Libraries!

I have been here just slightly less than two weeks and I am already in love with the library.

During orientaton, everbody said that we'd never again have the chance to study whatever we like, whenever we like, for credit. We'll also never have such resouces at our fingertips, which sounds a little sarcastic. I say it sincerely, however, having already spent hours in Mudd.

The first resource made available to me was a free library mug, which I haven't used, but looks just lovely on my shelf. The next day I went back and snuggled up with a childhood favorite, Dealing with Dragons. Of course it would have been a little embarrassing to be seen with a kids' book. (Around finals, there is apparently group fingerpainting and naptime for stress relief, but we haven't collectively regressed just yet.) So I found one of the famous Womb Chairs and read until I was done.

Then classes started, and I abandoned Mudd in favor of the bookstore, where I mulled over required books and tallied dollars in my head. Fresh from high school and aghast at the prices, I bought nothing. I knew it would eventually become a problem.

It hasn't - I remembered OHIOlink.

Those of you still in Connecticut (which is all of you so far) are probably familiar with LiON, which (less eponymously than OHIOlink) links all the participating libraries' collections in Connecticut. OHIOlink is like LiON on steroids. It had half of my required poetry books and all of the required books for my first year seminar. It didn't have my textbooks, but Oberlin does have those on reserve, so I might get away without buying a single book this semester - not including, of course, my Aplia card, which I bought directly from Aplia to avoid the book store's fairly weighty sales tax.

It should also be mentioned, before I close this post, that Mudd has 15 iPads which can be checked out for up to three days.

Cue the ooohs.