Holocaust Remembrance Day

Tomorrow is Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is a large subject to wrap your mind around. Some say a prayer, some light candles, why not read? If general history is not one of your interests, try remembrances from The Netherlands, including those of Anne Frank. We also have Richard Lourie's book "A Hatred for Tulips" which is a work of fiction narrated by the person who turned the Frank family in to the Nazis. There are many ways to honor and remember.

Connection: Exam Week

It's Exam Week and an excellent time to find a favorite spot in the library where you may (or may not) find yourself among the 40% of college students who believe finals are more stressful than a first date, according to a 2007 survey. 44% of surveyed students admit to being last-minute crammers but they know just who they'd study with, given the chance. Women most frequently named Oprah as their top choice for a study partner while men picked Stephen Colbert. While we can't promise their appearance here, we can assure you of quiet or conversation, depending on the floor you pick, as well as coffee, a comfortable chair, and lots of time to prepare. Good luck!

Theology and Earth Day

Our collection contains many readings on the relationship between religious faith and responsibility for the environment. Interested in ecotheology or a greener faith? Do you wonder "Is God Green?" Keep the momentum of earth day going by taking time to read about this important topic.

Connection: Earth Day

Tuesday is Earth Day, first commemorated on April 22, 1970. The library's archival access to digitized images of The New York Times means that we can easily see the newspaper's coverage of Earth Day that first year. Under the headline Millions Join Earth Day Observances Across the Nation appeared this article summarizing events across the United States. An editorial, "The Good Earth" appeared on the same date, as did several other news stories. For more information on searching the archives of The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and The Times (London), contact the Reference Desk.

Van Wylen Library is Twenty

April marks Van Wylen Library’s twentieth anniversary. The dedication of Van Wylen Library on April 21, 1988 was celebrated with a convocation in Dimnent Chapel, a luncheon in Phelps Hall, and a renaissance fair in front of Van Wylen and Van Zoeren. Classes were cancelled to emphasize the importance of dedicating a new library. In his dedication address, John Hope Franklin referred to the Van Wylen Library as “a stately mansion of learning,” urging those who would use it to “do so with the objective not merely to learn, noble as that is, but also for the purpose of using knowledge to improve the world in which we live.” Dr. Franklin concluded by saying “My great hope is that this facility will inspire all who use it to build their own stately mansions of learning.”

At the dedication luncheon, Max De Pree, Chairman of the Board of Trustees in 1988, noted that the renaissance fair demonstrated the intention that the new library would “signal a renaissance of learning and scholarship in Hope College.” The record of undergraduate research and faculty publication over the past twenty years attest to a continuing renaissance of learning and scholarship at Hope.

The college will observe the twentieth anniversary of the Van Wylen Library dedication with a reception on the first floor of the library on Monday, April 21, 2008 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Refreshments and music will be provided. A short program will begin at 2:30. All students, faculty and staff are invited to attend.

Connection: Karen Joy Fowler Closes 2007-2008 Visiting Writers Series

Novelist and short story writer Karen Joy Fowler will close this year's Jack Ridl Visting Writers Series on Wednesday. The Seattle Times interviewed Fowler during her 2007 visit to the area. When asked about the setting of her debut novel Sarah Canary in the Puget Sound region, Fowler provided insights into the research that is often necessary before one is prepared to write. You'll find Sarah Canary, and other works by Karen Joy Fowler, shelved adjacent to the Reference Desk on the first floor of Van Wylen Library. Works by all of this year's visiting writers are there, too. We hope you'll take a moment to browse the selection and borrow as you wish.

The Pulitzer Prize

The winners of the Pulitzer Prize were announced this week, and I am happy to say that you can find most of these titles in the college libraries. We have the winners for fiction, biography, general non-fiction, and poetry. We have additional works by the winners for drama and poetry and many items by and about Bob Dylan who was awarded a special citation. Modern technology has made it very easy to read the journalism winners from your computer. Find the newspaper on our journals list and follow the link to an online version of the paper where you can search for the writer's name. Spend your valuable reading time on the good stuff.

Connection: Disability Awareness Week

This is Disability Awareness Week at Hope College. Numerous events are planned, including a wheelchair basketball game between members of Hope's men's basketball team and the Grand Rapids Pacers at the Dow Center on Wednesday, April 9th at 7:00. Read more about wheelchair basketball and the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, known for being "every bit as competitive as the NBA," in a 2005 Sports Illustrated column.

The library's Disability Resource Room will be open on Thursday, April 10th between 10:00 and 11:00. Stop in to see technologies that assist visually impaired people read printed texts. Among the pieces of equipment in the Disability Resource Room is a Kurzweil Reading Machine. Kurzweil was, and is, a leader in optical character recognition. New technology in this area allows a photo of printed text taken with a cell phone to be translated into spoken words instantaneously. Read more about this new technology in a 2008 article in PC Magazine Online.

For more information on these topics and others related to Disability Awareness Week, please contact the Reference Desk.

Wondering about Taxes

Everyone has filed their tax return, right? Taxes are as old as the bible and as inevitable as death. But have you ever wondered about taxes? The library is a good place for those of us who just wonder about stuff. "For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization" is a good read if you are interested in the history of taxation. If we have to pay them every year we might as well learn more about them...if you don't have end of semester projects to prepare, that is.

Browsing through Moodle

The library has acquired some new titles about Moodle. "Using Moodle", "Moodle Teaching Techniques", and "Moodle:E-Learning Course Development" are all available for three week checkout from the Browsing Collection on the first floor of Van Wylen. There might be a waiting list, so place a hold, or ask how, if you would like to see any of these items.

Fun with Science

Today's look at what is on the library shelves was inspired by April Fool's Day. From the lists I have seen of famous foolishness, it would seem that scientists are not always the serious, eyes on the slide kind of people one might assume them to be. My favorite example of this behaviour is "The Journal of Irreproducible Results", a science humor magazine which we stopped getting in 1993, but is still on our shelves. The spoofs and parodies of scientific concepts have not gone out of date and make a good study break. We also have "The Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results" which is a book compilation from the journal.