November Events

Preparing for Exam Season

In November, the Public Services team focused on preparing for the exam period, ensuring everything was in place to support our students during this busy time. Plans for several exciting collaborations and interactive projects were finalized, aimed at engaging students and helping them manage stress. The team also worked together to finalize the schedule for extended exam hours, ensuring full coverage and availability along with our dedicated student workers. We’re ready to Wake the Library!

Tabling Events

  • Leadership & Character (November 18): The Program for Leadership and Character had a multi-table setup outside the front of the library drawing awareness to their department and their work on campus.

  • Student Union Coffeehouse (November 20): ZSR collaborated with the Student Union to host their Coffeehouse, which served hot coffee and tea for students and staff to enjoy.

Shifting Projects: Seventh Floor Complete!

Through the hard work of the shifting team and ZSR’s student workers, the seventh floor shifting is now complete! Next up will be moving the portion of the collection in Reynolds 8 that follows the call number range of materials housed in Reynolds 7 to the newly created space.

A photo of half the seventh floor showing the empty shelves cleared in the shifting project.

A big thank you to all involved in this important project.

Display Cases Refresh

The Public Services Team is working with Facilities and Library Administration (a special thanks to Veronica Escamilla-Brady!) to renovate the display cases in the welcome area. As part of their facelift, they will get new walling, shelves and lighting, as well as electrical outlets in some cases. The renovated cases are scheduled to be ready for displays by the start of the Fall 2025 semester.

This image features a side-by-side comparison of one of ZSR's display cases. The left photo, labeled "Before Renovation," shows what the case looked like before work began: old paneling with a paper background and open lighting at the top. The right case, labeled "During Renovation," is empty with a newly wood-paneled interior and visible electrical outlet, highlighting ongoing updates.

Offsite Updates

2024 was a busy year at Offsite Storage. 84,820 items were audited this year, representing about 19% of our total inventory stored off-campus. Between the ZSR circulating collection and Special Collections and Archives materials, Offsite Storage now hosts approximately 447,000 volumes!


Ty Wilson (Lead), Alayna Veasey, and James Harper are working with the Safety & Security Committee on drafting the Offsite Emergency Plan. This process consists of pulling relevant sections of the ZSR Emergency Procedures and editing as necessary to reflect Offsite conditions, staff changes, etc. The team is also working with Craig Fansler to determine what equipment and materials would be useful to have at Offsite in the form of a mobile disaster kit.

Spring Hours

ZSR’s Spring 2025 hours have been reviewed and officially approved, ensuring a schedule that continues to meet the needs of ZSR’s patrons and the campus community.

Comment Board

It was a slower month for the comment board, but there was an inquiry about the forbidden tunnels—a long-standing tradition for new freshmen to explore.
A bulletin board with various pinned notes and QR codes. A handwritten note on blue paper at the top reads, “How do I get in the tunnels?” Below it, a printed note says, “It’s my duty to tell you that going in the tunnels is dangerous and illegal, due to the 120°F temperatures and lack of oxygen. Therefore, I cannot give you directions. I can, however, point you to some informational articles on the matter.” Two QR codes are visible, one on yellow paper and one on white paper with colorful dots.

Book Displays

During November, Public Services put up their last book displays of the year. Erin Jones researched the top books on the New York Times Bestseller list for each month (both fiction and nonfiction), and picked 20 that ZSR owns to showcase. She used this year-end summary to both highlight the library’s Browsing collection and ZSR’s New York Times All Access subscription. Her second display features five of the books from the Deacons Diverse Reads list for 2024-2025. You can see both of these great displays in the entranceway cases.

Two photos of two book displays in a glass case. One of them is titles "Deacon Diverse Reads" and the other is "2024 NYT Bestsellers."

November by the Numbers

A graphic titled "November 2024 Stats" on a gold background with black star accents. The statistics include: 2,273 physical items checked out, 264 items sent to other libraries via interlibrary loan (ILL), 89 LibAnswers tickets, 3,548 study space hours booked, 397 document delivery requests fulfilled, and 23 LibAnswers chats.

View full statistics here.