Lumpkin Library Sees New Changes
By. Teressa Heafner

The start of the new school year saw changes all over campus; Lumpkin Library was no exception. A new checkout system for Lumpkin Library was put into place on May 23, 2005 to replace the former system, Smart Term. The new system, Millennium, is now a part of all 160 libraries in the Lewis and Clark Library System.

The system is easier for the desk workers and patrons to use. When Katie Rowell, a desk worker, was asked what she thought of the new system she said, “It’s different.” With this new system books can now be found by genre as well as title, author and subject; which makes it easier to find books similar to our favorites.

“We have a couple of students on campus that this new way of looking for books will help,” said Carol Schafer, Librarian. “It’s fun and easy.” Whereas the old system was complicated for first time users and only allowed people to look up books by title, author, and subject. Moreover, a receipt is now given to the patron to make it easier to remember the due date. Whereas with the old system, the patron had to remember the due date without help. 

Another change is a new quiet study area in Lumpkin. Located on the back left side of the building, near the Lounge, the new study area allows students to study quietly without the distraction of students working and moving around them.

An additional new change to the library as Carol Schaffer was proud to announce is that the library is subscribing to two new magazines this semester.

“First magazines of this genre at Lumpkin Library.” Schaffer said These new magazines, Gay and Lesbian Review and Advocate were an achievement that the club Common Ground has been fighting for, for a while.

“We have a large number of gay, lesbian, and bisexual students that were on the whole unrepresented in the library, so we thought this would be a worthy addition.” said Blackburn Common Ground representative, Ronnie Logsdon.

A further new change is the book club shelf. This shelf will hold books by the Bibliophiles Club members’ favorite authors. The books will be available to on an honor system, rather than through the library system. The book club books will be available behind the circulation desk.