One of the most versatile resources at Suffolk is the Mildred F. Sawyer Library.
Located in 73 Tremont, the library offers a broad range of services, and is offering a few new ones this year.
One of the special new features of the library is newly purchased Amazon Kindles and projectors for students throughout the university to use.
“We want people coming back into the library and discovering lesser-known things that are really positive about the library,” said James Alexander, a Suffolk graduate who now works at the library.
Alexander explained that the library wants every single Suffolk student to come in and use the Kindles, and to purchase books on them. Students, faculty and staff can download books all at the expense of the school.
“We have 11 Kindles and we want students to use them. We want students to check them out and we want [them] to help us rebuild the library,” said Alexander. In addition, the new projectors are already installed in the library’s group study rooms.
“Power Point presentations, business school presentations, it is great technology for practicing for future experience,” said Alexander.
Another new feature of the library this semester is Operation Paper Cut. What many students do not know is that Operation Paper Cut has made a huge impact in the library. It has helped the university in efficiency, as fewer resources are wasted.
In the first week alone the paper pick up went from “ordering 20 boxes of paper per week, to 20 a month,” Alexander said. “To put this in perspective, [Suffolk students’] tuition dollars are paying for the resources, so if we can buy $20,000 less of paper [per year] that’s less money that has to go into increasing tuition.”
Alexander explained that there has been a recent turnover of library faculty, including a newly appointed library director, Sharon Britton, who wants to be more involved with Suffolk students.
“We want the students to come and get acclimated to the new staff,” said Britton.
A goal of the new staff is having a more direct connection with the student body. Alexander also said there could eventually be a more open form of communication between student body and the library faculty. What is key for the staff is to have an open line of communication within the Suffolk community. They understand that not many voices are heard and they think it is time to change that process.
