In March 2010, we are celebrating 30 years of recognition of women’s historic contributions to the growth and strength of our Nation in countless recorded and unrecorded ways. It was President Jimmy Carter who issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980 as the first National Women’s History Week. Later the National Women’s History Project (NWHP) worked to lobby Congress to expand the week into a month. In 1987, a Congressional Proclamation designated March as the “Women’s History Month.”
The theme selected for this year’s celebration is “Writing Women Back into History.” You will find a display of library books, CDs and DVDs in the Periodical Reading Room by and about women who were artists, engineers, scientists, warriors and much more.
When you visit the display in the Periodicals Room, you can see materials representing the variety of experiences that comprise Women’s History, from the letter writers in Revolutionary War times in Women’s Letters through to Laura Brodie’s account of the admission of the first female cadets at VMI in 1997. In between are the biographies of suffragist Susan B. Anthony; America’s first female doctor, Elizabeth Blackwell; pilot Amelia Earhart; anthropologists Margaret Mead and Mary Leakey, and Maria Stewart, America’s First Black Woman Political Writer.
The National Women’s History Project website is here, and their facebook page is here.
Back by popular demand, it’s Saturday Night Live at the Library! We’ll be open until 2300 this Saturday, March 6.
No reruns, opening monologue or music guests, just a good place to study and finish your work. Exactly what you need right now, before spring furlough.
We’ll also be open until 2300 on the last three Saturdays in April – the 10th, 17th, and 24th.
The Friends of Preston Library in concert with the VMI Honors Program will host a program on Wednesday, 3 March 2010 at 5 p.m. in the Turman Room of Preston Library. The guest speaker will be James L. W. West, III. Dr. West is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English at Pennsylvania State University. He will discuss his book on William Styron, Letters to My Father.
A native of Newport News, author of Sophie’s Choice, The Confessions of Nat Turner, Lie Down in Darkness,A Tidewater Morning, and other celebrated works, William Styron will be remembered as one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Last month, Jim West’s book received a front page review by the Times Literary Supplement.
Copies of Letters to My Father will be available for purchase at the program and for the author to sign. Please join us for an educational and engaging talk and discussion by Professor West of this major American writer. Refreshments will be served.
That’s what a friend said after he learned of the recent death of a great writer for the second time in as many days. You’ve probably heard by now that both Howard Zinn and J.D. Salinger passed away this week. Their deaths should not come as a surprise – at 87 and 91 respectively, Zinn and Salinger both lived long lives — but should let us remember their achievements, and the ways they impacted our lives.
Known best for his A People’s History of the United States, Dr. Zinn had a long and accomplished career that included teaching at historically-black Spelman College, universities in Europe, and finally at Boston University. Zinn was called a truth-teller and lover of humanity. He challenged history as often presented in mainstream texts, and believed the experiences of common folks to be at least as important as those of princes and presidents. He was raised in Brooklyn, NY, and before going to college on the GI Bill had worked as a pipefitter and then Air Force bombardier in World War II, which shaped his beliefs about war.
“Bunch of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger” is the headline chosen by the satirical The Onion, for its humorous meta-commentary on Salinger and A Catcher in the Rye in particular. If you haven’t read this classic dealing with teenage angst, you’ve missed a great American story (but Preston Library’s copy is checked out – try some of Salinger’s short stories instead ). I learned of Salinger’s death when I saw the New York Times’obituary. The image shown with his headshot is the same book cover as the copy that I read over and over, yet haven’t seen since my early 20s. The small volume, held together by then with a purple rubber band, hardly left my backpack as I alternately tip-toed and ran from childhood to adulthood.
Do you remember reading Catcher, or did Zinn change your perspective?
Have you found yourself ready to start a project but not sure where to go? It can sometimes be a challenge to find the best encyclopedia or dictionary to use for background information. The extensive list of research databases provided by VMI and VIVA (the Virtual Library of Virginia) can be overwhelming.
is a resource on the Preston Library Website that can help you to identify the important resources for your field of study. Librarians have also recently chosen some essential sources, labeled “key resources” in each field. A search for sources can be limited to print, electronic, and full-text, to create a customized study guide.
Stop by the reference desk or contact a librarian if you have questions about using SourceFinder.
Cadets, it’s the home stretch. Exams start Monday. This means two things:
1. The library will be open late (see below hours schedule) so you can get in some quality studying.
and…
2. The return of Preston Library’s Coffee Break!
Last December and May you came, you saw, you drank hundreds of cups of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate a night. We’re bringing it back! Put it on your calendar, December 12th, the return of the coffee break.
Coffee will be available at 8 p.m. (2000 military time) every evening beginning Saturday, 12 December through Saturday, 19th December. So grab your books, mugs, and head over to Preston Library for the best study break on Post.
Coffee has been generously donated by Aramark and tea and cocoa by the Friends of Preston Library.
These are just two of the many books available in the Recreational Reading section, in the Periodicals Room. Stop by and browse the shelves for something fun to read before leaving Post for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Saturday evening, November 14, Preston Library will be open until 2300 for its first “Saturday Night Live at the Library”.
No, we won’t be showing reruns, but we hope cadets will be here to study, finish up projects and research, and generally keep their heads above water as the semester draws to a close.
The library will also be open until 2300 on December 5th and 12th.
We now have one wireless printer on the Main (5th) floor of the library, near the circulation desk. Unfortunately, the software which allows wireless access to the printer is only able to work with Windows based machines running Internet Explorer. The first time you use the printer you will have to install the Active-X printer drivers. Intructions are on the Preston Library, Services web page (http://www.vmi.edu/Show.aspx?tid=20389&id=33603) and at the wireless printer station.
Thursday, March 11, 0800-0100
Friday, March 12, 0800–1630
Saturday, March 13, CLOSED
Sunday, March 14, CLOSED
Monday, March 15, 0800–1630
Tuesday, March 16, 0800–1630
Wednesday, March 17, 0800–1630
Thursday, March 18, 0800–1630
Friday, March 19, CLOSED
Saturday, March 20, CLOSED
Sunday, March 21, 1900–0100
