We don’t have the materials you want? Try MeLCat!!

If you’re looking for a book, movie, or other item and AC Library doesn’t own it, check out MeLCat.

This system is similar to Interlibrary Loan, but it lets you request the item without having to submit your request to a library staff person.

You’ll be able to see which other Michigan libraries own your desired item, view what’s available and make requests yourself. There are two ways to access MeLCat.

• Search for the item you want in the Alma College Library catalog. If we don’t have it, click the button at the top of the screen that looks like this:

• Go directly into MeLCat at http://elibrary.mel.org/search , then search for your desired item.

Both methods will require you to enter your name and library card number, so be sure you have your card with you when you search.

Are you on Facebook? Really? So are we!!

Here at the Alma College Library, we’ve created a Facebook page for the Library. I know, it sounds a little odd, but we think it will make a splendid addition to this blog.

Some of the neat things our library page has are the hours of operation, as well as the phone number for the library. We also have selected events posted at the library, of which we will invite you to. We also have pictures and an RSS feed to keep you current when we update the page.  We also have a discussion board, for those questions you were too afraid to ask in person.

Become a fan of the Alma College Library today on Facebook, you won’t regret it!

Do you have Library materials currently checked out?

If you currently have Library materials checked out (i.e. books, movies, etc) we would like to remind you:

ALL LIBRARY MATERIALS ARE DUE THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12.

IF YOU DO NOT RETURN THEM BY THEN, IT MAY AFFECT YOUR TRANSCRIPTS AND GRADUATION STATUS.

You want to graduate, right? Return your books.

-SsP

Facebook?!? No Way! Yes Way!!

Were you aware that the Alma College Library now has a Facebook page?  I bet you weren’t, but now you are!!

If you search under the “pages” tab for “Alma College Library”, we should come up. We also have the Facebook page set to post our blog postings (i.e. what you’re reading) as notes – two birds with one stone! – check this blog and Facebook all at once!

Please become a fan of the Alma College Library, and check our page frequently as we will be posting various important information.  One of these is the Library event “All materials are due December 12″  – a gentle reminder that:

All library materials are due December 12 – if you do not have your materials in by then, and you are graduating, you will NOT receive your diploma.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Library at 989.463.7229, or stop in and see us!

-SsP

Welcome back Angie!!

We would like to warmly welcome back Access Services Librarian Angie Kelleher!!

Angie has been absent from the Library due to the recent birth of her daughter, Gillian. While I’m sure that Gillian misses her Mom, we are also glad to have Angie back.

With the start of Spring semester, Angie will have regular Reference desk hours, as well as one evening a week – stop by and say “Hi!” – I’m sure Angie would love to see you again, and meet all you new Freshmen.

Library hours over the Holiday break.

As most of you are aware of, the Fall term is coming to a close, and the winter term recess will begin soon.

Winter Term recess starts on Saturday December 13, and goes until January 5, when classes begin.

The Library will be open very limited hours, which are as follows:

We will not be open the 13th or 14th of December. We will reopen at 8am Monday Dec. 15th, and continue to be open 8am-5pm through the 19th. We will also be closed the 20th and 21, but will be open 8am-5pm on both the 22nd and the 23rd.

We will close at 5pm on the 23rd, and not reopen until Friday January 2, 2009.

If you have any questions, feel free to call the library at 989.463.7229

Have a safe and happy holiday!

A poem from Fleda Brown

Still not convinced that you should come see Fleda Brown read some of her work? Here’s a sample:

Through Security
I take off my boots because of their steel shanks.

I take out my orthotics, place my coat and purse in the bin,

place my carry-on on the belt.  I take off my shirt, my jeans,

my bra.  I take out my contacts.  I take off my makeup

and earrings, strip the dye from my hair.  I relax my stomach

to its honestly protruding shape.  Still, it’s all over the TVs

about me.  I’m buzzed again as if there’s been no progress at all

since the club-carrying, the dragging-by-the-hair.  I take off

my skin, veins flying like ropes, organs dropping away

one by one.  I address the additional matter of bones:

unfasten ball from socket, unhook ligaments,

leave the electronic eye no place to rest.

I am almost ready to go, if I could quit

thinking, the thinking that goes on

almost without knowing, the tiny person

crossing her legs in the back

of the mind, the one who

says, “I still love you,

dear guilty flesh.”

What are you doing tomorrow night?

Nothing?

You should come to the Library for the Michigan Author Speaker Series presents poet Fleda Brown.

At 7pm, Ms. Brown will be reading some of her poetry, with a book-signing and reception to follow.  This is a great opportunity to support a Michigan author.

Below is a biography :

Fleda Brown was born in Columbia, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  She earned her Ph.D. in English (specialty in American Literature) from the University of Arkansas, and in 1978 she joined the faculty of the University of Delaware English Department, where she founded the Poets in the Schools Program, which she directed for more than twelve years.  Her books, essays, and individual poems have won many awards.  Her sixth collection of poems, Reunion (2007), was the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize from the University of Wisconsin.  She has read and lectured in secondary schools, retirement communities, libraries, bookstores, a prison for delinquent adolescents, Rotary Clubs, AAUWs, and many universities and colleges, from Oxford University, London, to small liberal arts colleges.  She has slept in a bunkhouse and has read with cowboy poets in North Dakota, and she has read for the Governor of Delaware and for the Delaware Legislature.  She served as poet laureate of Delaware from 2001-2007, when she retired from the University of Delaware and moved to Traverse City, Michigan.  She teaches in the Rainier Writing Workshop, a low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA, and she spends summers with her husband, also a retired English professor, at their cottage on a small lake in northern Michigan.  Between them, they have four children and ten grandchildren.

Thanksgiving hours at the library

With Turkey Day right around the corner, we’d like to remind you of our changes in hours to accommodate the library.  The changes are as follows:

-Wednesday November 26th we will be closing at 5:00pm

-We will be closed Thursday November 27th, Friday November 28th and Saturday November 29th

-We will be reopening at 3:00pm on Sunday November 30 to 1:00am.

-Extended hours are 8:00am to 1:00am through December 11th

-Friday December 12th, we will be closing at 5:00pm

-Please contact the Library for hours, 463-7229

-SsP

Used book sale at the Library

Come one, Come all to the used book sale at the Alma College Library!

We have a wide variety of books for sale, ranging from the classics to more contemporary titles.

Hardcover books are $0.50 and Paperback books are $0.25 – a deal any way you look at it!!

We also accept donations of books that are in turn added to the book sale.

All proceeds of the book sale go towards a textbook scholarship fund for student assistants in the library!! Anyone who’s been a student will know that a textbook scholarship is much appreciated!

Build your personal collection, purchase a gift for the upcoming holidays, or just peruse.

Contact Melissa Hovey with any questions, hovey@alma.edu