There are more than 40 foreign language courses available and 16 English as a Second Language (ESL) courses.

To learn more about Mango and get a preview of what the program has to offer, stop by the library and we will give you an introduction. Or, click here to log in to Mango and start learning!

Mango’s recording features help you match your voice to the correct pronunciation.

Houston supports an active creative writing scene.  In addition to having our own Poet Laureate, Gwendolyn Zepeda, poetry events and literary readings are held throughout the city almost every week. Here are a few sites for finding an event near you:

Poetry Events at Houston Public Library

The Poetry Card – Readings Around Town

First Fridays Poetry Reading Series

We also have a wealth of resources at Doherty to help aspiring writers develop their poetic voices. If you’re looking for some inspiration, try reading new poetry in a literary magazine or  journal. You can access full-text articles from some of the top journals in the field through the library website:

Ploughshares

American Poetry Review

The New Yorker

Poetry Magazine

The Atlantic

The Paris Review

For books about poetry writing and more Poetry Month resources, see our Poetry Month Pinterest board.

The position of poet laureate of the United States is somewhat different from that of Britain, where the title was first established in the 17th century. Whereas the British office renders the laureate a salaried member of the British royal household, the United States poet laureate acts as the chair of poetry for the Library of Congress.*

In the U.S.,  the poet laureate is charged with raising “the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.” The poet is chosen yearly by the Librarian of Congress.  The position was instituted in 1937 as the consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress and was held by 30 poets before an act of Congress in 1985 changed the name to poet laureate.**

There have been 52 Poets Laureate.  Here are a few notable poets to explore:

Robert Penn Warren (Laureate 1944-45 and 1986-1987) – Best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning work of fiction All the Kings Men, Warren was also regarded as one of the best poets of his generation. His works were often inspired by Southern history and Southern life.

Gwendolyn Brooks (Laureate 1985-1986) - Gwendolyn Brooks was a highly regarded poet with the distinction of being the first African-American author to win the Pulitzer Prize and the first black woman to hold the position of Poet Laureate. Many of Brooks’s works display a political consciousness, especially those from the 1960s and later, with several of her poems reflecting the civil rights activism of that period.

Billy Collins (Laureate 2001-2003) - Dubbed “the most popular poet in America” by Bruce Weber in the New York Times, Billy Collins is famous for conversational, witty poems that welcome readers with humor but often slip into quirky, tender or profound observation on the everyday, reading and writing, and poetry itself.

For additional poetry resources, see our National Poetry Month Pinterest board. 

• *”Poets Laureate of the United States.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1789232/Poets-Laureate-of-the-United-States>.
• **poet laureate. (2013). In The Columbia Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/columency/poet_laureate

Games – Show off your vocabulary skills and stop by the Circulation Desk to play a word on our never-ending game of Scrabble. Don’t forget to pick up a Popular Books Collection word search while you’re there!

Online Scavenger Hunt - UST students, faculty, and staff who complete our Online Scavenger Hunt will be entered into a drawing for one of two $25 gift cards to the UST Bookstore. Entries will be accepted until 5 pm Friday.

Food – Cookies and iced tea will be available in the library lobby at noon on Wednesday April 17. Come grab a mid-day treat and say hi to the library staff.

Work at Doherty – Love libraries?  Apply for a job as a student worker today!

The books are on display in the main lobby and can be checked out at the circulation desk.  The newest titles are listed below. For  new academic titles, see our new books Pinterest board.

Fiction: 

Manisha Jolie Amin – Dancing to the Flute

Maeve Binchy – A Week in Winter

Ben Fountain – Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

Sally Gardner – Maggot Moon

Jamaica Kincaid – See Now Then

Ian McEwan – Sweet Tooth

Ayana Mathis – The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Ron Rash – Nothing Gold Can Stay

Jess Walter – Beautiful Ruins

Non-Fiction:

James Barilla – My Backyard Jungle 

Ernest Freeberg – Age of Edison: Elecric Lights and the Invention of Modern America

Virginia Morrell – Animal Wise:  The Thoughts and Emotions of our Fellow Creatures

Sandra Day O’Connor – Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme Court

Maurice Sendak – My Brother’s Book

Many debates and exchanges have shaped Latin American poetry over the years. A number of its most powerful movements are expressions of cultural and political conflicts surrounding the evolution of Latin American and national identities. Although there are examples of poetry from this region dating back to the pre-Columbian era, it was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that Latin American poetry took its place on the world stage.

Use the links below to discover some of Latin America’s most notable poetic voices:

Ruben Dario (Nicaragua) – Considered the father of the Latin American modernism movement, Dario fused traditional poetic style with new innovations in imagery and rhythm.

Gabriela Mistral (Chile) – Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin American author to receive the Nobel Prize in literature; as such, she will always be seen as a representative figure in the cultural history of the continent.

Pablo Neruda (Chile) – One of Latin America’s most prolific and well-known poets, Neruda led a life charged with poetic and political activity. He received many prestigious awards throughout his lifetime, including the International Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Octavio Paz (Mexico) – Often nominated for the Nobel Prize in his lifetime, Mexican author Octavio Paz enjoyed a worldwide reputation as a master poet and essayist.

For more Latin American poetry resources from Doherty, see our poetry month board on Pinterest.

The Saints and the Spiritual Tradition

Although they are not often studied from a literary perspective, the spiritual writings of these saints provide early examples of Catholic devotional poetry. 

St. Francis of Assisi - Several poems praising God and nature are attributed to St. Francis, founder of the Franciscan Order.

St. Hildegard of Bingen - This Benedictine visionary’s prolific writings include poetry, hymns, and theological treatises.

St. Teresa of Avila - A Spanish mystic and Camelite nun, St. Teresa documented her spiritual evolution through poetry and other theological works.

The Medieval and Renaissance Traditions

Francesco Petrarch - Petrarch, considered by many to be the father of Humanism, is also credited with the development and popularization of the Italian sonnet.

Geoffrey Chaucer - The undisputed father of English poetry, Chaucer is best known for his memorable portraits Canterbury pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.

Dante Alighieri - Dante Alighieri’s epic poem La Divina Commedia presents an allegorical vision of the afterlife and is among the most significant works of Western literature.

The Modern Tradition

Gerard Manley Hopkins - Hopkins was a Jesuit priest and is generally considered one of the greatest poets of the Victorian era.

Hilaire Belloc - Belloc was a controversial figure known for both his radical political views and his mastery of light poetry in the style of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear.

Thomas Merton - A monk who lived in isolation for several years and one of the most well-known Catholic writers of the twentieth century, Thomas Merton was a prolific poet, religious writer, and essayist.

Women’s Studies International is a composite of nine contributing databases covering women’s studies scholarship from throughout the world. The nearly 800 essential sources in Women’s Studies International include journals, newspapers, newsletters, bulletins, books, book chapters, proceedings, reports, theses, dissertations, NGO studies, websites and web documents and grey literature. It is an excellent resource for finding articles from a feminist perspective.

Access Women’s Studies International on our Databases page. For more Women’s History Month resources, check out our Women’s History Month reads on Pinterest and our Women’s Studies Research Guide.

Bog oak sculptures are crafted from fallen trees buried thousands of years ago in Ireland’s bogs and later extracted from the peat. The reaction of the oak with decaying vegetation gives the wood unique properties. For craftsmen working at the height of bog oak popularity in the 1850s, carving the oak could be tricky:

“When the timbers were first brought to the surface from the airless depths of the bog they exhibited a mid-brown to dark brown hue, but on contact with oxygen, semi-petrification soon set in, causing the wood to take on an ebony colour. It was therefore essential, if carving was to be undertaken, that the wet and pliable state be preserved, thus enabling easier fashioning. Then full petrification took place, rendering the finished item deep black and almost steel-hard. ” *

All of the pieces on display in the library were created in Ireland. The exhibit is available for viewing during regular library hours in the Doherty Lobby until April 15.

*Irons, Neville. “Irish Bog Oak Carving.” Irish Arts Review (1984-1987) 4, no. 2 (July 01, 1987): 54-63. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20491991. For UST students and faculty, go to: http://ezproxy.stthom.edu:2048/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20491991

What you can do with BookMyne:

• Access Your Account:  Check due dates, place a hold, renew a book – almost anything you can do online, you can do on your device. You can even get alerts when books are due or holds become available.
• Search the Catalog:  Search the catalog by author, title, subject or keyword. You’ll see book summaries, cover images, number of copies and more.
• Scan Barcodes:  If you see a book you like at a friend’s house or a bookstore, scan the barcode and see if the library has it.
• Check Bestseller Lists:  See what’s on the bestseller lists, cross reference with our holdings, then place your hold.
• See What Your Friends Recommend:  Search the catalog for friend-recommended titles. (Social recommendation engine powered by Goodreads.)

See the Boise Public Library video below for a demo of BookMyne in action: