Ava Thoman: Welcome to the Community Corner, where we talk about interesting topics with people in the Bowling Green community. I’m Ava Thoman and today we’re discussing everything new with the Jerome Library with Sara Bushong, the dean of University Libraries. Thanks for joining me.
Sarah Bushong: Thanks for asking me.
Thoman: And first off, this year the library added some new study pods. Can you explain a little bit about those?
Bushong: Sure. We added four different study pods. Two of them are single-use study pods where you can go in by yourself and have an interview or do some type of a meeting. And then we also have a lactation pod for new mothers. And finally, we also have an ADA accessible pod and all of them are open first come, first serve.
Thoman: Great. And then this year, students are now asked to donate their used bubble mailers. What does the library do with those?
Bushong: That’s a good question. As you probably know, we’re part of the Ohio Link Academic Library Consortium in Ohio. And though that, books are transported across the state. Students and faculty can request them. And, in order to help them transport a little more safely, we use bubble mailers to put the books in. They’re picked up by carriers that are just driving vans and sometimes they toss them very energetically into the vans. So, the bubble mailers help keep the books a little more protected as they travel across the state.
Thoman: Okay, and our favorite cat, Pudge, recently made an appearance at the library. Do you see any more things like that happening in the future?
Bushong: We would love to see Pudge again in the library. That was one of the best days ever for many of us who are cat lovers and such a sweet little animal. But, we don’t have anything scheduled right now.
Thoman: Okay. And, something else happening is the mural is being refurbished. Why is that?
Bushong: Well, the mural was originally designed and created around 1967 when the library opened and it was done by Donald Drum, who’s a 91 year-old artist. He did that in his 30s. It’s his first foray into being an artist and resident at BGSU where he created all kids of different artwork. The mural being the largest, which is on the front and the back of the Jerome Library. That work has been going on this month on the mural and the front and the back are two separate pieces. They had faded quite a bit. The last time they had been painted was around 1996 and nothing since then. So our objective was to preserve them for many, many years to come. So the contractors that are doing this are experts in preserving historic, kind of, buildings and so they’ve been taking really good care of our building and they’re repairing concrete, they’re painting, they’re making sure all of the edges are smoothed and everything should be finished front and back by the end of the month.
Thoman: That’s so, so, great. And with all these amazing new things happening, is there anything else going to be happening?
Bushong: Well, next summer they’ll be working on the ramp that is on as you come up to the library that would take you up to the patio. That we’re very excited about. We also have a new library services platform for checking out materials and our website and that went live this fall. So, that’s been great.
Thoman: Alright. Well, thank you for joining us. That’s all for Community Corner, back to you in the newsroom, Emma.
