Path to career starts in Ablah Library

It is easy for a student to walk into Ablah Library, sit down at the first computer they see open, study and leave without ever stepping foot on the remaining 157,923 square feet the library has filled with useful tools and information.

“There’s a gap in how to use the library to your best advantage,” Nick Wyant, assistant professor of research and Information Services librarian, said.

Wyant visits over 600 classrooms each year, helping students learn about the full capacity of the technology in the library and on their computers. He conducts digital literacy workshops so that students and the public can learn more about certain programs. This fall, the library will offer several sessions, some of which include: Using Google Apps, Introduction to Prezi, Building Charts in Excel and Formatting Papers in MS Word and Creating Citations for Research Papers.

“WSU libraries is a wealth of information and it is a student’s key to being successful,” Nan Myers, director of Public Service and associate professor, said. “The furniture and computers are new on the first floor as of this summer. We also have ten new Mac computers, and we have a fantastic new scanner that allows you to scan straight onto your flash drive.

The library has also been working on a new project this fall.

“We are repurposing space and building an area where students can come and work on projects,” Myers said. “We will have a large TV screen and comfortable seating for students to relax and a project area for students to be able to gather and work through various projects. All the tables, computer screens and chairs will be flexible. “

This will be added on to the existing 44 study rooms, two technology rooms where students can go and create presentations, create a PowerPoint or have discussions, 20 group study rooms and two seminar rooms with laptops on the second and third floors.

“It’s definitely great working for people who don’t realize all the resources the library has,” Harper Behrens Fry said.

Fry has worked at the library a little over a year and works in the Music Library, third floor Jardine Hall and Interlibrary Loan.

“We lend out fifty materials a day and on a busy day we can double or triple that,” Fry said.

Interlibrary loan is available if students cannot find a book or article they need in the library. Librarians can request materials from other locations connected with the ILLiad interlibrary loan system.

“I use their databases online,” Kristen Luebbe, nursing senior, said. “I use it for journal articles and research articles.”

With more than 50,000 eBooks and 60,000 journals and magazines online and 120 computers in the library to use, it’s hard not to become overwhelmed with the mass amount of information. That’s why there is plenty of help.

The library has 50 student workers and 50 faculty and staff members, Myers said. We have students who want to be computer engineers and have a certain level of understanding. They can help students connect to the university network at the Help Desk. University computing also has their permanent offices here and can fix any Blackboard issues.

At the Circulation desk, students can check out one of the 15 laptops, periodicals, government documents and buy flash drives, bluebooks and ear buds. There is also a Lost and Found.

The reserve section on the first floor behind the circulation desk is a gem waiting to be discovered.

“Instructors can put certain materials for students in reserve,” Myers said. “It can be checked out for a restricted amount of time. We also have pricey textbooks that are used for large classes that students can scan or check out for two hours at a time.”

The SGA and SAC movie collection, educational videos and DVDs, five scanners, newspapers, leisure reading, a color printer, government documents, microfilm and microfiche and a typewriter can all be found in Reserve.

“I personally enjoy the graphic novels that they have and the Specials Collections website,” Fry said. “There are maps of Kansas and digital photographs of what the streets looked like in history. You can see what a street on Douglas looked like back in the ’20s.”

Special Collections is in the basement of the library and holds rare books, manuscripts, historical maps, photographs and university archives according to the library resource guide sheet.

“I like studying here. It’s quiet, but I would say to extend the hours,” Luebbe said.

For late night study sessions, there is the 24-Hour Study Room, with eight computers, study tables, phones, a photocopier and vending machine.

“We want to expand the lobby of the library and the 24-Hour Study Room,” Myers said. “It would be great to have more seating and a restroom in the 24-Hour Room, but that all depends on donors.”

With average daily attendance of 1,600 people, according to the website, the library isn’t being ignored, but it’s more than just books and computers; it’s a “key to success.”