New Books to Help You Get Into Grad School!

Yesterday I attended a workshop for students who are interested in attending graduate school. I'll be typing up a summary in the next few days and posting in on here. In the meantime, I want to tell you about some new books we just got in on the subject. We have Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning a Master's or Ph.D by Robert L. Peters, Ph.D., the Kaplan guide Get Into Graduate School: A Strategic Approach for Master's and Doctoral Candidates, Graduate School Companion: How to Apply to, Pay For, and Succeed in Master's and Doctoral Programs by Peter Diffley and the Staff of The Princeton Review, and (my favorite) Graduate School: Winning Strategies For Getting In With or Without Excellent Grades by Dave G. Mumby, Ph. D. These books will be on reserve behind the circulation desk. Come check 'em out!

Here's another blast from the library's past

This one is from the fall of 1990. I think MTV had already stopped showing music videos by then. This is "LTV"!

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Hmmm... maybe it's time we made another one of these...

(Of course, now that I've typed that, I have a suspicion that Michael will put me on it)

Ta-Da!!! Let's go back in time!!!

Just like Marty McFly, we have to go BACK... to 1985! Check out this amusing and instructive videotaped library instruction , starring our own Joel Langford as, well, everyone.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

the suspense...

A day with no library blog? Perish the thought...

The blogger is working on a project. You'll see tomorrow what it is, if all goes well.

It involves '80s hair. That's all I'm saying.

I will leave you with this. Thank you to my friend who reminded me of it, and to the wonderful library database The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry.


Ash Wednesday
by Thomas Stearns (T.S.) Eliot



I



1Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope
5 I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the aged eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?

Because I do not hope to know again
10 The infirm glory of the positive hour
Because I do not think
Because I know I shall not know
The one veritable transitory power
Because I cannot drink
15 There, where trees flower, and springs flow, for there is nothing again

Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
20 I rejoice that things are as they are and
I renounce the blessed face
And renounce the voice
Because I cannot hope to turn again
Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something
25 Upon which to rejoice

And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And I pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Too much explain
30 Because I do not hope to turn again
Let these words answer
For what is done, not to be done again
May the judgement not be too heavy upon us

Because these wings are no longer wings to fly
35 But merely vans to beat the air
The air which is now thoroughly small and dry
Smaller and dryer than the will
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still.

40 Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death
Pray for us now and at the hour of our death.


Click here for the rest.

"Last Chance" Book Sale

Our sale table is dwindling! We have just a few books still available. You can find our sale cart on the second floor by the circulation desk. We still have several crafts books and a number of religion-oriented titles. Come by and take a look before they all disappear.

Library receives kudos!!!

The Hill Freeman Library & Spruill Learning Center is going to pat itself on its metaphorical back. Our library Web site has attracted attention from as far away as Canton!

No, not Canton, GA. Not even Canton, Ohio. Canton, China!

Public services librarian Karen Preslock received an email from a library science student at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou (Canton), China. From the information available on our Web site, our library was identified as having "excellent information commons services." We were asked to participate in a survey about our learning commons, in order to help "shape the models of ICS collaboration in China."

"Information commons" is a relatively new concept in librarianship. It has to do with embracing the concept of the library as a place of community-building. Information commons ensure open access to ideas and encourage collaborative learning. We strive to make information available to everyone in the Reinhardt community and promote the free exchange of ideas. We're happy the students in China have noticed this, but more importantly, we want our own students to be aware of what we have to offer. If you're reading this blog, I hope you have a pretty good idea of the resources we have available! Please come by and "check us out." We'd love to help you find the information you need!

YM Speaker in the Library Tomorrow

Tomorrow, February 25, the Year of the Mediterranean will be presenting a talk at 2:30 on the third floor of the library. Shawn Reeves of Habitat for Humanity International will present the talk: "Building Houses, Building Bridges: Experiencing the Work of Habitat for Humanity in the Mediterranean."

In northern Africa and the Middle East, Habitat for Humanity works to create connections between communities and to turn despair into hope for thousands of families currently living in substandard housing conditions. Habitat’s Shawn Reeves will visit Reinhardt College to share his firsthand experiences in Egypt and Jordan.

In Egypt, where Habitat has worked since 1989, construction projects provide a chance for members of the Muslim and Christian communities to work side by side, building trust as they build houses.

Similarly, each house built in Jordan since 2001 represents an opportunity to build relationships across cultures, religions and classes. In a region where relations are often fragile, building houses together creates a spirit of solidarity and a new understanding between families, their neighbors and volunteers from around the world.

Shawn Reeves has worked in the Communications department at Habitat for Humanity International since 1998, when he came to the organization as a general writer/editor. Since then he has held several editorial positions, serving most recently in support of CEO Jonathan Reckford. Currently, Shawn oversees the communications function for Habitat’s global capital campaign.

(Thank you to Dr. Anne Good for this information).

Database spotlight: Alt Healthwatch!

Our library subscribes to several databases which I love because they're so helpful to students when they're working on a paper. In fact, all of our databases are helpful in that way. Yet there are a few databases which are dear to my heart because I use them for research in my everyday life. One of these is Alt Healthwatch.

According to an article in The Washington Post, 38% of adults use alternative medicine. We're talking acupuncture, aromatherapy, chiropractic, cross-cultural therapies, herbalism, homeopathy, naturopathy, nutrition, etc. And while I'm not one of those who wants to toss modern medicine out the window entirely, I like to investigate alternative healing techniques. Often a friend or a family member will come to me with certain health concerns or with a question about some new therapy they've heard about. When they do that, the first place I look is Alt Healthwatch.

According to EBSCO, the host for Alt Healthwatch, the database focuses on the many perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness. Through Alt Healthwatch, we have access to full-text articles from more than 180 international (and often peer-reviewed) journals and reports. Alt HealthWatch aims to provide in-depth coverage across the full spectrum of subject areas covered by complementary and alternative medicine. I used it just this morning to help a beekeeper friend research the health benefits of honey!

Of course, I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, and I wouldn't suggest anyone rely upon any database as a substitute for professional medical treatment. However, if you're like I am, and you like to have access to as much information as possible when it comes to your own health and wellness, you might like to give Alt Healthwatch a try.

YM Movie Today: Rachida

Today at 1:30 pm in the library Media Room, Reinhardt's Year of the Mediterranean program will be showing the movie Rachida.

Rachida is a 2003 French film set in 1990s Algiers during a time of heavy terrorist activity. Rachida is a teacher who is shot by terrorists when she refuses to take a bomb to her school. She is sent to another village to recuperate where she won't be recognized by the terrorist group.

At first she is traumatized and refuses to leave her house until her mother convinces her that she would be less conspicuous if she kept a normal routine like other women in the village. She and her mother soon learn that they are not safe from terrorism even here, as the other women in the village tell them how their lives have been affected by the terrorist activities. They soon see for themselves how many lives terrorism shatters, from women who have been brutalized by terrorists and then cast out of society to the terrorists' own children who have been abandoned.

Rachida has won acclaim around the world. It has been awarded both the audience award and the Golden Unicorn for Best Feature Film at the 2002 Amiens International Film Festival, the 2002 Golden Bayard award for Best Film at the Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film, the Satyajit Ray Award at the 2002 London Film Festival and the Cinema of the South Award at the Marrakech International Film Festival.

Student worker in the spotlight: Chris Williams

I've said it before, and I'll likely say it again. We at the library believe that our student workers are the cream of the crop. Chris Williams, however, would stand out in any group, and not just for his distinctive fashion sense (a legacy he says he inherited from his grandfather).

A junior from Decatur, Chris is in his third year at Reinhardt and his third year working for us. The 20-year-old business administration major has definitely made his mark since he's been here. He's an RA, a member of the Student Government Association, a member of Students in Free Enterprise and a McCamish School of Business representative. Among the many honors and recognitions he's received over the past few years: Dean's List, two years in Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities, Homecoming Court representative for three years running, and the McCamish School of Business Leadership Award. One day he hopes to become a business counselor and advisor, helping small businesses get established and existing businesses become more successful.

Chris remembers vividly the day he decided to check out Reinhardt College. "[Admissions Counselor] Jessica Burris came to the college day at my high school. She was so enthused about Reinhardt that it made me remember her while I was making my decision. I took a campus tour and was very pleased with what I saw. Lo and behold, Jessica was here when I got here," Chris says. "It was one of the best decisions that I have made thus far." Now as a telecounselor at the Admissions House and a Reinhardt Captain (I try not to heckle him too much when he gives a tour of the library), Chris shares his own Reinhardt experience with prospective students.

With such a busy schedule as Chris has, one might wonder how he has time for his studies, let alone his work here at the library, but he manages to excel at both while maintaining his "cool" and his pleasant attitude.

"If there is one thing that Chris knows, it's how to be cool and calm in any situation," says Circulation and ILL staff member Stephanie Olsen. "We had a community woman walk in one day behaving very erratic, and she literally charged Chris, laughing and cackling all the while. He remained totally calm and defused the situation, but this was not too surprising as Chris is always fantastic with patrons. What a gem! We are really quite fortunate to have him."

Chris says he enjoys working with us because the library staff is "like a family."

"I feel so comfortable when I come in to work," he says. He credits his time at the library with teaching him to be "very detailed and more organized."

However, the most valuable thing Chris says he's learned during his time at Reinhardt? "That life is kinda like college. You have to do the best that you can, and ask God that He will come in and fill in the gaps," he explains. "Just like some classes, there are certain facets of life that won't come naturally to you, but with God you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you."

YM Lecture: A New Sort of City (Istanbul was Constantinople)

Today at 3:00 on the third floor of the library, there will be a special Year of the Mediterranean lecture.

Under the Roman Empire the Mediterranean world was still a commonwealth of cities, each protected from the uncertain forces of nature by the worship it offered to its traditional public gods. In 324 A.D. Constantine the Great founded a new city dedicated to the God of the Christian martyrs. Constantinople, now Istanbul, remains one of the great cities of the world. This lecture will examine its emergence as an imperial capital.

Oliver Nicholson is a historian of Late Antiquity, the half-millennium which most universities allow to slip down the crack between the Roman world and the Middle Ages. He studied at Oxford and has taught at the University of Minnesota since 1986. He is currently working on a book about Roman persecution of the early Christians and is the general editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity.Year of the Mediterranean Event - get a t-shirt!

Remember the YM Movie tomorrow: Rachida!

(Thanks to Student Activities Coordinator Becky Cavender for this information)

Guess where I'll be tonight?

If your guess was, "The Reinhardt College Library," you'd be right. But not the Hill Freeman Library & Spruill Learning Center in Waleska, Georgia. I'll be at the library at our North Fulton Center.

The North Fulton Center library is open at all times when the building is open (9am-9 pm Monday-Thursday and 9am-1pm on Friday). Physically it's a much smaller location, with only about 1,000 volumes on the shelves, but in fact its collection is much larger. That's because any book, media, article or journal in Reinhardt's catalog, even if it's at the Waleska location, can be requested and sent to North Fulton. All you have to do is complete this form, and a librarian will be in contact. In fact, all library services--circulation, reserves, interlibrary loan, reference and library instruction--are available to students, faculty and staff of the North Fulton Center.

The North Fulton library is a particularly good place to find up-to-date business reference materials, as many of the MBA classes are taught at the center. Just as books from the Waleska location can be requested by North Fulton students, Waleska students can also request North Fulton materials. Items requested from one location can often be delivered to the other within 2-4 days, depending on availability of materials and the delivery schedule. In addition, North Fulton students have access to thousands of full-text journals, reference books and e-books through our electronic resources and Galileo.

The North Fulton library is staffed on Wednesday and Thursday nights from about 5-9 pm, but you can check out books at any time by taking them to the North Fulton front desk. Phyllis and Donna have graciously agreed to perform circulation duties for us, and we're very grateful for all their help!

Reinhardt College's North Fulton Center is located at 4100 Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta. The library phone number is 770-720-5931.

I'll see you at North Fulton!

Database spotlight: Black Thought and Culture

So, as part of my continuing quest to explore and tell you about all the databases to which your library subscribes (there are a couple of hundred, after all), today's offering is Black Thought and Culture.

BLTC (which is how Alexander Street Press abbreviates it; I personally would have gone for either BTC or BTaC, but that's neither here nor there) is a great resource for students. It's intended for research in black studies, political science, American history, music literature and art. BLTC contains 1,297 sources with 1, 110 authors, covering the nonfiction works of African-Americans from colonial times to the present. It's thoroughly indexed, so I found it very easy to search and browse. You can search by author, topic, influence, gender, time period (including birth and death years), nationality, region, age, education level and religion, among other criteria.

Primary sources begin with the works of abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass (whose Feb. 14 birthday was one of the reasons this month was chosen as Black History Month). The collection specifically includes the works of W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Bunche, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Angela Davis,Thurgood Marshall, Jesse Jackson and many others. In the case of many of the major writers and historical figures, BLTC is striving to obtain their complete nonfiction works. When complete, the collection will include the first-ever complete full run of the Black Panther newspaper.

One of the goals of BLTC is to provide a wide range of previously unavailable material, including correspondence by Jackie Robinson and other athletes (I know many of you like to choose sports figures for your research topics, and sometimes have difficulty finding good sources, so remember this), letters by Ida D. Wells and interviews with Paul Robeson. Approximately 20% of this collection has never been published before!

You can find BLTC on our home page under "Articles and More," and there is also a link under the "What's New" heading. Library director Michael Martinez is constantly on the lookout for new resources for you, so check the list periodically. You never know what you'll find! And if you see a new (or old) database that you find particularly useful, let us know! We often get databases on a trial basis, so your feedback is vital.

Blog to you later!

In Their Own Words: A Celebration of African-American Authors.

Hello! In honor of Black History Month, I've spent this morning putting together a display of books by African-American authors. It's located on the second floor of the library next to the front stairs.

I've tried to assemble a representative sampling of some of the biggest names in African American literature (Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, Pearl Cleage and Langston Hughes), as well as some newer authors such as Eric Jerome Dickey and Nathan McCall.

I've also included some videos, such as Stephen Spielberg's famous movie adaptation of Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple. Some literary criticism and some biographies of the authors are there as well. There are even some children's books, including Tom Feeling's illustrated poetry book Soul Looks Back in Wonder, which won the 1994 Coretta Scott King award from the American Library Association. Ms. King's memoir My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. is there, along with some of her husband's collected writings and speeches.

It would be impossible to collect all the great works by African-American writers in one place, and I've barely scratched the surface. I'd welcome any feedback or suggestions for the display. I invite everyone to come and look at it, and check out a book or a video. Let's honor these writers of the past and present by reading the words they have left us. They may teach, they may inspire, they may simply entertain, but their voices combined speak of their experiences. They have stories to tell: in their own words.

Happy Lupercalia!

Lupercalia was an ancient Roman festival, held in mid-February, to honor the founding of Rome by the twins Romulus and Remus (Lupercalia refers to the she-wolf who supposedly suckled the abandoned brothers) and to celebrate the beginning of spring. There were certain fertility rites involved, including the pairing off of men and women by lottery (aren't you glad you get to choose your own sweetheart)? Near the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I replaced the pagan festival of Lupercalia with St. Valentine's Day.

Was there a real St. Valentine? There were several Christian marytrs named Valentine, and there is a pretty romantic legend about one priest named Valentine who was marytred about AD 270 by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus. According to the story, Valentine fell in love with his jailer's daughter, and smuggled out a letter to her signed, "From your Valentine." St. Valentine later became the patron saint of lovers. Many scholars now think that this legend isn't true, and that the actual saint has little to do with the hearts-and-flowers customs celebrated on this day. But hey, why throw cold water on tradition?

Happy Lupercalia, everyone!

(Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica Online and Daily Life Online-- our library's databases, naturally).

YM Movie today at 1:30 pm!

Today at 1:30 pm in the library's media room, there will be a showing of the critically acclaimed 2000 Moroccan drama Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Streets. This film has won awards at film festivals all over the world, including the Grand Prize at the 2001 Cologne Mediterranean Film Festival, 2001 Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival and the 2002 Buster International Children's Film Festival, the Bronze Horse at the 2000 Stockholm Film Festival, the Bronze Gryphon at the 2001 Giffoni Film Festival, and the Interfaith Award at the 2002 St. Louis International Film Festival.

The movie tells the story of four homeless boys living in the streets of Casablanca. They have left a gang, and live in constant fear of the gangleader's revenge. One of the boys, Ali, dreams of escaping to become a sailor--he is inspired by a fairy tale he heard as a little boy,about a sailor who discovers a miracle island with two suns. Before he can realize his dream, tragedy strikes,and it is up to his friends to find their way without him.

According to Wikipedia, some of the boys featured in the film are actually homeless youth from the streets of Morocco.

This film is presented by the Year of the Mediterranean program.

Happy 200th birthday Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin!

If you look at your calendar, you'll see today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday, but did you know it's also Charles Darwin's birthday? Both men were born on February 12, 1809.

The Hill Freeman Library and Spruill Learning Center has recently acquired several new titles about Charles Darwin and his work. You can find them in the new books section on the second floor. They include Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin edited by Frederick Burkhardt, et al; Charles Darwin: The Beagle' Letters edited by Burkhardt; Origins: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1822-1859, edited by Burkhardt; Darwinism and its Discontents by Michael Ruse; The Cambridge Companion to the "Origin of Species" edited by Ruse and Robert J. Richards; and In Pursuit of the Gene: From Darwin to DNA by James Schwartz.

Celebrate the bicentennial of the father of evolution!

By the way, don't forget the Year of the Mediterranean movie Ali Zaoua, Prince of the Streets, tomorrow at 1:30 pm! More information on that tomorrow!

Bliss-ful reading opportunity!

Okay, that was a REALLY bad pun, but I just couldn't resist taking the opportunity to tell you about our Witherspoon-Bliss collection. It's currently on display in a bookcase near the front stairs on the second floor, and it will be for the rest of the week. The collection represents a selection of works by some of the best American and British authors of the modern era.

These books are the result of a generous donation by Alice Witherspoon Bliss to purchase books in memory of her mother, Evelyn Lee Witherspoon (1896-1987). Mrs. Witherspoon had a strong commitment to education, having taught first grade in the Atlanta city schools from 1917 to 1945. Ms. Bliss stipulated that the donation be used to purchase books by American and British authors.

Technical services librarian Joel Langford says the first items he ordered using the donation were new copies of the works of Shakespeare. After that, Joel used lists of the best American and British novels and award-winners.

"Of course we owned many of these award-winning and 'best' books already, but there were a number of ones we did not own," Joel says. "Once those were purchased, I concentrated on Georgia and Southern literature. After purchasing a good representative [collection] of Southern lit, I purchased some science fiction novels and short stories and some Native American literature."

All in all, Ms. Bliss's donation bought about 175 books for our collection, by such authors as Win Blevins, Pat Conroy, Philip K. Dick, E.L. Doctorow, Ferrol Sams, Mary Lee Settle, Neal Stephenson, Alice Walker, John Cheever and John Updike, among many others.

Next week, these books will be put in the general collection, so I urge you to stop by this week and peruse these books. They will still be available to check out after this week, of course, but this is your last chance to see them all together in one convenient location. Don't miss it!

Voices from the Past: Beyond iTunes

If you chanced to walk by the archives room today, you may have heard some good music. Well, maybe not when I was singing along with it.

I was browsing some of the library's music databases. You all probably know our databases are good resources for written articles when you're researching something for class (and if you don't know that yet, please come by and let us help you find what you're looking for). Did you know that we subscribe to several music databases that let you listen to a variety of music from all over the globe?

Today, in honor of Black History Month, I was exploring the African American Music database. There is a link to it on the right-hand side of the library's home page. Covering jazz, blues, gospel and other forms of African American music, this database provides 50,000 tracks for your listening pleasure. More than just entertainment, these recordings provide another way to connect with a people's history. You can listen to songs from the post-Reconstruction era to the Civil Rights movement, as the musicians express their life experiences through their art. There are big names like Ma Rainey, Mahalia Jackson, Lead Belly and Duke Ellington, and in most cases their entire catalogs are available. There are some early recordings dating back to the late 19th century. Many of the songs have never been published before. There are field recordings of spirituals, farming and labor songs, war songs, drinking songs, children's songs and more.

Our library subscribes to other music databases as well. The Classical Music Library, naturally, is a great resource both for devotees of classical music and for those who would like to learn more about it. The American Song database contains country, folk, bluegrass, Western, old-time, Native American, blues, gospel and shape note singing. Want to hear songs from the Revolutionary War? You can find them here. Then there's the Smithsonian Global Sound database, which bills itself as "a virtual encyclopedia of the world's musical and aural traditions." I've enjoyed listening to all of these databases while working in the library.

I think you might enjoy them too! Next time you're taking a study break in the library, check out a pair of headphones from the front desk and expand your musical horizons beyond iTunes. I think you may be surprised by what you hear.

Student worker in the spotlight: Kirsten Rodning

WELCOME BACK, KIRSTEN!

The Hill Freeman Library and Spruill Learning Center got some good news this semester: Kirsten's back! Kirsten Rodning, a 21-year-old senior, has toiled at the library off and on throughout her Reinhardt career, with the exception of a couple of stints working at the SERF lab and the bookstore. It seems she can't stay away from us, and we're glad.

Kirsten, an English major and History minor, says the Tolkien class she's currently taking with Dr. Graham Johnson is probably her favorite of all the classes she's taken at Reinhardt, with Dr. Johnson's Arthurian Literature class and Dr. Donna Coffey's Monsters & Demons class close runners-up.

Despite having an great love of books and reading, Kirsten didn't always plan to be an English major. "I considered a lot of things before I decided that...there is no other major that I could ever be happy with," Kirsten says. "The professors are all amazing. I get to read so many great books, and the class discussions are always fun!"

Since Kirsten likes to read so much, the library is a great fit for her. "I like to be able to see the selection of books we have every day! I always end up checking out more books than I can carry home." Kirsten's borrowed so many books during her three years here, she plans to return the favor and donate books to the library from her own collection before she graduates next December.

"Kirsten is a wonderful student worker," says technical services librarian Joel Langford. "Her passion for books and reading is evident as she performs her library tasks. She is very detail-oriented which is a plus in a library. After losing her to the bookstore for a while, it is great to have her back in the library."

Kirsten, who lists her grandfather John Hicks and famed primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall ("She's just amazing)" as her personal heroes, said she's not really sure what her ultimate career plans will be. "I once thought my ultimate goal would be to start a library system in rural parts of South America, but that seems like a pretty big goal," she says. "I suppose I hope to be an English professor someday."

Library director Michael Martinez, for one, would encourage Kirsten to pursue her dreams.

"Kirsten is extremely intelligent, and a very hard worker," Michael says. "If more students were like Kirsten, they'd all [be successful]."

Looking for cheap thrills? Check us out! ;)

I was surfing LexisNexis today and found several articles which corroborated a theory of mine: that libraries see a spike in usage whenever there is a recession (for a particularly good article, see Canada's The Globe and Mail for January 26). Partially this is due to people using our resources to look for jobs (hint hint). Partially this is because people can't afford to keep up their Internet connections at home (this blogger is feeling that pinch), and they want to use the library's computers. Another reason is that people are turning to the libraries for cheap entertainment. Hurrah!
College students don't even need a recession to look for ways to save money. In the mood for some light reading as a break from your assignments? Browse our Leisure Reading section on the second floor, or search eBrary and Netlibrary from your on-campus computer. Want to catch a flick but don't want to pay for a ticket or a Blockbuster rental (not to mention the gas for a trip to Canton)? We have movies available on the third floor for checkout. In fact, if no one is using the Media Room, you can grab a couple of friends, kick back on the couch and watch your movie here on our big screen. (Just make sure there's not a class scheduled)!
Speaking of watching movies in our Media Room, the college sponsors some great foreign films here in association with our Year of the Meditteranean. Next Friday at 1:30 pm, they'll be showing Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets. On the 20th, it'll be Rachida. Check here for more updates!

Library blogger OUTED!

Sigh.. the anonymous library blogger has been outed now, on flyers all over campus. Yes, it is I, Amy McGee, the serials assistant who usually hides in the archives room. I expect to see horns and moustachios doodled on my picture in the next few weeks, but if one of those flyers brought you here, it was worth it. Welcome! Feel free to browse previous blog posts, and I hope you will come back often. I'll be posting regularly with library-related snippets and observations, and I welcome suggestions and feedback.

Little-known facts about me? Well, I'm in my second year working here in the library. I'm a Waleska native, an alumna of Cherokee High School and Oglethorpe University, and a former newspaper reporter and editor. I love libraries, books and writing. I once edited romance novels online. I wrote a really dreadful mystery novel one year during NaNoWriMo (you'll be hearing more about that in November). I'm also a huge geek, so if you ever want to get into an argument over who would win in a fight between the Borg and the Death Star, look me up. (Hint: Death Star). I love the Reinhardt community--faculty, staff and students--and I'm very happy to be here.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Homecoming! Go Eagles!

(And thanks, Karen, for the great-looking flyers)

Student Spotlight Errata / Update: Amy Ross, part 2

Amy Ross, whom we previously profiled in this blog, spoke to her family and got the real information about her relationship to the Sharps. In the spirit of truth and to placate relatives, here's the scoop as I understand it:

Apparently, our Amy and her sister, Judith, are direct descendants of Joseph Madison Farrell Sharp, the younger brother of Reinhardt co-founder John James Augustus Sharp. Joseph Madison Farrell Sharp was a faculty member and on the original board of trustees for Reinhardt.

JMFP had six children who attended Reinhardt and graduated in the first four classes. Among them was Amy's great-grandmother Maude Ethel Sharp. One of Maude's brothers was Joseph Astor Sharp, who later became the first president of Young Harris College.

Amy says she is also related to the Reinhardt family at least by marriage, as the Sharps and Reinhardts intermarried quite a bit.

Thanks to Amy and her family historian uncle for clearing this up. Don't worry--you don't have to be as intimately connected to the school as Amy to attend here. We welcome all students to come and start their own Reinhardt traditions!

What a man!

From yesterday's Washington Post, which I read on LexisNexis Academic in the library, naturally:

Pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger -- a.k.a. Mr. Perfect -- is almost too good to be true. The guy who safely crash-landed his US Airways flight in the Hudson River and saved 150 lives contacted his local branch library to say he lost one of its books. Where? In the plane that went down. Sullenberger asked for an extension and if the late fees could be waived; the library quickly said he didn't owe a dime. The book? A guide on professional ethics. Of course.

I hear from some of my friends on a library messageboard that the library is going to buy a new copy of the book and dedicate it to Mr. Sullenberger. (I guess they probably won't want the book back when it's recovered after a few weeks in the Hudson River, but it's still a nice gesture).

Student worker spotlight: Drew Childers

By now, it's probably not a secret that we think the library has the BEST student workers.

The Hill Freeman Library & Spruill Learning Center is a friendlier place thanks to Drew Childers. What else would you expect from a guy who says he likes to work here because of the "chance to talk to people that I would ordinarily never meet?" During the past year and a half, Drew's sunny personality and friendly and helpful nature have made an impression on students and staff alike. The Waleska native is an asset to the library team whether he's working on a special project or manning the circulation desk.

Drew is a Communication Arts major and Political Science/Pre-Law minor, and is considering becoming an attorney one day. His favorite class at Reinhardt, he says, was probably Constitutional Law, "because of the great Supreme Court cases and rulings." Drew stays on top of current events, and when he is not busy with his library duties or studies, he can often be found researching political figures and determining their position on various issues.

Drew lists Jesus, his parents and his late grandfather among his personal heroes. He credits his time at the library with teaching him responsibility and the value of hard work. He says the greatest thing his time at Reinhardt has taught him is to trust in God and His plan for his life. "I have also learned to treat everyone I meet with respect," he adds.

"Drew is my 'knight in shining armor,'" says public services librarian Karen Preslock. "He is always there when I need him. It is not often that I find myself counting on other people, however, I know I can always count on Drew. I throw all sorts of special projects at him, oftentimes with little or no instruction, and he does a 'bang up' job and always with a smile and always in a timely manner. Sometimes we collaborate and come up with some pretty good stuff. He is a GREAT researcher, and I keep telling him he needs to be a librarian (or maybe a detective or FBI or CIA agent).

Now that I have learned that Drew is interested in law, I have suggested that he look into the US Patent Office. Drew would be great as a Patent Examiner or Patent Attorney, and the USPTO also offers up cash incentives to go to law school if you agree to work for them for a few years." (To learn more, see US Patent Office Careers).

Karen adds, "Whatever Drew decides upon, he will do a great job and be very successful and become a true asset to his employer."

We're proud to have ya, Drew!

Six more weeks of winter? Curl up with a good book...

Did you ever wonder how Groundhog Day came about? I did, so I did what I usually do when curiosity strikes. I went to the library's databases to find the answer. In Daily Life Online, my favorite source for folklore facts, I found an article from Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend that told me the significance of February 2 (or February 14, according to some die-hard traditionalists).

Traditionally, this day was significant to farmers who wanted to determine when they could safely sow or plant their crops. A late-winter arctic blast could mean death to tender young shoots, and a bad harvest. So they traditionally looked to signs and portents to tell them what the weather would be like. For some reason, the humble marmota monax was looked to for the answer. You know the story: if the groundhog comes out of his hole, sees his shadow and goes back inside, then we'll have six more weeks of winter. No planting for us. The famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania did just that today. However, Georgia's own official groundhog prognosticator, Beauregard Lee, did just the opposite, remaining outside his home at the Yellow River Game Ranch to proclaim that spring was just around the corner.

Similar traditions exist in Europe, by the way, but they don't listen to groundhogs over there. In Germany, they put their faith in the badger. In other parts of Europe, they ask a bear.

February 2 was officially designated Groundhog day by Act of the Missouri Legislature, and the rest of the country has followed.

Have other folklore questions? Check out Daily Life Online.