Renewing Our Days

One of the most exciting anticipations of the New Year, when I was a child, was the promise of having something new to celebrate. It could be a new item of clothing, or a new book (much more fun…) or even a new cake recipe tried by my mother, the aromas wafting in as we were coming back from school on erev Rosh ha-Shanah. These “signs”, and the hint of rain in the air, always carried with them a promise of renewal & change, while at the same time reassuring me of the blessings of tradition and continuity.
When I reflect on what shapes my vision for the library, and what drives my work ethic,
I go back in my mind to these four components: renewal and change, tradition and continuity, and look for them to guide me in my actions and decisions.
I hope you can find evidence of these driving forces whenever you enter and/or use our library, and keep me honest if you don’t.
On behalf of the Frances-Henry Library staff: Sally, Joel, Liz, Janet, Rochelle, Nick, Sheryl & myself

Shanah Tovah u-G’mar Hatimah Tovah
(A Good Year and a Favorable Inscription in the Book of Life)

yaffa

Cincinnati Renovation Report #1

The Klau Library, Cincinnati, will be closing at 3 pm on Monday, September 24, to prepare for the groundbreaking ceremony. For more information about the upcoming renovations, see our press release or this article from the Enquirer.

The reception following the ceremony will be held on the first floor of the Library building, but the stacks will be closed and Library services will not be available.

Normal Library operations will resume on Tuesday, September 25.





The reference and reserve collections have been re-located to the Old Reading Room in the Administration Building. (see the pictures!)
More details to follow as decisions are finalized.

from Laurel Wolfson

Library Haggadah for the New (School) Year

Before entering the library

• wash your hands of all sticky substances (the prayer is optional, soap is not)
• leave behind your meals, snacks, and mugs of coffee, and other liquids (water in a closed container is permitted)

She’elah

On entering the library, the patrons may ask…

How is the library different this semester than it was in all other past semesters?

How can we now scan articles for emailing or photocopy them instead of photocopying only?

How can we navigate the new library websites to find information?

How can we access our favorite programs and databases from off campus?

Magid

The great safran Ranganathan teaches: there are 5 laws of library science

1. Books are for use.
2. Every person his or her book.
3. Every book its reader.
4. Save the time of the reader.
5. The library is a growing organism.

The wise safran Gilner teaches: verily we are not a warehouse, let the students and faculty take out as many books as they need. Besides we don’t have room to shelve them all.

Four types of library patrons

The wise patron asks: what are the best ways to search the catalog? and to pick a journal index? and to search the Internet.

To this patron, we will explain that our catalog has items from all three stateside campuses. We will explain the difference between the Browse and Keyword searches and demonstrate the filters. We will describe the features of ATLA, RAMBI, the Index to Jewish Periodicals and the Index to Hebrew Periodicals. We will also reveal that there are other search engines besides Google.

The arrogant patron asks: why do we need a library anyway? I can Google anything I need on the Internet.

To this patron we will explain that while the Internet does indeed have much useful free information, that much more is available through subscription databases and indexes and that we can direct him/her to many scholarly resources both online and in the stacks.

The puzzled patron asks: how do I figure out what to write about?

We will show this patron the reference shelves and advise that he/she browse through the overview articles in the encyclopedias on their topic to help them narrow their focus. We can also direct them back to their teachers for more help.

And to the patron who doesn’t ask any questions, we say

You are welcome to hang out here and read or listen quietly to music.

Nirtzah/Songs

If you said “hello” to the library staff, but didn’t say “thank you” after we assisted you… Dayenu!

If you said “thank you” for the help, but didn’t mention us to your classmates … Dayenu!

If you mentioned us to your classmates, but didn’t note us in your thesis … Dayenu!

If you thanked us in your thesis, but didn’t acknowledge us in your book … Dayenu!

If you acknowledged us in your book … Dayenu!