Staff & Faculty Party

All staff and faculty are invited to our Spring Party today at the Grand View Library.  We'll have plenty of food and drinks for everyone.

Come eat, chat, and enjoy the beginning of spring!

Twilight Discussion Tomorrow

This is a friendly reminder that we will be discussing the Stephanie Meyer book Twilight tomorrow at 3:00 in Holy Grounds Coffee Shop.  This is open to all students.  Even if you haven't finished the book, you should consider stopping by to listen to the discussion.

If you plan to attend, make sure you bring a couple of discussion questions to get us started.

See you tomorrow!

Today in History

159 years ago today, Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic The Scarlet Letter was published.

Hawthorne was in financial straits when he took a job at a customs house.  It was during this time that he started writing the book.  When it was published, the book made him famous.  Hawthorne went on to write other books as well, including The House of the Seven Gables.

However, one of Hawthorne's most famous short stories, the tale of Young Goodman Brown, was published before Letter.  It is perhaps his most chilling tale.  You can read it online here.

If you're interested in reading The Scarlet Letter, stop by the library and pick up a copy.  Or try it online first and, if you like, come pick up a copy after that.

Women's History Read-In

Join us this Thursday, March 12th at 11:30 in Holy Grounds Coffee Shop for our March Read-In.  We will be celebrating Women's History Month.  In the past, people have brought essays, poems, short excerpts from novels & plays, as well as letters from famous women authors.  If you choose to share your text with us, that would be great!  If you just want to come and listen, that's fine too.

If you don't know what to bring, contact us and we'll help you find something here in the library.

See you on Thursday!

Finance & Photos

Happy Friday, everyone.

Have you been trying to make sense of the entire financial crisis?  It's a twisted system and money seems to be flying left and right.  Thankfully the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has put together a timeline of the financial crisis.  It's an engaging website with documents and other information pertaining to the nation's continuing efforts to control the economic swings.

Also, do you like old photographs?  Do you need old photographs for a project in one of your classes?  If so, the Library of Congress now has a huge archive of photos on its Flickr account online.  You can see color photos from the Great Depression in one of their collections.

They also have a new collection of photos of Abraham Lincoln, from when he was a young lawyer all the way up to the days before his assassination.

March: Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month.  Pictured on the left is Susan B. Anthony, one of the most famous women in American History.  Why is she so famous?  She worked for decades to ensure women had the same rights as men, especially the right to vote.  

Her work eventually led to the adoption of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote.  Amazingly, it was adopted in 1920, over 130 years since the founding of the Republic.

If you care to know more about Ms. Anthony or any of the other famous American women we celebrate this month, check out one of our books, American Women Activists' Writings: An Anthology, 1637-2002, in the GV library.

Also, take a look at this interesting article Anthony's niece wrote about the women's rights movement in the late 1940's.

What Are You Reading?

Winter is a great season for reading.  It's hard to stay outside for too long with the cold blasts of arctic air and the thick snow and ice, so staying inside by a warm fire with a book can be a great experience.

So what have the library staff been reading lately?

I (Dan) have been reading The Best American Short Stories, 2007.  Yes, I know I'm a little behind, but I'm almost finished with it.  It's an excellent collection of short stories and I attribute part of that to the guest editor, Stephen King.  He picked out a few real gems for this edition.  I thoroughly enjoy having a collection of short stories or essays around at all times.  They give you a variety of ideas and narratives to think about, but they are also helpful for when you only have 30 minutes to read something.  Collections of stories and essays are also a great way to discover new authors too.  I've picked up many new books by fresh authors after finishing a short story.

Megan, our Access and Instruction Librarian, has been reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.  She has this to say about it:

"I picked it up because I enjoyed his other novel, The Kite Runner, and my friends and family have been bugging me to read this one too so we can talk about it. So far, I’m liking it even more than The Kite Runner because it focuses on a female perspective of life in Afghanistan. The novel made me curious about the state of women’s rights in Afghanistan, so I learned more here. So far in my reading, nothing too terrible has happened yet, but there’s a definite sense of impending doom…"

So now that we've shared something with you, what can you share with us?  What have you been reading lately?  Leave us a comment to let us know.

Student Book Club

Are you interested in reading a book or two outside of class?  Would you like to meet once a month and discuss books with fellow students?

If so, plan on coming to the March 24^th meeting of the Student Book Club.  We’ll be meeting at Holy Grounds in the library to discuss the popular book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

At that time, we can discuss a possible book to read for April as well.

I hope to see you on March 24^th at 3:00 in Holy Grounds.  Contact the library if you have any questions.

Tracking Information: Our National Stimulus

Have you been following the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act?  Well, you probably are but you know it by a different name: the stimulus.

Yes, we are in rough economic times, and that means colleges and universities all across the nation will feel the pinch as well.  

How will the new stimulus affect colleges and universities?  Well, you could read a news article about it from our database Access World News.

Or you could follow the money by visiting the government's new website, Recovery.gov.

You can also find out how the stimulus package is going to directly affect Iowa.  The Democratic Policy Committee has put together fact sheets for each state in the Union, showing how the money will impact our state.  Check it out.

So test out your research skills and follow that money!  Find out how it will impact you, your friends, your family, your school, and your community.

Darwin & Lincoln

Today we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln.  

These two men impacted history in unique ways.  Without their efforts, we would certainly be living in a very different world with different perceptions of the people around us.

Lincoln and Darwin helped us to see ourselves in a new way.  Darwin's theory of evolution gave us a glimpse of ourselves as being part of nature and the product of millions of years of evolution.  No one human being is genetically superior or inferior to another.  We are all alike.

Lincoln changed the United States like no one before or after him.  His efforts as the 16th president of our republic helped secure the freedom that American slaves had wished for.  He was a man of his time with faults and failings, but he was also ahead of his time, especially in his writing ability.  His ultimate goal was to preserve the union, but in the process he helped lay the foundation for a multicultural America in which people are treated equally.

Lincoln and Darwin helped us to see that we are all equal.  Let's remember that on this day in history.

For more information about Darwin and Lincoln, check out some of the many books we have here at the Grand View library.  Also, take a look at some of these excellent websites devoted to the lives of these men:

The Learning Page @ the Library of Congress: Abraham Lincoln

The Abraham Lincoln Papers @ the Library of Congress

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois

The Complete Works of Charles Darwin, Online

The Darwin Correspondence Project