• December 2005 - Well done Amy!
  Congratulations to Amy Sutton, Library Circulation Assistant and Carlow Master's of Fine Arts student, for being selected as the Poet in the Spotlight in the most recent issue of The Carlow Journal.

• December 2005 - Season's Greetings!
  Happy Holidays from the Staff of Grace Library. Please stop by to see our display of Christmas and Holiday books.

• November 2005 - Renew your books online
  Are your library books nearing their due date but you're nowhere near the end? Fill out our new renewal form and renew all the books you have checked out of Grace Library. Once you have completed the form a library staff member will contact you with your new due date.

• November 2005 - What books are you thankful for?
  The bible? A dictionary? On display during this month of Thanksgiving are the books the library staff are most thankful for. These books have helped us in all sorts of ways - intellectually, spiritually, and professionally.
  
  Next time you are in the library take a look and check some out. What books would you add to the display?

• October 2005 - Welcome Back Emily and Erica!
  Two very familiar faces will soon be seen on a more regular basis in the library.
  
  Emily Matas has replaced Emily Cantin as the Public Services Librarian. Many of you will recognize Emily as she has already served Carlow as a library school field placement and as the temporary Public Services Librarian.
  
  Erica Hines-McGee, a recent Carlow graduate, is also a new library staff member. She will be assisting the Public Services Department at the Circulation Desk over the next few months.

• October 2005 - No Chaucer, No Shakespeare
  Have a literature paper due soon? Does the thought of writing about yet another Canterbury Tale or Shakespearean sonnet make you weary? Try some of the "other classics" that are on display in the library this month. Grace Library contains an abundance of books by and about other great authors such as Toni Morrison, John Donne, Thomas Hardy and Willa Chather.

• October 2005 - Stay Well Connected @ Grace Library
  Well-Connected, a database containing reports written by experts on common diseases and wellness issues, has recently been added to the library's collection. Each report contains the latest information on treatments, risk factors, causes, diagnostic tests, and preventative measures. Well-Connected is available on the Reference Databases web page.

• September 2005 - Off Campus Access to Library Resources - Now more databases than ever!
  Recently, the procedure to access library resources from off campus was changed.
  
  When accessing library databases from off campus, students, faculty and staff should now use the same username and password used to log into the Carlow lab computers. The major benefit of this new system is off campus access to even more of the library's databases. See the Off Campus Access page for more information.

• September 2005 - Banned Books Display
  "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." -- Mark Twain
  
  During the month of September assert your freedom to read by reading one of the books on display in the library this month. Each of these books was banned (or there was a challenge to ban) at some point in their history.
  
  Banned Books week is celebrated every September across the country to remind Americans not to take their freedom to read for granted. For more information on Banned Books week, visit the American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom.

• August 2005 - E-Reserves Trial
  During the Fall 2005 semester Grace Library is implementing a trial of an electronic reserves (E-Reserves) service for two sections of TH101Religion and Human Experience classes. E-Reserves will (in accordance with copyright laws) offer computerized access to class reserve materials (journal articles, portions of books, etc.) through Carlow's Blackboard system.
  
  Depending on the outcome of this trial this may become a service to the entire community in the future. If you have any questions about E-Reserves contact Ted Bergfelt , Coordinator of Public Services.

• August 2005 - Thank you Shannon! Thank you Cher!
  The library staff is very grateful to our work study students for all their hard work this summer. Their cheerful dispositions and conscientiousness made working with them such a pleasure! Cher and Shannon did a lot of the work on our new Superhero Bulletin Board.
  

• July 2005 - Empty inkjet cartridges = New Library Materials
  Grace Library is continuing it's very successful inkjet recycling program. Last fiscal year we raised over $200 for new books and periodicals. Here is what the program is about:
  
  
  • Empty inkjet cartridges can be RECYCLED and remanufactured.
    
    
  • Put a used cartridge in a Ziploc bag or the original box to keep it safe from damages and spills.
  • Put those empty cartridges in the collection box on the second level of Grace Library. Or, drop the cartridges in the campus mail addressed to Grace Library
  • The library gets paid for each empty inkjet cartridge that has a print head. This money will go towards purchasing new library materials.
  • We need cartridges from all of the following brands of printers that have print heads: HP, Lexmark, Xerox, Compaq, Samsung, Kodak, Canon, Apple.
    Epson print cartridges can not be accepted, since the Epson cartridges are just ink tanks without a print head.
  • Thanks in advance for helping the library recycle those old ink cartridges and participating in this fund raising program

• June 2005 - Welcome, Welcome and Welcome!
  Please join the library staff in welcoming three new staff members. Emily Matas, a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Information Science and Erica Hines-McGee, a recent Carlow graduate, have both started as Part Time Temporary Public Services Librarians. Erica and Emily are filling in for Emily Cantin while she is on maternity leave.
  
  Shamsa Mubeen, a Ph.D. student at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Information Science, is a new volunteer in the library's Technical Services Department. Shamsa comes to Pittsburgh from Pakistan where she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Library and information Science at the University of Balochistan.
  Welcome Erica, Emily and Shamsa!

• June 2005 - THANK YOU PNC Foundation!
  Elaine Misko, the Director of Library Services, is extremely happy to announce a grant award from the PNC Foundation. This grant enables the library to begin an automation replacement process and join the PACLI consortium for resource sharing among major academic libraries in Pennsylvania.

• June 2005 - Reference Survey Results
  During the month of April the Library conducted a survey of reference satisfaction.
  
  Below are the results (ranking on a one to five scale, one being the lowest and five the highest):
  
  
  • Usefulness of the information provided -The average response was 4.79.
  • Satisfaction with the amount of information provided - The average response was 4.70.
  • Completeness of the answer received : The average response was 4.77.
  • Helpfulness of the staff -The average response was 4.92!
  • Overall satisfaction - The average response was 4.75.

The Director of Library Services is very pleased with these results and is grateful to all those who took the time to complete the survey. This valuable feedback will be used to make the library services even more useful to the Carlow Community.

• June 2005 - Hot Summer Books
  Need some light reading for your vacation? Come in and borrow any of the summer - themed books on display at Grace Library this month.
  
  This month's display also highlights books selected for the library's collection by the Education Department's Roberta Schomburg.
  

• May 2005 - Celebrate motherhood at Grace Library.
  In honor of Mothers Day Grace Library is displaying books exploring relationships between mothers and their children. Some of these books are works of fiction, some are non-fiction, all are interesting!

This month's display also highlights books selected for the library's collection by the Theology Department's, Jack Alverson.

Please stop by the library soon to borrow any of our displayed books.

• May 2005 - Congratulations to our carnival contest winners!
  A heartfelt thank you to everyone who stopped by Grace Library's carnival table on April 28th and entered our raffle to win a lovely Cat in the Hat throw. The winner of the raffle was Courtney Bergstein.
  
  Also, a special thank you to everyone who answered our bonus question:
  
  " If you were a book, what would your cover look like?"
  The answer with the most votes from our staff was "striped socks." The winner received a "Wild Thing" stationary set.
  
  The following answers also received a few votes:
  • " a solid black [cover] with a large abstract firefly painted in many different colors,"
  • " a black tree outlined in gold,"
  • " my book would be read so much that it wouldn't have a cover,"
  • and "a kitchen cupboard. "

Honorable mentions should also be given to the contestant who said her book cover would picture "chaos" and another who said her cover would be be "a hat! "

Thanks again to everyone who played. We had a terrific time reading through your incredibly creative answers.

• April 2005 - Library Awarded Grant
  Elaine Misko, the Director of Library Services, is delighted to announce that Grace Library has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the A. J. and Sigismunda Palumbo Charitable Trust. This money will be combined with a generous anonymous donation received in 2004 to purchase a new library automation system.
  

• April 10th - April 16th, 2005 - National Library Week
  
  Imagine if you went to the library and there was nobody there to help.
  How would you begin your research?
  What if you had questions?
  What if the Internet returned thousands of websites and you had no idea where to start?
  
  The Campaign for America’s Libraries and Grace Library want you to know that whether it’s digital reference and government information or manuscripts and special collections, there’s something for everyone @ your library.
  
  This is National Library Week, the perfect time to tell your fellow students and professors why college and research libraries are an essential part of the learning community. Stand up and speak out for libraries today!

• April 2005 - Jazz it up in April
  April is National Jazz month. The library is celebrating by displaying some of the library's jazz books as well as books selected for the library's collection by the Music Department's Kenan Foley.