Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys . . . libraries have been the gateway to thousands of murders over the years; murders on trains and planes, murders in the library and murders at parties. There is an entire subset of the fiction genre devoted to such alarming mysteries. The librarians of the Masland Library want our students to join the national past-time of solving crimes and will host our own murder and masquerade this Friday, September 26.
Students will begin the night mingling with the accused at a Masquerade party. Sometime during this party our beloved Professor Dodgson will be murdered. It is the student’s job to follow the clues in pursuit of the killer.
Join the fun this Friday at 9:00 pm in the lobby of the Masland Library. There is a sign-up at the Readers’ Services desk. Space for this event is limited. Come as you are or dress up in a grand masquerade style--the choice is up to you! 
In the fast-paced life of a PBU student, deadlines come and go before one is aware of it. To help you avoid paying unplanned fines, Masland Library sends you reminders before a borrowed item is due. Of course, overdue notices will be coming to you after the due date. These reminders are sent via email on a regular basis. The responsibility to return the item on time is yours alone. Because the library resources are meant to be shared, the library has established rules so that every one can have a reasonable chance to use a particular item for a reasonable period of time. What are the consequences if the rules are violated? The fines are listed on the Library's policy page. In any event, ignoring the notices is not a good idea.
How bad can it be? In an episode of Seinfeld, Jerry was confronted and grilled by a New York city library police detective who had the authority to throw him in jail. Although the intent of the episode was to poke fun at the library profession, which has a reputation, justified or otherwise, as being populated by uptight people. But this is more fact than fiction because reports of people being arrested for not paying a fine as little as $10 have circulated in the news media. Nothing this drastic is within the purview of this library.
If no one else needs a particular item that you have checked out, it is renewable, and you still have need of it, you can renew it online at the http://www.library.pbu.edu/. To renew online, click on My Account and put in your name and barcode. When your account is displayed, click on the item or items that you want to renew. Then click on the appropriate button immediately above. It is that easy! Be sure to make note of the new due date or any messages which may display. Remember, not all items can be renewed! The rules for renewal are also on the Library's policies page.Finally, follow Apostle Paul's exhortation in Romans 12:10 and "give preference to one another."
A frequently asked question of late is "What happened to the books that were on this shelf?" Students are accustomed to browsing the shelves, especially the biblical and theological materials, on the lower floor. There are now, however, large gaps between groups of books. This phenomenon is the result of the library undertaking a reclassification project.
The call numbers on the books have been assigned heretofore using the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). The principal weakness of DDC is that it is self-limiting. As a result most university and college libraries are now using the Library of Congress Classification (LC) to locate the items. PBU library has recognized the need for such a switch for sometime and a decision was made to begin the process.
Since no more books will be added with DDC numbers, the books in the current collection with DDC numbers have all been moved to the mezzanine shelves. The new books are assigned LC call numbers and they are placed on the ground floor shelves. Over time (read summer) many of the books with DDC numbers will be reassigned with LC numbers and relocated downstairs. The library staff plan to do this in a logical fashion so as not to take books out of circulation for a long period of time. Given the fact that the library is currently short-staffed, this project may take a number of years. Therefore, please be patient.
-- TKH
Everybody blogs. Some people blog without ever realizing that they are blogging. It is to be expected that in a society that runs on instant communication, most Americans are connected to the internet 24/7. With the increasing affordability of mobile devices -- iPhones, Blackberrys, Palm pilots and other PDAs -- one can access information such as sports scores, movie times, or directions to avoid an accident up ahead with the touch of a button. Now it is rare to meet a college student who does not have a Facebook or MySpace page.
With this in mind Masland Library has decided to provide information to the students via this format as much possible. Therefore the library created this blog as a place in which the librarians can share with you pertinent information and other items of interest.
This blog is only one of several new tools that the library will explore. The library will cooperate with faculty members via wiki to introduce you to study guides, research aids, and databases unique to subject matters of interest to each of the schools of the University.
Welcome back. Please keep an eye on this page for more postings. We also solicit your comments. Have a great semester.
~LAS
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