According to Inside MC Online, the libraries on Montgomery College campuses no longer provide headphones to library visitors. Students–do not despair. If you do not have your own set of headphones, they can easily be purchased at the campus bookstores or,your local grocery store or pharmacy. The libraries would like to remind all students and library patrons that headphones are required for the use of all personal electronic devices in the library including MP3 players, personal CD players, radios, and computers. Also, remember to make sure the volume level on your personal headphones is not audible to others.

Tanner Wray, the Director of College Libraries at MC Rockville, says that one of the main reasons for the change this summer was that many students were bringing in their own devices with headphones so that the need for library-provided headphones was decreasing. There were also issues concerning the sharing of headphones and their cleanliness-a hygiene issue. With all of these factors coming into play, it seemed like the right time to make a shift.

What’s more, yet another change has come to the libraries on all three campuses this summer. The IT department upgraded all the computers and there is new lo-gin software. Wray believes the new software will help to provide more access for students.

Buying and renting books is expensive! This year there is another alternative. The library is running a “pilot program” in which certain textbooks from high registration and higher level classes will be available to students on reserve. Wray “fully expects it to be very popular” and that it will be made permanent in the future.Students can find out which books are available on the library website by clicking the ‘Course Reserves’ tab. Inside MC Online says that lab books and workbooks will not be made available. The program allows students to check out certain textbooks from the circulation desks for use in the library for a maximum of two hours.

There will certainly be more student updates to come regarding important logistics such as these stated, and they will undoubtedly affect a student’s day-to-day experience on campus. We at the Advocate will continue to update everyone consistently.