Conversation

Category: Conversation

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

001 (Medium)As the Lawrence community prepares to celebrate and commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with speakers, discussions, and acts of community service, the Mudd library offers heartfelt reverence, as well as a collection of materials that those wishing to honor the man and his mission will appreciate.

We have several DVDs featuring this incredible and inspiring civil rights activist. King: A Filmed Record-Montgomery to Memphis highlights his life and work, from the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama, and culminating with his assassination in Memphis in 1968. Featuring archival footage, this film is an indispensable primary resource of a pivotal moment in American and world history. It originally screened in theaters for one night only in 1970.

Roads to Memphis documents the story of assassin, James Earl Ray, his target, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the seething, turbulent forces in American society that led these two men to their violent and tragic collision in Memphis in April of 1968. This film explores the wildly disparate, yet fatefully entwined stories of Ray and King to create a complex, engaging, and thought-provoking portrait of America in that crisis-laden year.

Satyagraha is a visionary opera telling the story of how Mahatma Gandhi developed the philosophy of satyagraha, nonviolent active resistance, as a political revolutionary tool to fight oppression, connection his lifework to three historical figures who advanced his philosophy, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Mudd library also features many books about MLK, Jr., most of which can be found on the fourth floor. These include biographies such as I May Not Get There With You: the True Martin Luther King, Jr., Let the Trumpet Sound: the Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King’s My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. Titles like Parting the Waters and Pillar of Fire, as well as To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Sacred Mission to Save America and Judgement Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America explore the social and political context of the country during this pivotal period of history.

Books that focus specifically on King’s work, his philosophy, and his speeches include, among many, The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America, King Among The Theologians, and Martin Luther King, Jr.: Apostle of Militant Nonviolence. The book A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. is available both in print and on CD.

We also have music CDs available that pay tribute to Dr. King’s legacy. These works include Alice Parker’s Sermon From the Mountain, which features a cantata celebrating the life of the civil rights leader and Sinfonia by Berio Luciano, which includes a tribute to King’s memory and is also available on LP.

We are happy to provide so many resources, both informative and inspirational, pertaining to the work and life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and we invite you to visit the Mudd on Monday, January 19, as we pause to reflect on his life and legacy. If you are planning to honor his memory with an act of service in the community, we’d love to hear about it.

It’s a New Year in the Mudd!

003 (Medium)You know that you can rely on the Mudd as a place to research and relax, but we can also help you resolve, too! If you’ve made New Year’s resolutions, we have many materials on hand that just may support and inspire your intentions for 2015.

If incorporating more physical fitness into your daily routine is a goal for you in the upcoming year, check out our video collection, which includes DVDs on yoga, strength training, zumba, belly dancing, and more. We also have multiple versions of the video game Just Dance, if you wish to work out while learning some great new dance moves. Perhaps you’re interested in being more mindful about the food that you purchase and eat. If so, we have many documentaries to inform and inspire you, including Forks Over Knives, Fed Up, and Food, Inc. The third floor houses cookbooks and books about mindful eating, with titles like Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life and Eating Mindfully: How to End Mindless Eating and Enjoy a Balanced Relationship With Food.

Speaking of mindfulness, if beginning or deepening a meditation practice or dealing more constructively with stress and anxiety is a challenge that you’re hoping to tackle in 2015, we have many resources on the practices of mindfulness and meditation. These include books and CDs by Jon Kabat-Zinn, the works of Pema Chödrön, and titles such as LinkCalming Your Anxious Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Free You From Anxiety, Fear, and Panic and Five Good Minutes: 100 Morning Practices to Help You Stay Calm and Focused All Day Long. Or, head to Circulation to check out the Wii that we have available and try out Deepak Chopra’s game Leela: body. mind. spirit. play.

Of course, the best way to abate stress and anxiety is to remain on top of your academic workload and to seek assistance early and often from your friendly and helpful librarians. If you’ve resolved to become more studious this year, check out the research guides that we’ve compiled for various subjects and an array of classes; these guides highlight useful resources that support academic work for specific classes and subjects. The Reference Desk is an obvious place to turn for support in maintaining your academic goals, and we offer help either in person or virtually. Reference librarians are on hand six days a week to answer questions and to help with research. If you’re in need of in-depth support, research appointments are a great way to access advanced research assistance for your project, paper, or bibliography. Staying abreast of your studies and coursework is a laudable resolution for the new year, and the Mudd librarians will do their best to support you in this endeavor.

The Mudd can help with even more resolutions. Perhaps you intend to stay more informed on current events, either domestically or internationally. We subscribe to a large number of local and international newspapers to help you do just that. Are you interested in learning another language? We’ve got you covered with a large selection of language media, including resources to help you study Estonian, Finnish, Chinese, Latvian, French, and many more. If you aim to unplug a bit and to spend more time offline in the new year, we have a ton of contemporary literature and many graphic novels for pleasure reading to your hearts’ content. We also have board games available for check-out, like Chutes and Ladders, CandyLand, Twister, and Scrabble.

Regardless of what you’ve resolved to change or to begin in the new year, and even if you don’t make any resolutions at all, all of us in the Mudd wish you a wonderful 2015, and sincerely hope that you will take full advantage of the multitude of materials and resources that we work so hard to provide. Here’s to a great year!

Meet the Staff, Student Worker Edition: Allison Wray

003 (Large)We are pleased to introduce Allison Wray, the library’s new Student Social Media Assistant! In the short while that she’s held this position, she’s impressed us with her skill and talent, and we are so grateful to have her social media acumen here at the Mudd. You may have already noticed that Allison has been writing some wonderful posts for this blog, and she is also helping us maintain all of our social media sites.  She recently shared with us that Lawrence students tend to use tumblr more than any other social media site; thanks to her insight, we’re now aiming to reach more of the Lawrence community through our tumblr page.

We’re looking forward to continued collaboration with Allison, who also shares her talents at the Circulation desk. Read on to learn more about this multifaceted and talented student worker.

What’s your major?

English, but I’m thinking about adding art history as well.

Where are you from?

West Bend, Wisconsin

How long have you been working at the Mudd?

Fall term of this year.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

I really like being a part of the “behind-the-scenes” work of a central campus spot. It’s so cool to see how the library operates!

Share something you’ve done at work that has made you especially proud.

I redesigned the theme on the tumblr page! It’s not awfully difficult, but I’m really glad with how it turned out. Designing a nice theme is very satisfying for me.

As a student, where is your favorite study/relaxation/hang-out spot in the Mudd?

I don’t usually stick to one spot, but as long as there’s a big window, I’m happy. I am a fan of the upper floors, though.

What are your hobbies?

Knitting, watercolor and oil painting, reading, sleeping, and binge watching television on Netflix.

What’s the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?

It’s been so long since I read a book for fun! I can’t name one, but I just started Full Bloom: The Art and Life of Georgia O’Keeffe and I’m excited to get into it.

What are your favorite bands or performers?

I really enjoy folk and indie music; some of my favorites are Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, Laura Marling, and Johnny Flynn.

List your favorite blogs and/or magazines.

I really love Autostraddle.com and Nylon magazine.

What groups and/or organizations are you active in (on or off campus)?

I’m involved in Tropos (the literary magazine) and the Downer Feminist Council, and I adore both!

When will you graduate? What are your post-graduation plans?

2017. I don’t know yet, but I think I’d like to go to grad school for library sciences or museum studies.

 

 

 

Scholarly work of Lawrence Alumni: Joe Siegel ‘01

A bit about me, Joe Siegel (LU class of 2001)Joe Siegel

How do people learn to listen? It’s something that most people don’t even stop to think about. The ability to listen in our first language develops with little effort or explicit attention, but listening competency in a second language can be an arduous task, something that takes significant time and effort.  I’ve been interested in how listening ‘works’ for a long time, particularly in a second language, and I’m amazed by what an incredible ability it is. Biological, psychological, and auditory aspects combine to help us understand the aural messages we receive, and the communicative importance of listening, whether in a first or second language, makes it a fundamental tool.

I’m currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages at J. F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, Japan. In the classroom, I teach courses on general English as a foreign language (EFL) with a specific focus on the development of aural abilities in a second language. Such skills include recognizing the beginnings and endings of words, parsing the speech stream into meaningful chunks of language, and confirming or rejecting predictions we make about what we hear. As a researcher in the field of applied linguistics, I’m interested to learn more about teaching methods and learning styles for second language listening. This work has included MA and PhD dissertations and grant-funded research supported by the Ministry of Education in Japan.

The liberal arts education I received at Lawrence was a great preparation for my career, since my particular area of research focuses on the intersection of biology, psychology, education, and foreign language teaching and learning. A number of classes I took at LU have had a great impact on how I go about research and academic writing. Freshman Studies was a wonderful interdisciplinary experience, and I benefitted from the challenges of relating different works, genres, and themes to each other. I remember one Freshman Studies teacher who gave us the autonomy to choose any two works we had covered during the semester and write a paper on any aspect that linked the two. What a fantastic assignment for freshman students! What freedom!

Creativity, analytic thinking, and the need for clarity of expression: all of these have been indispensable in the work that I do now.

I majored in English at Lawrence, and the comparative and close analyses of important works of literature have definitely prepared me to do background reading of academic works and to construct clearly-written yet sophisticated literature reviews for academic publications. The two independent studies classes that I completed at LU gave me the opportunity to set up, plan, resource, and execute small-scale projects on my own. These courses, which I completed in my junior and senior years, were practical bridges that allowed me to transition from work done purely for grades and research done in the ‘real world’ for the benefit of students, colleagues, and the language teaching field in general. Further, at Lawrence, I had chances to interact closely and collaboratively with professors, which gave me much-needed confidence and thick skin that I’d need when dealing with peer reviewers and editors working for journals and publishing companies, who can sometimes be a picky bunch.

Listed below are some of my main and more recent publications, mostly on topics related to second language listening pedagogy:

Siegel, J. (2013). Methodological ingenuity for second language listening. In J.  Schwieter (Ed.), Studies and global perspectives of second language teaching and learning (pp. 113-139). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.

Siegel, J. (2013). Exploring L2 listening instruction: Examinations of practice.  ELT Journal, 68(1).

Siegel, J. & Siegel, A. (2013). Empirical and attitudinal effects of bottom-up listening activities in the L2 classroom. ELT World Online, 5, 1-25, http://blog.nus.edu.sg/eltwo/.

Siegel, J. (2012). Second language learners’ perceptions of listening strategy instruction. Innovations in language learning and teaching, 7(1), 1-18.

Siegel, J. (2011). Thoughts on L2 listening pedagogy. ELT Journal, 65(3), 318-321.

Siegel, J. (2011). Learner development through listening strategy training. In K. Irie & A. Stewart (Eds.), Realizing autonomy: Practice and reflection in language education contexts (pp. 78-93). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

In the future, I plan to continue investigating current methodologies in language teaching and to develop and trial other alternative ways of teaching second language listening. I’ve also recently become more interested in pragmatic development, especially concerning university students who complete study abroad experiences.

Meet the Staff, Student Worker Edition: Olav Bjornerud

015 (Medium)As you know, we love our student workers! One of our favorite things about working with them is learning about their many projects and accomplishments around campus. As much as it might appear as if they spend all of their free time perfecting their library duties, in reality they excel in many other areas: performing, producing, and achieving so many wonderful things.

Take Olav Bjornerud for example. In addition to working in the Mudd during his entire academic career, he has also spent the past several summers handcrafting a beautiful Viking ship named Strake, which is now on display in the Buchanan Kiewit Wellness Center. Read on to learn more about Olav, and to see a photograph of his gorgeous craftsmanship. Also, be sure to swing by the Wellness Center to get a real feel for the amount of work and attention that went into building such a large and detailed vessel.

What is your job title at the Mudd and what work does that entail?

The official title of my job is “Student Circulation Desk Assistant.” I check in and out books, movies, music, and course reserves, and preform a wide range of miscellaneous tasks behind the desk.

What’s your major?

I’m a Studio Art / History double major (definitely not Art History, though).

When will you graduate?

As far as I know, I’m graduating in June, 2014.

Where are you from?

I’m actually from Appleton; Lawrence is closer to my house than my high school was.

How long have you been working at the Mudd?

I’ve been able to work at the library all four years, excluding one term when I was abroad in London.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

I’ve loved being able to see the inner workings of the library and all the parts that are essential to keeping it running smoothly.

Share something you’ve done at work that has made you especially proud.

Whenever I’m able help someone, lend a hand in finding an item, or answer some question, it’s always very satisfying.

As a student, where is your favorite (study/relaxation/hang-out) spot in the Mudd?

I particularly like studying (and putting off studying) on the top floors of library, where I can peer out the windows over campus.

What are your hobbies?

I enjoy listening to music, building things in the sculpture studio, and as generic as it sounds, hanging out with friends.

What’s the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?

That would have to be George Mackay Brown’s Greenvoe.  While the book is definitely character driven, and it takes a bit for the plot to gain momentum, I couldn’t get enough of Brown’s prose and lyrical descriptions of the Orkney Islands.

What are your favorite bands or performers?

I completely believe that Bob Dylan is the greatest American artist living or dead.  His output during the 60s and 70s was legendary, and since the 1990s he’s released masterpiece after masterpiece as he continues to redefine himself.  I actually prefer his more recent work—I love his current voice that sounds like he’s been gargling thumbtacks.  I saw him live a few years ago on Halloween and it was by far the best show I’ve ever been to.

What groups and/or organizations are you active in (on or off campus)?

I’m part of the Greenfire Co-op, on the newly formed cross-country skiing team, and also one half of a folk music radio show on WLFM.

017 (Small)

Strake by Olav A. Bjornerud
Ash and painted steel, 2013
On view now at the Buchanan Kiewit Wellness Center!
With its organic and enveloping curves, Strake celebrates Lawrence University’s mascot and is inspired by the Vikings’ expert synthesis of form and function.

Gettysburg Address Turns 150

Lincoln at Gettysburg
Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863. Enlargement from glass plate negative. Brady-Handy Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress Digital ID # cwpb-07639.

Today is the 150th anniversary of the delivery of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. President Lincoln had been invited to deliver “a few appropriate remarks” at dedication ceremony of the soldiers’ cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg.  Edward Everett, a leading orator of the time, had spoken for two hours prior to the President’s address. The audience was taken by surprise when President Lincoln’s address had drawn to a close after approximately three minutes. Upon completion, the address was met with “long continued applause,” as well as three cheers from the audience. Some favorable reviews from newspapers around the country were published in the November 20th issue of The New York Times,

Chicago Tribune: “The dedicatory remarks by President Lincoln will live among the annals of man.”

Springfield (Mass.) Republican: “Surprisingly fine as Mr. Everett’s oration was in the Gettysburg consecration, the rhetorical honors of the occasion were won by President Lincoln. His little speech is a perfect gem; deep in feeling, compact in thought and expression, and tasteful and elegant in every word and comma. Then it has the merit of unexpectedness in its verbal perfection and beauty… Turn back and read it over, it will repay study as a model speech. Strong feelings and a large brain are its parents.”

As well as unfavorable reviews.

Chicago Times: “The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterances.”

Care to read it for yourself? The text of the speech that has been inscribed on the wall of the Lincoln Memorial can be found on this Library of Congress page. If you’d like to see the original drafts, The Library of Congress owns what is known as the “Hay Draft” and the “Nicolay Copy” and has made them available as part of their online Gettysburg Address exhibition.

The Mudd Library’s Lincoln Reading Room contains an interesting collection of Abraham Lincoln-related documents, pictures, and works of art- including bronze casts of President Lincoln’s hands and face.

Sources:

“Contemporary Reactions.”  The Gettysburg Address. Cornell University Library, 2008. Web 18 November 2013.

“Gettysburg Address.” Encyclopedia of American Studies. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010. Credo Reference. Web. 18 November 2013.

“Gettysburg Address.” The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Credo Reference. Web. 18 November 2013.

“The Heroes of July.” The New York Times. 20 November 1863. The Learning Network: Teaching and Learning With The New York Times. Web. 18 November 2013.

President Warch Convocation Recordings Available for Streaming

President Warch

President Rik Warch’s convocation addresses are well-known for their humor, wit, and poignancy. Professor Mike Hittle has said, “Rik’s words clearly energized Lawrence.” In honor of President Warch, and to make his words more accessible, we have begun making audio recordings of his convocations available to be streamed from Lux, Lawrence’s institutional repository.

President Warch’s convocation speeches are the beginning of a larger collection of Presidential addresses that will be collected and made available in Lux.

Interested in a more extensive collection of President Warch’s convocation addresses? The Mudd Library has multiple copies of his book, A matter of style :reflections on liberal education, Lawrence University Matriculation Convocation Addresses, 1979-2003. This book can also be purchased from the campus store, KK’s Apparel and Gifts, in store and online. A Kindle edition of this books is also available.

Meet the Staff, Student Worker Edition: Dakota Williams

As summer break winds to a close, all of us at the Seeley G. Mudd Library are readying ourselves for the upcoming academic year and are looking forward to welcoming our students back to campus. Of course, a few students have been hanging around the library all summer long–our incredible student workers! Dakota Williams has been working as a Circulation Assistant; his duties include circulating and shelving library items and assisting with the arduous task of cataloging CDs. He’s also facilitated some projects for the Archives. For a few weeks this summer, he worked tirelessly to convert  piles of commencement and convocation speeches from audio and video cassettes into newer formats. He’s cataloged scrapbooks, photocopied articles, done data entry, and created a comprehensive listing of Lawrence faculty. Dakota does all of this work while continuously sharing one of the biggest and brightest smiles on campus!

Dakota’s hard work and great attitude have landed him the Night Supervisor/Course Reserves Assistant position for the upcoming academic year. Once the term starts, his responsibilities will grow to include the supervision of circulation desk workers during the Mudd’s hectic evening hours, and the processing and maintaining of course reserves. We feel so lucky to have this dynamic student worker behind the circulation desk! Read on to learn more about Dakota:

What’s your major?

My major is BM Horn Performance.

When will you graduate?

I will be graduating in June 2014.

Where are you from?

I grew up in southwest Missouri, but my family lives in Milton, Wisconsin now.

How long have you been working at the Mudd Library?

I have been working at the Mudd library for 3 years, since my Freshman year.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

In my work in Archives, I enjoy finding concert programs collected by Milwaukee-Downer Alumnae in their scrapbooks.

Share something you’ve done at work that has made you especially proud.

Strange as it sounds, I am proudest of the signs that I created, advertising different aspects of the Mudd’s collection of which I believe patrons may be unaware.

What are your hobbies?

I enjoy reading (especially short stories and music literature), doing crosswords and other word puzzles, arranging music for chamber ensembles, and collecting and drinking tea.

What’s the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?

Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice.

What are your favorite bands or performers?

The Berliner Philharmoniker, Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, and  the American Horn Quartet.

List your favorite blogs and/or magazines.

The Horn Call (magazine), Horn Matters (blog), Broadway.com (blog).

What groups and/or organizations are you active in (on or off campus)?

Lawrence University Quizbowl, GLOW, and NAfME.

What are your post-graduation plans?

I plan to go to graduate school for a dual-masters in musicology and library science.

Meet the Staff, Student Worker Edition: Thomas Malm

001 (Small)For the summer editions of Meet the Staff, we thought it was high time we featured some of the most valuable employees that we have here at the library, our student workers! The Seeley G. Mudd employs about 50 students each year to help in Circulation, Technical Services,  Archives, and Media Services. Student workers are fundamental to the fulfillment of our mission, and their work provides invaluable support to library staff, and as a result, to the entire campus community. They also serve as unofficial liaisons between the library staff and the student body, helping us stay attuned and connected to the needs and interests of our student population, as well as making the library feel welcoming, friendly, and familiar to the students we serve. The Mudd library would not be the same without their input and presence. We love our student workers!

Thomas Malm had spent four years as a library student worker before graduating this past June. Currently, he’s happily awaiting his student-teaching stint by spending the summer as a Student Circulation Desk Assistant. Whether helping patrons with materials or taking photos for our flickr page, Thomas is a capable and industrious employee. And while it will be difficult for all of us to see this intelligent, hard-working, and outright hilarious employee move on at summer’s close, we are looking forward to hearing about his future success!  And now, without further ado, more about Thomas:

What’s your major?

Bassoon Performance and Music Education, emphasis in Conducting.

Where are you from?

Olympia, Washington

What’s your favorite part of your job?

Helping patrons and the occasional shelving project.

Share something you’ve done at work that has made you especially proud.

Check out the Interactive Seeley G. Mudd reference here!

What are your hobbies?

Being from the NW I love backpacking, hunting, mountain (especially volcano) climbing, but I also like watching Star Trek TNG, doing Lord of the Rings research (it’s a thing!), and I’m an avid video gamer.

What’s the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.

What are your favorite bands or performers?

Coldplay, The Beatles, Herbert von Karajan, M.T.T., and many other conductors. I’m also very partial to the music of David Maslanka.

List your favorite blogs and/or magazines.

The Double Reed (IDRS Journal), National Geographic, IGN.com, and CNN for my news.

What groups and/or organizations are you active in (on or off campus)?

The National Association for Music Education, International Double Reed Society, the National Band Association, the Conductor’s Guild, and even the International Practical Shooting Confederation.

What are your post-graduation plans?

I will be student teaching in Pulaski, WI through February and then going to graduate school to pursue master’s degrees in wind band conducting and bassoon performance.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

I am eternally grateful to all of the professors that I’ve had here at Lawrence for their guidance and for inspiring me to be better every day. Lawrence is a unique institution and I’m proud to call myself a Lawrence Alumnus!

Summer Coffeehouses

We’re into summer now, so it’s time for the library’s coffeehouse series. If you’re unfamiliar with the coffeehouses, they provide an opportunity to come to the library, enjoy a snack, and learn about resources and services available to help you with work or leisure interests. Coffeehouses will be held on the first floor of the library in the reference area. We’ll start promptly at 10:00, finish at 10:45. All staff and faculty are welcome to attend.

Visit our coffeehouse webpage for these details and more!

July 11 –Kickin’ It Old School: Reading Books in the Library

What is summer in a library without reading? Come hear about the library staff’s favorite summer reads. And please share yours with us!

Screenshot of Lux the Lawrence University Institutional Repository

July 2 5—Kickin’ It New School: Lawrence’s Digital Repository

This summer witnesses the official launch of Lux, a digital repository of scholarly and creative work produced by Lawrence students, staff, and faculty. Join us as Antoinette Powell, Erin Dix, and Colette Lunday Brautigam tell us about this new tool for ensuring the long-term access and preservation of the work of our vibrant academic community.

August 8— Hey, You, Get Onto My Cloud!

So you’ve heard people use this nebulous phrase “cloud computing,” but what does it mean? How can these “cloud” products and services help me with collaborative projects, in my teaching, or in my work life in general? Julie Fricke will lead us as we explore some of the latest in cloud computing and applications.

Main Hall and surrounding community, circa 1860

August 22 – Lawrence University in the History of Appleton

Since the founding of Lawrence and the growth of the city of Appleton in the mid-1800s, LU and Appleton have shared much history. Erin Dix will help us explore the intertwining of Lawrence and Appleton history over time, highlighting sources from our University Archives.

Refreshments, as always, will be provided. So come to the library and get a jolt of information along with your java. Reminders will be sent closer to the dates of the coffeehouse sessions, but mark your calendars — we hope to see you there.