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| About the Libraries | Contact us | My Library Account | Hours | New resources | Digital Initiatives | Gateway NEWS |
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Gateway NEWS | |
BC Hydro will be upgrading high voltage equipment and as such the Mearns Centre for Learning, the BiblioCafé, the Priestly Law Library, and the Curriculum Library will all be closed this Sunday, August 17th.
Facilities Management recommends that "electronic equipment, such as personal computers, facsimile machines, electronic and laboratory equipment be unplugged from power receptacles to avoid risk of possible damage that could result from voltage fluctuations that may occur during this work. Please DO NOT unplug any telephone sets."
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Carol Roberts at
721-7605 or Karen Jones at 472-4567.
Wendie McHenry, Assistant University Librarian, sends the following.
Work on the Mearns Centre for Learning continues. Here is a quick progress report:
Entrance Canopy
The concrete for the columns will be finished this week. The remaining work on the canopy will continue for several weeks.
Lobby
This area will be refurbished to reflect the design of the new spaces. The design will incorporate recognition plaques for Thomas McPherson and William Mearns. A new bulletin board and additional lighting will also be installed. The exterior doors will be replaced and Facilities Management is working to remedy the problems with the interior set of doors. The Access Services staff are to be commended for dealing with the door problem on an ongoing basis.
Café
The cork floor is finished and installation of the furniture will begin Thursday, March 13th. Food Services will be setting up operations over the next week so we anticipate a "soft opening" the week of March 25th.
Group Study Rooms
The study rooms are now operational. With the addition of the new group study rooms on main and the re-opening of the second floor rooms, there are now a total of twelve rooms available for online booking.
Second Floor Shelving
Stack Maintenance staff are planning the book shift into the new shelving area. Once finalized, the plan will be announced.
Continuing Studies Offices
Work in this area is finished and staff in this unit will hopefully have some peace and quiet. It has been a very long and disruptive period for the staff who have demonstrated great patience and flexibility.
Third Floor Galleria
The stairway to the new 3rd floor is now open. This level offers seating along the corridor and washroom facilities. However, the unfinished space beyond the doors marked "emergency entrance" is out of bounds for safety and security reasons.
Third floor sorting area
Renovation of the sorting area and the new shelving area continues. This work is scheduled for completion at the beginning of April. Installation of the shelving will follow.
Signs and Maps
New signs are being developed and floor maps of the new area will soon be available.
Landscaping
Landscaping of the east area around the retention pond will start next week.
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The staff are settling in and adjusting to their new areas. There are many details to finalize and a few more moves to complete.
We can all look forward to a Staff Celebration (date to be announced) as well as the grand opening on May 6th.
We’re proud to announce that the library’s new classroom (room 130) will be available to students for general computing use as of Friday, February 1st. The classroom consists of 29 brand new computer workstations, which will address the need for more computer access as indicated by feedback from library patrons.
This is a reminder that there is an increased risk of theft in the Library during this busy period. Please do not leave valuables unattended - they may disappear within seconds. Theft is a crime of opportunity; therefore, do not provide it.
Building security thanks you for your attention to this matter.
Marnie Swanson, University Librarian, sends the following message:
We had an overwhelming response to our contest for naming the Libraries new cafe. Thank you to everyone that submitted their creative suggestions.
I am pleased to announce that a winning name has been chosen for the new McPherson Library café. The next step in the naming of the cafe is for our selected name to be approved by the University’s Naming Committee. The committee will not be meeting until later in the fall, so stay tuned for an announcement in early October!
The McPherson Library’s building hours will soon be increasing!
Effective July 1st the McPherson Building will be open:
Monday to Friday 7:30 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday/Sunday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Effective September 1st the McPherson Building will be open:
Monday to Thursday 7:30 am to 11:00 pm
Friday 7:30 am to 9:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am to 9:00 pm
Sunday 10:00 am to 11:00 pm
During the fall exam period the building will be open:
Monday to Friday 7:30 am to midnight
Saturday and Sunday 10:00 am to midnight
This represents a 7% increase in hours for the summer session and a 9% increase for the fall session. These changes have come about as a result of user feedback, LibQual+ survey results and focus groups conducted by the Libraries. They have been made possible by funds from the Office of the Vice-President Academic and Provost for additional staffing coverage in the Loan Desk and Campus Copier units of Access and Branch Services.
Activity at the Mearns Centre for Learning construction site is about to increase. Demolition exploration work on the northeast section of the McPherson Library building will commence Monday, July 24th. Excavation is scheduled to start at the end of the July with concrete foundation work commencing early September. For more information go to http://www.uvic.ca/construction/
Construction is underway in McPherson Library for a Statistics Canada Research Data Centre. This UVic data centre will be affiliated with the BC Regional Data Centre situated at UBC. The University of Victoria is providing the space for this facility which will support research for faculty and graduate students. These centres are often located within university libraries and this UVic facility will be located in the north-west corner of the Microforms area. Broken and out-dated equipment has been removed from Microforms to provide the space. The library location at UVic was selected given the role of the library with respect to Statistics Canada public access datasets on campus.
The Research Data Centre is built to maintain the highest levels of security and will be staffed by Statistics Canada employees as it remains a Federal government facility. Such local centres offer researchers access to the same
datasets presently available only in centres on the mainland or in other
provinces. Researchers at UVic are very excited about the prospect of having
this data available to them in a convenient location. Project completion is
expected by April 10, 2006.
For further information contact Wendie McHenry, Assistant University Librarian
(wmchenry@uvic.ca) or Doug Baer, Sociology, UVic BCRDC representative, baer@uvic.ca
The renovated and expanded Information Commons is now open and offers:
- 40 new Windows workstations with productivity software bringing the total number of workstations to 103
- additional seating for 130 people, bringing the total first floor seating to 375
- new Current Periodical shelving housing nearly 2,000 titles
- 4 Group Study Rooms, bringing the Group Study room total to 10
- 2 new Resource Rooms for Students with a Disability
- new furniture throughout the area including tablet-arm chairs for laptop use a wireless environment.
This is a major move forward in addressing the campus need to have a physical environment that provides the staff and technology to assist faculty and students with their learning and information needs.
From UVic Communications:
The provincial government and the family of one of the University of Victoria’s earliest supporters have each pledged $5 million to expand and renovate the university’s library and increase online access to its resources. The complex, which will include new seminar and tutorial facilities and classrooms and encompass the existing McPherson Library, will be named the William C. Mearns Centre for Learning.
Wendie McHenry, Projects and Planning Librarian, sends the following:
The Friends of UVic Libraries would like to inform members of the UVic community about the sale of the Libraries’ card catalogue cabinets. These beautiful wood units, replaced by the electronic systems that now manage all forms of information, are offered for sale through the BC Government online auction site. Many individuals have enquired about obtaining one
of these cabinets to use as furniture or to store nuts, bolts and other hardware, audio cassettes (CDs will not fit the drawers), recipe cards and collections of
all sorts. Individuals can now put bids forward. Proceeds from the sale will go towards the Libraries’ furniture fund.
Watch the BC Government auction site at http://www.bcauction.ca/open.dll/welcome (Click on Browse and then on Office Furniture) for these items and for information on how to register for the auction.
The final phase of the McPherson Library first floor renovations will commence in late December and continue for at least three months. This phase will incorporate new shelving for Current Periodicals (CP), four Group Study Rooms, two resource rooms for Students with a Disability, increased study seating and twenty additional scholar's workstations in the ever popular Information Commons.
Click here to view the floor plan
To maintain access to all of the collections during the renovations and in preparation for demolition, the majority of CP titles will be temporarily housed on the 2nd Floor of the library. This shift will take place in early December. Many periodical titles which have an electronic version, will now be permanently housed in the main collection. The entire Z collection is now permanently located in Basement Compact Shelving. Once the renovation is completed the CP collection will be shifted back to the first floor.
The Library catalogue will be updated to reflect the location change for CP titles. For assistance with locating print periodicals, please ask at the Loan or Reference Desk. A librarian or library staff member will be pleased to assist.
Every attempt will be made to schedule the noisiest parts of the construction outside of regular hours though minor disruptions cannot be avoided.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding during this time of transition. We anticipate that the additional study space, Information Commons computers and group study rooms created in this renovation will greatly enhance your learning needs.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact Wendie McHenry,
Projects and Planning Librarian (wmchenry@uvic.ca or 721-8216)
McPherson Library hours for the next several months are:
1. Extended hours during April exams (April 2 to April 24, inclusive):
Monday to Friday 8 am to 11pm
Saturday to Sunday 10 am to 11pm
2. Easter Weekend hours (April 9 to April 12):
Good Friday 10 am to 6 pm
Saturday 10 am to 11 pm
Sunday (regular) 10 am to 11pm
Easter Monday 10 am to 6 pm
3. Summer Session hours (April 25 to September 6, inclusive)
Monday to Thursday 8 am to 9 pm
Friday 8 am to 6 pm
Saturday & Sunday 10 am to 6 pm
McPherson Library is closed on statutory holidays in Summer Session.
Winter Session hours begin September 7, 2004.
Hours are available on the Libraries' Gateway at http://gateway.uvic.ca
A revised Food and Drink policy has been drafted for the Gateway. Please read through this just as a refresher and reminder of what is acceptable regarding food and drink in the library. Since the Student Monitors can cover only a fraction of the building at any time your assistance in reminding students of the policy as well as modelling the policy yourselves would be invaluable.
http://gateway.uvic.ca/dept/access/fooddrinkpolicy.html