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Oviatt Library E-News Fall 2014

Innovation Sparks Imagination in the New, Student-Funded Creative Media Studio

The most recent addition to the Library’s immensely popular Learning Commons is a technology-rich workspace that provides students with the support and resources they need to create state-of-the-art, media-rich projects and presentations.

The Learning Commons’ Creative Media Studio (CMS) opened recently thanks to Campus Quality Fee funding awarded to the Library. The CMS provides students with access to specialized hardware, software and support in order to create videos, digital audio recordings, and robust multimedia projects.

Robert and Maureen Gohstand

What's Up: Robert and Maureen Gohstand Leisure Reading Room

In the bustling Library, amidst the ongoing pedagogical buzz, the upcoming dedication of the newly named and handsomely appointed Robert and Maureen Gohstand Leisure Reading Room will offer an opportunity to reflect on the importance of reading for fun.  

Securing a dedicated space for leisure reading in the Oviatt Library has been a longtime objective for Robert (Bob) Gohstand.

Artwork by Nivardo Esteban

Oviatt Spotlight: Freshman Common Read

With CSUN’s Freshman Common Read Program, the Department of Undergraduate Studies and the Oviatt Library offer an incoming class of highly diverse new students a communal point of connection in the pages of a shared book.

CSUN’s Freshman Common Read Program is turning 8 this year. Cheryl Spector, Director of Academic First Year Experiences, began contemplating the idea in 2004. She was inspired at a First Year Experience Conference by similar initiatives at other campuses.

The Oviatt Library's Pillars

Thanks and Recognition: Faculty Senate Library Committee

We would like to take a moment to honor and appreciate the ongoing and often unsung work that the members of Faculty Senate Library Committee perform on behalf of our entire CSUN community.

November 2013 marked a milestone in the open access movement as CSUN became the very first of the 23 Cal State University campuses to adopt an official open access resolution for its faculty.

Librarian Del Williams

We Would Like you to Meet: Del Williams

Acquisitions Librarian Del Williams is one of three new faculty members starting in Collection Access and Management Services (CAMS) this fall. A lifetime of rich experience and her deep roots in the CSUN community make Del an ideal addition. 

Del Williams arrived at CSUN in fall 1982 as a brand new freshman, and she immediately got a job shelving books as a student assistant in Library Circulation.

Dean Mark Stover

Message from the Dean: Grounding the New in Values Tried-and-True

The 17th century English poet Robert Herrick wrote, “Thus times do shift, each thing his turn does hold; new things succeed, as former things grow old.”

This lyrical wordsmithing by the poet could well describe the Oviatt Library over the past 2 years, and especially this fall season.  Perhaps it is because September often brings with it the beginning of the school year, but many of us associate autumn with change and newness. This issue of the Library eNews will focus on some of the changes in the Oviatt that are re-making our space and bringing new life to an old, familiar place.