Van Wylen Library

ARTstor is a unique database that features images rather than articles. The database began in the late 1990s with high resolution images of Buddhist art in cave grottoes from the Gobi desert and grew from there to include over one million images from a variety of topics, ranging from documentary photography to Islamic textiles.

Even though the database is made up of images, it can be useful for research in many different subject areas. One of the ways ARTstor allows you to browse images is by sample topic, which allows you to find images that might be relevant to your area of study, whether it’s languages and literature or the history of medicine and natural science. If you already have an idea of what you’re looking for, you can perform a search to find what you need. Once you find an image related to your research, you can then download the image to your computer or save them to online groups for later use (short registration required for this). ARTstor is always adding new collections images to their database. See here for the latest in their collection development.

Professor Anne Heath of the art department has found ARTstor to be very helpful in teaching and researching. She uses images from ARTstor to prepare lectures and presentations, as a study resource for students, and as a starting place for both student and her own research. Though Heath uses the database for art history, she knows that it is also useful for other subjects.

“They have a collection of documentary photographs that are good for political science,” she said. “They’re always getting new collections. It’s not just for art history.”

The main function of a library is to provide its patrons with access to resources, and every department in the library, whether it be interlibrary loan, reference, the music library, technical services, media services, or the TechLab is designed to do just that. Circulation, another integral area of the library, also plays an important role in getting information to patrons.

“Anybody that comes to the library wants information,” Carla Kaminski, supervisor of circulation and Cup & Chaucer, said. “(Circulation) is the hub that brings all that together.”

Circulation plays a large role in accessing information beyond the library’s walls. Materials from both Van Wylen’s collection and other libraries’ collections that have come to Hope through Interlibrary Loan or MeL are checked in and out at the circulation desk.

Circulation, along with interlibrary loan, the music library, media services, and the TechLab, all fall under the category of access services. These individual departments all have the same goal: providing materials to patrons, whether that be physical materials such as books or electronic materials such as software.

Dave O’Brien is the head of access services for Van Wylen and has served in that position for the past two years after spending 17 years as a reference librarian. He became interested in library work while he was a student worker at Penn State University. After completing his undergrad, he went on to the University of Georgia to pursue a master’s degree. While there, he worked in the science library and for the USDA interlibrary loan office. After deciding that he would like to pursue a career as a librarian, he went to the University of Illinois, where he had an assistantship in the engineering library before coming to Hope College. Much has changed in the library world since O’Brien began his career as a librarian, but for him that is one of the best parts about the field.

“I really like how much things have changed in the last 10 years,” O’Brien said. “This has just been a great time to be a librarian going from print indexes when I first came here to everything that’s available now.”

The ever-changing nature of library work is something Kaminski also enjoys about the job.

“Library science is ever dynamic,” Kaminski said. “It’s always growing. There are always new things to consider, new information, new formats information is available in. We have to stay on top of what’s available in technology and find out how patrons want their information.”

If you have comments for how the library could improve, O’Brien recommends making use of the suggestion box located on the reference desk or the electronic version available through HopeCat.

“I encourage students to make whatever suggestions they feel are appropriate,” O’Brien said. “We really do read them.”

— Bethany Stripp, Library Student Blogger

Do you need to do a multimedia project for a class or want to print something in a way most campus printers can’t do? The Media Services desk and TechLab can help!

The Media Services department has many functions such as checking out materials and doing special printing jobs. Lamination, large format printing, and color printing all take place behind the Media Services desk. Various office supplies, including colored paper and transparencies, are available for purchase at the Media Services desk.

Jan Zessin, Media Services Supervisor, has been working for Van Wylen for 20 years. In addition to overseeing the fifteen students who work at the Media Services desk, she is also in charge of both the curriculum library and the division of Copy Works that runs out of the Media Services desk. The variety that comes from this range of tasks is one of Zessin’s favorite parts about her job.

“I like the big scope I have between printing and working in the actual library,” Zessin said.

Right next to Media Services is the TechLab. According to its mission statement, “The TechLab is a specialized computer lab that is staffed by trained students to support academic technology projects and assist with digital content creation.” Because of this, many resources are available in the TechLab that are not available on other campus computers. The four PCs and four iMacs in the TechLab have many unique tools that can help you create a project. The TechLab website features tutorials for software you may be unfamiliar with.

Daphne Fairbanks has been the TechLab Coordinator for six years. In that short time, she has seen a huge shift in how students use technology. “When I began working here, students would come in with floppy disks,” Fairbanks said. “Then it changed to CDs, then 512 MB flash drives, and now students will come in with 2 GB hard drives.”

As TechLab Coordinator, Fairbanks is able to watch students learn about new technologies. “One of the most interesting parts about my job is seeing the quality of videos students are producing,” Fairbanks said. “It’s fun watching people go from never having done it to creating something good for an academic purpose.”

As due dates for end-of-the-year projects come closer, don’t hesitate to use Media Services or the TechLab for any multimedia task you may need assistance with!

— Bethany Stripp, Library Student Blogger

On April 8, 9, and 10, Behind the Curtain will be shown in the main theatre in DeWitt.

Behind the Curtain is a student production, put together by Sara Gosses (’10) and Jeri Frederickson (’10), that combines Canopy of Stars, from the production The Great Game, and Motherland. Both are 2009 British plays that focus on the War in Afghanistan and its effects at home. Gosses and Fredrickson became familiar with the plays after spending a semester in London.

“Motherland had its premiere outside London in 2007, but it was remounted in a London theatre that Jeri was working at this past fall,” Gosses said. “She presented the script to me and I was instantly reminded of ‘The Great Game’ series that I saw at the Tricycle Theatre (in London).”

The Great Game is a series of twelve plays shown over three nights. Though Gosses didn’t see Canopy of Stars on the night she attended The Great Game, she and Fredrickson felt that it would be the perfect fit with Motherland.

“Canopy was the most feasible given our options for casting and it related very well to Motherland,” Gosses said. “After all the various types of scripts Jeri and I were looking at, it sort of fell into place surprisingly well.”

The current display in the library first floor display case highlights Behind the Curtain and the resources Gosses used in her research for the project. One of the things that surprised her the most was the amount of books the library had on the subject.

“The library had a remarkable number of current books on Afghanistan,” Gosses said. “I was actually surprised at how up to date they were. With how many students use databases and the Internet, I really appreciated that there were books available for resources.”

Interested in learning more about Afghanistan? Check out this LibGuide, which highlights library resources on this topic.

— Bethany Stripp, Library Student Blogger