Donate your books!

If you have old books – even textbooks – and want to get rid of them, drop them off in the book exchange box inside the library’s front doors. One or two times a year, when we have collected enough items, we put them on a cart right outside the library’s front doors. You can take the books – no questions asked – and bring them back when you’re through. Easy? What are you waiting for?

How do you read books? Print or Online?

“Someday all of these print books will be replaced by the Internet.” I’ve often heard that opinion from perfect strangers when I tell them I’m a librarian. (aside: I’m also asked if I sit around and read books all day).  My standard response is “probably not in our lifetimes.”

According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, print books are hanging in there:

“The share of Americans who have read a book in the last year is largely unchanged since 2012; more Americans read print books than either read e-books or listen to audio books.”

Leisure reading is different from academia, where users usually don’t read an entire book. There just isn’t time. They read the introduction or preface, and use the index or table of contents to gather information for a research paper. They may read only a chapter or two. That kind usage I can see going up and up.

Miami University libraries subscribes to several e-book services that has items by large respected publishers like Oxford University Press. You can find them in the online catalog by just limiting your search to “Electronic Resources” after running a search. You can also log in from off campus to these e-books using your Miami ID and password. OhioLINK also provides a wealth of e-books on their website, also accessible from off campus with your ID and password.

Open House

Library Open House today at 10am! There will be donuts and coffee!! Stop in, look around, say “Hi”, and grab some caffeine and sugar.

Closed Labor Day Weekend

The library will be closed:
Saturday, Sept. 3rd
Sunday, Sept. 4th
Monday, Sept. 5th
for Labor Day.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Welcome new and returning students!

Hello to all new and returning students!  Rentschler Library is here to help you succeed, whether it’s access to research databases, digital equipment you can borrow, OhioLINK items, research help, or even a quiet place to spend time between classes. Check out our new FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page for more information. Best of luck this semester!

 

 

Move In Miami Campaign

Do you love Rentschler Library? Do you enjoy and appreciate all of the support we provide to students, faculty, staff, and the community? Then consider making a donation to the library during Miami University’s “MoveInMiami” campaign. Funds donated to the library will be used to provide services and activities such as our Open Houses, give-aways, and other fun events. And, Dean and Mrs. Pratt will add $10 to each new donation that’s over $5!! Also, Cathy Bishop-Clark and her husband Greg will give $1000 to the fund that got the most donors! By clicking on the link below and then filling out the form, you can ensure that your donation will go to Rentschler Library’s fund. If you have any questions, you can contact Ellen Paxton at paxtonec@miamioh.edu or (513)785-3291. Donation forms will be open until 2:20am.

Thanks in advance for your support!

http://www.forloveandhonor.org/regionallibraries

Slowing down for summer

With less than a month before the start of fall semester there is still time to slow down and relax with a good book, maybe put down your Internet device. Our mobile phones and tablets are wonderful time-saving devices, but critics say that the interconnected, 24/7 life they enable leaves little time for reflection and slow digestion of the news. With that in mind, here are just a few of the titles from Rentschler Library’s collection that you can substitute for your device!

Richard Watson, in “Future Minds: How the Digital Age is Changing Our Minds” says that “we have developed a culture of instant digital gratification in which there is always something to do – although we never seem to be entirely satisfied with what we end up choosing.”  Watson says we should even try and work less, take 1-2 days off per week, and take device-free vacations.

Nicholas Carr’s  book”The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, an an expansion on his 2008 article “Is Google Making us Stupid,” published in Atlantic Monthly magazine. Carr decries how using the Internet made it more difficult for him to read and absorb longer, more challenging texts.

 

Does the Internet Increase Anxiety? is a collection of essays in Greenwood Press’s “At Issues” series of books. There are chapters on multitasking, online gaming addiction, how social media can increase social anxiety disorders, and even something called “mobile device separation anxiety.”  It isn’t all doom-and-gloom, there is a chapter on how using technology mindfully can reduce anxiety from digital overload.