Resources and services to the Brookings community are provided by Hilton M. Briggs Library, which works in conjunction with the Brookings Public Library.

Both libraries offer study spaces and meeting rooms. Both libraries offer technology including copy machines, printers, computer labs with the Internet and WiFi.

“We encourage all students to come and get library cards,” said Allison Tappan, manager of the Brookings Public Library Circulation.

Both the libraries are part of the South Dakota Library Network. They work with one another by sharing resources. One example of this is if a library user is unable to find a particular resource at one library, the staff will work to find it together.

Students are able to access materials at Briggs by using their student ID card and do not need a library card. The Brookings Public Library cards are free and can be obtained by any member of Brookings County. One form of ID is necessary to be issued a card, as well as proof of residency.

“We often get the comment that this is a nice library with friendly, knowledgeable staff,” said Elizabeth Fox, digital information and service librarian at Briggs Library.

Sophomore biology and pre-chiropractic major, Isaiah Crevieh makes an effort to go to Briggs Library at least twice a week.

He said the online assistance provided by the library’s website is extremely helpful and he often uses its computers and printers.

“Customer service is really good,” said Crevieh. “There is always someone available to help.”

Both libraries offer staff to help with questions.

Nancy Marshall, professor and distance information services librarian and Briggs, said the staff tries to be helpful and welcoming to students.

“We hope that students recognize that we are available to them,” Marshall said.

Both libraries offer coffee shops, stocked with snacks as well as beverages for sale. Food for Thought on the main level of Briggs is a recent addition added last year; the Public Library houses Mango Tree Coffee, located on the second level.

The Public Library houses many extra programs including the summer reading programs, intended for all ages, book clubs and musical performances.

The Brookings Public Library offers a wider range of fiction than Briggs but both offer nonfiction and periodicals.

Both libraries highly encourage people to stop by and utilize the services offered.

“(The students) provide the interesting part of our job,” Fox said.

Briggs Library hours:

Monday-Friday: 7:45-12:00 a.m.

Saturday: 1-9 p.m

Sunday: 1-12 p.m.

Brookings Public Library hours

Monday-Thursday: 10 a.m.-9 p.m.

Friday and Saturday: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Sunday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Students can also access them

through their websites:

http://lib.sdstate.edu and http://www.brookingslibrary.org

#1.1641268:3649592083.jpg: Briggs Library on campus and the Brookings Public Library.:A variety of tools lie at student?s disposal when one considers the easy access students have to both the Briggs Library on campus and the Brookings Public Library. :Collegian Photo by Aaron Stoneberger

A once in a lifetime look inside thousands of personal e-mails, documents and artifacts from within the White House, is now housed at SDSU’s Hilton M. Briggs Library.

The former U.S. senator and 1969 SDSU alumnus, Tom Daschle donated a collection of materials from his political terms to SDSU in December of 2004. It contains more than 17,000 e-mails, 30,000 papers and several hundred hours of video clips and items from Daschle’s political career.

A research fellowship program was conducted last spring where selected SDSU professors indexed and studied the contents of the collection.

Jennifer Tiernan, a mass communications professor, was granted the fellowship program and began working with the archives in January 2010, two days each week until the end of the semester.

“He’s one of the biggest political figures from SDSU,” Tiernan said, “Daschle is such a high ranking individual and is a really important political figure for South Dakota.”

Staff involved with indexing the various elements of the collection said that the donation of the Daschle Collection symbolizes a significant impact in education and research opportunities for South Dakota and the rest of the world.

“It’s going to draw a lot of people here to our university,” Tiernan said.

“I’ve already had out-of-state requests for some of the files we have in our hands,” said Stephen Van Buren, head of Briggs Special Collection and university archivist.

Van Buren said that requests will be non-stop, specifically from scholars looking for specific materials within the Daschle Collection.

Impeachment papers and e-mails regarding the 1998 Monica Lewinsky trial and scandals regarding former President Bill Clinton are included in the collection.

Although the collection has not created waiting lines in the Library, students view it as something worthwhile to explore.

“It’d be worth a look,” said Junior Ryan Buse, pre-med and Spanish major of Brandon.

“It’s not just paperwork. There’s really some interesting artifacts,” Tiernan said. “[The collection] tells the story of political careers, which is a very neat thing.”

The collection encompasses two-fifths of the university’s overall archive collection. In the lower level of Briggs Library, 4,000 boxes containing documents and artifacts are stored in compact shelving units. During the upcoming winter break, Van Buren said he expects that amount to double with the addition of more compact shelving units.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Van Buren said regarding the amount of the Daschle Collection the library currently houses. The other parts of the collection are in the old library, located in the Lincoln Music Center. As things become more organized, eventually all of the collection will be housed at Briggs Library.

“Educationally, all of this is a gold mine,” he said. The items within the collection go beyond an insight to the daily life inside the white house. This is not just for political science or history purposes, Van Buren said. The collection encompasses learning opportunities for everyone to help understand their government, their representatives, the way their overall daily life in a democracy really works, he said.

Working hard to implement easily-accessible academic research, Van Buren and the archive staff are currently indexing and scanning items into the collection, in order for the it to be available on-line.

A link to access items of the Daschle Collection can be found on Briggs homepage, listed under University Archives.

s things move forward with the collection in the archives, construction of a Congressional Studies Center is planned for the future.

“It’s going to be new to people because there’s not many like it around,” Van Buren said of the Congressional Studies Center. It will have several offices, a classroom, displays and research areas where the public can experience the collection.

The Tom Daschle Collection is currently listed in the Congressional archives and Briggs Library is a member of the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress (ASCS). More information of the association is at congresscenters.org.

#1.1641281:2080679254.jpg:Senator Thomas A. Daschle Congressional Research Study found in the upper level of Briggs Library.:Senator Thomas A. Daschle Congressional Research Study found in the upper level of Briggs Library provides students with the unique opportunity to learn about Sen. Daschle?s work in South Dakota.:Collegian Photo by Ryan Robinson

“The Bastard of Istanbul,” a novel by Elif Shafak, will be the focus of a community book discussion at the Brookings Library at 7 p.m. Tuesday, September 21.

South Dakota State University’s Office of International Affairs and the South Dakota World Affairs Council are coordinating events throughout the fall to educate students and residents on the Republic of Turkey.

Christine Stewart-Nunez, assistant professor of English at SDSU who taught at Tarsus American College in Turkey, will lead the discussion about the story in the library’s Orena Cooper meeting room.

“The book is set in contemporary Turkey and the United States with complex, modern characters that many people8212;especially women8212;can relate to,” Stewart-Nunez said.

“Not only does this book teach us a lot about Turkey and some aspects of its culture, it complicates ideas about countries located in or near the Middle East, especially in regard to Islam.

“I hope readers feel a kinship to the characters or see an aspect of themselves reflected in them. By extension, I hope it opens a door to learning more about Turkey,” she said.