If you want a warm and inviting atmosphere (especially on a cold and rainy day like this day was), stop by the J.A. Davis Library, which serves Rio Grande Community College and the University of Rio Grande.  This library is spacious and lovely, filled with beautiful wood accents that give the aura of an “old world” library.  The library has three floors and the view from the upper floors is quite beautiful, even on a rainy winter day.  The ground floor houses the director, Dave Mauer’s office,  student computers, technical services (in which Technical Services Specialist Greg was hard at work cataloging materials and Betty Jean, Acquisitions Specialist, who is retiring this month, was wrapping up her last few days at the library), compact storage, bound periodicals and some quiet rooms for audio/visual viewing.  On the main floor you will find the circulation desk with Deb and Gretchen ready to help with a smile, government documents (I am sorry that I wasn’t able to meet Amy Miller who is the Documents Specialist) microfilms, reference, and the reference desk featuring reference librarians Tim and Amy ready to help students.  The top floor holds the rest of the book collection.  Davis Library houses and impressive collection of over 100,000 titles.   Wireless access is available throughout the library for students and seating is abundant.  The ground floor has very unique library carrels which allow students plenty of elbow room to spread out a laptop and papers.

Dave, I really appreciate the time you took out of your busy schedule to give me a tour (did I mention I visited on the last day of classes for the semester?)  I am VERY impressed with this library!  It is beautiful, well organized, notable in size and your staff is top notch! 

Check out my slide show for a few pictures of the library, but if you really want to see some better pictures of how it looks, go to the library web site and check out their virtual tour.