Happy spring. An exceptionally memorable academic year is drawing quickly to a close.
Among the more positive events has been my half-time appointment as Interim Curator in the Department of Special Collections, an appointment that will end 1 May with the return of the former Curator. It was exciting to work with the collections, the Friends of the Library, donors, and the staff. As a special treat, I have windows and the best views in the building. At the same time, I will be happy to return full-time to the Music Library.
The long-awaited installation of compact shelving in the Audio Facility took place during the holiday and intersession periods. Mills staff worked hard to empty the old shelves before Christmas but after the semester ended, and moved over 50,000 media items-twice. We especially enjoyed the interim shelving of compact discs on closely-spaced tables in the seminar room. Only very tall, very thin assistants could retrieve discs without knocking off the rows on adjacent tables. The new installation provides adequate space for a few years' growth of a/v materials. Thanks for your cooperation during the Facility closing. We tried to page materials as they were requested and trust that no one was unduly disadvantaged.
Other projects that came to fruition after seemingly endless delays include the development of a "New in MadCat Search" that permits users to identify materials added to the collections during the past week, two weeks, three weeks, or month; and the Music Library Special Collections web search, both of which are more fully described elsewhere in this issue.
Our best wishes for an easy end to the semester and a peaceful summer.