Bilkent Celebrates Library Week
This week, 28 March - 3 April, is the 47th Library Week in Turkey, and to celebrate this event, Bilkent University Library will be hosting a series of cultural and fun activities in the Art Gallery of Main Campus Library. On Tuesday March 29, at 12:30, students from the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts will give a varied concert of music for violin, flute, and guitar, and at 2:30 p.m. on the same day the famous author Turgut Özakman will give a lecture entitled "18 Mart 1915: Diriliş" (in Turkish). On Wednesday March 30, Bilkent's own poet laureate, Prof. Dr. Talat Halman, dean of humanities, will deliver a talk entitled "Libraries and Libertines: Turkish Love Poetry for Library Week" (in both Turkish and English). He will recite and discuss Turkish love poems, past and present, including poetry by Hilmi Yavuz (EDEB) and a poem composed in English by Prof. Halil İnalcık (HIST)! Later on the same day, at 5:40 p.m., there will be a screening of the movie Av Mevsimi (with English subtitles); and on Thursday March 31, the English film "Inception" will be shown, with Turkish subtitles, also at 5:40 p.m. We look forward to seeing you at these exciting events, and wish all Bilkenters a Happy Library Week!
This week is also special for the Library because we will open the Multimedia Room in B-Block (second floor), Main Campus Library. The new room will combine the functions of the old Music Room with the Audio-Visual Room. This means that, as well as music CDs and printed music scores, you will also borrow DVDs and VCDs in this room. The Multimedia Room will provide maximum seating for 328 users. There will be four video-viewing booths (for small groups) and thirteen group-study booths (for 4 or 6 users). The group-study booths can be booked for up to two hours by calling ext. 2686 or ext. 2690, and can be re-used after the two hours are finished, as long as no one else has made a prior booking. In addition to the booths, there will be seating and tables for 240 readers. Please note that this space is intended for interactive study, but we ask students not to speak too loudly and disturb others. As in the rest of the Library, only water can be consumed in the Multimedia Room. Library staff will check the floor regularly and politely ask users to remove any other food and drink items. The existing large video salon will remain in the old Audio-Visual Room (A-Block, basement floor) as will the microform machines, but to use these facilities, please contact staff in the Multimedia Room. The Multimedia Room study tables will be open 7 days a week until 11:30 p.m., but the video- and group study-rooms will be closed at 5 p.m. at the weekend. There will be a reference librarian available until 5 p.m. on weekdays. The multimedia circulation desk will also be open until 11:30 p.m. on weekdays but will close at 5 p.m. at weekends. This means that, unlike before, you will be able to borrow DVDs and VCDs on Saturday and Sunday! The Library would like to thank Faculty of Music and Performing Arts members and all Bilkent students, as well as president Prof. Ali Doğramacı and his staff, for their patience during the past few months while the Multimedia Room renovation has been underway. We hope this new room will improve the services of the Library and we welcome all comments and suggestions.