By Tricia Fulks, News Editor

West Virginia University Libraries are undergoing major changes for the fall semester.

Student government representatives met with Dean of WVU Libraries Frances O’Brien in June to discuss further improving campus libraries. One change SGA Governor Leslie Saunders wanted to see was 24-hour access to libraries during the last two weeks of the semester.

O’Brien said that 24-hour access during those weeks are now in place at the Downtown Campus and Evansdale libraries. She said that now there is adequate staffing during the extended hours. However, not all library services will be available for students during the period.

“What students tell us they want is a place to study,” O’Brien said about the extension of hours.

As far as the library coffee shop, Eliza’s, extending its hours during the last week of classes and Finals Week, Michael Ellington, assistant vice president for Student Affairs, said they are researching the option. Concerns such as cost and staffing have come up.

“We’re going to extend the hours,” Ellington said. “We just need to figure out how to do that.”

Another change, started last month, is a new policy giving students a 30-day grace period after their book’s due date where there are no penalties. Hilary Fredette, interim head of Access Services, said that the new policy is going very well so far.

Students have 30 days after the due date of the book to either return or renew the book. Three notices will be sent through MIX notifying the student of the overdue book. After the 30-day period is up, the library will consider the book lost and will charge the student a $10 nonrefundable fee on top of a replacement fee. Once the book is returned, the replacement fee is taken away while the $10 fee stands.

Fredette said that students who had overdue books prior to July 1 are held by the rules that applied when they checked out the book.

Another new feature now offered by library services is IM Chat Reference, which is the newest element of the “Ask a Librarian” service. This allows students, faculty or staff to talk with a reference librarian from home and ask questions they may have on projects or papers. O’Brien said the addition can handle major chat services including Google Talk, AIM and others.

O’Brien also mentioned that every other spring, University faculty, staff and students can participate in a LibQUAL survey, which evaluates the quality of libraries. She said this survey found that computers were in high demand. Thirty new laptops are now available at Periodicals on the second floor at the downtown library complex.

O’Brien stated that the computer classroom on the lower level at the Downtown Library Complex will also be open for student use when classes are not in session in the room – this means another 30 available desktop computers for student use.

Another LibQUAL discovery is the request for a quieter space to study. O’Brien said that is why the Milano and Robinson Reading Rooms are now designated as “Deep Quiet Zones.” Students are to refrain from using cell phones and music devices as well as holding group meetings or conversations in these areas.

“We’re excited to be starting another fall,” O’Brien said. She said she is glad the libraries have a nice set of services “addressing students’ needs.”

For more information about library services visit at http://libraries.wvu.edu.

First, you don’t even have to physically visit any of the libraries to benefit from one addition, IM Chat Reference. You can simply go online and Instant Message your question to a reference librarian.  Contact us using the following screen names: AIM, wvulibraries; Yahoo, wvulibraries; Google Talk, wvulibraries@gmail.com; and MSN, wvulibraries@hotmail.com.

Feel free to “Ask a Librarian” whenever a question arises while you study for a class, write a paper, or work on a project.  IM reference service is the newest component of “Ask a Librarian” services, which include telephone, email and in-person research assistance. You can find all the details at: http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/ask/.

Students and faculty will probably also appreciate the new fine policy for late books, which provides a 30-day grace period for library users to renew or return overdue books without incurring fines.

Borrowers with books not returned or renewed within the 30 days will receive a book replacement bill plus a non-refundable $10.00 fee. Once the book is returned or renewed, the replacement bill will be cancelled but the $10.00 will still be owed. For more information on the policy or to renew a book online: www.libraries.wvu.edu/borrowing/fines.htm.

Ok. You have quick access to an information expert. You have some leeway on those late books. Now, it’s time to write that paper. We can help there, too.

RefWorks can ease the tedious task of compiling a bibliography. RefWorks creates bibliographies and inserts notes in any format you require. It allows you to save references in a personal online database and insert them automatically as you write research papers. A link is located on the Libraries Web site.

If you are in a hurry and just need to print a paper, the Downtown Campus and Evansdale libraries now have Express Print stations that allow for printing but have no Internet access. At the DCL, print stations are on the first floor behind the Reference Desk and in the Copier Room. At Evansdale, the print station is located by the computers.

Although it’s just the start of the semester, remember the Libraries when it comes time to study for finals. The Downtown Campus and Evansdale libraries will both be open 24 hours throughout Dead Week and Finals Week.

Other changes will affect only those who use the Downtown Campus Library.

There are now 30 laptops available for checkout from Periodicals on the second floor. These are in addition to 30 laptops available through Media Services.

Another new option for finding computers is Room 136 on the Lower Level, which will be open as a computer lab on weekdays when it is not already serving as a classroom.

If you need a quiet space to study, head to the Robinson and Milano Reading Rooms. The rooms have been designated “Deep Quiet” so talking and cell phones are prohibited.

The extended hours, additional computers, and designated quiet study space are all in response to results from the LibQual survey performed during the spring semester.

Finally, Interlibrary Loan pickup has moved. ILL and E-ZBorrow books are now both picked up at the Access Services Desk.

By J. Miles Layton

Attention Civil War buffs.

An exhibit in the West Virginia and Regional History Collection at WVU offers visitors an engaging glimpse of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War era in which he lived.

“For people looking for a historical experience in Morgantown, we have a great deal to offer here at the West Virginia Collection,” said John Cuthbert, the collection’s curator.

The exhibit, “Abraham Lincoln and West Virginia: Selections from the West Virginia and Regional History Collection,” will be open for the next several months at WVU. The exhibit is located in the James Horner Davis Family Gallery (No. 1) on the sixth floor of the Wise Library on the Downtown Campus.  It is free and open to the public from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues-Saturday, and until 9 p.m. Tuesdays, according to the WVU Web site.

The figure of Lincoln looms large over West Virginia and WVU. WVU’s newest residence hall is named after the 16th president, and the 2007 Festival of Ideas series focused on Lincoln as man, myth, martyr and American hero.But in 1860, few people thought Lincoln would be elected president, according to The Virginia Weekly Star, Morgantown’s local newspaper at that time.  On display is its front page, which contains reports on the 1860 presidential election.  Lincoln won the election with only 39.8 percent of the popular vote, soon finding himself in the midst of the U.S. Civil War and with a growing list of enemies.  Cuthbert said that coverage focused mostly on Stephen Douglas and John Breckinridge, and dismissed Lincoln.

“Many people at the time said ‘a vote for Breckinridge is a vote for Lincoln,’” he said.

Featured in the exhibit is U.S. Sen. Waitman T. Willey’s May 29, 1862, presentation to the U.S. Senate that proposed the formation of West Virginia.

“The new state of West Virginia is a fixed fact,” said Willey, whose words are preserved beneath his portrait, which greets people as they enter the museum.

In 1863, Confederates didn’t exactly appreciate Willey’s contribution to the Union.  When rebel soldiers invaded Morgantown, they found this portrait of Willey and thrust their bayonets into the painting.  Though the artwork was later painstakingly restored, Willey’s face clearly bears the scars of history.

Across from Willey’s portrait, a black and white photograph of Union General Thomas M. Harris is standing watch over a display of artifacts from his life.  Harris fought in several campaigns – and served as a member of the military commission that tried and convicted the assassins and conspirators involved in Lincoln’s death.  Harris wrote the book, “Assassination of Lincoln.”

Before e-mail and telephones existed, written words commanded the armies of the Confederacy and the Union.  Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s writing kit is on display, a rare find for any museum, Cuthbert said.  The wooden box is about the size of a Wheeling-Marsh cigar box, though narrower.  Inside the box, there are many little compartments and places to hold pens – the type that are dipped in ink.  Jackson used this writing kit to dispatch letters and orders during his numerous legendary campaigns.

“Back then, battles and fighting didn’t last but a few hours or days, so generals spent a lot of their time writing correspondence,” Cuthbert said.

Handwritten words preserve the surrender negotiations between Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Union General Ulysses Grant.  At the time, copies of these letters were sent to Francis H. Pierpont, who was governor of the Reorganized Government of Virginia – the part that didn’t secede from the Union.  Like e-mail, Lee and Grant replied back and forth to each other to work out the details to end the war.

“This is the Civil War equivalent of e-mail,” Cuthbert said.

Within the Civil War collection there are numerous journals from soldiers, personal papers from many of the state’s early politicians, and a rare 35-star American flag, one of only five known to still exist.  This flag is traditionally thought to have been carried to West Virginia by soldiers returning to Shepherdstown from the Battle of Gettysburg, Cuthbert said.

One of the many highlights in the collection is drawings by Davis Hunter Strother, an eyewitness to events at Harpers Ferry. In the days before photography could capture an image instantly, Strother was a journalist who drew pictures for the leading publications of the day.  When abolitionist John Brown was seized following his raid on Harpers Ferry, Strother was there capturing the stark images of his execution with words and pencil strokes.

Cuthbert said Strother, a Martinsburg native, was given more or less an all-access pass to talk to Brown and those involved in the raid while they were in jail waiting for trial.  When one of the men in the raid complained about his injuries and asked for a doctor, Cuthbert said, Strother wrote that a guard said to the injured man, ‘“you should have thought about that before you got involved in that raid’ and kicked the man.”’ There is a hand-sketched picture of Brown and others being hanged.

Though not part of the Civil War exhibit, there are other treasures to be discovered by patrons of the collection.  Photos of West Virginia people and places past and present adorn the walls.  There is a display featuring actor and comedian Don Knotts that includes a few scripts from his movies and an autobiography.

“I encourage anyone to come out and see what we have to offer,” Cuthbert said.