Library News

Buy some great books for 50 cents or $1.00! Oboler Library is starting an ongoing book sale. If you’ve ever been to the Biennial Used Book Sale, you’ll remember what good books we had!

The sale will start on Oct. 1st and run through the remainder of the academic year. Items offered for sale will be available in the New Books area of the First floor. This “stock” will be replenished as needed.

Books will cost $1.00 for hardback and $ .50 for paperback. You can pay for them at the Circulation desk. So, come by, have a look, and stop by regularly to see the new items that have been added. This will be a great way to stock up on reading for school breaks, and to add to your home book collection.

Photosharing, blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, Facebook, and more–if you’re interested in learning more, the library is the place to be! Monday afternoons, beginning Oct. 13 and ending Dec. 1, the Library will be teaching mini-workshops on a variety of social software applications. Most workshops will be held from 4:00-4:30 p.m. All classes will meet in the library on the second floor, Room 212. to sign up email Emily at refinst@isu.edu

October 13

Social Bookmarking with del.icio.us

By Spencer Jardine

4:00 – 4:30 p.m. room 212 in the Library

October 20

Photosharing with Flickr & Picassa

By Spencer Jardine

3:00 – 3:30 p.m. room 212 in the Library

October 27

Create Your Own Blogs with Blogger & Twitter

By Jenny Semenza

4:00 – 4:30 p.m. room 212 in the Library

November 3

Bring the Web to You Using RSS Feeds

By Jenny Semenza

4:00 – 4:30 p.m. room 212 in the Library

November 10

Learn How to Find Podcasts

By Beth Downing

4:00 – 4:30 p.m. room 212 in the Library

November 17

Get Started With Facebook

By Spencer Jardine

4:00 – 4:30 p.m. room 212 in the Library

December 1

Use CiteULike to Create Bibliographies and Track Resources

By Jenny Semenza

4:00 – 4:30 p.m. room 212 in the Library

To sign up email Emily at refinst@isu.edu.

Mark your calendars to attend the Big Read Kick-Off Event featuring Marilyn Robinson, author of Housekeeping (and also Gilead and Home.) It will be Saturday, Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m in the Stephens Performing Arts Center, Jensen Grand Hall. Free tickets are available at Aslett’s Cleaning Center, Oboler Library, Marshall Public Library, and Portneuf District Library. Oboler Library will be hosting a book signing with the author Saturday Oct. 4 from 1 to 2:30 at the library.

Don Aslett’s Cleaning Center and also Oboler Library (ask for Jim Teliha) have some free copies of the book. Since some of the locations are periodically running low on tickets (and books), it is a good idea to call ahead and see if they are still available there. If you have gotten tickets and are unable to attend, please return your tickets to one of the locations. See the Big Read article previously in Library News for more information about this program, including a complete schedule of events.

New Library Staff member! Here’s her biography:

I am a new Electronic Resources Librarian, who started at Oboler Library on September 15^th. My previous job was at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles where I have worked as an Electronic Resources Assistant until September 12th.

I have also worked as a Library Supervisor for ILL Borrowing/ Public Services at USC and library assistant for several LA public and law libraries. I received my MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh FastTrack program and my BA in teaching foreign languages from the Tomsk State Pedagogical University in Tomsk, Russia(Siberia). I was born in Tomsk, Russia but lived everywhere (Ukraine, Hungary, Far East) as a “military brat.” Coming to USA almost 12 years ago was and still is a fun experience. In my free time I enjoy reading, trying new foods, go camping and fishing with my husband and a 4-year old daughter.

“Life as Art”! Oboler Library is pleased to have this photography show by Kristi Sheriff in the Current Display Art Area. The show will be up from Sept. 15 until Oct. 31.

The show consists of photographs of people of Southeast Idaho. Sheriff earned her Mass Communication degree at ISU in Spring 2001. She has been Professional Photographers of Idaho’s (PPI) Photography of the year in 2007 and 2008. She has also won three Fuji Film Masterpiece Awards.

Come by and see her unique, creative and different photographs of people at the library. You can also find more information on her web site, www.spgx.com.

Oboler Library will be included in the First Monday Art Walk that occurs Oct. 6, 7 to 9 pm. Be sure to check out our art exhibit, as well as the ones at the Mind’s Eye Gallery (Rendezvous Center), Transition Gallery (Pond Student Union Building), Museum of Natural History Gallery, and Davis Gallery (Fine Arts Building).

Oboler Library has put up a new group of displays on a variety of topics including Favorite Books, Videos, Reading and Writing Journals and Diaries, Library Secrets, Welcome to the 3rd Floor, and Finding Magic @ Idaho Health Science Library. Be sure to stop by and see them on your next visit to the library.

First Floor- Both case 1 and 2 have Favorite Books displays from the contest we had last year for National Library Week. (Also see the post on the contest winners.) This display shows all the contest results–books that were voted ISU student, faculty and staff favorites, plus a sentence or two describing why the book is a favorite. For example, Karen Kearns from Oboler Library nominated John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. “I first read this book after seeing the James Dean movie. the book has so much more detail and depth th the characters, and why they are the way they are. the descriptions of landscapes are great.” One of these days soon I’ll take the time to look at both displays and make notes on some books I want to read and movies to watch over Christmas break. (more…)

“Distinguished Montana conservation writer and politician Daniel Kemmis will present the Idaho Yesterdays Lecture “Have We Rediscovered the Lost Trail?” on Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the Salmon River Suite, Pond Student Union Building, at Idaho State University.“  Read the rest of this ISU news story here.

If you are interested in reading some of this author’s work before or after the presentation, two of his books are held by the library, and others can be borrowed on Interlibrary Loan.

Community and the Politics of Place, and

This Sovergn Land: A New Vision for Governing the West

Check our catalog for availability and the call number.

This article was contributed by Jenny Semenza Head of Reference at Oboler Library.

Check out the article “Internet maps ‘demolish British history’”. I found it interesting to think beyond the idea of a map as a way to get to a specific destination or to find out specific information. The writer of the article clearly thinks that maps give a sense of place and character. That they are cultural artifacts.

In the library world we have always had a multitude of maps and atlases with multiple, varied, and unique purposes. Street maps, cultural maps, political maps, historical maps, maps of stars, maps of commerce and farming, maps of all kinds of information. These varied maps usually come bound in atlases and are there for us when we need specific kinds of information like a map of the Battle of Hastings or the locations of all of the castles in Scotland. I use them to help patrons find information. I have never really thought about how they are also cultural artifacts tied not only to a specific place but to a time. (more…)

The library is pleased to announce that starting August 1 we will offer faculty and graduate students the opportunity to request material for pick up from the ISU Oboler Library collection on the Pocatello campus. Items can be requested from the library catalog and picked up at the circulation desk. Patrons will be notified by e-mail when the material is available. Instructions for making these requests can be found at: http://www.isu.edu/library/distance/reqbook.htm

ISU is showing the film Food Matters Wednesday September 10 and Thursday Sept. 11 at 7:00 p.m. in the Bengal Theater. In an article in the Bengal newspaper, Bob Devine notes the film’s contention that “if we were eating properly and taking the right supplements, then most illness would go away and the health care needs for our society would greatly diminish.”

This interesting premise motivates me to attend the film and  learn more about their theories. The Food Matters web site has a considerable amount of information on specific diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, depression, mental illness, weight loss and optimal health. It also has sections on learning more, lifestyle, nutrition, lifestyle, detoxification, and more.

Oboler Library had many resources on health education. You can visit our Idaho Health Sciences Library either in person (3rd floor of the library) or with your computer. If you have questions, their phone number is (208) 282-4686.

University or community-wide reading projects have become increasingly popular over the past several years. ISU is into the fifth year of having this program, where everyone reads the same nonfiction book, (Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario this year), and then attends a series of events to stimulate discussion among members of the ISU and southeast Idaho general communities.

Eastern Idaho has the opportunity to experience two Reading Projects during the month of October. In addition to the Idaho State University program, Marshall Public Library has a common reading project using a fiction book, Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. Below this article you can find articles detailing all of the special programs the two reading projects have scheduled. Pocatello also experienced an “All On the Same Page” project back in 2003 which involved several books for children of different age groups, and adults read David Guterson’s East of the Mountains and were treated to a visit by the author and numerous book discussion groups. Mickie Adler coordinated this project.

If this makes you interested in the Common Reading Program, Augusta Kolwyck Library at Chattanooga State Technical Community College has an interesting blog on the topic–look for the 9-8-08 entry. It links to another article on numerous college common reading programs around the country–in 2007 they found 230 such programs, including ISU’s, going on, and listed the books being read. This can be an great way to find more interesting books to read.