Emmanuel d'Alzon
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 Inside:

• Staff News
• Finals Schedule
• EXTRA Extended Hours
• Reading for fun
• New Furniture
• Spillproof containers
• Electronic Journals
• NEW PC computers
• Fortin Collection

Contributors:

Library Director: Dawn Thistle. Public Services Staff: Carol Maksian, Liz McDermott, Larry Spongberg, Shauna Sutherland & Kimberly West.
Technical Services: Julie O'Shea, Nina Tsantinis & Janice Wilbur.

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Staff News By Larry Spongberg Two people have recently joined our staff at the d'Alzon Library, Elizabeth McDermott and Shauna Sutherland.

Elizabeth, who likes to be called "Liz", joined our staff on November 8. Liz has two jobs with our library, working half-time in cataloging and half-time in reference. She comes to us from Emerson College, where she was the Senior Cataloguer. While at Emerson, Liz helped to create a database for web sites and electronic journals. Her extensive educational background includes a B. A. In History from Bridgewater State College, a law degree from the New England School of Law, and a Master's degree in Library Science from Simmons College. Liz likes the campus, and she is looking forward to getting to know the library and its patrons.

Shauna became our new Circulation Coordinator on October 20. During the day, Shauna often will be the first staff person you will see when you enter the d'Alzon Library. Before joining our staff, she was the Public Services Assistant for Adult Services for the Cuyahoga County Public Library System in Cleveland, Ohio. Her previous employers thought so highly of Shauna that they gave her an Employee Recognition Award even though she already had alerted them that she would have to relocate to New England. Shauna's educational background is unusual for librarians. She has a B. A. In English from Oberlin College, and a Master's in Education from John Carroll University in Cleveland. Shauna became interested in the library field while working in cataloging for four years as a work study at Oberlin. She is especially impressed with the friendly atmosphere of the Assumption Community, including her coworkers at the library, other college employees, and the Assumption students.

Liz and Shauna join Andy Clark '98 as this fall's new staff at d'Alzon Library. After a one-year absence, Andy returns to our library in a new role as our Weekend Supervisor. Previously, Andy had been a work study with us for his four years as a student at Assumption, often covering the hard-to-fill late evening shifts during his student days. Come welcome our new staff, and utilize the expanded services that we offer to the Assumption Community.

FINALS SCHEDULE

December 6 - 9 (Monday - Thursday) 7:30 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
December 10 (Friday) 7:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
December 11(Saturday) 7:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
December 12 (Sunday) 1:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
December 13 - 16 (Monday - Thursday) 7:30 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
December 17 ( Friday) 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
December 18 (Saturday) Closed unless a snow day
December 19 (Sunday) Closed
December 20 - 22 (Monday - Wednesday) 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
December 23 (Thursday) 8:30 - noon
December 24 - January 2 Closed for the Holidays

EXTRA Extended Hours

The d'Alzon Library will be open additional hours during finals. Beginning on December 6th we will open at 7:30 a.m., with the exception of Sunday when we open at 1:00 p.m.

Closing hours have been extended December 6 - 9th until 2:00 a.m. December 13-16 we will close at 1:00 a.m.

Take A Book, Bring A Book

The class collected hundreds of books. Many of these paperbacks are displayed in rotating 'towers' in the Leisure Reading area. They will be replaced from time to time with "new" ones from the books collected. Anyone who would like to take a book may do so. You do not need to return them, but if you would like to trade one of your own, that would be terrific!

Spillproof Containers are Now Allowed!

We used to shake our fingers at students, saying, "No! You may not bring drinks into the Library!" Our policy of 'No Food or Drinks' was strict, but difficult to enforce. Students were thirsty, and librarians were tired of being 'bad guys.' We understand: It can be hot and dry in the library, and somehow, having a drink while you are reading feels good. So, as a compromise, we have decided to allow students to bring drinks in 'spill-proof' mugs or close-able bottles. Open cans, paper cups, styrofoam cups, and other styles of bottles will not be acceptable.

 NEW Electronic Journals
More and more information is available online from the d'Alzon Library. We offer web-based indexes such as PsycINFO and America: History & Life and databases that provide full-text articles such as EbscoHost and Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Now, we have entire electronic journals. Many journals and periodicals are being published in both print and electronic formats. Others, usually newer titles, are offered only electronically.

Soon we will begin cataloging and making e-journals available to the Assumption community. Several of the journals we receive in print have electronic counterparts. We are now working with the publishers to gain permission to put them online via our web site so that you may read them from anywhere on campus.

Depending on negotiations between NELINET (New England Library Network) and Academic Press, we expect that the entire collection of its 174 e-journals will soon be available. This collection, IDEAL (International Digital Electronic Access Library), is particularly strong in the sciences, mathematics and psychology, but e-journals for other disciplines are also included. We will make an announcement as soon as this IDEAL agreement is finalized.

Many journals are also available free over the Internet. If you have found any of these to be useful or interesting, let us know, and we will include them in our virtual collection.

FYI A listing of recently acquired books is available at the Emmanuel d'Alzon Library's web site in the News & Information area. http://www.assumption.edu/dept/Library/News.html

Happy Days are Here Again -- Almost
Many of you may have noticed that our public access area has six new PC computers. Recently the library upgraded the quality of our Public Access computers, because new and flashy web sites caused many problems for our previous machines. We still are trying to fine-tune our computers but accessing our online resources has improved dramatically.

Our "old" MACs are now in the Word Processing area and have replaced the computers that could no longer handle updated versions of the word processing programs.

Library Receives Fortin Collection

The d'Alzon Library has just received the gift of the library of Ernest L. Fortin, A.A. Fr. Fortin, a member of the faculty at Boston College since 1971, is an authority in the area of political philosophy and classical Christianity. He earned his Doctorate in Letters from the Sorbonne in 1955, and has lectured widely in Europe and America. His publications include several books, edited volumes on medieval philosophy and St. Augustine, and a translation of Aquinas's Commentary on the Politics of Aristotle, in addition to many articles and reviews that in 1996 were published in three volumes as Ernest Fortin: Collected Essays, edited by Prof. Brian Benestad.

The collection of almost 3,000 volumes reflects Fr. Fortin's scholarship and literary interests. It includes significant holdings by and related to Macchiavelli, Dante and St. Augustine as well as many volumes on contemporary political and religious thought. The books will be cataloged and processed over the course of the next year. We hope that the archive of Fr. Fortin's manuscripts and papers will also come to Assumption as part of our special collections to serve future scholars.