Goodbye Rachel
July 16, 2008
Everyone at Doherty Library wishes to extend our congratulations to Rachel Matre on the occasion of her marriage. Unfortunately, Rachel has decided to move to Alabama to be with her husband, and so leaves a hole in our staff and, more importantly, our hearts. Rachel has been reference librarian at UST for just over seven years and reference coordinator for four. We will miss her enthusiasm, her passion for research and her dogged determination to find the answer to any question. We also wish her the best as she begins this new phase in her life. (Oh, and Happy Birthday too, Rachel!)
Mary
The Quill’s Quote for Today
June 10, 2008
“It has been well-stated that books rank next to the Sacraments and prayers as channels of grace to the soul. Very often it is the privilege of the librarian to keep that channel open, or direct the reader to it”
Summer Library Exhibit: Holy Cards
May 29, 2008
Doherty library’s summer exhibit features holy cards. Come by to view and learn about these enduring artifacts of Catholic visual culture. UST faculty and staff members have loaned cards from their own personal collections for the exhibit. Location: Doherty lobby exhibit cases during regular library hours. Duration: May 28 - August 15, 2008.
Rachel
Join Us for Summer Reading at Doherty
May 14, 2008
On Pilgrimmage by Jennifer Lash is Chosen for 2008 Summer Reading.
Program kick-off date: May 29, 2008
What’s it about? On Pilgrimage is the story of a journey that novelist Jennifer Lash takes alone after she was diagnosed and treated for cancer. Lash is a lapsed Catholic who left the Church when she opted for sterilization after the birth of her seventh child. Lash speaks with great admiration and respect for the Faith and the faithful. There is nothing polemic, dogmatic or heretical for either Catholics or non-Catholics, but sensitive readers should be aware that on a pilgrimage through Europe, Lash visits places important to the Catholic faith and that Lash does not always present orthodox theology. Lash is the mother of the actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes. Since the publication of the book, Lash has passed away.
Summer Reading Events: The summer reading program will kick off Thursday May 29th with a free luncheon from 12-1pm at Doherty. Book discussions will follow at the Black Lab beginning at 5:15 on Thursday June 26th and continuing on Thursday July 24th (Black Lab events are ”BYOBA” - Buy your own beer and appetizers!).
Writers’ Reading Series: Remembering JGK.
Please join Dr. Janet Lowery in remembering our mentor, friend, and former MLA Dean Dr. Janice Gordon-Kelter. The evening will include Dr. Lowery reading poetry selections about Janice, and further selections from Dr. Lowery’s collection of poetry, Traffic in Women, dedicated to JGK. The collections of poetry and a broadside of the poem “In Memorium: Janice Gordon-Kelter,” suitable for framing, will be on sale after the reading. A reception will follow. All proceeds from the sale of the broadside will benefit the Doherty library.
This event is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Moran Center parking garage at the corner of Graustark and West Alabama. For more information call 713-525-6915.
Happy Birthday Library of Congress
April 24, 2008
April 22-24, 1800: The Library of Congress Established
On April 22, 1800, the Library of Congress began with an appropriation of $5,000. by Congress for the purchase of books and furnishings for a reading room. The bill became law on April 24, 1800 when John Adams signed the act designating the funds “for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress and for putting up a suitable apartment for containing them therein….” (2 Stat. 56). Booksellers Cadell & Davies of London sent the first order of 152 books to the U.S. in December of that year. Ironically, it was the British who later burned the entire collection of around 3,000 volumes in August, 1814 when they invaded Washington, DC during the War of 1812.
Rachel
National Library Week April 13 – 19, 2008
April 11, 2008
National Library Week is April 13 – 19, 2008
Join us @ Doherty library for some fun and games:
Monday, April 14th ◊ “How Many Books?”
Tuesday, April 15th ◊ “Book Hangman”
Wednesday, April 16th ◊ “Crossword / Search A Word”
Thursday, April 17th ◊ “The Scavenger Hunt”
Friday, April 18th ◊ “Famous First Lines”
Come to the Circulation desk of the Library for details
Defense for Darfur Library Exhibit
April 10, 2008
Sudan region of Africa. Conflicts in the Darfur region stretch back many decades, yet most Americans remain ignorant of the complex ethnic, cultural and political factors which have brought on the tragic bloodshed. The exhibit features photos, facts and statistics and is scheduled to run until May 20, 2008. Find out more: Link to the United Nations News Centre, Sudan for the latest regional developments.
Rachel
We Recommend…
March 19, 2008
The American Presidency Project
I was recently reminded of the complete awesomeness of
The American Presidency Project web site while building the Political Science research guide for Doherty library. And since some of you may have better things to do than explore our library pathfinders (as if…) I wanted to also feature it in the library’s news blog.
The American Presidency Project began in 1999 as a collaboration between John Woolley and Gerhard Peters at the University of California Santa Barbara. It is an online archive of over 76,800 documents related to the U.S. Presidency. This site is a treasure trove of primary sources, including executive orders & proclamations, state of the union addresses, presidential addresses to the United Nations & to foreign legislatures, press conferences, veto statements, Saturday radio addresses, and more. The archive contains both text and audio, allowing users to listen to everything from FDR’s fireside chats, or his stirring June 6, 1944 “Prayer on D-Day,” all the way up to to George W. Bush’s recent “Address to the Nation on the War in Iraq.” The Project covers all 43 administrations and also includes official public papers of the presidents.
Another feature of the Project is its summary data on presidential elections. Data is currently available from 1828 through the 2004 election. There’s even a special collection of documents related to the 2000 election dispute (Gore v Bush / Florida). Users navigate the site by keyword searching, browsing by catagory or they can go directly to a public paper, execuitve order or proclamation by searching its official number.
Rachel
Everybody wants Facebook fans…and we do too!
February 25, 2008
Doherty library has a new Facebook page. So go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Houston-TX/Doherty-Library-University-of-St-Thomas/7287576594 and become a fan! You can also link to the library’s research guides and catalog through Facebook.Doherty. The library also hosts two book groups on Facebook. One is for discussion of Catholic Fiction and the other is a general-interest book club called Parnassus. Parnassus was the home of Apollo and the Muses and is traditionally thought of as a place where people gather for literature, music, art, and ideas. All UST Facebook members are welcome to visit and join in the discussions. One of the first discussions is what classic book do you loathe that you are “supposed” to think is GREAT LITERATURE? Join us at Parnassus and let your thoughts be known.
Mary
Yet More Online Journals!
February 25, 2008
The following journals are now available online directly through the publisher. The most current issues of these journals are available - no embargoes! Go to our Journal Holdings A-Z to access them
Annals of the Association of American Geographers
Christian Bioethics
Educational Studies
Irish Studies Review
Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media
Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
Journal of Family Communication
Journal of Literacy Research
Journal of Mass Media Ethics
Journal of Media Economics
Journal of Medicine and Philosophy
Journal of Personality Assessment
Peabody Journal of Education
Rhetoric Review
Rhetorical Society Quarterly
Southern Communication Journal
Teaching of Psychology
The Educational Forum
The International Journal of Human Rights
The Professional Geographers
Theory into Practice
Mathematical Programming
Environmental Management
Quarterly Journal of Economics
Review of Economics and Statistics
Daedalus
Mary
Reception in Doherty Library Follows 2008 Lenten Lecture
February 12, 2008
The 2008 Lenten Lecture “Papyrus and Parchment: Technologies of Writing and the Bible” by Dr. Paul Hahn is in Cullen Hall, Wednesday, February 13, 2008 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM. A reception will follow the lecture in Doherty Library, courtesy of the Friends of the Library. For more information, call 713-525-3582.
Melissa Torres
February 7, 2008
Farewell Melissa
It is with mixed feelings of excitement, gratitude, and a little bit of sadness that we announce Melissa Torres’s exit from Doherty library on February 15, 2008. Excitement because she has accepted the Metadata Librarian position at Rice University, a job in which we know she will thrive professionally. Gratitude because we are thankful for the excellent work she has done in Cataloging and Automation here at Doherty. Sadness because we will miss her kind, lively and upbeat presence in our daily work environment. We wish you the best Melissa!
Rachel
The Quill’s Quote for Today
February 7, 2008
“A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life.”
Henry Ward Beecher
Our Holiday Reading Lists
December 12, 2007
What are you reading this Christmas?
Jim Piccininni, Library Director:
I am currently reading China Road: a Journey into the Future of a Rising Power by Rob Gifford. Gifford, who lived in China for several years as an NPR Correspondent, embarks on a road trip across China traveling a continuous stretch of roadway known as Route 312. The book is a fascinating description of his journey along Route 312 as he makes his way from thriving Shanghai to the western border at Kazakhstan. As Gifford writes in chapter three: “In the Western mind, a road trip conjures up images of the 1950’s and ‘60s, of Jack Kerouac, of beatniks and hippies hitting the road to find themselves, or lose themselves, whichever they need to do. In China, traveling by highway is a very new phenomenon, and Chinese people have not yet fallen in love with the open road. Rather, it is a marriage of convenience. They are traveling mainly out of necessity, to find work, in order to feed themselves and their families…”Still, there is a hint of “Kerouac” thrown into China Road and Gifford also gives ample insights into Chinese culture, history and politics. The author skillfully takes conversations he has had with a variety of Chinese citizens, and together with some interesting anecdotes, successfully entertains and enlightens the reader. If you want to travel to modern day China, but lack either the time or money to do so, then China Road can serve as your exit visa out of the West and directly into this dynamic Asian society.
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Rev. George Hosko C.S.B., Inter-Library Loan and Archives:
“I like to read the insightful articles found in First Things: A Journal of Religion ….”
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Dr. Mary Kelleher, Reference and Periodicals:
“Over the holiday I hope to FINALLY get to Maeve Binchey’s newest book, Whitethorn Woods. In this book Binchey returns to her familiar themes of Catholic traditions and the modernization (and secularization) of Ireland. Thus in a small town in Ireland a battle erupts between believers and non-believers over the destruction of a local shrine in order to make way for a new highway. In another return, this time to format, Binchey, in order to tell the story, combines the personal tales of a variety of characters and as Publisher’s Weekly says “orchestrates it into a masterful whole.”
I would also like to read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, as I am now reading Mad Cowboy: The Plain Truth From the Cattle Rancher Who Won’t Eat Meat. The author of the latter, Howard F. Lyman, is the rancher who appeared on the Oprah Show that got her sued by Texas ranchers for defamatory statements about meat.
And I should add, that I usually end up re-reading Pride and Prejudice sometime over the Christmas break. I don’t necessarily intend to, but it happens.”
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Lisa McNamara, Reference and Instruction:
“With the semester finally winding down, I’m looking forward to relaxing at home with my cats and curling up with some good books. Lately I’ve been in the mood for animal stories, so I’m definitely going to read Cleveland Amory’s The Cat Who Came for Christmas and The Cat and the Curmudgeon. Last year, I read Amory’s Ranch of Dreams, which we have at Doherty, and I loved it!
In the fiction category, I’m a bit undecided, but I’ll probably read Richard Russo’s Empire Falls and some low-key British mysteries. For nonfiction, I’d like to read Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, which is about the work of Dr. Paul Farmer in Haiti and beyond.”
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Rachel Matre, Reference and Instruction:
I’m currently reading the novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It is the story of two magicians who emerge in England during the time of the Napoleonic wars. Mr. Strange, the younger and less experienced magician, becomes Mr. Norrell’s pupil. But soon Strange feels confined under Norrell’s tutelage. Their differences lead them to part ways and become rivals. I don’t want to give too much of this wonderful adventure away, so I’ll just add one more thing: Don’t mess with faeries - they are not nice!
What’s next? As usual I have a pile to choose from. First on my list is the nonfiction Her Majesty’s Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage by Stephen Budiansky. I recently read Joanna Denny’s biography Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England’s Tragic Queen and think I will find the intrigues of her daughter’s reign interesting. A couple of weeks ago I listened to an interview with Katherine Ashenburg on NPR which made me want to read her book The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History. As the title implies it’s a social history on standards of cleanliness. From Doherty, I have just checked out Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants (Robert Sullivan). Those three are my non-fiction picks for the holiday.
Under the category “guilty pleasures,” I have Sarah Dunant’s novel In the Company of the Courtesan. It’s a historical romance set in 16th century Venice.
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Pat Gerson, Acquisitions:
“I’m looking forward to a relaxing, peaceful holiday and hope to find some cozy, comfortable books to read. First I’ll start with Louisa May Alcott’s Flower Fables, a book about fairies dedicated to one of the Emerson children in Concord during those “American Bloomsbury” days. Speaking of fairies, I’ll probably look at Cicely Mary Barker’s wonderful illustrations of fairies and flowers from her Flower Fairies series. And speaking of Louisa May Alcott, there’s a mystery series The Louisa May Alcott Mysteries written by Anna Maclean where Louisa solves all kinds of interesting mysteries.
For even more peace and tranquility I might try Mountain Home: The Wilderness Poetry of Ancient China (translated by David Hinton).
And I’m sure I will want to read Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas In Wales to my grandson again this year. There’s not much here that’s either academic or mentally taxing but I promised myself a lot of pure fantasy this year.”
