Summer Solstice – the start of summer!

There’s no excuse for not having “time” to celebrate Father’s Day this Sunday. It just so happens that Sunday is also the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere – also known as the summer solstice.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (which is available to our patrons online!), a solstice is “when the sun, having reached the tropical points, is farthest from the equator and appears to stand still.” This happens twice each year, one being the summer solstice around June 21st and the other being the winter solstice around December 22nd.

There is a nice explanation of the solstice, with graphic, available at:
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/ypop/Classroom/Lessons/Sundials/summer.html

In England, many people will be flocking again this year to Stonehenge to celebrate the solstice. Celebrations of the summer solstice go back many centuries to pagan times in Europe. For more information about the Stonehenge celebration, you can see:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.20654

Happy Summer and Happy Father’s Day!

Note: The library will be open from 8-5 from June 22-26th (between summer sessions) and will resume summer session hours on June 30th. For more information on our summer hours, please go to: http://www.kutztown.edu/library/about/hours.asp

Happy Birthday Chris Van Allsburg

June 18th marks the birthday of celebrated author Chris Van Allsburg. If his name sounds familiar but you just can’t place him, think Jumanji, Zathura, or The Polar Express just to name a few.

Here is a list of some of his other books:
Bad Day at Riverbend © 1995
Ben’s Dream © 1982
A City in Winter by Mark Helprin © 1996-Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
The Garden of Abdul Gasazi © 1979
Just a Dream © 1990
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick © 1984
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick © 1994 (Portfolio Edition)
The Stranger © 1986
Swan Lake by Mark Helprin © 1989-Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
The Sweetest Fig © 1993
Two Bad Ants © 1988
The Veil of Snows by Mark Helprin © 1993-Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
The Widow’s Broom © 1992
The Wreck of the Zephyr © 1983
The Wretched Stone © 1991
The Z Was Zapped © 1987

You can click on the link below to see a list of his works that we have in our library’s collection. (We have most of the ones listed above.)
Rohrbach Library Online Catalog Results for author Chris Van Allsburg

To check out his own Website with loads of interesting information, go to:
http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com

Flag Day

Reminder: This weekend you have the opportunity to celebrate Flag Day (on June 14th)! For more information on this day in history, please check out the Library of Congress Website on the topic:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jun14.html

Text Me That Call Number!

Patrons can click on a link in the online catalog to have call numbers of library materials texted to their cell phones. (No more searching for scrap paper or a pencil.) Click on the link and enter your cell phone number and provider information. You will receive a text message that includes the call number, library location, and title/author of the item.

Important: Provider charges may apply.

Privacy Notice: Neither your cell phone number nor your service provider are saved or stored on the library’s server. However, they will remain in the new web browser window or tab that was opened for you to enter them, so please close this browser window or tab before leaving your session.

A “Green” Database to Explore

GreenFILE is a  new database available to KU patrons through EBSCOhost. According to the description from EBSCOhost:

GreenFILE offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and local/national governments, and what can be done at each level to minimize these effects. Multidisciplinary by nature, GreenFILE draws on the connections between the environment and a variety of disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology. Topics covered include global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for approximately 384,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,700 records.

To begin searching on this database, please follow the following link (validation required for off-campus access):

http://voyager.ship.edu/remote/validate.cgi?db=EBSCO&custom=%22profile=ehost&defaultdb=8gh%22

Librarians Here to Help

Librarians are on duty during the summer sessions. Come see us at the Reference Desk in the Information Commons area of the first floor. We’ll be happy to help you get started with your research or help you dig deeper in the databases for more information for a paper or thesis.

Faculty needing to schedule a time to bring a class over to the library for instruction should also contact us by calling 610-683-4165 from 9a.m. to 7p.m. M-F or 9a.m. to 5p.m. on Saturday.

Happy Birthday CNN!

“On this day in 1980, CNN (Cable News Network), the world’s first 24-hour television news network, makes its debut. The network signed on at 6 p.m. EST from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, with a lead story about the attempted assassination of civil rights leader Vernon Jordan. CNN went on to change the notion that news could only be reported at fixed times throughout the day. At the time of CNN’s launch, TV news was dominated by three major networks–ABC, CBS and NBC–and their nightly 30-minute broadcasts. Initially available in less than two million U.S. homes, today CNN is seen in more than 89 million American households and over 160 million homes internationally.”

For more information, see the source of the above quote at History.com: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=VideoArticle&id=52593

You can also check out CNN’s Website at: http://www.cnn.com/

Memorial Day

Although many Americans view Memorial Day as the official start to summer activities, a day for more sales at the mall, or simply a nice day off of work, the holiday is much more than that.

Originally, the day was called “Decoration Day” because it was the day for Americans to quite literally decorate the graves soldiers who had died in the Civil War.

History.com has some wonderful information about the history of Memorial Day and how it is observed as well as links to images, battle maps, and veteran resources. According to the site, several towns both in the north and the south take credit for being the “birthplace of Memorial Day, including Columbus, Miss.; Macon, Ga.; Richmond, Va.; Boalsburg, Pa.; and Carbondale, Ill.”  It wasn’t until 1966 that President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., as the official birthplace. “They chose Waterloo—which had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—because the town had made Memorial Day an annual, community-wide event during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.”(http://www.history.com/content/memorial/the-history-of-memorial-day)

Another nice Website about the holiday is by the US White House Commission on Remembrance. (http://www.remember.gov/) Their missions include:

• Promoting the spirit of unity and remembrance through observance of The National Moment of Remembrance at 3 PM local time on Memorial Day
• Ensuring the nation remembers the sacrifices of America’s fallen from the Revolutionary War to the present;
• Recognizing those who have served and those who continue to serve our great nation and reminding all Americans of our common heritage.

According to the Library of Congress Website, a 1971 federal law, “changed the observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May and extended the honor to all soldiers who died in American wars. A few states continue to celebrate Memorial Day on May 30.” The Website is full of interesting resources about Memorial Day: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may30.htm

For more information about the holiday, please check out the resources available at Rohrbach Library in our physical collections (see the online catalog) as well as our virtual resources (databases). Have a wonderful holiday.

Latest Changes @ Rohrbach Library

Changes continue to occur this summer in the library. We are currently moving our Reference Collection to some empty shelves on the second floor in the Bound Periodicals area to make way for new, shorter shelving in the Reference/Information Commons. Once the new shelves are installed, the Reference Collection will return to the first floor.

A new feature to look forward to by the end of the summer is the addition of a New Books area in the Information Commons.

For those who are still on campus, come in and watch the progress. For those who are away for the summer, we look forward to showing you all the changes when you return!

Credit-card bill could hit students hardest

According to this article from The Christian Science Monitor, college students will be hit hard by the recent credit-card bill that passed in the US Senate today.

Which college expenses students buy on credit

“On the one hand, the new law promises them the same protections it promises to the nation as a whole: more transparency, less-arbitrary rate hikes, fewer surprises in the small print. It also adds special protections for young consumers.

But may this may come at a price: less access to credit, especially among young people – precisely at a time when they are becoming more dependent upon it. Half of college students have four or more cards and are carrying an average balance of $3,173 – a record, according to the most recent survey on credit-card usage by student-loan giant Sallie Mae.”

Read the complete article:

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/05/19/credit-card-bill-could-hit-students-hardest/