Dale Foley is a Liberal Studies student at Northern Maine Community College. He asked to be our guest blogger and has written a reflection about the Edmunds Library at NMCC. He has completed three semesters at the college and plans to return in the fall. This piece was written as part of an assignment for his English 227 class with Jennifer Graham.
When I first
started coming to NMCC I looked at the library and thought to myself, why does
the college still even have a library? With the information we can get from the
internet, who needs to look things up in a book anymore? I am now heading into
my 4th semester at NMCC; looking back I now realize how much of a
valuable asset the library and staff have been. My first semester at NMCC, I
found the library a great place for quiet study and to do my homework. I was a
non-traditional student, and I really needed to get back into the swing of how
to study. The practice of getting my work done only scratched the surface of
what benefits the library would provide me.
When I moved into my second semester I had
group projects that I needed to accomplish, and I soon learned that the library
had media rooms set up for use to hold our group’s meetings. These rooms had
all the connections needed to set up our presentation and go through our
individual parts, while providing a perfect place for correcting and tweaking
the presentation in real time. We no longer had to keep emailing the
presentation to each other. Then deciphering the numerous comments that each of
us put in. We could now agree on a time to meet and all sit down and give our
input at once. This greatly reduced the confusions about the project and
everyone was able to get their thoughts together. Our group passed our project
with an A, something I do not feel we would have done without the resources the
library had once again provided us.
I am now finishing
up my 3rd semester here at NMCC. Each semester I find myself using
library resources more and more. This semester I had several research papers
and I learned of the library’s inter-library loan program, as well as became
familiar with the library’s link on NMCC’s webpage. While both of these sources
are wonderful and full of information they are not what I remember the library
for this semester.
This semester I
found free time very scarce and I really had a hard time making time for my
daughter. I found the solution in the library. My daughter Evie, who is 3,
loves books, and when she found out the college had a library she wanted to go
see it. I told her that Daddy’s school probably didn’t have books she would
like, but she didn’t care she wanted to go anyway. My Fridays were the day
where I had the most free time, only an hour long class, so we picked that day
to go. I packed up my daughter and my wife Coral, and up we came. While I was
in class my daughter and my wife went to the library. When I was done class and
found them in the library. Evie was ecstatic, they had books for kids at Daddy’s
school. I found out later that the library had children’s books because of the early
childhood development courses offered here.
Evie’s trips to the library became a weekly
event. It was an easy way to balance school and spend time with my little girl.
We would get a weeks-worth of books and read at least one every night at her
bed time. Then bring them back the next Friday so she could get more. Evie was
such a frequent customer, that the staff looked into and acquired books from a
series that she enjoyed. Over my time at NMCC I have learned many things. But,
one of the greatest things I have learned is why there still is a library at
the college, and what great values it has to offer. I would like to thank the
staff of the NMCC library for all their hard work, dedication, and continued
help in the future. I would not have made it this far without you.
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