USF Polytechnic Library

Our Read Aloud event is taking place today, first from 11:30AM to 1:00PM and again from 4:30PM to 6:00PM. This will take place on the LTB terrace, just outside the Library/Open Use Lab. You can read the press release about the event here.

During Banned Books Week, Amnesty International USA pays special attention to the plight of individuals who are persecuted because of the writings that they produce, circulate or read. Six cases from around the world have been selected for this action. Between 1990 and 2007, 51 men and women whose cases have been highlighted during Banned Books Week have been released.

There are still a few spots available for readers in our Banned Books Week Read Aloud event on Thursday, October 2. Contact Catherine Lavallée-Welch (clw@poly.usf.edu) to reserve yours.

The USF Polytechnic Library invites you to celebrate the freedom to read by participating in a READ ALOUD event during Banned Books Week, from September 27 to October 4, 2008.

What: Read from a challenged or banned book for a 15 minutes period. There is no microphone, no sitting audience – you read from a passage of your choice from a book of your choice in a normal voice to passers-by. Anyone can read: students, staff or faculty members.

When: Thursday October 2nd from 11:30 AM to 1 PM and from 4:30 PM to 6 PM

Where: On the LTB terrace, outside the USFP Library/Open Use Lab

Why: Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

How: Sign up with the librarian, Catherine Lavallée-Welch (clw@poly.usf.edu), with your preferred time and title (if possible, readers should bring their own books since the Library has a limited selection. Please see the list of the 100 most challenged or banned books from 2000 to 2007 and the 2007-2008 list of challenged or banned books for title ideas.) We’ll do our best to accommodate your preferred time.

Don’t want to read out loud? Come to the Library to check out the displays and pick up a handout.

Find more information about Banned Books Week and the freedom to read on the American Library Association website.

UPDATE: I corrected the URL for the Banned Books Week webpages.

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the USFP Library prepare a list of resources relevant to the theme. It can be found at the Library or at this address: http://catherin.blog.usf.edu/2008-hispanic-heritage-month-library-resources/

The USF Poly Library will be closed on Monday, September 1, 2008 in observance of Labor Day. To note, the Open Use Lab will be closed as well.

Have a good holiday week-end!

Welcome back! (and for the new USF Poly students, welcome!)

The Library has new resources to start the new academic year: some 10 000 e-books have been added to our collections, as well as multiple databases, especially for business and arts & sciences.

I’m sure you have noticed the new website as well (http://www.poly.usf.edu/Offices/Library.xml for those of you reading this through the feed). All your favorite links are still there (Search the catalog, Search the databases, Connect Remotely, etc.) and you will find new pages with information on plagiarism and copyright, for example. Please note that the online forms are not functional right now but they are being worked on and they will be available again real soon. We have print versions of some of the forms at the Front Desk if need be.

Catalog-wise, two changes: the USF Sarasota/Manatee collections are now integrated in the USF catalog, no need to do a separate search. As well, we are still running the beta of the USF version of WorldCat Local. This is a new generation of catalog with a lot of Web 2.0 applications. Try it and let us know what you think.

We would also like to point out the new scanner in the Open Use Lab, attached to a multimedia workstation. Software for ADA access has also been installed on specific workstations as well.

Have a great year, and please remember that we are here to help!

UPDATE: All online forms but one are now operational. The still missing form is for faculty to request an A/V item to be shown in class.

At approximatively 11:30 AM, power was restored to LTB. The Library is now open, as well as the Open Use Lab.

Again, our apologies for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

This morning, due to the power outage, the Library (and the Open Use Lab) are closed until further notice.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

The USF email server is currently down. If you have sent an email to the Library last evening or this morning, please be patient. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

The winners of the second edition of the Florida Book Awards have been announced. A Awards banquet will take place at the Florida Library Association’s Annual Conference in April.

Non-Fiction:

• Gold: Cynthia Barnett, Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S
  (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press)
• Silver: Bruce Hunt, Florida Then & Now (Boulder: Westcliffe)
• Bronze: Sudye Cauthen, Southern Comforts: Rooted in a Florida Place
  (Athens: University of Georgia Press)
  Elna Green, Looking for the New Deal (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press)

General Fiction:

• Gold: Enid Shomer, Tourist Season (New York: Random House)
• Silver: Leonard Nash, You Can’t Get There from Here (Crawfordville, Kitsune)
• Bronze: Diana Abu-Jaber, Origin (New York: Norton)
  Uthaya Kumar, Ticket to the Moon (Miami: Bouncing Ball Books)

Poetry:

• Gold: David Kirby, House on Boulevard Street (Baton Rouge: LSU Press)
• Silver: Reginald Shepherd, Fata Morgana (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press)
• Bronze: Julianna Baggott, Compulsions of Silkworms and Bees (Warrensburg, OH: Pleiades Press)

Young Adult:

• Gold: Tracy A. Akers, The Search for the Unnamed One (Tampa: Aisling Press)
• Silver: Edward Bloor, Taken (New York: Random House)
• Bronze: Crissa-Jean Chappell, Total Constant Order (New York: HarperTeen)

Children’s:

• Gold: Adrian Fogelin, The Sorta Sisters (Atlanta: Peachtree)
• Silver: N.E. Bode, The Slippery Map (New York: Harper Collins)
• Bronze: Ruth Vander Zee, Eli Remembers (Grand Rapids: Eerdman’s Books for Young Readers)

Popular Fiction:

• Gold: Thomas B. Cavanagh, Head Games New York: St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• Silver: James W. Hall, Magic City (New York: St. Martin’s Minotaur)
• Bronze: Mary Anna Evans, Effigies (Scottsdale: Poisoned Pen Press)
  Bob Morris, Bermuda Schwartz (New York: St. Martin’s Minotaur)
  Rhonda Pollero, Knock Off (New York: Kensington Books)

Spanish-Language:

• Gold: Germán Guerra, Libro de Silencio (Los Angeles: Ediciones EntreRios)
• Silver: Ariel González, Samuel Maximo y Niketon (Buenos Aires: Libros en Red)