Masland Library Blog

“I touched a book from 1816 today... what did you do?”

A few weeks ago, if you had asked me how I was doing, that very well might have been my answer. Because, unlike most people, I got to go on a tour of The Basement.

Yeah. I know. Pretty impressive, right?

To get to The Basement, you creep stealthily to the bottom of the echoey stairwell in the back of the library. At this point, you are confronted with the choice of lurking in the shadows whilst admiring leafy, green plants that may or may not be real—or you can walk boldly, confidently, smartly into through the door and into The Basement.

If you, brave adventurer, would choose this latter option, you are then confronted with a corridor that contains three more doors to three more rooms. It’s a bit of an Alice in Wonderland flashback. And, if you’re like me, you’ll most likely want to stand there for a while, puzzled. It’s deadly quiet, so when you do finally move, you may find yourself reflexively going into spy mode and creeping along the walls... or maybe that’s just me.

The room on the right is primarily, for now, used for storage. It’s the room where your most obliging library worker will go to when they retrieve records, cassettes, and other resources that you can request. But the most exciting thing is a collection of Scofield Reference Bibles. (For those of you who don’t know, C. I. Scofield founded what would become PBU in 1913. His reference Bible, first published in 1909, was an important link to the development of various features in our study Bibles today that we often take for granted. Also here is where I got to touch the book from 1816. It was a tiny pocket hymnal—the kind that people would take to church with them back in the day.

Next, the room on the left of the corridor contains the Harry Donald Hewitt Collection. Hewitt (1921-2003) was an influential Philadelphia composer and musician. The collection contains a few thousand items—ranging from scores of his music to his diaries and his letters. This was all donated to the Masland Library recently by Hewitt’s wife, Elizabeth.

However, I must admit, that the last room is my personal favourite. As you walk through the door, you immediately see a large table piled with old books. When I went in, I tried to be all solemn and professional and thus contain my excitement. But... I sighed and then started coughing. I suppose that mustiness is a usual side-effect of old books, but it is rather inconvenient. I’d love to tell you what are in these lovely books, but most of them did not seem to be in English, and I wasn’t allowed to touch them, anyway.

So, perhaps after this you’re convinced that I’m a little off kilter and think that I should just stay in the library where I belong. You feel that, if given the choice, you would rather have chosen plant inspection in the stairwell then venturing into the unknown. Because, after all, plants and old books have about the same level of interest to you and at least out there you don’t have to breathe in all that dust. Fair enough. You’re entitled to that. I’m sure the plants would love you. But, to the others: those bold, spontaneous, gallant adventurers... I’m sorry. Those doors are normally locked anyway. (Though, it never hurts to ask...)

Cheers,
abbie fehr.

Maybe next semester they’ll let me up in the attic...

Can you believe that it is already December? Turkeys have been eaten, football games won, and finals week starts Monday. When I was a student at PBU I always enjoyed finals week, meeting once a week for a class seemed the epitome of all that is good and relaxing about school, that and take home finals.

During this final week and a half of the Fall 2009 semester enjoy your time spent in the library. Bring a mug (covered of course) tea or coffee, your iPod and hoodie to bask in a spot promoted to stimulate your brain to study. All of the resources you need for that final paper or assignment are at your fingertips. Or if you are confused and in need of assistance please use the Ask-a-Librarian IM chat. We want all of our students to finish the semester well.

For those of you who have finished all of their assignments please come and check out some fiction or other light reading. We have some contemporary fiction in the PS section located on the mezzanine floor, as well as a large collection of online materials that you can read from your computers anywhere on or off campus.

Also for your reading pleasure come and check out the books on display. We try to tie in events from around campus with relevant displays of books that coordinate with those events. Currently we have Christian living books dealing with church, prayer, fasting, and all sorts of other Christian disciplines. The side profile focuses on the works of Makoto Fujimura and a Christian perspective on art.

Most of all enjoy this time before you all head home to busily engage in the wonder of the Christmas season.

LAS

The Library will be closed Wednesday November 25- Saturday November 28. We will reopen on Sunday November 29 at 6:00 pm.

Let me take this opportunity to re-present our databases. For all of the students who will be working on their studies this Thanksgiving, please remember that we have an entire digital library for you to use this holiday. With over 40,000 electronic books, and at least twice that many articles you should be able to still complete many of your assignments without ever having to step foot in the physical building.

Some people really do not like reading digital items, I understand and sympathize. However as a graduate of a online Master's program, I was able to use databases from here and from my school's university in Pittsburgh to complete my program. Here at PBU we have a number of full-text and e-book databases that can help you complete your studies while away from campus.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library- read Calvin's Commentaries, or Edward's Religious Affectations from your computer!

ebrary Academic Complete - This database of electronic books has over 40,000 sources covering a number of different disciplines.

netLibrary- Another source of full text books.

Make sure you also check out our Online Database page for additional databases.

las

On Tuesday November 17, 2009 between 7:30 am – 6 pm, the Library will be having their bi-annual Day of Grace. Student’s in need of grace must come to the library and ask for Laura or Alice to remove their fine. We will remove up to $10.00 of fines from the requested student’s account*. These fine removals will not be automatic, students must appear in person (unless they live further than an hour away) to participate.

*Fines cannot be removed from replacement books or processing fees. If you have any questions please email lsaloiye@pbu.edu.

1. Speak in an appropriately low tone of voice. Not only will they appreciate that you respect the library quiet rules and do not need to be reminded of this simplest of concepts, low voices convey intimacy and tenderness.

2. Try to look things up by yourself. This demonstrates thoughtfulness and a respect that their time is valuable and probably has better uses than doing something that you most likely can/should do for yourself. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it, but try to utilize the online catalog, databases, etc., before seeking help. This leads quite nicely to our next point, which is . . .

3. If you don't know what on earth you're doing, ask a library worker to help you. (They can tell if you’re confused, anyway; you might as well admit it.) Part of library workers’ jobs is to help patrons. Let them help you. Besides that, assisting a patron often demands the library worker coming and standing very close to them while showing them how to use whatever search program or whatnot on the computer. Just saying.

4. Hide in the stacks and come strike up a conversation while they're reshelving books. This lets them know that you comprehend the monotony and possible loneliness that is reshelving, and you enjoy hanging out among shelves of books. These are very good things. However, don't do this too often or for long periods of time, or they'll get in trouble for socializing while they're on the clock. And try to avoid being a stalker ("I've actually been tracking your every move for the last two and a half hours." [Not a real quote]). A one- to two-minute conversation should be fine.

5. Always try to find the exact call numbers of the books you want. "I'd like to get the book for Professor ---'s class ... the one that's on reserve”—is not a good way to ask for a reserve book. First off, that sentence doesn't specify the book title or anything else. Maybe there are fourteen books on reserve for that class. Secondly, most professors utilize the book-reserve option. The library worker has probably (read: most definitely) not memorized what books are for what professor and for what class of that professor. (See #2 above).

6. Do not eat in the library. This not only makes the library worker's job easier in that they don't have to clean up your food mess, but it lets them know you care about respecting rules and respecting books (double points!). Plus, you're probably way more attractive when you don't have cookie crumbs in the corners of your mouth.

7. Try to avoid using the library for the last half-hour before closing. If you're already in the library at that point, it's okay to stay. However, a patron staggering into the library, bearing a huge backpack and lugging an armload of books is the most disheartening sight to a groggy library worker (who may be finishing a nine-hour shift, for all you know) could see. Just don’t do it. But, if it's absolutely imperative that you use the library at exactly 10:30 PM at least have the kindness to apologize. Don't try to slink in like they can't see you if you don't make eye contact; it just makes matters worse.

8. Look them in the eyes. Smile. Thank them. Working at a library doesn't make a person a cyborg. Library work is repetitive, it is methodical, and it does require a sort of type-A personality. But that doesn't mean it's any less irritating-- or hurtful-- to be addressed or treated like a piece of the furniture. Plus library workers are really fun, and really attractive.

9. Be playful and engaging. Sometimes library workers wish someone would just ask them a silly personal question or start up a hilariously rollicking conversation. It's okay to start serious, scholarly conversations with library workers, but remember that working in a library doesn't limit a person's interests to books and ancient writers. It does probably point to a rather unusual love of books (or libraries), so introducing subjects of that kind is perfectly acceptable and makes you look smart. Or at very least, it shows them you're willing and eager to learn about subjects near and dear to their hearts.

10. For the love of all things holy, do NOT reshelve your own books. If you don't understand this without any explanation, you haven’t been paying attention. The signs say “Please do not reshelve books.” Obey the signs. Defying the signs means you may have trouble befriending a library worker.

**This list is meant to be humorous, though each point is based in good truth, and none of it should be taken as offensive.

Katie Burt

One of the most commonly asked questions in the library is "Why can't I use Google for this assignment?" followed swiftly by "What's wrong with Wikipedia?". As a librarian I can honestly say that I utilize both for my work. I have a board range of interests but cannot know everything there is to know about all subjects taught at PBU. There is decent, summarized data on Google and Wikipedia, however it is not the type of data I would use for a research paper for undergraduate or graduate level courses.

We subscribe to over 70 databases here at PBU, these databases contain a terrific and at time terrifying amount of information. We also have scholarly encyclopedias and dictionaries such as Encyclopedia Brittannica and the Oxford English Dictionary. The most important thing to remember is that Google and other Internet searches cannot bring up the scholarly articles and information in our databases because it is something that has to be bought. Google is paid for via their sponsors and other advertisers. Our databases are paid for from a portion of your tuitions. Below is a video from La Trobe University in Australia that explains the difference very well, plus the characters have a wonderful Aussie accent.

LAS

In recognition of our Worldview Conference in November the library will be displaying books about Technology and Culture. We would like all students to attend this one day conference. For more details see the board in the lobby or click here. We would also like to invite you to our Game and Movie night. This events theme coincides with the worldview conferences theme, so we will be showing "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

The below text reminded me strongly of why we engage in Worldview conferences. We have a responsibility to be culture makers, and as John Piper writes below, God has enabled us with the ability to be changers of culture, and creators of masterpieces.

LAS

God is Not Boring
John Piper

Recently I spoke at Northwestern College as part of their year-long 100^th anniversary celebration. The title of the message was "The Supremacy of God in the Life of the Mind." One capability of the mind that I focused on was the imagination. It applies to everybody who has a mind. Here's what I said:

One of the great duties of the Christian mind is imagination. It is not the only thing the mind does. The mind observes. The mind analyzes and organizes. The mind memorizes. But imagination is different. It does not observe or analyze what's there; it imagines what is not seen but might be there and might explain what is there (as in the case of most scientific discoveries). Or it imagines a new way of saying what is there that no one has said before (as in the case of creative writing and music and art).

I say that imagination is a Christian duty for two reasons. One is that you can't apply Jesus' golden rule without it. He said, "Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them" (Matthew 7:12). We must imagine ourselves in their place and imagine what we would like done to us. Compassionate, sympathetic, helpful love hangs much on the imagination of the lover.

The other reason I say that imagination is a Christian duty is that when a person speaks or writes or sings or paints about breathtaking truth in a boring way, it is probably a sin. The supremacy of God in the life of the mind is not honored when God and his amazing world are observed truly, analyzed duly, and communicated boringly. Imagination is the key to killing boredom. We must imagine ways to say truth for what it really is. And it is not boring. God's world - all of it - rings with wonders. The imagination calls up new words, new images, new analogies, new metaphors, new illustrations, new connections to say old, glorious truth. Imagination is the faculty of the mind that God has given us to make the communication of his beauty beautiful.

Imagination may be the hardest work of the human mind. And perhaps the most God-like. It is the closest we get to creation out of nothing. When we speak of beautiful truth, we must think of a pattern of words, perhaps a poem. We must conceive something that has never existed before and does not now exist in any human mind. We must think of an analogy or metaphor or illustration which has no existence. The imagination must exert itself to see it in our mind, when it is not there. We must create word combinations and music that have never existed before. All of this we do, because we are like God and because he is infinitely worthy of ever-new words and songs.

A college - or a church - committed to the supremacy of God in the life of the mind will cultivate many fertile, and a few great, imaginations. And O how the world needs God-besotted minds that can say the great things of God and sing the great things of God and play the great things of God in ways that have never been said or sung or played before.

Imagination is like a muscle. It grows stronger when you flex it. And you must flex it. It does not usually put itself into action. It awaits the will. Imagination is also contagious. When you are around someone (alive or dead) who uses it a lot, you tend to catch it. So I suggest that you hang out with some people (mainly dead poets) who are full of imagination, and that you exert yourself to think up a new way to say an old truth. God is worthy. "Oh sing to the LORD a new song" - or picture, or poem, or figure of speech.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.