Category: Library Announcements

Interlibrary Loan Express Service

Posted on by Stacy Nowicki
OCLC Express Library Badge
OCLC Express Digital Lending

The Kalamazoo College Library has been selected to join to OCLC’s Express Interlibrary Loan program! Due to our ILL staff’s exceptional work, we meet Express standards for consistently and quickly delivering articles and other digital resources. This puts us in the top 10% for OCLC Interlibrary Loan! What does this mean for you? Kalamazoo College users will benefit from the speedy delivery of other libraries reciprocating this same high level of service. 

Who can take advantage of ILL services?

All Kalamazoo College students, staff, and faculty have access to millions (that’s right, millions) of articles and will receive the fastest interlibrary loan service available. For more information about ILL at the Library, visit the Interlibrary Loan page or contact ill@kzoo.edu for assistance.

How?

To place a request, sign into your ILL account or click the “Request via Interlibrary Loan” icons when using resources like Library OneSearch or our Databases.

Get to Know MeLCat!

Posted on by Stacy Nowicki
Michigan E Library Logo

Do you know about MeLCat?

MeLCat is a system that allows you to request books from other Michigan libraries. When you request a book through MeLCat, it arrives for you at the Kalamazoo College Library, and you get an email that it’s here. Then just come to the Library circulation desk to pick it up. It’s that easy!

To use MeLCat, just search the MeLCat catalog for your book. When you find what you want, click “Get this from MeLCat,” choose Kalamazoo College Library from the drop down list, enter your name and barcode number (the 14 digit number on your ID that starts with 25017…), and that’s it! You will receive an email when it arrives.

You can check out a MeLCat book for three weeks, and renew through MeLCat for another three. Kalamazoo College library users may see some of their MeLCat loans with longer loan periods. Kalamazoo College faculty, students, and staff requesting a book from an academic library via MeLCat now have a 90-day loan period, with the option to renew for an additional 30 days. For books from other libraries, regular loan rules (28 days with a 28 day renewal) continue to apply.

Winter Term Rare Book Room Exhibit: Black Stories – Black Voices – Black History

Posted on by Stacy Nowicki

The A.M. Todd Rare Book Room at the Kalamazoo College Library proudly announces the opening of its Black History Month exhibit, Black Stories – Black Voices – Black History, running from February 2 to March 3, 2024, Mondays and Fridays from 1:30 p.m. – 5 p.m. in the A.M. Todd Rare Book Room (ULC 326).

This captivating showcase delves into the rich literary contributions of Black authors, featuring a curated selection from the Rare Book Room collection. Among the remarkable works on display are rare first edition prints of Maya Angelou’s On the Pulse of Morning, Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Poems of Cabin and Field, Joseph T Wilson’s The Black Phalanx, and William A. Sinclair’s The Aftermath of Slavery, as well as autographed first editions of James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. A limited edition reprint of Jean Toomer’s Cane is on display, as well as the first edition print of The Cushite by Rufus Perry, the first Black student enrolled at Kalamazoo College.

Spanning from 1888 to 2000, these influential texts offer a profound exploration of the African American experience, making this exhibit a compelling journey through the diverse voices that have shaped the landscape of Black literature.

The Kalamazoo College Library’s rare book collection contributes to the educational program of the college by introducing students to unique primary source materials in the context of their academic course work and through regularly scheduled public exhibitions.

Questions? Contact rarebookroom@kzoo.edu.

Black Lives Matter: A Guide to Resources

Posted on by Stacy Nowicki
Black Lives Matter sign

Librarians at Kalamazoo College have put together a centralized resource for information about historical and current discrimination of African Americans in the United States, Michigan, and Kalamazoo College.

Black Lives Matter Guide

This guide contains historical contexts, current events, and anti-racist resources, including support resources for people of color and resources for allies.

Get Your Free Copy of the 2024 Reading Together Selection: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Posted on by Stacy Nowicki
Book cover of Yellowface

The Kalamazoo Public Library sponsors Reading Together, a community reading series for the Kalamazoo area. This year’s selection is Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. Good news: YOU can get a free copy of the book!

The KPL Mobile Library will be on campus on Wednesday, January 31 in front of Hoben Hall from 11:00am to 12:00pm. Stop by and get your free copy of Yellowface, and follow Reading Together to find out what events will be happening (including the author’s visit in March!).

Browse New Items in the Library Online

Posted on by Stacy Nowicki
New Items graphic

Interested in keeping up to date with our materials? Check out the Library’s online collection of our newest additions!

This collection is like a virtual New Books shelf. It includes new books, audio, and video materials acquired by the Library and is updated regularly. Unlike a physical shelf, this collection can include electronic materials. Check out what the Library has to offer!

AntiRacism Reading Knook January 2024 Discussion

Posted on by Stacy Nowicki

Faculty and staff and invited to come chat with Candace Combs about schools, learning English, and one child’s stories of life as a refugee in Oklahoma. We’ll center our discussion on the beginning of Daniel Nayeri’s hilarious YA book Everything Sad is Untrue. Please feel free to attend even if you haven’t finished the selection.

When: Tuesday, January 16 from 11:30am – 12:30pm
Where: Olmsted Room, Mandelle Hall and the #ARRK Team site.

You can find a PDF of the reading on the #ARRK Team site.

If you would like to join us in person for lunch, we’ve ordered some pizza.

For more information on the history of ARRK please visit the Inclusive Excellence website.

The AntiRacism Reading Knook (ARRK) is a collaboration between the K College library staff and our Inclusive Excellence (KCIE) leadership team. This initiative is NOT a book club, but seeks to facilitate campus-wide engagement with the books in the KCIE Reading for Change book collection. This collection was created to encourage learning about and facilitate greater access to antiracism information to all members of the campus community.

ARRK aims to:

  1. reduce barrier to entry into reading antiracism books,
  2. identify and highlight campus facilitators with experience teaching and/or disciplinary expertise who can provide context and guide discussions of specific texts,
  3. foster broader relationships among faculty and staff, and thus
  4. build greater capacity for an inclusive campus through sustained and focused engagement with shared texts.
  5. help catalyze members of the campus to engage in small group discussions of entire books in the collection (self-organized book clubs, if you will).

For further information on #ARRK see the KCIE AntiRacism Reading Knook page. To volunteer to lead one of these sessions complete the ARRK Discussion Leader application.