JOIN US FOR A BOOK DISCUSSION

Can you change the world just by eating locally grown foods?

Join us for a discussion of

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver.

The discussion will be led by Dr. Owen Rogal, of the SAU English Department.

We will meet:

Thursday, November 19

at 7pm

in the Women’s Studies Resource Center, 224 Ambrose Hall, St. Ambrose University

Event sponsored by Women’s Studies, Service Learning, the SAU Library, and the Peace and Justice Minor. For more information or to borrow the book, please contact Katy Strzepek at StrzepekKatyA@sau.edu.

Winners of the Banned Books Week Events!

Edible Book Contest!

We’d like to thank everyone who particpated in the Edible Book contest.  There were so many wonderful entries it was difficult to choose our winners. Our esteemed panel of Judges selected the following entries as winners in four  categories:

BEST GROUP ENTRY: Maggie Woods & Susan Jameson ;  “As I lay Frying”

BEST INDIVIDUAL ENTRY: Michelle Eberhart ; “Lord of the Pies”

MOST “PUNNY”: Mackenzie Grondahl; “The Hairy Pot Rost -or- What Ron Made for Hermione on the Occasion of Their First Anniversary”

MOST LITERARY: Emily Clifton; ” A Picture of Door in Gray”

 A prize for PEOPLE’S CHOICE was also awarded: Kathleen Sulikowski & Mackenzie LaGrange; “Charlotte’s  Web”

BANNED BOOKS WEEK BINGO: The winner of our BBW Bingo contest was: Emily Clifton

Thanks again to all who participated in our Banned Books Week Activities and to Sodexo and the SAU Bookstore for their generous donations.

Banned Books Week. [September 26−October 3, 2009]

Throughout the United States, children are returning to school. Teachers are sending out their lists of required readings, and parents are beginning to gather books. In some cases, classics like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “The Catcher in the Rye,” and “To Kill a Mocking Bird,” may not be included in curricula or available in the school library due to challenges made by parents or administrators. Since 1990, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has recorded more than 10,000 book challenges, including 513 in 2008. A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or school curricula.

It takes a commitment on the part of librarians, teachers, parents, and students,  to ensure that most challenges are unsuccessful and reading materials like “Pillars of the Earth,” “The Kite Runner,”  the Harry Potter series, and the Twilight series remain available. Even when the motivation to ban or challenge a book is well intentioned, the outcome is detrimental. Censorship denies our freedom as individuals to choose and think for ourselves. In support of the right to choose books freely for ourselves, the St. Ambrose University Library will host several events during Banned Books Week [September 26−October 3, 2009], an annual celebration of our right to access books without censorship. This year’s observance commemorates the most basic freedom in a democratic society—the freedom to read freely—and encourages us not to take this freedom for granted. Since its inception in 1982, Banned Books Week has reminded us that while not every book is intended for every reader, each of us has the right to decide for ourselves what to read, listen to or view. American libraries are the cornerstones of our democracy. Libraries are for everyone, everywhere. Because libraries provide free access to a world of information, they bring opportunity to all people. Now, more than ever, celebrate the freedom to read @ your library!

Tibetan Monks Create Mandala for Prosperity at St. Ambrose University

Opening ceremonies: Tuesday, 9/15 at noon

Laying of the colored sands: Wednesday, 9/16 through Friday, 9/18  from 10 a.m. to 6p.m.

Closing ceremonies: Saturday,9/19 at 1 p.m.

A Green Tara Sand Mandala for Prosperity and accomplishment will be constructed by the monks in the main lobby of the St. Ambrose University Library. Opening ceremonies for the Mandala will take place at the library on Tuesday, September 15 at noon.

During the ceremony the lamas consecrate the site and call forth the forces of goodness. This is done by means of chanting, music and mantra recitation. From all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism, that of painting with colored sand ranks as one of the most unique and exquisite. Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks to form the image of a mandala. To date the monks have created mandala sand paintings in more than 100 museums, art centers, and colleges and universities in the United States and Europe.

The lamas will begin the exhibit by drawing an outline of the mandala on the wooden platform. On the following days they lay the colored sands. (Sept. 16-18 from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Traditionally most sand mandalas are destroyed shortly after their completion. This is done as a metaphor for the impermanence of life. The sands are swept up and placed in an urn; to fulfill the function of healing, half is distributed to the audience at the closing ceremony, while the remainder is carried to a nearby body of water, where it is deposited. The waters then carry the healing blessing to the ocean, and from there it spreads throughout the world for planetary healing.

The closing ceremony will begin at the SAU Library on Saturday September 19 at 1:00 P.M. and move to the Marquette Street Landing where the sands will be poured into the Mississippi River. Please join us for this exciting event!!

Join us on Facebook

Fan the SAU Library Page on FaceBook! Just sign in to your FaceBook account,  run a search for St. Ambrose University Library, and select become a fan. It’s easy.

We’ll keep you posted on upcoming library events and pass on links to neat websites or eye-opening articles. We will also provide links to our library webpage and catalog for your convenience. Join today!

Want to join the group but are not yet a member of FaceBook? Click here for information on creating a profile.

Fall Term 2009

Welcome to start of another great fall term at SAU!  We hope you will consider visiting the library to take advantage of quiet study areas, individual and group study rooms, and our student lounge. If you’re new to our library, don’t be shy about introducing yourself to staff members. We welcome you and all SAU community members and hope that at the library you find  an environment that encourages study and intellectual and personal growth.

Information Literacy Test-Out

All incoming undergraduate students are required to pass Information Literacy 101 at SAU. However, two test-out opportunities per term are available. If you are interested in the test-out and would like to see if you are eligible to take it, please consult the Information Literacy 101 Test-Out Information page accessible through the library’s homepage or call the reference desk at (563)333-6472.

The Test Out for Information Literacy will be offered Tuesday, August 25, 2009, from 1:00 – 3:00 pm; then again on Thursday, August 27, 2009, from 9:30 – 11:30 am, in the Media Program Room, lower level, the SAU Library.  You may call the reference desk, 563-333-6245 (toll free 1-888-272-8542), to register to take the test (sign up for only one testing session) beginning August 18, 2009.

Reverse Image Search!

As an instructor of information literacy and website evaluation, I spend a lot of time at my computer viewing and assessing websites. Occasionally, I’ll run across a gem and I’ll share my find with you.

click to see image at: ideeinc.com/press/materials/tineye

“TinEye is a reverse image search engine. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions”…MORE…

Tap into your inner poet…

Try out this website when you need a break. This is fun and surprisingly satisfying.  OneWord

Summer Reading @ the SAU Library ~ History

History is a cyclic poem written by Time upon the memories of man.  ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Calling all history buffs! Check out these  Pulitzer Prize-winning history books at your local library:

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (W.W. Norton & Company) 2009

“What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848″ by Daniel Walker Howe (Oxford University Press) 2008

SAU call number: E338 .H69 2007

The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff (Alfred A. Knopf) 2007

Polio: An American Story by David M. Oshinsky (Oxford University Press) 2006

SAU call number: RC181.U5 O83 2005

Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer (Oxford University Press) 2005

SAU call number: E263.P4 F575 2004

A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration by Steven Hahn (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press)  Pulitzer winner , 2004

SAU call number: E185.2 .H15 2003

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Rick Atkinson (Henry Holt and Company)  Pulitzer winner ,2003

The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America by Louis Menand (Farrar)  Pulitzer winner ,2002

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf)  Pulitzer winner ,2001

SAU call number: E302.5 .E45 2000

Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 by David M. Kennedy (Oxford University Press)  Pulitzer winner, 2000

SAU call number: E801 .K46 1999

Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace (Oxford University Press)  Pulitzer winner , 1999

SAU call number: F128.3 .B87 1999

Summer Reading @ the SAU Library ~ Non-fiction

What I like about non-fiction is that it covers such a huge territory. The best non-fiction is also creative.
~Tracy Kidder

Take some time this summer to read some fantastic Pulitzer Prize winning non-fiction titles. Available at your local library.

Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon (Doubleday) Pulitzer winner,  2009

The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 by Saul Friedländer (HarperCollins)  Pulitzer winner,  2008

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright (Alfred A. Knopf)   Pulitzer winner,  2007

SAU call number:  HV6432.7 .W75 2006

Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya by Caroline Elkins (Henry Holt)  Pulitzer winner,  2006

SAU call number:  DT433.577 .E45 2005

Ghost Wars by Steve Coll (The Penguin Press)  Pulitzer winner,   2005

Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum (Doubleday)   Pulitzer winner,  2004

SAU call number:  HV8964.S65 A67 2003

“A Problem From Hell:” America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power (Basic Books)  Pulitzer winner,  2003

Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution by Diane McWhorter (Simon & Schuster)   Pulitzer winner,  2002

SAU call number:  F334.B69 N449 2001

Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix (HarperCollins)  Pulitzer winner,  2001

SAU call number:  DS889.8 .B59 2000

Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower (W.W. Norton & Company/The New Press)  Pulitzer winner,  2000

Annals of the Former World by John McPhee (Farrar)  Pulitzer winner,   1999

SAU call number:QE77 .M38 1998

Look for future posts on suggested Pulitzer Prize winning titles in history.