Notice anything new in the JKM Library?

Well, of course you notice what’s new in the library: right in front of that tequila lime wall (and you can’t miss that!) is the JKM coffee machine—pretty good coffee at a pretty good price ($0.75). It may not be Starbucks, but it has the definite virtue of being, well, here. Which on a 5 degree (wind chill -15 degree) day is a pretty good virtue. Actually, there are also Japanese green tea, cocoa and cappuccino, as well as three varieties of coffee caf and decaf. All of which help the studying go down. And you can eat your snack or lunch on the tables on the first floor, too.


But that’s not all that changed at JKM over the Christmas/January “break”. Mike and Mike put book shelves and lights up—lots of them—across from the spacious JKM elevator, and now we have tons of room for the reconstituted JKM used book sale. $1.00 a paperback and $1.50 a hardback for used theology, Bible, and other books. Many of these books come from donors—alumni, area pastors and other friends of the library (thank you!). Some of them come from the JKM collection, as duplicate and other titles are weeded out. Whatever—they are offered to you at our bargain basement prices, and the proceeds go to help fund current JKM acquisitions. Take a look from time to time—our stock is constantly changing. And if you should have some books that you would like to donate to the sale, darken Barry’s door or call him at 773-256-0738; he’ll even give you a letter that you can show the taxman come April 15th.

But wait — there’s more! We now have three comfy study areas in the library, besides the Shabby Chic Café & Lounge. Up on the third floor at the south end, there’s a couch and loveseat in front of the Gruber Rare Book Room. In the sunny north corner (near the McCormick building) are a table & chairs and our so comfortable and ever popular upholstered chairs. And most splendid of all—back at the north end of the second floor —is the EPRC lounge with table, chairs, couch, coffee tables and TV/DVD/VCR all for your studying and/or lounging needs. Please spread out and get comfortable. And let us know if we can improve these spaces (on a budget).

Yet more: any of you who have tried to search the JKM Library on-line catalog from home have probably noticed that our new JKMLibrary.org website is up and running, sorta. It is actually under construction, thanks to Anthony, Chad, Barry, Burmaa and our consultant Sean…but open while under construction. The graphic you now see has nothing to do with JKM (in case you wondered), but the on-line catalog is right there, no clicks to click, on the front page, working as sweet as you please. The rest of the site will be ready to launch, well, later this term. We hope to make the JKM website your one stop shopping site for library resources, guidance and help.

Finally, we continue to explore ways to serve your better after the 4:30 hours. In addition to our knowledgeable student employees, we provide *live* professional reference service (as in Chad, Barry, Anthony & Chris) on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings until 6:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from noon until 4:00 or so. We are exploring the Virtual Reference Librarian as well—ways of contacting one of our reference professionals on-line to guide you through your research searches. We’ll keep you informed on developments.

Let us know how we’re doing. Much of these changes come out of your responses to the November 2004 survey, but things keep changing and needing rethinking. Send us an e-mail, stop us in the hallways, or drop a note in the JKM suggestion box (located right by the front door). Happy studying!

For more information about Community Life at LSTC contact:

Dean of Community
Office: Room 325
Phone: (773) 256-0756

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