Checking out books just got easier! You now have the option of using either your Clark College ID or Cannell library card.

Link to the latest on renewing your library material: www.clark.edu/Library/PDF/renew_materials.pdf   ... Or pick up a bookmark at the Check Out Desk.

BIG news from Summit – 3-day loans may now be renewed for one time for an additional 3 days. For maximum time, wait until the due date to renew. Material requested from Summit, (the online catalog of over 30 academic libraries in Washington and Oregon, including Cannell Library) usually arrives within 3 working days.
http://summit.orbiscascade.org

(Blast from the past ... Can you identify the two Summit-ly garbed Clark faculty whose band, Los Profes, played at Cannell Library's "Summit Day" in 2005?)

No need to schlep those slides around campus anymore. ARTstor, a digital library of art images and associated information, has software tools designed to enhance teaching, learning, and scholarship. Containing approximately 500,000 images from a wide range of cultures and time periods, ARTstor is accessible via the Library’s web site under Articles & Newspapers: www.clark.edu/Library/Resources/articles.html

ARTstor’s images can be copied, downloaded and displayed by students and faculty under the Fair Use provisions of copyright law for scholarly and educational purposes. Faculty and students may not post an ARTstor image on a personal or course web site that is not password-protected. Options for password protection of images include ARTstor shared folders, the Library’s electronic reserves system, and Blackboard course pages.

Find more ARTstor FAQs at: www.clark.edu/Library/Resources/artstor_off_campus_access.html

Contact Pam Smith, x2443, psmith@clark.edu, if you have any questions. (Deborah Trousdale received Foundation funding for the ARTstor subscription.)

Are you satisfied with the library as a good place to study? ... Yes, now that the Quiet Study Room is back!

That was an answer to one of the questions on our recent annual Library Survey. Cannell Library is an active place, especially mid-day. The loss of the original Quiet Study Room was noticed by students. We're happy to say it's quietly found a new spot up on the second floor in the former Sun Room (Room 217).

From the comfort of your computer you can now make book, DVD, or video purchase requests online. At the Library web site, under For Faculty/Staff, select Resources Overview: www.clark.edu/Library/Faculty/faculty_staff_home.html

• Library Book Request Form: https://oswald.clark.edu/acquire
• Video / DVD Acquisitions Request Form: http://www.clark.edu/Library/Tech/acquisitions_request_login.html

Instructors should give their reserve items to Kristin Poage by March 29 in order to have them in time for the first day of Spring Quarter. Other items can be submitted any time throughout the quarter thereafter.

All DVDs now check out for 3-days at a time. This means DVDs that are being booked need to be requested at least a week before the show date. Also, if instructors want a library DVD to be library use only, they need to fill out a reserve form to have it placed on reserve.

If you have questions about reserves or DVD / video bookings, please give Kristin Poage (kpoage@clark.edu) a call at x2553.

See the results of some 14,000 surveys from 1,000 survey organizations in the U.S. and 100 other countries in our new database, Polling the Nations.

Covering 1986 to the present, Polling the Nations has the flexibility to access more than 500,000 records, varying the names of polling organizations, subjects, date range, etc.

Jump in and explore the results. From the lighthearted, "Do you approve of the marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla?" ... To the somber, "Do you feel that global warming is a serious weather phenomenon demanding government attention?"

Interview with Lynn Chmelir, Interim Library Director
September 21, 2006

What’s your educational background?
I went to the University of Illinois as an undergraduate and stayed around until I got a Masters Degree in English. I taught 8th grade English for one year and decided that probably wasn’t the career for me. I had worked in one of the libraries at Illinois as a student worker and later as a full time staff member. I got really excited about what libraries had to offer. They are such a rich resource, not only for academic work, but for life in general. I’m continually amazed by the variety of things that you find in libraries, by what you can learn about the tiniest little nooks and crannies that interest humanity. That prompted me to get back into library work and I eventually returned to Illinois to get my graduate library degree.

What past experience have you had as a Library Director?
I was Library Director at Linfield College in Oregon from 1981-1999 -- almost 20 years. In those early days, computers were becoming very important for libraries. Libraries have been working with computer systems for a very long time to manage bibliographic information — long before information itself migrated to electronic format. At Linfield I was a founding member of Orbis, a library consortium that started out with seven libraries. Now known as the Orbis Cascade Alliance, this consortium has grown to 33 academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. It runs Summit, the union catalog and borrowing service that makes over 26 million books available to Clark students and faculty.

In 1999, I moved to Pullman as Assistant Director of Libraries at Washington State University. At first, I was responsible for public services with the areas of reference, library instruction, interlibrary loan, distance learning services under my purview. I then became AD for Collections and Technical Services. WSU is a research university, with a large acquisitions budget. Collection building involved more than 25 librarians, so coordinating that activity was important in supporting not only the teaching and learning, but also the research mission of WSU. Much of my time was spent licensing electronic information and overseeing the behind-the-scenes work that makes the library run smoothly.

I recently moved to Vancouver and I am happy for the opportunity to work at Clark College. I’ve been active professionally in organizations where I have worked with community college librarians, so I’m familiar with the role and mission of the community college. But this is my first experience working at one. I’m here to learn and, hopefully, to use my experience to provide some leadership during my interim appointment.

In your first weeks, what have you noticed about Clark?
The library staff has been a great help in getting me started in my new job. I am so excited about the service ethic that I find in the library. Everybody is here for the students and cares very much about student success. That’s what the library is here for -- to support teaching and learning.

You touched on student success and the library’s role. Did you want to add anything further?
Yes. In order to support teaching and learning, the library staff needs to partner with the teaching faculty to be sure that we are doing the right things to support our students. We do this in many traditional ways, like collecting the right books, putting things on reserve when necessary, and getting things from other libraries when they are needed. The librarians’ role in library instruction is especially important. Working with faculty members when there is something the students need to do in the library helps insure that the students are empowered with the information they need about how to go about using the wealth of resources that are available. It’s all about teaching and learning. Having librarians involved in instruction makes students more successful.

Do you have any questions about Clark?
I’m wondering what kinds of mechanisms, official and unofficial, are set up to gather feedback from faculty and students about library services. Librarians need to be in regular conversations with users so they can help students succeed.

I still have lots of people to meet. I will be meeting with the deans and others who are delivering the academic program to our students. One of the greatest pleasures in working in libraries is getting to know people across the campus. Because the library truly serves the entire college, you get a really good perspective on what is happening in the academic areas.

Do you have other goals for the library and yourself this year?
One of the things I look forward to is representing Clark College to the external constituencies that help the library fulfill its mission. The Library Media Directors Council, librarians from the community and technical colleges, will be meeting soon. I’m hoping to learn more about what’s happening in the libraries at other community colleges to be sure that Clark’s library is mutually supportive of these other institutions.

The other group that is especially interesting is the Orbis Cascade Alliance. Summit is an incredibly rich resource, but it doesn’t happen by itself. It takes nurturing and I will enjoy working on the Council of Librarians to foster successful collaboration that supports our students. This consortium not only provides Summit, but it also provides, for lack of a better word, a “buying club” for electronic resources. By pooling our collective resources, we’re often able to get electronic resources at a reduced price.

I am delighted I have encountered a well-functioning library with dedicated and talented staff. The instructional program is vibrant, the services are all in place, and the staff is attending to the needs of the students.

We have the accrediting process coming up. Joan Carey is co-chair for Standard 5, Library and Information Resources, and I will be working on her committee. I have a lot of experience with accreditation. At Linfield, I survived three visits of the Northwest Commission. I also have served on six or seven accrediting teams that have visited institutions in most of the states in the Northwest.

I didn’t know that the accreditation visit was on the horizon when I was hired, but I’m delighted to work on the self study. It’s a fascinating process that allows you to take a good look at what you’re doing and give it some analysis and thought. It’s a lot of work, to be sure, but the things that you discover about your institution as you look at the standards and what you’re doing can be very helpful in focusing attention. What is it we really need to work on? It’s so easy to get mired in things of the moment, but taking a step back and looking at the big picture really helps focus on the big picture.

Did you want to say anything about assessment?
At WSU I worked on several assessment activities including the legislative mandate to assess the information and technology literacy of our graduates. I also have experience working with the library survey tool called LibQUAL. The professional association for academic libraries is called the Association for College and Research Libraries, ACRL in library lingo. It promulgates standards for academic libraries and I have always used those standards as a yardstick to measure the institutions in which I have worked. The emphasis now is on outcomes and student success. As we prepare for the accreditation this year, we’ll be focusing on those kinds of things.

We haven’t talked about the role of the library in life-long learning. The most valuable thing anybody learns in their education is not a discipline, is not how to get a job, it’s how to learn. You must continue learning your entire life to be a successful person -- in your job and in your life. Using information wisely is an important life skill that libraries help to develop. It’s the piece of general education that belongs to the library.

When you walk outside the doors of the library and go home, is there a book waiting for you to read?
Right now, I’m in the process of still moving, so there hasn’t been too much time for reading. The book I’m reading right now is Bleak House, by Charles Dickens. There was a television series on PBS last year that I thought was quite well done. I had never read Bleak House, so I thought I’d tackle it. This old English major tends to read mostly contemporary fiction, but also a classic or two from time to time and an occasional non-fiction book.

My favorite author, rest her soul, is Iris Murdoch. I adore her books. She died of Alzheimer’s in 1999. She was a prolific English novelist and every year or so she would give me a gift … just for me, there would be a new book. I miss not having my yearly dose of Iris, so I’ve been re-reading them all.

What do you wish you had more time for?
I know it’s exactly what you’d expect me to say, but reading truly is my default activity. Like most people, I don’t have enough time to read everything I want. I keep throwing lists of books into a file in my desk at home and I think that “one of these days…”  I have a button on my bulletin board that says, “So many books, so little time.”

Is there anything that you’d like to add?
I’m really happy to be here and look forward to working with the people at Clark College.

P.S. Who are the two Summit t-shirt guys above?
Joe Pitkin and John Governale

Edited and photos by Roxanne Dimyan