So, while you're at home over the break...

See if you have any of these lying around. Under the bed perhaps? ;)

Library Holiday Hours

Week of December 13th: Open Monday-Friday 8 am-5 pm

Week of December 21st: Open Monday-Wednesday 8 am-5 pm

Week of December 28th: Open by appointment only-- please call (770) 720-9120 for admittance

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

(Of course our 24-hour areas of the library are always open for Reinhardt students, faculty and staff with Eagle cards)!

US Government Offers $3.4 Billion Settlement?

Hello all,
Heard this on NPR this morning. A good sign? A fair settlement? Or beads for Manhattan: too little, too late? Or is anything better than nothing? Let's discuss!

After A History Of Mistrust, $3.4B For Indians
by Liz Halloran
December 8, 2009
For most of its 122-year history, the government trust fund program that pays American Indians royalties for use of their land has been a tragic mess, plagued by bureaucratic mismanagement and accusations of flat-out theft.

Tribal members have long contended that they are owed billions of dollars in unpaid dues for farming, grazing, timber-cutting and other government leases on their land dating back to the 1887 federal act that broke up reservations and gave Indians individual parcels.

Records about who owns — and are owed — are scattered across the country in remote locations and dusty files, or simply don't exist.

And many tribal elders waiting for their rightful recompense have been dying in poverty.

That, perhaps more than anything, says Indian activist Elouise Cobell, is what persuaded her to agree this week to settle her 13-year legal fight to force the government to account for what's due to a half-million Indian landowners, and to pay up.

She joined administration officials Tuesday in announcing an agreement under which the government would spend about $3.4 billion to pay out a fraction of the unpaid royalties claimed in the lawsuit, and to help tribes acquire small, Indian-owned parcels to establish larger, more usable tracts.

Read the rest of the article here.

Day of Infamy: December 7, 1941

Today is, of course, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. We have several books and films available about the attack and its aftermath. Many of these are new to the library, part of the Triplett Memorial Military History Collection. Here are just a few of our newest additions...

Books
Book of War by Dwight John Zimmerman
Rising Sons: the Japanese American-American GIs who Fought for the United States in World War II by Bill Yenne
Just Americans: How Japanese Americans Won a War at Home and Abroad by Robert Asahina

Films
"WWII"
"Tora! Tora! Tora!"
"Attack on Pearl Harbor: a Day of Infamy"
"Air Power"
"Memories of War"
"December 7th: the Movie"

These materials and others are currently available from the Triplett Memorial Military History Collection at Reinhardt College. More are being added to our circulating collection on a daily basis!

"Year Of" History Moment: December 6, 1830

On December 6, 1830, President Andrew Jackson delivered his second State of the Union address, in which he praised the Indian Removal Act passed that year.

"It gives me pleasure," Jackson said, "to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the government... in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation" (emphasis mine).

This address particularly demonstrated the paternalism Jackson felt toward the indigenous nations. Those native leaders who protested removal (such as Chief John Ross of the Cherokee, Speckled Snake of the Muscogee and George W. Harkins of the Choctaw) obviously did not understand how being forcibly ejected from their own homelands was really for their own good.

"The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the United States, to individual States, and to the Indians themselves..." Jackson said. "Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more friendly feeling than myself, or would go further in attempting to reclaim them from their wandering habits and make them a happy, prosperous people." Jackson also claimed that the Cherokee and Choctaw had with "great unamity" agreed to accept the "liberal offers" presented to them by the US government.

Ross, on the other hand, made it very clear in his 1836 letter to Congress that the Treaty of New Echota, which dictated the terms of Cherokee removal, was not authorized by the Cherokee Nation. "The instrument in question is not the act of our Nation; we are not parties to its covenants; it has not received the sanction of our people. The makers of it sustain no office nor appointment in our Nation, under the designation of Chiefs, Head men, or any other title, by which they hold, or could acquire, authority to assume the reins of Government..."

Harkins, in an 1831 letter to the American people, compared his people's situation to a man, led on by false pretenses, finding himself lost and surrounded on all sides by fire and water. "The fire was certain destruction, and a feeble hope was left him of escaping by water. A distant view of the opposite shore encourages the hope; to remain would be inevitable annihilation. Who would hesitate, or who would say that his plunging into the water was his own voluntary act?"

Most of the displaced indigenous peoples rightly opposed removal. Some, such as the Cherokee, tried legal channels, taking their case to the Supreme Court (they won, but were forcibly removed anyway). Some, like the Seminoles in Florida and the Sacs and Foxes in the Midwest, tried to resist by force. But in the end, Jackson had his way.


Sources: Fighting Words: Competing Voices from Native America, edited by Dewi Ioan Bell and Joy Porter; The Trail of Tears and Indian Removal by Amy H. Sturgis; and Encyclopedia of American Indian Civil Rights, edited by James S. Olson, Mark Baxter, Jason M. Tetzloff and Darren Pierson.

All of these documents were found on American Indian Experience, an excellent database we have from Greenwood Publishing. I can't urge you enough to give it a look. It's fascinating and profoundly touching to read primary documents from this time in particular, to read the actual words of the peoples affected. Recommended!

"Year Of" Movie TODAY at 2 pm: Crazy Horse

The Year of North American Indigenous Peoples committee would like to invite all of you to come out to today's film, Crazy Horse, about the Lakota warrior who helped defeat General Custer at the battle of Little Bighorn. The 1996 biopic from Turner Pictures was nominated for two Primetime Emmys and an Eddie award from American Cinema Editors USA. The movie will be shown in the theater at the Funk Heritage Center. Library director and "Year Of" chairman Michael Martinez will be on hand to offer his comments and answer questions. This will be the last "Year Of" movie for the semester.

Remember: write a review of any "Year Of" book or movie, and you could win a t-shirt, a flash drive or even a Wii! Click here for more information about the Year of North American Indigenous Peoples and the contest!

More help for the panicked-- from Reinhardt's own Dr. Emanuel!

Here are some finals tips from Dr. Catherine Emanuel, Director of the Center for Student Success at Reinhardt:

Like voting, studying should be done early and often. If you feel as if you do not understand the material, come to the Center for Student Success or tune in to your Reinhardt email for study groups that are occurring throughout this week.

Mix it up---Take different approaches to studying. Read, copy notes, make outlines, teach difficult concepts to other people in the class, make mind-maps for difficult to remember material. Figure out your best learning method--hearing, seeing, teaching, speaking, writing, synthesizing notes--and make use of that technique.

Do not pull all-nighters! Make a To-Do list and reward yourself for studying and for reading, but do not expect to retain all the information you glean from last-minute cramming.

Study different parts of the upcoming exam in different places. By changing locale, you can remember where you were when studying and you may dredge up the material by associating setting with material.

Ask professors to explain difficult concepts, and also ask them for the format of the test. You will study differently for a multiple choice test than you would for a discussion one.

Eat healthily and get plenty of rest. Postpone your social life for a week and a half. The friends will still be there, but the opportunity to do well in the course will not.

Dr. Emanuel has also provided us with a list of review/study sessions being held today. They are:

Dr. Martinez's Old Testament final exam study session: 2 and 3 pm in Tarpley 109

Dr. Ast's History 111 final exam study session: 2 pm in Tarpley 111

Dr. Wheeler's History 251 final exam study session: 4 pm right here in Library 311

Take advantage of these study sessions, and stop by the Center for Student Success in Lawson 35 if you need more help. Throughout the semester they have tutors to assist you, as well as advice and support on how to make the best of your academic career at Reinhardt. They have the tools to help you succeed!

Help for the Panicked!!!

I'm convinced now that Dr. Laurie Rozakis of Farmingdale State College of Farmingdale, NY, is the GURU of test-taking. I was just enjoying her book Test-Taking Strategies & Study Skills for the Utterly Confused (copyright 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc), which, fortunately for us we have available as an e-book through NetLibrary, when our public services librarian Karen Preslock walked up and handed me Dr. Rozakis' Super Study Skills: the Ultimate Guide to Tests and Studying (copyright 2002 by Scholastic, Inc), which we have on Reserve. Super Study Skills seems to be aimed more toward middle and high schoolers and has a lot of general study tips, while Test-Taking Strategies is more appropriate for the college student concerned about finals (we don't know any of those, do we?). Both have some great advice that you can use to make the best of your exams.

In both books, Dr. Rozakis offers a Power Study Plan, which I love. Yesterday I posted the final exam schedule. Did you think that was when your exams started? No, your exam starts NOW--when you start preparing for it. Making a plan can help you make the most of your study time (and, we hope, eliminate the need for the classic all-nighter before the final).

Step one of the Power Study Plan starts four days before the test. Reread your notes and the textbook.

Step two is done three days before the test. Skim your notes and the text, and recite the important points aloud. (It really does help to say the words and listen to yourself say them. I might not even shush you for it! Just don't do it so loudly you disturb the other students, please).

Step three: Two days before the test, recite the key points without looking at your notes, and then check to make sure you're right.

Step four: Finals Eve! Dr. Rozakis suggests you make a sample test and answer the questions, or have someone quiz you. Skim your notes and the text again, and identify the most important points. (Lay out your clothes and supplies the night before to minimize morning stress, and get a good night's sleep)!

Step five: Test Day! If you have time before the test, skim your notes one last time. Take a deep breath and relax! I know you can do it!

Check out Dr. Rozakis' books for yourself, and remember to ask us if you need help. Good luck!

Or, as I like to call it, our library's "tourist season"....

FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE-- FALL 2009

MONDAY, DEC. 7:

MWF 10 am classes will have finals from 8 am to 11 am. TuTh 9:30 am classes will have finals from 11:15 am to 2:15 pm. MW 2:30 pm classes will have finals from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

TUESDAY, DEC. 8:

MWF 8 am classes will have finals from 8 am to 11 am. TuTh 11 am classes will have finals from 11:15 am to 2:15 pm. MW 4 pm classes will have finals from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 9:

TuTh 8 am classes will have finals from 8 am to 11 am. MWF 9 am classes will have finals from 11:15 am to 2:15 pm. TuTh 12:30 pm classes will have finals from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

THURSDAY, DEC. 10:

MWF 11 am classes will have finals from 8 am to 11 am. TuTh 4 pm classes will have finals from 11:15 am to 2:15 pm. MW 1 pm classes will have finals from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

FRIDAY, DEC. 11

MWF noon classes will have finals from 8 am to 11 am. Friday 1-3:45 pm classes will have finals from 11:15 am to 2:15 pm.

REMEMBER we are here to help you! Check out our delicious.com page for some helpful study tips! GOOD LUCK!