A Semester in Review

Next week is finals week (You've already started studying, right???),  I am pretty sure this is what everyone thinks of finals:

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

Gate count: We had over 14,000 visitors in the library this semester.  

Circulation: We had over 1,300 movies, errrr, books I mean, checked out since the semester started.  This is about 150 more than this time last year!

Reserve items: Professors have put several items on reserve for students to use this semester.  Over 300 of these items were used at some point during the school year.  

Databases: Everyone has been doing their research this semester!  We have had over 70,000 searches through our databases since January!  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!  We have answered over 2,500 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 questions, in case you are wondering.)

Interlibrary loan: We have borrowed about 150 items this semester for students, faculty and staff.  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 500 new items to our collection this semester.  You will find that we added quite a few movies for you guys to watch for some downtime while you were studying.  We think it is important to offer things that help you take a breather from school, every once in awhile.  

Social Media: We had over 2,300 clicks on our blog and social media accounts this semester.  We tried to show you some of the displays that we had in the library.  We also brought you reviews on a few books to look into (we had over 20 book reviews to offer you) and shows to watch as well. 

IT Requests; 472.  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 semester and we wanted to thank them!

Hours: We extended our hours this semester to 9:00 p.m. so that we could offer a place for quiet studying and group meetings.  We are thankful for this extension and think you were too!

We wanted to thank the faculty, students and staff for being so supportive of the library this semester.  We received many suggestions for new items and we are always happy to listen to what the people want!  We have seen an increase in several of the above categories in comparison to previous semesters, so we thank you.

Lastly, as you gear up for finals make sure to stop by the Vise Library for cookies and coffee:

Stressed out by exams?

Take a study break with coffee and cookies in the library!

We’re serving a variety of cookies and fresh, hot coffee at 7 PM, Sunday, May 3 through Wednesday, May 6. Drop in and take a few minutes to unwind and load up on caffeine!

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: