PSC Library Newsletter

May

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What’s Newsworthy

image for Finals Fest which includes the words Finals Fest over a Tie-dye background

Finals Fest returns to the library during final week (May 13th – 16) to support and celebrate our students! From May 6th through the end of the semester, the library classroom will become a quiet room for relaxation or study. During the week of final exams, we'll have snacks and beverages to keep students going. Our scheduled events are listed below.

image for Snack Session which includes all of the information below. It also has a pink popsicle with sprinkles.

Snack Session

Take a break, chill out, and refresh your mind with a popsicle at our snack session. Snack Session will be Monday, May 6th from 12:00 – 2:00 PM. Please click this link to add this event directly to your calendar.

image for Lunch 'n Learn which includes a fork, pen, and the PSC logo

Lunch 'n Learn, Chess with Reference Librarian Russell Guldin

“The chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the Universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature and the player on the other side is hidden from us.”

Thomas Huxley

Join the Library on Tuesday, May 7th 12:00 – 1:00 PM in the library classroom for an “infotaining” look at the beautiful game of chess. We’ll talk about the history of chess, cover the basics of the game, and learn some of the basics of chess strategy. We’ll have chess puzzles and a few boards set up for you to test your knowledge. Whether you know the differences between the Najdorf Sicilian and the Dragon Sicilian, or call that one piece the horse, you’ll get something out of this Lunch n’ Learn. Please click this link to add this event directly to your calendar.

image for Crafternoon event which includes all of the information below. The graphic has a ball of yarn with knitting needles, a cup with craft supplies, and a pile of books.

Crafternoon and Playtime

Join us for a crafternoon of procrasti-knitting and play on Wednesday, May 8th from 12:00 – 2:00 PM. Bring your crafting supplies, or join us to play with our new (to us) Legos! Please click this link to add this event directly to your calendar.

How To Enjoy Summer Reading

Staff and faculty at PSC have access to the same books and e-resources as our students. This includes our collection of eBooks and audiobooks through one of our vendors, Libby. Think of Libby as a free replacement for both Audible and your Kindle Library. This research guide walks you through the steps to use Libby. The best news is that you can connect your Libby app to our collection and your public library.

Something New: D&D Comes to PSC

by CJ Raich, Library Technical Assistant

Because our students love games, the PSC Library recently obtained all you need to start playing the world's most famous roleplaying game: Dungeons & Dragons! We have the Core Rulebooks set, which includes the Player's Handbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Master's Guide. We also have the Rules Expansion set of books that guide players into the D&D multiverse. And, to really get the party started, we have a couple of kits that include erasable game boards, markers, and dice that can be used with other roleplaying games in addition to D&D. You can find all of the roleplaying game supplies next to our ~~demogorgon~~ graphic novels. All of these are available for checkout to anyone with a PSC ID!

Librarian Water Cooler: Library Announcements

by William Condon, Dean, Learning Resources & Assessment

I am excited to provide details about the two big projects your PSC Library will complete over the summer. They will both have a positive impact on our campus community.

First, the library will join the Illinois iShare system, allowing our campus community access to over 90 academic and research libraries throughout Illinois. We have been hard at work over the past year preparing to migrate all data to the new system, which has been a massive amount of tediously detailed work. The change is scheduled for the end of June. Before that time, there may be some service disruptions and times when the library will stop lending physical items.

Here are some of the new services the Library will offer:

Primo VE: Our students will gain valuable experience using the same system as they will if they transfer to another Illinois institution. You will see a new look at our main search function with the new discovery system (what OneSearch is).

Access to an enormous collection!: The iShare database provides access to over 15 million unique bibliographic records and over 38 million unique item records. Translation - pretty much everything that’s published.

Not only that, but students can use their PSC IDs to enter and use any of the 90 iShare libraries. If Governors State has a book you want, you can check it out of the library using your PSC ID.

Illinois Library Delivery System (ILDS): Prairie State College will now be a part of ILDS, which means faster and more streamlined deliveries of books and other items from member libraries.

Second, the library will use the summer to transform one of our study study rooms into a sensory-inclusive room. The room will serve multiple purposes for our students from a calming area, an area that will help our neurodivergent students with sensory integration, and it will just be a quiet, comfortable place for students to escape. We hope to have the room open to students when they return for the fall semester.

The library will be using a Learning Renewal grant for the room.