Tag Archives: Hoover Library

Library Renovation

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Although I am a little upset that this project is taking place during my senior year and will not be finished until after I leave, I am extremely excited for the current renovations being completed in McDaniel’s Hoover Library.

I never imagined how our library could get any better during my four years that I have been at McDaniel. It is the perfect environment to get work done it because it is extremely spacious and comfortable. You run into a lot of your friends to distract you from studying when you need a break, but then you can go right back to your hidden study spot and keep studying. There are endless amounts of study nooks you can choose from to work on any kind of assignment. Whether you want to work alone in a secret corner with your headphones on or get a private room with your friends and play music out load on the TV screen/computer, you will be able to find the perfect study zone for you. And between the access to over 200,00 volumes in the library and 60 online databases, you have plenty of resources to get your work completed.

Besides ideal study environments, we even got an ideal studying fuel center when they installed a brand new Starbuck’s coffee shop in the library called Casey’s Corner. What more could I ask for? The answer is a 24/7 section of the library (besides the computer lab and coffee shop area). The library is currently under renovations to make two floors accessible to students 24/7 so that they have constant access to the most popular volumes of books as well as brand new creative learning centers that are being added (as if there weren’t already plenty of learning spaces in the library, but I’m not complaining!). The library hosted forums for students to attend before the project began to get our feedback and opinions about what we would like to see in the renovation project. They were very adamant about listening to us before spending any money on renovations. They wanted to make sure they were doing what would please the students the most!

If you go to their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/McDaniel-College-Hoover-Library-Renovation/172116582884576) you can follow the renovation project from the beginning to present. I am excited about the new state-of-the-art fully automated compact storage unit that will open up more space for creating learning spaces while conserving the volumes of books in the library.

By next semester the library will be completely renovated and ready for students to take advantage of. Now you can spend those fantastic all nighters in the library! I might just have to come back to McDaniel to get the experience (just promise not to judge me).

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Last Friday Night…

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…was nothing like the Katy Perry song of that name, but I truly had a blast!

Westminster’s annual Fallfest took place last weekend and though it started last Thursday evening, things really kicked off last Friday night with Westminster’s annual Midnight Madness. As a freshman last year, I managed to miss hearing about Midnight Madness, but when it entered my radar this year, I knew I had to go! From 6 p.m. to midnight, local Westminster shops and restaurants are open, offering great deals and samples. Parts of Main Street are blocked off and are filled with a variety of musicians.

I visited a few stores and the Westminster Public Library, which was also open late for the occasion. This library seems like a cozy place, and I learned that McDaniel students are welcome to check out books and other materials here using their student ID cards. (You can also reserve materials to be sent to McDaniel’s own Hoover Library if you don’t want to make the walk.)

I would have loved to have gone to a lot more stores, but my friends had reserved spots on a free ghost tour so we had to get to that by 11:00. Luckily, it was sponsored by Birdie’s Cafe, a local coffee shop on Main Street, so I was able to get a tasty peppermint mocha beforehand. (It was delicious!) I had never been to Birdie’s before, and I would love to go back. (If only it weren’t such a long walk from campus!)

The ghost tour was awesome. The guide was pretty funny, and she was a great storyteller. The tour was less about trying to see ghosts and experience paranormal activity and more about hearing some of the area’s more bizarre and macabre history, which was really interesting and fun.

I have to be honest though: my favorite part of the tour was visiting inside a place called Cockey House, a place now occupied by some sort of historical society. They were serving some absolutely delicious chicken noodle soup in honor of Midnight Madness. (I wish I could have taken the whole crock pot with me!) And outside of Cockey House, I got to meet a corgi!!! She was super sweet and reminded me of my own corgi at home!

I got to see a lot of historic Westminster that I hadn’t seen before, and I’d love to explore it some more in daylight with some friends. There are a lot of intricacies and beauty to be seen on the local buildings and landmarks.

Last Friday night was among the best I’ve had at McDaniel, and next fall, I definitely want to go to Midnight Madness again!

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To Research or Not to Research, That is the Question

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Over the summer I spent my free time diving into the history books. Now, keep in mind, I am not a very history-happy person. The only reason I did it was for the lovely theatre department. This October, we will be performing Hairspray, an upbeat musical about a Baltimore girl in 1962 that has big dreams and even bigger hair. This production has a cast of about 30 people and a strong production team leading them to some great performances. My job as the Dramaturg is to make sure the entire production is historically accurate. Not only do I have to make sure the actors understand why some of the jokes from that time period are funny, but I also have to make sure things like school bags and phones are accurate. We wouldn’t want to have Tracy holding a smartphone because it wouldn’t be believable. I have to make sure the world we create resembles 1960s Baltimore as closely as possible. This was a challenge I willingly accepted because I had the privilege of being a part of a professional production of Hairspray in my hometown the summer after I graduated high school. After spending a month on that show and dancing till I couldn’t breathe and had blisters all over my feet from the heels, I fell in love with the show. Before that, it was definitely not on my top five list as far as musicals go. After being in it, however, I gained a new appreciation for it. When the Theatre Department announced they would be doing it this fall, I immediately jumped at the chance to do the dramaturgy. Knowing I had a big, crazy schedule to keep track of this semester, I did the majority of the work over the summer.

It was very helpful to be able to use Hoover Library’s resources from home. Besides McDaniel’s 250,000 volumes of books we house on campus, we are also connected to Carol Community College and Carol County Public Library to give us access to over 750,000 volumes in this county. We are also connected with the Inner Library Loan system which means if we find a book we really want to use or read, they can get it shipped here for free from anywhere in the country. These resources were very helpful for me once I got back to campus after this summer. It was a nice way to double check facts and look at actual history books. However, my favorite library resource is the 60+ online databases that McDaniel students have access to. The best part is you don’t even have to be on or anywhere near campus to access them. As long as you are logged into your McDaniel account (via the new McDaniel portal) you can access them from any computer anywhere. I live about two hours from campus and was able to easily search all the databases until my eyes were tired of scrolling through the hundreds of options I had for that one specific topic. These databases not only help students with large projects like this, but they also help me with the smallest of papers. Some of my English classes require that I write reaction papers for books I read that have specific topics. When I am stuck with writers block and need help thinking about that topic, I search it on the databases. It serves as a nice, reliable source to jumpstart my brainstorming. Often, I will even site these journal articles or things that I find because they have such good information.

I don’t know what I would have done this summer without the resources that McDaniel provides their students for research. After working on this project, I feel a lot better about doing research for the Senior Seminar paper I will have to write next year. The amount of research and time I am going to spend in the library and on those databases will be an extraordinary amount of time, but I know it will not go wasted. The research resources we have here are wonderful for any student and a life saver when you are stressing about papers and research projects. After talking to some friends that go to other schools, I really feel that McDaniel is superior in their resources for students both in and out of the classroom. The opportunities the school provides for us allow us to grow in so many different ways.

“I’ve got the whole wide world in the palm of my hands.” –The Muppets (Life’s a Happy Song)

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