Info in Ithaca

Already into my second year here, I was shocked by our presentation in class regarding the library on Wednesday. I mean, sure, I know that we have a library with plenty of resources, but nobody has ever shown me the online capabilities and resources as well. Maybe it's something you can find out in the actual library...I guess I wouldn't really know, having gone into the building perhaps three times since being here (it just isn't the right workspace for me). The website, however...that's accessible anywhere with an Internet connection.  Suddenly, it's as if a million new doors were just unlocked in front of me, and I've got full access to all of their hidden treasures with the click of a button.

Not having noticed this feature until now, I certainly felt ignorant.  I expected more people to know about this, considering the work most students do and the amount we pay to do it...yet, upon asking around to some friends, they were just as amazed as I was at the amount of useful information that we could call up without leaving the room. In retrospect, I really wish someone had shown me this sooner; having taken a number of theater design and Park classes, along with helping several ICTV shows, it would've made all of my projects and performances so much more believable. It's the little details that make things memorable, too, so why not use the library's website to find and perfect them right away?  The college should absolutely make this a more well-known resource for students, because anybody could benefit from the enormous span of information available, regardless of their majors. Plus, it never hurts to learn something new now and then from a reliable source. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've always got an unanswered and random question in my head, and sometimes, Google just can't come up with an answer that satisfies me. Thus, having the library's online sources is a bit of a gift in that I can find information on most subjects with relative ease, in a multitude of formats. Some queries are better answered in words, others in pictures or videos; this college seems to know how to connect its students to any of that, if they know how to look for it.

So, Ithaca College, here's my suggestion to you: introduce the library as a resource both on campus and online within the first few days of a student's career here, in an intro level class of any sort. It would take perhaps a twenty minute demonstration, at most, by the professor to open students' eyes to this, and it's not something I'm likely to forget in the near future.  You'll know the ones who see this as an opportunity to grow by the spark in their eyes, and it will without a doubt start improving the quality of work across campus of those who want to succeed.