It’s the new year…

Officially, the vacation is over.

As far as I am concerned, it was over when groups of tired students led by smiling seniors descended into our library 2 weeks ago for tours. The library is usually one of the stops in a grand tour of the whole campus.

Some students looked like the only activity they wanted was to crawl back into bed to be woken up at lunch time. Some had faces that saw too much sun and others dragged bags stuffed willy-nilly with loose pieces of paper.

Don’t get me wrong – there were fresh-faced eager beavers ready to take on the academic world. “You mean I can book a discussion room? How?”, “There is a workshop on searching? When?” “Can you tell me how to access Factiva?” Woh….

Everybody wants to have a hand in stuffing them with information. Lots of it. Want or don’t want – nah, take, take, take…

Take it from a librarian working the circuit for the past 20 years, the time that all that information is going to matter is when they need it like yesterday. Seriously. Do you blame them? There is a ton to absorb and the worse is not knowing what is relevant and then, there is the just-in-case.

So let an old girl like me put it in a nutshell for you. You need to have these things with you at all times:

1. Student Matriculation Card – you need this to enter the library and computer labs and also to borrow books.
2. Cashcard or EZlink cards – you need either one of these to print from the library’s network printers or to photocopy.
3. NUSNET or Computer ID – you need this to access our databases to retrieve your readings, articles for your assignment, etc.

When you find yourself lost in the wild woods of too-many with too-little (those of you who are at the School of Business), remember this:

Your Librarian

Go and see her at the Information Desk.

Call her or email her.

Enough said. Welcome, all ye new students – let the ride begin…