The Library is Closed for the Holidays

There's no place like home for the holidays, and that's where we'll be. The Library will be closed from Thursday, December 23, 2010 until we return for the Spring Semester on Monday, January 3, 2011. From January 3 to Friday, January 7, 2011, we are open from 8:30AM to 6:00PM. All of our valuable online resources, like Credo Reference and WilsonWeb Omnifile, will continue to be available 24 hours a day. Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year to you and yours.

Extended Library Hours During Finals

The Library will be open longer hours throughout finals to meet your late night studying and research needs. The hours will be extended as follows:

Tuesday, December 7--Friday, December 10: 8:30AM--Midnight
Saturday, December 11: 8:30AM--6:00PM
Sunday, December 12: CLOSED

Stop in for a quiet space to work, and don't forget to visit Eleanor's Cafe for a hot cup of coffee to keep you going.

Library Hours for Thanksgiving (Updated)

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the Library's hours will be adjusted as follows:

Tuesday, November 23: 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM;
Wednesday, November 24: 8:30 AM - 2:00 PM;
Thursday, November 25 - Saturday, November 27: CLOSED;
Sunday, November 28: 1:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Special Silver Sale at the Library

Friday, November 19, 2010

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Rosemont is offering for sale some of the silver, both sterling and silver plate, that was stored for at least a decade in the basement of Main Building and is no longer of use to the College. The sale will benefit the Rosemont community because it will defray the cost of needed databases and tables and chairs for the newly renovated "Remembering Sister Helen Mary Weisbrod, SHCJ Information Commons."

Every single piece that was unpacked was tarnished, but members of the Library Staff came to the rescue. They donned rubber gloves and with lots of silver polish and determination, they brought the teapots, flatware, vases, and bowls back to their brilliant former lives. A silver specialist did the pricing and has offered to buy some things, but we wanted to offer the Rosemont Community the chance to buy first.

The silver will be in two cases in the Kistler Library on November 19, 2010 from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Please stop by to have a look. Cathy Fennell or Mary Leahy will be pleased to show you any of the pieces you want to see.

Thank you in advance for helping us turn these items into something useful for Rosemont.

Eleanor's Cafe now Open

Coffee and tea are now available in the Library! We are pleased to offer a variety of Green Mountain Coffees and Celestial Seasonings teas for $.75 a cup. Stop by the Library to enjoy your next fresh-brewed hot beverage today.

Pardon Our Appearance: Construction Update

Construction continues on the Remembering Sr. Helen Mary Weisbrod, SHCJ Information Commons, and today we have some pictures to share of the work in progress.


In this first picture you can see a new wall being erected in the area that was behind the circulation desk. This will be part of the new self-service coffee bar.

The second picture shows the reference room with the carpeting pulled up, the ceiling tiles pulled down, and, in the back, new walls being built. These walls will become group study rooms that will provide students a semi-private space to work together.

Pardon Our Appearance: Construction has begun!

Construction has officially begun on the Remembering Sr. Helen Mary Weisbrod, SHCJ, Information Commons. Workers have started the demolition phase of the project, pulling up the old flooring and removing light fixtures. They will be working all summer long to have the renovation completed in time for the start of classes in the Fall 2010 semester.

The library will be open during the renovation with modified hours. The main entrance is part of the construction zone and will be closed to the public. For the summer we will be entering through the library's original doors facing Connelly Green. We will be here to serve you all summer, so stop in to see us.

Summer hours at the Library

Due to the renovation work that will be taking place in the library this summer, our hours will be modified from May 10 through August 22, 2010, as follows:

Monday - Thursday             8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. (with some exceptions)
Fridays (until June 4)            8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.  
Friday (after June 4)            Closed
Saturday & Sunday            Closed (with some exceptions)

The Library will be open for Commencement on Saturday, May 15 and Reunion on Saturday, June 5. We will be closed for Memorial Day from May 29-31, and Independence Day from July 2-5.

Throughout the summer, the Computer Classrooms in the Brown Science Building and the Conwell Multimedia Center in Lawrence Hall will be open whenever those buildings are open.

The Library's electronic resources are also available from your home computer at any time. Simply follow the instructions posted on our Online Resources page for access.                       

New in the Library: Credo Reference

The library has started a subscription to Credo Reference, an online collection of nearly 500 reference books. This service provides a reliable source of information with its full-text access to encyclopedias, dictionaries and more reference books from over 70 respected academic publishers.
With sources covering all of the major disciplines--including art, literature, history, philosophy, psychology, religion, science, medicine, social sciences, and more--whatever your topic, Credo Reference is a great place to start your research.

Special Hours for Finals Week

The library will have extended hours during finals week of the Undergraduate College. The hours will be as follows:

Friday, April 30, 2010: 8:30 AM - Midnight
Saturday, May 1, 2010: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday, May 2, 2010: 1:00 PM - Midnight
Monday, May 3, 2010: 8:30 AM - Midnight
Tuesday, May 4, 2010: 8:30 AM - Midnight
Wednesday, May 5, 2010: 8:30 AM - Midnight

Pardon Our Appearance: The Prep Work Continues

The changes in the library continue with the end of the semester and the start of our renovation fast approaching. We have moved some of the books in the reference collection to other parts of the library to free up shelf space. This work has allowed us to remove some of the shelving that will not be included in the new Information Commons, starting with the shelving on the front wall of the reference room.


The three free-standing shelving units have also been removed. The space looks empty now, but when the renovation is complete it will hold a bank of computers and a seating area with tables and chairs.

Own a Piece of Rosemont History

The library's old card catalog cabinets are available for purchase. Here are the details:

Library Catalog Cabinets
$400 each
4'5.5'' H x 3'10'' W x 17.5'' D
Ninety-one drawers--3'' H x 5'' W, size of a 3x5 index card
Comes with or without cards

Act now to own a piece of Rosemont history. We've already sold four cabinets and only two remain. If you are interested, contact Kathleen Deeming at 610-527-0200 x2271, or kdeeming@rosemont.edu. 
The phone booth in the library's lobby will soon be available, as well. Check back for details.

Pardon Our Appearance

In my previous post I said that you would start to see changes in the library as we get ready for our big renovation project. Well, those changes have begun. The picture above shows the Main Reading Room with empty shelves, as the current periodicals have been moved downstairs to Rm. 112 with all of the back issues. The shelves were cleared to make room for the books in the Reference Room and other essential materials from the sections of the library that will be inaccessible during the renovation. We have already moved the popular books and DVDs from the lobby onto shelves in the Reading Room.


We also started making some changes in the Reference Room. The reference desk was disassembled and has been given a new home in the General Office. We are now using one of the tables from the Reference Room as a makeshift desk.


Finally (for now), the old built-in card catalog has been removed from the wall outside the Reference Room. That whole wall will be taken down to make the Remembering Sr. Helen Mary Weisbrod, SHCJ Information Commons a more open space.

Library Renovation Set to Begin

A little over a year ago we proudly announced an exciting renovation project that would transform the Gertrude Kistler Memorial Library. Now that transformation is about to begin. Construction of the Remembering Sr. Helen Mary Weisbrod, SHCJ Information Commons is scheduled to begin after Commencement, on May 17, 2010. Students returning in the Fall will find a beautiful, flexible, technology-rich environment designed by Kimmel Bogrette Architecture + Site, who previously oversaw the renovation of Connelly Hall. The Library's lobby and Reference Room will be completely changed into a single space with workstations, group study rooms, and a new information desk, all designed to enhance and encourage collaboration. There will also be a self-service coffee bar, Eleanor's Cafe, named for the late Eleanor M. Weisbrod, whose generosity has made the renovation possible. We will be working feverishly to get the Library ready for the renovation, and you will begin to see changes in the weeks ahead. We will be using this space to keep you posted, so check back for updates.

Project MUSE Access Expanded

The Library has upgraded its subscription to Project MUSE from the Standard to the Premium Collection. What this means to you is an additional 134 current, full-text, scholarly journals, with significant additions in the fields of Literature, History, Asian Studies, Politics & Policy Studies, Film, Theater, & Performing Arts, Religion, Women’s Studies, Education, Sociology, Anthropology, Medieval & Renaissance Studies, and Art & Architecture. As Premium Collection subscribers, we will also have access to any journals added to Project MUSE in the future.

Project MUSE is a full-text collection of over 400 scholarly, peer reviewed journals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences from nearly 30 university presses and scholarly societies, including The Johns Hopkins University Press and The Brookings Institution. You can start exploring Project MUSE by clicking here or you can always find a link on the Library's home page under Online Resources.

New in the Library: Philosopher's Index Online

Kistler Memorial Library is now offering the Philosopher’s Index online. The Philosopher’s Index provides indexing and abstracts of books, anthologies, and articles from over 620 journals in philosophy and related interdisciplinary fields. Comprehensively covering the philosophy literature from 1940 to the present, the Philosopher’s Index is an excellent starting point for research on ethics, aesthetics, logic, metaphysics, the philosophy of religion, education, and more. The Philosopher's Index is available via FirstSearch. At the FirstSearch home page, select "PhilosopherIndex" from the list of databases.

Welcome!

Welcome to Kistler Library Notes, the new blog of Rosemont's Gertrude Kistler Memorial Library. We will be using this space to keep you up to date on what is happening in the library, to put a spotlight on library resources old and new, and hopefully to have a little fun. Take a look around and leave a comment to let us know what you think.