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Happy Veterans Day to all those who have served this country to keep us and others safe and free. The Rohrbach Library salutes you!
For more information about Veterans Day (including history, a kids page, a teacher’s guide, and information about the national ceremony), see the US Department of Veterans Affairs Website at:
http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/
National Young Readers Week is a time to promote reading to young children. This week (November 9-13) is important because many schools and educational programs offer incentives to encourage young people to read.
Literacy rates are often linked to standards of living — those who can read at acceptable levels typically have better education and better jobs. Unfortunately this creates a vicious cycle because students who come from disadvantaged economic backgrounds often read at a lower reading level compared to their more affluent peers. Even more alarming is that according to the Alliance for Excellent Education, across the board, nearly six million junior high and high school students can’t read at acceptable levels.
Children can’t just learn to read — they need to learn to love, or at least like, to read. They need to read more to get better at it so they have a better shot at a good education and a good job. Whether you’re a teacher or not, everyone has the responsibility and the power to help children read. So take the time every day, but especially this week, to grab a book and either give it to a young reader or read it to or with a child. We have plenty of books available for you in the library’s collections.
Fore more resources for National Young Readers Week, click here.
-CS
Happy National Day on Writing!
For those of you who submitted writings to the National Gallery of Writing, the Gallery is now open! Check it out. If you still want to add your writing, you can still add it.
“At 12:01 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, October 20, the National Gallery of Writing will be opened up for everyone to view a wide variety of pieces. A Web cast will air live from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, October 20.” (From NCTE’s site)
To enter the Gallery, go to: http://galleryofwriting.org/
For more information on the National Day on Writing go to: http://www.ncte.org/dayonwriting/learn
The KU Women’s Center invites you to celebrate National Love Your Body Day today, Tuesday, October 20, from 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. in the Student Union Building’s Multipurpose Room.
Organized by the National Organization for Women (NOW), Love Your Body Day is a day for women to accept and love themselves for who they are. In this day and age of the media showing us women with bodies that are impossible for us to ever attain, either because they are entirely too thin or Photoshopped to remove imperfections, it is important for us to take a step back to be happy with ourselves, and to enjoy that fact that women come in all kinds of beautiful shapes and sizes.
Although this day is geared toward women, it’s important for men to come out and support the women in their lives. Men can also take away a lesson in how to learn to love themselves for who they are, and to be happy with their bodies.
Here is the schedule of events, taken from the Love Your Body Day Facebook page:
All Day Events
Information available on the benefits of chocolate, ingredients in makeup, condoms, STDs, healthy eating and snacks, cosmetic surgery, tobacco awareness, bra-sizing, breast cancer, and more! Other all-day events include an interactive, collaborative Love Your Body Day banner, making “positive thoughts” mirror stickers and tissue paper flowers.
Yoga
10 – 11 a.m.
Professor Walke, Instructor/Associate Director of Act 101, offers an introduction to Yoga through a series of sun salutations.
Attraction’s Tell-Tale Signs
12:15 – 1:15 p.m.
Discusses how body language plays a role in attraction, dating, and relationships. With a reported 93% of communication coming from body language, learn how each part of the body and face can show you if someone is attracted to you.
Youthful You Institute of Lehigh Valley Health Network
10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Learn safe sun habits and sun damage prevention tips to keep your skin beautiful and healthy. The UV facial analysis machine, as seen in recent skincare commercials, shows a detailed report of skin damage from the sun.
Goddesses Have Hips
11 a.m. – Noon
Embrace the goddess in you! Presented by Planned Parenthood, this program emphasizes positive body image and self-esteem.
The Doll Project
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
A lively presentation from Denise DiJoseph focusing on the time-honored and controversial fashion icon – the Barbie doll – and its positive empowerment by reminding us that we are all unique works of art. DiJoseph explains how participants chose their artistic muse based on personal attributes and interests to produce altered Barbies that express realistic body image and messages of social change. The presentation shares original journal entries and prototype dolls and includes an exhibit of sculptural and assembled works by DiJoseph and students from girls’ clubs and teens residing at the Chester County Youth Center shelter and detention facilities.
PicturePerfect
3 – 4 p.m.
This year’s featured film, PicturePerfect explores the impact of the media on young women’s physical, psychological, and emotional health.
To learn more about any of the topics discussed at Love Your Body Day, check out the books in the Rohrbach Library and in the Women’s Center lending library. There are also plenty of great articles on these topics in the Rohrbach Library databases. Come in and ask a reference librarian how you can learn more about women’s health.
-CS
October is a month full of ways to celebrate diversity. Not only is it GLBT History Month, but it’s also National Disability Employment Awareness Month and Domestic Violence Awareness Month. KU has resources to celebrate all aspects of diversity, and it is one of a handful of universities to have a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning (GLBTQ) Center, Women’s Center and a Multicultural Center that have full-time staff members and their own spaces.
Let’s take a look at each of these celebrations of diversity.
GLBT History Month: This month celebrates the achievements of GLBT icons. During this time, the KU GLBTQ Center highlights a different GLBT icon each day through the use of free videos, bios, bibliographies, downloadable images and other resources. In addition to current icons, the center also provides access to the icons featured in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The GLBTQ Center also hosts different events to celebrate, such as a Sirius Satellite Radio personality Romaine Patterson’s presentation “Growing Up Gay.”
For more information about GLBT History month, visit the GLBTQ Center’s Web site: http://www.kutztown.edu/glbtqcenter/.
National Disability Employment Awareness Month: “Fair access to employment is a fundamental right of every American, including the 54 million people in this country living with disabilities… During National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we recommit ourselves to implementing effective policies and practices that increase employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.” This is part of President Barack Obama’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month proclamation posted on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Web site.
This month recognizes the need for fair business practices for people with disabilities, and is also a time to reflect on educational access for those with disabilities, and how gender can influence who takes advantage of those opportunities. For example, the University of Washington’s DO-IT Project says that “fewer women than men with disabilities are enrolled in postsecondary education. Academically, girls in precollege special education do as well as or better than boys. Upon graduation from special education, however, girls are less likely to be employed or to enroll in postsecondary education.”
For more information on National Disability Employment Month, or for more information about the services KU offers for people with disabilities, visit the Disability Services Web site: http://www.kutztown.edu/admin/humandiversity/disabilityservices/.
Domestic Violence Awareness Month: Last but certainly not least, October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The KU Women’s Center provides educational materials about domestic violence, including a brochure on how men can stop domestic violence. Because domestic violence disproportionately occurs against women, the Women’s Center takes the initiative to distribute information about it. However men can also be the victims of domestic violence and anything else such as eating disorders and sexual assault that are typically seen as issues effecting only women. The Women’s Center hosts a number of events to help empower women, such as Love Your Body Day on October 20, and a guest speaker series entitled “Women and Leadership.”
For more information about Domestic Violence Awareness Month and about the Women’s Center, visit http://www.kutztown.edu/admin/womens/activities.htm.
Check out the Web sites listed above to learn more about how you can celebrate your own diversity and the diversity of others. Also, check out the lending libraries in the Multicultural Center, GLBTQ Center and Women’s Center. If something you want there is checked out, stop by Rohrbach Library and see if we have it or can order it for you.
-CS
President Obama has named October as National Information Literacy Awareness Month. Below is the text of the proclamation. You can see the official proclamation at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/2009literacy_prc_rel.pdf
NATIONAL INFORMATION LITERACY
AWARENESS MONTH, 2009
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Every day, we are inundated with vast amounts of information. A 24-hour news cycle and thousands of global television and radio networks, coupled with an immense array of online resources, have challenged our long-held perceptions of information management. Rather than merely possessing data, we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate information for any situation. This new type of literacy also requires competency with communication technologies, including computers and mobile devices that can help in our day-to-day decisionmaking. National Information Literacy Awareness Month highlights the need for all Americans to be adept in the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Information Age.
Though we may know how to find the information we need, we must also know how to evaluate it. Over the past decade, we have seen a crisis of authenticity emerge. We now live in a world where anyone can publish an opinion or perspective, whether true or not, and have that opinion amplified within the information marketplace. At the same time, Americans have unprecedented access to the diverse and independent sources of information, as well as institutions such as libraries and universities, that can help separate truth from fiction and signal from noise.
Our Nation’s educators and institutions of learning must be aware of — and adjust to —these new realities. In addition to the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is equally important that our students are given the tools required to take advantage of the information available to them. The ability to seek, find, and decipher information can be applied to countless life decisions, whether financial, medical, educational, or technical.
This month, we dedicate ourselves to increasing information literacy awareness so that all citizens understand its vital importance. An informed and educated citizenry is essential to the functioning of our modern democratic society, and I encourage educational and community institutions across the country to help Americans find and evaluate the information they seek, in all its forms.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2009 as National Information Literacy Awareness Month. I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the important role information plays in our daily lives, and appreciate the need for a greater understanding of its impact.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
BARACK OBAMA
The following is part of an article from The Salt Lake Tribune.
(See full article at: http://www.sltrib.com/themix/ci_13301208)
Between now and Thanksgiving, four major adaptations of much-beloved children’s books are hitting theaters:
“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” » Judi and Ron Barnett’s 1982 picture book about an imaginary land of Chewandswallow, where food rains down on the population — being turned into a computer-animated comedy. (Sept. 18)
“Where the Wild Things Are” » Maurice Sendak’s 1963 classic picture story of Max, a naughty boy who magically travels to a land of wild things, adapted into live action by director Spike Jonze (“Being John Malkovich”). (Oct. 16)
“A Christmas Carol” » The oft-filmed Charles Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, this time computer-animated by Robert Zemeckis (“The Polar Express,” “Beowulf”) with Jim Carrey donning a motion-capture suit to portray Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. (Nov. 6)
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” » Roald Dahl’s 1970 chapter book about a resourceful fox outsmarting three nearby farmers, adapted in stop-motion animation by director Wes Anderson (“The Royal Tenenbaums”), with a voice cast led by George Clooney and Meryl Streep as Mr. and Mrs. Fox. (Nov. 13)
We have extended our operating hours for the week of April 24th through April 30th. They are as follows:
| April 24 | Friday | 7:45 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. |
| April 25 | Saturday | 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. |
| April 26 | Sunday | 10:00 a.m. – Midnight |
| April 27 – 30 | Monday – Thursday | 7:00 a.m. – Midnight |
Yesterday’s Worker’s Day Luncheon was a great success! Here are some photos from the event:
Today is our annual National Library Worker’s Day Luncheon from 11 to 1 pm on the second floor behind Periodicals.
For library workers who have RSVP’d to this event, don’t forget to stop by and grab some food! 
We want to show you that we appreciate your work!
Patrons, please make sure that you thank your library workers today. They work hard to provide your information and research needs on a daily basis.
Thanks workers! We appreciate you!
