University Library eNewsletter: April 2012

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The four recipients of the Outstanding Student Worker 2011 award.

Photo courtesy of Carla Ellard

Alkek Library staff hosts an annual Student Appreciation Reception and invite library student workers to attend. The reception was "rave" themed: a bouncer stood at the door handing out glow sticks, lighted balloons floated around the dimly lit room and the decor on the walls and tables shone with neon colors. This party was rockin'!

Vice President Joan Heath welcomed the crowd and thanked everyone who helped set up the reception. Heath shared her appreciation to the students and said how important they are to the staff and the Library as a whole. 

A significant part of the annual reception is naming the 2011 Outstanding Student Workers of the Year. Usually three students are named, but this year four were chosen to receive the honor. Supervisors nominate those who have set themselves apart through their job performance, competence and reliability, as well as their creativity, positive attitude, innovation, leadership and cooperation with fellow employees.

Prizes include:

• A framed certificate and a $125 bonus award
• Their names will be added to the “Outstanding Student” plaque in the Library Administration office.
• They will be asked to select a bookplate to be placed in any book of their choice.

Four winners were chosen from a list of 14 nominations:

• Lorissa Soto
• Emily Cowperthwait
• Karen Garcia
• Tiffany Landers

R&LS/Reference/Office student Lorissa Soto was noted for being “very detail oriented,” said her nominator. “I can give her more complex project. Lorissa believes in teamwork – she offers to cover other student worker’s shifts. Lorissa’s intelligence, work ethic, and great attitude definitely make her an asset to the Reference department.”

R&LS/Access & Delivery Services/ILL student Emily Feller was nominated for having “a positive attitude and is a leader among her fellow student employees,” said her nominator. “Through her hard work she provides excellent customer service for Interlibrary Loan patrons and is a strong asset to ILL, Alkek and Texas State. She takes the initiative to do her best at all times.”

R&LS/Access & Delivery Services/ILL student Karen Garcia “is one of the hardest working young women I have had the pleasure of supervising and working with,” said her nominator. “Karen has always been someone the other student employees have looked up to.  She has a quiet demeanor but has lead by example.  She has helped train numerous other ILL student employees and has always provided the leadership and initiative to provide great customer service for Alkek library.  Karen's strong work ethic is evident in everything she does.“

Acquisitions/Serials student Tiffany Landers is said to work “fast.  I mean, really fast,” said her nominator. “We often find ourselves saying  “you’re kidding, she is done already!?!” with jaws dropped in disbelief. Tiffany comes to work every day on time and ready to go the moment she sits down in her chair.  She means business.   She is an ideal employee who asks questions, gets clarification on instructions, and makes sure she understands expectations before starting a task.”

These four students are highly appreciated by Alkek staff and students. They deserve the honor of being an Outstanding Student Worker.

-- Submitted by Elizabeth McLellan

Did you know that students can borrow more from the Library than just books? Nearly 10,000 videos are available in the Alkek Library collection on a variety of topics. The third-floor shelves house an assortment of educational items, documentaries, television show series, indie films, foreign titles, recreational films and many film genres.

Some professors assign library-held films to their classes to enhance the students’ learning experience. A film may elaborate a textbook lesson or show real-world situations that need to be seen to be understood. A professor may place a video on reserve to ensure that every student will have an opportunity to view an assigned film.

The DVDs are not just for scholarly purposes.  Reserves/Periodicals and Media (RPM) Library Assistant Hithia Davis describes the Alkek Library’s video collection as having “a little something for everyone.” Some popular films in the collection are the Harry Potter series, The Departed, Titanic, Braveheart and Thor.

Students may watch a movie in the Library on the third floor. A wide variety of equipment is available to facilitate movie viewing, including televisions, headphones, DVD, Blu-ray and region-free players that a student can use when the Library is open. The region-free player allows students to watch DVDs encoded from other parts of the world, such as Mexico, Europe, or China.  The Library is collecting an increasing number of international DVDs to support faculty teaching needs.

The Alkek Library has acquired the complete Criterion Collection of nearly 600 films, which will continue to grow as more films are published. The Criterion Collection is a continuing series of the greatest films from around the world.  Films from the Collection are released with highest technical quality and often accompanied by unique original supplements. Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Luc Godard, David Lean, and Orson Welles are a few of the directors included in the Collection.

For more information on the video collection, consult this DVD guide (http://libguides.txstate.edu/dvds) or visit the third floor of the Alkek Library.

-- Submitted by Elizabeth McLellan

Texas State student looking for a DVD from our vast collection.

Photo courtesy of Tara Spies Smith

Blogger Blue Gal posted this video on YouTube.

“When we are young, the words are scattered all around us. As they are assembled by experience, so also are we, sentence by sentence, until the story takes shape.” 

--Louise Erdrich

Join the Witliff Collections and Texas State University at a book event with creator of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series Rick Riordan.

Photo courtesy of the Witliff Collections

At 7:00 p.m. on Friday, May 11, 2012, the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos will present a talk by internationally renowned novelist Rick Riordan followed by a Q&A with the audience. Special note: this event will not be at the Wittliff—it will be held in the LBJ Student Center Ballroom on the Texas State campus, next to the Alkek Library.

Admission choices are $5 per ticket or $25 for a ticket/book combo, which includes a pre-signed first edition of The Serpent’s Shadow, Riordan’s third book in the Kane Chronicles series, coming May 1 from Disney-Hyperion. Purchasers will pick up their books at the event.

Tickets must be purchased online through BookPeople in advance at www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/riordan; this link also includes directions, parking and other important information. This event will sell out quickly, so those interested should purchase early.

NO TICKET SALES AT THE DOOR. All tickets are general admission—ID must be shown with printed ticket. Doors to the LBJ Student Center Ballroom open at 6:00 p.m.; the event begins at 7:00 p.m.. For questions, call the Wittliff Collections at (512) 245-2313.

“Disney tells us that ours is one of only two Riordan events being held in Texas this spring,” said Director of Witliff Collections David Coleman. “It’s the only one where he’ll be giving a talk on his latest book. As the home of Rick’s major literary archive, the Wittliff Collections are extremely proud to sponsor this presentation for our local audiences.”

RICK RIORDAN

New York Times #1 best-selling author and Children’s Choice Book Award 2011 Author of the Year, Rick Riordan is creator of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, the Heroes of Olympus and the storyline and first volume of the 39 Clues—all for young readers. He is also the author of the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults, which has won the genre’s top three awards: the Edgar, the Anthony, and the Shamus. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, where he now lives with his wife and two sons, Riordan was a schoolteacher for 15 years before becoming a full-time writer. He has been donating his literary archives to the Wittliff Collections at Texas State since 2004. Rick Riordan’s website is www.rickriordan.com.

ON EXHIBIT:  RICK RIORDAN’S WORLD OF MYTH AND MYSTERY

In recognition of his distinctive achievements and his inspirational impact onreaders young and old, the Wittliff Collections present Rick Riordan's World of Myth and Mystery, an exhibition showcasing the Riordan Collection—now one of the major archives at the Wittliff. Among the objects on view are Riordan's early journals, unpublished manuscripts and his first rejection letter (received as an eighth grader), book proposals, story ideas and materials that illuminate his working process, such as hand-drawn plot maps. Numerous photographs and other artifacts testify to the phenomenal worldwide appeal of his Percy Jackson series. One highlight is the original sword, “Riptide,” used in the 2010 feature-film adaptation of The Lightning Thief.

Rick Riordan's World of Myth and Mystery, curated by Steve Davis with assistance from Ken Fontenot, is on view now through July 15, 2012. The exhibition is located on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library at Texas State University in San Marcos. Exhibition weekday and weekend hours and other information, event announcements, updates, and other details about the Wittliff Collections are at www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu and posted to the Wittliff Collections page on Facebook.

-- Submitted by Michele Miller

From left to right: Latino authors Rolando Hinojosa, Arturo Madrid and Carmen Tafolla

Photo courtesy of The Witliff Collections

At 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25, 2012, the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos will co-host “Voces y Memorias” / “Voices & Memories”—a symposium featuring celebrated authors Rolando Hinojosa-Smith and Arturo Madrid. Carmen Tafolla, named San Antonio’s inaugural poet laureate on March 27, will also be participating. Admission is free and open to the public. The Wittliff Collections are located on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library at Texas State University-San Marcos. Directions are online at http://www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu.

Highlights of this major event will include Hinojosa and Madrid reading from their new books, a discussion between the authors, moderated by Carmen Tafolla, about the craft of writing from a minority perspective and a book signing with all three esteemed writers. Their books will be for sale at the event. For further information, contact Dr. Jaime Chahin, Dean of Applied Arts at tc03@txstate.edu or 512.245.3333.

Rolando Hinojosa-Smith is the Ellen Clayton Garwood Professor of English at the University of Texas-Austin. A novelist, essayist, poet and short-story writer from the Rio Grande Valley, Dr. Hinojosa’s work has won numerous awards, including the prestigious Premio Casa de las Americas and the Premio Quinto Sol Annual Prize. He is considered by many to be among the most important living Texas writers. In November 2011, Arte Publico press published a collection of Hinojosa’s stories and essays, In My Own Voice: Stories and Essays, and a new edition of his novel Partners in Crime.

Arturo Madrid is the Norene R. and T. Frank Murchison Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Trinity University in San Antonio. A decorated critic and scholar, Dr. Madrid is the recipient of such honors as the President’s Medal from Brooklyn College, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ford Salute to Higher Education, the Charles Frankel Prize (later renamed the National Humanities Medal) from the President of the United States of America, and many, many others. Trinity University Press has just published Madrid's family memoir, In the Country of Empty Crosses: The Story of a New Mexico Hispano Protestant Family, complemented by images by acclaimed photographer Miguel Gandert.

Carmen Tafolla—named the inaugural Poet Laureate of San Antonio on March 27 by Mayor Julián Castro—is one of the most anthologized of living Latina writers. She has published work for both children and adults in more than two hundred anthologies, magazines, journals, textbooks and readers, and is the author of more than fifteen books, seven screenplays and numerous articles and essays. Dr. Tafolla’s book of poetry, Sonnets to Human Beings, received the First Prize in the Poetry Division of the UCI National Literary Competition, and in 1999, she was awarded the Art of Peace Award by the President’s Peace Commission of St. Mary’s University for “writing which contributes to peace, justice and human understanding.”

This event is co-sponsored by Texas State’s Department of English, the Department of Modern Languages, the College of Education, the College of Applied Arts, the Office of Equity and Access, the Kappa Delta Chi sorority, the Omega Delta Phi fraternity and the Wittliff Collections. 

Watch the Wittliff Collections website or join the Wittliff Collections on Facebook for event announcement and updates, exhibition information, and more.-- Submitted by Michelle Miller

Louise Erdrich comes from many worlds and can be identified as many things. She is the daughter of a Chippewa Indian and German American, she is a businesswoman, a mother, a poet and a New York Times bestselling writer. But, ultimately, she is a storyteller. She has a voice.

Her first novel, Love Medicine, earned her the National Book Critics Circle award. A tremendous rollercoaster of emotion, the novel is the first in a series that traverses the lives and generations of several interrelated families on a reservation in a fictional North Dakota town.

The books in this series are written in a narrative style that has few boundaries, as many of her novels are. There are multiple narrators and disjointed chronologies. This seems to be, however, the only way to encompass the spirit and style of traditional oral storytelling in Native American culture. Erdrich’s style, in Love Medicine and Tracks in particular, has garnered her comparisons to William Faulkner in numerous reviews. The tales resonate with heartbreak, tragedy, joy, excitement, confusion, bitterness and triumph.

Erdrich owns an independent bookstore (with a confessional in it, although she calls it a “Forgiveness Booth”). She has published a memoir about motherhood. Her work has been anthologized and taught in classrooms. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for The Plague of Doves. It is truly a special feat to be as rooted as Erdrich is in the world of writing—and even more so to be as successful.

This Thursday, April 5, at 3:30 p.m., the MFA Creative Writing Program, the Burdine Johnson Foundation and the Wittliff Collections at Texas State welcome this unique and decorated novelist, children’s book author and poet as part of the Therese Kayser Lindsey / Katherine Anne Porter Series. Louise Erdrich will read and sign books at the Wittliff Collections on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library. 

Erdrich’s reading is free and open to the public. She will also read at theKatherine Anne Porter House on Friday, April 6. For more information, see the Wittliff Collections events page at www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu, or call 512.245.2313.

-- Submitted by A.J. Oretga