Emily Dickinson Archives

Through the magic of technology, you too can peruse images of Emily Dickinson's handwritten poetry drafts from the comfort of your library, classroom or home sofa. Thanks to cooperation between such storied institutions as the Library of Congress, Harvard University, Amherst College, Yale, Smith, and the public libraries of Boston and New York City (along with other partners) the Emily Dickinson Archives is open online for all.

This is a draft of the poem with the opening line: I'm nobody! Who are you?

I'm nobody! Who are you? 

Are you nobody, too? 

Then there 's a pair of us don't tell! 

They 'd banish us, you know. 

How dreary to be somebody! 

How public, like a frog 

To tell your name the livelong day 

To an admiring bog! 

This image is from Harvard's Houghton Library.Visit this and other delights at:  http://www.edickinson.org/
One of the fabulous outcomes of the digital world of information is equitable access to far flung primary source documents such as Dickinson's handwritten manuscripts..



                                                                        Photo by Warrick Wynne

Chass Craze Overtakes the Library

It happened suddenly.
One day, a chess board appeared.

 

And the students started playing chess.

Other students gathered around, then asked for more chess boards. Some brought their own.

8th block in the library became lively with  multiples chess games going, and involved spectators.  

Those were crazy, sideways days, raucous with unwanted coaching and spontaneous cheers and jeers. Then...It was over. The storm of mass chess playing had passed.

Will it be back? I hope so.

Newbery Pickers Book Club at the Extracurricular Expo

The Newbery Pickers: a middle school book club, whose members read Newberry Medal winners, scored some new members at the Extracurricular Expo.

Book Club members prepare a poster for their table at the expo.

               It looks fabulous!

              

                              Book club members talk to potential new members during the expo.

                             At the next Newbery Pickers meeting there were 4 new members!!!

Researching Ancient Greece in Print & Online

Last week, on one day, over 40 students in 7th & 8th Grade English (Patrick's classes) came to the library to learn some research skills and tricks.

We discussed the different information sources: dictionaries, encyclopedias, monograph's (stand alone non-fiction books), periodicals (popular magazines and scholarly journals.) We experimented with using an index to find information in a non-fiction book.

Then it was time to tryout our digital search skills, utilizing online data base available to all Michigan residents through MeL.org, rather than trawling through the free web. We observed that the digital resources we found online mirrored print sources: dictionaries, encyclopedias, journal articles and ebooks.

The students in the five classes are now ready to use both print and online sources for their Ancient Greece project.

Here's some 7th graders hard at work!

Friday Afternoon @ the Library

Serious students studying:

World Language teacher working with students:

A busy afternoon! Every table and computer in use!

Library of Congress and the Federal Government Shutdown

To librarians, as well as other people who love books, information, thinking, and beautiful buildings, the Library of Congress is Mecca. The physical structure and holdings are wonderful, and the online digital resources are fabulous. But due to the federal government shutdown, the following is what appears when one clicks on www.loc.gov

Due to the temporary shutdown of the federal government,
the Library of Congress is closed to the public and researchers beginning October 1, 2013 until further notice.

All public events are cancelled and web sites are inaccessible
except the legislative information sites THOMAS.gov and beta.congress.gov.

Very sad.

Magazines: present and future

Some magazines are still printed on paper and delivered via the postal service, others have become electronic only. The Roeper Middle/Upper School Library currently has a subscription list of 25 popular and scholarly magazines (referred to as 'periodicals' in the library biz.)

As the geese are heading south, whilst the leaves are starting to turn red and gold, the annual ritual known as subscription renewal is upon us. Once a year, we have the chance to review our magazine choices, consider our options, and request new titles. It's also time to let go of journals no longer of interest to enough of the community. Sometimes there is sad news, such as that PC World will no longer be available in flattened wood pulp.

So, Roeper people, think about what you really really think should be added, and leave a comment, send an email to the librarian, or sign the Magazine Wish List in the library.


FYI, here's a list of the current holdings from A to W:

ArtNews, Asimov's Science Fiction, Atlantic, Cricket, Current History, Down Beat, Economist, English Journal, Games, Harpers, J-14, Make, marvel Universe, Mental Floss, Michigan Sportsman, National Geographic, New Republic, New Yorker, Scientific American, Smithsonian, Sports Illustrated, Time, Vanity Fair, Wired.

Banned Books That Shaped America

The following comes from the fabulous Banned Books Week website, endorsed by the Library of Congress and sponsored by a host of organizations including:  American Booksellers Association, American Library Association,  American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Banned Books That Shaped America:

"Books that Shaped America" is an exhibit created by the Library of Congress, exploring books that "have had a profound affect on American Life".  Some of the venerable books in the exhibition that have been challenged or banned include:


The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, 1884

One of the most frequently challenged books of all time, was called "trash and suitable only for the slums" when first published. For over a century, censors decry the book, alleging it to be "oppressive,"  "racially insensitive" and guilty of "perpetuating racism."  

The Call of the Wild, Jack London, 1903

This staple of reading lists was burned in Nazi Germany bonfires, and banned in Italy and Yugoslavia in the 1920s and 30s. Age inappropriate due to dark tone, violence and blood are oft-cited reason censors claim why they are against what is considered Jack London's best work.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960

Promoting white supremacy, racist, degrading and profane. These are the terms used by censors who want the Pulitzer Prize winning book removed for high school American Literature classes.

Beautiful New Books

Among the new books on the library shelves are three award winning titles that are a joy to behold:

   

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang  Call #: G 741.5 YAN
"...more than just the story of a Chinese-American childhood; it's a fable for every kid born into a body and a life they wished they could escape. The fable is filtered through some very specific cultural icons: the much-beloved Monkey King, a figure familiar to Chinese kids the world over, and a buck-toothed amalgamation of racist stereotypes named Chin-Kee. Jin's hopes and humiliations might be mirrored in Chin-Kee's destructive glee or the Monkey King's struggle to come to terms with himself, but each character's expressions and actions are always perfectly familiar." 
                                                    -  From Publishers Weekly 2006.

 The Arrival by Shaun Tan     Call #: G 741.5 TAN

"By placing photorealistic human figures in abstract, surreal environments, Tan evokes the intimacy of an individual immigrant experience without ever settling on a specific person, time or place. His drawings depict architecture and clothing that are at once historic and futuristic. Shadowy dragons’ tails haunt the Old Country, while the new land consists of structures and creatures that look like a 6-year-old’s drawings brought to three-dimensional life."                                                                                      - From The New York Times 2007.

Drawing From Memory by Allen Say  Call #: G921 SAY

"Say tells the story of how he became an artist through a vibrant blend of words and images. Beginning with his boyhood in World War II-era Japan, he traces his life-changing relationship with Noro Shinpei, an illustrious cartoonist who became his surrogate father figure and art mentor. Illustrations are richly detailed and infused with warmth. Exquisite use of light makes night scenes glow, and the mid-20th-century Tokyo setting is captured with vivid authenticity."      - School Library Journal

Quotations About Censorship

"Don't join the book burners... Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book." 

                                    - Dwight D. Eisenhower  









“[I]t’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.” 
                                             - Judy Blume

“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed." 

                                   - Benjamin Franklin 

"Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education." 

                                   -Alfred Whitney Griswold 

"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." 

                        - Heinrich Heine (19th Century German Poet)

"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there." 
                                                               - Clare Booth Luce







Thanks to the New Mexico State University Library for the great online resource guide about Censorship and Banned Books, the source for the above quotations.

Banned Books Week 2013

It's Banned Books Week!
Though for librarians and other folks interested in the freedom to read, every day is an opportunity to take a stand against censorship, this week comes with special events and bookmarks! (Come to the library to get your limited edition place holder.)

From the American Library Association (ALA):
"Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular"


Authors such as Sherman Alexie, Laurie Halse Anderson and others are on board too!

Some of  the most challenged or banned books books during 2012-2013 are:

For a comprehensive list of the top 10 most frequently challenged books (by year) of the 21st Century, click here.

Censorship attempts can take many forms. Curious about the difference between a challenged and banned books? Click here.
"The American Library Association promotes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinions even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them. "

Library Access to Text Books

Forget your Bio textbook?


Is your Chem tome at home?


The library may have an extra copy of what you need for class or to do your homework.

Thanks to the good service work of Lainy Lesnau, there are even more textbooks available, as well as other books often used in Roeper classes.

Lainy has embarked on a multiyear project to earn a Girlscout Silver Award. She collects textbooks and other print resources for the library.

Here she is, processing the recently acquired books, adhering the eye catching zebra duct tape to the spines, indicating they belong back in the library after use.





                     
                 

Studying in the Library: It really does happen!

And I have proof:

I also have a computer helper!