The 2015 Harry Potter Conference

 

The 4th Annual Harry Potter Conference and Festival weekend is here!  Stop by Logue Library and see our growing Harry Potter Collection.  You can also "browse" the collection here. 

What should replace the microfiche?

Last month we posted about the enormous amount of unused microfilm and microfiche in the library.

There are great recyclers out there but we had a few hundred pounds and the fees add up to a few hundred dollars.  Using North American Plastic Recycling Network’s list of every plastic dealer in Pennsylvania, we found Accurate Recovery Systems right in Montgomery County. They offered to waive their pickup fee.

150,000 pieces of fiche needed to come out of the envelopes. Librarians took fiche home to our housemates and relatives (thank you Mrs. Consorto, Sister Regina, and John). Our service learning students separated piles of fiche.  Students invented the best methods of unspooling film.  Amanda discovered the “pencil through reel and spin” trick. Ryan found how to pop one side open and empty the entire reel in one swirl.

Stacks of empty spools were scooped up by crafty people.  In the end the fiche filled 4 drums and the film filled 10 bags.  Thanks the great recycling people it has gone to be reused as film or made into new plastic.

We found again that:

 any time we are stuck, a little more research in the right places can find an answer;
 that networking is valuable;
 that our students are the brightest ever.

What equipment or spaces should be in the library?  Instead of sitting at a microfilm reader like your grandparents may have done, what do you need for your courses and projects? (MM)