It’s Hispanic Heritage Month and the library invites you to join us in celebrating and recognizing the legacy, contributions and experience of Hispanics in the U.S.
Baseball might be on your mind right now too. Certainly Hispanic baseball players have made a significant contribution to the sport. See an extensive online exhibit from the National Museum of American History called “¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues.”
From the exhibit website: “Baseball is the national pastime. But it’s also an American export, one with a tradition that’s constantly evolving. ¡Pleibol! shares the experiences of Latinas and Latinos whose love for the game and incredible talent have changed baseball and transformed American culture forever.
Throughout the last century, Latinas and Latinos have used baseball to chase their dreams, challenge prejudice, and build communities. Whether in the barrios or the big leagues, in rural backyards or barn-storming travel teams, they left a mark on how we see, hear, and play the game.”
This exhibit uses the terms Latinas and Latinos. You might have also seen the term Latinx for a gender-neutral alternative. Click to read an article from the Pew Research Center to help you understand “Who is Hispanic?”
From the article: “The terms ‘Hispanic’ and ‘Latino’ are pan-ethnic terms meant to describe – and summarize – the population of people living in the U.S. of that ethnic background…
Some have drawn sharp distinctions between these two terms, saying for example that Hispanics are people from Spain or from Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America (this excludes Brazil, where Portuguese is the official language), while Latinos are people from Latin America regardless of language (this includes Brazil but excludes Spain and Portugal).”
Stop in to the library to see a new exhibit of books on the theme of nurturing your interests while here at Castleton. You can learn about anything here at the library, including any interests or concerns you already have, or ones that develop while you’re here at Castleton.
You can also work on personal growth while here and come to better understand your mind or personality or any mental health or personal challenges you face. We have lots of books on topics like mindfulness, gender identity, procrastination, and more.
What parts of *YOU* will you develop while you’re here? What floats your boat? In other words, what piques your interest? What buds of a career or hobby are there in you? You can also peruse the books in this display online. If you have an interest that you’d like to explore that isn’t represented in this display, you can check the library catalog for books, or ask a librarian for help finding information.
Also, please understand that the books pulled out to display are there for the purpose of letting you know they exist and are ready to be checked out. Please check one out if it floats your boat!
The Library will be closed Monday, September 6th, in observance of Labor Day. Library staff will be off enjoying the waning days of summer, honored to be recognized as workers on this holiday.
Book display on the theme
Click below to see a list of books currently on display in the library on the theme.
“Observed the first Monday in September, Labor Day is an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers. The holiday is rooted in the late nineteenth century, when labor activists pushed for a federal holiday to recognize the many contributions workers have made to America’s strength, prosperity, and well-being.”
“History of Labor Day.” U.S. Department of Labor website https://www.dol.gov/general/laborday/history
History of Labor Day
“Although workers’ holidays had been observed since the days of the medieval trade guilds, laborers in the United States didn’t have a holiday of their own until 1882. This was the year when Peter J. McGuire, a New York City carpenter and labor union leader, and Matthew Maguire, a machinist from Paterson, N.J., suggested to the Central Labor Union of New York that a celebration be held in honor of the American worker. Some 10, 000 New Yorkers paraded in Union Square, New York, on September 5 of that year—a date specifically chosen by McGuire to fill the long gap between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving.
The first Labor Day observance was confined to New York City, but the idea of setting aside a day to honor workers spread quickly, and by 1895 Labor Day events were taking place across the nation. Oregon, in 1887, was the first state to make it a legal holiday, and in 1894 President Grover Cleveland signed a bill making it a national holiday. The holiday’s association with trade unions has declined, but it remains important as the day that marks the end of the summer season for schoolchildren and as an opportunity for friends and families to get together for picnics and sporting events.”
“The labor movement is a broad and ongoing effort to organize workers into unions in order to gain collective strength in negotiations with employers about wages and working conditions.”
“Labor Movement.” Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History, edited by Thomas Riggs, Gale, 2nd edition, 2015. Credo Reference, https://castleton.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galegue/labor_movement/0?institutionId=5016.
Helping students with their academic research and teaching them how to find, critically evaluate, and effectively use a variety of information resources is our main objective.
2. We provide access to a variety of wonderful library resources.
We hold more than 147,000 volumes and over 100 print subscriptions, and provide online access to the full text of over 41,000 periodicals. We also offer Interlibrary Loan (ILL) services! This means we can borrow materials from other libraries for you to use.
3. We can help you with your research.
Contact us or make an individual appointment to discuss your research needs.
4. We offer course reserves.
Your professors can place course materials (library books, personal books, DVDs, and copies of articles or readings) on reserve for student use in the library. Check with your professor or at the Circulation Desk!
5. We want your suggestions about resources.
While we can’t purchase every resource, we want to hear from you about your needs.
Continuing to highlight the topic of Mental Health Awareness we would like to introduce you to Ebony Stewart. She is a slam poet artist that tours internationally. In her work she illustrates her life experiences as a black woman. Spotlighting the topics of sexuality, race, gender and mental health. Ebony is also pursuing her license as a clinical therapist. She hopes people will relate to her poems and encourage dialog about these important subjects.
For the last week of #NationalPoetryMonth we would like to highlight the topic of mental health since we are approaching May which is #MentalHealthAwarnessMonth. The first poet We would like to present is Neil Hilborn. He is a College National Poetry Slam champion. He got his degree in creative writing at Macalester College and is also the co-founder of a Macalester literary magazine called Thistle. In a lot of his work, he illustrates what his life is like living with his mental illnesses. Neil became noticed online when a video of him at a poetry slam reciting his poem “OCD” became viral.
Watch this TEDTalk to hear Neil talk a little bit about his story and read his most famous poem:
Listen to Neil read his poem “You Can’t Be Depressed”:
Poet Laureate of the United States Joy Harjo, June 6, 2019. Harjo is the first Native American to serve as poet laureate and is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress. Note: Privacy and publicity rights for individuals depicted may apply.
Continuing our week of highlighting Indigenous poets this #NationalPoetryMonth, allow us to present Joy Harjo, the current U.S. Poet Laureate and the first Native American appointed to the role.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and belongs to the Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground). Her award-winning work includes nine books of poetry, two children’s books, two memoirs, and seven music albums. Her most recent book of poetry, American Sunrise, was published in 2019. Her Poet Laureate Project, entitled “Living Nations, Living Words,” is an interactive Story Map and a Library of Congress audio collection of work by Native American poets.
Learn more about Joy Harjo and her work on her website.
This week for #NationalPoetryMonth, we are exploring Indigenous poets. To start this week, we are acknowledging that our institutions are on the traditional territory of the Abenaki Nation.
Cheryl Savageau is an Abenaki and French poet. Cheryl’s poetry frequently retells Abenaki stories, and she also describes her bipolar disorder. Joseph Bruchac of the Abenaki Nation is a poet from the Adirondack region of New York; he is involved in environmental education and some of his poems, such as “Transplanting Trees” and “Sun Moves” reflect his interest in nature. Stay tuned for more Indigenous poets later this week!
Another Asian American poet that we would like to celebrate this week for #NationalPoetryMonth is Tina Chang. She is an editor, a professor and the first woman to be named Poet Laureate of Brooklyn. Tina earned her BA at Binghamton University, and MFA at Columbia University. She is currently the Director of Creative Writing at Binghamton. Tina is the author of three poetry collections: Hybrida (W. W. Norton, May 2019), Of Gods & Strangers (Four Way Books, 2011), and Half-Lit Houses (Four Way Books, 2004). If you would like to find more information about Tina Chang and her Poetry, check out her website.
Feel free to watch this video of her reading “My Father. A Tree.”
Tina Chang reads from “The Revolutionary Kiss,” a poem featured in her latest collection, Hybrida.
For more information, contact your library!
Photo “Janice Mirikitani” by Nancy Wong, CC BY-SA.
This week for #NationalPoetryMonth we are celebrating Asian American poets! With so many to choose from, a good place to start is with Janice Mirikitani and Marilyn Chin. Janice Mirikitani (1941–) was born in California. She was interned in a camp in Arkansas during World War II and uses poetry to advocate for women and poor people, as well as addressing war, institutional racism, and more. Marilyn Chin (1955–) was born in Hong Kong and raised in Portland. Not only does she write poetry, she also translates poems by Ai Qing, a modern Chinese poet, and co-translates poems by Gozo Yoshimasu, a Japanese poet.
Listen to Maya Angelou in “Try to Be a Rainbow in Somebody Else’s Cloud” for #NationalPoetryMonth. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was known for her rhythmic poetry and wrote poems such as “Still I Rise.” She was born in Missouri and lived in North Carolina at the time of her death. You can find many books, eBooks and other resources to learn more about Maya Angelou, her poetry, and autobiographies through the libraries at the Vermont State Colleges. If you want help locating more information about Maya Angelou, contact your library!
Good news for book lovers, especially for those of you who prefer reading in print: the library is now prepared for “curbside” lending! This means you can request to pick up items from our collection that are available to be checked out.
You can identify items you would like to check out in our online catalog and follow these steps to place a hold on those items. We will be in touch to confirm that the item(s) are available and the date and time of your pick-up. Pick-up will be at the loading dock area behind the library, so you can drive right up. We can place the item(s) directly in your car if you’d like.
Student, faculty, staff, and guest borrowers who already have a guest borrower card are in our system and we will look you up to check out the items to you. Community members who don’t already have a guest borrower card, can contact us at library@castleton.edu or (802) 468-1256 to become a guest borrower.
Students, faculty, and staff who would like to borrow an item we don’t have in our collection can fill out this form to make an interlibrary loan request.
What we ask of you:
Please refrain from curbside services if you or anyone in your household has symptoms of respiratory illness.
Masks must be worn during face-to-face delivery/return of items.
Books can be returned to our outdoor book return bin in front of the library.
The library building is still closed to the public but we are working on re-opening in mid-August.
If you have any questions please email library@castleton.edu or call the circulation desk at (802) 468-1256.
Your library staff strives continuously to provide the campus community with resources to support anti-racism work and learning. Resources are compiled and updated on the Race Matters: A Castleton Dialogue guide.
Maybe you miss inspiring conversations on campus, or maybe you would like to keep reading and thinking during the summer, along with others. Maybe you’d like a little more motivation to get to books you’ve been meaning to read. Well, one possible solution is to join a group of fellow Spartans in a discussion group on Goodreads.com. You can click the link below, join Goodreads and join the group, and add to discussion topics already started, or start new topics of your own.
About Goodreads
It’s useful for keeping lists of books you’ve read or want to read, learning about books, and connecting with other readers. It’s free to use. Advertising is minimal. You can use the website or the app. About Goodreads.com
In the app, click on More in the bottom right corner, click on Groups, then search for Castleton University Reads.
To access the group after you’ve joined On the website, click on Community at the top, then Groups. In the app, click on More (bottom right), then Groups.
Please consider joining! It’s a way to maintain connection to our Castleton community, and to encourage each other in our reading and thinking.
Sample discussion topics:
What are you reading now, how is it, and how did you decide to read it?
What are some of your favorite books ever?
For faculty and staff: What books are you reading this summer for professional development?
Is there a book you could point to as influential for you, that changed you in some way?
About privacy on Goodreads
You don’t have to designate any Goodreads friends or be active on Goodreads in any other way to be in the Castleton University Reads group. You can edit your Goodreads profile so the books in your lists, if you make any lists, are only visible to your Goodreads friends. About privacy on Goodreads.com
To check or change your settings, click on the little circle icon for you/your account in the far right of the top menu bar. Choose profile, then edit profile. You can choose to have your last name hidden to anyone but your Goodreads friends, like this:
Also in “edit profile,” under Settings, you can choose who can see your profile, like this:
Your library staff misses you! But, we are working remotely and are still “here” virtually to help you with your research needs or any questions you may have.
We are still available to help!
You can…
email reference@castleton.edu
call us at (802) 468-6409
use the chat feature from the library website or here 24/7
request interlibrary loans of journal articles and other materials we can send by email
Library books checked out
If you have materials borrowed from the library that are overdue or due soon, just let us know and we will renew them, including interlibrary loan items. You can hold onto them until we are open again. If you are in the area, you can put books (but not CDs or DVDs or other non-print media please) in the outdoor book return bin in front of the library. If you are not in the area, you can mail materials to this address:
We are no longer able to get physical items through interlibrary-loan for you, but we can still obtain digital materials for you. Use this link or the link to “Interlibrary Loan System” under Research Help on the library’s website to make a request.
Resources
And a large portion of our resources are online anyway! Please explore our website if you haven’t already to see what’s available to you.
Additional Resources
Ebooks
In addition to our regular resources, several publishers have been generous in allowing access to ebooks and additional content during this emergency. You can access thousands of additional ebooks now through our EBSCO ebook platform, for example. These ebooks will be searched and included in OneSearch for the rest of the semester.
Textbooks
Several textbook publishers have offered access to textbooks and other learning materials online for free for the rest of the semester.
Learn more about all of these free-for-now materials as well as open educational resources available to you on the library’s Teaching and Learning guide. Contact us through the channels above if you’d like us to see if a particular textbook is available.
Please stay safe and be in touch if we can help with anything, or if you just miss your Castleton people. We are thinking of you!
Projections of peak cases in each state, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research center at the University of Washington. See a projected curve of coronavirus cases and deaths, assuming social distancing.
