Ohio University Libraries News and Events

We’ve been running a survey on our home page, ‘What books do you like to read’. This is the latest update with some other suggestions thrown in.

Best book ever read?

• Song of the Lark
• Johnny Got His Gun
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
• Memoirs of Hadrian, by Marguerite Yourcenar
• Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with The Beatles, by Tony Bramwell
• The Shadow of the Wind
• Giovanni’s Room
• Twilight
• The Book Thief
• Great Expectations
• The Sparrow, by Maria Doria Russel
• Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison
• The Bone Dolls Twin
• Extremely Loud and Incrediby Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer
• And The Ladies of the Club
• Harry Potter
• The Bible
• The Traveler’s Gift, by Andy Anderson
• A Voice in the Wind, by Francine Rivers
• A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines
• A Team of Rivals
• The Red Tent
• The Egypt Game, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
• Postcards from the Edge
• The Heart of the Matter
• The Idiot, by Dostoevsky
• 21 Balloons
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• The Last Lecture
• Roots

What book are you reading now?

• Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
• After the Ice: a Global Human History, 20,000-5000 BC
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Regarding the Pain of Others, by Susan Sontag
• 1984, by George Orwell
• The Left Hand of Darkness
• A Really Nice Prom Mess
• My Sister’s Keeper
• Spectacular Sins
• The Argumentative Indian
• Red Star
• Egalia’s Daughters
• The Hidden City
• The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls
• What is the What, by Dave Eggers
• Slaughterhouse Five
• A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
• The Gunslinger, by Stephen King (Book I of the Dark Tower Series)
• Even After All This Time, by Afschineh Latifi
• Harry Potter
• Founding Brothers
• Four Pillars of Investing
• The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis,
• The Meaning of Video Games
• Gravity’s Rainbow
• Atlas Shrugged
• Light in August, by William Faulkner

What book is on your list to read this summer?

• Fiction by new Japanese writers
• The Prophet
• Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, by Mark Doty
• Brave New World
• The Conscience of the Eye, by Richard Sennett
• Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
• The Name of the Rose
• Short stories by Dennis Cooper
• Coraline
• Anna Karenina
• The Post-American World
• Army
• Guns, Germs and Steel
• Run, by Ann Patchett
• Fallen
• Trash, by Dorothy Allison
• The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers
• The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
• Harry Potter
• Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot
• A Secular Age, by Charles Taylor
• Of Love and Dust, by Ernest Gaines
• The Intelligent Investor
• The Dark Knight
• Change of Heart, by Jodi Picoult
• Cities of the Plain, by Cormac McCarthy
• Whatever is assigned! lol
• Underworld, by Don DeLillo

From the Librarians Index to the Internet, a nice list of summer reading lists. Many more summer reading lists are in Rebecca’s Pocket.

Alden Library will be open during Summer Session from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday. The Learning Commons on the second floor will be open from 7:30 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday; from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; and from noon to midnight Sunday. These hours will start with the beginning of Summer Session on Monday, June 22, 2009 and run until Friday, August 28, 2009.

Library patrons may request that books be retrieved from closed areas in Alden Library from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, from 12 to 5 p.m. Saturday; and from 12 to 9 p.m. Sunday. These requests can be made at the Library Services Desk in the Learning Commons. During the same hours, faculty and graduate students may request a pass for access to the rest of the building.

For more information on the library’s summer hours and for hours between the end of Summer Session and the beginning of Fall Quarter, visit our Hours page.

Please take a moment to check out the library winners from the Research Expo. There work is exhibited on the second floor near the plasma screens.

The graduate winner was Jessie Truchan for “Genesis of Carbonate lakes on Perennial Siliciclastic Floodplains”

The undergraduate winner was John Schindler for “Go”. It is on display on the 2nd floor plasma screen– Come have a look!

The staff association award, given to a student assistant or staff relative, was awarded to student assistant Animesh Rathore for “Influence of Gender & Ethnicity on ICT Use in Higher Education: A Case of Arts and Social Sciences Students in Universiti Malaya.” Animesh works in CIC.

The librarian’s choice award went to Andrew Crabtree and Mike Deas for their movie “A Little Bit Crooked.” Show times are listed on the poster.

Retired faculty member Betty Hollow will be presenting as part of the Culture Showcase series on Tuesday, May 26 at 3 pm. The title of her presentation is One Cool Bobcat: Vernon R. Alden and the Push for Diversity in the Sixties and Seventies.

Hollow has been a resident of Athens since 1968 and worked for Ohio University from 1975-2005. She is the author of Ohio University, 1804-2004: the Spirit of a Singular Place.

Please join us for the Culture Showcase’s last presentation of the year, and what promises to be a very interesting presentation.

The International Photography Contest is now on display on the 2^nd floor of Alden. The annual contest, sponsored by the Office of Education Abroad and Lamborn’s Studio in Athens, features photos taken by OU students, staff and alumni. Some photos were taken while participating in study abroad programs, while others were captured during independent travel or research. Ghana, Mexico, Italy, China, Ecuador and Scotland are just a few of the many destinations featured in the exhibit.

Although only 125 photos are displayed, over 350 entries were received. Photos could be submitted in four categories: People, Places, Animals & Faculty/Student/Alumni. First, second and third place winners in each category were determined by a panel of judges: One photo (attached) was selected as “the best representation of OU students abroad”. Custom framing for the winning photo in each category was generously donated by Lamborn’s Studio in Athens.

Photo:  “Exploring Yagul” by Nora Merecicy was taken in Oaxaca, Mexico while participating in OU’s Art & Design in Mexico program. Yagul is a mazelike ruin of the ancient Zapotec culture.

Herman Leonard, a 1947 BFA graduate and world-renowned photographer whose images captured the history and movement of jazz, will speak at Ohio University’s two undergraduate commencement ceremonies this year.

As an undergrad, Mr. Leonard was a photographer, and eventually photo editor for the Athena Yearbook.

His yearbooks and a selection of period photography equipment are on view in the Fine Arts Library, Alden, 3rd floor, through the summer.

A new exhibit celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Alden Library debuts Friday, May 15, 2009 on the 5th floor of Alden Library. Learn about campus life in 1969, the year Alden Library opened its doors, as well as the history of the Libraries back to 1814! This exhibit was created by University Archivist Bill Kimok and includes a variety of photos and memorabilia from the University Archives in the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections

Friday, May 15 in the Friends of the Libraries Room at noon, Prof. Butch Hill, Director of the Manasseh Cutler Scholars program, will present the collaborative work between The Cutler Scholars, Templeton Scholars, and Alden Library. One example in this continuing collaboration is the AIDS concert in the fall, which was the student generated response to readings, discussions, and information gathering. Participating students, leaders, and the “Cutler Scholar Librarian” will discuss their roles and offer their reflections.

See video of President Emeritus Vernon R. Alden speaking on the beginnings of Alden Library. Read more about the 40th Anniversary on Outlook.

CONSCIOUSNESS: FILMS TO CHANGE THE WORLD - THEME THIS WEEK: COFFEE-THE FINALS BEVERAGE
A social and environmental awareness film series sponsored by Alden Library. The last film of this quarter will be shown Sunday, May 17 starting at 6:00 pm. This weeks film is the documentary BLACK GOLD. Consciousness shows films and documentaries that deal with social and environmental justice issues for FREE to students, University faculty and staff, and community members. The film will be preceded by a five minute introduction and followed by a discussion with faculty member Dr. Brad Jokitsh, Dept of Geography. This will give people the opportunity to ask questions and clarify points made by the film as well as offering the opportunity to learn more about the topic.

Refreshments: local, organic and green, will be served!

A rededication ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Vernon R. Alden Library will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 15, in the library.

In addition to a reception, the community rededication will include historic displays, library tours and featured speakers. Former Ohio University president Vernon Alden, the library’s namesake, will be in attendance.

After three years of construction, Alden Library opened in May 1969 to replace the campus’ then-overflowing library, the building known today as Chubb Hall. That year the library held 550,000 volumes, which were moved by staff, students and community members across College Green.

The library that can be seen today was not completed until 1972 when the east and west wings were added to create floors four through seven. Original architectural drawings and archival images of the building can be viewed on the library’s Web site.

Serving the Ohio University campuses and the local community, Alden Library holds nearly 3 million volumes, 46,000 maps and more than 36,000 films, videos and DVDs. Recognized as one of the top research libraries in the country, its Web site has about 7.5 million global visitors annually.

For more information contact Kate Mason at 740-593-2702.

To RSVP for the May 15 event, view our Flickr photo gallery, and a chronology of Alden Library visit http://www.ohioalumni.org/40-alden.

An exhibit of the Yao Collection is now on view at the Multicultural Center Gallery in Baker Center. The Opening Reception will take place during Ohio University’s International Week, on Thursday, May 14th, from 5 to 7pm.

A gift from Frederick Harris (Hon. PhD, 1997) and collecting partners Robert Fallon (BA, 1969), and Ms. Nguyen Thi Diu, this one-of-a-kind cultural record supports the scholarly research and teaching needs of various programs and departments campus-wide. With approximately 2000 pieces of ceremonial and temple art from the north of Viet Nam, this collection is likely the largest of it’s kind.

Later in 2009, a significant portion of the collection will be available online via ARTstor, an online image database. Find a link to ARTstor in ALICE, find the Yao page with an informative slide show here.

The Spring 2009 issue of Gatherings, Ohio University Libraries’ semi-annual publication highlighting the services, collections and our Library community, is now available online.

To view the latest issue please click here.

The Friends of the Libraries of Ohio University will hold a book sale from May 7-9, 2009 in Alden Library’s 4th floor lounge.

The hours are:

• Thursday, 7-9pm
• Friday, 10-6pm
• Saturday, 10-4pm

“When you support the Friends, you are supporting all of Ohio University-every discipline, every student, every faculty-by helping to build and maintain a great library.”

The Libraries’ Diversity Committee will sponsor a joint presentation by Catherine Brown and Kim Brown on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 2 pm in the Friends of the Library Room (Alden 319). The topic of the presentation is “Women’s Athletics: Ohio University before and after Title IX.”

Catherine Brown coached women’s lacrosse and field hockey from the late 60s to the 70s. Kim Brown participated in international competition in lacrosse and took the Ohio University team to the last AIAW championships and served on the NCAA women’s lacrosse committee.

Light refreshments will be served; hope to see you there!

(Reposted from Outlook)

Apr 1, 2009
By Megan Greve

Faculty and staff members can now spend more time on their work and less time traveling to Alden Library to pick up research and classroom materials thanks to a new delivery system.

The Faculty and Staff Delivery Service, delivers materials from the main library — as well as the library annex, the Music and Dance library, branch campuses, Ohio Link and Interlibrary loans — to registered users on the Athens campus. Library staff makes two daily runs to the main office of each college, where faculty and staff can pick up their ordered materials.

The driving force behind the system, which was initiated by Executive Vice President and Provost Kathy Krendl, was to give faculty more time for their own studies, said George Cheripko, who is in charge of the program.

“Mainly it is an aid to research,” Cheripko said. “It allows faculty to continue working, instead of traveling to the library.”

Cheripko said about 150 faculty and staff members have used the delivery system already. He said the College of Osteopathic Medicine, the College of Education, the College of Health and Human Services, as well as several professors in the Department of Political Science are using the service the most.

Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education Lena Lee said she uses the delivery service often because it is convenient and fast.

“I’m usually busy doing research and teaching, so the system is perfect for me” Lee said.

To use the service, faculty and staff must submit an online enrollment form at www.library.ohiou.edu/serv/faculty-delivery.html. After selecting the desired item, click the Intercampus/Annex Request button at the top of the page, and choose “My Office” as your pickup location.

For additional information about the delivery service call 740-593-2693.

Designer’s ABC Primer makes reference to both the classic didactic ABC books and to the L’abecedaire of Gilles Deleuze, indicating a general theme but not a specific format.

Using the collection of the Frederick and Kazuko Harris Art Library as a primary research tool, the students of the Graphic Design Area class of 2010 were given an assignment to randomly browse the library stacks in order to find interesting professional designers or design firms with names beginning from A to Z. Each student’s list of designers was documented in both written and visual form. When the list was complete, each student designed and produced a single copy full color hand-bound book.

The books produced include lists of individual designers, design firms, typographers and corporate branding. These books will be on view in the Fine Arts gallery space through spring quarter 2009.

Library Journal has named Ohio University Business Librarian Chad Boeninger to the “Innovators” category of their “Movers & Shakers 2009″ list. Launched in 2002 to identify librarians and others who are ’shaping the future of libraries,’ the list represents a “Who’s Who of creativity and library trends in the field.” Read more about Chad and the other movers and shakers at Library Journal’s website.

Can’t remember how to reserve a group study room? Wondering how to search for your textbooks in ALICE? Check out the OU Libraries new Video Help site (link: http://www.library.ohiou.edu/vidhelp/) where you can find video answers to your research and library questions. You can see a complete list of videos or find help in the following categories:

• Find Articles
• Find Books
• Cite Your Sources
• Library Services

We will be continuing to add content in the near future, so if you have any ideas for videos you’d like to see on the Video Help site, let us know in the comments, or use the Ask a Librarian email form.

(By the way here are the links for the videos about reserving a group study room and looking for textbooks in ALICE.)

As part of the Speakers Series sponsored by the Libraries Diversity Committee, Dr. Katherine Jellison, Professor of History at Ohio University, will speak on the Rite to Wed: Getting Married in America, 1945-2005 on Thursday, March 5 at 2 pm in the Friends of the Libraries Room (Alden 319). Dr. Jellison’s presentation is based on material in her recently published book, It’s our day : America’s love affair with the white wedding, 1945-2005, which is in our collection.

Light refreshments will be served; hope to see you there!

Below is a small version of the poster for this presentation. Click on the image to enlarge it.