Mississippi State University students and faculty will discover changes to Mitchell Memorial Library when they return for the spring semester. 

As if the addition of a fourth floor was not enough, the library has been busy reorganizing the library collections and expanding services over the holiday break.

The library’s focus on students, quality service, providing resources andsupporting teaching and research have not changed, of course, but several departments and collections have moved. 

Dean of Libraries Frances Coleman said she believes these changes will benefit students in every area of study and will improve the overall library program.

Changes include the creation of the new Educational Resources Center, the relocation and renaming of the Instructional Media Center (IMC) to the Digital Media Center, and the relocation of collections including government documents, microforms, newspapers, current journals and more.

Associate Dean of Libraries Stephen Cunetto said developing a multi-media collaborative space equipped with technology that propels teaching, learning, exploration and research has been a goal of the library for a number of years. The relocation and renaming of the former IMC is the realization of that goal.

“With this move we have tripled the space of our previous IMC,” Cunetto said. “The new, improved, Digital Media Center is now located in the area that formerly housed government documents and current journals. This large, more accessible space will allow us to continue to grow and improve the services we offer to students, including more computers, flexible study spaces, a makerspace, an area where students can charge their laptops and more.”

In addition to the new Digital Media Center, the library created a new Educational Resources Center.

 The ERC is located in the space that previously housed the IMC, on the second floor behind Einstein’s. The ERC features the State-Adopted Textbook Collection, educational kits, juvenile collection, young adult collection, the microforms collection, and provides additional study areas.

Changes were also made to the Research Services Department.

Several years ago the library created Research Services as a synergy of the former reference, instruction and government documents/ current journals departments, according to Associate Dean for Public Services Gail Peyton.

Engagement with the MSU community was at the forefront of the creation of Research Services, as well as the recent changes to the department, Peyton said.

In Research Services, a more user-friendly space has been created in the Undergraduate Research Center. An improved area for the Writing Center was also created, providing students with easy access to both writing assistance and research assistance at the same time. 

The space also now houses the Newspapers, Current Journals Collection and a large portion of the Government Documents Collection.

Cunetto said the Libraries hopes the changes will improve students overallexperience. 

He said careful attention was paid to student spaces and while some ofthe study tables have shifted to different areas, the amount of open study areas was not compromised. Students will still find large tables, white boards, smaller café-style tables, couches, chairs and more, available for group and individual study.