New Resource: Credo Reference

Wish you had a reference library at your fingertips?  Now you do!  Credo Reference is the newest addition to the library’s group of electronic resources.  With Credo Reference you can look up census data, read about tandoori cooking in the International Dictionary of Food and Cooking, watch an animation of a black hole, or listen to what a glockenspiel sounds like.

You can also do traditional things you can do with dictionaries and encyclopedias like look up terms or concepts you do not understand or events that are unfamiliar to you.  Credo Reference is a great starting point for research when you need to become familiar with a topic or look for topic ideas.

Why Tornado Touchstone?

A touchstone according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary can be one of three things:

• a stone related to flint that was used to test the purity of gold
• a test or criterion that is used to determine quality or genuineness
• a fundamental or quintessential part or feature

Touchstones are measures of quality. We thought it was an appropriate name since our goal is to provide you with the highest quality services and resources.

The motto, “Lux lucet in tenebris” is found on the medallion over the library entrance. It is a Latin phrase which means “light shining in darkness and comes from John’s gospel, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:5).

We often joke about the library being a dangerous place because there are “ideas in there. ” As an institution that believes that all Truth is God’s truth, we know that ideas are not scary and indeed should be explored and discovered to their fullest extent. We hope that the King Library will be such a place where you can explore ideas.

Julie Roberson

Director of Library Services

Silver Sparkling Freshmen

The library staff hosted First Year Experience classes for an orientation to the library on September 4th and 6th. Students were first treated to a story told by Instructional Services Librarian, Jenny Horton. Jenny shared the story, The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. The Rainbow Fish is a story about a fish who has beautiful sparkling scales, but no friends because he won’t share his scales with the other fish. When asked why she chose The Rainbow Fish, Jenny said,

“I wanted to tell The Rainbow Fish because to me it represents the potential we have to give others (students, faculty, staff and community) a piece of ourselves. The sparkling silver scales in the story represent service and unselfishness. So, if we want to benefit in this community of scholarship, we have to be willing to give away “our most prized possessions” of time, knowledge and resources.”

Each student was presented with a sequin to represent the “silver, sparkling scales” that they would learn about the library.

Students were then divided into two groups. One group had a physical tour of the library and the other group received a virtual tour of the library’s website. The orientation concluded with a group assignment that asked students to complete such task as “use the Oxford English Dictionary to find the origin and meaning of the word koolookumba.”

Over 150 number of students participated in the orientation. We hope that all the freshmen feel more at home in the library now.

Julie Roberson

Director of Library Services