Finals Hours and Spring Break Library Services

Dog with glasses at laptop

Finals Week Hours

The Library’s hours for Winter Quarter Finals are:

Sunday, 3/14: 1 p.m. – 9 p.m.;
Monday, 3/15: 9 a.m. – 9 a.m.;
Tuesday, 3/16: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Good luck – you’ll do great!

Spring Break Services

The Upjohn Library Commons building will be closed during Spring Break and the first week of the Spring Term. However, we will provide the following services to students, staff, and faculty. Beginning March 17th:

  • Requested books from the Kalamazoo College Library will be available for pick up from 10am-2pm at the receiving doors on the Academy Street side of the library building (Monday – Friday, March 17 – April 2). Book pickup will NOT be available Friday, March 19.
  • MeLCat & Interlibrary Loan services will continue to be available.
  • Reference librarians will be still be available virtually​
  • Book returns will continue to be accepted in the outside book drop on the Academy Street side of the building.

The Library will return to adjusted open hours for Spring Term on Monday, April 5th. A future announcement of Spring Term library services will be made in late March.

Learn About Using Your Library

Screen shot of Stream videos

Did you know the Kalamazoo College Library has a Stream channel? The short videos on this channel can help you become more familiar with our resources and databases.

See how librarians at K are using Teams to support your research with Research Rescue, learn strategies to find primary sources, and delve into searching with Library OneSearch and several popular databases.

Have a suggestion for a video? Email us at reference@kzoo.edu!

Reading for Change

Photo with End Racism Now written on a street

K College students, faculty, and staff looking to engage with antiracist ideas and practices can find resources at the Library!

Kalamazoo College Inclusive Excellence (KCIE) has purchased and recommends the Reading for Change book collection. These materials are featured on the Reading for Change Guide. All are available through the Kalamazoo College Library!

These materials were purchased through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Inclusive Excellence Grant. 

Celebrate Your Story – Reading Together 2021

Award-winning Black author, Jaqueline Woodson.
Credit: John-D. and Catherine-T. MacArthur Foundation

Join the Kalamazoo Public Library (KPL) and award-winning author, Jacqueline Woodson for the 2021
Reading Together event!

“Every year, Kalamazoo residents gather together to read and discuss the themes of one book. This year, however, instead of focusing on one book, KPL has selected an award-winning author, Jacqueline Woodson, who has written dozens of books for children, teens, and adults alike. This way, people of all ages can come together as a community and celebrate story.”

Kalamazoo Public Library

Events and Opportunities

  • There will be two virtual events available for K College students, faculty, and staff to attend. Please note that these events require registration in advance.
  • Celebrating Story: Kalamazoo Reads Woodson – Would you like to participate through performance? Record yourself reciting or reading a passage from one of Jacqueline Woodson’s books.
  • Celebrating Story: What’s Yours? – Record yourself reading your own original story, poem, or song!

Black Lives Matter: A Guide to Resources

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.

We also recommend Kalamazoo College’s Praxis Center website for additional resources, local learning and growth opportunities, and community connection. The Arcus Center for Justice Leadership hosts this overall excellent and thoughtfully curated website with content from faculty and students engaged deeply in social justice work.

AntiRacism Reading KnooK Discussion Event

me and white supremacy book cover

Current Kalamazoo College faculty and staff are invited join us virtually in the fifth #ARRK event to be held:
February 16, 2021
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
#ARRK Meeting space (MS Teams – link)
Kelly Frost will guide a discussion from the book Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad. We will focus on “Day 6 You and White Exceptionalism” which you can read in the library’s eBook or a PDF is available on the Teams site.

For those who are feeling weary at this mid-point of winter term, we invite you to use the ARKK meeting time to instead investigate the Nap Ministry. This organization was founded by artist and activist, Tricia Hersey around the “liberating power of naps” as a form of social justice. After restorative rest please join us for next month’s ARRK discussion happening March 16th.

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 or to volunteer to lead one of these sessions, visit https://libguides.kzoo.edu/ReadingforChange/arrk

Black Scholars, Many Voices

Photo of Teju Cole
Photo of Teju Cole by U.S. State Department, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Black Scholars. Many Voices.

The Library created this guide to highlight the scholarship of black academics and scholars whose works are available at our Library.

The guide features scholars like Nigerian-American writer and Kalamazoo College alum Teju Cole, G. Gabrielle Starr, Toni Morrison, Henry Lewis Gates, Jr., and more. This list is by no means comprehensive! We welcome recommendations to build the library’s collection and for inclusion on this guide.

The Research Toolkit is Here for You!

Research toolkit logo

Not sure where to start your research? Try our Research Toolkit!

Become a more confident researcher with our tips on preparation, finding resources, evaluating information, and citations.

Librarians are available for individual consultations via Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Make an Appointment or email us at reference@kzoo.edu!

Want to know more about using your library? Check out our helpful videos on Microsoft Stream!

Library CLOSED on MLK Day

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Kalamazoo College Library is CLOSED on Monday, January 18, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We will reopen with limited hours on Tuesday, January 19.

In celebration of the day, check out these titles recommended by Kalamazoo College Inclusive Excellence (KCIE) to engage with antiracist ideas and practices:

KCIE #Reading for Change