Reference point

              U n i v e r s i t y L i b r a r i e s ’ N e w s l e t t e r
During the mid-1800s every state in the U.S.
– including Michigan – was preparing for a
war that changed the nation forever.
As America marks 150 years since the start
of the Civil War, the Clarke Historical Library’s
new exhibit, “Moving Toward the Precipice:
Michigan in the Years Before the Civil War,”
depicts the state of Michigan in the years
leading up to it.
The exhibit offers a glimpse into Michigan life
in the decades prior to the Civil War to help
viewers better understand what – beyond
the debate over slavery – was important and
what Michiganians took to war in 1861.
Agriculture was the most common source of
employment in Michigan in the years leading
up to the Civil War. In addition, there was
both ethnic and religious conflict, as well as
tremendous social, political and economic
changes. The Clarke exhibit includes images
and literature relevant to these and other
issues critical to the time period.
“History matters because it gives you a
context to understand the present and a
direction for the future,” says Frank Boles,
director of the Clarke Historical Library. “If you
don’t understand the context, you get swept
away in the rhetoric.”
Roy Burlington agrees and is providing his
insight to help with developing a special
feature of the exhibit: coins and currency
used prior to the Civil War. Burlington, a CMU
biology professor emeritus, is an amateur
historian and avid coin enthusiast.
“We live in a great country, and it’s important
to know where our country came from,” he
says.
Burlington recently met with Janet Danek,
University Libraries coordinator of exhibits
and projects, to discuss what coins and
currency to feature and how they relate to
the culture of the times.
“Objects are just objects until you put a story
with them,” Danek says.
One of the most important of such items
in the years leading up to the Civil War
were the Hard Times Tokens, according to
Burlington. These tokens were privately
produced and served as unofficial currency
during the difficult pre-war decades. Many
of the tokens included satirical and political
messages, including those that were pro-and
antislavery. The exhibit will feature
representative Hard Times Tokens as well as
actual coins produced by the U.S. Mint. •
Historic conflict rising
Library exhibit coordinator Janet Danek and
local coin enthusiast Roy Burlington explore
facts about pre-Civil War-era coinage.
Volume 7, Issue 1
Spring 2011
library.cmich.edu/pubs for more
‘Moving Toward the Precipice: Michigan
in the Years Before the Civil War’
An exhibit depicting the state of Michigan in the years leading up to
the Civil War, which began 150 years ago
• Through August 2011
• 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at Clarke Historical Library
• clarke.cmich.edu
Exhibit examines Michigan prior to Civil War’s start 150 years ago
Reference Point is published
biannually by University Libraries.
Address questions and suggestions to:
Office of the Dean
Park Library 407D
Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, MI 48859
Editorial Board
Thomas J. Moore
Dean of Libraries
Richard Cochran
Associate Dean of Libraries
Megan Moreno, ‘06
Director of Development and
Community Outreach
Gerry Edgar
Manager, Library Business Services
Reference Point Coordinator
Production
CMU University Communications
Writers
Dan Digmann
Sharasa Henley
Kelly Kobylczyk
Kayla Rusin
Jennifer Sula
Editor
Dan Digmann
Designer
Amy Gouin
Photographers
Robert Barclay
Peggy Brisbane
Printing
CMU Printing Services
Libraries’ website
lib.cmich.edu
Academic Year
Library Hours
Mon - Thurs: 7:50 a.m. - Midnight
Fri: 7:50 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sat: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sun: Noon - Midnight
Reference Desk
989-774-3470
libref@cmich.edu
CMU, an AA/EO institution, strongly and actively strives to increase
diversity within its community (see cmich.edu/aaeo).
UComm 8455-4,106 (3/11)
2
Online challenge accepted
In the CMU
Libraries we like
challenges, and
we have plenty
of them. Keeping
up with steadily
advancing
scholarly
information needs
at the university
and responding
proactively
to ceaseless
technological
change provide
lots of opportunities to test our talents and
use our resources smartly to serve students
and faculty.
An area of challenge on which the Libraries
have put special attention this past year
is furnishing more integrated service to
students enrolled in CMU’s burgeoning
online classes.
Did you know that CMU offers 203 different
courses online? How about a dozen
degree programs wholly or mostly online,
including an M.B.A. and the doctor of health
administration?
Last semester there were 7,168 registrations
for online courses. Moreover, for several
academic years there’s been a 20 percent rate
of growth in online courses offered over the
past academic year. Since students enrolled
in online courses and programs can be
anywhere in the world, including on campus
in Mount Pleasant, you can imagine there are
legions of implications for library services.
Fortunately we have a long, and truly
venerable, practice of serving students at a
distance from campus through Off-Campus
Library Services. When online courses began
emerging in numbers several years ago,
OCLS librarians took the lead to address
the needs of their students. Yet, with the
recent tremendous growth of online courses
across disciplines, and more Mount Pleasant
students taking them, we decided to deploy
extra support.
Reference Services librarians recently have
joined hands with OCLS librarians to focus
on online courses and to strive together for a
high-quality, seamless approach regardless of
student location. What’s more, our document
delivery services have also become more
integrated, resulting in enhanced efficiency
in addition to continued superior services.
Online student support is one area of CMU
library services achieving noteworthy
progress.
Remembering Norman Clarke Jr.
and John Cumming
I’m saddened to report that two people
instrumental to the growth of the Clarke
Historical Library died in November.
Norman Clarke Jr., whose father provided
the original gift and thereby the name for
the Clarke Historical Library, was an active,
valued member of the Clarke Library Board
of Governors for 25 years. John Cumming
was director of the Library from 1961 to
1982, after which he maintained the role of
director emeritus and inimitable member
of the university community. With their
passing, so passes as well the early era of this
marvelous library.
I hope you like the articles, and extra features
available online, in this issue of Reference
Point. Let us know your thoughts and if you
have questions.
Tom Moore
Dean of Libraries
Tom Moore
> Dean’s Column
Libraries aggressively responding
to increased course offerings
3
Library longevity
“One of my favorite things is seeing
someone’s face light up when they find
a picture of a relative in a book, and I get
the opportunity to scan and duplicate that
picture for them,” Thelen says.
Shirley and Thelen work in different areas of
the Libraries, but they say they’ve invested
so many years because they enjoy their
colleagues and the services the Libraries
provide. “Over the years the library staff’s
level of enthusiasm has never ceased to
amaze me,” Shirley says.
In addition to serving members of the
university and area communities, Thelen says
she is thankful for the opportunity to work
directly with students. “The student interns
I have had have kept in touch,’‘ she says. ”It’s
great to see students succeed.” •
Responding to today’s
challenges through four decades
of experience
By using home computers, cell phones, iPads,
iPods and other electronic devices, students
have myriad information sources readily
available with the click of a button.
But increasingly convenient technology
hasn’t kept students away from the library.
Ask David Shirley and Pat Thelen, and they’ll
say they’ve seen the tides of technology over
the past four decades make the libraries even
more invaluable.
Shirley and Thelen both recently celebrated
working more than 40 years at Park Library.
Shirley is the government documents
librarian, and Thelen is the Clarke Historical
Library scanning and digitalizing specialist.
“With the increase of information, librarians
are more important than ever,” Shirley says.
“We act as go-betweens and interpreters. We
all have our areas of expertise.”
In addition to responding to the expanded
technology, Thelen also is responding to
patrons’ increased interest in genealogy.
“People increasingly are looking for digital
images of our state’s history, whether for
a term paper or family research, and that’s
where our digitizing area meets the needs of
a changing demographic.”
From the beginning
Since Shirley started working for the library in
August 1970, he has seen the library develop
from having a huge card catalog on the
second floor to 1988 when CMU got its first
automated, integrated library system – based
on mainframe computing – to 1998 when
CMU got the system it uses today.
Shirley serves as a reference librarian as well
as manager of CMU’s Federal Depository
Library collection. The Federal Depository
Library Program identifies, catalogs and
ensures permanent public access to
government publications.
“While my main responsibility is serving
as government documents librarian
and manager of our Federal Depository
collection, my secondary work and more
recent responsibility is serving as the foreign
languages and geography subject librarian,”
says Shirley.
When Thelen first started with the Libraries,
she worked as an office manager and
then transitioned to library technical
services. For the past eight years Thelen has
worked in Clarke Historical Library, where
her responsibilities include maintaining
its website and digitizing and scanning
photographs from patrons and within the
Clarke collection.
David Shirley shares his insights about the
Libraries’ Federal Depository collection with
student employee Stefan Borghesani.
Pat Thelen displays a photograph she is
digitizing in Clarke Historical Library.
It’s easy for most patrons to never really
recognize and appreciate the intentional and
subtle design features of Park Library.
The buttercream yellow paint of the interior.
No-slip flooring materials. Automatic doors.
Wainscoting-type railing running the
perimeter walls. Motion-activated restroom
faucets.
But for students like Carrie Swearingen, many
of these are the first features they notice and
celebrate.
Swearingen is a senior history major and
geography minor from Flint who has lived
with Spinal Muscular Atrophy since she was
a little over 2 years old. This neuromuscular
disease – characterized by degeneration of
motor neurons – limits her ability to walk,
and she needs to use a powered wheelchair
for mobility.
She says the universal design and
handicapped-accessible elements of Park
Library elevate it to what she considers the
most accessible building on campus.
Encouraging
accessibility
Library strives to ensure service to all
4
Wainscoting-type railing
CMU senior Carrie Swearingen positions her
textbook on the Student Disability Services
visualizer located in Park Library. Swearingen,
who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, is one
of more than 500 students registered with
Student Disability Services.
5
Automatic sliding glass doors
library.cmich.edu/pubs for more
“The library was the first building I ever
went into on campus, and I absolutely loved
it,” says Swearingen, one of 517 students
registered with CMU’s Student Disability
Services Office. “I love the sliding-glass doors,
and the bathrooms here are the only ones on
campus that I’ll use.”
According to Susie Rood, CMU’s Student
Disability Services Office director, among the
accessible features of the library are:
• Buttercream yellow paint to help reduce
epileptic seizures and assist patrons with
depth perception concerns;
• No-slip flooring materials to aid in traction
of motorized and manual wheelchairs
during wet weather;
• Automatic and power-assist doors and
motion-activated restroom faucets to make
them easier for people with mobility and
dexterity limitations to use; and
• Wainscoting-type railing running the
perimeter walls to guide the visually
impaired throughout the library.
Marking ADA’s 20 th anniversary
Accessibility-related conversations have
risen to the forefront over the past year
as Americans have observed the 20th
anniversary of President George H.W. Bush
signing the Americans with Disabilities Act
into law and proclaiming, “Let the shameful
walls of exclusion finally come tumbling
down.”
This historic piece of civil rights legislation
was pivotal in providing equal access for
individuals with disabilities in areas such as
employment, entertainment and housing.
Park Library planners embraced such
accessibility when they planned the library
renovation and expansion in the 1990s.
Relocating Student Disability Services from
Foust Hall to Park Library was an integral part
of the plan, says Robert Faleer, a reference
librarian and library SDS liaison.
“When planning the building and working
with the architect, we wanted to make (the
library) accessible and a place for everybody,”
Faleer says.
This move to a centrally located, highly
accessible facility has worked perfectly for
the office and services it provides students,
Rood says.
CMU is committed to providing
students with disabilities the academic
accommodations and auxiliary aids
necessary to ensure access to all university
services, programs and activities, and
SDS is responsible for determining these
accommodations.
“The transition to the library has been
seamless, and it is probably the best
universally designed building on campus,”
Rood says. “One of the great things about
the library is that because they’re aware of
any areas where they may lack, they’re great
at training and informing staff so they make
sure they take care of the students’ needs.”
In addition to the accessible features in Park
Library, within SDS there are various support
systems and a study room with adaptive
equipment – such as visualizers, enlargers,
magnifiers and recorders – to help serve
students with various disabilities. •
Accessible restrooms
Student Disability Services Director Susie
Rood says Park Library ‘… is probably the best
universally designed building on campus.’
Charitable annuity provides
donor and Libraries
immediate benefits
I hope that so far 2011 has been good
to you. It’s been my pleasure to meet
many of you over the past six months.
I’ve enjoyed hearing stories about your
time at CMU and great experiences
with, and regard for, the Libraries.
I’d like to take this opportunity to share
an excellent way to make a planned
contribution to the Libraries while
generating a stable income for yourself
for the rest of your life. A Charitable
Gift Annuity provides many benefits and at
the same time can make a real difference in
the future of the CMU Libraries.
How it works:
• CMU will send you a Charitable Gift Annuity
agreement in exchange for your gift ($5,000
minimum in a check, stocks or bonds) to the
Libraries.
• CMU will mail you payments each year for
the rest of your life.
• Once established, fixed regular payments
of a specific amount can be counted on no
matter what happens to financial markets.
• A charitable annuity may be established on
the basis of two lives (such as yours and a
spouse’s), so that fixed income payments
are made until the end of both lives.
Planning ahead and for today
> Development Column
6
• Income payments are based on age at the
time the annuity is established and are
higher for increasingly senior persons.
• At the end of your life (or the end of both
lives with a two-life annuity), the remainder
of the principal you’ve transferred will
support the CMU Libraries’ work in the area
you’ve designated.
Among the many other benefits of a
Charitable Gift Annuity are an immediate
charitable income tax deduction and, in
most instances, payments that are partially
tax-free. I’d be pleased to provide you with
an illustration, based on your age, showing
how a gift annuity could benefit you. It could
help you decide whether a gift annuity is an
appropriate way to do yourself a favor and
support the CMU Libraries at the same time.
Whether you have an interest in gift
annuities or other information about other
opportuities to give to the Libraries, please
contact me at megan.r.moreno@cmich.edu
or 989-774-1826.
Megan R. Moreno, ‘06
Director of Development and
Community Outreach
Megan Moreno
7
Student services inspire alumnus
to support Libraries
To this day Jeff Meyers refers back to
textbooks from the classes he took through
CMU’s Off-Campus Programs center in
Auburn Hills 20 year ago.
They often come in handy when he’s
developing job descriptions for hiring new
members for his information technology
team that provides technical support to
nearly 400 employees at the Metro Detroit-based
Chrysler headquarters.
While the textbooks are great resources, and
Meyers applauds how well the CMU Master
of Science in Administration program
enhanced his professional endeavors, these
aren’t what first come to mind when he
thinks of his graduate experiences.
What he remembers most is the assistance
he received from the CMU Libraries.
“Whenever I needed research materials,
I’d submit a request and have everything I
needed within one or two days,” says Meyers,
who graduated with his M.S.A. in 1991. “The
library service was really impressive and
helpful to me completing my degree, and I
still appreciate that today.”
Because of this Meyers annually makes a gift
to the CMU Libraries, putting him among
the top annual CMU Off-Campus Programs
alumni donors.
“I want to see the library continue to thrive
and be accessible to all CMU students,”
Meyers says. “The library is invaluable,
and it provides the resources and
staffing that enable students to be
successful.”
Meyers earned his undergraduate
degree at Wayne State University and
was working at Chrysler when he
realized he needed a graduate degree to
be promoted to a management position
within the company. When he started
investigating his options, he learned of
several colleagues who were enrolled in
CMU’s off-campus M.S.A. program.
This was the first he had heard of the
off-campus program, but Meyers already
was familiar with CMU. His mother,
Geraldine Williams, attended CMU and
was 1951 Homecoming queen.
“I wanted a good, solid program, and
when I heard about CMU’s M.S.A.
program I thought, ‘I can do that,’” says
Meyers, who completed his degree within
two years while working full time. “I was
apprehensive about going back to school,
but CMU really paid attention to the details
of helping working professionals through the
program.”
Meyers lives in Bloomfield Hills with his
wife, Ann. The couple has two sons – Adam
and Alex. While Adam attends Oakland
Community College, Alex is a junior theatre
major at CMU who also is involved with the
student vocal groups. •
I want to see the library
continue to thrive and be
accessible to all students.
connections
Friends to host NPR’s
Don Gonyea
Annual luncheon is May 14
NPR national political correspondent
Don Gonyea is the 2011 CMU Friends of
the Libraries Luncheon speaker.
The invitation-only event is scheduled
for 11 a.m. Saturday, May 14, in the Park
Library Auditorium.
Gonyea spends much of this time
covering major campaigns, elections
and the political happenings
throughout the country. His storied
career includes reporting from the White
House on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001,
reporting the Bush administration’s
prosecution of wars
in Afghanistan and
Iraq, as well as other
stories worldwide.
In 1986 Gonyea
got his start at NPR
reporting from
Detroit on labor
unions and the
automobile industry,
Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s
assisted-suicide
crusade, and the
1999 closing of Tiger
Stadium.
Gonyea, a native
of Monroe, Mich., and a Michigan
State University graduate, has won
numerous national and state awards
for his reporting. He was part of the
team that earned NPR a 2000 George
Foster Peabody Award for the “All Things
Considered” series “Lost & Found Sound.”
To learn more about this event or how
you can become a Friend – for which,
effective March 1, 2011, the minimum
annual donation will be a single gift
of $75 – contact Megan Moreno,
director of library development and
community outreach, at
• 989-774-1826
• megan.r.moreno@cmich.edu
Off-campus
8
resources
In addition to more than 1 mil­lion
volumes
on 33 miles of electronically movable
shelving, Park Library continually increases
the number of e-journals and e-books
available for research and leisure purposes.
This shift toward more electronic resources
raises questions about printed materials’
relevancy in academic research, such as
when a student locates a book that was
printed in 1952 and was last checked out
during the Reagan administration. The
student may think that in a time of up-to-date
electronic resources the most current
information available online is more credible.
Not necessarily so, says Richard Cochran,
associate dean of CMU Libraries. To determine
the book’s relevance, he says the student
must identify the purpose of the research
and then assess what information is needed
regardless of its print or digital format.
“For example, history is well-known for its
dependence on works from certain eras for
their points of view,” Cochran says. “Even if it is
available electronically, a digitized book is still
preserving the content of the original book.”
Keeping books current One CMU English faculty member is quick
to point out that books, regardless of age,
still are “absolutely” relevant. Nate Smith,
an assistant professor, recently checked
out several stacks of books to write a
journal article and prepare for a class about
Shakespeare.
“There are ideas in here not addressed in
current scholarship,” says Smith as he flips
through the 1962 book “Shakespeare and
the Idea of the Play” by Anne Barton. “What’s
interesting is a lot of the books I check out
I’ve found in the footnotes of articles I’ve
read online.”
An American Library
Association document from
2010 delved into information
technology and 21st century
libraries.
Among its conclusions,
“… libraries of the future
will need to tailor their
programming to a new
generation of learners with a
facility for processing digital as
well as printed information.”
This is especially true for
libraries at institutions of higher
learning, including Park Library,
which are striving to find the
proper balance between print
and electronic resources.
Relevant
In a quiet corner study room, English faculty member
Nate Smith pours through a stack of books to gather
research for a journal article he’s developing.
Livonia junior Dan Johns searches the shelves for a book by Kurt Vonnegut he read about online.
Materials in demand
Service tells story of popularity
Sam Strachan can confirm that students still use printed books for
research and reading.
The Libraries’ student employee spends at least an hour during each
of her shifts walking through the stacks and collecting materials –
articles within books as well as entire books – for patrons who request
them through the Documents on Demand service. The service is
available to collect materials and coordinate their delivery for CMU
on-campus, online and off-campus students and faculty.
“We’re usually pretty busy,” says Strachan, a senior health fitness major
from Harrison Township. “There’s always somebody from Documents
on Demand out here collecting the materials.”
In addition to gathering items for Documents on Demand, Strachan
collects books, CDs, DVDs and other items as requested through the
Michigan e-Library Catalog and Resource Sharing System (MeLCat).
MeLCat, which is sponsored by the Library of Michigan, is the
statewide union catalog and resource service designed to share
materials among Michigan libraries. If a local library doesn’t have the
material in its collection, library patrons can access the item from
another library in the state through MeLCat.
“Librarians are concerned about helping people get and use
information, and we’re fortunate Michigan is among the very
progressive states to have had librarians develop a patron-initiated
borrowing system,” says Richard Cochran, associate dean of CMU
Libraries, adding that MeLCat is rapidly increasing in the number of
people it serves.
Visit library.cmich.edu to learn more about CMU’s Documents on
Demand and visit elibrary.mel.org to learn more about MeLCat. •
9
with technology
Enhanced information
Robin Sabo is a health professions and reference librarian
who believes electronic tools are enhancing student and
faculty access to information available in books.
“Google Books has digitized many books and made them
widely available,” Sabo says. “Using the Internet and online
catalogs are ways that help readers locate books that they
can find in the library.”
It makes sense that searching online is the primary
way that Dan Johns, who’s majoring in information
technology, locates his books in Park Library. But most
times the junior from Livonia isn’t looking for research
materials.
One recent Tuesday afternoon Johns was perusing the
shelves for a book by Kurt Vonnegut to read for leisure.
“I go online to see the reviews of the books. Then I’ll come
to the library to check out the book as well as browse to
see what else is available,” he says.
As a major in the ever-changing field of technology, Johns
says his academic-related research often is electronically
based to ensure the information he’s using is the most
up-to-date. Still Johns is confident people in academic
and cultural settings will continue utilizing printed books
and information.
“I do a lot of my book reading in the coffee shop, and
several times I’ve had people come up to me and say,
‘Hey, I read that’ or ‘Have you ever read this other one?’” he
says. “They’d never see what I was reading, and I’d never
have this kind of interaction, if I were using an e-reader.
“Print isn’t dying. It’s just changing.” •
Libraries’ student employee Sam Strachan uses a cart to gather
items requested through Documents on Demands.
10
inspiration
Artful
CMU Libraries’ exhibits
and events calendar
lib.cmich.edu/exhibits
‘Imagining the Fantastic’
An exhibition of fantasy imagery and
sculpture in collaboration with the CMU
Department of English
• April 2011
• Baber Room, Park Library
‘Harry Potter’s World:
Renaissance Science, Magic
and Medicine’
An exhibition about the historical roots of
a modern sensation
• April 1 through April 30
• Third Floor Exhibit Area, Park Library
Painting and Ceramics
Featuring Libraries’ new acquisitions
• May through June 2011
• Baber Room, Park Library
‘Moving Toward the
Precipice: Michigan in the
Years Before the Civil War’
An exhibit depicting the state of
Michigan in the years leading up to the
Civil War, which began 150 years ago
• Through August 2011
• 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through
Friday at Clarke Historical Library
• clarke.cmich.edu
Danek brings nearly 25 years
experience to exhibit designs
Janet Danek hit the ground running as the
recently hired CMU Libraries’ coordinator of
exhibits and projects.
Danek is leading the effort to transition Park
Library’s Extended Hours Study Room to the
Extended Hours Study Room and Student
Gallery. In the future she hopes to see more
collaboration between students from other
departments who would like to exhibit
their work.
Danek’s favorite feature of her position is
working with the arts and artists.
“I consider my job to make it as easy as
possible for patrons of Park Library to feel as
inspired by art as I am,” she says.
Currently living in Midland, Danek has
designed museum exhibits for nearly
25 years.
She has designed exhibits for the Michigan
Historical Museum in Lansing, Oil and Brine
Museum in Smackover, Ark., three exhibits
for the American Bar Association in Chicago,
First Division Museum in Wheaton, Ill., and
Midland County History Gallery at the Doan
Center in Midland.
Danek earned her bachelor of science degree
in art and industrial and interior design from
the University of Wisconsin, where she also
taught design. •
Developing the Park Library Extended Hours Study Room and Student Gallery is among Janet
Danek’s first projects as the Libraries’ exhibits and projects coordinator. Hanging the National
Undergraduate Student Print Exchange and Exhibition in the new area are students Andrew
Hawkes, left, Taro Takizawa and Carrie McCarthy. The exhibition is presented each year by the
CMU Print Club, a student organization housed within the Department of Art and Design.
National exhibit and campus-based
events celebrate ‘Harry Potter’s World’
Magical creatures, fantastic beasts and potions are
coming to Park Library in the form of an exhibit titled
“Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and
Medicine.” The exhibit will run from April 10 through
May 22 on the third level of Park Library.
The American Medical Library Association and the
American Library Association co-produced the three-panel
display that informs patrons about natural
medicine, philosophy and herbology.
While Harry Potter is about fantasy and magic, it is
partially based on Renaissance traditions that played
an important role in the development of Western
science.
Park Library was awarded the exhibit partly because
of the events envisioned to coincide with it, and it
has had a great response from the CMU community.
The English and philosophy departments have made
commitments for events along with the Harry Potter
Alliance, a registered student organization on campus.
Writers and illustrators from as far away as England
will come together at CMU for the closely related,
but previously scheduled, “Imagining the Fantastic”
conference, sponsored by the Department of English.
“We’re very excited because of the collaboration
opportunities,” says Janet Danek, coordinator of
exhibits and projects. “There is a lot of interest in Harry
Potter.”
With the second part of the seventh movie – “Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows” – hitting theaters this
summer, many believe that it will be the end of an
era. However, by bringing many different areas and
interests together on the CMU campus, perhaps it is
true that Harry Potter always will have a little bit of
magic for everyone. •
fiction
Science and
11
Potter-palooza
CMU academic departments
and campus and community
organizations are hosting many
events that complement the
“Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance
Science, Magic, and Medicine”
exhibit in Park Library
‘Imagining the Fantastic’
An exhibition of fantasy imagery and
sculpture in collaboration with the
Department of English
• April 1 through April 30
• Baber Room, Park Library
‘Tea & Fortune Telling
with Sybil Trelawney’
Children’s program taught by Kristen
McDermott of the Department of
English
• 3 p.m. Sunday, April 10
• Staff Lounge, Park Library
‘Some Philosophical
Themes in Harry Potter:
Ethics and the Soul’
Featuring Joshua Smith of the CMU
Department of Philosophy and
Religion
• 7 p.m. April 12
• Park Library Auditorium
‘From Hogwarts to the
Academy: Scholarly
Approaches to Harry
Potter’
A Department of English Language
and Literature faculty panel
discussion
• 7 p.m. April 14
• Park Library Auditorium
‘Imagining the Fantastic’
Presentations, panel discussions
and harp concert by internationally
known artists and writers, a banquet
and American premiere screening of
the film “Sir Lanval.”
• April 15 and 16
• Baber Room and Park Library
Auditorium
‘Potions and Tinctures’
Children’s program taught by
Naturopathic Doctor Kathryn Doran-
Fisher of Herbs, Etc. (a Mount Pleasant-based
naturopathic product and service
provider)
• 3 p.m. April 17
• Staff Lounge, Park Library
Harry Potter Student Panel
Discussion
Featuring the Harry Potter Alliance
student organization
• 7 p.m. April 18
• Park Library Auditorium
‘The Magic of Medicine’
Presentation by Sean K. Kesterson, M.D.,
FACP, of the CMU College of Medicine
• 7 p.m. April 19
• Park Library Auditorium
‘Witches and Wizards: The
History of Herbology’
Presentation by Kathryn Doran-Fisher,
N.D., of Herbs, Etc.
• 7 p.m. April 26
• Park Library Auditorium
Harry Potter Jeopardy
Game
Student competition
• 7 p.m. April 29
• Park Library Auditorium
Going about their research
Working with CMU faculty members, the
Libraries are responding to students’ need
for locating relevant research related to their
fields of study.
On a faculty member’s request, a reference
librarian who specializes in a particular
academic area will present a library
instruction session tailored to the research
needs of that faculty member’s course.
“What we are trying to do is give students
information that will be relevant to
their course,” says Tim Peters, director of
information services.
In each session, students are introduced
to online links they can use to obtain
information specific to their subject area
and are informed of all the services available
for assistance. Psychology faculty member
Subhadra Dutta has used the instruction
sessions for students enrolled in her
Psychology 285 course.
“Knowing how to search for articles
and books using library resources is an
important cornerstone for conducting
research,” Dutta says.
One student taking notice of this is
sophomore Rachel Olsen from Warren, Mich.
She enrolled in Dutta’s class and recently
participated in an instruction session.
“I think since I am majoring in psychology
I will have to do more than one research
proposal by the end of my college career,
so this session will be helpful when I take
other courses for the major and even after I
graduate,” she says.
Stephanie Mathson, instruction/reference
librarian, provides the best picture of the way
that these instruction sessions impact the
college career and course work of students.
“My favorite part of the sessions is when I see
students’ faces light up because they realize
finding credible sources of information is not
as hard as they initially fear, and the library
has a vast wealth of resources for them no
matter their academic discipline or research
topic,” Mathson says.
Faculty may schedule instruction sessions
with their subject librarians by calling the
Reference Desk at 989-774-3470. •
Sessions help students tap into resources
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Reference librarian Rui Wang guides students
during a research instruction session. ‘This is
not about a convenience for students, but
about assisting students to look for the right
sources in the right way and to get good
help along the way,’ Wang says.