WVU Libraries

WVU Intranet, October 16, 2006 

West Virginia University and Marshall meet again this fall. However, this time there won’t be a football.

Instead, the excitement is all part of the third author’s luncheon for supporters of the libraries at WVU and Marshall. The event kicks off at noon, Friday, Oct. 27 at the Embassy Suites in Charleston.

“We are truly grateful for all of our wonderful supporters, and this luncheon is our way of showing them our appreciation,” WVU Libraries Dean Frances O’Brien said.

“We expect that everyone will have a great time. Past luncheons show us that people enjoy meeting writers and hearing them talk about their craft.”

Read the rest of this entry »

WVU Intranet, October 9, 2006

User login to computers at the WVU Libraries or to remotely access the Libraries’ electronic resources changes as of October 8.

Currently, users login one way at a campus library and another way at home or elsewhere. Under the new policy, the login process becomes the same at all locations for students, faculty, and staff – username and password are required.

Read the rest of this entry »

 The Daily Athenaeum, Editorial, September 27, 2006

Read the rest of this entry »

The Daily Athenaeum, September 26, 2006 

By Kathryn Gregory
Senior Staff Writer

The topic of controversial books in history usually brings to mind authors like J.K Rowling, J.D Salinger and William Shakespeare. Sometimes, books can even be banned from libraries because they are deemed too offensive.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week. Banned Books Week was created to celebrate readers’ freedom to read, said Sherry Steadman, library associate at West Virginia University.

“Harry Potter always gets challenged. Even the Bible, the dictionary and encyclopedia get challenged because people take offense to the language,” Steadman said.

To promote awareness of challenged and banned books, WVU Libraries have set up a booth in the Mountainlair this week from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. through Sept. 29. It’s designed to encourage people to read the banned books, Steadman said.

“We are here to let people be aware that people are trying to restrict your right to what you can read,” she said.

WVU does not have banned books. Books are typically not challenged in an University setting. According to Steadman, banning mostly takes place at public libraries and in school systems.

“A balanced, non-biased library collection is the building block of empirical research and academic teaching,” said Sophie Bogdanski, a librarian at WVU. “Books represent our history and culture through the ages. It reflects our story as human beings.”

In many cases, books are banned for offensive content relating to sex, profanity and racism, Steadman said.

Monongalia County’s last book banning was in 1977 for “Our Bodies, Ourselves” by Boston Women’s Health Book Collection.

“It was challenged because someone thought it was pornographic, encouraged homosexuality and was filthy,” Steadman said.

Google has joined Banned Books Week with an addition to its Web site. Web surfers can read about classic books which are continually challenged in the United States.

The Web site lists 42 of 100 classic books that are recognized by the Radcliffe Publishing Course as some of the best novels of the 20th century, but are still challenged.

“It all comes down to a good author. The authors of books challenge us through their experiences, opinions and views,” Bogdanski said.

A library is there to provide, collect and preserve all books, regardless of their viewpoints and opinions, Bogdanski said.

“An author does their job by challenging us through the written word,” she said.

For more information about banned books, visit the Mountainlair booth or the ALA Web site at www.ala.org/bbooks.

Some of the best-known and popular books on library and bookstore shelves also hold the unique honor of being on the list of books some people want censored.

The list ranges from “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain to J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” stories to the popular juvenile series “Captain Underpants” by Dav Pilkey.

Area residents have a chance to learn more about censorship this week at WVU, where librarians are focusing on freedom to read as part of Banned Books Week.

“Banned Books Week holds a great deal of significance for academic and research libraries,” said Sophie Bogdanski, monographs cataloging unit librarian for the WVU Libraries.

Read the rest of this entry »

Carroll Wetzel Wilkinson has been appointed Director of Instruction and Information Literacy for the WVU Libraries.

In the post, Wilkinson, the former Head of Access Services for the Downtown Campus Library, will oversee courses being taught by the Libraries and develop curriculum for future classes. She also hopes to work with interested faculty to integrate the intellectual principles of information literacy into their teaching.

“Carroll brings a strong interest in teaching and information literacy to this program,” WVU Libraries Dean Frances O’Brien said. “She also has a track record of collaborative efforts that bring different people together. She will be able to lead us in providing library instruction to WVU students in meaningful new ways.”

Wilkinson

Read the rest of this entry »

Students will find 40 additional computers available for research and writing in the Downtown Campus Library this semester. From Sunday through Thursday, the Computer Classroom on the lower level will be open as a lab from 5 PM until 10 PM. Computers in the classroom offer all the functionality of library public computers – including Internet, word processing, and spreadsheet applications.

The 30 computers in the classroom bring the total of public desktop computers in the Downtown Library to 210. The Media Services desk also recently increased the number of wireless laptop computers from 20 to 30. Students may borrow these machines for use anywhere in the Downtown Library Complex.

Another Tale of Two Cities
Un autre conte de deux villes

a documentary by Michelle Gales
The transformation of two neighborhoods, the Faubourg Saint-Antoine in Paris
and Spitalfields-Whitechapel in London

Now & Then Productions
Screening Thursday September 7 at 5:30 PM
Downtown Campus Library
Room 104
Followed by Discussion with the Director

Another Tale of Two Cities invites you to be the detective, looking for clues in the images, the signs of change. And to be something of an archaeologist, too. These streets have a story to tell. And they are full of History: the French Revolutions of 1789, 1830, 1848 and the Paris Commune, John Wikes, French Huguenots and Jewish refugees. London Docklands, the Labour Movement and the famous East End solidarity. In fact, Another Tale of Two Cities, does not follow a traditional storyline, but an itinerary: three passages between these two cities.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Daily Athenaeum, August 22, 2006

The Downtown and Evansdale libraries have recently installed a new checkout system that will enable students to get their books in a timelier manner.

The new system, called 3M’s SelfCheck, is very similar to what students run across when doing a self-check out at the grocery store.

Billy Wolfe/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Senior chemistry major Emily Perteete attempts to use the new self-check out counter at the downtown library, but has problems with the scanner. According to librarians, not all books have barcodes placed on them properly and oversized books will not work at the new station.

Read the rest of this entry »

Your next trip to the library might be a little quicker. New self-checkout stations at the Downtown Campus and Evansdale libraries allow users to avoid long lines when checking out materials.

This new option, 3M’s SelfCheck, is similar to using a self-checkout at the grocery store. Simply touch the screen and animated instructions guide you through the process.

“It’s a nice alternative for those days when the lines are two or three people deep and you just need to check out a book,” said Mary Strife, Evansdale Library Director and circulation policy committee chair. “This is a fast way to get it done and go.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The hottest new titles from area bookstores are available for browsing in Eliza’s, the Downtown Campus Library coffee shop. Whether your taste runs to current events, fantasy, science, or fiction, there are plenty of books to entertain you as you relax with a cup of Starbucks coffee or a snack. And if you discover something you want to take home, you don’t need to buy it. Books from Eliza’s are available for loan. Just be sure to bring your WVU ID card when you visit the library. It is your library card, too.

Are you interested in food? Eliza’s collection includes The Nasty Bits, the latest from Anthony Bourdain and Bill Buford’s Heat : an Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-quoting Butcher in Tuscany. Sports fans might enjoy John Feinstein’s Last Dance : Behind the Scenes at the Final Four or perhaps Clemente : the Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero.

The collection includes critically acclaimed graphic novels like La Perdida by Jessica Abel, as well as new works of fiction from John Updike, Gail Godwin, T.C. Boyle, and Elizabeth Strout. Mystery fans will find Lee Child’s latest Jack Reacher novel, The Hard Way, but for those who prefer a gentler mystery, set in an exotic location, the collection also includes the newest installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Series.

Eliza’s collection is accessible whenever the library is open, even at times when the coffee shop is closed. To find Eliza’s titles in the MountainLynx catalog, search on the keyword, “elizawv.” New titles are added frequently, so stop by often to see the latest additions.

Watch gangster, blaxploitation, western, and slasher films in the library.

The WVU Libraries are offering a new online course this fall called ULIB493: Film and Media Literacy. ULIB is a new designation for library courses. This is a fun and easy three credit course that students in many majors will enjoy. For example, students in Journalism, Communications, History, Theater, Art, English, Education, Liberal Arts, Multidisciplinary Studies, Sociology, and anyone who likes movies will increase their knowledge of film and film criticism by participating in this class. This course is taught online and students will watch films online and on Reserve in the Media Services Department of the Downtown Library, so they can do the work for the course at any time during the week.

Students will learn about media literacy and become informed film consumers in this course. They will learn film vocabulary and criticism, and how to use two online databases to find comprehensive film information. Students will study four film genres, Gangster films, Blaxploitation films, Westerns, and Slasher films. The final project is a film review of a movie they select from their genre of choice. To learn more about the course, visit the web page at: https://lib.wvu.edu/instruction/classes/ulib300/.

Learn more about U.S. Patents in this introductory session on the patenting process and preliminary patent searching.   This two-hour workshop will cover classification, Public PAIR, and hands-on instruction in using the U.S. Patent Office’s online database of patents from 1790 to the present.

Thursday, July 6 from 10 a.m. – noon     Evansdale Library, Room 130

Questions?
Contact Marian Armour-Gemmen
marmour@wvu.edu
296-4696 x5106

Sewit Araia, a senior, enjoys a piece of cake while chatting with Sudiksha Joshi, a graduate student, during the West Virginia Day celebration

Anna Schien, a WVU librarian, hands the first commemorative poster to Sylvia Bolyard, of Preston County.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dominion Post, June 18, 2006

By Melanie Moroz
Campus Buzz

West Virginia’s 143rd birthday on Tuesday will be celebrated throughout the Mountain State, with WVU’s downtown library hosting several commemorative activities open to the public.

Beginning at noon Tuesday, the activities will kick off at Eliza’s coffee shop on the fourth floor of the downtown library. A birthday cake and the return of the library’s renowned West Virginia Day poster will be included in the celebration, as well as a launch of a new digital resource that will benefit both students and residents.

Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t worry about bringing a card or wearing a party hat. Come celebrate West Virginia’s birthday at Eliza’s in the Downtown Campus Library.

On Tuesday, June 20, the WVU Libraries will be celebrating the 143rd anniversary of the founding of the Mountain State with birthday cake, the return of the Libraries’ celebrated West Virginia Day poster and the launch of a new digital resource that is a true birthday gift to West Virginians everywhere.

Read the rest of this entry »