New Online Room Reservation System

The Dick Smith Library has several spaces that you can reserve: two group study rooms, a presentation practice room, and the multi-purpose room for faculty/staff events or meetings for student organizations with an approved library event request in TexanSync. Click here for more information about all of the library's spaces.

To reserve library rooms you can always call 254-968-9450. However, starting this semester you can also reserve these spaces online. To do so, click on the Facilities link on the right hand side the library's website: https://www.tarleton.edu/library/ (see screenshot below).

Under Facilities click on the Reserve a Room link (see screenshot below).

That will take you to this page. From here you can select the room you want to reserve. In this example, I have chosen Group Study Rooms (see screenshot below).

After you select the room you want to reserve, then click on the Go To Date button to choose which day you want to reserve the room (see screenshot below).

The online system will show you the times that the rooms are available on that day. Green means available, red means unavailable and yellow is your reservation (see screenshot below). Click on the available time you want, and the color will turn from green to yellow.

When you click on the time you want, the default is to reserve the room for one hour. If you need it for longer, select the dropdown menu below to extend the time requested (see screenshot below). Each type of room has different limits for how long your reservation may last.

When you're ready click on the Submit Times button. You will then be asked to log in with your NTNET username and password. After you log in enter your phone number and the number of people who will be using the room. Then click Submit my Booking (see screenshot below).

A confirmation email will then be sent to you.

If you need to reserve a room, or have any questions about using the online system, please call 254-968-9450.

Meet Our Staff: Jacob Martin

Jacob Martin
User Services Assistant - Access Services
254-968-1896
jsmartin@tarleton.edu
Dick Smith Library – Main Floor

The User Services Assistant has many different areas of operation, but the main tasks revolve around scheduling rooms inside of the library, most notably the Multi-Purpose Room and the Practice Presentation Room, and staffing the Reference Desk 5-8 p.m. on weekdays. Other tasks that are assigned to this position involve an inventory and recurring health checks of the collection.

Jacob says, "I attended Stephenville schools for my whole life and graduated from Stephenville High School in the top 10% of the class of 2015.  I began studying at Tarleton in August 2015 with the intention of securing a bachelor’s degree in English along with teacher certification to teach at the secondary level.  Due to changes in interest, I graduated on August 10, 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Spanish."

Before joining the library staff, Jacob worked as a machine operator and packaging assistant at Square One Machine, inspected and packaged goods at Schreiber Foods, and served as a student worker in our cataloging department.

Jacob's off-the-job interests include reading philosophical or fantastical material, creative writing, language learning, and  traveling (intercontinentally or internationally).  His spare-time activities include ultimate frisbee, walking and hiking, and reading when there is time.  His favorite books are
The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, and World War Z by Max Brooks.

Summer Reading Recommendations - Three from Kim Gragg

A couple months ago, the Library posted a video on our YouTube Channel with staff recommendations for summer reading.  Here's the "why?" behind some of those recommendations, as well as other books that did not make it into the video.  All are available as e-books in our OverDrive collection.

Kimberly Gragg, our Circulation and Interlibrary Loan Manager, had three suggestions.

Kim said, "I really enjoyed The Alice Network. It’s historical fiction and based on a network of spies that utilize women to get knowledge on the enemy in World War I." This fascinating story is based on the real-life "Alice Network" of mostly-female spies centered in Lille, France, on the border with Belgium.  This book has two story lines, one set during World War I and the other in 1947.  Eve Gardiner is the character that ties them together.

The tale goes back and forth in time and between narrators.  The other narrator is Charlotte "Charlie" St. Clair, who enlists Eve's help in 1947 to find her French cousin Rose, who disappeared in World War II.  Author Kate Quinn does a masterful job weaving them and other characters (some real-life), places, and incidents into the story.

Lois Lowry's The Giver is a popular fantasy.  This 1994 Newbery Medalist has become a classic, and one that is frequently challenged in schools and libraries, for reasons ranging from “contains graphic themes,” and  “contains blasphemous ideas and content,” to “depicts ideas and actions that are inappropriate for young readers,” and “inappropriate for [elementary] grade level.”

The plot in a nutshell:  Jonas, the main character, learns his utopian world is really dystopian.

Same Kind of Different as Me is the true story of a wealthy white man, Ron Hall, and a homeless black man, Denver Moore, brought together by the white man’s wife, Deborah, who dies from colon and liver cancer. The book is short chapters alternately narrated by Ron and Denver.

The Giver is also available in both print and audiobook format, both on the lower level of the Dick Smith Library.  Same Kind of Different as Me can also be found in print in the General Stacks on the upper level of the library.

Top Ten Tuesday - Last Minute Summer Activities

photo from Pixabay / CC0 1.0

Summer is coming to a close and it is time to gear up for school. If you are like me, you might be wondering where the summer went. You might also be trying to think of ways to enjoy the end of summer. 

Thanks to a post by Gina Alyse, here are some Last-Minute Bucket List ideas for summer.

• Find a new workout routine.
• Take a road trip with friends (or by yourself).
• Make popsicles.
• Set up an informational interview with someone in your chosen field.
• Get ahead of your school year by developing your portfolio.
• Get out and volunteer in your community.
• Create a blog.
• Spend time with your family.
• Attend a concert.
• Relax and read a book. You can explore our recent OverDrive blog posts if you need suggestions. 

What else would you add to your Summer Bucket List? Personally, I would add camping to mine.

Please comment and share.

Summer Reading Recommendations - Two Audiobooks from Amanda Pape

A couple months ago, the Library posted a video on our YouTube Channel with staff recommendations for summer reading.  Here's the "why?" behind some of those recommendations, as well as other books that did not make it into the video.

Amanda Pape, Coordinator for Archives and Special Services, has a 45-minute one-way commute to the Stephenville campus, so she is a big advocate of audiobooks.  These suggestions are available as e-audiobooks in our OverDrive collection.


"'The Nightingale' is the code name for a member of the French Resistance during World War II, and it's also the last name (in English) for three characters in the book, Vienne Rossignol Mauriac, her younger, single sister Isabelle Rossignol, and their father Julien Rossignol.  They are each part of the resistance, in different ways.  Vienne's story in some ways is the most compelling, for she has to pretend to be 'normal' both for the sake of her children and because of the German officers billeting in her home.

Kristin Hannah states in her author's note and a conversation in the reading group guide that she based Isabelle on a 'young Belgian woman named Andrée de Jongh, who had created an escape route for downed airmen out of Nazi-occupied France.'

Polly Stone was an excellent reader - she has lived in France, and it shows in this audiobook, which won the 2016 Audie Award for Fiction and was a finalist for best female narrator and Audiobook of the Year."  The Nightingale is also available as an e-book in OverDrive.

"Barkskins is an epic (713 pages in print) novel tracing two families involved in different ways in the timber industry in North America (primarily - also a bit in New Zealand as well).  It starts in 1763 with two French immigrants to Canada, René Sel and Charles Duquet.  Both are indentured servants, but Duquet runs away and becomes a successful fur trader - and eventually a timber baron, changing his surname to Duke.  Sel marries a Native American woman, and their descendants work in the forest, but rarely own much.

The book then follows down each line about six generations, to 2013.  Along the way, the two families intersect.  Some characters are more memorable than others.  In particular, I liked René's great-great grandson Jinot Sel and his (mis-)adventures in New Zealand, as well as Lavinia Duke Breitsprecher, who is about as ruthless in business as her great-great-grandfather Charles.

The stories move all over the world too, from Nova Scotia and Maine to France, London, Amsterdam, New Zealand, China, and the Amazon, as well as to various American cities (Boston, Detroit, Chicago) as the Duke company enterprises move westward.  Lots of period details make the settings come alive.  It's obvious author Annie Proulx has done her research.

Actor Robert Petkoff is an outstanding reader on the audiobook, creating appropriate accents and voices for each character that help to distinguish them."