Many recent changes have been made at the Mount St. Mary's College library. Developments in technology include the establishment of the Maryland Interlibrary Consortium which allows students and staff from Mount St. Mary's to access materials from Columbia-Union, Hood, and Loyola-Notre Dame. Additionally, a new courier system enables same or next-day delivery of materials and "more than triples our resources available," explained Steve Rockwood, the Library Director. Also, over a dozen electronic databases are available that can be accessed from any computer, on or off campus.

Another new addition to the library is the automated management system, which "ties in all parts of the library on campus," said Rockwood, "so people can access all of them [from one location]." This is a state of the art system and allows for "tremendous flexibility," he explained.

The library committee is also planning several spring author nights to "celebrate the creative activities of the Mount family," said Dr. Kristen Urban of the Political Science Department. Dr. A.J. Russo, a professor of Biology, is the first author scheduled to participate. On Tuesday April 3 at 4:00 p.m., Russo will discuss and read from two of his books in the Mount Café in Patriot Hall.

The first book Russo will present is a science fiction novel, The Healer, which examines religious beliefs as well as the world of science. The second is a children's book entitled Aerobella that Russo co-authored with Dr. Myra Derbyshire of the Mount St. Mary's Science Department. Aerobella has already won the Award of Excellence from Word Weaving and is a finalist for the 2003 EPPIE Award.