Welcome to 2019 at RPL!  While the librarians have not yet been replaced by Alexa or replicants, we have been making changes to welcome the new year with improvements to the collections and services.

Shrinking Print Journals—Growing Online Journals

The excess first floor shelving is in the process of being removed to carve out more space for students to study.  Through a combination of decreased usage, increased costs, and a decline in print publications in general, the collection of magazines and journals on the first floor has shrunk.  While we still have many journals, magazines, and newspapers available for browsing, much of our collection has shifted to online-only formats.  If your favorite magazine or newspaper has disappeared from that location, check our Find It database to find its online equivalent.

While the paper collection has gotten leaner, the online journal collection has grown fat and richer in content and accessibility.  Last summer, the library added several new Gale databases covering everything from literature to environmental science, and we continue to add journals throughout the year through the purchase of database collections.  The library currently has access to tens of thousands of electronic journals and newspapers.  Find them all in our A-to-Z eJournals finder.

Spark Joy with our DVD Collection

The library holds over 6,000 DVDs, but finding something for the perfect Friday night chill-out or Monday morning class can be a challenge.  To help make browsing easier, the library has reorganized and relabeled the collection to better serve both needs.  Educational films, documentary films, and recorded performances have been moved to the taller shelves, while the rest of the collection—motion pictures, animated, foreign films, etc.—remain where they were, with more room to grow.

Audiobooks have also been re-shelved at the end of the DVD collection, providing greater visibility to this underutilized resource.

You can also browse our collection virtually by genre using our DVD Genre website.  All results are sorted with newest releases at the top.

New Databases

The library also recently acquired new databases for Education, Engineering and Music:

• Education Week – An online journal covering K-12 education news, analysis, and opinion
• Inspec— Includes bibliographic citations and indexed abstracts from publications in the fields of physics, engineering, environmental science, nanotechnology and more.
• Naxos Music Library World— Listen to music from over 160 countries and 1,500 cultural groups.

Save the Date—International Film Festival is back!

The 4th Annual International Film Festival begins next month, February 27th and runs through March 14th with a slate of award-winning and thought-provoking films from around the globe.  View a list of upcoming movies at our website: http://libguides.atu.edu/4iff

To keep up to date on all of the new collections and happenings at the library in 2019, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  In the meantime, happy new year, and if you have questions about any of the above changes or if you would like to know how we did on the Voight-Kampff test—Ask Us!

Join us at the Ross Pendergraft Library on November 12th, 7:00 P.M. in RPL 300B,  for a special presentation from local author, Nancy Dane where she will discuss the “Hidden Gems of History”—the unique, local, and strange events of the River Valley that help inspire her children’s books and novels.  This event is free and open to the public.

She will also be signing copies of her latest historical fiction book, Secrets, which is set Arkansas and Indian Territory in the 1870s and features real-life figures like the Judge Isaac Parker (a.k.a. the Hanging Judge) and Bass Reeves, the first black lawman west of the Mississippi.  A copy of this book is also available for check-out in the library.

Nancy Dane has published several books including Tattered Glory, a non-fiction documentary history of the Civil War in the Arkansas River Valley.  She is also the author of children’s books such as Sarah Campbell: Tale of a Civil War Orphan which received the 2016 DeBlack Award, presented by the Arkansas Historical Society for best book in Arkansas History for young readers. This novel also received the Amazon Readers Favorite Award.

She has written other historical fiction novels such as A Reasonable Doubt, a novel of reconstruction in Arkansas, and Where the Road Begins, a historical fiction of the Civil War set on the Little Piney Creek.

For more information, you can call us at (479) 964-0546 or email Luke Heffley at lheffley@atu.edu.  Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for more events and presentations from the library.

The Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center officially closed at 3:00 P.M. on Wednesday, Oct. 10, due to water issues impacting campus.  If all problems are resolved, the library will re-open at 8:00 A.M. on Thursday, Oct.11th, and we will observe special Fall Break hours:

• Thursday, Oct. 11th — 8:00 AM-5:00 PM
• Friday, Oct. 12th — 8:00 AM-5:00 PM
• Saturday, Oct. 13th — 10:00 AM-8:00 PM
• Sunday, Oct. 14th — 1:00 PM-1:00 AM

If you are uncertain if the library is open, call ahead at (479) 964-0570 or Text at (479) 802-4876

You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for news and events.  Happy Fall Break!

The midterm elections in the United States will be held on November 6th, and if you are not yet registered to vote or updated your voter registration, the Ross Pendergraft Library can help.  We now have voter registration forms available on the first floor, across from the New Books Shelf.

To get registered and ready to perform your civic duty, simply grab a form, fill it out, slap a stamp on it, and drop it off at the post office.  The campus post office is located in the Young Building, next to the bookstore.  You can also turn it in directly to the County Clerk’s office at the Pope County courthouse.

Your voter registration must be turned in or postmarked by October 9th.    If you are just changing your current registration to a new address, it must be received no later than 4 days prior to the next election.

If you are a college student and registered in your hometown in another county or state, you can transfer your registration to your college address.  Just fill out the voter registration form with your campus current address and fill out the portion at the bottom indicating your former address.  You must keep your address CURRENT on your registration, so don’t forget to fill out another voter registration form if you reside in another county or state after graduation.  You can also vote absentee for your home state or county.

Remember, filling out the form and mailing it off does not mean you are automatically registered.  Before considering yourself a registered voter, you must receive an acknowledgment of your registration from the county clerk–usually this arrives in the mail as a card a few weeks after you have mailed or dropped off the form.

You can also check your voting status and polling location at: https://www.voterview.ar-nova.org/VoterView/Home.do.  This will tell you where to go to cast your ballot on Election Day.

**An EXAMPLE of a polling location for a registered voter residing in Russellville. Results will vary based on residence.

Who can register to vote?  Any U.S. citizen who is 18 years old or will turn 18 on or before the next Election Day can register.  You must also not be a convicted felony with an undischarged/pardoned sentence or a person judged mentally incompetent by a court.

If you are interested in voting, but not sure about the candidates or issues, here’s a list of sites and resources providing nonpartisan information on Arkansas and National elections on November 6th:

• Arkansas Ballot Issues – A project of the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service to provide fact sheets and education information about ballot issues.

• Arkansas elections, 2018 Ballotpedia — Includes a sample ballot and searchable site for candidates, offices, ballot measures for Arkansas.  Ballotpedia is a free, digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections.

• Candidate Information from Secretary of State – The Secretary of State’s interactive search for all candidates who filed in this election. You can search by candidate, contest, location, as well as past election results.

• Vote Smart – A non-profit, non-partisan site devoted to providing information primarily about candidates including positions, voting history, campaign finances, interest group rates, speeches, and public statements.

For more information on voter registration, voting instructions, or great books on American civics, ask us at: askus@atu.libanswers.com.  Remember, sometimes the path to changing the world often begins by filling out a form.

Designed by Drew Lettner for the AIGA Get Out the Vote Campaign