Virginia's Academic Library Consortium

VIVA Featured Member Library: Hampden-Sydney College

An interview with Director Shaunna Hunter

What are the top three points of pride in your library?

• Since Bortz Library opened in 2007, we have been routinely ranked in the top 20 best college libraries according to Princeton Review. We peaked at #4.
• We offer outstanding service to our students and faculty, and those faculty who tour Bortz Library during their interview are impressed with our customer service and variety of resources.
• We have an amazing collection of antique, hand drawn/colored maps of the Chesapeake Bay Area, framed and viewable on the fourth floor. It was donated by Henry Spalding, class of 1960. The Henry & Kaye Spalding Map Collection is also accessible online through Shared Shelf Commons.

What is the most popular spot in the library for users?

• Our main floor is our more social floor, which contains the technology commons, service desks, DVD collection, group study rooms, coffee service, and much more.

Which VIVA resource or service does your library value the most, and why?

• Being a small college library, we could not function at the high level we do, including offering many multidisciplinary research databases, without the support of the VIVA consortium. We benefit greatly from the buying power and partnerships available to us through VIVA, especially for databases like the EBSCOhost Collection and support for InterLibrary Loan.