WE'VE MOVED

The library blog has a new site: http://blogs.reinhardt.edu/library/ . Please join us there for all-new content! Of course you are still free to browse our older posts at this site.

New library blog site coming soon!

Exciting news! The library blog will soon be moving to a new online "home!" An announcement will be made soon to let you know where you can find us. In the meantime, we would like to share the exciting news that our own Joel Langford has accepted the position of Library Director! We are excited and thrilled to have Joel as our fearless leader, and look forward to many, many great things ahead!

SPRING BREAK LIBRARY HOURS

SPRING BREAK HOURS
M-F 8am to 5pm
CLOSED Saturday 3/3, Sunday 3/4, and Saturday 3/10.
We will reopen our normal business hours at 2pm on Sunday, March 11.
Have a safe and fun break, everyone!

Andrew Young donates DVD collection to the library

Reinhardt University was honored January 7th with an appearance by former Atlanta mayor and Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young. You can read more about Ambassador Young's visit here.

Before he left, Ambassador Young presented the university with a collection of his Emmy-winning series of documentaries Andrew Young Presents. The titles are "Tanzania: Stories of Life," "Rwansa Rising," "what's Wrong with Nigeria?," "Howe We Got Over," "Leaving Selma" and "Stars Fell On Alabama," "Change in the Wind," "In the Footsteps of Gandhi," "Willie B.: The Greatest Ape," "Continent of Opportunity," and "Walking with Guns." These DVDs are now in the library and available for checkout. This donation promises to be engaging and enlightening for our faculty and our students for years to come, and we are very grateful to Ambassador Young. Come check them out! I know I will.

Black History Month display honors military

Greetings all!

In honor of Black History Month, please come by the Hill Freeman Library and check out our special themed display: "American Heroes." This display contains books spotlighting the contributions of African Americans in our nation's armed forces, from both sides of the Civil War to the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII up to the present conflicts. Most of these are from our Triplett Military History Collection, which is one of the finest in the region. Come check it out and honor our heroes.

ATTENTION EDUCATION STUDENTS (and teachers, and parents, and babysitters, and "inner children)"

I am excited to tell you about one of our newer databases. Education majors, you will find this resource to be priceless! Picture Book Database brings you bibliographic information about thousands of picture books and illustrated books. This is tailor-made for your curriculum. You can search books based on age level, author, illustrator, artistic media, artistic style, character education, literacy ties (from audience participation to interlocking narratives,predictable patterns to phonemic awareness to rhythm and rhyme and wordplay), literary devices, origin, subjects and themes. You can even search specifically for picture books which have been made into movies. Soon they plan to incorporate Lexile and Accelerated Reading measures.

You can tell the people who designed this database were committed to education, too. Not only is it very user-friendly, it also offers clear instructions on how to search and get the best use out of the database, including a full list of subject terms.

If you want one of the books reviewed on the database and we don't have it in our library, you can always contact Stephanie, our Interlibrary Loan Specialist, and see if she can get it for you. You can email Stephanie at sfo@reinhardt.edu. (Remember to allow time for the book to ship from another library).

You can access Picture Book Database from our library home page. It will be on the right-hand side of the site under "What's New."

I'd love to hear what you all think of this resource! I hope you are as excited about it as I am.

Irish Roots Music Lesson with John Falstaff

Doing anything Monday night? Do you love music? Would you like to hear about the roots of a musical tradition that has informed and inspired artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and Metallica? Then you're in luck! The Year of Ireland and Irish Heritage Program is sponsoring a talk by John Falstaff, the host of "The Celtic Show" on WRFG Atlanta (89.3FM). Mr. Falstaff, a Dublin native, will be at the Hill Freeman Library & Spruill Learning Center on Monday, January 30th, at 6 pm. The music lover and DJ has been sharing his passion for Celtic music on Atlanta's airwaves since the mid-'90s. (I'm completely in awe of the fact that he interviewed Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains--truly the best band I've seen live...EVER). He's also chatted with other luminaries such as Susan McKeown, fiddler Kevin Burke and Riverdance composer Bill Whelan, among others. I can't wait to hear Mr. Falstaff speak!

Happy Holidays! Winter Break Hours

The Hill Freeman Library will be OPEN from 8am to 5pm Dec. 12-16, Dec. 19-22, December 27-30, and January 3-6. We will be closed on weekends. We will also be closed on December 23, December 26 and January 2. We will reopen regular hours on Monday, January 9.

We wish all of our students, faculty, staff and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Laziness…Boredom…Distraction (will your roommate EVER stop talking?)… These are but a few of the vicious brain-eating zombies that can keep your from doing your best in college. Thankfully, the Hill Freeman Library & Spruill Learning Center is here to help! We offer a safe haven from those brain-eaters, with the tools you need to make your year successful! We’re talking 24-hour access to our study areas and online resources, access to over 50,000 print books, access to over 126,000 e-books, and access to nearly 200 databases with 34,000 full-text journals! Best of all, we have trained and dedicated staff members on hand to help you make the best use of these resources. With our help, you can even defeat the most dreaded brain-eaters of all: term papers and final exams!

TOMORROW at 6pm! SPOOKY Irish tales at the Hill Freeman Library!

Halloween is fast approaching. Get into the spooky mood tomorrow evening at 6pm in the Hill Freeman Library for Spooky Irish Tales with storyteller Betsy Doty! This free performance will send a chill up your spine with traditional tales from the darker side of the Emerald Isle. Sponsored by The Year of Ireland and Irish Heritage. (Note: this performance may be too intense for small children, but feel free to bring your "chicken" roommate).

More groups that fight Censorship!

In honor of Banned Books Week, here is a shorhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift list of nonprofit organizations committed to preserving your right to read freely. You can join any one of these to show your support and stay informed about First Amendment issues! (Thanks to the American Library Association for these links).

The Freedom to Read Foundation is the only organization in the US whose primary goal is to protect and promote the First Amendment in libraries. Members receive a quarterky newsletter, The FTRF News.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifThe Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression promotes and protects the free exchange of ideas, particularly those contained in books, by opposing restrictions on the freedom of speech.

The National Coalition Against Censorship is an alliance of 50 national nonprofits, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups that works to educate both members and the public at large about the dangers of censorship and how to oppose it.

And yes, this geek blogger's favorite:

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund works to protect free speech in comics by supporting First Amendment rights for members of the comics community, fans, and professionals alike. (Gotham City Public Library librarian Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, would surely approve).

More ways to defend your right to read

(From Robert Doyle and the American Library Association)

Report censorship to ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom tracks attempts to remove or restrict books across the country. By reporting censorship incidents, you can help identify trends in censorship cases and document responses and solutions to censorship. All identifying information is kept confidential. You can file a report online here.

Attend and participate in public hearings.

Write letters to public officials.

Send a letter or an op-ed article to local news organizations.

Work with community groups--professional associations, civic organization, religious groups--to spread the word about intellectual freedom and ask them to lend public support to efforts to protect the right to read in your community.

Form a coalition to oppose censorship in your community. These folks did.

Seek assistance from national groups.

And importantly, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES. Join the PTA. Join Friends of the Library groups. Participate in Banned Books Week (hey we still have a couple of buttons left).

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."

-- John F. Kennedy. Remarks made on the 20th anniversary of the Voice of America at H.E.W. Auditorium, February 26, 1962

How You Can Protect Your Right to Read: Stay Informed

In honor of Banned Books week, here are some tips from Robert P. Doyle and the American Library Association on how you can arm yourself with information in the fight against censorship:

Be aware of what's happening. When you encounter censorship, be prepare to speak up or let others know. Ask your public, academic or school librarian if there are any current attempts to remove materials from their shelves.

Attend school board, library boards and PTA meetings. Learn about policies governing access to information.

Subscribe to print and online news publications to stay current on First Amendment rights and censorship issues.

Here are a few links to get you started:

The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom:publishes the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom and maintains a blog, a Twitter account and the IFACTION mailing list.

The First Amendment Center: maintains an online First Amendment Library and provides breaking news about First Amendment issues via its RSS newsfeed.

The McCormick Foundation's Post-Exchange has original reporting and commentary on First Amendment and intellectual freedom-related news and also publishes an electronic newsletter aggregating news from around the country and the world on these issues.

"Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas." ~Alfred Whitney Griswold, New York Times, 24 February 1959

We're with the BANNED

“Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting an Establishment of Religion, or Prohibiting the Free Exercise Thereof; or Abridging the Freedom of Speech, or of the Press; or the Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble, and To Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances.”—First Amendment

It's Banned Books Week 2011, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Banned Books Week is a celebration of the freedom to read: not only the freedom to choose what to read, but the freedom to select from the full array of possibilities. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are rooted in the First Amendment. We are fortunate to have a greater quantity and availability of information than ever before, but we must all work to ensure that access to this material is not infringed.

Frequently a challenge is brought against a book out of the desire to protect children from material that someone finds objectionable, usually because the book contains language that is sexual, profane or racially charged. The desire to protect children is commendable. However, it is important that a parent make that decision for his or her own child, and that an adult be able to choose for himself or herself what to read. Banning or challenging a book isn't just someone expressing a point of view: it is an attempt to remove that book from the shelf of a school or library, effectively taking away your ability to make that choice for yourself or for your children!

In honor of Banned Books Week, we in the library have assembled a display of some banned and challenged books, from Huckleberry Finn to Harry Potter, from Twilight to I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. We invite all of you to stop by and have a look. Maybe one of your favorites is in there. Maybe one of your least favorites is in there, too. We hope that you will find the exhibit thought-provoking.

Do you have a favorite banned or challenged book? Come by and tell us! We also have a limited supply of Banned Books Week buttons. Pick one up and advertise your commitment to a free society that reads freely.

“If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.”—On Liberty, John Stuart Mill

“Only the suppressed word is dangerous.”—Ludwig Börne

Year of Ireland speakers THIS THURSDAY in the Library!

Slainte!

The Year of Ireland and Irish Heritage will present two very special programs this Thursday, September 22, and the Hill Freeman Library & Spruill Learning Center is fortunate to host both of them.

At 2pm on the third floor of the library, Dr. Elizabeth Corrie of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University will be here to discuss the East Belfast Mission and provide an overview of religious conflict and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Dr. Corrie traveled to Northern Ireland this past summer as part of Emory's Journeys of Reconciliation program. Dr. Corrie is dedicated to the preparation of young people to become citizens of the world. Her research interests include nonviolent social change, the religious roots of both violence and nonviolence, international peacebuilding initiatives, and character education and moral development in children and youth.

Then at 6pm, also on the third floor of the library, Kevin Conboy will speak on the topic of economic development in Ireland and its ties to the southeastern United States. A dual citizen of Ireland and the United States, Mr. Conboy serves as the president of the Atlanta chapter of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce. He has worked with Irish clients as well as U.S. clients doing business in Ireland, and led a trade mission to Ireland and Northern Ireland in 2007 with Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. He has served as interim president and on the board of directors for the Atlanta St. Patrick's Foundation, a nonprofit group that works with the Atlanta St. Patrick's Day Parade and raises funds for children's charities.


Click here for a complete schedule of upcoming Year of Ireland and Irish Heritage events.

9/11 Remembered

If you have a chance to come by the library today from 2pm to 11pm, Melissa Doyle has put together an excellent display of books on topics related to the attack on America and its aftermath. Something profoundly changed in our nation that day ten years ago. I don't think we ever considered ourselves safe or untouchable again. Most of our students were just children on 9/11. I am very interested to hear their recollections. They may not remember what life was like before that day. Sometimes I can't.

There was division in our country before, and there was division afterward, but for a little while there none of that mattered. We were united in our shock and grief. This blogger had a small daughter who was two days away from celebrating her first birthday, and I wondered what kind of a world we had brought her into. I couldn't envision what 9/11/11 would be like. I am proud to see that ten years later, our flag is still waving.

Maybe with the passage of time, we can reflect on actions we did or did not take personally or as a nation. Not everyone is in agreement with the paths we took. There will always be time for debate on important issues like war and individual liberties. Some of the books in our display can give different perspectives as we wrestle with these questions. I am proud to be associated with an institution of higher learning in which we can discuss these issues seriously and openly. I am even more proud to live in a country where this is possible.

Ten years ago our world changed

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.