Library News

Visiting lecturer Dr. Emily Knox will share her expertise on the rise in banned books, the consequences of these campaigns and actions that individuals can take in response.

Western students will enjoy to a refreshed space in Waldo Library's lower level as construction finishes in December, and the floor reopens on Monday, Jan. 9.

Two WMU faculty members collaborated to create an interactive digital narrative that tells the story of Ina Juretschke, who fled Nazi Germany with her family in 1939 and lived in Ecuador for a year while waiting to emigrate to the United States.

WMU students will have one more study spot on campus this fall. The University Libraries will reopen the Swain Library in Sangren Hall for open study and academic programming starting Aug. 31.

Get outdoors this summer and learn about the Kalamazoo community by attending a historic walking tour hosted by Lynn Houghton, regional history curator for Western Michigan University Libraries.

In May, the University Libraries awarded eight Open Educational Resources (OER) adoption grants and two OER creation grants, which are anticipated to save students in 11 courses more than $91,000 in textbook costs in one semester. 

Open textbooks are high-quality educational resources licensed to allow instructors to use and adapt the content; students access that content for free online. With support from the grant, faculty and instructors replace higher-cost, traditional textbooks with these open textbooks.

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—To help reduce the spread of COVID-19, University Libraries is instituting changes in how and where to access resources and materials. The Swain Education Library in Sangren Hall will be closed for the 2020-21 academic year, while the Maybee Music and Dance Library, located in the Dalton Center, will close permanently.

The six courses were spread across disciplines in three different colleges—College of Arts and Sciences, Haworth College of Business and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

WMU Libraries’ special collections staff and librarian recently helped the Smithsonian Archives find answers about the designer of their iconic sunburst seal, Crimilda Pontes.