The past few weeks have been very hectic here at the Murray Library! Between exams, Take a Break, Darlene retiring, celebrating the new ground floor office, and Cathy changing roles, I think we’re all ready for the peace and quiet of summer.

To help counter the stress of exams, we had our alumni handing out box after box of snacks and a bajillion bags of popcorn, and 10 different activity stations where students could do puzzles, create origami, figure out how to play Sudoku, write obviously random words in an attempt to look like they knew how to do crossword puzzles, or wind down with some colouring (we even bought better crayons this year!).

As usual, we asked for feedback and here were some of our most inspirational and motivating comments:

• Lego isn’t fun. There were no snacks.
• Easier puzzles plz. These ones gave me anxiety.
• Kittens instead of stinky dogs.
• #verydisappointedyetstillcompletelymetmyexpectationsattheUofS

So inspirational!

We also had one of our student casuals, Josh, create a beautiful whiteboard. Thanks Josh!

“Mreow”

On April 11, we had a small gathering in room 122 to celebrate Darlene’s retirement. The cake was absolutely amazing!

The cake was from Calories and worth every penny! I mean nickle, since we no longer have pennies…

As Darlene had been with the University for so long, it’s understandable that it was emotional. Darlene gave a beautiful speech and wanted to impress upon everyone the importance of being kind.

Sarah was very kind to give Darlene’s parrot a new loving home.

We’ll miss you Darlene!

Now that you’re retired, you can eat alllll the cake you want.

Next up, we had a party to celebrate the opening of the new office on the ground floor! Do we have a room number for it yet? Just like in high school, I was unable to attend the party because my mom said no (I was actually on vacation), but I heard the punch was great!

The party was so wild that a sign had to be put up saying that we would still help you (if we had to).

The pictures I was given don’t really show a party, but I’m sure it was a wild one. Everyone knows library people know how to have fun!

Behold the feast!

And finally today is Cathy’s last day in circulation! We’ll finally have her back in room 122!!

Cathy’s OLD department decided to send her off in style by decorating her OLD desk.

They’ll miss you Cathy!! It says so right here.

I bet they’ll keep that image of her head on the wall, even after she’s safely in Interlibrary Loans.

Oh, and there were doughnuts, which I happily partook in.

This post’s creation can be attributed to Kim Unger’s desire to show pictures of “the higher-ups” dressed in construction gear. That, of course, can only take a post so far, thus I’ve taken the liberty to share some current photos of our Check-Out Desk construction zone.

Can’t miss seeing these cool cats.

Christine and Rachel are telling Duane (off-screen) that the orange clashes with his shirt. Probably. I wasn’t actually there, but it sounds right.

Kim didn’t want the others to feel silly alone. Unfortunately for the others, this look suits Kim a little too much.

You, dear reader, are probably here for the actual construction photos. Let me paint a picture for you first:

You’re sitting at the Check-Out Desk, trying not to bump your leg on the elevator box for a third time (or maybe that’s just me). There’s a strong scent of wood, dust, and fresh paint in the air. It tickles your nose and you hope you can find the tissue box in the surrounding chaos. A student approaches the desk, hoping to borrow a book on Reserve. At least, that’s what you hope they said. There’s currently some very loud banging happening right behind you. You confirm the call number twice as there’s a hammer coming down every time they say the letter D (or was it B?). Luckily, Rachel Hildebrandt is amazing and put all term 2 reserve books on carts behind the desk! Unfortunately, that means you have to fight your way past the other 4 carts lingering between you and your destination. You hope your limbs survive the journey…

Don’t be fooled by their innocuous cart-ness. One of them is a level 5 demon warrior that WILL wreck your toes if you aren’t careful. Oh, and I guess the room looks good too.

Forbidden books in the background (unless you’re wearing your +2 construction gear).

They’ve been painting today. Hopefully drywall won’t flutter down from the ceiling when we close the security gate anymore!

A sneak-peek of G5’s future. No more sitting in here spying on people in the smoker’s pit.

Currently, there are fewer reserve items on the shelves behind the circulation desk at the Education & Music Library. So, we have been using the available space to make small displays that highlight various items in our collections.

At the beginning of February, we gave a little nod to Valentine’s Day by displaying items that were red, pink or white in colour and focused on love, gifts, food or flowers. A favourite was the book Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin.

We also had a display to celebrate Reading Week, followed by a Welcome Back display.

At the moment, we are featuring March and have a few items up that highlight the month of March as well as the act of marching and marching band music.

With such fun and diverse collections, it’s hard not to make a new display every day!

The Law Library put together a display for this year’s Indigenous Achievement Week’s theme of “Powerful Voices.” The display profiles four exceptional Indigenous Lawyers who made huge contributions to Saskatchewan throughout their careers.

The Display includes William Ivan Clarke Wuttunee who was the first Indigenous Lawyer to graduate from the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law program and become the first Indigenous Lawyer in Western Canada. Our display includes excerpts from Robert McBain’s book, Their Home and Native Land for which he had exclusive interviews with Wuttunee.

The display will be up for the remainder of the week. Please feel free to come and have a look and read about the other three exceptional lawyers we have on display: Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Eleanore Sunchild, and Donald Worme.

Come to the Science Library and learn some interesting facts about chocolate. With a new space to use, Raegan and Beth have started a series of holiday themed mini displays. Missed solstice? Come on over for the heartfelt season of chocolate.

Also on display: Legend in Concrete and 7 women, 8 prizes, Nobel.

The Christmas spirit has arrived! If you feel like taking a walk, come by and pay us a visit and stroll through our winter wonderland. From everyone at the Law Library, we wish you a happy holiday season and a fantastic New Year!

Another successful orientation season has come to a close. Thank you to everyone who volunteered for our activities.  Your help was invaluable and we could not have done it without you!

Here is a quick breakdown of our major orientation events for your reading pleasure.

Library Passport Tours:

The winner of our Library Passport Tour was Taeyeoun K., she won a $100 gift certificate to Shop usask.

We had 6 staff volunteers take the students around on a walking tour of all libraries on campus, including The Shannon Library at STM.  We offered a total of 6 walking tours and 9 students took the tour. We made a total of 365 passports and of that, 249 passports where taken by students and 31 completed passports were turned in.

Orientation Day:

We had well over 200 students come to our library table to talk to us and find out how we can support them during their academic career. We handed out a total of 192 library branded tumblers to students. 10 staff volunteered to do roving and be a friendly face for students trying to navigate their first week on campus.  We also had 7 staff volunteers taking shifts at the orientation table welcoming students to the University Library.

Murray Library Tours:

The Murray Library offered 28 tours combining tours of the physical space and an overview of the library’s website.  40 students attended the tours hosted by 6 staff volunteers. The tours highlight library spaces and services.

A special Thank-You to all our volunteers!

Amy Putnam

Amy St.-Jacques

Candice Dahl

Cathy Grant

Chalyse Lalonde

Gina Koehn

Heather Acton

Jo Ann Murphy

Justina Datta

Kate Langrell

Kelly Juliusson

Lara O’Grady

Laura Harris

Lexi Whitter

Rachel Hildebrandt

Ron Peters

Shannon Lucky

Shelby Sluth

Susan Murphy

Tina Leckie