FRIENDS OF TAFT COLLEGE LIBRARY

Edgar Allan Poe is coming to Taft! On Monday evening, October 27, Broadway and film veteran Duffy Hudson will present In the Shadow of the Raven, a one-character play dramatizing Poe’s life and work. This performance will be free to the Taft community, courtesy of Westside Friends of the Library and our brand-new Friends of Taft College Library.

The one-hour program, beginning promptly at 7PM at the new Taft College Library, opens with Poe rising from the scene of his mysterious death. Piecing together the events of Poe’s life through biographical information and the dramatic interpretation of his literature, including Annabel Lee, The Raven, and The Tell-Tale Heart, Hudson provides a unique, in-depth theatrical experience of the life and works of one of America’s best-known and most enigmatic personalities. The performance is followed by a question and answer session, and is appropriate for students and adults alike.

In the Shadow of the Raven is the first of several events to be offered by the new Friends group. Community literacy outreach will be a special focus of the group, and a corporate spelling bee fund-raiser is being planned for April.

The Friends of Taft College Library is a not-for-profit organization formed to promote the newly rebuilt library and to extend the college’s community outreach programs. Individual memberships are $10, with special memberships of $5 for Taft College students; TC, TUHS, and TCSD teachers; and seniors (65 or better). Supporting, corporate, and lifetime memberships are available, as well as silver, gold, and platinum endowment options.

Please join us! The Friends of Taft College Library meets next on Thursday, September 18, 8:30 a.m., in the new Taft College Library.

For more information, please visit the new Taft College Library, e-mail mcollins@taft.org, or phone 763-7764.




TAFT COLLEGE LIBRARY/LEARNING CENTER

We’re open! After two and a half years in the former college auto shop, the Library/Learning Center returned this summer to its original site, which has been completely rebuilt from the ground up.

Six special new features are available in the rebuilt library:

A reference/help desk staffed by information competency instructors is the go-to place for research assistance.

Student study rooms can be “checked out” by college students needing quiet study space or a group study area.

A writing/liberal arts tutoring lab complements the math/science tutoring lab and gives liberal arts tutors the quiet area needed for their important service to college students.

A faculty room gives our professors a workroom with special resources, including lockers for adjunct (part-time) folks who carry their offices with them.

A children’s room serves our Early Childhood Education (ECE) students and our Child Care Center with special resources and activities for our Cougar Kids.

A new organization, Friends of Taft College Library, is actively recruiting members—see the special article in this edition of the Independent.

Some of your favorite features have been expanded! We now have 20 desktop computers, plus 20 laptops that can be checked out for in-library use; or, bring your own computer and use our wireless access anywhere in the building. Our magazine and newspaper collection is growing, and we have plenty of nice, soft chairs for your reading comfort. We’re building up our audiovisual collection, too. One corner of the library will be dedicated to books and other items of local interest; resources by, for, or about Taft, Kern County, and the region.

As a “virtual” branch of Kern County Law Library (Bakersfield), we’ve expanded the KCLL workspace and shelving. We also offer interlibrary loan, resources in Spanish, interactive video conferencing, and an exemplary collection of online resources.

We do, alas, have a critical flaw—half of our book collection is still in the old auto shop! We don’t yet have state approval to put up the tall shelving units, so you’ll see their frames lying on the floor, their shelves stacked in the Cougar Kids room, and their books…well, we should keep fit running the books back and forth!

Taft College Library/Learning Center is, as always, open to the public, although priority for resources and services is given to Taft College students when the library is crowded. A public user’s library card is $5 per year, or a one-day visitor’s pass may be purchased for $2. Registered Friends of Taft College Library get a free library card. TC students, faculty, and staff members are issued free photo ID cards that also serve as their library cards.

We’re your newer, bigger, better community library technology center—check us out!