Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Travel through Time and Place with Overdrive Audiobooks

Planning any travel this summer?  Going somewhere that involves a long drive or ride?  Try an e-audiobook!  Even if you're planning a stay-cation, you can travel to other times and places through historical fiction e-audiobooks.  Here are just some of the titles available as e-audiobooks in our Overdrive collection:


Curses and Smoke by Vicky Alvear Shecter, read by Marisol Ramirez and Zach Villa - Subtitled "A Novel of Pompeii," this novel is set in A.D. 79, the year the eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed the city.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, read by Zach Appelman - This book won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.  The lives of a 12-year-old blind French girl living in Paris when the German occupation of World War II begins in 1940, and a 14-year-old German boy living in an orphanage in the coal-mining town of Zollverein, intersect in four years later, in August 1944, during the Allied bombing of the walled city of Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast.

The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman; read by Gloria Reuben, Tina Benko, and Santino Fontana - This is a fictionalized account of the life of the mother of the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro, set on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas and in Paris in the early and mid-1800s.  It's a little bit of a fictionalized biography of the early life of the artist as well.

Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise by Oscar Hijuelos, read by James Langton, Polly Lee, Henry Leyva, and Robert Petkoff - The real, nearly-lifelong friendship between American author Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) and British explorer Henry Morton Stanley is the basis for this historical fiction novel, set in the period between 1860 and 1910 along the Mississippi River, in Cuba, and in England.
The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati, read by Cassandra Campbell - Set in 1883 in New York City, this book focuses on two female doctors, cousins Anna and Sophie Savard, and the challenges they face practicing medicine in that place and time.  A murder and a police investigation also play into the story.


The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende, read by Joanna Gleason - Jewish refugee Alma Mendel Belasco and Japanese gardener's son Ichimei "Ichi" Fukuda are the main characters in this story set in San Francisco covering the years 1939 to 2013, which touches on topics like racial prejudice, aging issues, and death with dignity.

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant, read by Linda Lavin -  Born in 1900 in the United States to Jewish immigrant parents, Addie Baum tells her life story to her granddaughter in 1985, concentrating on the years 1915 to 1931 in and around Boston.  Life in the immigrant tenements, the effects of World War I, and the changes it brought about in the 1920s, especially for women, are all part of the tale.

Sashenka by Simon Montefiore, read by Anne Flosnik - Set in three time periods in twentieth century Russia - 1916, 1939, and 1994 - the title character becomes a Bolshevik and later part of the Communist elite.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, read by David Pittu - Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2014 and two 2014 Audie Awards, this book is actually set in more modern times, but moves between Amsterdam, New York City, and Las Vegas, and involves the fictional theft of a real painting called "The Goldfinch" from 1654 by Carel Fabritius (1622–1654), a Dutch artist.

*****

Listening to e-audiobooks is easy!  The OverDrive app lets you download and listen to the MP3 format of the audiobook.  It is available for iOS, Android, Chromebook, Windows 8 & 10, and Kindle Fire HD.  I have one of the latter, and I download the books, hook up an aux cable from the Kindle to my car, and listen to audiobooks on my car's speakers while I commute.  OverDrive Listen is a streaming audiobook player that works on computers, tablets, and mobile devices with compatible web browsers.  You'll need an active Internet connection to use it.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Get ready for Summer travel!



Summer is here, and for many of us that means it's time to travel! Whether you are going on one of the many Study Abroad trips this summer, volunteering overseas, or just traveling for fun. The library has good information sources to help you prepare for your trip, and have fun while you are there!

Global Road Warrior

Global Road Warrior contains information about virtually every country in the world. It includes everything you would need to know to travel to a country from what type of electrical adapter to bring, how to find a doctor if you get sick, and emergency numbers, to information on food, music and history. I found this one really useful when I was preparing to go to Ireland on a COBA Study Abroad trip over Spring Break because it had really good information on how to act and dress for business meetings, which we did several of. 

Mango Languages

Mango has fun, interactive language learning courses for 72 languages. They have courses for all levels and interests, so if you want to just brush up on your high-school Spanish, or take a quick class in conversational Korean, they have a class for you!


Tuesday, May 16, 2017

New Library Catalog Interface!

Yesterday, the University Libraries went live with a new library catalog interface!  When you click on the link to the Library Catalog from the library's home page, you'll see a screen similar to this:


Check back for future posts on using the new catalog screen more effectively in your searches!

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Graduation Traditions



Graduation ceremonies are tomorrow and Saturday. Congratulations to all the graduates!


During the ceremony you may end up looking around at and wonder at the significance of some of the items around you...


University Mace




The University Mace is a ceremonial staff that was created for the inauguration of Dr. Dottavio. It will be carried in the procession by the president of Faculty Senate. You may notice that it has Tarleton seals attached to each of the four sides. A bronze plated flame of knowledge is mounted to the top, which sits above three bronze bands that symbolize Tarleton's past, present and future.


International Flags




Tarleton's students come from all corners of the world with a wide range of cultures and experiences. International flags are carried at the start of the procession to honor the students' home countries. Currently we have students from 27 countries around the world.


Click here to view more Tarleton graduation traditions

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month

May is the month to recognize the experiences and contributions of Americans of Asian or Pacific Islander heritage. Originally established as a heritage week in 1978, it was upgraded to a month in 1990. According to the Library of Congress' Asia Pacific Heritage Month website, "May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants."


 Each green dot on the map above represents 3000 Asian Americans. By United States Census [CC BY-SA 1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
Asian and Pacific Islander Americans are a quickly growing segment of the population. According to the 2010 Census, there are 17,320,856 Asian Americans in the US. That is 5.6% of the total population, and is a 45.6% increase from the 2000 Census. In 2010, the Census counted 1,225,195 Americans of Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander heritage. That represents only 0.4% of the total population, however, it is a 40.1% increase from 2000.


Chronology of Asian/Pacific American History with Relevant Library Resources


1849 - California Gold Rush encouraged large numbers of Chinese to immigrate to US. 

Riches for all: the California Gold Rush and the World ed. by Kenneth N. Owens.
Gold Mountain Dreams (video available through Films on Demand database). 

1869 - Transcontinental Railroad completed, many of the workers were Chinese immigrants. 

A Great & Shining Road: the Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroad by John Hoyt Williams

1882 - Chinese Exclusion Act severely limited Chinese immigration to the US. 

At America's GatesChinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943 by Erica Lee

1885 - A mob of white miners massacred approximately 28 Chinese people in Rock Springs, Wyoming. 

"When Coal Miners Burned: The Rock Springs Massacre" in Wild West by Eric Niderost and Luc Nettleton. 

1887 - A white gang massacred over thirty Chinese gold miners along the Snake River Canyon in Oregon. 

1898 - Spain ceded control of Guam and the Philippines to the US. 

Guam and its Peoplea Study of Culture Change and Colonial Education by Laura Thompson.
A War of Frontier and Empire: the Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 by David J. Silbey           

1898 - US annexed Hawaii. 

The Betrayal of Liliuokalani, last Queen of Hawaii, 1838-1917 by Helena G. Allen.

Queen Liliuokalani in 1891. James J. Williams [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

1899 - US gained control of American Samoa (eastern half of the Samoan archipelago). Learn more about American Samoa here

1910 - Angel Island Immigration Station created in San Francisco Bay.  

Angel Island: gateway to Gold Mountain by Russell Freedman.
Angel Island: A Story of Chinese Immigration (video available through Films on Demand database). 

1924 - Immigration Act severely limited immigrants from most Asian countries. Read more about the Act here

1940 - Angel Island Immigration Station closed.  

1942 - President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized the confinement of Japanese-Americans into internment camps. 

Looking like the enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald.

Arcadia, CA April, 1942. Japanese-Americans registering before being transferred to War Relocation Authority centers. By Clem Albers, Photographer (NARA record: 8452194) (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

1943 - Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed. 

1944 - US gained control of Northern Mariana Islands. Learn more about the Northern Mariana Islands here

1946 - The Philippines gained independence from the US. 


1957 - Dalip Singh Saund, of California, became the first Asian American to serve in the US Congress. 

1959 - Hiram Fong, of Hawaii, became the first Asian American to serve in the US Senate. 

1965 - Immigration Act ended racial quotas, which increased immigration from Asian countries. Read more about the Act here

Korean Americans (video available through Films on Demand database).
Suburban Sahibs: Three Immigrant Families and Their Passage From India to America by Mitra S. Kalita. 

1973 - George Ariyoshi, of Hawaii, became the first Asian American governor of a US state.

1988 - Civil Liberties Act granted reparations to Japanese-Americans who had been interned during World War II. Read full text of the act here

2000 - Norman Mineta became the first Asian American to serve on the US Cabinet.

The Dick Smith Library has a large collection of resources relevant to the Asian-American and Pacific Islander-American experience. Let us know if we can help you find some information on the topic via email at reference@tarleton.edu or phone at 254-968-9249.