Hoover Library. Photo Casey Roberds
In celebration of the Hoover Library’s 20th anniversary, the staff is planning to make accommodations for all of the different types of people at McDaniel College. In order to attract more students to the library, the staff will be making advances that will benefit everyone.
Jessame Ferguson, Director of Hoover Library, wants to create an atmosphere that “supports different students with different needs.” In celebration of the academic diversity, she plans on creating improved environments for studying in the library.
Students can look forward to “workstations for collaborative work, bigger desk spaces, and bigger computer screens.” This will be beneficial to students who are there to do more than just read a book or do research online.
In order to appease so many different students, Ferguson is planning to establish a committee that will work together in order to make the library more useful to students. This committee will consist of students from different areas of study in order to get a wide range of opinions.
“The students will be a part of the design process,” said Ferguson. “The library is all about helping the students.”
The theme for the celebration is “Looking at Our Past, Planning for Our Future,” and in the spirit of that ideal, the staff is also planning on utilizing e-books throughout the library. Ferguson is still working on these plans, but she said “we do have it in the budget to buy a few [e-readers] to experiment with.” She will look to the students for their opinions on the best use of the new technologies.
The celebration will be October 13 2011 in the Hoover Library. Speakers include Dr. LeRoy Panek, Professor Emeritus of English, Dr. Carla Hayden, CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library and honorary degree holder from McDaniel College, and Jessame Ferguson, Director of the Hoover Library. There will be light food and beverages, and it is requested that those who plan to attend RSVP to Debbie Green at dgreen@mcdaniel.edu.
