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Oviatt Library E-News Winter 2012

Featured: Building a Learning Commons

The Oviatt Library is embarking on a number of initiatives that will change the face of our facility and our services. Perhaps our most ambitious endeavor is the new Learning Commons which is due to begin construction in June 2013. The introduction of the Learning Commons will be the first phase in our state-of-the-art transformation to meet the growth of internet-based research and instruction, facilitate an increase in student collaborative projects, and integrate the Library's resources and services into campus wide partnerships to further student learning and respond to faculty needs.

Strange and Fantastic Exhibition

What's Up: Fantastic and Strange

Science fiction literature, one of the most popular and entertaining genres in modern fiction, has been read and loved by children and adults for decades. From the earliest pulp publications to modern masterpieces, science fiction short stories and novels have often functioned as a lens through which we express our sense of wonder, marvel at the possibilities of new technologies, and engage in our wildest imaginings.

Andrew Weiss

The Oviatt Shines: Librarian Andrew Weiss

Thanks to Librarian Andrew Weiss the Oviatt Library has been selected as one of this year’s recipients of books through The Nippon Foundation’s Read Japan Book Donation Program. The Read Japan program aims to make a wide variety of books from Japan available to foreign audiences by working in partnership with libraries, publishers, authors and translators.

Jack and Florence Ferman

Thanks and Recognition

The Oviatt Library recently received a $161,000 gift from The Jack and Florence Ferman Foundation for the Ferman Endowment. The purpose of the gift is to support the continued processing and ongoing curation of the many unique treasures that are housed in the Special Collections of the library. The Fermans were long-time friends of the Library who passed away a few years ago.  Jack Ferman was a businessman, and Florence (a CSUN alumna) was an artist, but both were obviously philanthropists at heart.

Iris Caplan

We would like you to meet…

Our heartfelt congratulations go out to the Oviatt’s own Iris Caplan who was honored along with recipients from colleges across the campus at the Volunteer Service Awards banquet on November 1 at the Airtel Plaza Hotel. The library is proud to introduce you to Iris Caplan who has been a faithful and committed member of the Friends of the Library board over the past few years, where she served as Hospitality Chair.

Dean Mark Stover

A Message from the Dean

University libraries are in a state of tumultuous change today.  Technology has radically changed the way that librarians, students, and faculty think about searching for information. Mobile computing is on the rise, and scholarly communication and publication is becoming a much more open enterprise.  Funding (or the lack thereof) has placed state universities in a precarious situation in regard to planning for the future and sustainability.  Library spaces are evolving from solitary study areas surrounded by hundreds of thousands of books to collaborative spaces where print materials may be superseded in some cases by electronic resources.