Page 3 - index

• Requests for help from the Archivist increased significantly by JESSAME FERGUSON
75% this year, including working with researchers using the Library Director
collections for projects and education purposes. Additional
important content was also digitized and is now available online.

• The research and library help we provide in-person and virtually
saw nearly a 10% increase last year, demonstrating that people
are reaching out to us and finding our services helpful.

• 82% (70 out of 85) students surveyed agree or strongly agree
that the library is here to help them succeed at McDaniel.

Over the past year we added over 25,000 ebooks, 23,000 streaming videos, and nearly 1,000 ejournals.
We managed over 303,000 electronic resource records and access details as well as made updates to keep
our website ADA compliant and user friendly. This takes a lot of work. Electronic resources help people
in many ways but we also added over 1,900 books because books still matter. Many people like to talk
about how books are dead, but there are important reasons why they aren’t and why they will continue to
be a necessary source of information. As Neil Gaiman relates about what Douglas Adams told him: “Books
are sharks … there were sharks before there were dinosaurs, and the reason sharks are still in the ocean is that
nothing is better at being a shark than a shark. Look at a book. A book is the right size to be a book. They’re
solar-powered. If you drop them, they keep on being a book. You can find your place in microseconds.
Books are really good at being books and no matter what happens books will survive.”
The Guardian, March 4, 2015.