What’s New in the News?

The Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center is test driving a new source of newspapers, both historical and current, with NewsBank.  Read all about it here:

http://infoweb.newsbank.com/best/febhp

The collection features a search box that you can use to find the What, When, Where, and Why’s of the world from both today’s news and historical newspapers.

An image of a search box featuring the text: "NewsBank provides a comprehensive collection of reliable news sources covering a wide array of topics and issues"

Explore results from national newspapers, college newspapers, state and local papers, plus videos, audio, and other formats.

Screenshot of results from a search for "Taylor Swift" featuring results that include videos, newspapers, college newspapers, and audio.

Explore the “hot topics” section to find focused news on Hispanic Life in America, Black Life in America, the San Francisco Chronicle Collection, and the Cannabis NewsHub Research Edition.  You can browse newspaper results by subject or location.  Sources also include newspapers from around the world, in multiple languages.

Want to find something closer to home?  The database includes access to 93 newspapers in Arkansas, including the Arka Tech, the Courier, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the Arkansas Times, and college and city newspapers from all over the state.

News article result from the Feb. 14th issue of the courier. Headline reads: "Tacos 4 Life hitting ATU campus".

Currently, the only way you can read back issues of the state’s newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, is to use microfilm or browse the bound copies from more recent years.  This interface finally makes searching and accessing the state’s newspaper of record online possible within the library.

Give it a try between now and Feb. 29th when the trial ends.  You can let us know what you think by emailing us, texting us, calling us, chatting with us, or whisper-yelling your feedback to us from inside the library.

For more database trials or newsworthy stories, follow us on social medias: Instagram, Facebook, or X.

 

Second Monday Author, Janis F. Kearney, Feb. 12th

Join us as we welcome special guest, Janis F. Kearney, author and presidential diarist of Bill Clinton, who will give a talk at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, in Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center, room 300.   A reception sponsored by the ATU Black Faculty and Staff Organization along with the Minority Mentorship Program will be held in at 4:30 prior to the lecture.  Admission will be free and everyone is welcome.

Cover of Book, "Only on Sundays: Mahalia Jackson's Long Journay" featuring black and white photograph of Mahalia Jackson resting her chin on her hands and looking concerned.Kearney’s latest book, Only on Sundays: Mahalia Jackson’s Long Journey, is a biography about Mahalia Jackson, famed gospel singer and civil rights activist.  Mahalia Jackson sold over 22 million records during her career that spanned the 1940s to the 1970s, and is considered one of the most influential gospel vocalists of the twentieth century.  Only on Sundays takes a look back at Jackson’s life at the turn of the 20th century in America, and explores one black southern woman’s struggle to attain the American dream.

Author Janis F. Kearney is a native of Gould in southeast Arkansas, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and embarked upon a public service career that included nine years as a project manager and public affairs director in Arkansas state government.Photo of Janis F. Kearney, an African American woman with neck-length curly grayish, silver hair wearing a black shirt and multi-colored wrap-around scarf.

After working alongside civil rights pioneer Daisy L. Gatson Bates as managing editor for the Arkansas State Press newspaper, Kearney purchased the publication and became its publisher upon Bates’ retirement in 1988.

Kearney served in the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton from 1993-2001. She fulfilled the roles of media affairs office staff member and director of communications for the U.S. Small Business Administration before her appointment in 1995 as the first personal diarist to a U.S. president. She continued in that role through June 2001.

Harvard University selected Kearney for a two-year fellowship at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute of African and African American Studies in 2001. There, she began writing a Clinton biography, published as Conversations: William Jefferson Clinton, from Hope to Harlem in 2006. She went on to co-found Writing our World Publishing in 2003 and has written or co-written 17 books.

For more information about the ATU Second Monday Author Series and other events in the library, contact Luke Heffley at (479) 964-0546 or follow us on social media: Instagram, Facebook, or X.

 

Scale the Paywall at RPL

Tired of hitting a paywall?  Climb right over them with the resources at the Ross Pendergraft Library.   Scholarly articles, newspapers, and now magazines are all within handy, mobile-friendly reach from our website: library.atu.edu

New this month: RPL just activated the OverDrive Magazine Collection, featuring over 5,000 popular magazines available through the Libby app.  Read full-text and full-photo issues of The New Yorker, Rolling Stone Magazine, Newsweek, and the Taylor Swift – Eras Tour Commemorative Issue all from the convenience of your phone.

To get started with the OverDrive Magazine Collection, download the Libby app to your tablet or phone via your app store.  Next, find your library using your zip code (72801) or by searching for the library “Arkansas Tech University.”

In addition to the ebooks and audiobooks you can find on Libby, you should now see the “Magazines” option.  From there, search for specific keywords or browse by subject, popularity, language, or audience level.

From there, opening the magazine gives you a page-by-page view of the magazine, including articles, photographs, and even advertisements—exactly how it would look if you were flipping through one at the doctor’s office.

However, there are more features, including the ability to zoom in, search within for specific words, change the color scheme, and switch to “article” mode switching the layout to read articles by down scrolling instead of side-to-side swiping.

If you want to be notified when new issues of your favorite magazine are out, you can hit that “subscribe” button and receive notifications when a new issue is out.

Magazines not your thing?  We still have ebooks and audiobooks available on the Libby app as well. Additionally, never pay for another scholarly article with help of Find It—our collection of millions of scholarly articles.  If we don’t have full-text access, call upon the power of Interlibrary Loan—a service to deliver that needed PDF directly to your email.

Remember: don’t pay a fee—use the library for free!  Follow us for more money-saving tips through Instagram, Facebook, and the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.  Best wishes for a great semester!

 

Charge Up Your Study Session for Finals

The third floor of the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center just got a boost of power thanks to new charging station batteries.

The round tables on the south side have long been a popular spot for group study sessions.  But without a reliable source of power to charge laptops and phones, students couldn’t take advantage of the space for long without resorting to stringing cords to far-away outlets.

Thanks to the Office of Information Systems, each of the two round tables on the third floor are now equipped with charging stations that include a standard power outlet, a Type-C outlet, and a USB outlet.  The station does require portable, rechargeable batteries that are now available for all-day, in-library use at the 1st Floor Circulation Desk.

To use the batteries, simply check one out at the Circulation Desk using your student ID.  Next, bring it to any third floor round table and insert the battery into the charging port.  Finally, click the power button to ensure that the charging station at the table is ready to charge your devices.

The batteries have enough power to charge typical laptops up to 2 times, average Chromebooks or tablets up to 4 times, and standard smartphones up to 14 times.  Additionally, each charging station can also charge a laptop and 2 mobile devices simultaneously.  If it should run out of charge, just bring it back to the Circulation Desk to exchange it for a fresh battery

Don’t run out of juice this final exam season!  Look for signs on the third floor for this convenient new service.  Let us know what else we can do to help fuel your study sessions for finals at askus@atu.libanswers.com.

Thanksgiving Hours

The Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center will have adjusted hours this week due to the Thanksgiving Holiday:

  • Tuesday, Nov. 21st: 7:00 AM – 9:00 PM
  • Wednesday, Nov. 22nd: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
  • Thursday, Nov. 23rd: CLOSED
  • Friday, Nov. 24th: CLOSED
  • Saturday, Nov. 25th: CLOSED
  • Sunday, Nov. 26th: Resuming normal hours, open 1:00 PM – Midnight.

Screenshot of Libby app featuring book covers for titles like "Staying on Top in Academia" and "Ask a Science Teacher"As you make travel plans, don’t forget about our new streaming Audiobook service, Libby, available for download to your mobile devices.  Enjoy newer fiction and non-fiction titles on the long road-trip to grandma’s house or your own Friendsgiving feast.

Stay tuned to more events, including our special hours for finals, by following us on Instagram, X, or Facebook.

Start Spooky Season with Kevin Brockmeier

Join us on Monday, October 9, in RPL 300B as we welcome award-winning author from Arkansas, Kevin Brockmeier for the October edition of our Second Monday Author Series.  The event starts at 6:00 P.M., and admission is free and open to the public.

Cover art for "Ghost Variations" featuring a grid of small illustrations of ghosts, axes, pendants, dice, and other random objects.A resident of Little Rock, Brockmeier will discuss his latest book, The Ghost Variations: One Hundred Stories, and share his general insights as an author.

Brockmeier is also author of the memoir, A Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip; the novels, The Illumination, The Brief History of the Dead, and The Truth About Celia; the story collections Things That Fall from the Sky and The View from the Seventh Layer; and the children’s novels City of Names and Grooves: A Kind of Mystery.

Brockmeier’s work has been translated into 18 languages and has been published in The New Yorker, The Georgia Review, McSweeney’s, Zoetrope, Tin House, The Oxford American, The Best American Short Stories, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and New Stories from the South. In 2007, he was named one of Granta‘s Best Young American Novelists.  He has received the Borders Original Voices Award, three O. Henry Awards (including one first prize), the PEN USA Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. He teaches frequently at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Photograph of Kevin Brockmeier wearing black shirt.You can find more about Kevin Brockmeier, including his books, events, and news, from his website: https://kevinbrockmeier.com

For more information about the ATU Second Monday Author Series, contact Luke Heffley at (479) 964-0546.  Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or X to hear about the next Second Monday Author event.

 

 

Fighting Back on 9/11

Join us at the Ross Pendergraft Library on Monday, September 11th, at 6:00 PM in Room 300 as we welcome author Deena Burnett Bailey to talk about her book, Fighting Back: Living Life Beyond Ourselves“as part of our Second Monday Author Series.  The event is free and open to the public.

Photograph of Deena Burnett Bailey, authorFighting Back relates her struggle to overcome grief and personal tragedy after the death of her husband, Flight 93 hero, Tom Burnett, who perished in the 9/11 attacks.

A native of Arkansas, Burnett Bailey was raised on a cotton farm in the Desha County community of Halley. She grew up to become a flight attendant living in Georgia, which led her to meet Tom Burnett. They were married in 1992 and became parents of daughters Halley, Madison and Anna Clare.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Tom was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco. It was hijacked and later crashed in Shanksville, Pa.

Burnett Bailey wrote Fighting Back following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and it was published by Advantage Inspirational in 2006. According to information provided by the publisher, the book “demonstrates how each of us can move forward through the hardships of life and have a positive impact on others through the belief that at some point in our lives, we are all called on to be heroes.”

Copies of the book will be available for purchase during Burnett Bailey’s appearance at ATU on Monday, Sept. 11.

An assortment of books on display about the terrorist attacks on 9/11, including a large photographic book open to photos of firefighters and police officers, gazing upwards in horror, covered in dust and ashYou can pick up a copy of Fighting Back at the Ross Pendergraft Library on the first floor, near our display featuring books and materials remembering the  22nd anniversary of September 11, 2001.  You can also buy a copy for yourself through your local bookstore, Dogear Books, or wherever you get fine books.

For more information about the ATU Second Monday Author Series, contact Luke Heffley at (479) 964-0546.  Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or X to hear about the next Second Monday Author event.

 

Get In the Car With OverDrive

Cancel your Audible subscription and download the Libby app to enjoy your favorite audiobooks and ebooks now available for free from the Ross Pendergraft Library:

Click Here to Acccess OverDrive

Access thousands of ebooks titles and nearly 100 audiobook titles from the Libby app.  Download the Libby app via Google Play or at the Apple Store.  You can also access the platform using the link above from our A-to-Z Databases page.

Screenshot of a phone with the Libby App open to choosing a new library. The words "Arkansas Tech" are typed into the search box.

After you’ve downloaded the app, you’ll be asked to locate your library.  Type the zip code (72801) or search for “Arkansas Tech University”.  You will be asked to authenticate as a Tech user.

Once you’ve logged into your account, enjoy up to two books at a time.  Selecting a book will download it for 14 days to your account.  If 14 days is too soon, you can renew it once for another 14 days.  If 14 days is too long, you can return the book early and check out another.

Is your must-read of Fall 2023 checked out?  Just like our regular collection in Find It, you can also place Holds on titles that are currently checked out.  Find the title you want, and click the option “PLACE HOLD.”  Once the title is available, you will get a notification that your item is ready to borrow.

Screenshot from a phone showing the Libby app, where a title is checked out, with the option to "Place Hold" below the text: "Sorry all copies of this title are out on loan. Try again soon, or place a hold instread."

What if you already have a Libby account at another library, like the Pope County Library?  No problem–just choose the option in your account settings: “Add Library”.

Do you prefer to consume your fiction and non-fiction with eyeballs instead of earlobes?  Thousands of titles–including new, best-sellers–are available on Libby, too.  You can either read via the app or push your ebooks to the Kindle app for tablet reading.  While the Library has offered access to hundreds of thousands of ebooks, this is our first foray into more popular, Kindle-friendly collections.

The addition of OverDrive ebooks and audiobooks via Libby represents another request made by students on our annual library survey from Spring 2023.  If you prefer the old-fashioned, analog experience, our current physical audiobook collection is still located on the first floor, next to the DVD collection.  These audiobooks are searchable in Find It, but you can also browse a list of titles here.

Screenshot of a phone showing the Libby app, displaying covers of the popular fiction titles available through the app like "Demon Copperhead", "Covenant of Water," "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and many more

However, with the decline of CD-players in car stereos, e-audiobooks are fast becoming the format of choice.  The library already hosts another streaming audiobook collection called Naxos Spoken Word, available also through our A-Z Databases page.  It features thousands of literary classics–perfect for those English class reading assignments you can listen to while on the treadmill.

But now that the Library is finally getting into the driver seat with OverDrive, newer and more popular titles can now be delivered via an easy-to-use app on any mobile device.

If you need help getting started, Ask Us via text, email, Instagram, or face-to-face during our expansive Fall 2023 hours.  There’s also a handy webpage featuring step-by-step instructions and a video.  Take it for a spin today!

Library Hours

The library’s current interim hours are:

Monday-Friday: 8:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.

Saturday-Sunday: Closed

Starting August 23rd, the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center will resume regular semester hours:

Monday-Thursday: 7:00 A.M. – 12:00 A.M.

Friday: 7:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M.

Saturday: 10:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M.

Sunday: 1:00 P.M. – 12:00 A.M.

Please see our complete hours, including all exceptions to regular hours during Labor Day, Fall Break, Thanksgiving, and Final Exams, by visiting our hours page: https://libguides.atu.edu/about/hours/

You can also follow us on social media via Instagram, Facebook, or the X formerly known as Twitter.

Photo of the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center on a sunny afternoon with blooming, pink crepe myrtle trees

 

 

Events, Authors, and Speakers Planned for April

Starting April 4th, the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center kicks off several events and lectures celebrating books, culture, history, diversity, and understanding both close to home and from the other side of the world.

Tuesday, April 4th at 6:00 P.M. in RPL 300AB

Photo of Eli Cranor, author, speaking before a large audienceAward-winning author and Russellville native, Eli Cranor, hosted a special event debuting  his latest novel, Ozark Dogs.   Publisher Soho Crime describes Ozark Dogs as a Southern thriller in which “two families grapple with the aftermath of a murder in their small Arkansas town.”

His first novel, Don’t Know Tough, won the Peter Lovesey First Crime Novel contest and was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel, the Lefty Award for best debut Mystery Novel, and was a finalist for the 2022 Dashiell Hammett Award.  He writes to a monthly column in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette called “Where I’m Writing From,” and his work has been featured in Missouri Review, Oxford American, Ellery Queen, The Strand and other notable journals.  You can find his first thriller, Don’t Know Tough, available in our book collection.

Monday, April 10th at 7:00 P.M. in RPL 300B

Cover of book featuring an illustrated tiger and brightly colored bird next to it, perched on a rockThe Library will host John Kutko as part of its Second Monday Author Series to talk about his children’s book, The Tiger & the Painted Bunting.  The book is about a Shanti, a tiger cub who is captured from the wild and sold by poachers to a rich man.  When the tiger inevitably grows too big, she is sent to a zoo where she makes friends with a painted bunting named Al.  Kutko, a retired school teacher from Clarksville School District, developed the story which his granddaughter, Abbriel Harrison, who wrote and illustrated the book.  There will be a drawing for a free signed copy of his book at the event, along with additional copies available for purchase.

Thursday, April 13th at 2:30 P.M. in RPL 300AB

Cover of Ronnie Williams featuring tombstone superimposed below an older photograph of a black man wearing an army dress uniform.The Arkansas Tech University Black Faculty & Staff Organization will host Ronnie Williams as part of the Diversity Speaks Lecture Series.  He is the author of Markham Street: The Haunting Truth Behind the Murder of My Brother Marvin Leonard Williams, which shares the story of his brother, his murder, subsequent fight for justice, and what life was like for Black families in the South during the 1960’s.

A native of Menifee, Arkansas, Ronnie Williams recently retired as Vice President for Student Services and Institutional Diversity at the University of Central Arkansas.  During his three decades of service, he served as assistant dean of students, director of Minority Affairs, Assistant to the President, and Chief Diversity Office.  He is the former chair of the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, and the first person of color to chair the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce and the Conway Development Corporation Board.  A small reception of light refreshments, provided by the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center, will be available after the lecture.  For more information about Ronnie Williams or his book, visit his webpage at: https://www.ronniewilliamsauthor.com/

Friday, April 14th from 1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. in RPL 300B

A cartoon black and white logo of a person with a blank, open book for its head next to the words "human library"The Human Library is back at the Ross Pendergraft Library and Technology Center featuring people volunteering to tell their own stories about in a non-judgemental, personal conversation-style setting.  As part of a project in the Social Movements and Social Change class in the Behavioral Sciences department, students have been recruiting volunteers to act as “books” that can be read by an individual in a one-on-one setting.  These “books” tell their personal stories of struggle and success in overcoming challenges in life like discrimination, poverty, disability, immigration, abuse, judgement, or oppression.  You can ‘check-out’ a book just by listening to their story face-to-face to gain a broader perspective for the path they have walked.

The Human Library Event has been taking place at ATU for several years and is part of a larger, national organization to promote dialogue and understanding with groups in our society that are often subjected to prejudice, stigmatization or discrimination because of their lifestyle, diagnosis, belief, disability, social status, ethnic origin, etc.  All are welcome to this event.

Monday, April 17th at 6:00 P.M. in RPL 300B

Text with "Talk Series with Dr. Hashimoto: Manga, an introductory series to Japanese culture, language, history, and art inside anime and manga.The final lecture of the spring semester from the popular “Manga Talk  Series” from Dr. Hashimoto is titled: “Jujutsu Kaisen: History of Curse in Japan” will take place on April 17th.  Dr. Hashimoto, visiting lecturer of Japanese, will discuss the popular manga and anime series and how it relates to Japanese culture, language, and history.  Frequent attendees of the lecture series often report samples of Japanese candies and treats present at such events.  You can get started on the English-language version of the manga series with v.0 “Blinding Darkness” currently located in the New Books collection of the ATU Library.

For more information about these and other events in the library, contact our Special Events Coordinator and Second Monday Author Series wrangler, Luke Heffley.  You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for up-to-date information on all the happenings happening at RPL.