Check out Irish music in the library!

Cead Mile Failte! A hundred thousand welcomes to you!

As part of the Year of Ireland celebration at Reinhardt, the library has several CDs of Irish music on reserve for your listening pleasure. These range from very traditional tunes to music about the Irish immigrant experience, from Celtic/country fusion that reveals the roots of Appalachian music to the Pogues and Dropkick Murphys for those who like a little punk with their world music.

Currently we have "Another Country," "Further Down the Old Plank Road," and "The Essential Chieftains" by the Chieftains. We also have the concert video for "Another Country", in which the Chieftains perform with Nashville stars such as Ricky Skaggs, Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris. (I must add from personal experience, if you ever have a chance to see these fellows perform live, TAKE IT)! We also have The Pogues: Very Best Of, The Green Fields of America, Dropkick Murphys: The Singles Collection, and Gaelic Storm: Special Reserve (you may remember Gaelic Storm as the "steerage band" in the movie "Titanic"). More music will likely be added to these. The CDs are kept behind the circulation desk and are available for two-hour checkout.

Here's a preview of some of the offerings:





And this one you may recall from the Subaru commercial where the hockey mom shuttles her kids around:



Just ask at the desk to see any of these CDs!

Get ready for the Year of Ireland and Irish Heritage

A blogger named McGee can't help being excited about this year's "Year Of" program, so much so that I gave the blog a green makeover for the occasion!

As most of you probably know, the "Year Of" program focuses each year on a different region of the world. Through cross-disciplinary study and special events, students gain understanding of different cultures' faiths, practices, beliefs, social norms, art, literature, businesses and geographies. Since its beginning in 2003, the "Year Of" program has explored the Americas, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia, the Mediterranean, the Indigenous Peoples of North America, Oceania, and now Ireland and the Irish diaspora. The "Year Of" program helps prepare members of the Reinhardt community to become true "citizens of the world."

"The 'Year Of' program is extremely important because it allows the students, the faculty and the staff to explore and learn about different regions, different cultures and different peoples they would probably never learn about in ordinary circumstances: their cultures, beliefs, lifestyles, histories, folktales and literature," said Michael Martinez, director of the Hill Freeman Library and Spruill Learning Center and chair of the Year of Ireland committee. "With this new understanding, hopefully everyone will come to better realize that even though people have different languages, live in different areas and have different beliefs, we are still people of one world, and must learn to coexist in...peace and harmony."

Of this year's subject, Martinez said, "Ireland is extremely interesting because there are a lot of people in this region whose ancestors came from Ireland and intermixed with other cultures and the native population. You must understand your past if you are going to have any kind of a future."

The first major event for the Year of Ireland is a visit from speaker Kevin Conboy on September 22 at 6pm right here in the library. Mr. Conboy is a dual citizen of Ireland and the United States and the current president of the Atlanta chapter of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce. He will be speaking on economic development in Ireland and its ties to the southeastern United States. On October 18, just in time for Halloween, acclaimed storyteller Betsy Doty will be here to tell spooky and traditional Irish tales. The event to which I'm looking forward the most is the visit from the Atlanta Irish Music School in February. After their performance the group will lead attendees in a brief Irish dancing lesson! You can also look forward to an Irish Country Fair in March, timed to coincide with St. Patrick's Day.

There will be a film and discussion series again this year, starting with the comedy Waking Ned Devine on September 15. Other movies scheduled for this semester will be Michael Collins, My Left Foot, Circle of Friends and The Kings. Watch this space for further information about the film series.

We will be having the "Year Of" essay contest again this year. To enter, submit an original essay on an Ireland-related subject to Stephanie Olsen in the library. This can be a review of an Irish movie, book, or "Year of" event, a paper written for a class, or original research of your own. The essay must be at least a page in length. The writers of the best essays of each month will receive a Year of Ireland t-shirt (designed by our own Ms. Olsen) and be entered into a drawing for a Nintendo Wii to be given away at the end of the year.

We will also be having periodic Irish trivia questions. This month's trivia question is "According to Celtic mythology, who had four eyes in her back and led the Fomorii into battle against Partholon?" If you think you know the answer, email Stephanie at sfo@reinhardt.edu. A winner will be chosen each week from among the correct responses; this winner will also be awarded a Year Of Ireland t-shirt. The luck of the Irish be with you!

For more information about the Year of Ireland, see the official page here. I will also be keeping this space updated with Year of Ireland events and activities. Slán leat!

Welcome back! Happy New Year!

It is so good to walk out on the Reinhardt campus, blinking into the light to see the place filled with students again! We've missed you this summer. Stop by and tell us of all your adventures, and we'll be happy to clue you in about what's been going on here. We have a lot of exciting events planned for the Year of Ireland and Irish Heritage, and some new resources for you as well.

There's something about the beginning of a new school year. It's like New Year's Day. It's a chance to make a fresh start. Do you have any "new year's resolutions" for 2011-2012? Whatever they may be, there's a very good chance that we can help. Take a look at your class schedule, and then come by the library and scout out the resources you'll need. We'll be here to help you every step of the way from First Day to graduation and beyond.

Library resources are music to dean's ears

When Dr. Dennis McIntire, Interim Dean and Assistant Dean of the School of Music, first came to Reinhardt in the fall of 2003, the music department was part of the School of Communication, Arts and Music. Dr. McIntire came to help start the music education program. “We had 17 music majors,” he said. “Now we have just over 100 undergraduate music majors and 18 graduate students.” The music program currently offers a Master of Music Degree in the fields of Conducting, Music Education and Piano Pedagogy, with evening and summer classes to accommodate working teachers.
Dr. McIntire says he is pleased with what Reinhardt’s library offers his students. “There are wonderful databases. We have an excellent representation. I think we have everything that Alexander Street [Publishing] offers. We don’t have to buy CDs because we can do all of our listening through the databases.” When asked to pick a favorite music database, Dr. McIntire shook his head. “I like all of them.” He did indicate that he’s found Naxos Music Library to be particularly helpful, that many students have discovered Opera in Video, and that the graduate students appreciate the International Index to Music Periodicals and Oxford Music Online, the home of Grove Music Online.
The music databases are accessible to faculty and students anywhere with Internet access, but those aren’t the only library resources at the music program’s fingertips. Many resources are housed at the music library, located at the Falany Performing Arts Center. These materials are not for check out and must be used in the library. “The music library runs on the honor system, and it works on the honor system,” Dr. McIntire said. He is beginning his ninth year at Reinhardt, and he said in all that time the music library hasn’t lost anything as far as he can tell. The books and other materials are all catalogued in the library’s system, and student workers come in regularly to shelve books and keep things tidy. There students have access to monument editions of the collected works of major composers (a collection that grows every year), music education resources and four computer stations where students can do research. “And if that’s not enough, the piano lab upstairs has twelve more computer stations,” Dr. McIntire added.
The music department is currently preparing for the process of renewing its accreditation with the National Association of Schools of Music. “When they came five years ago, one of the evaluators was from [a major state university] and he was astounded. We have a lot of stuff that they didn’t have,” Dr. McIntire said. “We have as much or more than all the schools around us, plus our music library is very friendly, open and accessible. It’s important that the library is here. Our faculty can walk down the hall, take something and use it for a class. It’s a very hands-on library.”