Trinity Spotlight: Jennie Huizenga Memorial Library Staff

Need research materials? Looking for information you can’t find easily on the internet? Just want to check out a good movie on DVD? You can do all this and more at the Jennie Huizenga Memorial Library.

The library staff—Director Cathy Mayer, Reference and Outreach Librarian Cindy Bowen, Reference Librarian Sandra Taeuber, and Circulation and Access Manager Sarah Hoeksema ’10—can help guide you to the resources that you need.

“The library staff is always seeking inventive ways to best serve the Trinity community,” said Mayer, who joined Trinity in December. “We are working closely with faculty to understand their curriculum needs, and then streamline our collection to meet the current needs of students.”

While the Huizenga Library boasts two floors of wall-to-wall books, that’s only part of the information that is available. “When you walk in to the library, what you see is only a fraction of what we can access,” said Hoeksema, who began her career in the library as a student worker while at Trinity. For example, Trinity is a member of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) and participates in I-Share, a shared collection of more than 22 million items from which Trinity students may borrow. Students may either request to have materials sent to Trinity or can visit any of the cooperating libraries, such as St. Xavier University, and check out materials

Along with all the resources available, the library staff also possesses collective years of experience and knowledge. “If you have to spend more than 10-15 minutes searching for something, just ask us. That’s what we’re here for,” Bowen said. Mayer, Bowen, and Taeuber have Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science, and Hoeksema is currently expecting to graduate next year with a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The library also offers several specialized centers on the second floor, including:

• Ed Vander Weele Curriculum Center
  The mission of the Curriculum Materials Center is to support the Education Department and Adult Studies Education programs by providing educational materials for the use of our teachers in training.

• Rev. Arthur DeKruyter Pastors’ Collection
  The DeKruyter Collection houses books and folders of article clippings donated from the collection of Rev. Arthur DeKruyter.

• Van Namen Dutch Heritage Center
  The Dutch Heritage Center houses materials of historical value related to the culture, customs, and institutions of Dutch heritage in the greater Chicago area. It contains family histories, business records, early letters, church and school records, photographs, and publications, among other things.

• College Archives
  The College Archives contains documentary records related to the history of Trinity Christian College.

Along with providing information, the library also hosts activities like mini-golf. (If you missed the last round, another tournament is scheduled for Fall Fest Weekend Nov. 4-5.) Want to learn more? You can contact the library staff in a variety of ways. Click here to find out how.

Meet the Librarians