It is hard to believe that the addition to Storrs Library is already more than 16 years old!! Those of us who were here at that time remember how cutting-edge the design seemed, featuring a centralized circulation desk, a separate Reference Desk, areas for computerized catalogs, a children’s room on the main level and an elevator to the second floor.
Little did we imagine that sixteen years later, we would have seven public access catalogs, eleven Internet stations, plus wireless capacity throughout the building. Our fiction and nonfiction collections have continued to grow, adding new titles to those already on the shelves and creating a depth and range difficult to find in bookstores oriented to stocking only the latest publications. In 1997, five years after the opening of our addition, we timidly launched our first web presence at http://www.longmeadow.org. Back then we had a few sections—a very basic computerized catalog, sections on library history and policies and a Web gateway with some favorite links. Eleven years later, how things have changed! We are now at www.longmeadow.org/library with a newly designed enhanced library catalog. With a Storrs Library card not only can you search Longmeadow’s holdings from home, expand your search to all Massachusetts libraries and place online requests, but you can read summaries and reviews of most titles right from the catalog. High-quality reference databases include searchable, general interest periodicals, full-text, peer-reviewed academic and professional journals and newspaper backfiles such as the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Springfield Republican. The website provides access to full-length downloadable videos, like the Globe Trekker videos and hundreds of audiobooks that can be downloaded and played on portable devices. One of the databases, Academic Onefile, has free downloadable podcasts from NPR and the New England Journal of Medicine. Issues and Controversies and Issues and Controversies in American History contain excellent resources for students working on contemporary issues, while Science Online provides support to the middle and high school science curricula.
Little did we imagine that sixteen years later, we would have seven public access catalogs, eleven Internet stations, plus wireless capacity throughout the building. Our fiction and nonfiction collections have continued to grow, adding new titles to those already on the shelves and creating a depth and range difficult to find in bookstores oriented to stocking only the latest publications. In 1997, five years after the opening of our addition, we timidly launched our first web presence at http://www.longmeadow.org. Back then we had a few sections—a very basic computerized catalog, sections on library history and policies and a Web gateway with some favorite links. Eleven years later, how things have changed! We are now at www.longmeadow.org/library with a newly designed enhanced library catalog. With a Storrs Library card not only can you search Longmeadow’s holdings from home, expand your search to all Massachusetts libraries and place online requests, but you can read summaries and reviews of most titles right from the catalog. High-quality reference databases include searchable, general interest periodicals, full-text, peer-reviewed academic and professional journals and newspaper backfiles such as the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Springfield Republican. The website provides access to full-length downloadable videos, like the Globe Trekker videos and hundreds of audiobooks that can be downloaded and played on portable devices. One of the databases, Academic Onefile, has free downloadable podcasts from NPR and the New England Journal of Medicine. Issues and Controversies and Issues and Controversies in American History contain excellent resources for students working on contemporary issues, while Science Online provides support to the middle and high school science curricula.
I am delighted to have been invited to participate in Longmeadow Buzz. Be on the lookout for news from the Library and in the meantime, don’t forget to visit at 693 Longmeadow Street or at www.longmeadow.org/library. Farida Pomerantz/Reference
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