The Mini-Condo That Almost Was...

The library is a common place for students to spend their time. In Oxford the library has a couple different meanings; a place to have a drink, a place to study, or a place to get your beauty sleep…?

As librarian Andrea Driver said “we regularly catch students trying to live in the mezzanines.” When the JD Williams library was first built, it had six floors, unlike the three floors it has currently. Some of the floors were made into half floors with the new renovations; mezzanine A, B, and C.

Mezzanine C was home to this penny-pinching student. Mezzanine C has individual study carrels reserved for grad students. For about a month the student claimed one of these tiny rooms as his mini-condo. He even moved in a mini fridge and toaster oven said librarian assistant Alex G.

To simply get as much study time in as possible, or to save some bucks, this goes to show how one reacts and keeps an open mind to unlikely opportunities. 

Not Your Average Oxford Citizen

     There is a room in the J.D. Williams Library dedicated to the author of the well-written short stories As I Lay Dying and The Sound and The Fury, William Faulkner.

      On the third floor near the main staircase, there are pictures of him and his classmates, letters he wrote to directors, and rough drafts. “There’s the bust of William Faulkner and on the wall there is the portrait, but it’s broader than just William Faulkner,” shares the Blues Curator and Associate Professor of Special Collections, Greg Johnson.

 

    This room is often overlooked by writers who forget that one of the greatest Mississippi writers lived here, in Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner’s hard work and dedication is located in this room which should inspire the students every day to achieve in excellence.

 

(Information from The Mississippi Writer’s Page)

Find Our Oldest Documents on the Hidden Floor

 

Many students at Ole Miss have never been in Mezzanine B in the library. Mezzanine B is a dark storage area located at the very top of the J.D. Williams Library that is used to preserve old special collection documents.

 “The oldest documents we have are medieval but we only have about ten of them. The majority of the collection is post 1848 and pre 1988,” said Reference Librarian and Assistant Professor, Alex Watson.

The weather in Mississippi makes it more difficult to preserve the important documents, so there is a de-humidifier there to help decrease the level of humidity.

 

 “It is not an ideal cold storage, especially when the power fails because it is not climate controlled and not concealed,” said Watson.

Photograph; Archives & Special Collections

      J.D. Williams Library’s archives & special collections

When entering the main doors of the J.D Williams library, have you ever noticed the large concrete stairs case that leads to the hidden chambers of Archives and Special collections?  “Since 1975 the primary purpose has been to acquire, conserve and make accessible rare books, manuscripts, maps and many other visual and audio materials” (Alex Watson.) This specific area of the library is made up of important collections of Mississippian from the past generations. In this area there are cases that display different areas of blues, important folks from Mississippi, creative artwork displayed on the walls and many more great opportunities to explore. You can visit this area of the library from eight to five Monday through Friday before the doors are locked. The University Of Mississippi takes great pride in the archives and special collection area of the library they are always looking for new photography materials to display in the counters. 

The All Nighter Life Saver

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Everyone has stayed up all night writing a paper, and with everything going on, forgotten their works cited page. The fact is that citing sources is difficult, and using an Internet citation machine can only lead to more obstacles.

“It’s a garbage in, garbage out type of application. If you get your information wrong, it’s going to give you the wrong citation.” Dr. Ruth Mirtz, Education Reference Librarian and Assistant Professor said. However, the JD Williams Library provides students the ultimate remedy for their citation woes. 

RefWorks is an online research management and writing tool integrated with your myolemiss account allowing you to keep your references organized all on one page. Here you can view and share your documents, search for new documents, and create a full bibliography. 

 

So next time you need to stay up all night to write a paper, get organized and cite your sources with RefWorks.

Crank Out the Books

 

The University of Mississippi J D. Williams library originally started out as six floors when it was built. Well, as the University became larger and technology became more advanced, the library renovated. In order to add air conditioning, running water, bathrooms, etc. They had to down size the library to three floors. This eliminated the valuable space for books and references. The Solution? Shelf cranks.

What would the library be without them? Todd Bowen a graduate student assistant with the reference department responded to this question.

 

“Well, the library would either have to be much larger, or we would just have to get rid of a lot of books. The bookshelf cranks help keep the size down because usually not every aisle of books is needed for immediate access.”

So next time you use the crank to find a book, don’t forget without that crank, you may not have had that book.

New and Improved

The J.D. Williams Library is getting a much needed facelift.  Stan Whitehorn, the Operations Manager, refers to these improvements as "Phase two". The room around the corner of the print station currently provides minimal study space and only 12 computers. The new renovations expected to be complete by September, will provide three glassed in group work areas accommodating at least five students each,  at least double the amount of computers that are currently provided, and 12 chairs for reading.  These chairs will be located along the wall beneath the large windows providing ample natural light.  In addition another printing station will be provided in this area. 

When discussing "Phase two" with Whithorn he said, "We've done several surveys of patrons and the three things of high demand are more computers, group work areas, and study space. With the renovations we are doing we will provide students with all three." 

If you are a current student or a upcoming freshman, take advantage of the renovations provided at the J.D. Williams library.