May 28–June 3, 2008, Number 494
Campus Library Services
The J. R. Van Pelt library, along with the John and Ruanne Opie portion of the library, has many great services to assist students throughout the year. Whether a student is doing a research paper or just looking up basic information, the library on campus is there to assist students with whatever they need. This article will discuss the services and areas of the library on Michigan Tech’s campus.
Opie Portion of the Library
This part of the library was actually a 54,000 square feet addition to the original Van Pelt library. This building was dedicated on April 29, 2005. The main vision for this part of the library was to create a space that was open 24 hours a day for students to be able to study. The areas were developed for more space and technology. This section is always quite and very conducive to studying. Since it is open 24 hours a day, it makes for a great place to get away from the sometimes noisy residence halls at night and focus on the primary objective of getting work accomplished.
Van Pelt Library
The Van Pelt library is the original and main library that contains reference materials, magazines, articles, and the Copper Country Archives. This part of the library is only open till midnight during the school year (hours can be found online). In total there are three floors. The first floor contains magazines and scientific journals as well as the main front desk of librarians. On the second and third floors, reference books can be found. A reference librarian is on staff on the second floor to assist students in finding the materials they are looking for. The ground floor or Garden level is the home of the Copper Country Archives. Several staff members run the archives and do a wonderful job with pulling information and assisting students in finding the material they could use for many research topics.
Also within the main portion of the Van Pelt library are rooms that I like to call study cubbies, also known as study rooms. First through third floors contain about 22 rooms total and are available for all students to use as private rooms for study. There are different sizes for these rooms so that if students are getting together in larger groups it is possible to do so. For the most part during the semester it is really easy to have access to these rooms, but just in case students can go to the main librarian desk on the first floor and reserve rooms ahead of time. During finals week, it is especially a good idea to have a room reserved if needed.
What is nice about the library system set-up is that students have access to the online catalog both on campus and off. The Van Pelt Library website (http://www.lib.mtu.edu/) is a great tool for students to get started on their research projects. There is so much more that the library provides, so I suggest that you look at there website to get a better idea. Also, don’t hesitate to check out the website for the Copper Country Archives to see what services they provide. The Copper Country Archives is a great place to find historical information on many subjects.
If there are any questions or comments about this article please email me at my person email address. As always, any suggestions for future articles are welcome.
Until next week,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885