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NEWS
Thursday, Apri 26, 2012
Mechelle Hankerson News Editor Walking into Cabell Library, it might be easy to miss the posters featuring four zombified workers – The Working Dead, as they've come to call themselves. But by 10 p.m., The Working Dead have come alive. Since Cabell Library began operating on a 24-hour, five-day a week schedule, four employees at Cabell have overseen the late-night and early morning shifts. KJ Ricasata, who is planning on returning to VCU this fall, works from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. during the week. He works with VCU alum Noel Aguado, who works from 10:30 p.m. until 7 a.m. Topher HanceGeorge works from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Malcolm Sharp works from 1:30 p.m. until 10 p.m. Each of the employees are featured in artwork inspired by the television series, “The Walking Dead” and created by Cabell Library's building manager, Dave Morrison. Morrison first drew the four on the whiteboard that greets library visitors. The library has since turned it into a poster to use as a way of advertising their new extended hours.
Other colleges want in on Morrison's artwork too: Penn State has asked to use Morrison's artwork to also advertise their 24-hour library service. Ricasata has been working with VCU Libraries for six years while Aguado just began working for the library when the 24/5 schedule was adopted in March. Both Aguado and Ricasata said the hardest part of the job is not falling asleep, but it's not as hard as some might think. “You kind of take it day by day,” Ricasata said. “Some days you just feel like your insides are liquefying, like a breakdown on the atomic level, but it's not that bad.” In the first week of switching to the new schedule, a VCU Libraries press
Photo courtesy of VCU Libraries; artwork by Dave Morrison
Cabell’s new 24-hour schedule relies on “The Working Dead”
“Between 4 (a.m.) and 7 (a.m.) is pretty much the witching hour where everything is slow and sleepy,” Ricasata said.
considered operating as a completely 24hour, seven-days-a-week library. ARL libraries typically operate on such a schedule and while nothing has been finalized for a 24/7 schedule, Cabell has been steadily increasing their operating hours since the beginning of last semester when they extended weekday hours to 2 a.m. “If we had the resources for (a 24-hour, seven-daya-week schedule), I'm all for it,” Ricasata said. “I know we're trying to stay competitive with other libraries in Virginia. I think 24/5 is a good start for now (and) I think we'll garner a lot of info from this first test run and see where we go from there.” Aguado agreed with Ricasata, but had one additional idea: “Just don't make me work weekends.” CT
“Some days you just feel like your insides are liquefying, like a breakdown on the atomic level, but it's not that bad.” release said more than 2,000 students visited the library. From what Ricasata can tell, the number of students coming in to the library overnight is only increasing. Both Ricasata and Aguado said they have observed a lull in activity around 4 a.m., two hours later than they've noticed in the past.
Although it wouldn't do anything to help Ricasata and Aguado's sleep schedules, both overnight workers can see the value of Cabell's switch to 24 hours. “I think it's in high demand,” Aguado said. As part of a goal to become a member in the national Association for Research Libraries, Cabell Library has tentatively
VCU journalism students help curb daytime crime Mason Brown Staff Writer According to the annual Safety and Fire Report, larceny is the No. 1 crime by a large margin. Last Thursday, VCU students refused to let another one occur at VCU by chasing a thief down in the act. Students in the Eugene P. and Lois E. Trani Center for Life Sciences building chased and captured an alleged thief with outstanding warrants who, according to Mike Porter, VCU public relations specialist, is also a suspect in several other campus larcenies. The suspect, 33-year-old Kevin M. Wheeler, was charged with larceny, trespassing and possession of a syringe.
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At around 2 p.m., a student called police while witnessing a homeless man rummage through a purse in the Center for Life Sciences. Other students chased him out of the building when Wheeler allegedly dumped his syringe into a trash can. As seen in a video recorded by VCU journalism students Zachary Holden and Nicolas Nightingale via an iPad used for a social-media class, the students surrounded the suspect and waited for police to arrive. Coincidentally, Holden and Nightingale were working on a story about daytime crime when the students and Wheeler ran by them. Upon seeing the event, Holden and Nightingale pulled out their class-provided iPads and
filmed the action as it took place. “I was walking, when two gentlemen brushed right past me, screaming, ‘Stop that guy, stop that guy,” VCU student Yash Barot told Holden and Nightingale in one of their iPad interviews. Speaking with CBS6, Nightingale said the timing worked out well for his story. “It was a moment of luck, doing a story on daytime crime,” Nightingale told CBS6. Holden and Nightingale were standing outside the Cary Street Gym when they said students run by shouting “thief.” The two students are in Mass Communications 491: Social Media Journalism. The course works with WTVR
CBS 6 in Richmond to give students a chance to work with new technologies, such as the iPad, which – according to professor Marcus Messner – “are changing media. “Students already understand that an iPad is a cool device, but I wanted to show them how to adapt the journalism skills they’ve learned from other classes for social and mobile media using iPads,” said Messner in a VCU press release regarding the course. CT To see more work performed by the “iPadjournos” visit http://wtvr.com/tag/ ipadjournos.
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