This year the library ordered some new material for Banned Book Week. Unfortunately the material arrived after Banned Book Week was over. We went ahead and put the display up anyway.
So, if you’ve been wondering what the book banners on the first floor near the new book area are all about, this is it. There is corresponding text about why the book was banned on the new bookshelf beside the posters.
Thief Steals Books from Library!, 2009 ISU Reading Project, Intellectual Freedom and Freedom of Speech, the ISU Financial Wellness Center, the Library of Congress Classification System, Autumn, and Research at IHSL are the new or continuing subjects of displays up in the library now. Jennifer Moore has her art exhibited in the Current Display Art Area.
Creation
First Floor:
Display case 1: Thief Steals Books from Library! Find out how a thief was caught, and how a librarian’s sleuthing helped find him. This is a real-life library mystery–true crime! This display includes a timeline of events, list of books stolen from the library, and more information. Some of the stolen items were even from our library, and have been returned. Read the Smithsonian Magazine story here.
The 2009 ISU Reading Project is the topic of display case 2. This display discusses “Three Cups of Tea, has a list of the events, includes other information and pictures. Check out the Reading Project home page for online information. This display case has been moved closer to the new book area near the reference desk for easier viewing.
Display Case 3 has a display on Intellectual Freedom and Freedom of Speech. If you’ve ever wondered about who the library is named after, check out this display It has quotations about freedom of speech and Banned Books. Eli Oboler was well known for his work in this area and the display includes two of his books, Defending Intellectual Freedom and To Free the Mind, as well as other books about this topic.
Diamond
The nearby Current Display Art Area has work by Jennifer Moore, an ISU graduate with a major in art, who has shown at Oboler Library before. See her bright, cheerful, and colorful paintings with abstract themes: Creation, Think, Storm, Dark, Diamond, Haze, Down, and more. They will be up through the end of October.
Dark
Second Floor:
Display Case 4 has information about the “ISU Financial Wellness Center”. It covers determining whether you are financially fit or in financial danger. You can learn more about personal finance and find out ways to save money and surviving on a student budget. Most of all, find out more about the ISU Financial Wellness Center and preview the new “Cash Course” link on their web page.
The Library of Congress Classification System is the subject of display case 5. What are those numbers and letters on books? J includes political science, L= Education, D = History, R = Medicine, etc. Find out how the books are organized into 21 categories, and learn about the history of the Library of Congress system, developed by James Hanson.
Third Floor:
Display case 6 is on Autumn. See autumn decoration, colors, and books with autumn titles, including: Beneath the Second Sun: a Cultural History of Indian Summer, Autumn Music, Autumn Sonata, Another Kind of Autumn, Autumn Manoeuvres, The Autumn Garden, and Autumn Light.
Health Science display case—Research at IHSL. The Idaho Health Science Library, located on the 3rd floor of the library, offers many research services, including EbscoHost, MD Consult, A-Z journal list, Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory, PubMed, Cinahl, Cochrane Library, StatRef, and more. This display offers more information on some of the services, with beautiful fall colors adding to the enjoyment.
Alexander Street’s one month sneak peek of American history in video has been announced:
“Since launching in April, American History in Video has grown to include more than 1,500 titles and 500 hours. It will continue to grow to include more than 5,000 complete titles and 2,000 hours of rare newsreels and important documentaries from leading producers such as PBS, The History Channel®, Bullfrog Films, and California Newsreel.
Freely access the entire collection on the Web now through Sunday, November 15th.”
http://ahivfree.alexanderstreet.com
No username or password required—enjoy!
“Based on content, design, and price, this product is a solid ten. It tops any other similarly themed resource in its field and, at this price, is an amazing deal. . . . This is a product I wish every library in the United States could make accessible to its researchers, from elementary-school children to history scholars, and everybody in between. Resoundingly recommended.”—Library Journal
Electronic Resource Librarian Regina Koury forwarded this information–be sure to let her know what you think of this resource.
The events schedule for Three Cups of Tea, the 2009 ISU Reading Project book, has been announced by the group sponsoring the program. Copies of the book may be available for check-out at the Oboler Library Reserve desk, or you can buy a copy at the ISU bookstore. You can find the extensive schedule of events on their web page under November Events; they have eight interesting events scheduled! Be sure to mark the ones you want to attend on your calendar. They also have an essay contest where five winners each receive a $100 award. Friday Oct. 30th is the deadline, so hurry with your submission.
While at the reference desk today, someone called and asked for help in finding book reviews. As a librarian I was a bit embarrassed to suggest Amazon.com first. It came to mind first, because I use it frequently in my collection-develop- ment duties. There was a book review for the title she needed; however, it was not lengthy enough or fit her criteria.
Next, I thought to search for the New York Times Book Review in our A-Z Journal List, so we searched within EBSCOhost’s Academic Search Complete, but not book review could be found for her book.
As a last result, and somewhat reluctantly, I suggested we conduct a Google search. By placing quotation marks around the words in the title, plus the words “book review” we succeeded in finding at least one book review that satisfied this particular student’s needs. Interestingly enough, the first result was link to the Amazon entry we had looked at first, but the second looked more legitimate as it had a .edu domain.
Anyway, it should not surprise me that book reviews are freely available on the internet, since book sellers want people to find out about their titles to increase sales.
Out of curiosity, I searched our Library’s website to find out if we had a guide for finding book reviews. We do. With the straight-forward title “How to Find Book Reviews,” you can find out which resources in the Eli M. Oboler Library system contain book reviews. Print titles are mentioned, such as Book Review Index [Reference Collection: Z1035.A1 B6] and Book Review Digest (which we only have in paper copy [Ref. Coll.: Z1219 .C96], but a lot of the full-text reviews are in materials that we can get to with our A-Z Journal List). A colleague of mine tells me that when she was in MFA school, they were the standard references/indexes for finding quality book reviews and citations, and she still uses them on occasion. Additionally, they also relied on Contemporary Literary Criticism (Ref. Coll.: PN771 .C59).
Still, the internet seems to be the easiest way to find book reviews. Where they come from and how useful they may be is a different question, though.
Posted By Spencer to Information Literacy at ISU
Earlier in the week we had an article that outlined the history of ISU and the library. It prompted me to call the Special Collections/Archives head, Karen Kearns, to see if there are more pictures of the library in it’s early years. She came up with these six photos.
Swanson Hall–the first location. Only the arch remains.
Frazier Hall–the second location of the library
Eli Oboler in Frazier Hall Library
Idaho State College (ISC) Library (Idaho Museum of Natural History building)–the third location
Interior of the ISC Library
Exterior of Oboler Library–the fourth and current location.
Three upcoming poetry readings have been announced on the Pocatello Readings LISTSERV. If this inspires you to read more poetry, check the Oboler Library catalog for thousands of titles.
Poetry Reading at the Flipside Lounge (117 S. Main St), Friday, October 2nd
8pm: Clark Karoses, Josh Mayes, and Jeff Pearson read at the Flipside. Art work by Ryan Babcock will also be featured.
Poetry Reading: Kate Greenstreet at the College Market (604 S. 8th), Saturday, October 10th
6pm: Recently called “challenging, electric and crisp” by Publishers Weekly, celebrated writer, artist, and filmmaker Kate Greenstreet will read from her poetry collections case sensitive and The Last 4 Things.
ISU instructors Bethany Schultz Hurst and Susan Goslee will also read. Admission is free, doors open at 5:30, and street parking is open all weekend. Save the date: join us Saturday, October 10th at the College Market for deluxe coffee and deep thoughts!
Poetry Reading: SARAJEVO at the Old Town Actors Studio (427 N Main St), Friday, October 16th
7pm: Join Harald Wyndham as he brings out a new book, titled “SARAJEVO — A poem for four voices in five parts.” Readers are Leslie Leek, Carlen Donovan, Erin Gray, and Harald Wyndham. Books will be available at the reading.
A co-worker in Technical Services showed me a check out slip from 1927 today, and we pondered the history of ISU for a moment. I thought of the Special Collections ISU Scrapbook page–if you haven’t looked at it, check it out! It has some amazing photos of ISU from when was the Academy of Idaho (1901-1915) to present time. ISU has gone through five name changes. It was Idaho Technical Institute (1915-1927), Southern Branch of the University of Idaho (1927-1947), and Idaho State College (1947-1963). You can see pictures of many of the people campus buildings have been named after in the scrapbook.
You might also want to experience the history by taking the History Walk. The Alumni Association completed this project for the ISU Centennial, and the previously mentioned page has numerous details about ISU history.
Oboler Library has some pages about the library and the person whom the library was named after, Eli M. Oboler. The Oboler Library Building page includes links to short and long biographies of Eli M Oboler, a bibliography, quotations, and more.
Since this is Homecoming Week, celebrate by learning something more about the history of your university and library!
Banned Book week makes one wonder about recent challenges, and our Government Documents Librarian, Beth Downing, found an interactive map of Book Bans and challenges, 2007-2009, which I’ll share with Library News readers. It’s interesting to look at and see where/what is challenged. Give it half a minute for the page to load.
http://bannedbook sweek.org/Mapofbookcensorship.html
Are you taking a Speech Class this semester? Do you need some help finding facts and information to support your speeches and research papers? Come to the Library’s Speech Workshop. Each workshop will take place in Library Room 212 on the second floor across from the restrooms.
Day 1
Monday, September 28th
8:30-10 a.m.
Day 2
Tuesday, September 29th
8:30-10 a.m.
3:30-5 p.m.
Day 3
Wednesday, September 30th
3-4:30 p.m.
Day 4
Thursday, October 1st
1:30-3 p.m.
Day 5
Friday, October 2nd
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Day 6
Saturday, October 3rd
10-11:30 a.m.
Day 7
Monday, October 5th
8:30-10 a.m.
3:30-5 p.m.
Day 8
Tuesday, October 6th
8:30-10 a.m.
3:30-5 p.m.
To sign up for a workshop:
Call: 282-3152
Email: refinst@isu.edu
Visit: The reference desk on the main floor of the library.
Openings are limited, so we recommend that you sign up as soon as possible. An attendance sheet will be passed around at each workshop and then sent back to the department.
September 15 is the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico declared independence on September 16, Chile on September 18, and Belize on September 21.
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 through October 15, Alexander Street is offering free access to select full-text, online collections for libraries. Explore poetry, short stories, folk tales, novels, memoirs, non-fiction, and plays in both Spanish and English from Latino writers around the world.
Access these collections now through October 15:
Latino Literature
Caribbean Literature
Latin American Women Writers
Username: eviews
Password: hispanicheritage
