May 2025 Edition
When you have a few moments (10 minutes max!), we would appreciate it if you would complete the Thrift Library Faculty & Staff Satisfaction Survey YE25. We value your feedback, and this survey is an important component of our accreditation report.
This past month we were happy to welcome our new Systems and Digital Resources Librarian, Nolan Smith, to Thrift Library.
Check out this humorous recap of our National Library Week “What Draws Students to the Library” event.
Enjoy the summer break! Thrift Library is open all summer, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you need assistance.
April 2025 Edition
April 6-12 is National Library Week! A great way to show some love for Thrift Library would be to donate to our A Day project, the Curriculum Lab renovation! We would also like to hear your thoughts on how we’re doing and in what ways we can improve. Please take a few moments (10 minutes or less) to complete the Thrift Library Faculty & Staff Satisfaction Survey YE25.
Library personnel update: Whitney Rice has moved into the Head of Access Services position. She will now oversee circulation, interlibrary loan, course reserves, and study room reservations as well as continue to serve as the subject specialist for natural and behavioral sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics, health professions, and communication.
Check out our new Copyright Guide! This guide is now linked to the Faculty & Staff Support page and the Information Ethics page of Library DIY on the library website.
The Piedmont Publishing Symposium will be held at Wofford College in Spartanburg on May 28-29, 2025. During the planned day and a half of programming, eight sessions will be offered for different constituencies: academic writers, non-academic writers, publishing professionals, and students and recent graduates who want to know more about publishing and share ideas for best practices. There will also be a keynote address, ample time and space for networking, and a social event at Hub City Bookshop. The full schedule is now available: https://open.clemson.edu/pps/. Registration ($50 fee) is also now open: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-piedmont-publishing-symposium-tickets-1226558171509.
March 2025 Edition
Check out our new AI @ AU webpage - learn how to use generative AI in the research and writing process! On this page you will find links to all relevant AI @ AU documents, tutorials, a video presentation on the new library AI research assistants, and a trial to an AI instructional video database.
The final two sessions of the Teaching with AI faculty book discussion group will meet on March 5th and 27th. We still have a few copies of books available! To learn more and/or to register, visit: https://library.andersonuniversity.edu/teaching-ai-book-discussion
Reminder: Over the course of this semester, we will finish transferring relevant content from the LibGuides platform to the library website. Our LibGuides subscription will expire on June 30th. Please contact your subject specialist if you have a special need or request regarding any content you regularly access on the LibGuides platform.
February 2025 Edition
Happy National Library Lover’s Month!
The Thrift Library website now has a page dedicated to Graduate Student Support – please share this with your grad students: https://library.andersonuniversity.edu/graduate-student-resources
The first session of the Teaching with AI faculty book discussion group will meet on February 11th at 2:00 p.m. in Thrift Library Chapman Multimedia room or via Zoom. We still have a few copies of books available! To learn more and/or to register, visit: https://library.andersonuniversity.edu/teaching-ai-book-discussion
From PASCAL: We’re collecting feedback from students, faculty and staff at South Carolina colleges and universities to highlight how your campus library and the statewide academic library consortium, PASCAL, have supported your academic and career success. PASCAL provides essential resources and services to public, private, and technical colleges libraries across South Carolina. Your input will help us advocate for state funding to continue these vital programs and ensure students, faculty, and staff like you have access to the tools needed to succeed. All responses are voluntary, and any testimonials provided may be used anonymously in advocacy materials to showcase the value of libraries to South Carolina students and educators. Thank you for sharing your experience! https://pascalsc.libwizard.com/f/library_success
January 2025 Edition
We are thrilled to announce that we are starting the spring semester with a full library staff! Kenzie Barnett has moved into the position of Collection Management Librarian. Helen Smith joins us as Archival Research Associate. Working with Kenzie, Helen will provide support for archival work and the subject areas of Art, Theater & Dance, Music, Interior Design, History, Government & Law. Elizabeth Sanford joins us as Research and Instruction Librarian. She will serve as subject specialist for Christian Studies, Business, English & Modern Languages, and Center for Leadership and Organizations.
We have moved our set of information literacy tutorials -“Library DIY” - to our new website platform. It can be accessed via the Thrift Library website’s homepage. The previous version will be accessible through June 30th but will no longer be updated. Please be aware that you may need to update links in your courses to redirect students to the new platform.
Thrift Library will facilitate several learning sessions focused on generative AI this semester. Details will be provided via CLTE, the library’s Faculty & Staff Events page, and the Working with AI guide.
November 2024 Edition
The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition is now available in print and digital formats at the library. The digital version can be accessed via the Databases A-Z list.
The companies that design our library systems (primarily our catalog and databases) are working on designing and integrating generative AI tools into their search processes. Our catalog now has such a tool available, titled “Research Assistant.” This tool enables the user to ask a question and receive an overview of academic sources in paragraph form, with citations. This video provides a short overview of how this tool works (FYI: Primo/Alma is the name of our catalog/discovery service).
Our final faculty learning session of the semester focused on the use of generative AI in research and writing will be held on Thursday, November 21st at 2:00 p.m. During this session we will explore the new AI “research assistants” in our library systems and Research Rabbit, an AI tool that is helpful for identifying sources for literature reviews. Bring a laptop or tablet to try out these tools.
Please join us in welcoming AU alumna Kira Barnett as our evening Library Assistant!
Thank you for your patience as we continue to work through changes in library staffing. We’re working as quickly as possible to fulfill your requests, but there will likely be delays as we hire and train new personnel throughout the next few months.
October 2024 Edition
Recordings of September’s faculty learning sessions focused on the use of generative AI in research and writing are posted on the Working with AI in Research and Writing Assignments guide. Our next session is scheduled for Thursday, October 24th at 2:00 p.m.
It’s election season - check out our Informed Voter Guide and digital book display on the Thrift Library home page.
We are excited to welcome our new Education Librarian, Kasey Swords! She will oversee the Curriculum Lab collection and work primarily with COED students and faculty.
Thank you for your patience as we continue to work through changes in library staffing. We’re working as quickly as possible to fulfill your requests, but there will likely be delays as we hire and train new personnel throughout the next few months.
September 2024 Edition
We’re happy to see so many students, faculty, and staff using Thrift Library as we begin the fall semester!
Proctorio is now installed on the desktop computers in the study carrels located on the second floor of the library. Cameras can be accessed by pressing down on the top center of each monitor.
Thrift Library is hosting a CEP event on Monday, September 9th at 11:30 a.m. in Chapman Multimedia room. Staff from the Anderson County Library System will be here to help students sign up for a library card and set up mobile apps on their iPads to connect to ebook, audiobook, and streaming media resources such as Libby, Hoopla, and Kanopy. Faculty and staff are welcome to attend!
Thank you for your patience as we work through changes in library staffing. We’re working as quickly as possible to fulfill your requests, but there will likely be delays as we hire and train new personnel throughout the next month or two.
This month there are four faculty learning opportunities in AI and OER available for you to attend (or view the recording). We hope you can join us!
August 2024 Edition
Greetings to you as we begin the new academic year with a new library website! https://library.andersonuniversity.edu/ We hope you will find it easy to navigate and meet your information needs. The new library site will be linked to the AU website. Please update links to Thrift Library you have posted in Canvas.
We invite you to visit and bookmark the Faculty & Staff Support page.
Over the course of this academic year, we will transition all content from the LibGuides platform to the new website. Please bear with us as we make these changes. We will do our best to keep you informed as content is moved.
We have had several changes in library personnel since spring semester concluded. Please note that some subject specialists have been temporarily reassigned while we seek to fill two open librarian positions.
Please submit a Course Reserves Request Form if you would like to place physical materials on reserve for the fall semester.
We will continue to offer faculty learning sessions focused on Working with AI in Research and Writing this fall. Information is available on our events page (register if you would like to receive reminders) and will be shared via CLTE.
There are a few changes to our database subscriptions:
- Artstor has merged with Jstor. All Artstor content is now accessible only via Jstor.
- Databases provided via Discus (via South Carolina State Library; these will be available soon):
- New addition: Hobbies & Crafts Source
- New addition: Chilton Library
- New addition: Britannica ImageQuest Jr
- New addition: PebbleGo Social Studies (added to PebbleGo)
- Discontinued: Auto Repair Source
Note: The A-Z database list hosted on the LibGuides platform will be discontinued shortly. All databases are now available via the new library website.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us for assistance throughout the year!