Like Us? Love Us?  Are the Vibes Off?  Tell Us!

Posted on April 15, 2024 Written by

The annual library survey is now live and listening:

https://questionpro.com/t/ADooIZ1sUz

Tell us how the library’s collections, services, and spaces mattered to YOU in 2023.  If you’ve ever used our website or stepped foot in any of the library buildings (Ozark Campus Library or the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center), we want to hear what you think about your library.  The survey is short and completely anonymous because–as always–we value the privacy of our users.

Have you ever wanted something different in the library?  More study spaces?  More books?  Less noise? An entirely new floor with a café, movie theater, and popcorn machine?

Bill Hader, from SNL, looking deranged and eating popcorn out of an oversized bucket.

From now until April 19th when the survey closes is your chance to let us know!

We hope you will continue to tell us what we do best and what we can do better on this year’s survey.  If you want a more direct approach, send us a text, email, or chat.  If you prefer the socials, we can be found on Facebook and Instagram.  No matter how you do it, let us know how we can make your library better.

Filed Under: Library Tagged:

Totality Awesome!

Posted on March 27, 2024 Written by

Unless you are living under a rock, you know that April 8th is a special day for Arkansas Tech University, Russellville, Arkansas, and the planet.   At exactly 1:50 P.M. (and six seconds), the best show on earth will begin here–on campus and in Russellville—and will last for four minutes and eleven seconds.

Protect your eyeballs for the whole show by picking up special eclipse glasses available at the Ross Pendergraft Library’s Research Help Desk, located on the first floor.

Glasses are available on a first come, first serve basis until they are gone.  Every student, faculty, and staff member at ATU can receive one pair of free glasses with a valid ATU ID card.  Each pair comes with a special case, protecting your glasses and advertising the time and date of the eclipse.

Provided courtesy of the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium, the glasses conform to the ISO 12312-2 standard for direct observation of the sun.  Except during the totality phase of a solar eclipse, when the moon completely blocks the sun, it is not safe to look directly at the sun without special eye protection certified for this use.  Sunglasses are not enough!  See NASA’s guidelines for safely viewing the solar eclipse for more information.

Before the eclipse, be sure to take advantage of the events and activities around campus and the community in the days leading up to April 8th by reading all about them here: https://www.arkansastechnews.com/your-guide-to-eclipse-events-and-preparation-at-atu/

The Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center will have adjusted hours in the days leading up to, during, and after the eclipse:

  • Friday, April 5th – CLOSED At 12:00 P.M. (Noon)

  • Saturday, April 6th – CLOSED

  • Sunday, April 7th  – CLOSED

  • Monday April 8th – CLOSED

  • Tuesday, April 9th: OPENING At 12:00 P.M. (Noon)

Normal hours resume on Wednesday, April 10th.

We will still offer virtual services by phone, email, text, or chat during normal business hours (8:00 A.M. through 5:00 P.M.) on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday.  You can also follow us on Instagram or Facebook for more events and changes to our hours over the semester, including our final exam hours.

Stay safe and enjoy the Great American Eclipse of 2024!

 

Filed Under: Library Tagged: ,

What’s New in the News?

Posted on February 14, 2024 Written by

The Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center is test driving a new source of newspapers, both historical and current, with NewsBank.  Read all about it here:

http://infoweb.newsbank.com/best/febhp

The collection features a search box that you can use to find the What, When, Where, and Why’s of the world from both today’s news and historical newspapers.

An image of a search box featuring the text: "NewsBank provides a comprehensive collection of reliable news sources covering a wide array of topics and issues"

Explore results from national newspapers, college newspapers, state and local papers, plus videos, audio, and other formats.

Screenshot of results from a search for "Taylor Swift" featuring results that include videos, newspapers, college newspapers, and audio.

Explore the “hot topics” section to find focused news on Hispanic Life in America, Black Life in America, the San Francisco Chronicle Collection, and the Cannabis NewsHub Research Edition.  You can browse newspaper results by subject or location.  Sources also include newspapers from around the world, in multiple languages.

Want to find something closer to home?  The database includes access to 93 newspapers in Arkansas, including the Arka Tech, the Courier, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the Arkansas Times, and college and city newspapers from all over the state.

News article result from the Feb. 14th issue of the courier. Headline reads: "Tacos 4 Life hitting ATU campus".

Currently, the only way you can read back issues of the state’s newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, is to use microfilm or browse the bound copies from more recent years.  This interface finally makes searching and accessing the state’s newspaper of record online possible within the library.

Give it a try between now and Feb. 29th when the trial ends.  You can let us know what you think by emailing us, texting us, calling us, chatting with us, or whisper-yelling your feedback to us from inside the library.

For more database trials or newsworthy stories, follow us on social medias: Instagram, Facebook, or X.

 

Filed Under: Library Tagged: , ,

Second Monday Author, Janis F. Kearney, Feb. 12th

Posted on February 9, 2024 Written by

Join us as we welcome special guest, Janis F. Kearney, author and presidential diarist of Bill Clinton, who will give a talk at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, in Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center, room 300.   A reception sponsored by the ATU Black Faculty and Staff Organization along with the Minority Mentorship Program will be held in at 4:30 prior to the lecture.  Admission will be free and everyone is welcome.

Cover of Book, "Only on Sundays: Mahalia Jackson's Long Journay" featuring black and white photograph of Mahalia Jackson resting her chin on her hands and looking concerned.Kearney’s latest book, Only on Sundays: Mahalia Jackson’s Long Journey, is a biography about Mahalia Jackson, famed gospel singer and civil rights activist.  Mahalia Jackson sold over 22 million records during her career that spanned the 1940s to the 1970s, and is considered one of the most influential gospel vocalists of the twentieth century.  Only on Sundays takes a look back at Jackson’s life at the turn of the 20th century in America, and explores one black southern woman’s struggle to attain the American dream.

Author Janis F. Kearney is a native of Gould in southeast Arkansas, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and embarked upon a public service career that included nine years as a project manager and public affairs director in Arkansas state government.Photo of Janis F. Kearney, an African American woman with neck-length curly grayish, silver hair wearing a black shirt and multi-colored wrap-around scarf.

After working alongside civil rights pioneer Daisy L. Gatson Bates as managing editor for the Arkansas State Press newspaper, Kearney purchased the publication and became its publisher upon Bates’ retirement in 1988.

Kearney served in the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton from 1993-2001. She fulfilled the roles of media affairs office staff member and director of communications for the U.S. Small Business Administration before her appointment in 1995 as the first personal diarist to a U.S. president. She continued in that role through June 2001.

Harvard University selected Kearney for a two-year fellowship at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute of African and African American Studies in 2001. There, she began writing a Clinton biography, published as Conversations: William Jefferson Clinton, from Hope to Harlem in 2006. She went on to co-found Writing our World Publishing in 2003 and has written or co-written 17 books.

For more information about the ATU Second Monday Author Series and other events in the library, contact Luke Heffley at (479) 964-0546 or follow us on social media: Instagram, Facebook, or X.

 

Filed Under: Library Tagged:

Scale the Paywall at RPL

Posted on January 17, 2024 Written by

Tired of hitting a paywall?  Climb right over them with the resources at the Ross Pendergraft Library.   Scholarly articles, newspapers, and now magazines are all within handy, mobile-friendly reach from our website: library.atu.edu

New this month: RPL just activated the OverDrive Magazine Collection, featuring over 5,000 popular magazines available through the Libby app.  Read full-text and full-photo issues of The New Yorker, Rolling Stone Magazine, Newsweek, and the Taylor Swift – Eras Tour Commemorative Issue all from the convenience of your phone.

To get started with the OverDrive Magazine Collection, download the Libby app to your tablet or phone via your app store.  Next, find your library using your zip code (72801) or by searching for the library “Arkansas Tech University.”

In addition to the ebooks and audiobooks you can find on Libby, you should now see the “Magazines” option.  From there, search for specific keywords or browse by subject, popularity, language, or audience level.

From there, opening the magazine gives you a page-by-page view of the magazine, including articles, photographs, and even advertisements—exactly how it would look if you were flipping through one at the doctor’s office.

However, there are more features, including the ability to zoom in, search within for specific words, change the color scheme, and switch to “article” mode switching the layout to read articles by down scrolling instead of side-to-side swiping.

If you want to be notified when new issues of your favorite magazine are out, you can hit that “subscribe” button and receive notifications when a new issue is out.

Magazines not your thing?  We still have ebooks and audiobooks available on the Libby app as well. Additionally, never pay for another scholarly article with help of Find It—our collection of millions of scholarly articles.  If we don’t have full-text access, call upon the power of Interlibrary Loan—a service to deliver that needed PDF directly to your email.

Remember: don’t pay a fee—use the library for free!  Follow us for more money-saving tips through Instagram, Facebook, and the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.  Best wishes for a great semester!

 

Filed Under: Library

Charge Up Your Study Session for Finals

Posted on November 27, 2023 Written by

The third floor of the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center just got a boost of power thanks to new charging station batteries.

The round tables on the south side have long been a popular spot for group study sessions.  But without a reliable source of power to charge laptops and phones, students couldn’t take advantage of the space for long without resorting to stringing cords to far-away outlets.

Thanks to the Office of Information Systems, each of the two round tables on the third floor are now equipped with charging stations that include a standard power outlet, a Type-C outlet, and a USB outlet.  The station does require portable, rechargeable batteries that are now available for all-day, in-library use at the 1st Floor Circulation Desk.

To use the batteries, simply check one out at the Circulation Desk using your student ID.  Next, bring it to any third floor round table and insert the battery into the charging port.  Finally, click the power button to ensure that the charging station at the table is ready to charge your devices.

The batteries have enough power to charge typical laptops up to 2 times, average Chromebooks or tablets up to 4 times, and standard smartphones up to 14 times.  Additionally, each charging station can also charge a laptop and 2 mobile devices simultaneously.  If it should run out of charge, just bring it back to the Circulation Desk to exchange it for a fresh battery

Don’t run out of juice this final exam season!  Look for signs on the third floor for this convenient new service.  Let us know what else we can do to help fuel your study sessions for finals at askus@atu.libanswers.com.

Filed Under: Library

Thanksgiving Hours

Posted on November 21, 2023 Written by

The Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center will have adjusted hours this week due to the Thanksgiving Holiday:

  • Tuesday, Nov. 21st: 7:00 AM – 9:00 PM
  • Wednesday, Nov. 22nd: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
  • Thursday, Nov. 23rd: CLOSED
  • Friday, Nov. 24th: CLOSED
  • Saturday, Nov. 25th: CLOSED
  • Sunday, Nov. 26th: Resuming normal hours, open 1:00 PM – Midnight.

Screenshot of Libby app featuring book covers for titles like "Staying on Top in Academia" and "Ask a Science Teacher"As you make travel plans, don’t forget about our new streaming Audiobook service, Libby, available for download to your mobile devices.  Enjoy newer fiction and non-fiction titles on the long road-trip to grandma’s house or your own Friendsgiving feast.

Stay tuned to more events, including our special hours for finals, by following us on Instagram, X, or Facebook.

Filed Under: Library Tagged: ,

Start Spooky Season with Kevin Brockmeier

Posted on September 29, 2023 Written by

Join us on Monday, October 9, in RPL 300B as we welcome award-winning author from Arkansas, Kevin Brockmeier for the October edition of our Second Monday Author Series.  The event starts at 6:00 P.M., and admission is free and open to the public.

Cover art for "Ghost Variations" featuring a grid of small illustrations of ghosts, axes, pendants, dice, and other random objects.A resident of Little Rock, Brockmeier will discuss his latest book, The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories, and share his general insights as an author.

Brockmeier is also author of the memoir, A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip; the novels, The Illumination, The Brief History of the Dead, and The Truth About Celia; the story collections Things That Fall from the Sky and The View from the Seventh Layer; and the children’s novels City of Names and Grooves: A Kind of Mystery.

Brockmeier’s work has been translated into 18 languages and has been published in The New Yorker, The Georgia Review, McSweeney’s, Zoetrope, Tin House, The Oxford American, The Best American Short Stories, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and New Stories from the South. In 2007, he was named one of Granta‘s Best Young American Novelists.  He has received the Borders Original Voices Award, three O. Henry Awards (including one first prize), the PEN USA Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. He teaches frequently at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Photograph of Kevin Brockmeier wearing black shirt.You can find more about Kevin Brockmeier, including his books, events, and news, from his website: https://kevinbrockmeier.com

For more information about the ATU Second Monday Author Series, contact Luke Heffley at (479) 964-0546.  Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or X to hear about the next Second Monday Author event.

 

 

Filed Under: Library Tagged: ,

Fighting Back on 9/11

Posted on September 2, 2023 Written by

Join us at the Ross Pendergraft Library on Monday, September 11th, at 6:00 PM in Room 300 as we welcome author Deena Burnett Bailey to talk about her book, Fighting Back: Living Life Beyond Ourselves“as part of our Second Monday Author Series.  The event is free and open to the public.

Photograph of Deena Burnett Bailey, authorFighting Back relates her struggle to overcome grief and personal tragedy after the death of her husband, Flight 93 hero, Tom Burnett, who perished in the 9/11 attacks.

A native of Arkansas, Burnett Bailey was raised on a cotton farm in the Desha County community of Halley. She grew up to become a flight attendant living in Georgia, which led her to meet Tom Burnett. They were married in 1992 and became parents of daughters Halley, Madison and Anna Clare.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Tom was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. It was hijacked and later crashed in Shanksville, Pa.

Burnett Bailey wrote Fighting Back following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and it was published by Advantage Inspirational in 2006. According to information provided by the publisher, the book “demonstrates how each of us can move forward through the hardships of life and have a positive impact on others through the belief that at some point in our lives, we are all called on to be heroes.”

Copies of the book will be available for purchase during Burnett Bailey’s appearance at ATU on Monday, Sept. 11.

An assortment of books on display about the terrorist attacks on 9/11, including a large photographic book open to photos of firefighters and police officers, gazing upwards in horror, covered in dust and ashYou can pick up a copy of Fighting Back at the Ross Pendergraft Library on the first floor, near our display featuring books and materials remembering the  22nd anniversary of September 11, 2001.  You can also buy a copy for yourself through your local bookstore, Dogear Books, or wherever you get fine books.

For more information about the ATU Second Monday Author Series, contact Luke Heffley at (479) 964-0546.  Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or X to hear about the next Second Monday Author event.

 

Filed Under: Library Tagged: ,

Get In the Car With OverDrive

Posted on August 17, 2023 Written by

Cancel your Audible subscription and download the Libby app to enjoy your favorite audiobooks and ebooks now available for free from the Ross Pendergraft Library:

Click Here to Acccess OverDrive

Access thousands of ebooks titles and nearly 100 audiobook titles from the Libby app.  Download the Libby app via Google Play or at the Apple Store.  You can also access the platform using the link above from our A-to-Z Databases page.

Screenshot of a phone with the Libby App open to choosing a new library. The words "Arkansas Tech" are typed into the search box.

After you’ve downloaded the app, you’ll be asked to locate your library.  Type the zip code (72801) or search for “Arkansas Tech University”.  You will be asked to authenticate as a Tech user.

Once you’ve logged into your account, enjoy up to two books at a time.  Selecting a book will download it for 14 days to your account.  If 14 days is too soon, you can renew it once for another 14 days.  If 14 days is too long, you can return the book early and check out another.

Is your must-read of Fall 2023 checked out?  Just like our regular collection in Find It, you can also place Holds on titles that are currently checked out.  Find the title you want, and click the option “PLACE HOLD.”  Once the title is available, you will get a notification that your item is ready to borrow.

Screenshot from a phone showing the Libby app, where a title is checked out, with the option to "Place Hold" below the text: "Sorry all copies of this title are out on loan. Try again soon, or place a hold instread."

What if you already have a Libby account at another library, like the Pope County Library?  No problem–just choose the option in your account settings: “Add Library”.

Do you prefer to consume your fiction and non-fiction with eyeballs instead of earlobes?  Thousands of titles–including new, best-sellers–are available on Libby, too.  You can either read via the app or push your ebooks to the Kindle app for tablet reading.  While the Library has offered access to hundreds of thousands of ebooks, this is our first foray into more popular, Kindle-friendly collections.

The addition of OverDrive ebooks and audiobooks via Libby represents another request made by students on our annual library survey from Spring 2023.  If you prefer the old-fashioned, analog experience, our current physical audiobook collection is still located on the first floor, next to the DVD collection.  These audiobooks are searchable in Find It, but you can also browse a list of titles here.

Screenshot of a phone showing the Libby app, displaying covers of the popular fiction titles available through the app like "Demon Copperhead", "Covenant of Water," "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and many more

However, with the decline of CD-players in car stereos, e-audiobooks are fast becoming the format of choice.  The library already hosts another streaming audiobook collection called Naxos Spoken Word, available also through our A-Z Databases page.  It features thousands of literary classics–perfect for those English class reading assignments you can listen to while on the treadmill.

But now that the Library is finally getting into the driver seat with OverDrive, newer and more popular titles can now be delivered via an easy-to-use app on any mobile device.

If you need help getting started, Ask Us via text, email, Instagram, or face-to-face during our expansive Fall 2023 hours.  There’s also a handy webpage featuring step-by-step instructions and a video.  Take it for a spin today!

Filed Under: Library Tagged: , ,