As students return for a new semester, an impending term paper is the last thing on the minds of most. However, as students' thoughts turn back to education, they may consider one valuable resource that has been vastly overlooked: the University Communications Library.
\It's basically a newspaper morgue,"" said Amy Toburen, director of UW-Madison Communications. ""There are clippings, files, articles [University Communications has] written, as well as some of the publications we do and some of the things that go on on campus.""
Located in the basement of Bascom Hall, the library is held within a single room, and although its system of filing cabinets may frighten some away, Toburen said the library provides an invaluable compilation of files relating to the university itself and the influential people within it.
According to Toburen, the library contains articles dating back to the inception of the department.
""We have articles dating back to the 1930s in the library, some of the collection can be found at the University archive and those date back even further,"" said Shannon Bailey, who serves as the librarian of University Communications Library.
The library has served as the key resource for students as well as university faculty.
""Several students doing a project on stem cells spent hours researching in our library,"" Bailey said. ""A history professor wrote an article on higher education and was looking at the work of prominent people from the university's past. He said he wouldn't have been able to find the information anywhere else.""
The information at the disposal of those using the library comes from numerous sources.
""There are articles from the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education as well as local publications including campus newspapers,"" Bailey said.
A large contributor to the information held within the library is the University Communications department itself.
""It's a repository for the work that this office has done over the years,"" UW-Madison spokesperson Dennis Chapman said.
Students who wish to explore the publications in the library must so within the facility.
""Materials don't circulate because it's such a special collection and we could never replace it,"" Bailey said. ""It provides snapshots into the University's history as recorded in the media.""
The Communications Library is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Further information about the library and access to the database of biographical files, the subject index, and the library holding of books, magazines and periodicals can be found at www.news.wisc.edu/library.
