Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Title Highlight: Encyclopedia of Women’s History in America

Encyclopedia of Women’s History in America

1 volume
Appendix: Documents
Bibliography
Index

This small encyclopedia gives short introductions to some of the many roles women have played throughout American history. Its focus is on political history and it contains articles on women’s organizations, books and newspapers published by women, speeches given, demonstrations, conventions, and legal opinions concerning issues of interest to women. It also has short biographies of some notable women, but is more of a history of the women’s movement than a collection of biographies. References for further reading are given after each article. The documents section includes the text of the constitution, some laws relating to the status of women in different states and various legal decisions impacting on everything from a 10 hour work day to sexual harassment in the workplace.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

New ScotsRead Titles

Several new ScotsRead titles have recently arrived!  The ScotsRead Collection of bestsellers and popular books is located on the main floor, next to the new books display.


A few of the recent arrivals are:
  • The Linen Queen by Patricia Falvey
  • Sing You Home: A Novel by Jodi Picoult
  • Operation Family Secrets: How a mobster's son and the FBI brought down Chicago's muderous crime family by Frank Calabrese Jr.
  • The Money Class: Learn to Create your new American Dream by Suze Orman
  • The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman who risked everything to keep them safe by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Title Highlight: Encyclopedia of Women in the Ancient World

Encyclopedia of Women in the Ancient World

1 volume: Illustrations, maps, List of entries by Category, Genealogical charts, Index

This encyclopedia tells the stories of around 150 of the ancient world’s most famous women. The entries cover them and their activities in the ancient Western world ranging from Mesopotamia to Britain including Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia and early Jewish and Christian communities. In addition to real women, the book tells the stories of some of mythologies most famous women (ex. Cassandra, Pandora, Penelope) and goddesses (ex. Artemis, Venus, Hera). The entries are easy to read and very entertaining with references for further reading at the end of each article.

The book contains an interesting mix of women including both Saints (Agnes, Mary Magdelene, Martha) and sinners (Cleopatra, Messalina), poets, scholars and philosophers (Sappho, Hypatia, Hipparchia), rulers (Hatshepsut, Helena) and warriors (Boudicca). The genealogical charts show the relationships within several well-known ancient families, the Herodian family of ancient Palestine, the Roman families of Augustus, Theodosius and the Julio-Claudians. The maps display the regions and cities referred to in many of the encyclopedia’s entries.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Senior Art Exhibition: Three Women, One Show

On Sunday, March 27 join three on Monmouth College's seniors as they open Three Women, One Show.  The show will feature Heather Fantetti, Karisa Doane, and Caitlin Mehta.  The opening reception will take place from 1-3pm in Gallery 204, located on the Upper Level of Hewes Library.


Stop by to take a look at the show!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Popular Magazines!

Stress of the semester getting to you?  Take a break and stop by the Popular Periodicals section for some quick, light reading.  The Popular Magazines Collection is located across from Einstein Brothers Bagels.  Current issues are displayed on the front of the shelf, and you can lift the shelf up for back issues of the title that you are interested in.


Some of the titles include:
  • Brides
  • Entertainment Weekly
  • Game Informer
  • Glamour
  • People
  • Popular Mechanics
  • Vogue
  • Women’s Health
  • Better Homes & Gardens
  • Frommer’s Budget Travel
  • Outdoor Life
  • Men’s Health
  • Wired

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

On Display: Weather

Currently on display is a collection of library materials relating to weather and its history.  Many of the documents come from Hewes Library's Government Documents Collection.  A few government publications highlight, NOAA - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is responsible for many of our daily weather updates and hazardous weather warnings.
If you are interested in any of the titles on display, please see a library staff member at the Ciruclation Desk to check the item out.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Title Highlight: Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball

Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball

1 volume: Photos
Appendices: AAGPBL Rosters, AAGPBL teams, league champions and batting champions, Other Rosters, Women’s World Series Results, Women’s World Series Rosters, World Cup Rosters 2004, Tournament Results
Bibliography
Index

As Spring Training gets into full swing, it is time to think baseball. This book gives a unique perspective on the game as it details the history and personalities of women who were involved in the game both as players and owners. Women have been involved in playing baseball (not softball) since at least 1866 when Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY fielded a women’s team. From 1943 until 1954 there was a woman’s professional league, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) which fielded teams in places like Peoria, Rockford, and Springfield. In the mid-1990’s a women’s barnstorming team, the Colorado Silver Bullets toured the country playing against men’s major and minor league teams. Details of these teams and other incidents in the history of women’s baseball along with biographies and photographs of players are found in the main text of the book. The many appendices give the team rosters and a few statistics.

Unlike many books, the authors of this book consider it a work in progress as the records and information on women’s participation in baseball are nowhere near as complete as that existing for the men’s game. The bibliography is organized by player and team with lists of further resources. This book gives a good introduction and background on a little known sidelight of America’s pastime.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

On Display: Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes

Currently on display in the east entrance display cases is a collection of materials related to nursery rhymes and Mother Goose.  The case contains materials from the general circulating collection, the children's collection, and the Cirriculum Lab collection.
If you are interested in checking out any of the titles on display, please see a staff member at the library's Circulation Desk.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Title Highlight: Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights

Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights

1 volume: Photos, illustrations, Chronology, Selected Bibliography, Index

This one volume book is a good introduction to the people, agencies, organizations, court cases, and events involved in the Civil Rights movement. A wide range of topics are covered from African American organizations like the NAACP, the Knights of Pythias and the Universal Negro Improvement Association; to legal cases like Brown vs. the Board of Education and others; to events like the race riots in East St. Louis, (1915), Detroit (1943 and 1967) and Los Angeles (Watts 1965). Each article is short, but has a bibliography of further reading at the end for further research. The chronology found at the back begins in 1861 with the establishment of a school for blacks at Fort Monroe, Virginia and traces people and activities related to the Civil Rights movement up until 1990.

Monday, March 14, 2011

New Items at Hewes Library

New items are added to the Hewes Library Collection on a continual basis. Recent titles have included:

  • Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court by Amy Bach
  • Founding Fathers Reconsidered by Richard B. Bernstein
  • Chemobrain: How Cancer Therapies Can Affect Your Mind by Ellen Clegg
  • Short History of Celebrity by Fred Inglis
  • Comedy of Charlie Chaplin by Dan Kamin
  • Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel
  • Whale Man by Alan Michael Parker
  • God's Almost Chosen Peoples by George C. Rable
  • Rebels for the Soul by Matthew Reed
  • Inside: Life Behind Bars in America by Michael G. Santos

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Return to Regular Hours

Hopefully everyone is returning to campus rested after Spring Break!  Hewes Library will be open tonight from 6pm until midnight, and we return to regular hours tomorrow morning, Monday, March 14.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Title Highlight: Black Women in America: an Historical Encyclopedia

Black Women in America: an Historical Encyclopedia

2 volumes: Photos, Contents listed by Topic (v. I), Abbreviations (v.I)
Black women in the United States: A Chronology (v.II)
Bibliography of Basic Resources (v. II)
Classified List of Biographical Entries (v. II)
Index (v. II)

This two volume set primarily consists of short biographies of notable African American women, some famous (Harriet Tubman, Zora Neale Hurston) and some infamous (Tituba, cause of the Salem witch trials and Margaret Garner whose story inspired the book Beloved) . However, it also contains entries on other topics such as the Abolition Movement, Domestic Workers, the Harlem Renaissance, the National Association of Colored Women, Black women’s colleges, African American sororities and other topics. A complete listing of the non-biographical topics is found at the beginning of the first volume under “Contents listed by Topic”. There are short bibliographies of further resources at the end of each entry and the bibliography of basic resources at the end of volume II gives an annotated listing of further research resources as well as a listing of the places where the papers of some famous women can be found. This set is a good place to begin research and to find further sources of information on notable African American women and related topics.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Art @ Hewes!

Several different art exhibits are currently taking place at Hewes Library:
  • Gil Stengel and Yuki Muroe have an exhibit of cermanics on display in the Len G. Everett Gallery in Hewes Library through March 18.  The Gallery is located on the Upper Level of Hewes Library and is open the same hours the library is open.  A closing reception will be held on Friday, March 18 from 2 - 4pm in the gallery.  The reception and exhibit are open to the public.
  • Located just next door the Stengel & Muroe exhibit, the James Christie Shields Collection of Art and Antiquities is currently displaying Persian Illuminations and artwork from India.
  • Finally, the third annual Off-Campus Study Photo Contest sponsored by the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) has been put on display in the librayr through March 23. The photos are a collection representing the travel abroad activities that students of the ACM colleges experienced while abroad.  Monmouth College's Ben Morrow photograph of a street scene in Pune, India, received an honorable mention and is included in the exhibit.  The display is located on the main floor of the library across from the Einstein Bros. Bagels.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Spring Break 2011

Hewes Library will be on break hours starting Friday, March 4, for Spring Break at Monmouth College.  The library will be closed on evenings and weekends.  Hewes Library will return to regular hours on Monday, March 14.

  • Friday, March 4: 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
  • Saturday - Sunday, March 5 - 6: Closed
  • Monday - Friday, March 7 - 11: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
  • Saturday, March 12: Closed
  • Sunday, March 13: 6:00 p.m. - Midnight

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Title Highlight: Encyclopedia of Jazz

Encyclopedia of Jazz

1 vol.: Chronology, Photos, Illustrations, snippets of scores

This book is a good introduction to that most American form of music, jazz. It contains a surprising amount of material in one volume. There are traditional encyclopedia A-Z entries in the biographical section of the book, but there is much more. The first entries in the book are comments on jazz written by jazz greats Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and producer John Hammond. There is also an historical survey of jazz from 1900 until 1960, an “anatomy of Jazz” section that describes the musical structures found in the genre, a listing of the “giants of jazz” arranged by instrument, the reach of jazz outside of the United States and several other topics. For further information (and listening) it also has recommended jazz records broken down by category. There are numerous photos of famous musicians as well as parts of scores illustrating different jazz forms. If you are interested in finding out more information on jazz, this book would be a great place to start.