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Hundreds of eager readers shopped the Macy’s Used Book Sale this past weekend (February 8-10, 2013), raising money for the Southern Kentucky Book Fest held in April. This year’s Book Fest headliner Henry Winkler is sure to bring in many fans along with many other authors including Mary McDonough (best known for her role as Erin from “The Walton’s”), Bob Edwards former host of Morning Edition, and bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon. Among many of the children’s authors and illustrators participating this year are Obert Skye, Amy Ignatow, Debbie Dadey, Stacey Curtis, Jarrett Krosoczka, and Kristin O’Donnell Tubb. The event will take place at the Knicely Conference Center on Saturday, April 20. For more details, go to sokybookfest.org.
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WKU Libraries honors Black History Month with a display on the fifth floor of Cravens.

The Commons at Cravens officially opened Thursday, January 31, with a crowd of more than 200 faculty, staff, students, and community members.  Dean Connie Foster officially welcomed the crowd followed by remarks from Provost Gordon Emslie, President Gary A. Ransdell, and graduate student Mark Reeves. The newly renovated Cravens 4^th floor space offers a single service desk for research assistance, technology support, and writing center tutoring—all conveniently located across from Circulation Services. Patrons are enjoying the new computer lab access, bistro style chairs overlooking the campus, and the modern chairs and bench tables for both collaborative projects and individual study. For more information about services available at The Commons at Cravens, call 745-6125.

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 Our New Core Resource for Newspaper Access!

WKU Libraries has added ProQuest Newsstand, a searchable database offering one the of the best full text collections of international, national and regional newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Tennessean.

ProQuest Newstand also provides full-text access to historic issues of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune. Abstracting and indexing are available for the more than 1,370 newspapers; of these, over 1,270 are full text.

This resource is available through campus computers and off-campus using your WKU NetID and password.

WKU Libraries is pleased to announce the opening of “The Commons at Cravens” located on the fourth floor of the Cravens Library at Western Kentucky University’s main campus. The Grand Opening will be Thursday, January 31 at 4 pm with remarks at 4:30 pm by the President, Provost, WKU student Mark Reeves, and Dean of Libraries.

“This is an exciting transformation for the Library,” said Connie Foster, Dean of WKU Libraries. “Students can work as a group in one of the collaborative booths, sit at a bistro table overlooking the campus, or just BYOD (bring your own device) and plug into one of the stations at the laptop counter.”

According to Foster, the newly renovated floor offers a single service desk for research assistance, technology support, and writing center tutoring–all conveniently located across from Circulation Services. The space will provide students with more computer access, whiteboards for study, and movable furniture to fit their study needs.

Tiffany Hayes, Project Manager from WKU Planning, Design, and Construction, said the construction began October 1, 2012 on approximately 9,600 square feet of space and was completed January 15, 2013.

 “The scope of improvements included new carpet and rubber flooring, fresh paint, vinyl wall covering, a new laptop counter, soffits above circulation and reference desks, and decorative wall panels,” said Hayes. “The furniture company installed new computer workstations, booths, and the reference desk. The existing circulation desk was rearranged.”

“We hope this transformation creates a positive place of possibilities-a place Where Knowledge Unfolds,” said Foster.

For more information on WKU Libraries, go to wku.edu/library.

WKU Libraries held their annual Holiday Party at the Kentucky Room on December 12, 2012. As a tradition, it was a time to give the Margie Helm Awards to its best. Recipients of the faculty and staff awards were Amanda Drost from DLTS and Alan Logsdon from DLPS. Brook Armstrong from DLSC, Carley Ferguson from DLTS, and William N. Hollowell and Kelsey Edwards from DLPS received the student awards, while the team award went to “the Late Night Patrollers” including Kathy Foushee, Angelica M. Harvey, Austin R. Williams, Xun Hong, Meng Meng Ding, Jessica L. Puckett, Lan Xu, Kelsi D. Campbell, Laura M. Bickett, Micheal W. Polston, and William N. Hollowell. The Libraries were honored to have in attendance retirees Dr. Earl Wassom, Director of the Libraries from 1972 to 1985; Dr. Sally Ann Strickler; Linda Allan; and Nancy Baird. Several lucky attendees won some wonderful door prizes after a sumptuous luncheon and a fun game of guessing movies with librarians involved in them.

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Employees in the Office of Deans of University Libraries at WKU had lunch with Dean Foster at the Federal Grove Restaurant on December 7, 2012 to celebrate the Holiday.

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On November 28, 2012, faculty members of WKU Libraries’ Department of Public Services met in Owensboro Regional Campus Library. The department has a tradition of meeting in one of its regional center libraries once a year.

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The Cravens 4 lobby on the restroom side including the elevator wall pass-through door will be closed from now until Wednesday of the week.  Access between Cravens 1-3 and the rest of the facility will only be possible from outside or with an elevator key for the Cravens 4-9 elevator.  If you need to move a person or some other material immediately call 5-3951 and a supervisor with an elevator key will operate the elevator to assist you.  We will alert you when the floor is traversable again, expected to be Wednesday.

Please feel free to email  Douglas Wiles, Library Security Coordinator, at doug.wiles@wku.edu or call his cell at 791-0104 if you have questions or need assistance.

Watch our videos to follow the progress in the project of the Commons on the 4th floor of Cravens Library.