Like Us? Love Us? Tell Us!

Posted on April 18, 2019 Written by

If you haven’t had a chance to take the Library survey, take three minutes and help us, help you: Take the Library Survey.  Available until Wednesday, April 24th, the annual library survey is your chance to suggest changes, recommend new services or collections, and/or lodge complaints about the temperature.

https://gph.is/2RJTLiI

Because of your input, we’ve made the following changes to the library:

  • Extended hours, including later hours during the week, on Fridays, and a 24 hour opening period during finals.
  • Increased number of study rooms
  • Increased number of computer stations
  • Increased number of journals and databases to support sciences, nursing, and other STEM fields
  • Extended check-out times for calculators and DVDs for students
  • Replaced the broken chairs and mid-90’s floral couches
  • Purchased more Young Adult and Popular Reading books
  • Changed policy to allow drinks
  • Subscribed to HeinOnline
  • Added an easy-to-use scanning station and fax machine
  • Added more movies and television shows
  • Invited the tutoring center for evening hours
  • Unlocked the balcony on the 3rd Floor
  • Purchased required General Education Textbooks for check-out
  • Made this annual survey shorter

As you can see, we’re eager to make the same changes, and your comments and input help us advocate for your needs. While we always try to improve what we can, there are always a few requests that are not feasible at this time or cannot be so easily accommodated. Below are some suggestions we simply cannot make happen at this time:

  • Allow Food – Nothing makes students hungrier than late-night studying. Unfortunately, where food happens, pests follow, and the last thing we need are well-educated mice trying to take over the world.
  • Maintain the Perfect Temperature for Everyone–While have made great strides in upgrading our central AC/Heat, it is not always going to be optimum for everyone at all times of the year. But let our staff know if you are too cold or too hot–we might be able to make adjustments or at least give you tips on low-price cardigans.
  • A Quieter Library--The library used to be a silent refuge from a noisy world, but learning can sometimes make sounds, especially group-learning. That’s why we have designated the 1st floor as low noise and the 2nd floor as a quiet zone. But since we cannot be everywhere all of the time, we have implemented a Text-A-Librarian service you can use to a summon shushing librarian to quiet things down. We do our best, but we need your help.
  • Open 24 Hours All The Time–This convenience and procrastination fuel is sorely needed on campus, we agree. However, until the funds, the security, the staffing, and the coffee are available for such a service, it will remain just out of reach.
  • More Monster Trucks–This is an actual comment.

Even if there is a limit to what we can do, there is no limit to how hard we will work to help you succeed academically. Tell us how best we can help: https://techlibraries2019.questionpro.com/

In the meantime, stay up to date on all library events and happenings, including our 24 hour schedule for finals on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

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Climate Change Discussion

Posted on April 12, 2019 Written by

Decoding the Weather Machine Panel Discussion: Ross Pendergraft Library, April 16th at 7 PM in RPL 300AOn Tuesday, April 16th, at 7:00 P.M., the Ross Pendergraft Library will hold a panel discussion on climate change—what is it, how does it affect our environment, and what we can do to help save our planet.  The discussion will feature four experts in business, chemistry, sustainability alternative energy and natural disasters:

  • Bob Allen, Professor of Chemistry (Emeritus)
  • Andy Barrett, Alternative Energy Professional
  • Pat Ford, Agri-Business Owner
  • Caroline Hackerott, Assistant Professor of Emergency Management

The discussion will center on the PBS NOVA series episode, Decoding the Weather Machine. This event is free and open to the public—all are welcome!

For more information about the event, you can visit our event guide or contact the library at (479) 964-0569.  You can stay up to date on the series and all library events by following us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

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A Panel of Ice and Fire

Posted on April 8, 2019 Written by

poster of the event featuring fire and ice meeting in the middleThe series finale of Game of Thrones takes place in a few days but if you want to get your fix early, tune the Ross Pendergraft Library has GOT you covered.  On Thursday, April 11th, at 7:00 P.M. in RPL 300A, we will host our very own “small council” of scholars and writers discussing the stories, the politics, the history, the show, and the writer behind one of the biggest pop culture sensations of the past ten years.  The event will feature four experts from the ATU family who will discuss an aspect of the series and take questions from the audience.  Panelists include:

Dr. Arwen Taylor, Assistant Professor of English

(Photo Unavailable)

Dr. Chris Housenick, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Dr. Deborah Wilson, Professor of English
Slade Dupuy, Science Fiction and Fantasy Author

All are welcome!  A small reception will precede the event at 6:30 P.M.

Need to get to catch up on the show, re-watch your favorite parts, or see what all the fuss is about?  The Ross Pendergraft Library has all seasons available on DVD, as well as the entire book series in both hardback and audiobook format.

You can stay up to date on this and all library events by following us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.   For more questions or information about the Game of Thrones discussion, or to simply discuss Game of Thrones, contact Angela Black at (479) 964-0569.

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Tonight’s Starting Lineup

Posted on April 8, 2019 Written by

Second Monday author series poster featuring outline of a ball player as a map.Tonight at the Ross Pendergraft Library, join us at 7:00 PM in RPL300B for a special guest speaker, Jim Yeager who will talk about his book: Backroads and Ballplayers: A Collection of Stories About Famous (and Not So Famous) Professional Baseball Players from Rural Arkansas. All are welcome!

Backroads and Ballplayers recalls the paths that more than 50 Arkansans took in pursuit of their dreams to play professional baseball, including individuals from the River Valley area, the mountains of North Arkansas, and the Delta farmland.

Assisted by various members of the Robinson-Kell Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research, these stories of rural Arkansas baseball during the first half of the twentieth century recounts “Arkansas’ Fields of Dreams.”

Picture of Jim Yeager, holding his bookYeager is retired from an education career that spanned more than 40 years and included service as a coach, teacher, guidance counselor and educational technology specialist. He was the first coach during the intercollegiate era of women’s basketball at Arkansas Tech and established the Golden Suns’ winning tradition by guiding them to four consecutive conference championships from 1979-82.

This presentation is part of our Author’s Second Monday Series featuring the works of our local writers and researchers.  You can stay up to date on the series and all library events by following us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.   For more questions or information about the Second Monday Author Series, contact Luke Heffley at (479) 964-0546.

Cover of book, featuring a black and white picture of rural baseball players from mid-20th century

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Dance Party at the Library

Posted on March 27, 2019 Written by

Pictures of fiddle players, dancers, and another musical instrument made of wood. I think it is a lute or a harp, but smaller.

Come shake it up to live music next Saturday, April 6th at the Ross Pendergraft Library as we host our second Contra Dance in RPL 300B from 7:00-9:00 P.M.  No partner and no experience necessary.  Each dance will be taught before it begins, and no one will be left behind.  The event includes live music from the Valley Jam Session Players and caller Cynthia Callahan.

An old-time contra dance, also referred to as a barn dance, is an informal country dance stemming from such dances in 17th century Western Europe. It has evolved just as the old-time music has. Traditionally this type of dance always uses live musicians playing fiddle tunes.

As part of the Echoes of the River Valley series, the library is bringing to life the folk arts of the past for a new generation.   In addition to dancing, the series has featured events like yarn spinning, hand-quilting, and open jam sessions.  The Jam Sessions occur every Thursday night from 5:30-7:30 PM in Doc Bryan 133.  To learn more about this event, or others in the series, check out our resource guide or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

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Spring Break!

Posted on March 15, 2019 Written by

The Ross Pendergraft Library is going on spring break!  At least for a few extra hours during the week.  Here’s the schedule for our reduced hours during spring break:

  • Saturday, March 16th – CLOSED
  • Sunday, March 17th – CLOSED
  • Monday, March 18th-Friday, March 22nd – 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
  • Saturday, March 23rd – CLOSED
  • Sunday, March 24th – Resumes regular hours, 1:00 P.M. to 1:00 A.M.

If you are planning a long trip, don’t forget the library has a collection of Audiobooks on CD and MP3 that you can pop in the car stereo or download to your phone for bluetooth broadcast. Here’s a few new titles, fresh on the shelf:

book cover of Children of Blood and Bone featuring illustration of upper half of the face of a beautiful, mysterious woman with long white hair rising up behind her.Children of Blood and Bone – Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Front cover of Educated, featuring a large illustration of a sharpened end of a pencil with a shadow of a girl on a mountain drawn into the pencilEducated : a memoir – Traces the author’s experiences as a child born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, describing her participation in her family’s paranoid stockpiling activities and her resolve to educate herself well enough to earn acceptance into a prestigious university and the unfamiliar world beyond.

The Good Neighbor : the Life and Work of Fred Rogers – Drawing on original interviews, oral histories and archival documents, the author traces the iconic children’s program host’s personal, professional, and artistic life through decades of work.  Narrated by LeVar Burton.

Stephen King's cover of Pet Sematary featuring a cat so scary I can't even describe it in the alt text.Pet Sematary: A novel – When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job, and moves his family to the idyllic, rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Yet despite Ludlow’s tranquility, there’s an undercurrent of danger that lingers like the graveyard in the woods near the Creed’s home, where generations of children have buried their beloved pets.  This Stephen King classic is narrated by Michael C. Hall.

Front cover of book featuring Eric Idle dressed up as a knight from Monty Python and the Holy GrailAlways Look On the Bright Side of Life : A Sortabiography – From the ingenious comic performer, Eric Idle, founding member of Monty Python, and creator of Spamalot, comes an absurdly funny memoir of unparalleled wit and heartfelt candor.

 

Cover of book featuring a couple clothed in roses.The Greatest Love Story Ever Told – Presented as an oral history in a series of conversations between the couple, the book features anecdotes, hijinks, photos, and a veritable grab bag of tomfoolery. This is not only the intoxicating book that Megan Mullally’s and Nick Offerman’s fans have been waiting for, it might just hold the solution to the greatest threat facing our modern world: the single life.

 

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Monday Night – The Rabbi and the Civil Rights Movement

Posted on March 6, 2019 Written by

Poster featuring Rabbi Ira Sanders advertising a talk by Dr. James Moses, "The Rabbi and the Civil Rights Movement"Join us Monday night, March 11th, at 7:00 P.M. in RPL 300B for a look back at the struggle for Civil Rights in Arkansas from professor of history and author, Dr. James Moses.  Dr. Moses’s latest book, Just and Righteous Causes: Rabbi Ira Sanders and the Fight for Racial and Social Justice in Arkansas, 1926-1963, focuses on the efforts of Rabbi Ira Sanders of Little Rock who fought for justice and equality for African Americans in the segregated south.  Dr. Moses will discuss Rabbi Ira Sanders as well as the role of Southern rabbis as change agents.  All are welcome to attend.

Photo of Dr. James Moses

Dr. Moses earned his Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University, a Master of Arts from the University of New Hampshire, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Tulane University.  He has been a professor at Arkansas Tech since 1999 and specializes in modern United States and cultural history.   His current research projects include the completion of his book on the career of Justice William O. Douglas, and a project tentatively entitled Before Brown: The Long Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1954, which focuses on the often-overlooked decade between the end of World War II and the Court’s landmark Brown decision. In his off time, he enjoys jazz, playing drums, and collecting comics.

Photo of book cover, "Just and Righteous Causes"His book, Just and Righteous Causes, was published by the University of Arkansas Press. In one review, Mark K. Bauman, editor of Southern Jewish History called it,  “. . a must read for anyone interested in Little Rock, Arkansas and southern history, the civil rights movement, and southern and American Jewish history.”  Read more about the book and Ira Sanders in Tablet Magazine’s article, “Tikkun Olam, Y’all: Rabbi Ira Sanders of Arkansas, little-known Civil Rights hero”.

Stay up to date on more library events, including our next second Monday Author, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.  For questions or more information about the library, email your friendly neighborhood librarians at: askus@atu.libanswers.com.  We hope to see you this Monday!

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Going Old School

Posted on February 15, 2019 Written by

Get your hands on history here at the Ross Pendergraft Library as we host a special series called Echoes of the River Valley, aimed at exploring the culture and the craft of our local past.  Join us for music, dancing, sewing, and spinning all semester long as we partner with community members to connect with the skills and talents that helped shaped the character of the Ozarks.  Here’s a list of the open classes and events hosted this month:

Saturday, Feb. 16th @ 10:00 A.M.-2:00 P.M. in RPL 300B–Spinning Yarns: Literally and Figuratively. 

The Ozarks Fiber Group will be here for a spin-in at the Library.  Live demonstrations of spinning fibers of many kinds will be done. Materials in various stages of the yarn or string making process will be available. This is is the literal portion.  The figurative part of the program will look at Arkansas and Ozark region folklore and stories. Books by Vance Randolph and other story collectors and tellers will be featured. There may even be a story or two to be told.

This is a drop-in/open-house event.  Come when you want–stay as long as you like.  We will be working on projects throughout the day. 

Old school spin class
Every 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Thursday @ 5:30-7:30 P.M. in Doc Bryan 133– Open Jam Session. 

We invite student, faculty, staff, and community members to come to a jam session of fiddlers, guitar pickers, and banjo players.  You don’t need to be Doc Watson to play; the chords and notation to the songs are posted on the screen.  We’ll be playing music heard during the 19th century–classic fiddle songs invented long before bluegrass.  Players and listeners are welcome!

Flyer announcing Open Jam Sessions featuring a row of shadow figures playing fiddle.
Saturday, Mar. 9 @ 9:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M. in RPL 300B–Stitches in Time: The Art of Hand Quilting.  

Learn the art of hand quilting as it has been done for centuries. Local quilters will display hand quilted pieces both old and new. There will be a short presentation discussing the background and process of quilting by hand rather that by machine followed by a demonstration.  Learn more about hand piecing by visiting this guide.

pictures of quilt tops with different methods of creating them.
Saturday, Apr. 6 @ 7:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. in RPL 300B–Contra Dancing with Live Music.

An old-time contra dance,  also referred to as a barn dance or square-dancing, is an informal country dance stemming from such dances in 17th century Western Europe. It has evolved just as the old-time music has. Traditionally this type of dance always uses live musicians playing fiddle tunes. No experience or partner necessary! Each dance will be taught before it begins, and no one will be left behind.

Image of dancers with guitars

More events are scheduled throughout the year.  Be sure to check the calendar for more information and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for upcoming events, photos, and other news from the library.

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Time Travel with Dr. Stanley Lombardo

Posted on February 6, 2019 Written by

Picture of Stanley LombardoSaddle up for an adventure through time and space with author and professor of English, Dr. Stanley Lombardo, as we welcome him February 11th at 7:00 P.M. in the Ross Pendergraft Library, room 300B, as part of our Second Monday Author Series.

Dr. Lombardo is the author of a popular series of genre-bursting books called the The Crosstime Adventures of Carter Paxton in which a Yale-educated, buffalo hunting cowboy from the nineteenth century travels through time using an Apache medicine cave in Arizona.  Already on its fourth installment, Who Murdered Shakespeare, the series delivers something to satisfy fans of western, sci-fi, romance, and historical fiction genres.

cover of Paxton at Bosworth Field featuring black and white images of medieval armies clashing with ghostly nineteenth century old west cowboy image in the background

Learn more about this series as well as Dr. Lombardo’s children’s books by joining us this Monday in RPL 300B.  All are welcome to attend, and one lucky attendee will be entered into a door prize of one free autographed book by Dr. Lombardo.

If you want to get started on the Carter Paxton series, you can check them all out at the Ross Pendergraft Library.  It’s the best way to travel through time and space—no Apache Medicine Cave required.

The Crosstime Adventures of Carter Paxton
Children’s Books
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New Year, New Library

Posted on January 9, 2019 Written by

Welcome to 2019 at RPL!  While the librarians have not yet been replaced by Alexa or replicants, we have been making changes to welcome the new year with improvements to the collections and services.

Shrinking Print Journals—Growing Online Journals

The excess first floor shelving is in the process of being removed to carve out more space for students to study.  Through a combination of decreased usage, increased costs, and a decline in print publications in general, the collection of magazines and journals on the first floor has shrunk.  While we still have many journals, magazines, and newspapers available for browsing, much of our collection has shifted to online-only formats.  If your favorite magazine or newspaper has disappeared from that location, check our Find It database to find its online equivalent.

Photo of empty, disassembled shelving units

While the paper collection has gotten leaner, the online journal collection has grown fat and richer in content and accessibility.  Last summer, the library added several new Gale databases covering everything from literature to environmental science, and we continue to add journals throughout the year through the purchase of database collections.  The library currently has access to tens of thousands of electronic journals and newspapers.  Find them all in our A-to-Z eJournals finder.

Spark Joy with our DVD Collection

The library holds over 6,000 DVDs, but finding something for the perfect Friday night chill-out or Monday morning class can be a challenge.  To help make browsing easier, the library has reorganized and relabeled the collection to better serve both needs.  Educational films, documentary films, and recorded performances have been moved to the taller shelves, while the rest of the collection—motion pictures, animated, foreign films, etc.—remain where they were, with more room to grow.

Photo of dvd shelves

Audiobooks have also been re-shelved at the end of the DVD collection, providing greater visibility to this underutilized resource.

Photo of audiobook collection

You can also browse our collection virtually by genre using our DVD Genre website.  All results are sorted with newest releases at the top.

New Databases

The library also recently acquired new databases for Education, Engineering and Music:

  • Education Week – An online journal covering K-12 education news, analysis, and opinion
  • Inspec— Includes bibliographic citations and indexed abstracts from publications in the fields of physics, engineering, environmental science, nanotechnology and more.
  • Naxos Music Library World— Listen to music from over 160 countries and 1,500 cultural groups.

Screengrab of front page of Education Week, where there's a headline, "The kids are right: school is boring" as though we didn't already know that.

Save the Date—International Film Festival is back!

The 4th Annual International Film Festival begins next month, February 27th and runs through March 14th with a slate of award-winning and thought-provoking films from around the globe.  View a list of upcoming movies at our website: http://libguides.atu.edu/4iff

Screenshot of International Film Festival website

To keep up to date on all of the new collections and happenings at the library in 2019, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  In the meantime, happy new year, and if you have questions about any of the above changes or if you would like to know how we did on the Voight-Kampff test—Ask Us!

 

 

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