Wii Love the Year Of!!!!

Hey kids! We have all these cool books and videos at the library for the "Year of North American Indigenous Peoples," and I know you just want to rush over here in the rain and check them out, right?

Well, of course you do! Especially after we sweeten the deal a little bit... how would you like a chance to win a free Nintendo Wii system? I thought you might!

The Year Of North American Indigenous Peoples (or YONAIP, as I like to call it) is sponsoring a contest. Here's what you have to do:

First, check out and read one of our Year Of books or watch one of our Year Of videos.

Second, write a brief review. It doesn't have to be epic-length, just one long paragraph or two shorter ones.

Third, submit your review to Karen Preslock at kp1@reinhardt.edu

Entries must be received by the 15th of each month to be eligible for that month's contest. Each month's winner will receive a "Year Of" t-shirt (a $15 value) and a 4-gig flash drive. Pretty sweet!

All participants will be entered into a drawing for the Grand Prize-- a Nintendo Wii, to be awarded in April!

Please see a library staff member or email Karen for more details! Good Luck!!!

Read any GOOD books lately?

The Hill Freeman Library and Spruill Learning Center is delighted to announce that the newest book in our collection is The Cult of St. George in Medieval England by Reinhardt College's own professor of History and History Program Coordinator Dr. Jonathan Good.

The book examines how St. George became accepted as the patron saint of England. St. George was not an Englishman, nor is his principal shrine in England. He may never have set foot there. There is some doubt as to whether he even existed, but if he did, he was most likely a Christian marytr in the Eastern Roman Empire during the third or early fourth centuries. Yet during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, he became a national symbol for England, and he remains one to this day.

Dr. Good's book explores the medieval cult of St. George and its role in English nationalism, and how St. George, as a symbol of the crusading knight, was appropriated by English royalty and nobility. Dr. Good also examines the reasons for St. George's enduring role as England's patron, and how the saint even seems to be enjoying a resurgence in popular opinion.

Dr. Good, for his part, says he's very pleased to see The Cult of St. George in print.

"[The book] is based on my dissertation [at the University of Minnesota in 2004],but I did some serious revisions before submitting it to the publisher. The Boydell Press was great to work with and I think they did a wonderful job with the book," Dr. Good says. "I do wish it didn't cost so much, but I have some discount forms if anyone is interested!"

You can find The Cult of St. George [DA 175.G65 2009] in our "New Books" section on the second floor of the library.

"Year Of" Events now posted on the bulletin board

Check out the bulletin board on the main floor of Lawson (in front of the elevators) to see some of what's planned for the "Year Of North American Indigenous Peoples." There will be lots more-- keep watching!!!

PRICE CHECK at the Circulation Desk!

Hello all,

We've changed the prices on some of the services and items available at the library. Color printing (which we can do for you at the desk) is now 50 cents per page, and available to members of the Reinhardt community only. (I understand that most other schools charge 75 cents a page, so even though this is a price increase, it's still a bargain). Photocopies are now a dime instead of a nickel. Highlighters are 50 cents. We are no longer selling headphones (but of course they are still available for checkout).

Is there any good news? YES! Our 1-gig flash drives which were $10.00 apiece last year are now reduced to $5.00!

Of course, using our computers and checking out our books and movies are always free. ;) That's some good news in a recession, right?

New database: The Global Road Warrior

No (perhaps unfortunately), this new database in our collection has nothing to do with Mel Gibson or his famous role as "Mad Max" in the movie The Road Warrior, nor does it chronicle the professional wrestling career of "Hawk" and "Animal", known first as "the Road Warriors" and later as "The Legion of Doom."

However, if you aspire to be a "road warrior" yourself as an international traveler, especially if you're interested in international business, then you may find this resource very helpful.

The Global Road Warrior claims, a trifle immodestly, to be "the ultimate guide to the world." You may have to be the judge of that yourself. Certainly, the site is very easy to navigate. Search for any nation on the planet and find information on a variety of topics: communications (including area codes, cellular providers and postal service information), climate, money and banking (including exchange rates), travel essentials (customs, immunizations, et cetera), health and medical, transportation, culture (divided into social and business sections), security briefings and more.

(I particularly found interesting the section specifically targeting issues for the female business traveler, from suitable attire to personal safety and business strategies. Is it still a man's world? Well, some areas of the world do present their own unique challenges, but for the most part it seems foreign businesswomen are well treated--often accorded a higher status than the country's female citizens).

As I said, the site is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. It's an interesting blend of hard facts (check out its demographic statistics) and practical (if subjective) advice for the traveler. Its city-specific data is limited (the section on the United States, for example, included information on only Chicago, New York, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC, and when I clicked on the Top 10 "Do Not Miss" destinations for the country, they were all in Miami. I can only assume that this is a work-in-progress, and the database will be updated with more information).

Check it out, and let us know what you think! I'm going to go back to planning my fantasy vacations now. I wonder what the exchange rate is like in Jamaica right now...)

Welcome Back Students!

Hey! We missed you! It's good to see the library and the campus full again!

You've probably noticed a few changes. For example, most of the library computers are now reserved for Reinhardt students only. You will need to enter your username and password to log in. For most of you, your username will be your last name and your 5-digit student ID number. Your password will be your 4-digit PIN number.

New students, your username is your last name and 5-digit student ID number, and your password will be your eight-digit date of birth: for example, March 28, 1991 would be 03281991.

These instructions are also posted next to the machines. If you have any problems, IT recommends you try both methods. If you still have difficulty logging in, give IT a call at (770) 720-5555.

Why did we make this change? We wanted to open more computers up for you. After all, you're the reason we're all here! Also, once you log in, you can save your documents to your individual Reinhardt H drive. We recommend you save frequently, as occasional power outages can happen. We've heard the anguished cries of stressed-out students who've lost the term papers they just spent hours writing. We don't want that to happen to you!

If you're a returning Reinhardt student, we would like to take this opportunity to say, "Welcome Back!" If you're a new student (or just new to the library) we want to tell you welcome and let you know that your library staff is here for you. We want to help you make the best of your college years. We're always available to help answer your reference questions and help you take advantage of the many resources we have to offer! We're proud of our collection, proud of our staff, and proud of all of you. This is going to be a great year.

Best wishes and good luck to all of you,

Your Library Staff

PS... Feel free to browse through our blog archive. We've added several new databases this summer, and your library blogger has reviewed many of them for you during those hot, lazy months... See what's new for you!

270 Years Ago Today in Georgia (and Indigenous People's) History

August 21, 1739


1739 James Oglethorpe and Creek chiefs signed the Treaty of Coweta Town at Coweta on the Chattahoochee River. The treaty confirmed--but more clearly defined--the Creeks’ earlier 1733 treaty identifying areas open to British settlement.

(Source: Georgia Historical Society Picture credit: Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries)

Year of North American Indigenous Peoples Events: Fall Semester

Here's what the "Year Of" committee has planned so far for Fall Semester!

On September 24, at 10 am and 7:30 pm, the Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble will be performing at the Falany Performing Arts Center on the Reinhardt College campus. This one-of-a-kind performance group represents the Plains nations of Lakota, Anishinabe and Comanche, the Southeastern Choctaw and the Woodlands nations of Ojibwe and Oneida. The first 50 Reinhardt students to attend this show get in free with their Eagle card! Children's tickets for the 10 am performance will only be $5.

Also in late September, the college will host Dr. Tanis Thorne, a history lecturer at the University of California-Los Angeles. Dr. Thorne specializes in Native American history.

On November 19, Native Sun News editor Tim Giago will speak on the evolution of oral tradition into written tradition. Mr. Giago founded the Lakota Times and the Lakota Journal, and was the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association. He has received many professional awards, is a member of the South Dakota Hall of fame and the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame, and holds honorary doctorates from Bacone College in Oklahoma and from the Nebraska Indian Community College at Winnebago, NE. His books include The Aboriginal Sin and Notes from Indian Country Volumes I and II. He has appeared on national television, in national magazines and has lectured at many colleges and universities including Harvard, MIT, UCLA, University of Illinois, Boise State, Chadron State, Bacone College, Nebraska Indian Community College, Florida A&M, University of Colorado, Navajo Community College at Shiprock, NM and Miami of Ohio University, among others. Reinhardt College is certainly proud to join that number!

There will be a film-and-discussion series at 2 pm on Thursdays in the Funk Heritage Center’s theater. The following films are scheduled for fall semester: Sept. 3, Windwalker; Sept. 10, Black Robe; Sept. 17, The Last of the Mohicans; Sept. 24, The New World; Oct. 1, Drums Along the Mohawk; Oct. 8, Dances with Wolves; Oct. 15, Cheyenne Autumn; Oct. 22, Fort Apache; Oct. 29, Geronimo: An American Legend; Nov. 5, I Will Fight No More Forever; Nov. 12, Little Big Man; Nov. 19, Soldier Blue; Dec. 3, Crazy Horse; Dec. 10, Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy.

New Facebook group focuses on library services for indigenous peoples

As this is relevant both to libraries and to our "Year Of" topic, I thought I would plug it here.

IFLA SIG on Indigenous Matters
from the Facebook page

A group for those interested in library services for and with indigenous peoples. All are invited to join; you need not be an institutional or personal member of IFLA. The group includes indigenous members and those who support these issues.

The Group is one vehicle for discussion for members of the IFLA SIG on Indigenous Matters, formally established in December 2008. The SIG evolved out of IFLA Past President Alex Bryne's Presidential Task Force on Indigenous Matters, a focus on library services for the traditional owners of the land. Indigenous peoples know who they are. The IFLA SIG will host face-to-face meetings at the annual IFLA conference each summer.

Discussion threads may cover a variety of topics from news alerts to calls for papers and conference attendance. Your participation may reflect your interests, activities, and learning styles. Our goal is to promote exchange on information services for and with indigenous populations. As such, our information exchange focuses in a positive direction on services today with an eye on the future while honoring the past. As with other indigenous gatherings, we gather with respect for each other, generosity in spirit, and a desire to improve the lives of the next generation.

Dr. Loriene Roy is the first Convener of this IFLA SIG. She is Anishinabe (Ojibwe), enrolled on the White Earth Reservation, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Her father was makwa or bear clan and a member of Mississippi Band of Ojibwe. Her mother is Pembina Band.

You might be a wordster if

If you get excited when you find out that the Hill Freeman Library and Spruill Learning Center is now subscribing to the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary, you just might be a wordster.

If you are, you're not alone! Library director Michael Martinez told me he's received more feedback from the Reinhardt faculty about this addition than about any other database we've purchased.

I have to admit, I'm an OED geek myself--as you may know if you've ever approached me at the circulation desk and asked me to help you find the definition or etymology of a word. I will usually--and gleefully--take you straight to the 20-volume set we have in the reference section. Of course, now you can simply follow the link from our home page.

One of my joys in using the dictionary (okay, I admit I may be a little weird) is simply browsing through it. After I've found the word I needed, I'll often get distracted and read the adjacent entries. Well, I can do that in the online OED as well. There's also a word-of-the-day feature (today's word: chap, 1. Either of the two bones (with its covering of muscles, skin, etc.) which form the mouth; a jaw; also either half of the bill of a bird, or you can click the "lost for words" button and get a random word and its definition (I got sandboard, hexameter and couch).

I'm so excited I believe I'll celebrate by rereading the fascinating nonfiction book The Professor and the Madman: a tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester. You can find this book in our collection under the call number PE1617.O94W56 1998.

Have fun, wordsters!

Just thought I'd mention

Pat Conroy's new book, South of Broad, arrived today. It's in the new books section. I knew some of you would like to know, especially as I blogged about the Southern Living article the other day.

Don't know much about geography...

...but maybe I can change that!

I've just spent the last 15 minutes or so simultaneously educating and humiliating myself by playing the map games on our new database A to Z Maps Online. It definitely hurt my pride to see that I embody some of the worst stereotypes of Americans' grasp of world geography. That said, it was interesting to see which areas I knew better than others. When I played the Africa game, I found myself reasonably well-educated about the northern part of the continent. I could identify the countries based on a lifetime of watching news coverage of the Middle East. I could make some educated guesses about the extreme southern region from my knowledge of The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series. That only left, well, most of the continent a blank. Fortunately, the more I played the games, the more answers I got right, and I think I improved my geographical knowledge considerably in a short period of time. Yes, all in the name of research, folks. (It was also fun).

The games alone would make this site a useful means of study, but the games represent only a small area of the database. There are maps here you can use in almost any subject of study: antique maps, plant and animal maps, fishing maps, climate change maps, current event maps, geology maps, environmental maps, holy land maps, weather maps, NASA maps and others. There are teaching tools such as lesson plans and puzzle handouts for you Education majors.

There's also a database of flags from all over the world, including state and provincial flags, national flags and flags of international organizations. I think you may be interested in using maps for your reports, and flags could be good illustrations for your PowerPoint presentations. There is just a wealth of information available, and I highly recommend you make use of this site during the upcoming school year.

The first day of classes is just 18 days from now! I can't believe it!

A record worth breaking....

Library fan nears 25,000th book

Bon voyage, Loose Lip Larry!

Well, Reinhardt folks, today marks the end of an era at Reinhardt College. Our beloved chef, "Loose Lip" Larry Speights, departs from the Gordy Center and Reinhardt College's food service to realize his dream. He'll be opening a restaurant here in Waleska. I can guarantee if the new place is both infused with Larry's personality and serves up Larry's good cooking, it's going to be THE place to be around here--aside from the library of course.

If you need something to tide you over until Loose Lip's restaurant opens, I have three suggestions: 1) go to the grocery store and pick up a bottle of one of Loose Lip Larry's signature sauces (I can't wait to try his "Slap Yo' Mama" wing sauce), 2) visit Larry's Web site at www.looseliplarrys.com, and 3) check out his cookbook Loose Lip Larry presents You Can Cook Too: the Passion for Cooking. Of course, I have my own sauce-spattered copy of Larry's book, but we also have a copy available for checkout here at the library (TX652 .S65 2007 on the third floor).

Good luck, Larry. Your Reinhardt family loves you!