Any mention of the library probably stirs mixed emotions in you. Whether your memory is of the sixteen hours you spent there daily during finals week or an awesome dream you had when you fell asleep in the Hogwarts-eque study room, I think we can all agree the library has always been there for us. The advanced technology and vast collection of resources is often taken for granted by us students. Luckily for us, the oh so modest library doesn’t mind the neglect and continues to improve each year.

Ever use The CAT online? It’s essentially a record of every single book at every single Penn State library, including commonwealth campuses. As if returning 110 titles on a search for “red hair” (represent!) within three seconds wasn’t impressive enough, The CAT is now trained (see what I did there?) to translate results into all of the world’s languages, including non-Latin based languages. Using Unicode, The CAT is now able to search characters in languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, and Korean; a feature sure to benefit thousands of non-English speaking students.

Penn State libraries also now offer a text message alert system. Students who sign up can receive text messages regarding library accounts and ILLiad (the Interlibrary Loan requesting system). Need to know the second a copy of “B is for Beer” is returned to the library? Follow this link, and sign up before somebody beats you to it! You can now thank me and let out your sigh of relief.

So next time you’re at the library, do yourself a favor and say “Thanks.” Say 谢谢. Maybe even 감사합니다. If those don’t work, just simply text “Thnx” The library will understand, it’s freakin’ advanced.