Ames Library News

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.

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.