Frosh get bookish on Van Pelt

Few Penn students know who designed Hill College House, but the freshmen who invaded Van Pelt Library last night learned both that piece of trivia and how to navigate and better utilize the library's many resources. Using a scavenger hunt with questions designed to familiarize students with Van Pelt, the orientation attempted to lure new students to the library by making the tour interactive. "It's kind of a waste of time, but it's fun," said College freshman Duwayne Terry, as he and his group from Ware College House searched the library's World Wide Web site for answers to the hunt's questions. The University's college houses recently implemented support networks designed to help students -- especially freshmen -- with computing and library systems. Information technology advisors, as well as "library liaisons" and math and writing tutors, have been recruited to assist students in the dorms. The liaisons and tutors bridge the gap between the library system and dorms to assist students and to give feedback to library officials about student needs. College sophomore Kobie Xavier became involved with the program after he got frustrated last year over what he termed an "intimidating" system. While trying to locate books for a research paper, Xavier said he "found the bathroom twice, but none of the books" that he needed. After a crash course late last year on the University's library system, however, Xavier was "surprised at how easy it was." He now works as one of the Ware liaisons. "The students learned stuff that they found very valuable [tonight,]" he said. A similar pilot program, implemented in Van Pelt College House last year, signaled to library officials that orientations and other assistance was needed to help students in their research and studies. Debra Bucher, a reference librarian at Van Pelt, organized much of the orientation. "The goal is to [familiarize students] so that they aren't so lost in November when term papers are due," Bucher said. The scavenger hunt self-directed students around the library while also providing a way for suitemates to interact socially. "It's a chance to see [the library] without making it a dreary library lecture," noted Patricia Renfro, a library spokesperson. As students ran from circulation desk to fifth-floor stacks to the new Goldstein Electronic Classroom -- which contains 17 computer terminals -- many commented on the usefulness of the program. And after finding out that Finnish architect Eero Saarinen was the designer of Hill, a group of students learned to search the Web at the library. One of their discoveries was a photo of another of Saarinen's designs -- the St. Louis Arch.