Book Signing at Doherty

Go Down, Old Hannah: The Living History of African American Texans author Naomi Mitchell Carrier will autograph her book at The University of St. Thomas Doherty Library, 3800 Montrose, February 17th at 7:00 pm.

This groundbreaking publication zooms in on black history with a wide-angle lens on Texas and a telephoto on African Americans. Carrier’s 15 living history plays examine Texas slavery from a new perspective and have been performed for historic sites and museums throughout the state since 1994.

While educators nationwide are sorting through reform initiatives to craft a way to deal with the ugly history of slavery, Carrier’s Appendix is full of lesson plans that reveal how overcoming slavery is a victory for both black people and for America.

The plays in Go Down, Old Hannah cover subject matter ranging from slave celebrations, family breakups, and escapes, to the Civil War, emancipation, and Reconstruction. There is even information on the Underground Railroad from Texas to Mexico. Each play is research-based and performed by Talking Back Living History Theatre as a festival production; for students at universities and schools; for conferences and family reunions; and at libraries and museums. This unique University of Texas Press book is sure to appeal to teachers, historians, Texana enthusiasts, museum administrators, and students looking to fill in some of the missing pages in black history. Production notes make the plays fun and easy for classes to perform.

Go Down, Old Hannah is a bridge, a bridge for cross-cultural communication; a bridge from the past to future communication and understanding. The plays were written to show the interdependence of Texas pioneers and their enslaved; and to show the intelligence and dignity of those denied the freedom of humanity.

Naomi Mitchell Carrier, teacher, researcher, playwright, pianist, composer, and actress is a consummate artist who has worked for thirty years as a classroom teacher and performer to bring a fresh perspective to Texas History.

For more information about the book go to the Texas Center for African American Living History.

Holiday Reading

Here’s our annual list of what members of the Doherty Library staff will be reading over the Christmas break:

Anna Shparberg, Weekend Reference Librarian
I’ll try to finish The Argumentative Indian by the Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen. It argues that the tradition of discussing and questioning authorities as well as multiculturalism lie at the root of the Indian national identity. They make it possible for India to maintain its status as the world’s largest democracy, in spite of its many challenges and flaws. I am also planning to read The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, one of the classics of Japanese literature. It was written by a court lady in Heyan-era Japan (10th-11th centuries AD.) And I’ve ordered a bunch of out-of-print Perry Mason novels by Erle Stanley Garner from Amazon.

Pat Gerson, Acquisitions
I’m looking forward to reading Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne. It was published as a spin off from the recent motion picture Bright Star about John Keats and his romance with Fanny Brawne before his tragic death from tuberculosis at the age of 25.
The letters he wrote to Fanny are celebrated as “among the most beautiful love letters ever written in the English language”.

“It seems to me that a few more moments of thought of you would uncrystallize and dissolve me…”

“You have ravish’d me away by a power I cannot resist.”

“I kiss’d your Writing over in the hope you had indulg’d me by leaving a trace of honey.”

“I have two luxuries to brood over in my walks, your Loveliness and the hour of my death.”

I may also read his Selected Letters. Keats wrote to family and friends frequently about his observations on life, ideas, poetry, and the imagination. His letters were considered by T.S. Eliot as “the most notable and the most important ever written by any English poet”.

“I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the human heart’s affection and the truth of imagination – What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth – whether it existed before or not…….The imagination may be compared to Adam’s Dream – he awoke and found it true.”

Dianne Dallman, Acquisitions Librarian
For the holidays I picked up, once again, The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. I enjoy stories with characters that are transformed by the power of love and Quoyle, the main character, is one of those.

Joe Goetz, Information Literacy Librarian
These days I am an avid browser of The Baby Book by Dr. Sears. It’s a big, comprehensive guide to taking care of a child from birth to 2 years, with a terrific index and a reassuring tone that helps my own well-being tremendously. On the same general topic with a very different perspective, I’m reading The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life by Alison Gopnik. It uses recent research on infants to show how the open, curious infant mindset is more advanced than people think, and how the infant perspective is essential to any “adult” worldview. I plan on rereading an amazing, beautiful book of poetry, Displacement, by my friend Leslie Harrison, which won the Bakeless prize from the Breadloaf Writers Conference this year. I am continuing on-again off-again with The Canterbury Tales, for which I’m using a Norton Critical edition of selected tales with easy-to-read marginal notes. I’m currently on “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”. Finally, P.G. Wodehouse is helping me drive long distances with his Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, which I am listening to again after rereading I don’t know how many times. For Wodehouse fans, it’s the one where Bertie grows a moustache and has to escape Stilton Cheesewright’s jealous rage over Florence Craye while helping Aunt Dahlia pass off a fake pearl necklace to Uncle Tom despite the meddling of Roderick Spode, alias Lord Sidcup. It really helps the miles to pass.

Father George Hosko, C.S.B., Inter-Library Loan Librarian
I am reading God, Philosophy, Universities by Alasdair MacIntyre. The author is a renowned philosopher and a convert to Catholicism.

Natalie Aquila, Circulation Supervisor
I will be reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers over the holiday. The title reeled me, it sounded so forlorn and melodramatic. I became familiar with Carson McCullers’ work and style after reading her novel, The Ballad of the Sad Café. McCullers’, like her contemporary Flannery O’Connor, belongs to the Southern Gothic tradition. McCullers’ characters are generally emotionally or physically disfigured and their circumstances are often dire, yet the vivacity with which she brings them to life is worth the melancholy story line. I can’t wait to start reading!

Sylvia Coy, Circulation Supervisor
I do have a couple of books I will be scanning like Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. (Funny I never read this book from the 80’s, and I saw it in our collection and grabbed it.) There is another book I checked out from our children’s collection which will be perfect before bed: Brother Can You Spare a Dime: the Great Depression 1929-1933. My true goal is to read Proved Innocent: the Story of Gerry Conlon of the Guilford Four (ILL from Fr. Hosko). This became the movie In the Name of the Father with Daniel Day-Lewis).

Mary Kelleher, Public Services Librarian
I haven’t decided yet what I will be reading over the holidays (except that I will reread Pride and Prejudice which I do about once a year). I am in the mood for some beauty so I think I will read the poetry of Mary Oliver and May Sarton. I’m also in the mood for something light and funny (and easy to read), so I hope to finally get to Dewey: the Small Time Cat Who Touched the World. Another wise animal novel I have been meaning to read is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

James Piccininni, Library Director
I recently read that the Orient Express has been scheduled to take its final trip in mid-December. The fact that this historic train will no longer run has caused me to revisit Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. From the NPR website:

“The historic Orient Express — that’s the one that was established back in the 1880’s — that took you from Paris or London to Istanbul.”

“The train was the scene of many adventures, both real and imagined, in its 126 year history. [Rick] Steves says a murder occurred aboard the Orient Express in 1929 while the train was stuck in a snowstorm about 70 miles outside Istanbul. That crime inspired Christie’s famous mystery novel, Murder on the Orient Express.”

“Steves points out that there are actually two Orient Expresses. The one that people probably think of now is a tour company that renovates 1930’s-era cars and takes people from London to Venice. It’s the other Orient Express that’s taking its final trip.” For more, go to the NPR website.

Student Employee of the Week

A tie this week has designated both Baldemar Menchaca and Catherine Aquila as Student Employees of the Week. Catherine works in Circulation and Baldemar works in Circulation and Cataloging. Student Employees of the Week are voted upon by all student workers. Congratulations Catherine and Baldemar.

Circulation Supervisor Natalie Aquila

The newest member of the Doherty Library staff is Circulation Supervisor, Natalie Aquila. Natalie moved to Houston two years ago after graduating from the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana. St. Francis is also a small, liberal arts school with a tight knit community, very much like UST, so Natalie naturally feels at home here. She’s the second child among eleven children in a very close family. Natalie moved here after graduation partly because her family had moved her six months earlier. (It didn’t hurt that Houston’s job market was much stronger than Fort Wayne’s.) Natalie spends as much of her time as she can with my family because, she says, “we have absurd amounts of fun together.” Two of her siblings attend UST and work in the library. Two younger sisters also spend much of their time at Doherty as well.

Cooking is a huge part of Natalie’s Italian-American heritage. She likes to cook and bake in her spare time — everything from apple pie to pasta fagioli. The whole family likes to cook. They’re all in the kitchen during family gatherings (often on major Feast Days), and since there’s music playing – they dance!
Some of Natalie’s many other interests include: walking, creative writing, jump roping, playing kickball, and spending time with friends. And, as might be expected for a library worker, Natalie says, “I love reading!” She studied literature and mathematics in college and especially enjoys 18th and 19th century British literature. Her favorite book as a child was The Witch of Blackbird Pond. As a young adult she read Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset and ever since it has been her favorite book. Natalie is currently reading Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer (just for fun!).

Natalie’s been in Houston for two years now but still finds herself exploring the area. Her favorite place so far is Hermann Park, and all year long she looks forward to the Shakespeare Festival at Miller Outdoor Theater. In the future Natalie hopes to continue her education in nursing or speech pathology. Maybe she will be the first graduate of our new nursing program.

Student Employee of the Week

The Doherty Student Employee of the Week is Elisa Marie Ramirez. Elisa works in Circulation and Interlibrary Loan. Congratulations, Elisa!

October is Information Literacy Month

On October 1st President Barack Obama declared October as National Information Literacy Awareness Month.

Our ability to find information on any give topic these days is immeasurable. The ability to avoid exposure to information is non-existent. We live in a world of TMI, TMC and TLT (too much information, too many choices and too little time). The White House itself makes use of many web 2.0 methods for communication including Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo, iTunes, and the White House blog. And that’s just one aspect of one branch of one level of our government.
The only way to manage this avalanche cum tsunami of information is through understanding how and why information is produced, accessing it efficiently and habitually culling, evaluating, and using effectively the information we find. This is Information Literacy.

The American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries and the American Association of School Librarians (as well as many other educational associations) have established definitions of an information literate person and best practices for educating students in IL from pre-kindergarten through graduate school. Since Information Literacy is one of our most important life-long skills in all facets of our lives, both public and private, these endeavors emphasize teaching students to think critically about the issues and to renew continuously their skills. The staff of Doherty Library, particularly the Information Literacy Librarian, the Public Services Librarian and the Electronic Resources Librarian, work very hard to develop in the UST student body the proficiencies they need.

October is also National Cyber Security Awareness Month. One definite aspect of Information Literacy is knowing how to navigate the web and use its tools safely.

More New Resources!

The following databases have been added to the library web site:
• Bio Med (Central) provides access to 199 peer-reviewed open access journals in all aspects of biomedical research
• Book Review Index Plus was formerly a print resource and is now available online. It provides access to reviews of books in over 600 journals. Coverage goes back to 1965.
• Columbia International Affairs Online is, according to their online description, “the most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 onward that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs.”
• Early Republic database contains the seventeen volumes of primary material documenting the actions, debates, and thoughts of the First Federal Congress and its members that were collected by the First Federal Congress Project (FFCP) and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Essay & General Literature Index was formerly a print resource and is now available online. It provides access to essays contained in nearly 7000 anthologies and collections. Coverage goes back to 1985.
• Literature Online Index provides access to more than 350,000 English and American literary works in full-text (and to Anglo-Saxon and Middle English texts as well). It also provides literary criticism, in both journals and complete reference books, on authors and works contained in the database.
• RILM Abstract of Music Literature is an online index of scholarship on music from all over the world. Short descriptions of journal articles are available.
• Short Story Index was also formerly a print resource which is now available online. It gives the publication information (names and dates of books, journals and magazines) for short stories back to 1994. 4000 short stories are available in full-text.

We now have ten concurrent users for the Mergent database.

New ebooks include Classical & Medieval Literary Criticism and Literary Criticism 1400-1800. These resources are part of the Gale literary criticism series in our reference collection. We have volumes 1-111 and 1-164 respectively in print. The current and subsequent volumes will be available online. Ebooks available soon are the New Catholic Encyclopedia and Children’s Literature Review.

Czech Exhibit

Since October is Czech Heritage Month in Texas, the Doherty Library at the University of St. Thomas will feature an exhibit sponsored by the Czech Center Museum Houston.

In four large display cases, the exhibit will focus on Czech history, Czech artists, Czech musicians, and local Czech organizations.

The first display case will include a timeline of the important events in Czech history from the arrival of the Slavs in central Europe through to the presidency of Vaclav Klaus, with some interesting pictures of President Obama’s recent visit to Prague. Around the borders of the display there will be pictures of heroes of Czech history and a brief description of each one’s accomplishment.

The second display case will include information about Czech artists, e.g., Frantisek Kupka whose painting “The Yellow Scale” is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. In this part of the display, there will be an emphasis on the works of Oldrich Kulhanek who now lives in Prague, CR. His art was often very critical of the communist government of past years. In several of his sketches of pigs, for example, the pigs have the faces of the despised communist officials.

The third case will honor the four great Czech composers: Bedrich Smetana, Antonin Dvorak, Leos Janacek, and Bohuslave Martinu. The fourth case will show the publications of the many Czech organizations that are active in Texas and the US.

The exhibit will run from October 1st through October 30th.

RefWorks — a resource to help you gather, manage, store and share all types of information, and to create citations and bibliographies for your papers.

Another new resource is going to make the life of every single member of the UST community so much easier! It’s RefWorks, and it practically performs miracles. At its most basic, RefWorks helps you to cite the information you use in your papers. No more struggling with trying to comprehend the MLA or APA citation handbooks (although we will still keep copies in the library). You input the citation information, and RefWorks creates lists of works cited and footnotes. But RefWorks is so much more than that. It helps you organize your research by keeping it all in one place – accessible at any computer for RefWorks is web-based. You can even share this information with others and collaborate on group projects using it. You are able to create numerous accounts on RefWorks, so if you want to share some information sources but keep others private, you can. RefWorks is also available on the Doherty Library list of databases under “Reference.”

Doherty Library will be offering workshops on using RefWorks in the fall semester.

Robert Frost Exhibit Extended

The library exhibit “One Step Backward Taken: Roads Less Traveled in Robert Frost Country” is extended one week.  It will be available through the week of student orientations and will be taken down Friday, August 22nd.  We hope all new First Year, transfer and graduate students will take advantage of the opportunity to view this unique exhibit.

One Step Backward Taken: Roads Less Traveled in Robert Frost Country Exhibit

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 to Saturday, August 15, 2009

Journey through Frost Country to areas that influenced famous poems such as, “The Road Less Traveled” and “After Apple Picking.”

The exhibit includes photographs that span 50 years and personal anecdotes of Mr. Vince D’Amico’s ‘52 conversations with Robert Frost and his subsequent travels to New England researching Frost’s poetry. Mr. D’Amico recently established a scholarship for high school teachers in the Department of Education.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information contact Kia Wissmiller at kritick@stthom.edu

Exciting New Resource at Doherty!

Doherty Library has acquired a new exciting resource beginning July 1, 2009 and available for the second summer session. This resource is Credo Reference.

Credo Reference is the dream of those who want to break the Wikipedia habit. Credo has all that Wikipedia has and more. It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s available 24/7 at any computer. Unlike Wikipedia, however, Credo Reference is made up of 401 different resources and all of them are authoritative. When you type a term into Credo, the database searches all 401 resources, so you find a variety of points of view on the same subject. These points of view are all by respected scholars in their fields. Moreover, Credo reference contains specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, and quotation books. Many of these specialized resources can be cited as reliable information in your papers. Credo also has cool features like a measurement converter and a crossword puzzle solver. Credo can be found on the library website under Databases by Title and Databases by Subject. You can also click here and give it a try.

The Quill’s Quote for Today

The whole idea of a library is based on a misunderstanding: that a reader goes to the library to find a book whose title he knows . . . . The essential function of a library is to discover books of whose existence the reader has no idea.
Umberto Eco

Doherty Summer Reading Program Returns

Doherty Summer Reading Program returns for the second year, and we’re reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.  Anyone who’s grown up in the South will relate to the images of moist, humid heat in the novel which takes place in South Carolina in the summer of 1964.  Sweat drips down backs just as condensation drips down glasses of ice water.  There’s a sweetness in the air mixed with damp earthiness in the cloying humidity.  The main character, fourteen year old Lily Owens, spends most of her days working in the honey house or sleeping in the un-airconditioned room connected to it.  She’s come to this place, where three Black women known as “the calendar girls” produce Black Madonna honey, in search of her mother and her self.

The Secret Life of Bees is definitely a woman centered book, and the characters depend upon a woman centered theology, grounded in the person of the Virgin Mother, to hold everything together.  Told from the point of view of a female, the story is still a universal one of growing up and accepting the dark side of life, one’s parents and one’s self.  (Sorry guys if the book seems too girly.  I promise next year we’ll read Truck: a Love Story or something else manly.)

Our first event is Thursday, May 28^th at 4:00 in Doherty Library for light refreshments including among other items coca-cola and salted peanuts, peaches, pimento cheese, honey and bananas.  On Thursday June 25^th we’ll have our first discussion at the Black Lab, and on Thursday July 30^th we’ll have a viewing of the recent film and discussion (place to be announced).  You do not have to attend all the events to participate.

We will have incentive prizes at the May 28^th event.  Please contact kellehm@stthom.edu or 713-525-3891 for more information.

Love My Library

National Library Week is April 12^th-18^th, and we’re celebrating at Doherty Library. Come join in the fun and see the Circulation Department’s wonderful decorations: ALL made from bookcovers! Play games too – there are crossword puzzles, daily scrabble games, and the Wheel o’ Workers. Win great prizes: honor and glory and the admiration of your friends (and some candy). We also will have a display of people “caught” reading on campus (and not textbooks!). Finally post your thoughts on “I love Doherty Library because . . . .” at the Circulation desk. We hope everyone will stop by. Without you we wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t want to be.