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Monday Missive – 10/20

Posted by on October 20, 2014 No comments

In case you missed it, “the annual Homecoming football game at Illinois Wesleyan was spoiled with a 7-2 loss to Augustana.” While we lost the game, there was plenty of fun had throughout the rest of the weekend, so we’re all waking up a bit more slowly this morning. Need a little extra pick-me-up? Check out photos from around campus from this weekend.

We’re officially half way through the fall semester, and things are starting to get busy. There are still study spaces to be found in Ames in the evenings, but make sure you’re getting here early to get your preferred space. Remember you can reserve a project room through the Help@Ames desk for up to 4 hours at a time. Make your reservation now!

Speaking of getting started, do you know what’s going on in Ames this week? Read on to find out.

blacksmith

Today, Monday 10/20, the Writing Center is hosting an Open House to celebrate the National Day on Writing. Did you know the Writing Center recently moved into the library? It’s on the first floor near the Circulation Desk. Make your appointment today!

Instruction Lab, Room 129

  • Monday, 1pm, Prof. Coleman’s Gateway
  • Monday, 3pm, Prof. Coleman’s other Gateway
  • Tuesday, 9:25pm, Prof. Sibley’s Spanish 102
  • Tuesday, 10:50am, Prof. Ferradan’s Spanish 280
  • Tuesday, 1pm, Prof. Hoyt’s Business 490
  • Wednesday, 1pm, Prof. Coleman’s Gateway
  • Wednesday, 2pm, Prof. Harper’s Biology 217
  • Thursday, 9:25pm, Prof. Nillas’s Gateway
  • Thursday, 2:35pm, Prof. Nadeau’s Spanish 280
  • Friday, 10am, Prof. Connelley’s Gateway
  • Friday, 2pm, Prof. Isabelli’s Spanish 303
  • Friday, 3pm, Prof. Coleman’s Gateway

Room 214

  • Monday, 3pm, CUPP
  • Tuesday, noon, Library Advisory Committee
  • Tuesday, 4:30pm, Star Literacy
  • Wednesday, 3pm, CUPP
  • Thursday, 11am, Assessment Committee
  • Thursday, 1pm, IT Sharepoint
  • Thursday, 4:30pm, Star Literacy
  • Friday, 8am, IT Sharepoint

Beckman Auditorium

  • Monday, 7pm, Vanishing of the Bees
  • Tuesday, 1:10pm, Battle of Ideas
  • Tuesday, 7pm, Food, Inc. – Food, Inc. is the perplexing documentary on America’s food. Delving into various issues such as safety, health, rights, law and business, this film covers how factory farms fit into the American culture. This film is presented by VVV, (Vegetarians, Vegans, Victorious).
  • Wednesday, 5:30pm, Boundless Spirit: William Morris for the 21st Century – A public evening event focused on the Garden City Movement and its influence on Morris.
  • Wednesday, 7pm, Psychology 369
  • Thursday, 7pm, Baron von Munchhausen (1943) – A fantasy comedy of a German folktale about a man who never grows old. This version was filmed under the National Socialists as a distraction. Sponsor: International Film Series
  • Friday, 9pm, Nursing 400 Exam

#TBT – Student Scholarship

Posted by on October 16, 2014 No comments

Ever wonder about the point of Gateway and writing intensive courses? Not sure how struggling to write at a collegiate level will pay off?

Well, The Ames Library is here to tell you that exemplary student works are highlighted in campus’s Digital Commons. This is an institutional repository where we collect scholarly works of faculty and students, as well as keep publications and meeting notes of campus organizations and meetings. The Digital Commons is a great place to learn about what your fellow students are doing in upper-level research classes, for the John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference, and how they’re being published before they graduate.

Yes, you too can contribute to completely undergraduate, peer-reviewed journals.

True story – one student published a senior paper in Digital Commons and graduated, not thinking any more about it. Since those papers can be discovered through Google, a book publisher found that paper and was able to make contact with the student for her paper to be published as a chapter in their forthcoming book! Cool, right?

UERThere’s a new “Paper of the Day” every day, so check the site daily to see what’s new, what’s old, what’s trending, and what’s useful.

Today’s paper was written by Cody Bryant in 2013 – “Impact of the Bakken Oil Boom on Employment and Wages in North Dakota.” Here’s the paper’s abstract:  A difference-in-difference methodology is used to examine the impact of the 2008 oil boom on employment and wages in North Dakota. Finding show an 8.68 percent increase in employment and 4.85 percent increase in wages in counties producing Bakken oil relative to the rest of North Dakota. In addition, a modified Difference- in-Difference is used to examine the rate of growth in employment and wages. Results show a 0.271 percent increase in quarterly job growth in Bakken oil producing counties relative to the rest of North Dakota. No significant impact is observed in the growth of wages.

Want to read the whole paper? Visit Digital Commons!

If you use the library, we need your help!

Posted by on October 14, 2014 No comments

The Ames Library is conducting a study to investigate how satisfied you are with services provided at the Help@Ames and Circulation Desks. We need students, staff, and faculty to help us! As part of the study, you’ll ask each desk one question over the course of a week. Each question might take as little as 5 minutes to answer, or as long at 30 minutes.

If you’d like to participate, please contact Crystal Boyce (cboyce@iwu.edu) to set up a time to learn more about the study.

 

Rainy Mondays – 10/13

Posted by on October 13, 2014 No comments

So we’re all back from Fall Break and now it’s raining. But…we’ve got Homecoming to look forward to this weekend! To get ready for this weekend’s festivities, let’s review what’s happening in Ames this week.

Jack Furlong of the Philosophy Department at Transylvania University will present “Reorienting the Question of What We Owe Nonhumans: Beyond Rights Talk Toward Capability Discourse” on Monday at 4pm in the Beckman Auditorium.

On Tuesday, at 4pm, Jennifer McCoy, Distinguished University Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University and director of the Americas Program at The Carter Center in Atlanta, will speak on Venezuelan political culture and the neo-Bolivarian perspective that is spreading throughout the hemisphere. This event is sponsored by a “Recentering the Humanities” grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as well as the Department of Hispanic Studies, the Latin American Studies team of International Studies, and the Center for Human Rights and Social Justice.

On Wednesday, at 4pm, Dr. Caroline Bishoip of Indiana University will present “How to make a Roman Demosthenes: Cicero and the constrcution of a tradition” as part of the IDES Lecture. In both technology and culture, the Romans were great bridge-builders, and borrowed liberally from ancient Greece. The Roman politician Cicero (106-43 BC) was no exception. When Roman democracy ended with the dictatorship of Julius Caesar, Cicero turned to Greece for an explanation, particularly Demosthenes, the democratic opponent of
King Philip of Macedon. In this talk, I will explore the links Cicero drew between himself and Demosthenes, and explain how they still influence the way we think about the bridges between their civilizations.

On Thursday, at 4pm, Associate Professor of English Joanne Diaz will read from her new book, “My Favorite Tyrants,” which was named the winner of the 2014 Brittingham Prize in Poetry. This event is sponsored by Tributaries, IWU’s creative arts journal.

Homecoming 2014Homecoming Events in Ames

  • Friday – 1-1:50 – Kris Condon ’84 – 2014 Loyalty Award Winner – “Order in the Court! Or, How I Spent my Summer Vacation at the US Supreme Court”
  • Friday – 2-2:50 – Robert Bray – R. Forest Colwell Professor of English – “Making Abraham Lincoln Ours”
  • Friday – 3-3:50 – Kyle Pfortmiller ’92 – 2014 Distinguished Alumnus – “Journey to the Met: More than Practice, Practice, Practice!”
  • Friday – 4-4:50 – William Jaeckle – Associate Professor of Biology and Student Senate 2014 Professor of the Year – “Living in a bowl of soup and lacking utensils: The many ways that aquatic invertebrates catch their food”
  • Friday – around 4:00 p.m., the small tree that sits between the two bays of car spaces in our back parking lot will be dedicated to the memory of Jim McGowan. A space on either side of this tree will be cordoned off around 3:00 p.m.
  • Saturday – 8:30-9:20 – Mark Israel ’91 – Executive Vice President, Compass Lexecon – “Mergers and Acquisitions”
  • Saturday – 9:30-10:20 – Dr. Sean Parsons ’02 – 2014 Rober M. Montgomery Outstanding Young Alumnus – “1959 in Jazz…It Was a Very Good Year”
  • Saturday – 10:30-11:20 – Robert Delvin – Fine Arts Librarian and Professor – “Moments Musicaux: Episodes from 150 Years of Music at Illinois Wesleyan University”

Instruction in 129

  • Monday, Prof. Bushman’s Gateway course
  • Tuesday, German 101 lab
  • Tuesday, Prof. Schwartz’s course
  • Wednesday, Prof. Burke’s Socl 230
  • Thursday, Prof. Hoyt’s Bus 490

Administrative meetings in 214

  • Monday, 9:30am, Network Group
  • Monday, 3pm, CUPP
  • Wednesday, 3pm, CUPP
  • Thursday, 1pm, Web Redesign Workgroup

Events in the Beckman Auditorium

  • Monday, 11-3:30, Admissions Open House
  • Monday, 4pm, Philosophy film screening
  • Monday, 7pm, Prof. Haefner’s Gateway film screening
  • Tuesday, 4pm, RcCentering the Humanities speaker event
  • Wednesday, 4pm, IDES Lecture
  • Thursday, 4pm, “My Favorite Tyrants”

What’s Popular This Week?

Posted by on October 8, 2014 No comments

Did you know Ames Library has a Popular Reading Collection? It’s located right next to the Circulation Desk and has dozens of titles from which to choose. Grab one of these for some light weekend reading or just to take a break from all that scholarly work yangry optimistou’ve been doing.

Some of our recent additions to the collection include:

ANGRY OPTIMIST : THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JON STEWART – Lisa Rogak

THE ASSASSINATION OF MARGARET THATCHER : STORIES – Hilary Mantel

THE BONE CLOCKS – David Mitchell

BURN – James Patterson

THE CHILDREN ACT – Ian McEwan

DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS – Julie Schumacher

AN EVENT IN AUTUMN – Henning Mankell

PERFIDIA – James Ellroy

PERSONAL: A JACK REACHER NOVEL – Lee Child

this is where i leave youTHIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU – Jonathan Tropper

To see the entire list of Popular Reading titles, click here.

 

Not a fan of the physical book? Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered with various Kindle titles (you can borrow a Kindle from Circulation). A selection of new titles available on Kindles includes:

All the Light We Cannot See   – Anthony Doerr

Bones Never Lie – Kathy Reichs

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage – Haruki Murakami

The Headmaster’s Wife – Thomas C. Greene

If I Stay – Gayle Forman

No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State – Glenn Greenwald

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell – Nadia Nashimi

Click here, if you’d like to Suggest a Purchase (ebook, Kindle or print).

Monday Missive – October 6th

Posted by on October 6, 2014 No comments

Want to catch up on what’s happening in The Ames Library this week? No need to look any further. Remember – if you ever have any questions, all you need to do is call extension 3900 or stop by the Help@Ames Desk on the entry level of the library.

ILLiad – the program used to lend and borrow items from other libraries – is up and running again. Tony Heaton is working through all the requests; if you have any questions or concerns about items you have requested, please contact Tony at x3224, theaton@iwu.edu

Thank you to Kerri McKeown for all her help!

Humans vs. Zombies Safe ZoneHumans vs. Zombies – are you going to be a Zombie, scavenging for human meat? Or are you going to be a Human, desperately trying to survive the IWU Zombie Apocalypse? Either way, remeber that Ames Library is a Safe Zone, which means no attacks can happen within the building. Humans beware, however, it’s a long walk (or run) from the front of Ames to the next safe zone. Make sure you’re carrying plenty of ammo (socks)!

The International Film Series will be screening “Everything is Illuminated,” from 7-10pm on Monday evening as part of the Iron Curtain Symposium. The Mellon Center is also sponsoring a movie screening from 7-10pm on Thursday evening for the Cold War Gateway.

 

This week in The Ames Library:

Instruction Lab, Room 129

  • Tuesday, 9:25-10:40am, Prof. Nielsen’s Art 490
  • Thursday, 1:10-2:25, English

Meeting Room 214

  • Monday, 3-4pm, CUPP meeting
  • Wednesday, 3-5pm, CUPP meeting
  • Thursday, 11-noon, Assessment Committee

Beckman Auditorium

  • Monday, 9-11am, Nursing 217
  • Tuesday, 9:25-10:40am, International Politics, Road to 9/11
  • Tuesday, 4-5:30pm, International Studies, Fall of the Iron Curtain, 25 Years After
  • Wednesday, 2-4pm, Nursing 385, Exam #1
  • Wednesday, 6-8:30pm, Gateway – Utopianism
  • Thursday, 9:25-10:40am, Political Science, Terrorism
  • Thursday, 10:50-12:05pm, Political Science, Japan’s About Face

Finally, Peoria Christian High School students will be visiting campus on Friday. They’ll be hanging out in the library at different times during the day.

Remembering Jim McGowan

A bur oak has been planted on the Illinois Wesleyan campus near The Ames Library in memory of Emeritus Professor of English James D. McGowan, who died July 20.

As part of the English Department’s Homecoming Reception, onFriday, Oct. 17 at 3:45 p.m., a plaque and the tree commemorating his presence will be dedicated. If you would like to attend this short ceremony, meet at the English House, 1101 N. Main St., at 3:30 p.m. and Anne McGowan will lead us to the McGowan Bur Oak.

URGENT: ILLiad down

Posted by on October 3, 2014 No comments

10/3 11:00am – We are continuing to experience technical difficulties. ILLiad will be down until Monday. Please contact Tony Heaton, Circulation Manager, at 309-556-3224 if you have any questions.

10/3 8:30am – Due to technical difficulties, Interlibrary Loan services are not available. Do not try to log-in to submit new requests or to access previously received electronically items. If you have any questions, please contact Tony Heaton at 309-556-3224.

 

Predisposed : liberals, conservatives, and the biology of political differences

Posted by on October 1, 2014 No comments

From Amazon.com:

“Buried in many people and operating largely outside the realm of conscious thought are forces inclining us toward liberal or conservative political convictions. Our biology predisposes us to see and understand the world in different ways, not always reason and the careful consideration of facts. These predispositions are in turn responsible for a significant portion of the political and ideological conflict that marks human history.

With verve and wiPredisposedt, renowned social scientists John Hibbing, Kevin Smith, and John Alford—pioneers in the field of biopolitics—present overwhelming evidence that people differ politically not just because they grew up in different cultures or were presented with different information. Despite the oft-heard longing for consensus, unity, and peace, the universal rift between conservatives and liberals endures because people have diverse psychological, physiological, and genetic traits. These biological differences influence much of what makes people who they are, including their orientations to politics.

Political disputes typically spring from the assumption that those who do not agree with us are shallow, misguided, uninformed, and ignorant. Predisposed suggests instead that political opponents simply experience, process, and respond to the world differently. It follows, then, that the key to getting along politically is not the ability of one side to persuade the other side to see the error of its ways but rather the ability of each side to see that the other is different, not just politically, but physically. Predisposedwill change the way you think about politics and partisan conflict.

As a bonus, the book includes a “Left/Right 20 Questions” game to test whether your predispositions lean liberal or conservative.”

Excerpt from The Left/Right Twenty Questions Game in Predisposed

The Five Questions from Hardwired i
  1. Could you slap your father in the face (with his permission) as part of a comedy skit?
    1. Yes
    2. No
  1. When you go to work in the morning, do you often leave a mess in your apartment or house?
    1. Yes
    2. No
  1. Which lesson is more important to teach to children?
    1. Kindness
    2. Respect
  1. Do you get bored by abstract ideas and theoretical discussions?
    1. Yes
    2. No
  1. Think about this carefully for 15 seconds – “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” Which answer is closer to your current thoughts?
    1. Okay…makes sense
    2. What?
Which item from each pair comes closest to describing you?ii
    1. Eccentric
    2. Conventional
    1. Decisive
    2. Flexible
    1. Open-Minded
    2. b. Moralistic
    1. Imaginative
    2. Practical
    1. Simple
    2. Complex
Which item from each pair comes closest to describing you?ii
    1. Small towns
    2. Big cities
    1. Romantic movies
    2. Comedies
    1. Country music
    2. Classical music
    1. Motorcycle
    2. SUV
    1. Book about sports
    2. Book about music
Read the book to take the rest of the quiz and find out how you scored.

iHardwired 2009 Christine Lavin, John Alford, John Hibbing, Jeff Mondak, and Gene Weingarten.

iiThe Secret Lives of Liberals and Conservatives: Personality Profiles, Interaction Styles, and the Things They Leave Behind Political Psychology, Vol. 29, No. 6. (December 2008), pp. 807-840, by Dana R. Carney, John T. Jost, Samuel D. Gosling, Jeff Potter.

Monday Missive – 9/29

Posted by on September 29, 2014 No comments

ames_fallWant to know what’s going on in the library each week? Every Monday we’ll highlight events related to The Ames Library and happening in/around the building. We’re calling it the Monday Missive…

Want to host an event in the library or reserve a study room? Find out about how to reserve rooms on our website!

Beckman Auditorium

Are you in the Cold War Gateway? If so, your class will be meeting in the Beckman Auditorium from 6:30-8:30 on Monday. Nursing 217 students will be in Beckman on Tuesday from 6-9. PoliSci 104 has the Auditorium book from 7-9 on Wednesday.

The Internation Film Series will be screening “Cesar Chavez”, on Thursday, 10/2 from 7-10pm in the Beckman Auditorium. This 2014 film will be presented by Eileen Galvez, assistant director of the Office of Diversity & Inclusion. It is part of the 3D series.

Instruction Lab, room 129

  • Engl 220, Tuesday
  • Econ 401, Wednesday
  • Socl 290, Wednesday
  • Gateway (Roesner), Thursday
  • Gateway (Brennan), Thursday
  • Span 468, Friday
  • Nurs 214, Friday

Administrative Meetings

  • 9/29, Information Technology’s Network group is meeting in room 214 (it’s on the east side of the 2nd floor) from 9:30-11:30
  • 9/29 & 10/1, CUPP is meeting in room 214 from 3-5pm
  • 9/30, OU users will meet in room 129 (the instruction lab) from 3:30-4:30. Rumor has it there will be chocolate shortbread.
  • 10/2, Assessment Committee meeting is in room 214 from 11-noon
  • 10/2, the Web Redesign Workgroup is meeting in room 214 from 1-2pm

What’s Happening this Week?

Posted by on September 22, 2014 No comments

Want to catch up on what’s happening in the library this week? It’s going to be a busy week.

Prof. Schmidt’s Gateway class, Banned & Burned, is installing three Banned Book Week displays on the first floor. Banned Book Week is celebrated every Septemeber to call attention to books that have been challenged, banned, and burned, both historically and currently. Read more about it by visiting the organization’s website.

IMG_20140922_083911[1]We’re also celebrating SophoM0RE week, September 21-26. On the East Wall of the first floor you’ll find a poster and orange stickies – fill out a card and post it to the wall to let everyone know what makes being a sophomore special!

Is your class 1 of 12 visiting the library for an instruction session? If so, you’ll be in room 129, which is in the southeast corner of the first floor, or in the Beckman Auditorium, which is on the lower level.

That’s only the beginning!

On Wednesday, 9/25, join fellow IWU student Tim McDunn in the Beckman Auditorium at 4:00pm for his talk, “Lost in Dante’s Forest.” In this lecture, we will explore the contemplative nature of forests in Dante’s Divine Comedy and ask how Dante was able to use Christian doctrine as a means of reorganizing ideas that had been passed down from before the Christian era. How did the Christian doctrine of Grace prevent Dante from being forever lost in a hypnotic state of contemplation? The research for this presentation was made possible by the 2014 Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant: Re-centering the Humanities.

On Thursday, 9/26, join Dr. Ada Bieber of Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, who will present, “Bridges into Holocaust Memory: Janusz Korczak’s Orphanage as a Subject of Two Contemporary Polish and German Picture Books.” This talk is sponsored by the Russian and East European Studies Concentration of International Studies, the German, Russian and Asian Languages Department and the Isaac Funk Endowed Professorship Fund.

Stick around after Dr. Bieber’s talk for a screening of “Four Days in September,” 1997, Brazil/USA, presented by Professor of History Michael Weis as part of the International Film Series.

Finally, come join IWU Pride Alliance on Friday, 9/27, starting at 4:30pm in the Beckman Auditorium for a presentation on LGBT+ families raising children as a gay couple. There will also be discussions of the cross sections of sexuality and race as bilingual, multicultural, and multirace families.