12/23/09 -- Library Hours Survey

A brief survey on the library hours has been emailed to student email accounts. So far, 22 people have responded. If you have not checked your seminary email recently, please look for the survey and take a few minutes to respond as this will help us plan our hours for the winter quarter.

12/10/09 -- Hours During December Break

Please check the library home page to verify the library's hours during the December break.

The library will be closed on Sunday, December 13. After that, the library will be open noon - 5:00pm Monday - Friday.

The library, along with the rest of the Northern Seminary campus, will be closed December 24 - January 3.

9/21/09 -- Fall Library Hours

With the start of classes on Monday, September 28, the library will begin regular hours for the fall quarter (September 28 - December 11):

    Monday - Thursday       Noon - 10pm
    Fridays                              Noon - 5pm
    Saturdays                         1pm - 5pm
    Sundays                            8pm - 10pm

9/6/09 -- Library Closed on Labor Day

The library, along with the rest of the seminary offices, will be closed on Monday, September 7 for Labor Day. The library will reopen at 2:00pm on Tuesday, September 8.

8/7/2009 -- Library Closed on Friday

The library, along with the rest of the seminary offices, will be closed on Friday, August 7.

The library will reopen at 2:00pm on Monday, August 10.

7/7/09 -- Try the New Religion Databases

If you search the library databases regularly, you will notice that the interface for the ATLA Religion Database has changed. We now subscribe to ATLA via EBSCOHost. If you have not tried the new interface, take a moment to see what you think:

ATLA Religion Database on EBSCOHost

One reason for this change is that EBSCOHost provides five major religion databases: ATLA, Old Testament Abstracts, New Testament Abstracts, Catholic Periodical Literature Index, and the Christian Periodical Index. With EBSCOHost, you can search all five databases at once:

All Religion Databases

This new arrangement now provides greater access to journal articles in religion, theology, and biblical studies with enhanced linking to the full text available in any of the library databases.

6/28/09 -- Library Closed July 3

The library hours for the week of June 29 will be:

        Monday - Thursday                2:00pm - 8:00pm
        Friday, July 3                           CLOSED
        Saturday - Sunday                  CLOSED

The library, along with the rest of the seminary campus, will be closed on Friday, July 3 for the Independence Day Weekend.

The library will continue to have reduced hours for the rest of the summer.

6/4/09 -- D.Min. Seminars & June Library Hours

From June 8 - 28, the library will be open in the mornings while the D.Min. seminars are being held. During these three weeks, the library hours will be:

    Mon - Thurs   8:30am - 8pm
    Fridays             8:30am - 5pm
    Sat - Sun          CLOSED

For our D.Min. students: If your library card has expired, please remember to stop in the library to have it renewed.

6/1/09 -- Library Closed Commencement Weekend

The library will be closed Saturday and Sunday, June 6 - 7 for the commencement weekend.

5/22/09 -- Memorial Day Hours

The library will be open from noon - 5:00pm on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25.

We hope you will be doing something fun for the holiday weekend, but if that includes working on papers for the end of the quarter, the library will be open!

4/17/09 -- Library Phone Is Working Again

You can once again call the library front desk at (630)620-2104. While some adjustments to the new campus phone system are still ongoing, calls to the library are working normally again. Thank you for your patience!

4/13/09 -- Library Phone Outage

Today, Monday, April 13, the phones have been out in the library. This is due to a campus-wide phone upgrade. If you are not able to reach the library by phone, please send an email to library@seminary.edu so we can respond to your request as soon as possible. I will post an update when phone service has been restored in the library.

4/7/09 -- Renewing Your Books Online

It has come to my attention that there may be some questions about how to renew books online with the new version of the online catalog (VUFind). The link from the library home page now takes you to:

https://vufind.carli.illinois.edu/vf-nbt/

When you are in VUFind, look for the Login button in the upper right corner:



If this is the first time that you have ever logged in to VUFind, you will have to create your own account first. To create your own account, click on the Login button, then click on the "Create New Account" link:



You will now be able to create whatever username and password you want for your library account. Also make sure to fill out the "Library Catalog Profile" section -- this is where you associate your 14-digit library barcode number with your new account.

Once your account is created, you can now use your new username and password to access your library records from VUFind -- no more typing in your 14-digit barcode number every time you want to renew a book or place an online request for a book. When you are logged in to VUFind, clicking on the "Checked Out Items" button on the right brings up your list of checked out items and allows you to renew them online:



If you prefer the older, "classic" version of the online catalog, you can still use it instead. From VUFind, click on the "Classic Search" button (see the image up above), or you can always save a link to the classic version of the online catalog at https://i-share.carli.illinois.edu/nbt/.

And, yes, you can always call the library at (630)620-2104 or send us an email at library@seminary.edu for assistance with renewing items.

4/6/09 -- Library Hours for Holy Week

The library will have the following hours during Holy Week, April 6 - 12:

          Monday, 4/6            Noon - 10pm
          *Tuesday, 4/7          8:30am - 10pm
          Wednesday, 4/8      2pm - 10pm
          Thursday, 4/9          8:30am - 10pm
          Friday - Sunday       CLOSED

*On Tuesdays, the library is closed from 11:30am - 12:30pm for chapel.

3/30/09 -- Saturday Morning Hours

In response to feedback received on the library evaluation forms, the library will be open again on Saturday mornings during the spring quarter. On Saturdays, the library hours will now be 9am - 5pm.

While the library hours are still limited due to the reduction in staffing last quarter, we hope that providing more hours on Saturday will help address the need for longer library hours.

3/26/09 -- One More Web Site Adjustment

There has been one more adjustment to the library web site as part of the rollout of the new campus web site: The library home page is now at http://www.seminary.edu/library/library.html.

If you had bookmarked the library home page before today, you will want to make a note of this new URL.

3/23/09 -- New Links to the Online Catalog

Along with the Northern Seminary campus web site, the library's web site has been updated, too. The new URL for the library web site is:

http://www.seminary.edu/library/library.html.

All book searches are now directed to the updated interface to the library catalog called VUFind. You can read more about VUFind here.

If you ever want to use the previous version of the online catalog, just look for the "Classic Search" button in the upper right corner of the screen. Clicking on it will take you back to the way the online catalog used to look. Or, if you want to have your own bookmark to the "classic" version of the online catalog, right click on the following link:

https://i-share.carli.illinois.edu/nbt/

3/18/09 -- Finals Week & Spring Break

Please note the following hours for the library during finals week and spring break:

Finals Week, March 16 - 22, 2009

         Mon, Weds, Fri      2pm - 10pm
         Tues, Thurs      8:30am - 10pm
         Sat, 3/21      1pm - 5pm
         Sun, 3/22      CLOSED


Spring Break, March 23 - 29, 2009

         Mon - Thurs      2pm - 8pm
         Fri, 3/27      2pm - 5pm
         Sat, 3/28      9am - 5pm
               (New student orientation)
         Sun, 3/29      CLOSED

3/16/09 -- Book Sale Monday & Tuesday

The Brimson Grow Library book sale is going on Monday and Tuesday, March 16 - 17, from 2pm - 8pm each day. In addition to great bargains on library duplicates, there is also a silent auction for 4 different sets of books.

If you have any questions, please call us at the front desk at 630-620-2104 or send an email to library@seminary.edu.

3/5/09 -- Library Book Sale Coming Up

Brimson Grow Library will be holding a book sale on Monday and Tuesday, March 16-17. The book sale will be open from 2:00pm - 8:00pm each day. The library is located at 680 E Butterfield Rd in Lombard, Illinois.

Come early for the best books; come late for the best bargains!

2/26/09 -- Changes to Library Hours

Beginning Monday, March 2, the library will be reducing the number of hours that it is open.

Northern Seminary recently experienced a reduction in force in which several positions were terminated to help reduce costs including two full time positions in the library. A reduction in library staffing this large will require us to make a number of adjustments in library services including reducing the number of hours which the library is open.

As of Monday, March 2, the library will begin closing at 10:00pm and will no longer be open on mornings when we do not have classes. For the rest of the winter quarter, the library hours will be as follows:

     Mondays:        2:00pm - 10:00pm
     Tuesdays:        8:30am - 10:00pm
     Wednesdays:  2:00pm - 10:00pm
     Thursdays:      8:30am - 10:00pm
     Fridays:            2:00pm - 10:00pm
     Saturdays:       1:00pm - 5:00pm
     Sundays:          6:00pm - 10:00pm

If you have any questions or concerns about library services, please contact Blake Walter at bwalter@seminary.edu or (630)620-2115.

1/5/09 -- Orientation Week

The library will be open for new student orientation on Saturday, January 10. Our hours for this week will be:

    Monday - Saturday       9:00am - 5:00pm
    Sunday, Jan. 11              CLOSED

The library will resume regular hours with the start of the Winter Quarter on Monday, January 12.