Banned Book Week 2009: Read, Speak, Know

Banned Book Week:

Every year, libraries celebrate Banned Book Week. It is a time to celebrate the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Sponsored and organized by the American Library Association (ALA), Banned Book Week is central to libraries and their belief in intellectual freedom - where patrons can access any type (unorthodox or mainstream) information freely and without censorship. At Hewes Library, we currently have titles on display in the East Lobby display cases that have been the subjects of attempted bannings across the United States.

Challenge VS. Banning:

According to parameters set in place by the American Library Association, challenges and bannings are defined as:

"A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the
objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those
materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of
view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or
library, thereby restricting the access of others." (Definition from ALA.)

More information on Banned and Challenged Books:

• ALA's Banned Book Week
• ALA's lists of Frequently Challenged Books
• The Hewes Library Banned Book Week 2009

Graphics complimentary from the American Library Association.

James Christie Shields '49

It is with sadness that we report that James Christie Shields, namesake of the James Christie Shields Collection of Art and Antiquities at Monmouth College, has passed away. Shields, 83, died on September 20, 2009, at Riddle Hospital in Media, Pennsylvania.

He earned his B.S. from Monmouth College in 1949, after serving as a hospital corpsman with the U.S. Marine Third Division in the Pacific Theater in World War II. He went on to teach at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, and in the English Department of Collegiate School in New York City. In 1988, he returned to Monmouth College where he was conferred with the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters for his distinguished career as a teacher.

After his retirement, he spent his time studying and writing in the field of Egyptology. The James Christie Shields Collection of Art and Artiquities is currently house in Hewes Library. Mary Phillips, Curator of College Art Collections, mangages the collection and rotates exhibits in Gallery 203, which is located on the Upper Level.

Research Tip: Found the perfect article, but can’t find the full-text anywhere?

Sometimes a search in a database like Academic Search Premier, shows you an article that looks like it would be perfect for your research only the complete article is not found in the database. If this happens to you, check out the Journals: A to Z List on the library’s home page. Type in the title of the journal into the search box and if the title is held in any format (electronic, print, microfiche or microfilm) the location of the information will be shown.

Still can’t find it? If the title is not found, don’t despair! You can still request the article by filling out an Article Request Form (also available at the Reference Desk). The InterLibrary Loan Staff will find a library that has the journal and request them to send a copy to Monmouth for you. Please be sure to fill in as much information as possible on the request and you will be notified by the library when the article has arrived. This process can take a week to 10 days, so do your research early!

*Databases and Interlibrary Loan Services are available to students, faculty, and staff at Monmouth College.

A Healthy Fall at Hewes Library

Along with the rest of Monmouth College, Hewes Library is preparing for a healthy fall. Hand sanitizers have been placed at the Reference and Circulation desks for all patrons. Additional wall unit sanitizers have been added to the building by the maintenance staff. They can be found on the Main Level next to the Oversize Collection and on the Lower Level in the Dahl Computer Lab. Kleenex is also available at the Reference and Circulation desk.

More information on the Monmouth College's campus committment to a healthly fall can be found online. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has also established Flu.gov to provide credibile and up to date information.

New Items at Hewes Library

New items are added to the Hewes Library collection on a continual basis. Each week a selection of new items are displayed in the new book display case. The new book display case is located on the main level of Hewes Library next to the ScotsRead collection.

Recent titles have included:

• Michael & Me by Maiden Voyage Productions
• Why Poetry Matters by Jay Parini
• Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
• Reforming Women's Fashion 1850-1920 by Patricia A. Cunningham
• Baseball by Geoffrey C. Ward & Ken Burns
• Ghost Road by Pat Barker
• Abraham Lincoln's Political Faith by Joseph R. Fornieri
• Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life & Beyond by Axel Bruns
• Leadership Ethics by Terry L. Price
• New York Yankees by Phil Pepe
• Native Soil by Eric W. Mogren
• Sister Societies by Beth A. Salerno
• An Honest Calling by Mar E. Steiner

All new items in the New Book Display case can be found in the Hewes Library catalog and are subject to normal circulation procedures for their respective collections. For more information on collection circulation policies, please visit the Hewes Library home page.

Art & Artifacts: Our Cup Runneth Over by John Clayson Snook

My Cup Runneth Over (1942) by John Clayson Snook

Location: Large mural in the Hewes Library central stairwell

My Cup Runneth Over was donated to Monmouth College by the artist in 1942. The mural was originally installed on campus in the old Carnegie Library building. In 1990, the old library building was renovated and renamed Poling Hall. The mural was removed and placed in storage and subsequently “re-discovered,” restored, and hung in Hewes Library ten years later.

The artist’s wife, Katharine Marie Ramsey, was a 1935 graduate of Monmouth College. The church in the background depicts the Presbyterian Seminary in Oxford, OH that was later to become Monmouth College. 

Research Tip: Wondering where to find a journal article on your topic?

The library has several resources you can use to find articles on your topic of interest. If you need current information both EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier (ASP) and LexisNexis Academic contain thousands of articles from journals, newspapers and other sources. ASP allows you to search for your subject and limit the results to return a list of articles for which the full-text is available or to limit your search to peer-reviewed (academic) journals. LexisNexis allows you to search many newspapers in English and other languages as well as blogs and web publications.

If you are doing historical research on a topic, JSTOR is a good place to start. This is a database containing the complete text of many academic journals in both the humanities and the sciences. Most of the articles are pre-2004, with some going back into the 19th century. All of these databases* can be accessed from the library’s home page.

*Databases are available to students, faculty, and staff at Monmouth College.

On Display: Books for Understanding Contemporary Japan

The Nippon Foundation has created a grant for cultural institutions to share information and understanging of Contemporary Japan. Hewes Library at Monmouth College was selected as one of 300 institutions to be included in the grant from the Nippon Foundation. Hewes Library has received 100 titles relating to Japan and business, media, government, culture, and more.


David Tharp from The Nippon Foundation wrote the following about the program:

"In the first phase of the program, sets of 100 books will be donated to 300 key libraries, universities, and institutions across North America. Most of the
books have been published recently, but some older classics were also included to give a better appreciation of the historical background of the nation.

This first collection is just the first phase. Some of the best books about Japan are not currently available in English translation, and some are out of print. In the next phase of this ambitious educational project, a second wave of books will be translated into English, and publishers will be asked to reprint other books. A complete catalog listing the 100 books, with an accompanying summary of each book is now available, and is accessible at the bottom of this page. The books include such topics as Japanese foreign policy, the Japanese company, 21st century Japanese management, the psychology of Japanese society, anime, contemporary Japanese films, Japanese women writers, the making of modern Japan, the Tokyo war crimes trial, and post-war Japanese history."

Currently, a selection of the donated books are on display in the East Lobby display cases. All books have been added to the Hewes Library Circulating Collection and are available for checkout.