By Alana Kaselitz
Daily Pennsylvanian, February 16, 1996
Van Pelt College House residents often find their home confused with the library by the same name.
But earlier this week, they used the similarity to their advantage, participating in the semester's first session of "Van Pelt does Van Pelt."
Students and the college house's faculty masters gathered in the residence's computer lab in an effort to learn about the library's databases.
Competing for a Van Pelt Library copy card worth $10, residents searched the Penn Library Information Network, or PennLIN, for answers to a contest designed to teach them about the available resources.
Interim Vice Provost for Information Systems and Computing Jim O'Donnell, who serves as the Van Pelt College House faculty fellow, attended the contest along with two librarians from Van Pelt Library.
Deb Buchner, a five-year reference librarian and Joe Holub, also a reference librarian, guided the students in their search of PennLIN.
Residents also learned how to use a variety of databases, including Lexis/Nexis, OED, Britannica, Medline, CTOC and WILS.
"The idea is to bring Van Pelt reference librarians into residences at night to encourage students how to use the library's databases," O'Donnell said.
Buchner said the contest allowed students to become more comfortable with the PennLIN system.
"They can do everything from their rooms," she added.
Being able to search databases from dorm rooms is more convenient for students, Buchner said, explaining that students will no longer have to go across campus to the library, only to discover that the book they are looking for is checked out.
"Van Pelt does Van Pelt" began in the fall, following the installment of ResNet that took place over the summer.
"People have been pleased," Buchner said. "Students have received better grades on papers because they have taken advantage of the training."
O'Donnell and the librarians said they hope ResNet will eventually be available to Quadrangle residents, enabling similar sessions there.
According to O'Donnell, encouraging more students to learn about PennLIN is just one goal of the program. "Van Pelt does Van Pelt" is an example of how many student services could be delivered to future residential colleges, he said.
"We want the students to be able to make contacts more easily," O'Donnell said. "Within two years, we are hoping to begin different kinds of student services and activities."
An hour after the contest began, College freshman Anh Lam was declared its winner.
"Tonight, I refined what I had learned before," Lam said. "I definitely know how to use the computer better."
O'Donnell and the librarians said they hope to spread the word about PennLIN by setting up more workshops and contests in other residential colleges.
"Coming into the dorms is a great way to spread the word," Buchner said. "We can make ourselves available when people are working."
And O'Donnell said he saw last night's session as a "first step towards further expansion of the library into a facility that is everywhere."