Big Changes to Interlibrary Loan System

First, welcome back!  It is hard to believe that the summer has flown by so quickly.  We are not mentally prepared for the upcoming school year, but we will get there.  Hopefully.  We will.  Maybe...

One of the main reasons this summer has flown by is that we have taken on a huge project of revamping our interlibrary loan system.  This was a 2+ month process and we couldn't be happier with it (shout out to CU's IT department for helping!).  This will allow for an easier way and faster results for gaining access to additional resources.  

If you aren't familiar with interlibrary loan, we can fill you in!  If there is any item you need for class (or fun) that the Vise Library does not own (other than textbooks), then we can request to borrow that item from another library.  It is 99% of the time free of charge (we always let you know if there is a fee involved with the item you are requesting).  If there is a need for an item for your research project (or just for fun!) make sure you allow at least 2 weeks for your item to arrive.  This is not a service that you can procrastinate with since things take time to get here!  You've been warned.

The Old Way

If you were a user of interlibrary before then you may remember what it used to look like:

Basically it was a plain ole Google Doc that you copied and pasted information into (boooorrrrrinnnggg).  This would then be accessible to the person who handles all of the university's interlibrary loan requests (me, Ashli Wells).  The library aka Ashli would then go to the interlibrary loan system and request the item for the student, faculty or staff member and it would be up to the other libraries that we requested the item from to send the item to us.  Ashli would then email the individual that their loan request was sent and out there in the wild.  There was no way to know the progress of the item until it either arrived (happy face) or when Ashli contacted you that your request was denied (sad face).  

The New Way

But wait, this new system completely changes all of that!  "How?" you may be asking yourself.  Well, let us show you:

Start out by visiting the library's home page (www.cumberland.edu/library).  Then click on the first tab under services labeled Interlibrary Loan (You're with me so far, right?).

You will be taken to our guide that deals with interlibrary loan and answers any questions you may have!  You will then click on the "Request an Item" tab:

This is where all the new, fun stuff begins!  You will be taken to the following log-in screen.  YOU WILL USE THE SAME INFORMATION YOU USE TO SIGN INTO CANVAS in order to access the new interlibrary loan system.

Once you log-in you will see a big blue button that says "Create Request"

Once you click create request you can pick what type of material you are needing (book, movie, article, etc) and fill out the required information to submit your request.  You will also see there is an area for communication preferences. This allows you to pick the way you want to be contacted (email, text) when your item is requested, renewed, canceled, or when it arrives. 

 You can also check the status of you request at any time!  This means you won't be left wondering if you request has been processed or if it's just out in the universe somewhere.  

Also, as long as you do this SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE YOUR ITEM IS DUE, you can request for your loan period to be extended through this portal.

This interface has another way of making requesting items even easier!  If you search for an item through worldcat.org on campus or by going to the following link off campus (https://cumberlanduniversity-viselibrary.on.worldcat.org/discovery) and look for a specific item or topic, the interface will allow the information to auto populate the required information into the ILL request form.  Take a look below on how to do this:

(this is the main search screen)

Perform your search.  I used "pugs" as my search term (because, of course!) and was taken to the following screen:

Let's say I find this first book to be the most intriguing.  As long as the Vise Library does not own the item you are looking for, like this book, you will see the following button pop up after clicking the title:

Once you click this button you will be taken to the form where you will notice all of the information required (except the need by date) is filled in for us.  You will just need to hit the submit request button at the bottom of the screen to complete your request.  (If you are not logged-in to the system you will need to log-in before it will take you to the following screen.):

How is this better?

Because it just is!  It allows for requests to be submitted quickly and therefore has the potential for your items to get here at an earlier time.  It also allows you, the patron, to see that status of your item at any time through this process.  You also don't have to ask the library staff where your item is or if you can renew it.  The biggest thing is the potential for notifications.  Once you set up your preferences, you can receive notifications through your phone or email to keep you updated.  These notifications also let you know when your item is due and if it is past due (Don't do that and don't make me hunt you down).  

We hope you find this update as exciting as us!  If you have any issues with this system or have any questions, feel free to contact Ashli Wells at interlibraryloan@cumberland.edu!  Good luck with the upcoming school year and we hope to help you in the library!

2016-2017: What a year!

This week is finals week (You've studied, right???),  This is the time of year everyone wishes they went to Hogwarts:

With that being said, the Vise Library decided to do a year in review.  We thought it might be interesting (fun?) for you to see how the library was used this semester (we also used some fun .gifs to illustrate our point):

Gate count: We had over 34,000 visitors in the library this school year, compared to 23,000 this time last year.  

Circulation: We had over 3,000 movies, errrr, books I mean, checked out since the fall semester began.  This is about 700 more than last year

Reserve items: Our wonderful professors put specific materials aside that they feel would be helpful for our students to use in their classes.  These items were used 286 times, which is about 100 more than last year.

Databases: Everyone has been doing their research this semester (good job guys)!  We have had over 170,000 searches through our databases since August (130,000 last year)!  We can tell when final papers have been due...there has been a steady increase over the past month or so.

Questions:  There is no such thing as a stupid question!  Last year we were asked 3,400 questions. We have answered over 5,500 questions ranging from "How do I print something?" to "Can you help me with this citation?" to "Will you help me write my paper?" (The answer is no to the last question, in case you are wondering.)

Interlibrary loan: We have borrowed about 250 items this semester for students, faculty and staff (30 more than last year).  We have also loaned around the same amount for other institutions to use.  Sharing is caring.  (ha!)

New items: This semester we really concentrated on adding not just school related items, but also fun things as well.  We have added almost 900 new items to our collection this year (cue confetti).  That is almost 300 more than last year!!  You will find that we added quite a few movies for you guys to watch or fun books to read during all your downtime.  We think it is important to offer things that help you take a breather from school, in moderation.  

IT Requests; One million.  Kidding! However, I am sure our IT department feels that way!  We love our IT department.  They have been very helpful to the library this year and we wanted to thank them!

We wanted to thank the faculty, students and staff for being so supportive of the library this entire year.  We received many suggestions for new items and we are always happy to listen to what the people want!  This has been our busiest and best year ever, so we thank you.

Good luck to our students (and faculty) during finals week.  We will miss the seniors that are graduating and are looking forward to seeing the new and old faces in the fall!  Make sure that you stop by the library for a caffeine and sugar boost so that when you are done with finals you feel like this: 

Blog Tour: Tortured by Nicole Williams

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When he left for a twelve-month deployment, she knew it would feel like forever before they saw each other again. She didn’t realize how right she was.

When Lance Corporal Brecken Connolly gets taken as a POW, Camryn hopes for the best but steels herself for the worst. In the end, steel was what she needed to survive when he didn’t. She moves on the only way she knows how—gilding herself in more steel.

Years go by.

She builds a new life.

She leaves the old one behind.

Until one day, she sees the face of a ghost on the news. Brecken seems to have risen from the dead, but she knows she can’t perform the same miracle for herself. While Brecken was held in a torture camp for the past five years, she’s been trapped in her own kind of prison. One she can’t be freed from.  

The man she mourned comes back to join the living, but the girl he wanted to spend his life with isn’t the same woman he comes back for. Brecken isn’t the same person either. The past five years have changed them both. While he’s determined to put the pieces back together, she’s resolved to let hers rot where they shattered.

Broken or not, Brecken wants her back. He’ll do anything to achieve that. Even if it means going against the warden of Camryn’s personal prison—her husband.

“It’s been six years. Everything’s changed. I have. You have.” My eyes lifted. “Why? Why are you trying to win me back?”
He exhaled, his lips parting. “I’m going to win you back.”
When his hand slid around the bend of my waist, winding behind my back, I jerked. His touch was different tonight, hungry, determined. My head clouded, blocking out reason or letting it surface to the top, one or the other.
“I married him,” I whispered even as my hand found his chest.
“But you belong to me.”
My eyes closed as he bowed me against him. I wasn’t sure how two bodies that had been as broken as ours could be so strong when joined. “How do you know?”
“I can see it in your eyes. Every time you look at me.” His other hand lifted to my chin, tipping it until our eyes connected. His brow rose slowly, like I was proving his point right that very moment.
“That’s a confident statement.” My voice shook, but my body felt steady. Unwavering.
“It’s the truth.”
My chest was moving so hard, it brushed his with every breath. What was I doing? Where had I found myself? The man holding me had died only to be resurrected six years later. It was too late, but it wasn’t over.
No matter what, Brecken Connolly and I would never be over.
“Twenty-six days,” I said slowly. “That’s all I have to give you. That’s all I have to give. Four weeks. Once he’s back, you know the way it has to be.”
His face broke, but his hold didn’t budge. “It’s not enough.”
My fingers curled into his shirt, looking for some way to hold on to him. “I know.”
His other arm suddenly looped around me and he lifted me off the ground, his grip going around my backside when my legs tied around him. “But a fucking eternity wouldn’t be enough either, so it’ll just have to do.”
He carried me through the sand and up the stairs of the cabin, then he propped me against the wall so he could open the screen door. Something slipped out of my mouth when he flexed his hips into mine.
“Told you it wasn’t a morning issue,” he whispered in my ear, but I could hear the smile in his voice. “Just a Camryn one.”
He made the same motion with his hips, applying a little more friction this time, causing a louder sound to echo from my lungs.
Opening the screen door as silently as he could, he carried me inside.
“You can set me down, you know?” I whispered.
“I know,” he said, his arms tying tighter. Once all of the lights were off, the cabin closed up for the night, he padded down the hall.
“You know where you’re going?”
His head nodded beside mine. “I’ve always known.”
My hands went behind his neck. His skin was warm and familiar. “And where’s that?”
He exhaled against my skin as he closed the bedroom door. “Toward you.”
He set me down once he’d untied my legs from around his waist, and he took a few steps back. He stared at me for a moment then reached for the lamp on the dresser.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Turning on the lights.”
I watched him flip on another. “Why?”
“Because I want to see you. Because I want to watch your face as I move inside you. Because I want to see your skin flush when I make you come.” He flipped on one more light, then all of his attention turned to me. “Because I want to see everything.”
My heart took off as I imagined being intimate with him with every light in the room on. My body wasn’t the same one he’d left. It had carried a burden; it bore the scars of a shattered soul and a broken body. “I don’t want you to see me. Not like that. In the dark, you can imagine the way I was before.”
When I reached for the closest lamp to switch it off, he stopped me. “I don’t want to imagine.” His hand curled around mine, guiding it away from the lamp. “I want the real thing. I want the real you.”
“You’ve seen my body. You know what I look like beneath all of this.” I motioned at the fresh clothes hanging off of me, covering me from my wrists to my ankles to my neck.
“When I look at you, I see beauty and strength, and the one person in the world who gives me a reason to live and a reason to die.” He drew me to him, his face creased in lines of concentration. “That’s what I see when I look at you.”

Review

So I've pretty much decided that Nicole Williams is one of my favorite authors.  Even though I haven't read every single book by her (I'm making my way through them, I swear!), I find that I have liked every single one of them.  That's not an easy task, but somehow she always writes a good one.  I was immediately intrigued when I found out about this book and its description!  This is a story about Brecken and Camryn.  They have loved each other all their lives, but Brecken has to go overseas for his job in the military.  Camryn is, of course, very nervous about his stint in the Middle East, but Brecken reassures her that he will be back.  However, Brecken is taken captive and Camryn witnesses his execution on TV.  She is of course devastated and that is where this book takes off 6 years later.  It turns out Brecken wasn't executed, but was instead held captive for the entire six years that Camryn has thought him dead.  Camryn has a new life now that included a husband and a child and it turns her world upside down (in more ways than one) when Brecken returns home.

I can't give you anything else past this point, because it would give too much of the plot away.  Just know that this is an intense story and the beginning of the last chapter made my heart stop.  This book has several great twists to it and has very lovable characters like all of the author's books.  You will love it!

Nicole Williams is the New York Times and USATODAY bestselling author of contemporary and young adult romance, including the Crash and Lost & Found series. Her books have been published by HarperTeen and Simon & Schuster in both domestic and foreign markets, while she continues to self-publish additional titles. She is working on a new YA series with Crown Books (a division of Random House) as well. She loves romance, from the sweet to the steamy, and writes stories about characters in search of their happily even after. She grew up surrounded by books and plans on writing until the day she dies, even if it’s just for her own personal enjoyment. She still buys paperbacks because she’s all nostalgic like that, but her kindle never goes neglected for too long. When not writing, she spends her time with her husband and daughter, and whatever time’s left over she’s forced to fit too many hobbies into too little time.

Nicole is represented by Jane Dystel, of Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency.

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Blog Tour: A Star to Steer Her By by Beth Anne Miller

ABOUT A STAR TO STEER HER BY

I’m scarred. Broken. I’ll never be the same. But I will take this journey. Ever since my last dive ended in bloodshed, I’ve been terrified to go back into the water. But the opportunity to spend a semester at sea is too good to pass up. I need to get my life back. I never expected to love it this much. And I never expected Tristan MacDougall. Rugged, strong, and with demons of his own, Tristan helps me find the courage I thought I had lost and heals me with every stolen moment we share. But the rules of the ship mean we can't be together. When a dive excursion goes terribly wrong, our only hope for survival is each other.

Review:

Ari has been accepted into a semester at sea program, the only problem is that Ari is recovering from a shark attack that happened 6 months ago.  Not only was her body affected, but also her mind.  Her relationship with her twin brother has not recovered from the accident because they both believe he was the cause of Ari's accident.  She almost turned down the opportunity to sail from the Caribbean to New York numerous times, but ultimately she decides to go for it.  She is of course, cautious of the water, but she starts to find her rhythm aboard the boat.  She is enjoying her lessons and making new friends on her voyage.  Ari's interested in one of the deckhands: Tristan.  He interests her and pushes her to face her fears.  They soon become very close friends and they both realize that they click together.  However,  it is against the rules for students and boat workers to have any kind of relationship.  They both have something to lose that they have worked for their entire lives if they are found out.  Tristan helps Ari face her fears and Ari helps Tristan deal with the hurt from his past.  They both realize this is not a passing interest and both are afraid of what happens at the end of their voyage.  Will their relationship survive the trip and what happens when it's over?  Read the book to find out!  (Our copy of this book will be available soon for check-out!)

This book was so much fun!  It gives a lot of information about sailing and the trials of living at sea.  The struggles of Ari seemed very real as she overcomes such a horrific event.  She is struggling with herself and her relationship with her family.  The growth of Ari was wonderful to see and I loved the developments between Ari and Tristan.  There was so much adventure in this story and I found myself cheering for Ari as she confronted her fears.  This was such a fun read and I loved every minute of it!

 

Purchase: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Kobo | Entangled Publishing

ABOUT BETH ANNE MILLER Beth Anne Miller’s first book, written in elementary school, was bound in pink fabric and was about—what else?—a girl and her horse. She soon began cheating on horses with the sea, becoming an open water scuba diver at age 14. That love of the sea led her to a college semester aboard a schooner. She returned with fond memories of the exhilaration of being on a ship under full sail, less fond memories of hurling over the leeward rail on a daily basis, and a sailing bug she couldn’t quite shake. In addition to horses and the sea, she has a fascination for all things Scottish (including, but not limited to, men in kilts), which she explored with her first novel, INTO THE SCOTTISH MIST (The Wild Rose Press, 2011), and carried into her new novel, A STAR TO STEER HER BY (Entangled Embrace, March 2017). A native New Yorker, Beth Anne works in the publishing industry and is always looking ahead to her next voyage, whether a short one on a dive boat or whale watch, or, with luck, a longer one on a tall ship. Connect with Beth Anne Miller:

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#WRC2017: It Happens All the Time by Amy Hatvany

This fall, members of the Vise Library are participating in the Booksparks Winter Reading Challenge! We have received copies of several books from publishers for honest reviews. We hope that you enjoy these reviews (and books)!

About the book:

From master storyteller Amy Hatvany - whose writing has been hailed as "gripping and emotionally honest" (Stephanie Evanovich, New York Times best-selling author) comes a provocative and compelling novel about two friends whose lives are changed by a drunken kiss.

I want to rewind the clock, take back the night when the world shattered. I want to erase everything that went wrong.

Amber Bryant and Tyler Hicks have been best friends since they were teenagers - trusting and depending on each other through some of the darkest periods of their young lives. And while Amber has always felt that their relationship is strictly platonic, Tyler has long harbored the secret desire that they might one day become more than friends.

Returning home for the summer after her college graduation, Amber begins spending more time with Tyler than she has in years. Despite the fact that Amber is engaged to her college sweetheart, a flirtation begins to grow between them. One night, fueled by alcohol and concerns about whether she's getting married too young, Amber kisses Tyler.

What happens next will change them forever.

In alternating points of view, It Happens All the Time examines the complexity of sexual dynamics between men and women and offers an incisive exploration of gender roles, expectations, and the ever-timely issue of consent.

I will have to say that this book is very heavy and it is about a topic that needs to be discussed more often.  Consent and date rape are very real topics in our society that happen "all the time."  This book explores that topic between two people that have known each other their whole lives.  Amber and Tyler have been best friends and Amber trusts Tyler more than anyone else in her life.  She gets engaged and Tyler really hopes she leaves her fiance for him.  However, one drunken kiss leads to something that will ultimately change them and their relationship forever.  This book shows us both Amber and Tyler's points of views after the rape and revisiting their past friendship together.
  
This book is not just for women, but for men as well in order to understand what "no" really means, no ifs ands or buts.  I think this book sheds light on the fact that rape can happen to literally anyone and that it can happen from the person you least expect or the person you trust the most.  It is very heart felt and really hard to read at times.  However, in order to confront issues and understand them, hard things need to be taken head-on.  I think Hatvany does just that and should (hopefully) make a difference into this everyday nightmare!
  

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

About the author:

Amy Hatvany graduated with a degree in Sociology only to discover most sociologists are unemployed. Soon followed a variety of jobs - some of which she loved, like decorating wedding cakes; others which she merely tolerated, like receptionist. 

In 1998, Amy finally decided to sell her car, quit her job, and take a chance on her passion: writing books. Her background in sociology inspires and informs much of her writing as she tackles timely and controversial issues in her novels including mental illness, domestic abuse, and alcoholism. She is the author of BEST KEPT SECRET, OUTSIDE THE LINES (a Target book club pick in 2012 and a Costco Pennie's Pick in 2013), THE LANGUAGE OF SISTERS, HEART LIKE MINE, SAFE WITH ME (a Good Housekeeping pick), and SOMEWHERE OUT THERE (a Target Recommended Read).

Amy lives in Seattle with her husband and children. You can learn more at www.amyhatvany.com.

Connect with the author:

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