Goodbye Summer; Hello Fall

In his devotional during faculty workshop, Dr. Dale Brown compared the beginning of school to the days before Christmas. You’ve been busy making all the right preparations for the season. The tree is decorated. Presents are wrapped. Stockings have been hung. You want to open that present under the tree, but as soon as you do, you know that the magic of Christmas will be over and life will be back to its normal routine.

People always ask me what we do in the summer in the library when no students are around? I grin and say, “Oh, there’s plenty to do.” This summer has been no different. Some of the preparations we’ve made this summer include:

• Hiring a new librarian: Jenny Horton is the new Instructional Services Librarian. She is coordinating library instruction and references services for the library. Her office is on the second floor of the library.
• Buying new equipment: The library now has two digital cameras and two digital video cameras for faculty, staff and students to check out.
• Beginning new services: If you use MSN, Yahoo! or AOL to instant message, add ewkinglibrary to your friend or buddy list to ask a question. If we’re not available via chat, send us an email at library@king.edu or call us (423-652-4716) or be really wild and crazy and see us in person.
• Adding new resources: Check out Credo Reference for an online reference library and Education Full-text for access to education periodicals.

I echo Dr. Brown’s feelings about opening the present before Christmas. I’m sad to say goodbye to summer, but glad to see students back on campus. I always wish for a restful, yet productive summer. Very rarely do those desires come true; however, this summer has been truly restorative. I hope the same has been true for you as well.

Julie Roberson, Director of Library Services