A summer makeover at West Virginia University’s Evansdale Library is among the list of enhancements awaiting students returning for the fall semester.

After closing for renovation in May, the Evansdale Library will welcome back students on the first day of class. The work is transforming the library’s main floor into an aesthetically pleasing space more conducive to studying, doing research, and collaborating on group projects.

A flexible study area will allow students to easily move tables, chairs, and whiteboards to accommodate group projects. There are also two new study rooms.

A leisure reading area with comfortable seating will offer a quiet corner to study or read for pleasure, and the former microfilm room will house a relaxing lounge with upscale vending machines, and caf� seating. Both spaces will eventually have video screens that can stream CNN or WVU’s Information Station.

But it may be the start of the second week of classes before study carrels and tables for more than 50 new computers are installed. In the meantime, computers will be available throughout the library. Students can also check out a laptop or bring their own and use the wireless network.

Throughout the renovation, the Evansdale Library maintained a pick-up desk accessible through a back entrance. In preparation for the start of the semester, Evansdale Library will close at 2:30 p.m. Friday. The library will reopen at 7:30 a.m. Monday and return to its normal lending policies.

Improvements are also happening at the downtown campus library. The libraries replaced all 214 desktop computers used by the public with upgraded versions with larger monitors. Still in the works is the addition of eighteen study carrels with iMacs for the lower level. The latter is expected to be completed in September.

Wherever one chooses to study, finding a book will be a little easier. Some students and faculty have already begun using a new service which sends a text message containing a selected book’s title, location, and call number to user’s cell phone.

It’s simple to use. Find a book in MountainLynx, the libraries’ online catalog. Next to the call number is a link reading: “Text me this call number.” Click on the link, key in your cell phone number and service-provider, and the information will show up on your phone within a few seconds.

Two popular services returning this year are the term paper clinics and free tutoring sessions.

The clinics begin at the Evansdale Library on Sept. 10 and run from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and at the downtown campus library on Sept. 21 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

Tutoring sessions covering chemistry, physics, biology, math, and statistics begin Aug. 25 and run from 7-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday at the downtown campus library in room 1020.

Extended hours resume Sept. 8. The downtown campus and Evansdale libraries will be open until 2 a.m. Sunday-Thursday.

-WVU-

mm/8/20/09

Contacts:
Monte Maxwell
WVU Libraries
Office: (304) 293-0306