Those of you who are frequent visitors to the Library may have noticed that this week we’ve been closing 30 minutes later than usual. That’s because our extended hours leading up to finals have begun! Here is the schedule:
Tuesday-Thursday, Dec. 1st-3rd, 8AM-12Midnight
Friday, Dec. 4th, 8AM-10PM
Saturday, Dec. 5th, 9AM-9PM
Sunday, Dec. 6th, 12Noon-12Midnight
Monday-Thursday, Dec. 7th-10th, 7AM-2AM
Friday, Dec. 11th, 8AM-12Midnight
Saturday, Dec. 12th, 8AM-5PM
And as usual, the Pro Deo room is open 24 hours, and is accessible by swiping your Royal Card after hours.
It’s December, and the holiday season is in full gear here at the Library. Our lobby is decked with boughs of garland; our study spaces are filled with students dreaming of a white Christmas; and the smell of Java City peppermint mocha fills the air.
How does Santa arrive at the Library? Through the fireplace, of course.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Christmas at the Library without the one and only Santa Claus. We’re thrilled to announce that St. Nick will be dropping by again this year, and he has graciously offered to pose for portraits with our students, faculty, staff, and community members. Santa will be in the Heritage Room on two different days this year: Thursday, December 3, from 11:30am – 4:00pm, and Friday, December 4, from 2:30pm – 6:00pm.
You can get a framed photograph of you with Santa for a $7 donation! All funds raised will go to help bring the magic of Christmas to a young boy in our community.
On your way up to the Heritage Room, don’t forget to stop by our Christmas Tag Sale in the lobby. You’ll find decorations, CDs, and unique gifts all available for affordable prices.
As an added bonus this holiday season, the Weinberg Memorial Library is also excited to welcome local author Peter V. Tafuri, who will sign copies of his new children’s book, The Christmas Dog. The book tells the heartwarming story of a stray dog who helps Mary and Joseph on the first Christmas. Mr. Tafuri will be in the Heritage Room with Santa on Thursday from 11:30am – 4:00pm and Friday from 2:30pm – 4:30pm. Bella, the Christmas Dog herself, won’t be joining us at the Library, but you can meet her (and have another chance to get your book signed by Mr. Tafuri) later that night at First Friday. Bella will be at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (232 Wyoming Avenue in Scranton) from 6pm-9pm.
Side note for animal lovers: In real life, Bella is a rescue dog who likes to help kids learn to read. You might also see her around the community, showing off her dancing skills to raise money for the Humane Society.
Librarian Bonnie Oldham did a "test run" of remote reference last night from 5pm-7pm in DeNaples
The Weinberg Memorial Library is thinking about offering a “remote reference” service that would bring librarians to students where they work, whether that means DeNaples, the dorms, or a classroom building.
We’d like to know if students think this would be useful. Please let us know (either in the comments or by talking to a librarian at the reference desk):
1) Would you find it useful to have a librarian available to help you with research projects somewhere outside the Library?
2) Is DeNaples (2nd floor) a good location, or would you prefer somewhere else?
3) What times of day should the remote reference service be available?
The University of Scranton’s football team may no longer be around (in fact, it’s famous on campus for being “undefeated since 1960”), but at the Weinberg Memorial Library, UofS football is back in a big way. This week, the Library is proud to announce the University of Scranton Football Collection, a digitized version of our football archives.
The collection includes over a thousand photographs of University of Scranton (and St. Thomas College) football teams, players, coaches, and games – as well as photos of the cheerleaders and marching bands who cheered them on. The collection also features a set of football game programs. The programs, produced for each home game, have team rosters, statistics, and game analysis. Most of the materials come from the years 1900 through 1960, when the varsity football team was disbanded.
This collection isn’t just for UofS football fans, though. The game programs in particular are a rich resource for researchers interested in the history of Scranton and its surrounding area. The programs were sponsored by local businesses (like the Hotel Casey), so the booklets serve as miniature “time capsules” showing slices of Scranton life over time.
We invite all students, staff, alumni, and community members to browse and search the collection at www.scranton.edu/library/football. You may also want to take a look at our brief history of University of Scranton football.
P.S. While we have identified many of the photographs, some are still mysteries. If you recognize a player, please let us know!
Many thanks to librarian Kay Lopez, library systems specialist Jennifer Maher, and digital services assistant Kevin Pheasey, who all dedicated many hours of hard work to this project.
At the end of Saturday’s Distinguished Author event, award recipient William Bernhardt read one of his poems, titled “Scratches,” to the audience. The attendees loved it, and so many people wanted a copy that we asked Mr. Bernhardt if we could post it here on Infospot. He agreed – so here, in its entirety, is “Scratches.”
Scratches
This is how it begins;
scratches on signs, on blocks
on a white page. Then the
scratches start to dance. They
recombinate, they collect sounds
they call your name.
Like so much in childhood
they are ciphers, full of secrets
but once you learn the dance
the secrets of the world
and more, are revealed.
You learn to read.
You learn:
manners from Goldilocks
curiosity from George
gluttony from Peter
the importance of nonsense from Alice.
You set sail with Jim Hawkins, raft with Huck
row with Mole.
You learn that love is eternal, from Catherine
but so is madness, says the first Mrs. Rochester.
Jeeves helps you laugh
poetry helps you cry
Atticus shows you how to do both, with courage.
Not only have the scratches shaped the world
they have shaped your world.
They have taught you how to see.
Now you need never be afraid.
Now you will never be alone.
In the darkest night
in the deepest solitude
the scratches will call to you.
You will open the covers.
They will reach out their arms and say
“Hey! You thought you were the only one?
You’re not.”
William Bernhardt, “master of the courtroom drama,” came to campus this Saturday to receive the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author award. Bernhardt gave a reading and several comments on his latest publication, Capitol Offense, and also made time to sign books for attendees. The event benefitted the Friends of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library Endowment Fund, so many thanks to all who participated!
We’ll be adding photos as we get them to our Flickr page.
We were just notified that a number of University systems will be down this Saturday, 11/14, from 7-10 am. This is due to some needed electrical upgrades which will be made to the University’s main data center.
The systems that will be down for the upgrade include Library services that require authentication (i.e. logging into My.Scranton) including the article databases, ANGEL, and university email.
If all goes well, these systems will be back up and running by 10 am that morning. Thank you, library users, for your understanding and patience! Please plan accordingly!
The lecture will be held at 7:15pm on campus in Brennan Hall, Room 228, but you can also join Dr. Childers at a cocktail reception from 6-7pm at Catlin House (232 Monroe Avenue, Scranton) prior to the lecture. Both the cocktail reception and lecture are free of charge. For more information, contact Schemel Forum director Sondra Myers at myerss2 (at) scranton (dot) edu.
Last Spring, we received feedback from grad students regarding their loan period for books. Our grad students are heavy researchers, and they made their case to us that the nature of their research requires a loan period of longer than 30 days. They pointed out that most grad level research assignments are semester-long, and so they would need their books for the length of the entire semester without the renewal period running out on them.
As a result, we have extended the loan period on books for graduate students to meet this need.
As of March of this year, the loan period for graduate students is always, at most, an entire semester. This means, when a graduate student checks out a book, it will always be due at the end of the current semester. One renewal is allowed though, which would then extend the due date to the end of the following semester.
So, to all of our grad students — happy researching!
This Thursday, November 12, the Schemel Forum is hosting a lecture and book signing by University of Pennsylvania professor 