Mason Library: Where the Magic Happens
From Irene Herold, Mason Library:
“Where the magic happens” was the catch phrase for the library’s new student orientation sessions, but applies to the physical transformations the library has undergone in the past year. The most significant is the beautiful new Archives & Special Collections room.
The collections room went from this:
Attend the library’s grand opening celebration at 2 p.m. on October 2 during Homecoming Weekend for a ribbon cutting ceremony and reading by New Hampshire Poet Laureate Emeritus Patricia Fargnoli. This event will be held on the Library’s first floor, west wing. The ceremony and reading will be followed by a reception with tours of the Archives and Special Collections room. If you think you know what the Archives and Special Collections contain, come meet Archivist Rodney Obien and prepare to be further amazed!
The microformats, microfilm and microfiche, collections and readers have moved. They are now on the first floor, adjacent to the interlibrary loan office in room 119. Last year the library added two digital readers, so you can save your articles to a USB/flash drive. There is still one reader that allows you to make a paper copy for ten cents.
Our sincere appreciation goes to the Maintenance staff who worked with Westfield Construction on the building of the Archives and Special Collections Room, and who expended considerable efforts in painting and moving the heavy microformat cabinets to their new location. Thanks to UNICCO’s staff who contributed through carpet cleaning.
Our gratitude also to the Facilities Planning Advisory Committee, the Planning Council, the Budget and Resource Council and the President’s Cabinet for supporting our vision for the new Archives & Special Collections room. In FY10 these groups supported a related project, new digital asset management software. This means, as we open our new facility, the Library is also rolling out new digital collections. “Like” the Library’s Facebook or follow us on Twitter and learn about new collections as they are published.
