It's Tea Time!!

It's the time of year again- time for the Library to host Wallace and Gromit's Great British Tea Party. There will be tea/ coffee and cakes for sale, plus the chance to take part in games and a raffle. All the money raised goes to help poorly children in hospices, funded by Wallace and Gromit's Children's Foundation. Parties will be held at all three sites. Here are the times:


Booth Lane Library:        Monday 5th December- 11am- 2pm
Daventry Library:            Tuesday 6th December- 5pm-7.30pm
                                                                         (Parent's evening)
                                             Wednesday 7th December- 10am-2pm
Lower Mounts Library:    Wednesday 7th December- 2pm-4pm

So come on in, have some festive refreshments and donate to a really good cause. Look forward to seeing you there.

Poetry Competition Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the poetry competition, which ran across all three sites. There were some fantastic entries, showing a lot of talent and hardwork. All winners have been notified by Daniel, the Lower Mounts Librarian and prizes are availble for collection. Excert from 1st prize winning entry:
Top Deck (Anon)
"Mobile phones emit tinny timbres
Each of their words a foul mouthed cuss.
I close my eyes for want of peace
Not a chance on this crowded bus."
Good work all round.

Beacon Award ra ra ra!!

Huge well done to all Northampton College Library staff for winning the presigious (and elusive) ColRiC Beacon Award in Effective Integration of Libraries/LRSs in Curriculum Delivery. Loads of hard work and dedication by everyone has resulted in an acknowledgement that is really difficult to achieve. The College now has a Beacon status, which I'm sure all staff and students are pleased about. Good times!!

Poetry Competition completed

Well done to everyone who created and submitted a poem for the NC Library poetry competition. The judges are reading through the entries now and the winners should be revealed before the end of this month. Even if you're not a winner, pat yourself on the back. It takes a lot of courage to decide to let others read something as personal as a poem, so well done to you!!

Study Review Week

Good morning all
Just like to say well done to all the Library staff who've worked hard over this first term. Increased volume of students through the door, extra study skills sessions and new computer system at BL have pushed us but I think we've all done great. Hope the other 2 sites have had a good term too. Roll on SRW.
To the students, hope you've all settled in now and are enjoying your course. Remember to come and ask us questions any time you have a problem with finding resourses for your assignments- we're here to help you. Have a good week off, see you November.

PS. Remember the Libraries at all 3 sites stay open during the holiday: Mon-Fri 10am-4pm. So you can still do some homework, if you want to!!

Get the reading bug!

Hello All

How are people doing with the poetry competition? Hope all the potential poets out there are having a go at the competition. Why not share some of your ideas on this board?

Don't forget to comment on here about the books you are reading too. It's a sharing world these days, we'd like to read anything you'd recommend.

New computer system in the library at Booth Lane

Just a little word about the new computer system in operation on the upper floor (level 3) of the library at Booth Lane.
It is a system which is in place to help all students and once everyone is used to it, I think everyone will see the benefits.
How it works:
1. You log with your username & password. Put these in the grey box which appears on the white library page. If you do not see the white library page, DO NOT log-in. Wait and it will appear. If it seems to be taking too long, come and see a member of staff. Don't be tempted to click on any other boxes you see.
2. When you have finished DO NOT log-off or shut down the PC. Make sure you use the grey box in the left-hand corner of the screen to 'End Session'. This is all you need to do.
2. You will have a maximum of 2 hours to work at the PC before you need to take a 1 hour break. The system will inform you of the amount of time you have left. You have 6 hours per day, per student.
3. Once you log off you will need to take your hours break, even if you were only on for 15 minutes.
Why it is good for students:
1. It will increase the fairness in the allocation of PC's.
2. It will help students to organise their day and workload more efficiently.
3. The dreaded health and safety- but it does matter. It is not good for you to sit in front of a computer all day. You need refreshment and air for your work to be the best!!
Ask us any questions you have. See you in the Library.

New Book Club

I thought this might be the perfect place for people to share information about books they have recently read, have always wanted to read or can recommend to others. Once the Six Book Challenge starts in January, library staff (who want to take part) will try to read a book once a month and comment on it, to support the students doing the Challenge. Any other staff or students who would like to do this are most welcome to join in.

So, since this is my idea I will start. I have just finished reading The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. It was very well-written and really made you believe in the character narrating the story. The ordinary details of everyday life within both the narrator's family life and his descriptions of towns and villages are a great contrast with the spooky and supernatural events he witnesses. I found myself completely with the character, experiencing what he does- hearing noises, opening doors into unknown rooms- and hoping for an explanation. Although you do get one, it turns out to be both poignant and horrifying. I highly recommend this book; it's not too long and evokes a really gothic atmosphere. It's apparently being turned into a film with Daniel Radcliffe, which I'll go and see, if only to compare.

Poetry Competition

Any budding poets out there? Why not have a go at the Library competition and see how you get on.

Assignment Help

Learning Assisants

Are you having any problems with assignments, such as:

• understanding the question
• finding resources
• referencing/ bibliography

If so, there are Learning Assistants available in the Libraries to help. We can do one-to-one, pairs or group sessions.  Drop into any of the centres and ask a member of staff for more details, or to explain your circumstances and we will do our best to assist you.

New Term!!

The Library would like to extend a warm welcome to all new students and staff. Library staff are available for any queries you may have, so please do come in and have a look round. Good luck with your new courses.
Well done to everyone who achieved what they wanted in last year's assesments. Don't forget we're here to help so if any of you want to improve your grades, the Library will be happy to point you in the right direction of the many great resources you can use.
Look forward to seeing you in the new term.

Have a great summer break!!

Don't forget the libraries are open during the summer holidays (10am-4pm). If you need to do some catching up or preparation for next year you can pop in and use our facilities. If you still need to borrow resources make sure you get a holiday slip from us (to be signed by your tutor) and we can adjust your account. Have a great break and we will see you in September.

Good luck with exams!!

The Library would like to wish all those taking exams good luck. Remember you can always come to the Library for advice on exam and revision techniques, study skills books and for a quiet place to work in.
We also hope that all those students who have now finished their courses at the College go on to achieve great success in the next stage of their life. Well done!!

Six Book Challenge ending soon

Quick reminder for all those who are taking part in this year's Six Book Challenge. The closing date is this Friday (10/06/2011) so you need to get reading quick if you want to be awarded your certificate, recieve your Library prize and be entered into the national prize draw for a great trip to London for two people. It's also a great thing to add to your porfolio, so get your reading head on and finish on time. Good Luck!

Study Skills/Assignment help

Don't forget that there are Learning Assistants available if you need some help finishing off assignments at the end of this year. If you are struggling to understand your essay question or can't think of what research to do come into the Library at any of the three sites and there should be someone who can sit down with you and go through your work.
There are also study skills leaflets available covering areas such as IT, Exams and Revision, Assignments and How to Study. Ask a member of Library staff if you would like more information.

Example of one of the study skills leaflets available.

Short Story winners

A big well done to all the people who took part in this year's Short Story Competition. There were a lot of entries and the judges had a tricky time deciding on the winners, due to the high standard of the writing. But this decision had to be made and so here they are.
1st Prize- New Kitchen (author has decided to remain anonymous)
2nd Prize- A Dream of Freedom (Corrinne Bosworth)
3rd Prize- Laura's Never Treasure (Claire Durbin)

Here is an extract from the winning entry.
Domestic disharmony turns into something more sinister in New Kitchen
"Poor downtrodden George, all he wanted was a calm and content home life, well maybe not the content part. George never expected much from life, but if only Kitty would stop cheeping in his ear incessantly, day in, day out. It never stopped, she wouldn't stop and he was sure she couldn't."

Good job everyone, look forward to reading next year's entries.

We've moved!!

As most of you are probably aware the Library at Booth Lane has moved and is now located in E building (the round one) in the new site. The library staff from all three sites worked hard on our last day in the old library, packing books into crates. Some of us were doing that from 8.45am until 7pm and it sometimes felt like a lot longer!! Our Library Manager finished the job on her own, the next day. As you can imagine there were some aching limbs for a few days, but no time for a rest, as all the boxes had to be unpacked in the new build the following week. We got it done though- real team effort, well done everyone!! Big thanks to Danny, who helped us so much, kept us motivated and put up with all our unreasonable demands. Hope you all agree it was worth the effort; the new Library does look amazing.

The Moving Story- click on the picture to enlarge it

From the start of packing in the old place all the way through to Danny putting the very last book on the shelf in the new Library. There are lots more pictures but I would never be forgiven by my colleagues if I put some of them on here. It was a lot of hard work but we did have some fun and we hope you agree that the finished result is definately worth it. 

WORLD BOOK DAY!!

Today is World Book Day. Why not celebrate by deciding to read that one book you've always wanted to but havenever got around to starting. I'm going to try Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Know the story but have never actually read the book. I've downloaded it to my Kindle, so I'll get going this evening. What books would you like to read?

New build- the move in nearly upon us!!

Only 5 weeks left now until the LRC at Booth Lane moves into the new building. After the Easter break, staff and students will be able to use the 'doughnut' at the front of the campus as their first stop for resourses for their study. The staff here are very excited, hope the students will be too.

Short Story Competition

Calling all the budding writers and novelists out there...

The LRC are holding a short story competition to mark World Book Day 2011. You can write on any topic you'd like, providing the word count doesn't go over 1500. Entry deadline is May 3rd 2011. Pop into any LRC to pick up an application form, or visit the LRC website, where you can download one. Come on people, let's put pen to paper and get scribbling!!!

World Book Day is on Thursday 3rd March- visit the official website for more information.

Study Wise- we want to hear from you

We're putting together some A5 leaflets at the moment to help students with study skills. We have things like Presentation Skills, Revision, Essay Writing and a few more. If you have an idea for anything along this line, which you would like to see included either respond to this blog or e-mail bllibrary@northamptoncollege.ac.uk.

New Year, New Build!

Happy New Year everyone. Back to work/ study and everything is much as it was, except that this year the LRC at Booth Lane is going to be moving into its brand new location in the round building at the front of the college. The doughnut (or 'polo' as my daughter likes to call it) will have more space, more facilities and will look great too. Can't wait to get in, only another 3 months or so to go before the move starts!!