Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Gardner-Harvey Library Hours for Winter Break and Winter Term

Just to make sure everyone is aware . . .

The Gardner-Harvey Library will be following the hours listed below between December 16, 2017 and January 28. 2018.  Find daily library hours for GHL and other libraries at Miami University.

We wish everyone happy holidays and an enjoyable break!

Winter Break Hours - December 16, 2017 to January 1, 2018

Saturday & Sunday, Dec. 16-17Closed
Monday-Friday, Dec. 18-228:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Saturday, Dec. 23rd to Monday, January 1stClosed

Winter Term 2018 Hours - January 2 to January 28:


Monday8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Tuesday8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Wednesday8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Thursday8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Friday8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
SaturdayClosed
SundayClosed
The library will be closed on January 15 (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)

Thursday, December 07, 2017

Free coffee, tea, hot chocolate, lemonade, and mints at the Library for Finals Week!



The Library will offer free coffee, tea, hot cocoa, lemonade, and mints all during finals week, starting on Saturday, December 9th, and lasting through Friday, December 15th. It will be set up in our entrance area from roughly 12:00pm to 4:00pm on Saturday, 8:00am to 8:00pm, Monday through Thursday, and from 8:00am to 5:00pm on Friday. Please drop on by and enjoy a cup!

It's our way of making your last minute studying and paper/project preparation a bit more relaxing.  Come grab a study room or a comfortable spot to study, get a beverage, and get your last-minute learning in. Thanks for being a part of our library community!


The image above was provided through a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license by Fronx.

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Middletown book discussion title for January

The MUM Book Discussion group will next meet on Thursday, January 4 to discuss Sarah Dunant's Sacred Hearts.  We will meet at 12 pm in Room 124 in the Library. 

Here is a brief summary of the title, along with links to request the book from Miami, OhioLINK, and SearchOhio libraries (Just click "Request" and choose "Miami University" from the dropdown list.  Then enter your UniqueID and password, and the library from which you would like to retrieve the item):  

"The year is 1570, and in the convent of Santa Caterina, in the Italian city of Ferrara, noblewomen find space to pursue their lives under God's protection. But any community, however smoothly run, suffers tremors when it takes in someone by force. And the arrival of Santa Caterina's new novice sets in motion a chain of events that will shake the convent to its core."


Read the book (or read something else interesting), then come along to our discussion to share what else you've been reading/watching/listening to/experiencing, and help us plan our future readings.  

Have an idea for a book to discuss?  Let us know and check out our page of past and future reads at http://www.mid.miamioh.edu/library/bookdiscussion.htm

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

New books added to the Gardner-Harvey Library in November!

See our new materials list of items we added to the collection in November! We added 229 books, e-books, DVDs, and other items during that time, thanks to your selections and suggestions. The list can be sorted by call number, area of our collection, or by title.

Here are eight titles from the list, to give you an idea of what we've been buying:
  • Understanding everyday incivility : why are they so rude? / Shelley D. Lane
  • Teaching history with science fiction films / A. Bowdoin Van Riper
  • Citizens but not Americans : race and belonging among Latino millennials / Nilda Flores-González
  • Disasters in field research : preparing for and coping with unexpected events / Gillian H. Ice, Darna L. Dufour, and Nancy J. Stevens
  • The crisis of the middle class constitution : why economic inequality threatens our Republic / Ganesh Sitaraman
  • Veiled superheroes : Islam, feminism, and popular culture / Sophia Rose Arjana
  • Nigerians in space : a novel / by Deji Bryce Olukotun
  • To Siri with love : a mother, her autistic son, and the kindness of machines / Judith Newman
This tag will show you all of the prior lists of new materials, in reverse chronological order. We are eager to hear from you about individual items you would like us to buy, or types of items we should be on the lookout for, or general subject areas we should build up in the collection.

This month we're adding some new materials along with replacements for items that have gone missing from the collection (and those that patrons have chosen to replace). We're looking forward to what you'll recommend next!

If you have a suggestion of something to order, please use our "Tell GHL to Buy It" form, email Amy Carmichael (carmicae@miamioh.edu), or drop by the library with your request. And pass your general suggestions or comments about the collection to us in those same ways.

Thanks again for keeping our collection vibrant and your information needs met!




Library Open on the Saturday Before Finals (Dec. 9) at Middletown!



To help you prepare for final exams, the Gardner-Harvey Library will offer extra study hours to students on Saturday, December 9, 2017. We will be open from Noon until 4:00pm that day.

If you need a quiet place to study, please come to the library and use our computers and our study rooms. Staff will be on hand to provide assistance.

Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, lemonade, and mints will be available to help you stay aware and awake.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Make Wreaths for the Holidays at the TEC Lab!



Stop in the TEC Lab (Room 125, Gardner-Harvey Library) on Wednesday December 6th during the lunch session (11am-1pm) or the late session (6pm-8pm) to make a holiday wreath!.

You may make a wreath to take, or you can make a wreath to donate to a local nursing home. You can even make one to take and one to donate! We will have a variety of wreath fixin’s available.

Walk-ins welcome, or RSVP to Jennifer Hicks - hicksjl2@miamioh.edu.

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.

The above image was provided through a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license by Tony Alter.

PZ7 Book Club discusses Fahrenheit 451 (Dec. 6)



Come discuss Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury.  We'll look at Tim Hamilton's authorized adaptation of the book as a graphic novel.

We'll meet on Wednesday, December 6, from 1:00pm to 1:45pm in Room 124 in the Gardner-Harvey Library.  Refreshments will be available.

We have a copy available for short-term loan at the library InfoDesk, or ask at the desk for help to request a copy from other OhioLINK libraries.

In 1953, Ray Bradbury envisioned one of the world's most unforgettable dystopian futures, and in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, the artist Tim Hamilton translates this frightening modern masterpiece into a gorgeously imagined graphic novel.  ... He has created a striking work of art that uniquely captures Montag's awakening to the evil of government-controlled thought and the inestimable value of philosophy, theology, and literature. (Amazon.com)

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.

Thursday, November 02, 2017

New books added to the Gardner-Harvey Library in October!

See our new materials list of items we added to the collection in October! We added 299 books, e-books, DVDs, and other items during that time, thanks to your selections and suggestions. The list can be sorted by call number, area of our collection, or by title.

Here are eight titles from the list, to give you an idea of what we've been buying:
  • Odd girl out : the hidden culture of aggression in girls / Rachel Simmons
  • Sucking up : a brief consideration of sycophancy / Deborah Parker and Mark Parker
  • We were eight years in power : an American tragedy / Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • This blessed earth : a year in the life of an American family farm / Ted Genoways
  • Move fast and break things : how Facebook, Google, and Amazon cornered culture and undermined democracy / Jonathan Taplin
  • A flag worth dying for : the power and politics of national symbols / Tim Marshall
  • Moonshots in education : launching blended learning in the classroom / by Esther Wojcicki and Lance T. Izumi
  • The sun and her flowers / Rupi Kaur
This tag will show you all of the prior lists of new materials, in reverse chronological order. We are eager to hear from you about individual items you would like us to buy, or types of items we should be on the lookout for, or general subject areas we should build up in the collection.

This month we're adding some new materials along with replacements for items that have gone missing from the collection (and those that patrons have chosen to replace). We're looking forward to what you'll recommend next!

If you have a suggestion of something to order, please use our "Tell GHL to Buy It" form, email Amy Carmichael (carmicae@miamioh.edu), or drop by the library with your request. And pass your general suggestions or comments about the collection to us in those same ways.

Thanks again for keeping our collection vibrant and your information needs met!

Learn about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in Middletown!


"National Parks with Dr. Tammie Gerke" is a speaking and video series presented by the Gardner Harvey Library and Dr. Tammie Gerke - a professor of Geology at Miami University Regionals. Each session will focus on a different national park.

This time, Dr. Gerke will discuss Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Stop by to hear about the geology and other interesting information about the park.

This session will run Tuesday, November 7th from 4:30pm to 6:00pm with time for questions and discussion. The event will be held in the seating area at the entrance of the Gardner-Harvey Library.

All are welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be provided.

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.



The above image was provided through a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license by NASA Goddard's Space Flight Center.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Middletown book discussion title for November

The MUM Book Discussion group will next meet on Tuesday, November 28 to discuss John McPhee's Encounters With the Archdruid. We will meet at 12 pm in Room 124 in the Library.

John McPhee is a noted master of creative non-fiction: factually accurate tales told in a literary manner. This work, an exploration of three wildernesses, and three interchanges between an environmentalist and his ideological enemies, is noted as an example of the genre, and a great read.

Here is a brief summary of the title, along with links to request the book from Miami, OhioLINK, and SearchOhio libraries (Just click "Request" and choose "Miami University" from the dropdown list. Then enter your UniqueID and password, and the library from which you would like to retrieve the item):

"The narratives in this book are of journeys made in three wildernesses - on a coastal island, in a Western mountain range, and on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. The four men portrayed here have different relationships to their environment, and they encounter each other on mountain trails, in forests and rapids, sometimes with reserve, sometimes with friendliness, sometimes fighting hard across a philosophical divide."

Read the book (or read something else interesting), then come along to our discussion to share what else you've been reading/watching/listening to/experiencing, and help us plan our future readings.

Have an idea for a book to discuss? Let us know and check out our page of past and future reads at http://www.mid.miamioh.edu/library/bookdiscussion.htm

Engrave images and cut shapes with lasers at the TEC Lab!


Have you ever used a laser cutter?  Now is your opportunity to see this amazing device in action.  A laser cutter can cut patterns or engrave images and text in wood, plastic, metal, fabric, and more!

On Wednesday, November 1, 2017, between 11am and 1pm and again from 6pm to 8pm, drop by the TEC Lab in Room 125 of the Gardner-Harvey Library to choose a design or image to cut and take home!  Engrave a photo!  Cut out a cool shape!  Make a keychain! Bring your own image, or use one you find online.

Come imagine what else you can make the laser cutter do for you.  All are welcome to attend this free event.

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.

The above image was provided through a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license by Kevin Jarrett.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

PZ7 Book Club discusses Outrun the Moon



Come discuss Outrun the Moon, by Stacy Lee.

We'll meet on Wednesday, November 15, from 1:00pm to 1:45pm in Room 124 in the Gardner-Harvey Library.  Refreshments will be available.

We have a copy available for short-term loan at the library InfoDesk, or ask at the desk for help to request a copy from other OhioLINK libraries.

Here is a summary of the book:

"Mercy is ambitious: she wants to own her own tea importing business, but the options for a young Chinese American girl in San Francisco in 1906 are severely limited.  Mercy uses her cunning and business sense to bribe her way into St. Clare's, an elite school for girls.  Everyone seems to be hiding secrets, and the 1906 earthquake is coming.  Will Mercy be able to outrun and outwit her fate as a laundryman's daughter?" -School Library Journal

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Sewing machines with Tammie Gerke at the TEC Lab!


Join us in the Gardner Harvey Library TEC Lab on Tuesday, October 17 to learn about using sewing machines from Miami Regionals’ very own Geology Professor Tammie Gerke.

The session will be held from 2:00pm-3:00pm in the TEC Lab, Room 125 in the Gardner-Harvey Library. 

No machine? No problem!  We'll have the TEC Lab machine ready for you to practice on.next time you need to add a button or stitch a hole in your shirt, you will have the skills to save your clothing!

If you would like to learn specific techniques, or the just the basics of a sewing machine, Dr. Gerke has sweet skills she would love to share. Also feel free to bring an item you would like to repair.  It's sew easy!

All are welcome to attend.

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.



The above image was provided through a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license by Steffen Zahn.

Thursday, October 05, 2017

Learn about Death Valley in Middletown!


"National Parks with Dr. Tammie Gerke" is a speaking series presented by the Gardner Harvey Library and Dr. Tammie Gerke - a professor of Geology at Miami University Regionals. Each session will focus on a different national park.

This time, Dr. Gerke will discuss Death Valley National Park. Stop by to hear about the geology and other interesting information about the park.
This session will run Tuesday, October 10th from 4:30pm to 6:00pm with time for questions and discussion. The event will be held in the seating area at the entrance of the Gardner-Harvey Library.

All are welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be provided.

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.



The above image was provided through a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license by Sadaf Syed.

Monday, October 02, 2017

New books added to the Gardner-Harvey Library in September!

See our new materials list of items we added to the collection in September! We added 244 books, e-books, DVDs, and other items during that time, thanks to your selections and suggestions. The list can be sorted by call number, area of our collection, or by title.

Here are eight titles from the list, to give you an idea of what we've been buying:
  • Why? : what makes us curious / Mario Livio
  • Shooting ghosts : a U.S. Marine, a combat photographer, and their journey back from war / Thomas J. Brennan, USMC (Ret.), and Finbarr O'Reilly
  • Making sense of the alt-right / George Hawley
  • Cracking the GMAT premium / the staff of The Princeton Review
  • Vibrator nation : how feminist sex-toy stores changed the business of pleasure / Lynn Comella
  • Owned : property, privacy, and the new digital serfdom / Joshua A.T. Fairfield
  • See what I have done / Sarah Schmidt
  • The ends of the world : volcanic apocalypses, lethal oceans, and our quest to understand Earth's past mass extinctions / Peter Brannen
This tag will show you all of the prior lists of new materials, in reverse chronological order. We are eager to hear from you about individual items you would like us to buy, or types of items we should be on the lookout for, or general subject areas we should build up in the collection.

This month we're adding some new materials along with replacements for items that have gone missing from the collection (and those that patrons have chosen to replace). We're looking forward to what you'll recommend next!

If you have a suggestion of something to order, please use our "Tell GHL to Buy It" form, email Amy Carmichael (carmicae@miamioh.edu), or drop by the library with your request. And pass your general suggestions or comments about the collection to us in those same ways.

Thanks again for keeping our collection vibrant and your information needs met!


Friday, September 29, 2017

Lend a paw: make cat shelters @ the TEC Lab!



Stop by the Gardner-Harvey Library on Wednesday, October 4 and create a T-shirt cat tent to take home! Bring your own T-shirt or choose from our stash.

No cat? No problem! We will also be working to create extra cat tents as well as utility tote cat shelters to donate to our local animal shelter. This is a wonderful volunteer opportunity to make something useful for our larger community!

While we will have extra materials on hand if you forget, please RSVP to Jennifer Hicks at HICKSJL2@miamioh.edu so we don’t run out of supplies.

The workshops are held at 11am-1pm and 6pm-8pm

Remember, if you attend two or more of our TEC Lab workshops and speaker events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.

Image provided through a Creative Commons Attribution License by Darren Fick.

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Middletown book discussion title for October

The MUM Book Discussion group will next meet on Tuesday, October 24 to discuss Larry Watson's American Boy.  We will meet at 12 pm in Room 124 in the Library. 

Here is a brief summary of the title, along with links to request the book from Miami, OhioLINK, and SearchOhio libraries (Just click "Request" and choose "Miami University" from the dropdown list.  Then enter your UniqueID and password, and the library from which you would like to retrieve the item):  

"On Thanksgiving Day 1962, the shooting of a young woman sets off a chain of unsettling events in Willow Falls, Minnesota, all revolving around Matthew Garth, who becomes obsessed with the shooting victim and with the lavish lifestyle of a local doctor's family."


Read the book (or read something else interesting), then come along to our discussion to share what else you've been reading/watching/listening to/experiencing, and help us plan our future readings.  

Have an idea for a book to discuss?  Let us know and check out our page of past and future reads at http://www.mid.miamioh.edu/library/bookdiscussion.htm

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Learn to use Google Tools at Middletown



Thursday, September 28
12:00pm-1:00pm
Gardner-Harvey Library, Room 111

Join Jennifer Hicks to learn the basics of several Google apps, including Gmail, Drive, Docs, Forms, and Calendar. These free Google productivity tools help sync, simplify, and tackle projects for classes and for your life!

All are welcome to attend this free event.  Feel free to bring your lunch!

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.

The above image was provided through a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license by mjmonty.

PZ7 Book Club discusses The Gunslinger

Come discuss The Gunslinger, by Stephen King.

We'll meet on Wednesday, October 11, from 1:00pm to 1:45pm in Room 124 in the Gardner-Harvey Library.  Refreshments will be available.

We have a copy available for short-term loan at the library InfoDesk, or ask at the desk for help to request a copy from OhioLINK.

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.

Thursday, September 07, 2017

PZ7 Book Club discusses 13 Reasons Why (in Middletown)

Come discuss 13 Reasons Why, by James Asher.  

We'll meet on Wednesday, September 13, from 1:00pm to 1:45pm in Room 124 in the Gardner-Harvey Library.  Refreshments will be available.

We have a copy available for short-term loan at the library InfoDesk, or ask at the desk for help to request a copy from OhioLINK.

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.

Learn about Petrified Forest National Park in Middletown!


"National Parks with Dr. Tammie Gerke" is a speaking series presented by the Gardner Harvey Library and Dr. Tammie Gerke - a professor of Geology at Miami University Regionals. Each session will focus on a different national park.

This time, Dr. Tammie Gerke will discuss Petrified Forest National Park. Stop by to hear about the geology and other interesting information about the park.

This session will run Tuesday, September 12th from 4:30pm to 6:00pm with time for questions and discussion. The event will be held in the seating area at the entrance of the Gardner-Harvey Library.

All are welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be provided.

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.

The above image was provided through a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license by Andrew Kearns.

Friday, September 01, 2017

New books added to the Gardner-Harvey Library in August!

See our new materials list of items we added to the collection in August! We added 125 books, e-books, DVDs, and other items during that time, thanks to your selections and suggestions. The list can be sorted by call number, area of our collection, or by title.

Here are eight titles from the list, to give you an idea of what we've been buying:
  • Earth at the crossroads : understanding the ecology of a changing planet / [videorecording] Eric G. Strauss
  • Listen, we need to talk : how to change attitudes about LGBT rights / Brian F. Harrison and Melissa R. Michelson
  • We demand : the university and student protests / Roderick A. Ferguson
  • The only pirate at the party / Lindsey Stirling and Brooke S. Passey
  • The Wendy project / written and created by Melissa Jane Osborne art, colors, and letters by Veronica Fish
  • Breakaway learners : strategies for post-secondary success with at-risk students / Karen Gross
  • Science wars : what scientists know and how they know it / {videorecording] taught by Steven L. Goldman
  • Mask of the sun : the science, history, and forgotten lore of eclipses / John Dvorak
This tag will show you all of the prior lists of new materials, in reverse chronological order. We are eager to hear from you about individual items you would like us to buy, or types of items we should be on the lookout for, or general subject areas we should build up in the collection.

This month we're adding some new materials along with replacements for items that have gone missing from the collection (and those that patrons have chosen to replace). We're looking forward to what you'll recommend next!

If you have a suggestion of something to order, please use our "Tell GHL to Buy It" form, email Amy Carmichael (carmicae@miamioh.edu), or drop by the library with your request. And pass your general suggestions or comments about the collection to us in those same ways.

Thanks again for keeping our collection vibrant and your information needs met!



Thursday, August 31, 2017

Open house at the TEC Lab!


Stop by on Wednesday, September 6th and check out all the awesome things the TEC Lab has to offer.

During staffed hours you can learn about our laser engraver/cutter, watch the 3D printers in action, try your hand at 3Doodlers, make a button or magnet, or test out a number of other tools available to students, staff, faculty, and community patrons.

Staffed hours will be 11am-1pm and 6pm-8pm.

Remember, if you attend two or more of our library events in Fall 2017, you will be entered in a drawing for a Kindle Fire tablet.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

See what's happening at Gardner-Harvey Library in our Fall Newsletter

Curious what Gardner-Harvey Library was up to this summer and what we have planned for fall? Check out our Fall Newsletter for an introduction to our new Middletown campus online archive, information about OER resources, a list of our upcoming events, and more. 


Here's a sneak peak at our new charging station!


Friday, August 25, 2017

The library welcomes you this fall with free beverages all week!

We welcome you to the Gardner-Harvey Library and the Middletown Campus this fall!

Come see our study rooms, our TEC Lab, and our computer and open seating spaces and enjoy a cup of coffee, tea, hot cocoa, or lemonade during the first week of classes.  We'll have beverages available from Monday, August 28 to Friday, September 1.

We hope we can help you have a great Fall Semester!



The image above was provided through a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license by Fronx.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

#MoveInMiami - Help students by funding our textbook collection

#MoveInMiami -- a one-day fundraiser for Miami University -- is tomorrow, Thursday, August 24! 

This year the Gardner-Harvey Library hopes to increase the number of textbooks we purchase and allow students to borrow (saving them the expense of textbooks or making it easier for them to catch up on reading and assignments while on campus). This is an exciting opportunity for us to raise gift funds to support this service and our other programming.  Can we count on you?

If you are able to make even a small gift to the Gardner-Harvey Library (or our sister library in Hamilton), please use the form at http://www.givetomiamioh.org/regionallibraries. All gifts are tax deductible, and you will be emailed a receipt upon making a gift online. Gifts must be made on August 24 to qualify for this initiative.

Thank you very much for your time and your support of the library and our students!

John

John J. Burke, MSLS
Library Director & Principal Librarian 
Gardner-Harvey Library
Miami University Middletown

burkejj@miamioh.edu
513-727-3293
http://miamioh.edu/burkejj

Text your questions to 513-273-5360


Have you noticed another staff member going above and beyond?
Nominate them and the Miami University Regionals Staff Forum will recognize them at our next meeting!

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Middletown book discussion title for September!

The MUM Book Discussion group will next meet on Tuesday, September 26 to discuss Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife.  We will meet at 12 pm in Room 124 in the Library. 

Here is a brief summary of the title, along with links to request the book from Miami, OhioLINK, and SearchOhio libraries (Just click "Request" and choose "Miami University" from the dropdown list.  Then enter your UniqueID and password, and the library from which you would like to retrieve the item):  

"On what might become one of the most significant days in her husband's presidency, Alice Blackwell considers the strange and unlikely path that has led her to the White House--and the repercussions of a life lived, as she puts it, "almost in opposition to itself." How can she both love and fundamentally disagree with her husband? How complicit has she been in the trajectory of her own life? What should she do when her private beliefs run against her public persona?"


Read the book (or read something else interesting), then come along to our discussion to share what else you've been reading/watching/listening to/experiencing, and help us plan our future readings.  

Have an idea for a book to discuss?  Let us know and check out our page of past and future reads at http://www.mid.miamioh.edu/library/bookdiscussion.htm

How was the Gardner-Harvey Library used in 2016/17?

Here are the full annual stats from fiscal year 2017 (the 2016/17 academic year) for several of the Gardner-Harvey Library's (GHL) services. I hope you will find them useful to see how people use the library. 

These statistics reflect what happened between July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. Some stats we keep locally, others we pull from university-wide or OhioLINK-wide systems, and some are provided by database vendors.

Highlights for this year include:

  • A 17% increase in the use of GHL's books and DVDs.
  • A 57% increase in the use of reserve materials.
  • A 58% increase in the number of items added to the collection.
  • A 16% increase in visits to the library.
  • A 688% increase in study room use.
Read on for full details on these and other activities.


On Average
Taking the statistics below and guesstimating a total Middletown community of 2000 students, faculty and staff members (and including community patrons), here's what can be said about the average person on campus. She:

- checks nearly three items out from the library in a year (reserves and local/MU/OhioLINK collection items)
- visits the library 30 times per year
- downloads four full-text articles each year.
- accesses the library web site eight times per year.
- participates in a library instruction session or an embedded librarian course once per year (if she is a student).

Now on to the detailed analysis!

Both a Borrower and a Lender Be
- GHL patrons checked out 2,133 books and DVDs from us (1,011 from our local collection, 629 ordered from other MU libraries, and 493 items ordered from OhioLINK - that means that more than 52% of the items used by campus patrons came from libraries beyond GHL). That is a 16% decrease in total borrowing from 2015-2016.  

- The GHL collection registered 3,634 checkouts (that's the 1,011 items checked out by Middletown patrons above, plus 1,737 items sent to OhioLINK users, and 886 sent to other MU libraries - that means that 72% of the uses of our materials came from libraries beyond GHL). That is a 17% increase in total lending over 2015-2016. 

- GHL patrons checked out 3,648 reserve items from us (this includes faculty-placed course reservestextbooks on reserve, study rooms, laptops, iPads, and other equipment). That is a 57% increase from 2015-2016. Textbooks on reserve checkouts totaled 515 in 2016/17, a decrease of nearly 25% from 2015-16.

- In terms of building up our collection, Middletown faculty, staff, and students ordered 1886 items to add to our collection this year. That is a 58% increase from 2015-2016.  

- We registered a total of 7,282 checkouts of items in our collection (reserves and circulating materials). The circulating items at GHL number 30,520, so each item in the collection circulated 0.24 times this year (all items in our library circulate). 

The Quest for Information
- Middletown patrons spent 13,424 search sessions downloading 8,192 full-text articles from Ebsco databases provided to us through Miami University and OhioLINK.  This only represents use of the databases on campus.  Those numbers reflect a 7% decrease in search sessions and a 27% decrease in downloads from 2015-2016).

- On their way to these databases, 44 people visit our web site every day. That's a total of 15,923 visits for the year, by 7,491 unique individuals. That's a 15% decrease in visits and a 10% decrease in unique visitors from 2015-2016.

A Place for Work, Study, and Remove from the World
- GHL is open 57 hours per week.

- We averaged 239 visitors per day, for a total of 61,034 visits this year.  This reflects a 16% increase from 2015-2016.  With our renovation concluding in August 2016, students and other patrons really flocked to the new library and made heavy use of the space (as the statistics below also support). Having the collection moved, the new elevator, the GRD 111 renovation, and the carpet replacement completed by the end of January 2017 provided even more improved spaces for spring semester 2017.

- We regularly schedule the library learning lab (GRD 111) for single class sessions. We also had one class meet there weekly during fall semester.  We also made use of our Study Room 110  with three classes meeting weekly in there during the fall semester and 5 classes meeting weekly during the spring semester.

- Our ten study rooms were checked out 1,907 times this year by students, faculty, and staff members. That represents a 688% increase from 2015-16 (partly due to increasing from two rooms to ten).  The average uses per room also rose from 56 in 2015-16 to 190 in 2016-17, which shows a tremendous response to the rooms.

- We held several events in the library this year that we sponsored or co-sponsored.  Aside from the monthly MUM Book Discussion Group meetings (for which we do not have attendance recorded), we had 15 events (12 TEC Lab workshops and three other events (two national parks geology video/lectures and one Casper Lecture book discussion)).  Total attendance was 120, for an average of 8 people per event.  A total of 99 different individuals came to at least one program, with 14 of those people attending two or three events.

Helping You Find What You Need
- Inside and outside of the library, we gave library instruction presentations in 36 classes this year, reaching 717 students (a decrease of 20% from 2015-2016). 

- Our Embedded Librarian program reached students from 68 course sections in their Canvas course sites during the academic year (that is a 6% decrease from 2015-2016). We helped over 1,332 students with their information needs through the program.

What don't we know about how the library is used?
- One key part missing from these figures is off-campus use of library resources: all off-campus use is tallied as MU-wide use, so we do not know how many Middletown patrons are using databases from home.  We have also lost meaningful data for on-campus use from some of our OhioLINK full-text resources.

- We don't have campus-specific stats for all database searches - we're missing uses of Nexis Uni and other databases that are tracked on a whole-university level.

- We hope you'll continue to let us know what you think about the library, what you need from us, and what materials we should order for the collection.

Thanks to everyone for making the library and its resources a vital part of your academic lives!