Category Archives: Library Events

Million Pennies Campaign raises $142.81 in April 2012!

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We’re proud to announce that you, our loyal library users, contributed $142.81 in cash and change to our Million Pennies Campaign in April 2012. We have now raised $6,637.66 since the start of the campaign in April 2010, which means we’re nearly two-thirds of the way there!

The Library staff would like to extend a hearty thank you to our most recent donors: Jama Darnell, Deb Harbin, Sterling Herron, Clint Holloway, Curtis Huskins, Morgan McLeod, Mike Mohsen, Tommy Parker, Bill Pearce, Anna Rosenburg, Morgan Simmons, Katie Smith, Adam Tomlinson, and Lauren Tomlinson. Remember, if you’d like us to thank you by name, please write your name down on the slips of paper in the tray next to the donation box, and we’ll let everyone know about your generosity.Image

Lauren Tomlinson is the winner of our monthly drawing. She will receive the hardcover Our Front Pages from The Onion. Congratulations, Lauren!  Next month’s prize is the 2006 hardcover The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson. Donate to the campaign, write your name on a slip of paper, and place it in the box. On June 20th, we’ll draw a winner from the names we’ve collected!

We still need your help in raising funds to help us reach our goal of a totally renovated library. Bring your loose change and help us get closer to $10,000. Remember, when we raise the money, we’ll allow you, the contributors, to name a study room whatever you like. Every penny helps! If you’re not familiar with the Campaign, check out original post on the library blog. And remember you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. Thank you!

Second Annual Edible Books Festival–A Yummy Success!

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Featuring books ranging from the most ancient (The Epic of Gilgamesh) to the most contemporary (The Hunger Games), the Milligan College Library held its Second Annual Edible Books Festival on March 26-27. Building upon a successful first festival last year, this year’s festival was easily better–and possibly even yummier! The event was held in the Welshimer Room on the main floor of the Library.

See this Wikipedia article for an explanation of the origins of this delightful festival. The submission guidelines are fairly simple: Create an edible treat that either looks like, alludes to, or describes a book in some way. It can be literal, artistic, or humorous.

This year we had 23 very creative entries–double the number of from last year–from Milligan students, faculty, and staff, or their family members. About 130 votes were cast on Monday for favorites in our four categories: Most Book-like, Funniest/Punniest, Most Creative, and Overall Favorite.

Congratulations to our winners (who each received an Earth Fare gift card):

  • Most Book-Like – The Hunger Games by Grace Jackson
  • Funniest/Punniest – Pigs in Heaven by Seth and Stacy Tramel
  • Most Creative – Where’s Wal-Dough? By Grace Jackson
  • Overall Favorite – Curious George by Brittany and Mariana Robinson

Once the winners were announced on Tuesday, the books were fair game to be sampled. In addition to their bookish qualities, all the entries were very, very tasty!

We received some great press on the event, including this March 27th story (with video) in the Johnson City Press, and this March 28th story in the Elizabethton Star.

Thanks to everyone who participated. Special thanks go to Mary Jackson, our Research and Instruction Librarian, and Meredith Sommers, our Information Resources Librarian/College Archivist, for planning and organizing the event. It’s not too early to get your ideas together for next year’s festival. Mary and Meredith are already looking forward to it, and how to make it even better.

Million Pennies Campaign raises $922.69 since January 2012!

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We’re proud to announce that you, our loyal library users, have contributed $922.69 in cash and change to our Million Pennies Campaign since January 2012. We have now raised $6,494.85 since the start of the campaign in April 2010, which means we’re nearly two-thirds of the way there!

The Library staff would like to extend a hearty thank you to our most recent donors: Louise Clites, Jama Darnell, Victor “Tracy” Edwards, Matt Goehner, Matt Haren, Sterling Herron, Clint Holloway, Anna Lennox, Rebecca Miller, Lauren Tomlinson, and Matt Watkins. Remember, if you’d like us to thank you by name, please write your name down on the slips of paper in the tray next to the donation box, and we’ll let everyone know about your generosity.

Matt Haren is the winner of our monthly drawing. He will receive the hardcover Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank by Beth Hoffman. Congratulations!  Next month’s prize is the 2009 hardcover Our Front Pages from The Onion. Donate to the campaign, write your name on a slip of paper, and place it in the box. On May 1st, we’ll draw a winner from the names we’ve collected!

We still need your help in raising funds to help us reach our goal of a totally renovated library. Bring your loose change and help us get closer to $10,000. Remember, when we raise the money, we’ll allow you, the contributors, to name a study room whatever you like. Every penny helps! If you’re not familiar with the Campaign, check out original post on the library blog. And remember you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. Thank you!

MCSearch & Milligan College featured in EBSCO’s “Customer Success Story” marketing

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By creating a strong library research platform with the speed and simplicity of a commercial Internet search engine, Milligan College makes its library holdings even more accessible to students and faculty.

Soon after Milligan College Library’s launch of MCSearch in early September 2011, we were contacted by the public relations folks at EBSCO Publishing to do a “Customer Success” story for their promotional/marketing materials.

MCSearch is our custom implementation/branding of EBSCO’s Discovery Service platform. MCSearch is best described as a search engine that provides a user experience not unlike Google, but its search capabilities focus on library-provided information resources instead of the open Web. In our own promotion, we have branded MCSearch with the tagline “One search box–for the good stuff” to underscore the ease of use search experience applied to accessing the quality information resources provided by the Library.

We recently learned that our story has been released. Here is a direct link to the five page piece (pdf) covering the launch. Links to the story appear in two locations on EBSCO’s website: On the EBSCO Customer Success Center (see  http://www.ebscohost.com/customerSuccess/ > Colleges/Universities > Customer Success Stories), and on the EDS Support Center (see http://support.ebsco.com/eds > the Customer Success Stories section on the home page. Our story is the third item.) It’s a nice read that features both the Library and Milligan College. Check it out!

Library website voted “College Library Web Site of the Month” by ACRL!

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I just received the following email from the chair of the Communications Committee of the College Libraries Section – Association of College and Research Libraries:

I am pleased to inform you that the Milligan College Library website has been selected as the “College Library Website of the Month” for March 2012 by the Communications Committee of ACRL’s College Libraries Section.

The College Libraries Section recognizes that a library’s website, in addition to enhancing access to a library’s resources and services, serves in general as a major means of communicating with current and future users. As a result the Communications Committee has decided to feature one college site a month that we feel showcases noteworthy contents, features, designs, etc.

Once selected, the sites are listed on the College Libraries Section’s site along with a brief summary outlining the reasons for their selection. Beyond simple recognition, it is hoped that by highlighting these Web pages we are providing the library community with a convenient listing of sites that can be used by others to gain insights and inspiration to enhance their own library’s online presence.

The Communications Committee would like to extend our congratulations to the all of those who have worked to build and maintain your library’s outstanding site. We also hope that you and members of your library and academic community will take a few moments to visit our “Site of the Month” page to read our review of your library’s site as well as those of past winners.

We are very proud of our website. We have worked hard to make it uncluttered yet attractive, easy to navigate, and resource-focused. It is a great honor to receive this recognition from our professional colleagues.