Don’t be fooled by the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of Guilford’s Library. As the end of the year approaches, Guilford students’ stress intensifies, due to exams, extra work, and deadlines; the crunch also affects the staff and faculty at Guilford. Hege Library is working hard to make the end of the semester go as smoothly as possible for students.The staff at Hege struggles to provide everything that Guildford students need for all their classes. The staff is usually busy during the beginning and middle of the semester, and as the end of the year approaches, that hard work is doubled.

“We’re doing everything the same way, just working faster than we normally would, and we usually have a lot of work anyway,” said sophomore and Hege Library employee Ronia Cambell-Cobb.

Hege offers excellent databases, computers, printers, laptops (36 in the whole library), photocopiers, and an abundant amount of books for students to use at their request. Students go to the Circulation Desk, which is run by Circulation Manager Susan McClanahan, to check out books and to submit loan requests. As the semester comes to a close, the library sees a large demand among the students for books and other items.

“Circulation has been busy keeping up with sorting and shelving books as students and faculty approach the semester’s end,” says Reference Librarian Diana Engel. “Reshelving books in a timely manner means that students who need these resources will find them back on the shelves where they are supposed to be. Susan has employed 18 students to assist with the circulation process.”

“This time of the semester brings more scheduled one-on-one research consultations between students and librarians,” said Engel. “Earlier in November, the Reference librarians helped several classes that came in with their instructors for focused time working on research projects.”

The Information Reference Services, which is run by Evelyn Blount, is used for students to answer research related questions for projects and reports that students may be working on.

The lower level of Hege is where Technical Services is located, run by Technical Services Librarian Ruth Scales. Technical Services helps students with many important critical tasks such as the ordering of all library materials.

“We’ve seen a big increased need to fill the public printer/copiers with paper more frequently, more requests for help with printing to the correct machine, and for keeping all machines in good working order,” said Kate Hood, Library Associate for Serials. “There are also more questions regarding remote access to our databases.”

The Hege Librarians are doing all they can to make the end of this Guilford semester go smoothly for all students. The workload that comes along with this is heavy, but Hege’s staff is determined to do all they can to make it happen.