Dry spell

Quite a long time has passed since last blog post, but that doesn't mean nothing has happened. Since April..

- We have a new college president, and Porterfield is my facebook friend.
- The 2011 class graduated, and a few CRA friends have become CRA alums.
- Doris (wife) and I returned to Bermuda, and discovered a wonderful rail-trail, which we intend to revisit often!
- A fun & successful SNRG conference occurred at F&M, some 130 participants from 11 states and Canada.
- The "New" College House is a complete, and is a palace! For the first time in a bunch of years, there is NO major construction project happening on campus, which is NICE! Although you do have to watch for all the CTY middle-schoolers all about, or they might get stuck in your bike spokes!

Looking forward to a few music festivals in July and August. Then we're back into another school term. Should mention, of some interest, this August 5 will mark 20 years for me at F&M. Just 20 more to go till retirement!

Library conference

Just wanted to see if this embed code worked. Feel free to fill the form if you are interested in attending the SirsiDynix Northeast Regional Group Conference at Franklin & Marshall College, June 13-15, 2011.

Early to bed, early to rise

Ben Franklin kept a reasonable schedule, allowing plenty of time for contemplation, reflection (and occasional womanizing!). With all our gadgets and social networking, do we no longer afford time for examination or introspection? Have we allowed technology to control us, or can we still put technology into perspective?

Gag order

Ben was bound and gagged yesterday, presumably to celebrate President's Day. Of course Franklin was covered with "John Marshall is my homeboy, so I guess poor John was (once again) feeling slighted by Ben's outsized notoriety!

More snow pictures.

Addendum: As it turns out this was an administrative prank. Sure wish I was there whilst Burness was snickering over plastic and green tape. Who knows, maybe this is the beginning of (any?) tradition at F&M.

I've been working on the railroad...

I am REALLY going to miss the rusty, old Armstrong bridge when the Norfolk rails are finally moved, uniting north and south.

If you like to watch moving and installing rails, this video is fascinating, if not mesmerizing... http://bit.ly/h83jtW

Brand new term!

Very busy winter break with a cruise to the Bahamas, and another CRA hurricane relief trip to Galveston. Have to say, we really missed Bermuda. It was good to work with old and new friends in Galveston. Not sure yet where the next CRA trip will take us.

I'm sort of looking forward to the routine of a new term. I had considered team-teaching a class, but there doesn't seem to be the time. Instead, I will concentrate on hosting a library conference here at F&M in June. Quite a challenge really. Could involve 2 to 3 other libraries, and the active participation of our ILS vendor, SirsiDynix.

Already I'm thinking about summer! Might wedge another cruise into May. There was talk about a return to China, but with another Vivace festival in July and the Endless Mountain Music Festival in August, there doesn't seem to be enough days to go abroad. My pref would be to skip China for a possible trip to Germany & Switzerland.

Of course all of this is music related. Someday we will travel without working!

Hypnotic Snowmen

EVEN MORE Best enjoyed after LOTS of egg nog!




Have a wonderful & relaxing winter break. Happy Holidays!

All night long

It's that time of the term again, when all good students flock to Shad-Fack to study and write like never before.

Of course, I will never understand what can be accomplished between 2 and 6am. But so many students will valiantly try make the most of the wee hours & stay awake.

We will do our part by keeping the doors open, serving up the coffee and snacks, and taking pictures of all-nighter failures whenever possible!

Noisy Neighbor

For so many months Old Main has sounded with clinks and clanks and BANGS, as workers dismantled and remantled the tower.

But today we have finally arrived at the Great Unveiling. Click on the picture above for more photos.

Now perhaps we will return to peace & quiet.

Big Event that nobody noticed

It's actually a VERY good thing that nobody noticed the Library website migrated from one server to another. Taking just 5 minutes! For the first time in many years, the Library site moved and is now lives permanently on a brand new VIRTUAL server.

Virtualization still mystifies me (almost spooky!), but essentially our server now coexists with many other servers on a single physical machine. This is great for operating system management, network bandwidth needs and emergency preparedness.

Please enjoy our (secret) great leap forward!

Printer virus

Have to admit, I'm a bit less inclined to refill paper at this printer!

Look up!

Look up at the new shiny steeple atop Barshinger. Look up at the work atop Old Main. Look up at the slightly changing Fall leaves. Look up at the new granite sculptures. Look up at the friendly neighborhood hawk. Look up at the crystal blue Fall sky. Look up from your texting, and smile at your fellow students & friends!

Trying out post by email

For the longest while I was able to readily post to the Library blog by using email. So simple, just sent an email and up goes the post for all the word to see (or whoever stumbled on the blog).

Now I'm trying this easy-breezy method on the Ask Andy blog. After I send this, I will race to the blog and see what happened. It will be SO exciting!

Yikes, too few days left!

Still so much to do before the start of the term. There's plenty of work to do on the website. Patron data needs to be imported to account for some 600 new students, and edits to older records. Scheduling needs to be done for library instruction sessions. And last minute cleanup of public machines and printers.

Where did the summer go!

It will be fun to see the libraries again fill with new faces and old friends. If you find yourself on second level Shad-Fack, two doors down from the computer classroom, stop by to introduce yourself or sit down and chat.

One last dip in the old swimming hole!

Goings & comings

Today the new library website was launched, minus Ask Andy. Today library assistance is more accurately labeled "Ask Us," to best reflect all the many talented staff that field library and research questions.

This blog will continue, but in a different way. The voice will be mine. I will talk about stuff, mostly library stuff. But other things happen, life beyond the library. Those things might show up here, in words or pictures or video.

Best wishes Renate Sachse!

Renate served the college library for 35 years! She's seen everything; extensive library renovations in 1983, advent of catalog automation in 1988, dedication of Martin Library of the Sciences in 1991, lobby flood and system migration in 2002, and all sorts of new staff, new duties, new products and services and THOUSANDS of students!

Renate was one of the first librarians to represent the library at SirsiDynix conferences, traveling for a dozen years to St. Louis, then Nashville, Colorado Springs and Detroit. Renate was an enthusiastic champion of many of our marketing efforts, such as Wake Up in the Library and Librarian House Calls, and a regular at so many Modern Language events.

We will truly miss Renate's good humor and genuine spirit, and we wish her all the best and safe & fun travels in retirement!



Alles Gute = Good Luck



Renate gets the first piece of cake, with a bright red rose.



Renate and Carol Kornhauser, with Jeff Brethauer and Chuck Leayman in the background.



Mike Horn put together a terrific memory book, with staff pictures and best wishes.

Wake Up in the Library!

The Library held our semi-annual Wake Up event on June 5, to meet & greet our alumni. We got to meet and re-unite with over 50 alums from so many classes, many from 1960, 1980, 2000, and of course 2005, which gifted the Library with the wonderful new patio shown in the previous post.

Good to see everyone. Please come back soon!

Shad-Fack has a new patio

In just a few days our old concrete patio at the Shad-Fack front steps was removed, and a sparkling new brick patio was installed. Here are a few pics of before & after.


(photo credit: Jenn Buch)


(photo credit: Mike Lear/Christopher Raab)


(photo credit: Mike Lear/Christopher Raab)


(photo credit: Mike Lear/Christopher Raab)

Many thanks to the Class of 2005 for funding our new patio!

Best wishes Dale Riordan!

Dale Riordan served as our Science Librarian for 10 years. Under her leadership, science research instruction & resources grew enormously. We could always count on Dale's expertise, easy manner and terrific humor. The Library will surely miss Dale, and we wish her all the best as she enjoys the sun & fun of Florida. Please Dale, when you get a chance, send us a few bright yellow grapefruits up North!



Dale cuts a sunny cake.



Dale and Pam Snelson, College Librarian.



Perhaps the last time we'll see this wonderful mix of people all together at the same time in the same place. Roughly from left-to-right: Pam Snelson, Dale Riordan, Mike Lear, Denise Chmielewski, Renate Sachse, Andy Gulati, Scott Vine (back), Sue Wood, Jenn Buch, Mike Horn, Chuck Leayman (back), Louise Kulp, Marty Gordon (back), Nikki Rearich, Andrea Hartranft, Linda Danner, Lisa Stillwell (back), Pat Miller, Rick Thompson, Christopher Raab, Ken Siegert

Comings & Goings

Not since 1996-1997 has there been this much staff activity at the Library. As noted in a previous post, both evening supervisors Bill Coventry and Sabine Caldwell left us in late winter. And just this Spring, Dale Riordan (Science Librarian) flew off to sunny Florida to rejoin family.

Andrea Hartranft recently joined us at Martin, as our Evening Circulation Supervisor. And we just celebrated Tom Karel's 25th year with the Library. Renate Sachse (Cataloging & Circulation Librarian) was also honored, as she will be retiring at the end of June (stay tuned for pictures!).



Andrea Hartranft and Riley

Andrea will graduate with a MLS from Clarion in August. She started with an internship at the Lancaster Historical Society and was employed by the Lititz Public Library, followed by an internship at F&M. Andrea is thrilled to be working at Martin and looks forward to a fulfilling career in libraries.



Tom Karel at the Honoring Distinguished Service event.

Tom, our Collection Development Librarian and Government Documents Guru, was honored for his 25 years of service. Tom can't leave us as long as he has interesting Congressional hearings to read and share!



Marilyn Kennard

Marilyn worked for many years at Shadek-Fackenthal before moving to the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium. Marilyn will join her husband Ron in retirement after June.