Earth-friendly app for staying hydrated and a fun, free course for your summer

You’ve made it – the last day of exams!  As you get ready to unwind this summer, here are two resources that might interest you.

• In the spirit of “reduce” to be gentler on the earth, many MLWGS students have kicked the habit of disposable plastic water bottles and carry a refillable bottle instead. But over the summer, where might you refill if you’re on the go?  Check out the Tap app which helps you find places to refill your water bottle for free.  Places in RVA near our campus include Qdoba and Five Guys on Broad Street.
• Want to keep learning new stuff that can help you, but without reading assignments or grading pressure? Enroll in Yale’s most popular class ever, The Science of Wellbeing, now free in Coursera.  The course stretches over ten weeks and you can view the videos at your own pace. Maybe I’ll see you there!

Enjoy!  I look forward to seeing you in August when you’ll find more changes in the library thanks to your valuable feedback.

 

Deadlines for returning library materials

The time is fast approaching to return all library materials to the library.

• Seniors should return all items borrowed from the library by Friday, May 24, 2019.
• All other students should return library items by Wednesday, June 5, 2019.
• Faculty should return library items by Tuesday, June 11, 2019.

If you need to keep materials longer in order to complete make-up work, etc., please drop by the library to see Ms. DeGroat.

 

Get Outside with this fun new kit

In celebration of Earth Day and in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the MW Library is delighted to offer Get Outside kits to support your explorations in the great outdoors.

These kits, packaged in a MLWGS string pack, contain three laminated Pocket Naturalist Guides: Virginia Birds, Virginia Wildlife, and Virginia Trees and Wildflowers, a pocket microscope with 20x magnification and a UV light for taking a slightly closer look at leaves, rocks, and other natural objects, and perhaps most importantly, a parking pass for Virginia State Parks!

The borrowing period for these kits is three days and there are two kits available. If you’d like to borrow a parking pass without the supporting items, there is one additional parking pass available for three-day borrowing as well.

While you’re in the library, browse the display of related books, such as The Forest Unseen by David Haskell and Tristan Gooley’s The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs.

 

Instantly see if a book on Amazon is available in your public library

I understand the lure of books. But the next time you’re about to click “Add to Cart” on Amazon.com or BN.com, imagine that you could see right there, without leaving the web site, whether the book was available in your public library.

There’s a FREE extension for Chrome and Firefox that does just that!  It’s called Library Extension. After you add it and select your public libraries, the book’s availability automatically appears beside the book. It currently works on Amazon, Barnes & Noble’s web site, Goodreads, and a few other sites.

While we’re talking about public libraries, remember that Richmond, Chesterfield, and Henrico libraries practice reciprocity, so if you’re a resident and active library user in one of those localities, you can borrow books from libraries in the other two.  And yes, Library Extension can search all three systems at once! If your public library subscribes to Overdrive or Hoopla for digital books, those results appear as well.

Once you see that a book is available at your public library, click “Borrow” to go to your library’s web site where you can log in to your account and reserve the book – another way to save time in your busy day.  That way, it will be on their Holds shelf when you arrive.