Looking for new films?

The Audiovisual Browsing Collection consists of current popular and feature film DVDs which are available for checkout for a three day loan period. Items may be renewed by calling the department or requesting renewal at the desk. The Browsing area is located just to the left of the Audiovisual desk in the library basement. Come check out some new blockbuster films, documentaries, and TV series!

--Laura, Head of Audiovisual

Insight from a recent grad

I recently graduated from Coe in May but used the library religiously for all four years that I attended. While pursuing my History Major, I found that the most valuable resource in the Library is the Archives Department. There are extensive resources in the Archives that are extremely applicable to just about any research project. I was most impressed by the vast collection of William Shirer documents and was able to take full advantage while working with them.

On a side note, I also hear that the Circulation Department has a rockin' staff and boss.

New Chat Service

What's this, you say?  Say "Hello" to the library's new chat widget, Zoho.  The library staff evaluated several different chat options over the course of the summer in our efforts to replace Meebo, purchased by Google and taken offline.  Zoho was the winner, which you can now find on webpages throughout the library's website.

What has changed from Meebo?  In some ways, not a great deal.  You'll still be able to use Zoho much like you would have used our chat functionality previously.  It's web-based, so you need not install any software.  It's anonymous as well. However, one major change is that when you click on box to ask a question, a new, separate window will pop up. meaning you need not few losing your original question and text when navigating pages.

If you notice any bugs with Zoho, please do let us know, either via the comments sections here, or drop us a line by email.  We are always looking for ways to improve our website and better serve the Coe Community, so if there's things you think that we should know about your chat experience, we want to hear them.  Thanks, and welcome back to Coe!  We're glad you're here and can't wait to get another year underway.

Katelyn, Head of Reference

Welcome Students!

Welcome New Students and Welcome back returning students!

I was looking at old Coe brochures in the archives last week when I saw this image on the back of one from 1912. It seemed appropriate as everyone completes their journeys to Coe campus.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Why Attend the Small College?

Public University or Private College?  One of the questions that has plagued prospective students for more than a hundred years.  What did they say those hundred years ago to this question?  I present to you one answer given around 1906.

~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Iowa Private College Week

Coe, along with 27 other colleges across the state, welcomes prospective students to campus this week for Iowa Private College Week. The event is in its 14th year having begun in 1999. That makes it a relatively recent annual event in the college's 130+ years of existence.  The idea of visiting Coe campus is not so recent, as is shown by this invitation from 1906.  I welcome all prospective students and their families to Coe this week as you partake in the long held tradition of campus visits.



~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant

Acorn Jokes, page 235

The early Acorns (Coe yearbooks) had more than student pictures and lists of class officers.  They gave bits of information about each class, sometimes in the form of a class history:

"Four years ago, in a mild September, about seventy youths and maidens from scattered parts of our lovely state and from its adjoining neighbors, met for the first time within our college halls as the class of 1909.  It was their common purpose to pledge allegiance to the Saint of Knowledge, to be lead, not all knew wither..." (the senior class history from the 1910 acorn goes on for a full page and a half recording the triumphs, losses and anecdotes from their time at Coe College.)

Sometimes they included class colors, yells, or mascots.  You can read a few of these yells in the on-line exhibit of class mascots from the 1910 Acorn.  You may note that the Freshman class of 1912 is depicted as a child being protected by an owl, the junior class mascot (the junior classes put together the yearbooks).  A few years later the 1912 yearbook was titled the "Tiger" after their class mascot.

To conclude, another page from the 1938 Acorns advertisement section:


~Sara Pitcher, Archives Assistant