Patron Driven Acquisitions in the Lewis Library

For years libraries have acquired print and nonprint materials for their collections with a strong hope that people will one day remove them from the shelf and check them out.  The end result is too often a philosophy of “buy it and, hopefully, they will come!”  The Lewis Library is turning all of that upside down.  Although we continue to buy print materials, in many cases we are now selecting e-books over print material.   It is evident from the statistics we gather that e-books are witnessing tremendous growth in usage.

The Lewis Library is embarking on an exciting new chapter regarding acquisitions.  This past week we loaded nearly 5,000 new Ebrary e-book titles to our catalog.  Over the next few weeks students and faculty accessing the library’s catalog should notice a marked increase in the number of titles available for their particular area of interest.

We are instigating a patron driven acquisitions (PDA) system whereby librarians identify appropriate publishers and e-book titles for the various disciplines, but the purchase of those materials is postponed until they are actually used.  Titles added for the Ebrary patron driven acquisitions or short term loan program will be available for the library user to browse the contents or index as much as they like without the library incurring a charge.  However, when a particular Ebrary title’s actual text is viewed for more than 10 minutes a short term loan (ONE WEEK) will be triggered.   The library will be charged a very nominal fee for a short term loan.  A second short term loan of that title will automatically result in a purchase and the library’s Ebrary account will be charged for the purchase.

The patron driven acquisition system allows us to offer LaGrange College students and faculty significantly more resources without paying for them until they are actually used.  We now have a system that allows students and faculty to choose what the library purchases and so our collection grows more in the direction of what our users want.

**Authored by Loren Pinkerman

Civility

"Civility costs nothing and buys everything"

-- Mary Wortley Montagu Letter to her Daughter

We so often hear the word, civility, but don't always know what all it entails. There are many synonyms for civility; to name a few: Courtesy, Politeness, Respect, Consideration, Good Manners, and Listening.

In celebration of the college's campus-wide reading theme, Civility, a collection of material dealing with this subject is on display at Lewis Library. Listed below are some books and DVD's from the  collection. These will help in understanding the importance of Civility and how it impacts our surroundings everyday.

Books:
Civility: Manners, Morals and the Etiquette of Democracy--Steven L. Carter
In Search of Civility: Confronting Incivility on the College Campus--Kent M. Weeks
Saving Civility: 52 ways to Tame Rude, Crude, & Attitude for a Polite Planet--Sara Hacala
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community--Robert D. Putnam
The Little Prince--Antione De Saint-Exupery
A world Waiting to be Born: Civility Rediscovered--M. Scott Peck, M. D.

DVD's:

Stand and Deliver

Philadelphia

Pay it Forward

12 Angry Men

The Power of Forgiveness

Rain Man

To Kill a Mockingbird

A Beautiful Mind

 There is a really interesting Civility Creed that can be found online:

In all of my daily intereactions I pledge to do my best to:

View everyone in positive terms

Work on building common language

Build strong relationships of trust

Remember our shared humanity

Value both the process and the resluts

Look both inside and outside for guidance.

--National Civility Center www.civilitycenter.org

**This post authored by Lisa Farrow

National History Day Mentoring Program

LaGrange College has co-hosted the West Georgia Regional National History Day competition for decades.  In recent years, however, we have become increasingly aware and sensitive to the pressures and demands placed upon teachers and students which restrict the amount of time and energy available to engage in deep, meaningful historical learning.  Our desire to help coalesced around National History Day (NHD).  We decided, during the 2008-2009 academic year to develop what is now called the National History Day Mentoring Program.  The program is multi-faceted and includes: teacher workshops, student workshops, research support and assistance, an electronic query service (nhdhistory@lagrange.edu) and a discussion forum through Facebook .  Beginning in the 2012-2013, we are partnering with the Georgia Humanities Council to offer educational outreach and NHD support service to the entire state of Georgia.

National History Day students study the past in an active and dynamic way, developing skills that apply to all facets of their lives.  They learn the value of deep and critical reading.  Students analyze evidence, interpret data, draw conclusions and communicate them via written and oral means.  It is a true learning experience:  students learn, students experience, students grow and students achieve in ways even they thought unimaginable.

This year's NHD at LaGrange College brought educators from around the state together to learn more about how their schools can participate in National History Day competitions. Attendees listened to presentations, watched award-winning videos, and participated in Q&A sessions with past judges and veteran History Day participants. The conference was broadcast live and uploaded to Ustream. It can be viewed by clicking HERE.

Want to know more about National History Day? Visit these websites for information:

National History Day

LaGrange College's National History Day Workshop

** This post was authored by Joe Marciniak.

Hilltop News visits Suber Archives

In early September, at the behest of editor-in-chief Steven Porello, the entire staff of the “Hilltop News” visited Suber Archives and Special Collections.  Intrigued by his initial visit to the Archives in late May of this year, Steven wanted his staff to discover the history and tradition which undergirds this long standing student publication.  During their visit the students examined the first issue of the “Hilltop News” published on November 20, 1958 and learned about former staff writers and earlier publications.  Their questions were rapid fire, their interest keen and their enthusiasm palpable.  Be sure to read Leah Foster’s article chronicling this experience in the latest issue of “The Hilltop News” – www.thehilltopnews.org, vol. 2.2 . 



From left to right members of the HTN staff visiting Suber Archives were:  Alex Rodriguez, Nicole Cato, Kelly Moates, Tressea Stovall, Steven Porrello, Sarah Gordon, Angela Hutchins, Patrick Walker, Leah Foster, Jimmy Weller, Megan McDonald, Adam Carpenter.  Present but not pictured was faculty advisor, Dr. Justin Thurman.

 

The “Hill-Top News” began when an energetic group of students, surely not unlike the ones pictured above, decided on the very first day of the 1958-1959 academic year that the campus was in need of a newspaper.  With solid backing from the Student Council, President Waights G. Henry and the advisory council, work began in earnest to secure funding for the paper.  Limited funding was provided by the Student Government Association, the Women’s Athletic Association and the Student Christian Association.  The most substantial support was to come from advertising by local merchants.   Throughout the history of this publication the format has undergone numerous changes.  The most dramatic change occurred last spring when the HTN became online publication.  The staff also elected to produce one hard copy special edition each semester.   The retrospective collection is preserved here in Suber Archives.

While the “Hilltop News” is LaGrange College’s most continuously published student newspaper, it is not the first.  “The [LaGrange College] Scroll” was initially produced as a newspaper in January of 1922.  The publication declared, “This paper is designed to be a medium through which the best thought of the student body may find expression, and to serve as a bond of union between the College and former students and alumnae.”  In the fall of 1933 “The Scroll” became a literary magazine.  Our collection of this early newspaper includes a fascinating special edition providing news of LaGrange College’s centennial celebration in October of 1931 as well as interviews with alumnae.

Visit the Archives to discover for yourself the collection of rich resources which preserve the history of LaGrange College.  Generous and often unexpected donations insure that the collection continues to expand.  Displays on the main floor of Lewis Library and just outside Suber Archives on the ground floor of the Library provide a sampling of our holdings.  Let us know if we can be of assistance. 

Suber Archives and Special Collections

Frank and Laura Lewis Library

LaGrange College

LaGrange, Georgia

Hours:

Monday – Thursday, 8:30am until 5:00pm

Friday, 8:30am until 12:30pm

Contacts:

Patricia Barrett,  pbarrett@lagrange.edu

Jacqueline Hornsby,  jhornsby@lagrange.edu

706-880-8995    

**This post was authored by Jacqueline Hornsby.

An Introduction to Over the Rhine...

"...I think it is safe to say that while the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted. The Southerner, who isn't convinced of it, is very much afraid that he may have been formed in the image and likeness of God. Ghosts can be very fierce and instructive. They cast strange shadows, particularly in our literature..."

- Flannery O'Connor

“We grew up with the musical mingling common to many of us who were raised in "the church." There were the old hymns that seeped into our souls via our mothers' milk, and then there was the allure of the music we were finding on our radio dials and on our friends' records. In small town America, many of us do grow up in a surreal musical world where Elvis is King, Jesus is Lord.

          The records we ended up making document in part our attempts to unravel the tangle of religion we inherited. It's unsettling when someone named Jesus keeps turning up in unexpected places on a double album, but we're by no means the first songwriters to be Christ-haunted.”

- Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler

          “Over the Rhine’s music is personal, reflecting several distinct concerns that make it hard to classify. All of it is subtle, dreamy, and low key. The closest comparison would be to Canada's Cowboy Junkies, with whom Over the Rhine toured for a while as "honorary members." "Folk-pop" and "alt-country" have been proposed as labels, and each is fine as far as it goes, but neither captures the role of Detweiler's piano, which can sketch sweeping rock landscapes or settle into cocktail-lounge shadows by turns. Their complex, rather literary lyric style is their own, often centered lately on quirky take-offs on romantic songs of the jazzy sort, songs about war and the violence that has infused itself into modern life, and spiritual essays — Over the Rhine has had a glancing relationship with the Christian music scene but has tended toward an unaffiliated desire for a better world and toward the fellowship found in hoping for it.”

- James M. Manheim

          Now that you know what others are saying about Over the Rhine, check out the album releases below and discover for yourself why this particular library staff member so highly regards the recordings of this remarkable husband and wife duo!

          And, yes, the Lewis Library has these ready for you to check out:


Ohio

CD M2198 .O944 O69 2003



Drunkard’s Prayer

CD  M2198 .O944 D86 2005



The Trumpet Child

CD M2198 .O944 T91 2007



** This post was authored by David Wiggins.