jill Biden, as well as Dean Jimmie McClellen also make appearances.

Community College Summit at the White House

"In the East Room of the White House today, a collection of college presidents, business leaders, philanthropists, and others will discuss how community colleges can help meet the job-training and education needs of the nation's evolving work force. They will discuss the critical role these institutions will have to play if the nation is to achieve President Obama's goal of leading the world with the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.
A crowd of about 150 is expected to attend the event, the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges, which is scheduled to last about three hours. President Obama is scheduled to make remarks, as is Jill Biden, a community-college instructor and the summit's lead organizer." -- from the Chronicle of Higher Education (read more from on-campus).

(photo from the Washington Post).

And from the Washington Post: "Obama put Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, in charge of the summit. She has taught English at community colleges for the past 17 years of her three decades as an educator. She still teaches twice a week at a community college not far from the White House and often says these schools are America's best-kept secret."

Watch the opening session on C-SPAN.

Libraries will Survive

Library staff from Central Rappahannock Regional Library (CRRL) respond to budget cuts with a little help from Gloria Gaynor:

Libraries Will Survive.



And these talented librarians are now famous, even appearing on the local news.

Will The Internet Kill Magazines?

Did instant coffee kill coffee?

The Magazine Publishers of America and Y&R Advertising want the world to know that reports of the death of the magazine industry have been exaggerated. Throughout the summer magazine and print ads attempt to correct misconceptions about magazine readership and the effect of the internet on magazine readership.

Under the catch-phrase "We Surf the Internet. We Swim in Magazines" the campaign is supported by several surprising metrics:

* Magazine readership has risen 4.3% over the past five years

* Adults 18-34 are avid magazine readers. They read more issues and spend more time per issue than their over-34 counterparts

* During the 12-year life of Google, magazine readership increased 11%

* Magazines outperform other media in driving positive shifts in purchase consideration/intent.

* People magazine reaches 45 million readers every week, topping the 22.7 million people who watched the 2009 finale of Fox's American Idol.

Visit the Alexandria Campus Library today and check out our collection of over 200 magazines.

Celebrate US Constitution Day

September 17th is US Constitution Day.

Celebrate by reading a good book about the US Constitution:

Barnett, Randy. Restoring the Lost Constitution. KF4541 .B313 2004

Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Interpretation. Reference--KF4527 .U54 1996

Lane, Eric. The Genius of America: How the Constitution Saved our Country and Why it Can Again. KF4541 .L334x 2007

Levy, Leonard. Original Intent and the Framer's Constitution. KF4550 .L48 1988

Lipsky, Seth. The Citizen's Constitution: An Annotated Guide. KF4550.Z9 L57 2009

Sunstein, Cass. A Constitution of Many Minds: Why the Founding Document Doesn't Mean what it Meant Before. KF4552 .S86 2009

Or watch a video:

The Amendments to the Constitution vols 1 - 20. DVD KF4557 A44x 2008

Or watch a video online: Amending the Constitution.

Textbooks are so expensive!!

Yes they are -- and we at the Alexandria Campus Library feel your pain!

To purchase textbooks, students should visit the campus Bookstore. Please note that textbooks are campus specific. Math classes at Alexandria do not use the same textbooks as math classes at Annandale.

A cheaper (free) alternative is to visit the Alexandria Campus Library to see if your professor has placed your textbook on Reserve.

What is Reserves and what do you need to know about using this collection? Here are some frequently asked questions and answers:

What is the Reserve Collection?

Reserves are course materials (usually text books) placed in the Library by the faculty or academic departments. They are available free of charge for currently enrolled students to use.

How can I use these materials?

Bring your current NOVACard to the circulation desk in room 232. You will need to know the course name and number of the course you are taking. It helps if you know the teacher's name as well.

How long can I keep reserve materials?

Because of extremely high demand (many, many students rely on reserve materials, especially textbooks) most textbooks can be used for two hours at a time. This gives other students a chance to use the materials.

Some reserve material can be checked out overnight, for three days, or one week.

Can I take reserve materials home?

In most cases you must use reserve materials in the library only. This ensures that the materials are secure and remain available for use by as many students as possible.

In some limited cases, some reserve materials may be taken home for a restricted amount of time.

Who decides if the reserve books can be taken home, or used for only 2 hours?

The teaching faculty.

What if the textbook for my course is not on reserve?

Speak to your professor, or let library staff know.

What if I do not return reserve items on time?

Shame on you! You should feel very bad! Other students -- just like you -- are waiting for these items. In addition, reserve materials carry a $2 per hour fine.

eBooks and eVideos

Faculty, staff and students returning for Fall 2010 may notice a change on the Library Homepage. The page now includes a link "EBOOKS & EVIDEOS" which provides direct access to the Library's large and growing collection of full-text online books and streaming video.

E-book offerings include reference titles like encyclopedias, dictionaries and career guidance information as well as monograph titles in science, nursing, information technology, literature and history.

E-videos include PBS, Annanberg and streaming videos on demand, covering a range of academic subjects. Streaming video can be shown in class, watched on a personal computer or embedded in BlackBoard courses. Teaching faculty should visit the Faculty Resources page to find out how.

Questions about online books or videos can be directed to your campus libraries or directed through one of the Library's online "Ask a Librarian" options.

Older Magazines & Journals: Now Online!

Library staff have been busy this summer removing many years' worth of old paper magazines and journals from the library stacks. Previous editions of magazines and journals that the Library subscribes to can be accessed online from on or off-campus. Select one of the databases (like Proquest of Academic Search Complete) to find an article, or click on the button that says "Click here for a list of all our full text magazines, journals and newspapers" to find a specific title.

(above: old periodicals and storage boxes are removed from the upper level).

The Library will continue to maintain limited runs of periodical back-files for browsing.

Space saved in the periodical section will be used to add student seating, study space and carrels suitable for use with laptop computers.

The Yellow Boxes Are Following Me!

Collection Development Librarian Matt Todd paid a visit to his alma mater, the University of Exeter in England. Taking a tour of the university library, Matt was suprised to discover the building in the midst of a renovation and the book stacks crowded with yellow boxes:

These appear to be the exact same yellow crates that held the collection of the Alexandria Campus Library during the recent recarpeting (see below for pictures and descriptions of the Library carpeting and asbestos abatement project).

The Beautiful Game

World Cup Fever has come to the Alexandria Campus.



Stop by any one of several TV monitors in the corridors showing the matches.


Or come by the Library to read what Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, and the daily national and weekly world newspapers (such as the Sunday Times or El Pais) have to say.

Library Opens for Business

New Carpet. New Chairs. No Asbestos.

Summer hours:

Mon - Thurs 8.30am - 9.00pm

Fri 8.30am - 5.00 pm

Sat & Sun closed

And We're Back

The Library re-opened today -- most library services resume as normal.

New carpet, new chairs!

We Didn't Learn This in Graduate School!

Usually when librarians talk about "weeding" and "pruning" they are referring to withdrawing or removing books, periodicals or other materials from the collection.

But Sylvia Rortvedt (Associate Director) and Matt Todd (Collection Development Librarian) did some actual foliage pruning today during some serious indoor gardening. Above: Matt pruning the Norfolk Pine in the main reading area.

(It finally happened! The re-carpeting project drove Matt and Sylvia up a tree)

More New Stuff!

In preparation for re-opening the Library to students, faculty and staff, the Group Study Rooms had a make-over:


(above and below: each Group Study Room has a new table and new chairs. The rooms also have dry-erase white boards)

Moving In: Moving Pains

Not everything went smoothly.

(above: moving the Circulating collection back to the shelves. Many of the books had been stored on these large rolling book trucks for the duration)

(above: the Circulating collection back on the shelves. So do the books go on the shelves from left to right or from right to left? If in doubt, do it both ways!!)

(above: not everything got put back in quite the right place...)

(above: and not everything got put back in quite the right order)

Library staff are working hard to get the Library re-opened by Monday June 7th.

Moving Back In

Slowly but surely, things return to normal.

(above: the Reference Collection back on the shelves -- and in correct order!!)

(above: the Circulation Desk, back in place. Note the empty reserve shelves and the new tile floor)

(above: the "living room" furniture, back in the living room, but not yet in place)

Carpeting is done!

...and the Big Move begins. Carpeting and asbestos abatement are finally completed, and Library staff began moving furniture, offices, computers and books back in place.

(above: Norfolk pines back in place!)

(above: the books ready to go back on the shelves)

(above: books in crates and on carts, getting ready to go back on the shelves)

(above: the librarians moving back into their office)