Library Media Center: A valuable resource available for students
One of the lesser-known resources at USU is the Merrill-Cazier Library Media Center.
Open year-round, seven days a week, the Media Center, which is located in the south-west corner of the library, has four viewing rooms for groups, 15 viewing stations for personal use, computer stations and two private study rooms available to students for personal use and group projects. They provide these resources as well as shelves full of books and movies and the online course reserves for student use on campus and at home. All resources are available on a first come, first serve basis, and are open to any student or professor.
Cindy Sherman, library media collections/course reserves supervisor, said the purpose of the Media Center is “to provide supplemental material from professors to student.”
According to Sherman, the media center employs 32 students to help professors and students alike. Students need only to provide their student ID or A number to be allowed to check out books and videos or use a viewing room or computer station.
Professors can put material on course reserves for their classes to access. They simply must send it to the Media Center and the employees there do the rest of the work. In a short amount of time, material is available for any student with Internet access and a proper password.
Records in the Media Center show that students and professors take advantage of the media reserves. In April of 2008 there were 20,000 hits on the course reserves. In July 2008, 965 professors currently had material on course reserves.
Sherman said if a professor needs something available to students that the Media Center does not currently have, the acquisition department can usually get it for them.
While the Media Center is designed for educational purposes, students can also check out movies for five days and take them home. Two binders are at the check out counter with lists of all the movies the center has to offer. The movies cover many genres, from Chinese films such as “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” or just like to sing along with “Singing in the Rain.”
Another resource available through the Media Center is the PAL machine, which converts European movies to formats that can be played here in the U.S.
The Media Center offers more than books and DVDs. They have slides, 60-mm films and microfiche, as well as the equipment to view any of these media. Whether a student wants to watch a USU men’s basketball game from the 1930s on 60-mm film, or just need a movie to watch over a long weekend, the Media Center is the perfect resource.
-kandice.crompton@aggiemail.usu.edu