Colgate University Libraries News and Events

 
~Colgate Student Newspapers
~A History of Colgate University  
~Postcards at Colgate  
~Hamilton Republican
~Records of the First Baptist Church of Hamilton, NY
 
The Libraries have begun to digitize archival collections of interest to students, faculty, alumni, and others in order to best support the curriculum and to make Colgate history more broadly accessible.  No longer is such material available only in the rarified confines of the Libraries Special Collection and University Archives reading room.
 
Information has never been stable. That may be a truism, but it bears pondering. It could serve as a corrective to the belief that the speedup in technological change has catapulted us into a new age, in which information has spun completely out of control. I would argue that the new information technology should force us to rethink the notion of information itself. It should not be understood as if it took the form of hard facts or nuggets of reality ready to be quarried out of newspapers, archives, and libraries, but rather as messages that are constantly being reshaped in the process of transmission. Instead of firmly fixed documents, we must deal with multiple, mutable texts.
 
From Darnton, Robert.  (June 12, 2008)  "The Library in the New Age," The New York Review of Books.  Retrieved from http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2008/jun/12/the-library-in-the-new-age/?page=2, September 19, 2011
 
 
Joanne A. Schneider
University Librarian and Professor in the University Libraries

Library Journal's cover story called "Robot Visions"  features LASR - Library Automated Storage and Retrieval System - in Colgate's Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology.  Technology editor David Rapp visited Case-Geyer in early August, intrigued by LASR's robotic solution for storage.  This pre-eminent periodical for news and trends in libraries describes how more academic libraries are embracing robotic retrieval system to address problems of storage space, and costs - and are creating transformed library spaces for patrons in the process.Colgate is one of only two dozen libraries worldwide with this robotic technology.
 
Joanne  A. Schneider
University Library and Professor in the University Libraries

The print server supporting public printing from new Windows 7 computers failed yesterday.  Library and ITS staff spent hours attempting to fix the problem and were successful last night in addressing it.  We regret any inconvenience this may have caused and will work on preventing it from happening again.
 
Joanne A. Schneider, University Librarian

Added Seating
In response to your requests for more seats in the evenings, I am pleased to announce that Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology (Case-Geyer) has added 100 new study carrels on levels two and four.  Each carrel has wired access to power and data.  

We have also expanded the number of senior thesis carrels and are making them available by lottery so seniors will not have to queue up in front of the Circulation Desk early in the morning at the beginning of each semester.  For the fall semester, carrel applications will be accepted at the Circulation Desk in Case-Geyer beginning Monday morning, August 29, at 8AM and continuing for 7 days.  On the following Monday, September 5, a lottery drawing will be held and carrels will be assigned, with priority going to seniors writing honors theses.  We will place signs on these carrels indicating that they have been assigned. 

Expanded Hours
Beginning the first day of classes - Monday, August 29 - Case-Geyer will be open until 4:00am regularly Sundays to Thursday while classes are in session.  Due to the small number of staff, LASR retrievals will be made until 2:00am with materials requested after that available shortly after the facility opens again the next morning.  Case-Geyer will close at 10:00pm Friday and Saturday nights as in the past.  
 
Additionally, Case-Geyer will be open 24:7 for the last two weeks of each semester providing additional seating and resources beyond what was possible when we utilized the Cooley Science Library for this purpose. 

For Your Time at Colgate...
On behalf of all library staff and faculty, we seek to provide a comfortable environment for study, research, collaborative work, and even coffee and relaxation.  Our mission is to assist you with your research and use of scholarly technologies, in your discovery of useful scholarly resources, and in the creative expression of your own ideas.

Have a great year!
 

Joanne A. Schneider
University Librarian and Professor in the University Libraries
 
 

Faculty may want to visit the Collaboration for Enhanced Learning (CEL) website to learn about Libraries/ITS support for faculty who wish to use scholarly content and media in their teaching. 
 
Joanne A. Schneider
University Librarian and Professor
Colgate University Libraries
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, NY 13346
315-228-7362 voice
315-228-7934 fax
jschneider@colgate.edu

Welcome first-year students! Visit the Beginning Research at Colgate site to learn about doing research here at Colgate! This guide, developed for the Class of 2015,  provides an overview of basic research concepts and recommends starting points for finding materials for your coursework. We suggest that you read through the site when you first arrive and then use it to find the answers to questions you may have as you proceed with your academic work.  Feel free to contact a librarian if you have any questions. Good luck with your work.
 
Joanne A. Schneider
University Librarian and
Professor in the University Libraries
 
 

Case-Geyer will add 105 study seats this summer to levels two and four.  Most will be carrels.  This will increase the number of carrels on:

• level two that will be available for assignment to seniors working on capstone projects or theses
• level four that will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.  

These will be in place by the start of the fall semester.  We also have hired a library space consultant to examine ways we can add a wider range of seating with a minimum of disturbance and delay. 
 
Have a great summer!

Joanne A. Schneider
University Librarian
and Professor in the Libraries

Visit the Collaboration for Enhanced Learning (CEL) website to learn about support for faculty who wish to use scholarly content and media in their teaching. 
 
Also, the Library's Digital Collections website provides descriptions about collections that our librarians have digitally curated to support the Colgate's  curriculum and community interests. 

Joanne A. Schneider
University Librarian and Professor
Colgate University Libraries
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, NY 13346
315-228-7362 voice
315-228-7934 fax
jschneider@colgate.edu

The Princeton Review calls Colgate University one of the nation's best undergraduate institutions in the latest edition of its guide, The Best 373 Colleges.  In addition, the University's Case Library and Geyer Center for Information received special recognition culled from student comments, ranking fourth in the Best College Library category after Harvard, Duke, and Princeton.  Robert Franek, Princeton Review's senior vice president/publishing and author of The Best 373 Colleges states, “Our choices are based on institutional data we collect about schools, our visits to schools over the years, feedback we gather from students attending the schools, and the opinions of our staff and our 28-member National College Counselor Advisory Board.”

The Facilities Department is migrating lighting controls for Case-Geyer from a company in California to the Colgate campus.  This will provide greater flexibility and control as we seek to save energy when much of the building is not formally open.  The project has been underway for the past three months and is near completion.  The Libraries Administrative Office in Case-Geyer is monitoring the situation closely to insure that lighting is restored quickly.
I ask for and appreciate your patience and understanding as groups of lighting controls are tested which may result in some lights going out.
Joanne A. Schneider, University Librarian