The Atrium news and notes

Inside Walker Library

With its expert staff, dynamic collections, and electronic resources, Walker Library is the University’s hub for study and research. But the library is also the place where students come to mix and mingle, learn, and discover new ways to work together.

The library also has an active exhibit and event program. In partnership with various University departments, student organizations, and local groups, Walker Library displays collections and historical objects and hosts cultural events and concerts. Here's a look at recent news and events.

A VERY BIG BOOK!

The Dimensional and Artists’ Books collection is one of the highlights of Walker Library’s Special Collections, and this past spring’s exhibit ”A Serious Collection of Fun Books” featured much of what’s on offer up on the library’s fourth floor.

However, in April, staff from Special Collections brought its biggest book down to the first floor as they opened up the award-winning Opening the Forbidden City by Wang Wei.

The book, which at first doesn’t appear to be all that large, is a three-dimensional masterpiece that is more than 10 feet long and features countless pieces of pop-up architecture. The process of opening the book took nearly two hours.

SOOTHING HARPS AT A HECTIC TIME

One of the library’s most popular programs, Arts in the Atrium, finally returned this past spring as Sarah Crocker and her students Kaelan Allen, Claire Cifonie, and Alana Green performed a 25-minute harp recital at the entrance to the library.

The performance, which took place in the last month of the school year, allowed students to enjoy an instrument that they rarely hear in their day-to-day lives and offered a chance to take a brief break from studying in the often hectic final weeks of a semester.

STUDENT ART EXHIBIT MAKES IMPRESSION

In a process that took years to get going, Walker Library hosted a student art exhibit during the 2022–23 school year that featured cardboard sculptures from students of MTSU Art Professor Mark Mcleod.

The project focused on anti-monumentalism, which intentionally challenges the ideas behind traditional public monuments. Examples from the students involved in the class included a take designed to challenge the notion of pulling oneself up “by their bootstraps,” prison overpopulation, and the historical treatment of indigenous cultures in North America.

DRAWING CROWDS AT MAKERSPACE EVENTS

Walker Library is home to the first makerspace in a library in Tennessee, and annual events in the space have only gotten bigger and better with each passing year. Every fall, hundreds of students come into the space, often for the first time, and have a chance to get familiar with all its offerings during the Makerspace Open House, put together in partnership with MT Engage.

Later in each semester, the Makerspace also hosts a virtual reality night where entities from around campus and the community present uses of the VR technology available to MTSU students. The space then opens up for a number of experiences, from playing VR games to landing a plane in the flight simulator.

MURPHY CENTER’S FABULOUS 50TH

The library once again played a role in a University-wide celebration as MTSU’s iconic Murphy Center marked its 50th anniversary last December. In coordination with the Albert Gore Research Center and MT Athletics, the library’s first-floor exhibit space featured items and memorabilia from the five decades of concerts, athletic events, and graduations that have taken place on the historic hardwood of the Monte Hale/ Jimmy Earle Arena.

WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS AT WALKER

In partnership with the University’s Health Services, Walker Library hosted Wellness Wednesdays in the atrium every week. The program was designed to let students know all the services available to them, from consultations with nurses and doctors through necessities like filling prescriptions on the MTSU campus.

If a student had a question, no matter how minor or major, staff from Health Services was right there to help them with it or set up an appointment for further evaluation.

Health Services has been a frequent collaborator with the library over the years, as the building has served as one of the most accessible places for many students, faculty, and staff to get their annual flu vaccines.

LIT GRANT AWARDED

Every year, the library awards Information Literacy Curriculum Integration grants, and this year’s winner was Associate Professor Shannon Harmon (Elementary and Special Education). Over the next year, she will be working with librarian Jordan Nielsen to revise her ELED 4200 course, Assessing the Elementary Level Learner.

ASSISTANCE FOR VETERANS ON A NEW MISSION

Every semester, Walker Library partners with a variety of campus entities to support the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center at the Newcomer Briefing. The Daniels Center is one of the largest and most comprehensive veterans centers on any Tennessee campus, and it serves as a one-stop shop to meet the needs of military-connected students.

The semiannual briefings serve as an opportunity to let military-connected students know that the library is there to support them as they begin their new mission: graduation from MTSU.

PANTRY PARTNERSHIP FOR STUDENT SNACKS

After collaborating the past several years with the Student Food Pantry for food drives every February, the library has created a Student Snack Station to fight food insecurity. Students on campus can access snacks and small food items on the first floor of the library.

HONORING DONORS

Special Collections would like to thank the following individuals and companies who donated gifts-in-kind over the past three years: Alan Boehm, Jayme Brunson, Beverly Geckle, Susan Hanson, Tony Johnston, Alfred Lutz, Susan Martin, Kathleen Schmand, David Schuster, Big Creek Winery, True North Ale Company, Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, and MPI Label Systems.