Mississippi State University students are taking advantage of some new and much needed equipment this summer thanks to generous donors who took part in the third annual #HailStateGiving Days, an online philanthropy event held this April.
The MSU Libraries was one of 30 colleges, departments and special projects that took part in the 2016 funding driving. Donors supporting the library gave a total of $3,822.75 to support more equipment that was requested by the MSU students through a survey in the fall of 2015, and suggestions at public service desks in the library and social media pleas.
““Our students are telling us what they need and we are listening,” said Stephen Cunetto, Systems Administrator for the MSU Libraries. “We have had overwhelming requests for more portable laptop and phone chargers, additional projectors and projection screens, and more moveable whiteboards during the past years and so those are the items we targeted for #HailStateGiving Days.”
“Thanks to more than 50 generous donors we raised nearly $4,000 and have been able to buy 11 new portable chargers, two new projectors, three new screens and five moveable white boards,” Cunetto said. “It is our hope the students, faculty and staff take advantage of these new offerings as well as all our other wonderful resources.”
The portable chargers were first introduced to the Libraries thanks to a partnership with the MSU Student Association. The SA purchased chargers to be kept in the library where they could be checked out by any MSU student in need of a quick boost. The chargers were so popular they eventually wore out, especially the chords. The donated funds allowed the Library to restock, purchasing 11 chargers and 11 carrying cases. Each case has cables for both Androids and iPhones.
“We now have a total of 12 chargers that can be checked out for up to two hours at a time,” said Summer Mord, coordinator of the Libraries’ Access Services Department. “The chargers are very popular and always in high demand, so the donations that helped us buy new ones are greatly appreciated.”
Mord said the chargers are available any hour the library is open (from 7 a.m. to 1:45 a.m. during the regular semester) and patrons simply need to bring their MSU id to the Access Services desk, located just inside the Drill Field doors.
The projectors and projection screens will be available for checkout through the Libraries’ Instructional Media Center, which currently checks out projectors, screens, laptops, recording equipment, cameras, video cameras and more.
According to Pattye Archer, coordinator of the IMC, the projectors and screens are some of the most in-demand equipment the area makes available to MSU students, faculty and staff. And due to wear and tear, there was a great need for ones.
“Through our participation in #HailStateGiving Days we raised enough money to buy two new projectors, three screens, new phone chargers and portable whiteboards,” Archer said. “We believe these items will have an impact on our students’ educational studies, their social lives and the overall quality of their MSU experience. We want students to know that we have what they need. That we listen when they say we need more and that we do our best to provide what they are asking for.”
Cunetto said the additional whiteboards, which vary in size but are all easily moveable, will make group studying and collaboration easier.
“The need for more study rooms is evident, but we are confined by space and so finding alternate ways for students to create their own study areas within our open spaces is crucial,” Cunetto said. “These portable whiteboards not only address the practical, physical need students have for places to brainstorm, work on problems, create timelines, flow charts and more, but also allows them create semi-private spaces where they can student and collaborate with others. And we are finding more and more that our students need this type of study area.”
The whiteboards will be available later this summer.
Cunetto said the MSU Libraries program is extremely grateful to the supporters who gave during #HailStateGiving Days and said the administration is always open to talking with others who are interested in donating and supporting the library program.
For more information on the equipment available for checkout at the Library, visit http://lib.msstate.edu/borrow/equipment/
About MSU Libraries
Mississippi State University Libraries is a premier research library providing its communities of users an ongoing, creative, technologically advanced library program that promotes new and emerging technologies while enhancing and inspiring teaching, research, and service of the highest caliber in an environment of free and open inquiry and with a commitment to excellence. For more information about MSU Libraries, please visit http://library.msstate.edu/ .
MSU, Mississippi's flagship research university, is online at www.msstate.edu.
