Learning Commons Update

The W.E.B. Du Bois Library and Learning Commons will remain closed on Monday, August 11 as testing of the electrical system continues. The Integrated Sciences & Engineering Library in LGRC will be open on Monday from 8 am - 5 pm.

Before heading to Du Bois on Tuesday 8/12, you may wish to call the Libraries’ Hours Hotline at (413) 545-0414 just to be sure we are up and running.

The W.E.B. Du Bois Library, and therefore the Learning Commons, will be closed all day on Saturday, August 9, 2008. The building is experiencing electrical problems that led to this last-minute closure. We apologize for this inconvenience.

The SPIRE Support Team will be in the Learning Commons this July conducting usability testing to try to make SPIRE a better tool for students. They are looking for people to give 10-15 minutes of time to try out a few tasks on SPIRE. In return, you will get a gift certificate for free ice cream from Bart’s.

Look for the SPIRE support team in the Learning Commons on the following dates:

• Tuesday, 7/15/08, 11 am – 1 pm
• Thursday, 7/17/08, 11 am – 1 pm
• Tuesday, 7/22/08, 11 am – 1 pm
• Thursday, 7/24/08, 11 am – 1 pm

Questions? Contact Joann Ceasar, jceasar@oit.umass.edu.

On Monday, July 7, the W.E.B. Du Bois Library and Learning Commons will open at 9:00 am (an hour later than usual) to allow for our annual state elevator inspection and emergency system testing.

Come talk about your writing with a tutor! The Writing Center will be open during the following summer hours: Tuesdays & Wednesdays 10am-4pm, June 17 through August 20. Sign in to WCOnline to make an appointment for a free tutorial session.

Note: Appointments run 45 minutes, but please reserve the full hour because, after you leave, tutors have a little work to do before their next tutorial session. Thanks, and write to writingcenter@acad.umass.edu if you have any questions or suggestions.

Congratulations to everyone who made it through another semester, especially the graduates of 2008.

The LC has reopened after a much-needed weekend break, and we’re now operating on our summer schedule. If you’re in the area, stop on in. You almost certainly won’t have to wait in line for a computer…

Try our new “Quick Print” station on the brick column across from the Plasma Screen Display.

Print anything from your UDrive, a USB drive, or a Memory Card to a B & W or Color printer.

• Available to the public
• Reads documents and images from a 12-in-1 memory card reader
• To get you in and out quickly, documents cannot be edited
• Exclusively for printing – no Internet access
• Give any name to your document and enter it at any of the printers between the LC and Reference and Research Assistance Desks to release your print job with your UCard or Guest UCard
• Pilot program
• Send your feedback to http://www.umass.edu/learningcommons/feedback.html or just let the LC Desk staff know what you think

The Reserve, Media & Microforms (RMM) Department on Floor 3 of the Du Bois Library is now open 24/5—all the hours the W.E.B. Du Bois Library is open (Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Sunday 11:00 a.m. through Friday 9:00 p.m.).  Library users can now check out tablet PCs/laptops from the Reserve Desk during all the hours the Library is open.  Students may borrow a laptop for 4 hours for use inside the building and renew it when returned if other laptops are available.  The number of laptops for loan has doubled to over 50.  All laptops must be returned to RMM at closing on Friday and Saturday nights at 9:00 p.m. The Learning Commons desk no longer accepts laptops for safekeeping.

A Sanyo PLC-XU56 Multimedia Projector is also available for loan from the Reserve Desk under the same policies as the laptops.

Course reserves, media, and microforms are also available 24/5.  Library users can watch videos or DVDs on reserve for their class, request a microform, or ask a question at the service desk.  Loan periods for reserve and media materials remain unchanged.

The Learning Commons and Technical Support Desk, Lower Level, Learning Commons, now offers graphing calculators, heavy duty headphones, and diskette drives for 2 hour loan for use in the building. 

The new Staple Station across from the Learning Commons and Technical Support Desk is conveniently supplied with productivity tools such as stapler, scissors, hole punch, and more.

Wireless is now available in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library on the Lower and Entrance Levels and Floors 2, 3, 5, and 13 and throughout the Integrated Sciences and Engineering Library.

Give us an hour, we’ll give you a free USB drive.The Libraries are looking for a few undergraduate volunteers to help us evaluate an online research tool. The study takes 45 minutes to an hour, and in exchange you’ll get a 512 MB USB drive. To volunteer, just email Kelcy Shepherd (kshepher@library.umass.edu) to set up a time.

Students with a valid UCard can borrow a Dell Latitude D630 laptop for four hours at a time from the Reserves Desk on the 3rd Floor. Laptops are for use in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library. To find out if a laptop is available, type “du bois laptop” into the Library Catalog search box. Laptops can be renewed for another four hours when no one is waiting.