Dirt, Scandal and Biography: The TMZ of Library Science

Our society just loves talking about other people. Especially famous people. Every day as I drive around, I find myself twirling the radio dials only to find countless celebrity gossip reports. I flip around TV, and pass by TMZ and its various knock offs, and news shows where the biggest thing going on in the world is who Taylor Swift is breaking up with (and writing a song about) this week. Want to take a break from the Taylors and the Kardashians and whoever else bloggers wearing big scarves and hipster glasses are raving on about? Have I got a scoop for you! Our library has lots of biographical information and fun facts about both major figures, and less well known, but interesting people. We've got juice, gossip, and a whole lot of biographies! Because at TMZ, library style, we get our facts from credible sources and references, not from that drunk busboy in El Paso who swears he saw Nicki Minaj getting secretly married to George Clooney. And what I lack in hipster glasses, I make up for in occasional proper grammar. Scandalous!

Current Biography Yearbook

Interested in who is considered important in 2012, enough to be added to the annual yearbook of Current Biography? Skip Wikipedia and just come here! CBY chronicles a wide variety of people from around the world who have been judged as influential in 2012. [And this is an annual series, with library holdings as far back as 1943!] If the person being profiled is an author, the yearbook gives not only their biographical information but also tells the reader about their best known books, about the reviews for those books, their influences, and the inevitable movie adaptation. Enough information is given on their personal lives to be interesting, but not so much that it starts to get slightly creepy. If you need up-to-date information about modern writers, artists, athletes, actors, politicians, and other such people, this is the yearbook for you. There are often people you might not have heard of, but when you read their biography, you want to learn more about them. Less Kardashians and more Nobel Prize winners and poet laureates! When you finish the 2012 edition, go back and take a look at some of the other years, and see how much you can find, no matter whether you’re doing research, or you just feel like learning more about the woman who first made a Frappuccino (a hero to us all)- give these books a look!

          Indiana Legends

Indiana is not exactly considered the pinnacle of stars and celebrities. We are pretty far from Hollywood out here, in the land of corn and basketball, and you might think that nobody from here would make much of a splash out there. Well, you’d be wrong! Turns out, our celebrity bloggers (OK, it's a book) have discovered a number of famous Hoosiers in the world, including actors, musicians, politicians, and the occasional crook. For example, did you know that Jim Davis, the guy who created our favorite lasagna loving, snarky cat Garfield, is from Fairmount Indiana, and based Garfield on some of the cats who lived in his barn as a kid? And, in an extra juicy bit of coincidence, Fairmount is also the hometown of silver screen icon James Dean, the poster boy for misunderstood youth in the 50s. His former biology teacher said Dean was “A normal kid I had in school, a normal kid I had in 4-H, who becomes….well who becomes James Dean!” After his tragic death at age 24, he became an icon to angry teens and nervous parents alike, and in Fairmount, he is still fondly remembered. Other Hoosiers to make it big have included President Benjamin Harrison, first female self-made millionaire Madame C.J. Walker, Michael Jackson and all his singing siblings, late show king David Letterman, and Evansville's own celebrity designer and Bosse H.S. graduate, Halston. Oh, and some skinny basketball guy named Larry Bird. But what does basketball possibly have to do with Indiana?

                 Biography in Context

And now we journey to the true gossip hub of the world: the internet! Biography in Context is found in the library's A-Z list of databases-browse around the site, and check out the various people discussed here. You see lots of categories, with lots of people listed, and a WHOLE lot of facts. Need to know who was an architect? Inventor? World explorer? Just read this with a snarky voice in your head, add a lot of hipsterisms, and you pretty much have any celebrity blog out there, but with a lot of violinists and less former Jersey Shore cast members. Scroll through, and see if you can find some people you know, and some people you should know. It has everyone from Greek poet Homer or actress Jane Lynch, to current president Barack Obama or astronaut Sally Ride, with facts about their lives and histories, but, sadly, little about their favorite clothes. But don’t worry, I'm sure there are websites for that too. Put them all together, and you'll have a great term paper!

Read all your celeb blogs already, and need some more? Want to learn more about some people who actually haven’t had a reality show, just to shake things up? Try out these biographical sources, whether you want to learn about people because of a project, or you’re just plain interested in knowing facts for the next Trivial Pursuit challenge. And if you want to wear some hipster glasses while doing it, who am I to stop you?
 

CP

Brave New Virtual World

The internet seems to have saturated our days and our lives....you can’t go anywhere without checking in on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, or some other online thing, with Wi-Fi and internet connections everywhere. You can probably find Tweets from deep space at this point, or Snap Chats from the Mole People who live somewhere in the center of the Earth. But a lot of people get rather worried about this increased use of internet and social media. Facebook and Google are under constant scrutiny over privacy issues, with companies being accused of selling their users' personal information to advertising corporations. Employees are being fired for things they post on social media. People’s information and even their physical locations are constantly being tracked by their own social networking. It’s a brave new world that has such technology in it. And in the race to combat some of these issues, the American Library Association has christened May 1-7 as "Choose Privacy Week", one during which library users can enter the national discussion about privacy in the digital age. The campaign gives libraries the tools they need to help users make informed decisions about privacy. Now, I am clearly not anti-internet or anti-social media. I write a blog every day! I check my Facebook, Twitter, Snap chat, and Instagram accounts between classes. I probably use Google about seven times a day, 14 if I am writing a paper. Still, it’s important to remember to be careful about these things too. Putting too much of yourself online can be dangerous, and if any companies are getting a lot of power and information about you, it's best to be aware. Here are some of the library's titles about online privacy and other tech issues.

               Search and Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc.  by Scot Cleland

Is it somewhat ironic to use Google to search for a book about why Google is evil? Or is it just sad? Either way, it’s something that author Scot Cleland would certainly want us to consider. This book is pretty much what the title says it is. It’s a heavily researched book about the dark side of our favorite quirky search engine, Google. Beyond the wacky college hijinks of its young creators and staff, its ever present helpfulness in finding anything under (and over and around) the sun, and its awesome seasonal logo changes (Doodles), Cleland feels that Google is actually abusing privacy, infringing basic human rights, and is using its influence to move forward its creators' political views, and eventually influence the world at large. I am of two minds about this book. On the one hand, Cleland makes a lot of good points. Google isn’t accountable to anyone, it does use A LOT of personal information in rather Big Brother-ish ways, and you could certainly argue that the searches it turns up have an angle. These are points that should really be discussed, and it can be a little scary just how much power this company has. On the other hand…Cleland apparently hates Google so much that he accuses them of trying to remake the world in the image of Google through manipulation, unethical politics, and general evilness. He makes them sound less like a bunch of IT guys and gals creating software, and more like the Legion of Doom creating another world domination plot that the Justice League needs to stop. So if you give this book a look, maybe follow it with something a little more balanced, that doesn’t seem to assume that Google headquarters have pools of lava underneath the floorboards.

                                                              Outrageous Invasions  by Robin D. Barnes

This book is less about privacy in our daily lives, and more about the obsession society has with the lives of the rich and famous, and their lack of privacy. The content ranges from court cases to tabloid headlines, talking about the issues of celebrity privacy, when too far is way too far, and why people are so obsessed with the lives of the rich and fabulous. In a time when the lives of ordinary people are out there for the entire world to see, the lives of famous people are often not just an open book, but a 3D pop-up book with graphs and two sequels. Barnes also talks about how this obsession has some rather disturbing implications, especially when it comes to racial issues, religion, and even children. The book also looks at the very nature of privacy, and what it means in the modern era. Just how plugged in to other people’s lives are we, and when is enough going to be enough?

                   The Offensive Internet  by Saul Levmore and Martha C. Nussbaum

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but the internet can a bit of a freak show. Just go to YouTube, read the comments, and you’ll see what I'm talking about. Nowadays, the net has something of a reputation for being a gathering place for random racial tirades, angry commenters, and various bits of nastiness. This book is full of essays about the dark side of internet freedom, from misogyny to chat rooms (called the “cyber cess pools”) to privacy issues; it covers all the icky unpleasantness of the internet. The big issue here is the idea of the internet as a market for free speech. It’s great that we have this platform to discuss our views and opinions, but on the other hand, is it also giving stupid, angry people a platform to say whatever they want without consequences? Is it worth it? Should we have more laws to govern the internet? Check out this book, and learn more about combating the online morons and angry Trolls that stalk the net.

The internet has, for better or worse, been one of the major factors in our modern world. Reading these books, it feels like there is a certain fear about the internet. Especially a fear about the loss of privacy and accountability. My opinion? The internet doesn’t have to be a terrifying cess pool of doom where evil corporations steal your information after hacking your email. This doesn’t have to be 1984. Just take the week to really double check your online life, make sure you’re covered on privacy, that you're being careful what you put online, and above all, be informed. Read books like these, read books that are more positive towards the net, whatever you want, just keep the information flowing. At the end of the day, I think that’s what the internet is supposed to be about.

CP

 

 

Digital Public Library of America: Where the Sources Are!

Ever been working on a paper and you just can’t find a good history primary source? Library closed, and paper is due in a few hours? Don’t worry, there is a backup plan! Recently, various library leaders across the country came together to create a digital library, full to bursting with historical sources and references. And that website is the DPLA, The Digital Public Library of America. It is what it sounds like, more or less. Starting with over two million items, each with its own special story and significance, the Digital Public Library of America will now begin to assemble the riches of our country’s libraries, archives, and museums, and connect them with the public. They even have a few apps to go with it, allowing you to search for information anytime, anywhere! There are three major elements of the DPLA (at least according to the website).

·   First, an easy-to-use portal where anyone can access America’s collections and search through them using novel and powerful techniques, including by place and time.

·   Second, a sophisticated technical platform that will make those millions of items available in ways so that others can build creative and transformative applications upon them, such as smartphone apps that magically reveal the history around you.

·    Third, along with like-minded institutions and individuals the DPLA will seek innovative means to make more cultural and scientific content openly available, and it will advocate for a strong public option for reading and research in the twenty-first century.

It’s an easy website to use: just type in whatever you want to look for, and it will give you a good amount of information, just right there. There are also lots of nice pictures and information, so if you want to just look around for fun, I say give it a look. It’s brand new, having "opened" on April 19, so it will hopefully continue growing and getting new information, with more digital fun to be had. With everything going online these days, it makes sense that the next logical step is a full digital library run by libraries and librarians. Whether you need a source before class at 10:00 am, or you just have some spare time and want to learn about the history of baseball, give this website a browse. Head on over to www.dp.la and continue the digital revolution!

CP

Fighting Finals with Films 2: The Big Chill

Feeling the end of year stress yet? Papers to write, books to read, projects that you knew about for months but are just now getting starting on?  It’s a busy time of year, tough on everyone, and it can feel like there’s no time for fun or relaxation.  The pre-finals season is a time of stress and occasional panic, but never fear, there's hope. Instead of dealing with stress by binging on chocolate and crying to yourself, check out some of these movies we have here at the library! They're fun, feel good, and funny, which will hopefully take your mind off your impending finals and the never ending list of things that need to be done by the end of the semester. They range from wacky foreign films, to iconic teen flicks, to family adventures, and they all have something to make you smile. So check these out, and take a break from those finals blues!

                                          Amelie

Looking for a sweet romantic comedy that everyone can like? Then give this 2001 French film a look, because trust me, there is a lot to look at! Amelie, a young, isolated waitress who grew up almost totally on her own due to her over- protective parents, eventually decides to break out of her shell and help people. Near the start of the movie, she finds an old box filled with childhood mementos, which she returns to its owner. The movie then follows her attempts at making the world around her better, and to find some happiness for herself, including possibly falling in love. The movie is bright, colorful, and has a light, whimsicalness to it, and seems to be set in a magical version of Paris filled with color, quirk, and a lot of cute clothes. It’s funny, sweet, and yes it has subtitles but don’t let that scare you off! No matter what language it’s in, this movie is enough to shake anyone out of the finals blues, with bright colors, lovable characters, and a story that encourages viewers to get out there and live life.

                                             Mean Girls

Oh yes. We have it. Mean Girls, the fountain of a thousand internet memes, is the movie that just about everybody of a certain generation can quote endlessly. But when was the last time you actually watched it? Well, now seems to be a perfect time. Mean Girls is the sharp, witty satire about high school politics, friendship, and cattiness. Cady, a former home school student who has lived in Africa for several years, is now going to a typical American high school. She soon becomes entangled with “The Plastics”, a trio of popular girls (ditsy Karen, neurotic Gretchen, and queen bee Regina) who rule the school with an iron heel. What follows is a hilarious tale of high school life, that is as funny as it is real. Anyone who went to high school has to remember some of the things seen here, like three way calling attacks, fake compliments, and the always complicated table seating in the cafeteria, with tables seeming more like warring nations than high school cliques. But it also has a great lesson about the importance of friendship, and the silliness of drama and backstabbing. So get your friends together and get watching. I promise, it’s still so very Fetch!

                                             Secondhand Lions

This 2003 film was somewhat overlooked when it first came out, but trust me when I say it’s worth a look. Set in the early 1960s, it tells the story of a young boy named Walter, who is dumped off by his irresponsible mother at the farm of his two eccentric uncles to spend the summer. From there, the movie sort of has two stories. One is how the boy bonds with his cranky, isolated uncles and comes to term with the fact that his mom is a crappy, crappy parent, and the other is the story of his uncles' past lives in World War I, in the French foreign legion, and his uncle Hub's romance with a Middle Eastern princess named Jasmine. Jasmine also shares the name with an old lion that the uncles buy from an old circus, with which Walter bonds (hence the title). It’s a sort of coming of age/family drama/period piece/adventure story/comedy, with a lot of laughs and heart. Plus it has Michael Caine playing a Texan! That’s pretty hard to beat.

The end of the semester is tough. Trust me, I know. I have seen a lot of them. But you don’t have to be miserable about it all the time. If you just need to de-stress, watching a movie can be a great way to do it, whether it’s with friends, family, or just in the comfort of your own room. So whether you feel like whimsy, snarkyness, or circus animals, the library has something out there for you among its hundreds of DVDs!  And if you want to binge on just a little chocolate, I won’t tell.

 

CP

Scavenger Hunts, Road Tripping, and Zombie Fighting: Money Management for College Students

You know what really sucks about trying to be a grown up? Money. Making money, keeping money, and trying to be smart about your money management. Personally, that’s one of the things that I had trouble with when I first started college. I would freak out if I didn’t have money to buy a DVD, but still have enough in my budget to go out to eat three days a week; I was not the best financial planner. Being away from home, maybe with a credit card, it can be hard for a lot of students to figure out the best ways to both spend, and save money. And when you leave college, and realize that the looming threat of student loans has finally caught up with you? I know that I'm going to be thinking nostalgically about my biggest stress being a ten page paper due in two hours.  Luckily, there is help! There is a nationwide program called Money Smart Week, a public awareness program dedicated to helping people better manage their money. Throughout the week of April 20-27, a number of financial institutions are putting on free seminars and activities throughout the country, and online! Interested? Join the Money Smart Hunt PhotoScavenger Hunt, a nationwide photojournalistic game, with tasks requiring participants to demonstrate their financial savvy. How do you play? Simply head to the Apps store on iTunes or the Android Market, and download the free Scavenger Hunt with Friends app, create a user name and password, and search “Money Smart Hunt”. Then check out the list of items, and begin uploading pics of yourself completing each task. Know what the best part of money is? Winning it! The prizes include a $600 Apple gift card for 1^st place, a $100 Visa gift card for second place, and $50 Visa gift card for third. So get downloading and hunting right now. And after that, check out these great books to help you be a savvier spender- no more pop tart dinners ever again!

              Zombie Economics: Lisa Desjardins and Rick Emerson

Zombies are all the rage right now. So are zombie survival plans, where people debate on how they would survive if the dead started rising up and eating everyone (or just attempting a Thriller style dance routine). On TV, in movies, on T shirts, everyone seems to have a plan. But if you have a zombie plan, do you also have time to do silly things like making a financial plan? This book manages to combine zombie killing and financial planning, showing how fighting a zombie invasion is surprisingly similar to fighting for financial security. It's detailed plan shows how to pay your bills, get your career on track, cut costs, and keep from getting distracted and spending excess money, among other things. It alternates between that and a tale of a zombie survivor, where the narrator (you) must fight through an endless horde of zombies to eventually survive. The tale of zombies is interwoven with financial tips that relate to what’s going on in the story. It’s easy to read, fun, and perfect for any student (or recent grad) that has detailed plans on what to do in event of zombie attack posted on their wall, but still isn’t sure where to send their car payments. And most importantly, it reminds the reader that no matter how many zombies (bills) stack up, you just have to remember one thing: you will survive.

                                     Financial Planning for Your First Job: Matthew Brandeburg

 

As a soon-to-be college graduate, I have a very big problem that must be dealt with: what am I going to do with years’ worth of USI t-shirts?! Oh, and where can I find my first job, and how can I manage my finances in the real world? Little things like that. For that, I can turn to books like this one, which give helpful and professional lessons in managing debt, finding a good insurance plan, and planning for the future. Looking to invest some money? There’s help for that. Having trouble building a portfolio? Advice on that. Deciding where to live, how much to spend, or measuring financial risk? All right here. It’s quick, clean and to the point, jumping from issue to issue, and has plenty of information for anyone, recent grad or not, who is entering the “real world”.  Read this book, and get ready to become master of your financial destiny! And as for the shirt thing, let me know if you think of something. Please.

 

                                  Starting Out: Ruth J. Mills

. Still feeling a little shaky about the prospect of heading out on your own? There is more help to come! This online book will give readers more tips and tricks on how to get your life on track, especially right after leaving college. Set as a sort of financial road trip, the book speeds around from finding a place to live, establish a budget, and even how to discuss finances and plans with a future spouse. It also offers “postcards”, true stories of people trying to navigate the stressful, crazy world of finance, and how they succeed. It also details what happens when you hit “road block” and “toll booths” and other financial trouble spots, and how you can escape them. Finances are hard, and sometimes you feel like it’s a long, endless road with no exit in sight, just a bunch of sketchy looking gas stations and an old Waffle House off the interstate. But with a travel guide like this one, finances can be like a highway you want to ride all night long, not a highway to hell.

As scary as finances can be for people just starting out, there is help! With Money Smart Week, people who are actually good at this financial stuff are trying to help us figure all this out, and are even willing to give us prizes for it! And there are authors, professors, and other real grownups out there writing books to help people like me get it together, and figure out how to balance student loans and their Netflics account. So play a scavenger hunt, create a zombie plan, plan a road trip, and get working on that pile of bills sitting on your desk. Just remember: You will survive.

 

CP

The Life and Times (and Stress) of the Modern Student

Well folks, the semester is drawing to an end. That means it’s time for dreams of barbeques and swimming pools, but before that, we have to make it through endless papers, tests, presentations, and all the other fun that school gives us right before the semester ends. I can’t help but notice that students are already becoming a bit frayed around the edges, myself included. Every end of the semester, the stress starts to get to people, piling up and up until you’re just about to explode into a cloud of Wikipedia and Red Bull. But, as a soon-to-be graduating senior, I have to reflect on all this. How does this keep happening? Why do we keep putting up with this craziness? I decided to look at some books ABOUT college life, and how all this stress keeps happening. After checking these titles out for good info, I got some ideas on ways to finally defeat that end of the semester panic.

                                    How to Win at College: Cal Newport

There are many books out there for students just getting started, or for those who are having a rough patch in college later on. Newport's book is easy to read, and has a wide variety of topics. Granted, the book came out in 2005, so it is a little bit dated (not one Instagram reference? For shame!), but the advice itself is still perfectly good. Each chapter focuses on a different college strategy, focusing on both big tips, like being willing to drop bad classes, and making safe decisions involving alcohol, to small day to day tips, like making your bed to feel more organized, and learning a new joke every day to keep your spirits up. There are 75 tips in this series, all taken from graduating students, and almost all of them are ones I can very much recommend. The very last tip is to have no regrets, and I feel like if you can make it through college with no (or at least few) regrets, you have done pretty darn well.

                                           The Secrets of College Success: Lynn Jacobs and Jeremy Hyman  

If you’re interested in more about how college works, and why we have so much stress, check out this online book that can give you up to date information about life in college! OK, you’re already in college, but still! The thing about undergraduate life that seems to really stress people out is how everything seems to pile up near the end. All the homework due, all the tests happening, every extracurricular is wrapping up this year’s work and planning for next year, trying to get summer plans situated(or in my case, graduation plans)-- it can all be so overwhelming. To combat this, this book strongly suggests spreading deadlines out as much as possible, not allowing everything to happen at once. I like that particular advice, and a lot of the other things about this book. Published in 2010, it's more up to date, and its style is easy to read while still sounding intelligent. If you want more information about college life, and ways to plan for next year, give this book a read!

 

                 Millennials Go to College: Neil Howe and William Strauss

Millennials, for the record, are our older siblings and us. The generation that was born beginning around 1982 and where that ends sort of shifts around, but it probably ends around….the mid-to-late 90s? I don’t know, no one seems to be able to tell for sure. But it covers most traditional students in college right now, and from what I read, the millennials are presenting something of a challenge. For one thing, we are crazy overworked. This generation of teens and 20- somethings are very work driven, constantly trying to get the edge, and be “the best”. That pressure can make the already stressful world of college into even more of a mine field of late nights and eye twitching. This book discusses the traits of many Millennials, and how they learn and function. I like this book, and I do think it is more fiar to this generation than a lot of other writers seem to be. It discusses the  two things common to complaints about our generation (entitled, obsessed with tech) and the good things (more tolerant, hardworking), and how they affect our time in college. Published in 2007, this book is a little dated (apparently Facebook was a hot new thing when this book came out), but its points are legit. It can give more answers as to why we are just so dang stressed.

Having fun ripping your hair out and banging your head against the wall? Well, don’t worry, you are not alone! Stress this time of the year is perfectly normal, and at least it means you care enough to get stressed. Look at these books, and see how many students are going through the same thing  you are! And it's not new to this generation- imagine your mom typing her 20-page poli sci paper on a typewriter, no delete key, no insert key, no automatic header function......This is my final end of semester here at USI, so I know what I am talking about when I say that it’s really not so bad to be stressed.  It's normal, and while it's inevitable, you can try to control it because  school is important and all that and it’s  worth it in the end. Want to know ways to beat the stress? Tune in next time to find out!   

 

CP

The 2013 Library Hall of Fame

So, let’s talk about libraries. Which I know is also the title of my blog, but still. I love them- I love this library, my library back home, the Evansville libraries, etc.  So, I jumped at the opportunity to look at other libraries, and see how they stacked up next to the ones I know. There are many great libraries out there, and I want to know  more about them. So, because it’s National Library Week, I thought I would take a look at some great (and sometimes strange) libraries near and far. Be they big or small, fancy or simple, they are all terrific libraries that want to spread the power of books, knowledge, and telling annoying kids to be quiet.

     George Peabody Library, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,Maryland

This East Coast library is considered by many to be the most beautiful library in North America, and I can see why. It was founded in 1860 by philanthropist George Peabody, who wanted to create a large library that had all knowledge and literature available in it for everyone. It also happens to be amazingly beautiful. Designed by architect Edmund G. Lind, it has multiple spiraling staircases, art covering the walls, statues, multiple levels, and even, wow, a throne room. How anyone manages to actually get reading done in this giant library museum place, I don’t know. There are manuscripts, pieces of 19^th century literature, and whole histories of the romance languages, history of the US, and other fancy topics that philanthropists in 1860 were really into. If you happen to find yourself in Baltimore, check it out, and let me know how awesome it is ASAP!

 Paul Barret Jr. Library at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee

This library is at the prestigious Rhodes College, and everything about this library screams “hallowed halls and academia”. While the library was built in 2005, it looks like an ancient church, matching the Gothic architecture of the rest of the university. It’s built on rubber and limestone, with two towers, a cloister, and carved symbols all over the building. It houses over 500,000 books, as well as a full viewing movie theater. Somehow thinking about all the old fashioned looking tiles and steeples, along with a full theater playing the newest Michael Bay movie or something, is really funny to me. It’s just such an odd combination, but it seems like it works. I'd think it must be very hard to concentrate on doing your homework in there with so much to look at, but I bet it's still fun!


          Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland
Alright, I’m cheating here, because I wanted to stick with libraries in the USA, but this is one I have actually been to, and I really want to talk about it. Trinity College is one of the most famous colleges in the world, having existed since 1592, and is still one of the most prestigious colleges around. But we aren’t here to talk about the college. We are here to talk about its library! You know when people in movies go to ancient tomes of knowledge, where all of humanity's writings are hidden from the prying eyes of the unworthy? That’s what this place is like. First of all, it houses the Book of Kells,  a 9th century illuminated manuscript containing the four Gospels in Latin, which is considered one of Ireland’s greatest treasures. Each day, the library will turn a page of the book, allowing visitors to look at a different amazing page. If you follow the link above, you can get to the digital Book and even get an iPad app for using it! See how wonderful libraries are, in making great stuff available?  There is also an extremely large section where books are stacked on shelf after shelf, one on top of another, with a curved ceiling and the smell of old books that can linger for hours. As far as libraries go, this one, while not enormous or technological, is one of my favorite libraries of those I have had the pleasure to visit.
 

As we have seen, libraries come in all shapes and sizes, and have all kinds of purposes and histories. These are just three, and if they sound interesting, try to look up some more! And if you ever end up at any of these libraries, let me know what you think, and what the old book smell is like! Just remember to turn in your books on time, and show some respect.

CP

There’s a Poem in my Pocket!

In the midst of National Library Week, we have another day to celebrate! I have written a few blogs now on my love of poetry, so you can imagine how excited I am for National Poem in your Pocket day, on Thursday April 18^th! The idea behind it is pretty simple: head over to the library, get one of the poems set out for students, read it, and stick it in your pocket for the day. It’s already conveniently cut to fit your pocket perfectly, so why not? You can read it, share it with friends and family, post it on social media, its your poem to play with! It reminds us on the importance of culture and writing in our daily lives, and it means you can read some great new poems. Want to get a head start? Read a few of these poems right here, and pick the one you want to share the most! The worst that could happen is interrupting your chemistry lab with an impromptu poetry slam.

The First

By Sharon Hendricks

Heart is pounding, pulse is quickening
Two bodies come together.
Both people shaking like a leaf
despite the steamy weather.
This time is absolutely tarrying
Don’t think I am a miss.
Because nothing is more scary
than a very first kiss.

Long Island Sound

By Emma Lazarus

I see it as it looked one afternoon

In August,—by a fresh soft breeze o’erblown.
The swiftness of the tide, the light thereon,
A far-off sail, white as a crescent moon.
The shining waters with pale currents strewn,
The quiet fishing-smacks, the Eastern cove,
The semi-circle of its dark, green grove.
The luminous grasses, and the merry sun
In the grave sky; the sparkle far and wide,
Laughter of unseen children, cheerful chirp
Of
crickets, and low lisp of rippling tide,
Light summer clouds fantastical as sleep
Changing unnoted while I gazed thereon.
All these fair sounds and sights I made my own.

A Book

By Emily Dickinson

There is no frigate like a book

To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!

CP

Happy Library Week to All, and to All a Good Read!

Happy National Library Week! The best of all the library related weeks, NLW is celebrated all across the country, and Rice Library is no exception. Started in 1958, this week was created because the American Library Association feared that people were losing interest in books (and this was WAY before the internet) and losing interest in libraries. So they created this week to celebrate books, libraries, and the people that work there! So join us to celebrate National Library Week, and see what libraries are doing for us all!  The 2013 theme, Communities Matter @ your library, invites campus, school, and business communities to discover libraries as a hub for engaging in creative conversations about the community’s needs. Take this special week to show that your library is so much more than a repository of resources—that it’s the place for discussion that can enrich, shape, and transform your community.

First up, get in on the photo scavenger hunt! Grab some friends and locate pictured items from all around the library, to win a library grab bag and a $25 Starbucks gift card! Sound like fun? Of course it is, you’re being encouraged to play in the library instead of doing homework! Wins for everyone! Check out the Spotlight feature on the library's website to find out how to get started!

Need a new Profile Pic for Facebook? Take a photo with your favorite book in the library's photo booth, which will be set up between April 10th - 17th. Then upload it to libcirc@usi.edu. Bring in your favorite book and contribute to the library's collage of readers on the Information Wall!

Now, you might be thinking, “Gee, the library does so much for me, I sure do wish I could do something for them in return!”  Well never fear students, the library's website is here! All week long, a user survey will be offered, that will allow students to tell librarians what they are doing well, and what can be improved on. So take a few minutes to take the survey on the library's homepage; the link is in red font, and ask not what your library can do for you, but what you can do for your library (just this once!)

CP

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

Since the previous blog got me into a bit of a photography mood, I continued looking for more great pictures. And more than that, I wanted to go beyond the USA, and see what the rest of the world had to offer! Turns out, the rest of the world offers a whole lot in the way of amazing pictures of amazing places. I have always loved traveling, and if I happened to trip and fall over a giant sack of money, I would use it for travel (or a pony) to see all the natural wonders of the world. But, until that giant bag of money pops up, I will have to settle for looking at these books filled with pictures of amazing places that I might get to actually see in person one day! Or I can just wander around Burdette Park and imagine I am in the French countryside. I'm an English major, using imagination is kinda what we do.

                                                         Landscapes Without Memory   by Joan Fontcuberta

This is a book combining two great things in one: mountains and paintings. It describes various mountain landscapes that have also appeared in photographs and paintings, and compares them. And holy cow, these are the real deal and great looking. There's a huge assortment of pictures, ranging from multicolored desert mountains to snowy peaks in the Himalayas; it’s just amazing. It makes you want to travel to these remote locations faster than you can find a passport and the sketchy pilot to take you there. The paintings are sometimes of the actual mountains, and sometimes of something that just captures the mood of the place. Either way, the pictures look amazing, like nature decided that it wanted to really go all out when creating these landscapes. The book is like flying around all these amazing places in a plane, then flying through an art gallery. None of the photos or paintings of these places have people or buildings. They simply show nature at its finest, next to art at its best. What’s not to like?

                          Through the Lens
This book's material moves way beyond landscapes, using pictures of people and cities as well as landscapes. While I've been focusing mostly on landscape and the majesty of nature, I like this book so much I had to include it. After all, when you’re traveling, you’re not just looking at steep mountains and colored deserts, you’re also exploring cities and towns, meeting people, and having experiences. And this book feels like a series of experiences. Each chapter is broken into sections based on continent or area, with pictures of huge events like revolutions or national celebrations, as well as pictures of dancing and just sitting. It’s a collection from National Geographic, so it has pictures from as early as the 1920s, as well as recent ones, and they are all beautifully shot and presented. Photos of people and places show both the strange and the mundane, making both beautiful. If you like pictures or love travel, check this out. It’s full of great pictures of the earth, but also of the people who inhabit it.

                                              Wide Angle: National Geographic Greatest Places 

Want to see even more pictures? More places? This book is filled to the brim with both! Open up any page and see pictures of life from all over the world. Like the previous books, it focuses on landscapes, like sweeping shots of the deserts of Saudi Arabia, to multicolored gardens in the Netherlands, to cave paintings in Australia and dancers in Morocco. Does it make me want to travel to see these place? Oh, yes it does. Books like these remind us just how amazing the world is, and why we should try to see more of it.

If you want to see exciting places, but don’t exactly have the budget, thumb through any of these titles or others like them! Just look at the pictures, and it’s easy to imagine yourself standing right there. Want to see everyday life shown in an artistic way, that's just as interesting as foreign locations and giant peaks and mountains? Then just lift your eyes from your smart device, and look around you.
 

CP

America the Gorgeous (Let's Keep it That Way!)

Did you know that April happens to be National Keep America Beautiful Month? Well if you don’t, you do now- and I am here to tell you more! April is time a time of rain and growth, so it makes sense to celebrate the natural wonders of the USA, and spend some time working at keeping it beautiful. Earth Day is also celebrated on April 22, and these days, there's a lot of attention given to the environment and garbage and conservation and all that stuff I think they were going on about in Avatar or in an Al Gore speech. But getting past all the lectures, the politics, and the movie CGI, why do we bother with saving the environment? Well, as everything grows and blooms this April, take a look around and see why we need to work to keep America looking great! And if that doesn’t work, just check out these books! Trust me, they're a whole lot more fun than an Al Gore Power Point presentation.  (Although, if you ARE interested, the library's got most of his books!)

                               Time of Wonder  by Robert McCloskey
Want to experience a summer in Maine without the travel bills or wandering into a Stephen King novel? Then check out this classic kid’s book about a family’s vacation in a summer house on coastal Maine, and all the adventures the kids have in the ocean and woods. The story was written in 1957, but you really wouldn’t know it reading the book. Even though the kids are missing cell phones and Wi-Fi, it could be any time, with any kids. But what makes this book a classic are the amazing pictures of Maine. They look like paintings, with details of the ocean, the waves, and the forests around the house. The kids climb rocks and ride boats, and run through the forest, seeing all the amazing landscapes around them. No matter what time period, the outdoors has not changed. It really is a place of wonder. It doesn’t have a lot of plot, but it does make you really want to put away your cell phone, and appreciate the beauty of the outdoors, whether you can make it to Maine or not.

                                                                         The Portfolios of Ansel Adams

Love photography? Love nature? Then check out the work of Ansel Adams, who was sort of the Ralph Waldo Emerson of American photography. Adams is best known for his black and white photos of the West, especially of state parks. Born in 1902, he loved nature from a young age, playing outside and collecting bugs, and he grew up to be one of the most famous photographers and conservationists in 20th-century America. Adams took TONS of pictures, many of which were at state parks in the western United States, and wow- did they turn out awesome. He really had a gift for showing the feel of a place, not just the look. There is a great shot of a giant waterfall, and I swear you can just hear the water pounding against the rocks. And another shot of a large meadow of grass with a small stream in the distance, giving the picture this intense feeling of quiet and calmness. If you want to be reminded how amazing nature could be, and how much we need to preserve it, take a look at these pictures. Ansel Adams wanted his pictures to inspire people to get outside and protect what they saw, and if these don’t make you want to head outside and snap a few picture of your own, I don’t know what will.

           America's Natural Treasures

Ready to continue our little road trip? Well, this book takes us from coast to coast, looking at amazing sites and views from across the country. OK, the book itself is a little on the old side, but the places it shows are timeless. It also reminds you of the geographic diversity of this country, taking us from the deserts of Death Valley to the Snowy Mountains in Utah. It even has the Indiana Dunes in there, site of many an elementary school field trip. This book not only has pictures, but also lots of information on the places pictured, so that you can read about the pretty places, not just look at them. What does this have to do with keeping America beautiful? Well, books like this remind us why we should bother trying to help keep American looking great in the first place. So check out books like this, and see more of this lovely, crazy country.
 

April is a time of growth, and new starts. It’s as good a time as any to look around the country, and appreciate how beautiful it is. We can also look at ways to help protect it. I am not here to lecture anyone about saving the forest or anything (I'll leave that to pretentious animated films from the 90s- or James Cameron), I just want to remind people how great the outdoors can be, and how sad it would be if it all started disappearing. While I normally would never say this, put down the books, and get outside! You can plant a tree, take a trip, or just walk by the river, just go! The books will be there when you return.  
 

CP

I'll See You at the Movies

Since he first started writing movie reviews in 1967, Chicago-based film critic Roger Ebert has been the main voice in film criticism in modern America. The elder statesman of film, Ebert has been writing reviews for years, famous for his intelligence, wit, and the wrath he throws down on movies that he hates (look up his review of the 90s family comedy North, and see what Ebert can do). He has also been one of my personal writing heroes, and one of the reasons I am the lover of film I am now. I remember watching his TV reviews with his then partner-in-crime Gene Siskel, and later Richard Roeper, when I was a kid, but it wasn’t until my uncle gave me Ebert’s book of Great Movies that I really became a fan. Thanks to Roger, I have found tons of amazing movies I never would have seen otherwise, and also avoided paying for some real clunkers. Ebert's writing was intelligent, funny, and sometimes even philosophical, and his taste in genres was wide and varied. While one might be quick to label him as a “movie snob”, he has always been a proponent of science fiction (he has listed Star Wars and Blade Runner among his favorite films) comedy, and animation (his review of Ratatouille is basically a take against critics who look down on kids' movies as legit entertainment). His reviews were filled with insight into the world of film, and the world at large. At the same time, Roger would proudly call himself a movie snob, someone who wanted his movies to be intelligent, to respect him as a viewer, not to talk down to him or settle for the lowest common denominator. He made me feel like it was OK to like artsy foreign films, as well as (well made) big budget action movies. When he passed away on April 4^th, after a courageous long and painful battle with cancer, the movies changed forever. Looking at his list of best movies of every year since the 60s, I can’t believe that we won’t see a new list for 2013. So, to honor his memory (and wit), let’s look at some books about film, and keep his legacy for snarky intelligence going.

                                             Great Movies 3
What better way to start than with the man himself? This is the third of his books on Great Movies (he refuses to make a “best” movie book because he feels it’s so subjective) and it’s the one we have in our ebrary Academic Complete online collection! Like the rest of his books, it covers a wide variety of films, spanning genre, style, and country of origin. Among the films in this list are the classic Bill Murray comedy/existential art film Groundhog Day, classic 1940s WWII drama The Best Years of Our Lives, and classic musical extravaganza My Fair Lady, among many, many others. It’s filled with Ebert’s classic wit and style, his reviews filled with references to past films, the creators' other works, as well as bits of Ebert’s own life and experiences watching the movies. This book is also notable for having some of the few movies that Ebert has changed his mind on. In his early reviews, he thought that Groundhog Day and The Godfather Part II were only OK, but he later came around to them. And it takes a lot for
Roger Ebert to actually change his opinion in print.

      Classic American Films: Conversations with the Screenwriters
There are many people who collaborate to make a movie come together. Personally, I am amazed at the amount of work it takes to get a movie together. One of the most important people involved is the screenwriter. This book talks with various screenwriters of great movies, discussing how the movies came to be. The book begins with a big one, the 1952 musical classic Singing in the Rain (haven’t seen it? Find it now!) It shows a conversation between the writer of the book, and the two writers of the film, who give many interesting insights into the film's dialogue and story, and how much work goes into it. The author also talks to the writers of Rebel without a Cause, Psycho, Jaws, and Rocky, showing the time and effort that it took to write a script for a these classic films. And while I haven’t written a whole bunch of Oscar winning blockbusters, I do relate to how much work goes into writing. And as someone who has seen a lot of the movies discussed here, these interviews make the fact that these movies are so great even more impressive.

They say that everyone is a critic, but not everyone is a good critic. There are a decent amount of books here at the library about criticism, like Plays, Movies, and Critics, a book about various famous critics and what they review, focusing more often on theater critics based around New York, another area of criticism I find interesting, but also on film. This blog is about movies, the people who make them, and the people who loved them. Especially one person in particular, who seemed to love them like few others. Roger Ebert may have passed on, but his influence lives on, with many writers and filmmakers citing him as a major influence, myself included. I hope that one day, my writing can be even one tenth as well done and insightful as his was. In fact, I am going to let him finish this column off himself. The day before he died, he wrote one last blog, and this was how he signed off, working and reviewing to the very end.

“So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies."

    -Roger Ebert

CP

The Book Came First

You know what the best part of the start of April was? Not the chance to play stupid pranks on my roommate, not the license to post 100% fake stuff on Facebook (because no one normally does that)..... it was the start of the new season of Game of Thrones! Yep, my favorite show on TV has come back, in all its bloody, violent glory. In case you haven’t heard of the show (in which case, get to the nearest HBO connection ASAP) Game of Thrones is huge, sprawling series about a giant fantasy kingdom ruled by several noble families, with one king in charge of them all. It’s filled with action, witty dialogue, endless backstabbing and politics, family feuds, and murder. Oh, plus the occasional appearance by black magic, prophetic dreams, ice monsters, and dragons. Yeah, describing the plot, it all sounds kind of ridiculous, but trust me when I say that it’s awesome. I would say more, but I wouldn't dare ruin the many plot twists for you. Think of it as Lord of the Rings meets The Wire, and if that combination doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will! And guess what? It’s based on a book series! If you thought the show was endlessly complex, with about 3 million characters to follow, just give the books a look. The shortest one is still big enough to break a few bones if you drop it hard enough. George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is just one of many great book series that went on to become great TV shows. Did you know that shows like ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars, FX's Justified, and even the classic family drama The Waltons were all based on books? Granted, some adaptations are better than others, but it does seem like shows based on books have especially high quality. Just take a look at these books that we carry, than locate the nearest TV and see how they compare!

Friday Night Lights

Technically, this one is a true story that was made into a book that was made into a movie that was made into a TV show, which was better than all of those. It’s a simple premise, the story of the small Texas town of Dillon, and its much loved high school football team The Panthers. It’s a quiet, down to earth show focusing on issues of family, racism, class, drugs, and football in ways that could easily come off as an awful after-school special, but it’s told with such great writing and acting, that it feels totally authentic. Despite low ratings, the show lasted five seasons, and despite a few hiccups here and there (that stupid murder thing in season two…) it was a great show, and one of the most realistic looks at small town life you will ever see on TV. It gets right so many details of small town life that it had to come from real life. Or a book based on real life, which is close enough.

True Blood

From gritty southern realism to crazy southern gothic, True Blood is HBO's addition to the recent vampire craze, filled with blood, sex, action, and more sex. It’s based on the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris, which are more like detective novels, that happen to have vampires and fairies and shape shifters running around. The show, on the other hand, is just total craziness. It’s the tale of a young telepathic waitress who meets up with a hot vampire, just a few years after vampires have come “out of the coffin” (see what they did there? subtle...) and they go on to solve crimes, have weird graveyard sex, and play games on the Wii. And then it starts to get weird. Throw in some vampire sex clubs, white trash panther people, gay vampire royals, and you can see why this show gets such high ratings, right? It might be pure supernatural soap opera, but at its best, it actually has some sharp writing, great acting from the main cast, and some moments of genuine emotion. If you like the show, give the books a look. Less blood sex maybe, but keeping that quirky southern charm.

I have talked about adaptations more than once, and for some reason, it seems like TV is a great place to go to make your awesome book into an awesome adaptation. For every Honey Boo Boo style reality show, and every bland procedural, there are great shows being produced and watched by many. And a lot of them seem to be based on books. If this means more people will go back and read the books after seeing the shows, that's even better. And the book will always have come first. My beloved Game of Thrones is just one of many great shows out there based on books, and I love that I live in a time where one of the biggest shows in the country is a critically beloved fantasy show based on a giant fantasy book series with giants, murder shadows, zombies, and all kinds of craziness I can’t really talk about without spoiling everything that’s happening. And the other biggest show is based on a comic book (It’s a comic book so it counts!) about killing zombies. It’s a great time to love books. And zombies, icy or otherwise
 

CP