Stellar Students

Congratulations to Lacie Micek and Mary Pearce on being chosen as Star Students for spring semester!

Star Students are library student employees who have demonstrated superior performance in their departments. The library depends heavily on student workers and wishes to recognize those that go above and beyond the call of duty.

Thanks, Lacie and Mary!

Scott Bennett: Libraries and Learning 7p.m. Monday

The Lefler Lecture this year will be given by Scott Bennett, an expert on library design. At 7 p.m. in Alumni Hall on Monday, March 21st, he will explore the history of libraries and the ways that prevailing assumptions about the purpose of libraries is built into their architecture. His groundbreaking study of library design, published by the Council on Library and Information Resources in 2003, has led academic libraries around the world to reexamine their basic ideas about library design, focusing on factors that encourage learning.

In addition to the lecture, Bennett will spend two days on campus speaking with students and faculty as well as the library staff about ways our library can think about design with learning as our first principle. We encourage and welcome your participation!

Students will have an opportunity to discuss their learning styles and preferences from 1:30 - 2:30 on Monday in AVII. Students who attend will be entered into a drawing for $5.00 printing cards.

Faculty are also encouraged to share their thoughts with Bennett at 3:30 in AV II. Since the library hopes to support both student learning and faculty teaching and scholarship, faculty perspectives are invaluable.

For more of Scott Bennett's writing, see "Righting the Balance" in Library as Place: Rethinking Roles, Rethinking Space Council on Library and Information Resources, 2005; "Designing for Uncertainty: Three Approaches" Journal of Academic Librarianship 33.2 (March 2007): 165-179; and "Libraries and Learning: A History of Paradigm Change," portal: Libraries and the Academy. 9.2 (April 2009): 181-197.

The Lefler Lecture was established in 1993 by Mary Jane Lefler in memory of her husband, Herbert P. Lefler. The event occurs annually and carries on the Lefler family tradition of inquiry and learning. The library is grateful to the Lecture Committee and the Lefler family for this opportunity.

Remember Me: Voices of the Silenced

Gustavus is hosting "Remember Me: Voices of the Silenced”, a traveling gallery of powerful interactive artwork from Colombia, which testifies to the struggles of the victims of violence during the last 50 years in Colombia.   The exhibit will be available for viewing in the library from March 14 to March 26 in the room to the right of the electronic classroom. On the opening night of the exhibit – March 14 – there will be a lecture and reception.  Nils Dybvig and Michele Braley will speak about their work with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Colombia accompanying human rights workers at 7pm in Alumni Hall.   This will be followed by a reception and then the opening of the exhibit at the library.

For more information, see the story in the Gustavian Weekly. 

Sponsored by Peace Studies; Office of the Chaplains; LALACS; Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; Crossroads. Special thanks to Melissa Perron who assisted with the planning and our intern, Kristy Proctor.

Library Design Contest!

Creative? Looking for a fun challenge? Enter the Library Design Contest! We're looking for a creative design to represent the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library. Intrigued? Here's the scoop:

• Submissions will be accepted March 1-April 1, 2011. Winners will be announced during National Library Week, April 10-16, 2011. Contest is open to all current students.
• We encourage creative designs that inspire good thoughts about the library and reflect the library’s mission and vision:

Mission - The library advances the teaching mission and intellectual life of the College by selecting and facilitating access to information and by instructing in its use, interpretation, and evaluation.

Vision - The library will play an essential role in engaging students in critical inquiry and developing the skills and dispositions of life-long learners, prepared for lives of leadership and service in a diverse and fast-changing world. To do this, the library will support the curriculum with materials and opportunities for course-related and independent learning; will provide leadership in fostering information literacy across the curriculum; will inform the community of emerging issues in information policy and trends; and will support the intellectual and cultural life of the college by developing programs, collections, and an engaging physical and virtual space for exploration.

• Entries should be submitted in .jpg format to opcommittee@gustavus.edu by the contest deadline of April 1, 2010 11:59pm. Please do not exceed 4MB per entry.
• If you wish, include an explanation of your submitted design.
• Entries must not incorporate copyrighted material. There are no color requirements, but preference is given to entries equally appealing in color, black and white, and grayscale format and work well with the Gustavus logo.
  
• Criteria for judging include creativity, originality and relevance to the library.
• All entries will be licensed under Creative Commons 3.0; Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library will be free to use the winning design in library-related marketing, including print, web and social networking media.
• The winning design will receive a small prize, a lifetime of fame and glory and our endless appreciation.

Have questions? Email us!