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- Hi and welcome to our student-led tour of Nielsen library.
Did you notice us coming in from different entrances?
Depending on where I'm coming from
I can enter many different ways.
I can enter from the first floor,
the Burton lawn entrance or the south entrance.
We're going to start by introducing ourselves
and letting you know a little bit
about what you can expect from today's tour.
My name is Nyla Conaway,
I am a junior and an Africana Studies major.
I'm from New Haven, Connecticut and on campus,
I live in Parsons Annex house.
My favorite place in the library is the Learning Commons.
- Hi, I'm Jess Buslewicz, and I am a senior history major
and Jewish studies minor from Newington, Connecticut.
At Smith, I live in Lawrence House,
where I'm also the House President!
We're going to take you to a few special spots
we've picked today.
There is so much to see
so it was hard to choose just a few
but we're going to be heading to the Learning Commons
the Compass cafe, Special Collections,
and of course the Skyline Reading Room.
Let's head up to the fourth floor and work our way down.
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- This space speaks for itself.
An amazing study area and an outdoor terrace.
I would love to see a music performance
on the outdoor terrace.
What about you Jess?
- I'd love to see a senior class event before I graduate.
We should keep going
there's so much other things to see.
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- Right now we're on the third floor,
and we're gonna head to the reading room
and then to Special Collections.
Lots of people love the reading room
because it is a great place to study.
It's usually super busy
but it's not that busy right now because of J-term.
The large tables are a great place to study,
but if you don't wanna study here,
there are cozy nooks located
around the perimeter of the room.
If you're looking for a taste of Smith history
you can also find Smith yearbooks in this room as well.
- These nooks are great.
How about we go check out Special Collections next.
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Here we are in Special Collections
the place to find one of the kind materials.
I came to Special Collections my first year
for my first year seminar,
where we read all about
the Jewish-American experience at Smith
through letters, diaries, and sources of that nature.
It was my first time in a Special Collections environment
and I loved it.
Special Collections at Smith,
includes the Mortimer Rare Book Collection,
the Smith College Archives,
and the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History.
Many Smith classes will incorporate
Special Collections research into their class.
One in five Smith students will use Special Collections
in their work during their time at Smith.
We could spend hours here and I have
but we should really keep going.
- We want to show you these super cool lockers.
You can open them with your one card and they vary in sizes
so you can fit a ton of different things in them.
- Here's an example of a private study room.
They're really all across the library
and they're very popular,
so if you can find one you better snag it.
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- Here in the north wing
there are two dedicated floors of study space.
I love how open and bright
yet cozy and comfortable this space is.
Lots of people study here but you can study anywhere.
You can hunker down in a solo spot
or you can sit at the tables for group work.
This is all across the library.
I love to come here on a weekend morning
when it's super bright
and get some of my reading and writing done.
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- Let's head down to the second floor
and go to the reflection room.
- This is the reflection room.
This is a great place to pray to meditate or to reflect.
The reflection room is tucked away in a quiet corner,
there's still really nice light from this window.
Maybe you're in here reflecting
on some schoolwork that you have to do.
And with that being said
let's head down to the Learning Commons.
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- Here is the Learning Commons.
We are on the mezzanine level above the Learning Commons.
As a space for collaborative student support
the Learning Commons offers one location for us to get help.
Whether it's meeting with a library research mentor,
statistical or writing tutoring,
or using assistive technology.
These services are provided by the libraries and ITS
as well as three campus partners
that use the Learning Commons as a satellite space,
the Jacobson Center for Writing,
the Spinelli Center for Quantitative Learning
and the Office of Disability Services.
- Now we're gonna head down to the Central Service Point.
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- Here we are back on the first floor
over here is the Browsing Room,
and then we'll head to the Central Service Point.
Welcome to the Browsing Room that you all know and love.
A lot has changed about Neilson
but some of it has stayed the same.
- The paneling that is around the room
is actually from the original Neilson Library.
And there are portraits of the presidents
that surround the room.
In the Browsing Room, there are class meetings
and house president meetings and some club meetings as well.
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This is the Welcome hub.
You can ask all kinds of questions here.
The Central Service Point is a combination
between the libraries and ITS which stands for
Information Technology Services.
At the Central Service Point you can check out books,
get research or service help or borrow technology.
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The Digital Media Hub is a great place to edit videos,
to record podcasts and much more.
Pretty cool technology right?
Now where are the books?
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- Here they are in the General Collection stacks.
These compact storage units hold books
that are in high demand,
on request by faculty or our new additions
to our collection.
- And what about all the other books?
- We still have our Annex at Hatfield.
So you can order your book online
and Monday through Friday
are deliveries to Neilson library. It's never taken me more
than a day to get a book that I've requested online.
- Here's a cool update.
You don't have to go to The Central Service Point
to check out books.
There are self-service checkout stations,
located throughout the building and we have an app
so you can check out books right from your phone.
I love that there's so many options
especially when I check out a ton of books.
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Here we are in the cafe.
This is a great place to order drinks,
get lunch or get grab and go snacks.
Personally I like to get an iced chai
and get sushi for lunch.
The cafe is a great place to take a break
and a great place to end our tour.
We hope that you enjoyed.
- Thanks. - Bye!
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