Starting Out Normal?

next, new, normal Starting Out Normal?
Welcome and welcome back! Here’s to starting a new academic year in a more traditional way than last year. Hopefully, things can remain normal, whatever that may be. However,  we are prepared to serve your needs whether your classes are online or face-to-face. We’ve got you covered. One good thing to come out of our experience in dealing with the instant onset of remote learning is that we now have laptops for students to check out. These are available at the circulation desk and can be borrowed for a week at a time. That’s not all, we have headsets and webcams to lend as well.

We also have most of the general education course textbooks on reserve at the circulation desk. This means that you can check one out for 2 hours to use in the library. You can make use of our free book scanner to create a pdf of the pages you need to get you started before you can get your books. Other items that you may not know we have for you are scientific calculators. There is a wide variety of  Texas Instrument models required for various classes.

We have many items for your recreational pleasure such as an eclectic DVD collection of over 6,000 titles that you may borrow for free. Oh, but you don’t have anything to play it on? No problem. We also lend DVD & BlueRay external drives. And that’s not all. We have a growing collection of board games and popular reading.

keep calm & ask a librarianMost importantly, the library is great at helping you out. Just AskUs!
Stop by the reference desk, find the AskUs link to virtual help on the library homepage at:

http://library.atu.edu

Text: 479-802-4876 or call the Reference Desk: 479-964-0570 

Borrow Laptops, Webcams, Headsets, and More at RPL

The Ross Pendergraft Library is here to help you with virtually everything virtual in the spring 2021 semester.  We are now offering laptops, webcams, and headsets for free checkout to all students at the Russellville campus.  Here is a rundown on the new services we are offering to help students stay connected during the crisis:

  • Laptop Checkout – 1 week
  • Webcam Checkout – 4 hours, in-house use only, with the ability to renew for 4 more hours
  • Headset Checkout—Microphone and headphones for 4 hours, in-house use only, with the ability to renew for 4 more hours.

Laptops are being provided by the Office of Information Systems.  The first time you borrow a laptop, you will be asked to sign a user agreement acknowledging the policies of OIS and the replacement costs before you can borrow the equipment.  Each laptop is a Dell laptop running Windows with a built-in camera and microphone.

Laptops will be offered first come, first serve, but if we run out, you can place a hold request on a laptop to be notified when one is available signing in to your library account.  To learn how to do this, watch this quick video demonstrating how to find the availability of our laptops and how to place a hold request.

The library has also recently installed computers in all of the study rooms except 128.  If you need to reserve a quiet room to attend class, conduct an interview, or record a video, you can book a room for 1-hour intervals, up to two hours per day at our Book It link: https://bookit.atu.edu/booking/studyrooms/

Image of a study room with a desktop computerKeep in mind, due to social distancing protocols, only one person is allowed in most study rooms.  Check capacity before you attempt to hold a group meeting.  We have also added two additional study rooms to cope with the current demand for quiet, enclosed spaces due to the pandemic.

 

In the meantime, stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask, and fight on!