Meet the Staff

Nancy T. Matthews
Height: 5ft 6inches
Favorite Book: The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone and Illustrated by Michael Smollin

“Growing up I always knew I wanted to be a teacher or work in a library, that’s just me.”

When entering the LITC you may find yourself asking, “What’s the name of that sweet looking woman with the glasses and the short-bob haircut?” That’s Nancy T. Matthews, Acquisitions/ Cataloging Coordinator! To put it simply, she buys the books. Nancy is an integral part of the LITC team, stretching money, ordering library materials, and getting them ready for the shelves. Earlier this year Nancy took on responsibility for the Coker College Archives. The job is tough and the hardest part is ongoing. Nancy has to determine how to organize Archives, sorting through Coker artifacts, deciding what to keep while trying to consider what would best serve the college and its history. Organizing the past isn’t all dust induced headaches and arctic room temperatures. “It’s been fun because I was a student here," says Nancy. "I’m running across things that happened while I was attending Coker, pictures, names and newsletters, memos.” Nancy graduated from Coker in ‘76 returning to work at the college in ‘84. Going through the Archives allows Nancy a more intimate look at the institution, how Coker had changed during her 8 year absence, and how fast technology has evolved in the 2 and a half decades she has served the college. “If you have to work, which I do, it is very nice to work in an atmosphere like the Library provides – flexibility, there has been chance for promotion through the years, and great people.” Last week Nancy celebrated 25 years in the academic library business with cake in the LITC break-room, treating her co-workers to stories of her Alma Mater and how things have changed.

Nancy’s Library Survival Tips:

• “Have a fan in the winter and a sweater in the summer. I’ve been here 25 years and they still haven’t gotten the air right.”

Chalok Literacy Project Update

I received this from Professor Dick Puffer this morning:

"Maggie Meyer double majored in Political Science - International Relations and Communication at Coker. Jim Lemke, her political science advisor, discussed the Chalok Literacy Project with his wife, Harriet, who then discussed it with Emily Phillips at Burry Bookstore and there is now a connection between Burry and Chalok with a box being filled with books for Maggie's English language students. This was a great idea for an even stronger connection between Coker, Hartsville and Maggie Meyer's Fulbright program in Malaysia. If you want more info on the literacy program it is contained in an earlier email, or you can find it on hartsvilletoday.com or the cokerexperience blog."

You can also find more information from a previous LITC blog entry.

The Burry Bookstore is a locally owned and operated bookstore here in Hartsville. What a perfect fit -- buying books from a locally owned store to send to English literature deprived students in Malaysia?

Is it August yet?

In less than a month it will be August 19th. For the staff of the LITC this means making sure we finish up all our summer projects, and adding a few new ones...

Libraries are always changing. We rethink procedures, incorporate new technologies, move stuff around, to make information gathering easier. In a previous blog entry we told library patrons to expect BIG changes to Periodicals. That turned out to be a bit of an understatement.

We’re reshaping a portion of the first floor of the LITC, making it more conducive to study as well as allowing us an opportunity to spotlight some under-appreciated areas of our collection.
College and Career Planning has received a complete face lift, while Periodicals has been carefully weeded and shifted.

• These display shelves can be raised to reveal even more comprehensive resources for education and career decision making. There are books for determining your personality type, exploring Majors, locating graduate schools, and procuring a career.

Newspapers have found a new home facing the lounge area and our Recreational Reading collection will be jumping to the Computer Center.

• It may not be “Literature” but it sure is fun. Recreational Reading is exactly what it sounds like, a collection that offers patrons more leisurely titles. Look for big names like Stephen King, James Patterson, Nora Roberts and Nicholas Sparks to frequent this section.

• Also, look for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal on our Kindle, currently on display at the Circulation Desk.

Our summer has proven to be productive - major shifts in the Juvenile and Art Collections, countless trips to Kalmia Gardens and a lot of hard work in Archives. With the addition of these newer modifications we are looking forward to better serving students when they return in August.

Briefly: LITC will close at 2PM on Fridays through July

The Coker LITC will close at 2PM on Friday afternoons for the month of July.

Remember you can renew most library materials by using the My Account feature on the Coker Library online catalog.

Chalok Literacy Project

Maggie Meyer, a recent Coker Alum, is completing a Fulbright grant as an English Teaching Assistant in Chalok Terengganu, Malaysia. She would like to collect used English language books for her students -- new English books in Malaysia are prohibitively expensive.

Here's how you can help:

" [The book(s)] can be any size you want. It can be about anything you think students would like to read. Ideally, books would be fiction and appropriate for intermediate English speakers. The age range of the students is anywhere between 10-19 years old, so topics can range from fictional animals and adventures to how to gain admission to American colleges."

Also:

"Head online to www.amazon.com. From there, locate and click on the Wish List button in the top right hand corner. A wish list search bar will appear. Type in Chalok Literacy Project. You can choose from a hearty selection of books, purchase them through their secure server and select to deliver them automatically to the CLP gift registry address."

Maggie also writes:

"Caution should be exercised when sending books that include opinions on religious and political matters. These subjects are extremely sensitive in Malaysia as the large majority of the population is conservatively Muslim."

For more information, including mailing instructions please e-mail Maggie at ChalokLiteracyProject@gmail.com

For more information on Maggie's year in Malaysia, read her blog here.

Good luck Maggie!