Virtual (literary) Vacation in August's Southern Living!

No money to travel this summer? Vacation over, but you still need an escape? Check out the August edition of Southern Living. It features an excerpt from author Pat Conroy's new novel South of Broad, set in Charleston, SC. Following that, Conroy plays tour guide and shows us his favorite spots in the city he loves. There's also a listing of some of the real-life locations that feature prominently in the new book.

You can sample more of Conroy's oeuvre in our collection. We have The Great Santini, Lords of Discipline which I always thought sounded like a great name for a metal band, The Water is Wide, Beach Music, My Losing Season, and Prince of Tides.

Frank McCourt, 1930-2009

Frank McCourt, whose bestselling memoir Angela's Ashes[E184.I6M117 1996] was a haunting tale of an impoverished childhood in Brooklyn and Limerick, died on July 19th of complications from melanoma. Angela's Ashes
won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle award, and was named Book Sense Book of the Year and one of Library Journal's Best Books for 1996.

You can find Angela's Ashes and its sequel,'Tis [E184.I6M118 1999], which tells of McCourt's return to New York as a young man, on the third floor of the library. McCourt also wrote a third memoir, Teacher Man, about his experiences teaching in New York high schools and colleges, and a children's book, Angela and the Baby Jesus, about his mother as a child.

The American Indian Experience

On the heels of yesterday's blog announcement, I thought it might be appropriate to mention another one of our library databases: The American Indian Experience. Along with The African American Experience, The American Indian Experience is part of the American Mosaic Online family of resources from Greenwood Publishing.

This collection includes full-text content from more than 150 titles and hundreds of primary documents and images. These include treaties, maps, speeches, traditional stories, interviews and photographs. Links to approved websites and a blog are also included. Again, for you Education majors, a timeline and topic guides are presented here to facilitate use of this information in the classroom. There are also overviews of and detailed information about more than 500 tribal nations. With all the events planned for this year, I predict this database is one you will want to "check out" more than once.

Announcing.. Year of North American Indigenous Peoples

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that this year is the "Year of North American Indigenous Peoples" at Reinhardt College, and it is going to be incredible. I recently attended the first planning session, and it looks as if this year is going to be jam-packed with educational, cultural and social opportunities in line with this theme. Virtually all of the tribal nations are going to be invited to participate in the observance. The committee is planning a weekly film-and-discussion series, at least two speakers a month, a fall conference and a spring dance festival. The Funk Heritage Center is, naturally, going to be intimately involved in the programming, and we hope to interest the greater public as well as the Reinhardt community in the year's offerings. Within the scope of this year's program, we hope to address historical, political, social, economic and environmental issues relevant to the indigenous people of this continent. In addition, we hope to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation for these cultures. I think it's going to be an eye-opener, but I also expect it's going to be quite engaging. We have a great crew in place to help make it happen.(I'm proud to say the library is going to be well-represented).

More specific information such as dates and times will be posted as soon as they are available. Keep watching!

(Thanks to the VERY talented Stephanie Olsen for the beautiful logo design)

College...the final frontier..

Hello all!

First of all, I want to welcome the prospective students who are here for Orientation. Reinhardt is a great place to learn and a great place to be, and we encourage you to make the most of your time here! We here at the library are always seeking out new resources for you, exploring new databases, boldly going--oh, wait. I started to sound too much like Star Trek for a second there. It's true, though--we do want to help you on your four-year mission. We hope you'll take advantage of the great resources we have. (Consider us the "bridge" to your academic enterprises! OK, I'm done with the Trek references, I promise).

I've got some great news about some of the events Reinhardt College is planning this upcoming academic year. I'm going to make an "official" blog posting about it on Monday, but first I want to share with you some pictures (above) of our newest displays. These are authentic artifacts from North American Indigenous Peoples, all from the personal collection of library director Michael Martinez.

Have a great weekend (live long and prosper)!

Summertime at Reinhardt...

Hey, Reinhardt students!

It's true the fall semester doesn't officially start until August 24, but the summer is a beautiful time to be at Reinhardt! I know I personally enjoy the more relaxed pace (and the library's air conditioning). If you are in the area, stop by. There's no waiting for a computer, and you can get first dibs on some of our new books.

Above is a picture of the Near East crepe myrtles outside the library. They are almost in full bloom and the scent is heavenly! Thanks to our Reinhardt horticulturist Zach White for the picture, and for keeping our campus in beautiful bloom all year long.

(Even if you can't get to the Waleska campus this summer, you can pay a virtual visit through Zach's blog about the Burgess Arboretum)!

See ya around!

"The African-American Experience" database now available

Hello! I'm back, did you miss me? ;)

I have another new database to show you. We recently subscribed to The African American Experience database. This database was selected by Library Journal as one of the "best online reference" products, giving it "an 11 [out of 10] for its extraordinary combination of content and design."
The African American Experience is a full-text digital resource exploring the history and culture of African Americans, as well as the greater Black Diaspora. The stated goals of the collection are "to provide rock-solid information from authorities in the field, and to allow African Americans to speak for themselves through a wealth of primary sources."

The African American Experience contains full-text content from more than 400 titles,over 2000 images, 5,000 primary sources, and 250 vetted Web sites. Included in the collection are more than 3,000 interviews with former slaves, indexed and fully searchable. The collection is updated twice a year with additional titles.

Our Education majors will be pleased to know that the site includes lesson plans and topic guides for use in the classroom! Check them out.

Reinhardt Library at Night

An example of "Head-Tilting Art" by one of our favorite patrons (and one of my favorite artists) Dimitri Walker, '09. I hope this will soon be displayed with honor at the Hill Freeman Library and Spruill Learning Center. Way to go Dimitri!