Texas State & National Parks

Looking for something to do over the holiday break? Perhaps you should explore the beautiful scenery available at one of the state or national parks in Texas. There's also plenty of outdoor activities (hiking, camping, and more) to enjoy in Texas' national forests and grasslands and national wildlife refuges.

Enchanted Rock - Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.
Joshua Wallace, photographer and copyright holder, 2010.

The Big Tree - Goose Island State Park.
Joshua Wallace, photographer and copyright holder, 2013. 

Pedernales Falls State Park
Joshua Wallace, photographer and copyright holder, 2017. 

Dinosaur Tracks - Dinosaur Valley State Park.
Joshua Wallace, photographer and copyright holder, 2017.

Monkey Rock - Lost Maples State Natural Area.

Joshua Wallace, photographer and copyright holder, 2018.

Before planning a trip to the great outdoors you should check out these resources from the library:

Border Sanctuary: The Conservation Legacy of the Santa Ana Land Grant by M.J. Morgan.
Dinosaur Highway: A History of Dinosaur Valley State Park by Laurie E. Jasinski
Enchanted Rock: A Natural and Human History by Lance Allred
Enjoying Big Bend National Park: A Friendly Guide to Adventures for Everyone by Gary Clark
Guided with a Steady Hand: The Cultural Landscape of a Rural Texas Park by Dan K. Utley
Hiking Big Bend National Park by Laurence Parent
Making Camp: The Complete Guide for Hikers, Mountain Bikers, Paddlers & Skiers by Steve Howe
Official Guide to Texas State Parks & Historical Sites by Laurence Parent

Meet Our Staff: Brandon Assmann

Brandon Assmann
Evening Circulation Supervisor
254-968-1895
bassmann@tarleton.edu
Dick Smith Library – Main Floor – Circulation Desk

Hi, my name is Brandon Assmann (pronounced Osmond) and I am the new Evening Circulation Supervisor!  This means I’ll oversee the library at night (5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday through early Friday), on top of compiling stats and helping maintain our amazing collection.

Originally from Iowa, I received a BA in history, secondary education, and a minor in theatre and speech from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.  During my college years, I was involved with numerous theatrical productions, my favorite being The Grapes of Wrath.  After graduation, I spent five years teaching and directing speech and drama at the high school level.  However, I decided teaching wasn’t for me and after working at a few places, I finally made my way to Tarleton.

In my free time I enjoy watching movies, playing video and board games, going for walks, and reading.  I mostly read science fiction and fantasy with some of my favorites being World War Z, Faith of the Fallen, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire… but those tend to change from day to day.

I am excited to begin my career here at Tarleton!

Who was Emma Lazarus?

Emma Lazarus, 1872 / T. Johnson and W. Kurtz [Public domain], via 

https://archive.org/stream/lazarusemmapoem01lazarich#page/n7/mode/2up

On a day like today, November 19^th, Emma Lazarus died. She was a great American poet from the late 1800s best known for her famous sonnet, “The New Colossus”. The poem was written for the Statue of Liberty and it was engraved on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Image retrieved from https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/colossus.htm

Even though Emma Lazarus died young, at just 38 years old, she is a figure worth to remember. She was raised in high society New York, in a cultured family of Spanish Jewish decent. From an early age she was taught multiple languages and exposed to classic works of literature. She eventually became a writer, and by her 30s she had written over 50 poems. Her first book, Poems and Translations, was even praised by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

As much as she enjoyed and excelled in the writing arts, this was not her only passion. During her short lifetime, she left a legacy of love and compassion by being an advocate of underserved populations. As stated in the Encyclopedia Britannica (2018), the United States was dealing with a great number immigrants from Europe and Russia, and amongst these where Jews. She took it upon herself to become a spokesperson for Jewish refugees, and talked about their hardships in her writing. She would often leave her home to go visit their communities. During those trips she witnessed their poor living conditions, and did her best to help bring attention to such problems through her words. It wasn’t until after her death, that her sonnet “The New Colossus” became famous. The poem was intentionally written as an auction piece to raise money to build the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty would stand.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus

November 2, 1883

Library Resources

If you wish to know more about her writings, life and legacy, the Dick Smith Library has many resources to offer. Below are some suggestions of books along with their call numbers: 

1  1. Emma Lazarus, by Esther Eschor

2. The art of the sonnet / Stephen Burt, David Mikics

3.  Liberty's voice : the story of Emma Lazarus / Erica Silverman ; illustrated by Stacey Schuett

Children’s Book  

4.  Emma's poem : the voice of the Statue of Liberty / by Linda Glaser ; with paintings by Claire A. Nivola

Children’s Book

For students majoring in Education that wish to include the story of Emma Lazarus in their curriculum, I was able to find programming ideas for students and younger audiences in the American Library Association website. Below is the link:

http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/ppo/programming/nextbook/lazarus-ssn/njassn-prog-ideas

References

Emma Lazarus. (2018). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/Emma-Lazarus/47448

Emma Lazarus, Poetry Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/emma-lazarus

Emma Lazarus, Biography.com. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/emma-lazarus-9375885

The New Colossus. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46550/the-new-colossus

Celebrate Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month. You can celebrate by checking out these recently published titles on Native American history and culture available at the library:

An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873 by Benjamin Madley.
"Provides an account of the government-sanctioned genocide of California Indians under United States rule." - From publisher.

Archaeological Perspectives of Warfare on the Great Plains ed. by Andrew J. Clark and Douglas B. Bamforth.
"Bringing together research from across the region, this volume provides unprecedented evidence of the effects of war on tribal societies." - From publisher.

Atlas of Indian Nations by Anton Treuer.
"The most comprehensive atlas of Native American history and culture available." - From publisher.

Blood Moon: An American Epic of War and Splendor in the Cherokee Nation by John Sedgwick.
"A sweeping, powerful, and necessary work of history that reads like Gone with the Wind for the Cherokee." - From publisher.

The Confederate Cherokees: John Drew's Regiment of Mounted Rifles by W. Craig Gaines.
"...provides an absorbing account of the Cherokees' involvement in the early years of the Civil War..." - From publisher.

Hip Hop Beats, Indigenous Rhyms: Modernity and Hip Hop in Indigenous North America by Kyle T. Mays.
"Indigenous people have blended expressive cultures with hip hop culture, creating new sounds, aesthetics, movements and ways of being indigenous." - From publisher.

The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation by Colin G. Calloway.
"...reveals fully the dimensions and depths of George Washington's relations with the First Americans." - From publisher.

Lakota Performers in Europe: Their Culture and the Artifacts They Left Behind by Steve Friesen.
"From April to November 1935 in Belgium, fifteen Lakotas enacted their culture on a world stage." - From Publisher.

Ojibwe Stories from the Upper Berens River by Adam Bigmouth
"...presents the dozens of stories and memories that A. Irving Hallowell recorded from Adam (Samuel) Bigmouth...in the summers of 1938 and 1940.

Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian (23rd edition) by Barry T. Klein
Directory information for Native American governments, organizations, etc. in the United States and Canada.

October is American Archives Month!

In recognition of American Archives Month, here are just a couple of the interesting items in the Dick Smith Library's archives.

The two pages pictured below (click on the images to make them larger) are from the Flora Clarke scrapbook, 1924-1926.  It was created by Flora Marguerite Clarke Kinney (1907-1987) when she attended John Tarleton Agricultural College from 1924 to 1926. The book contains photographs of Clarke, her friends, and her family that show her activities while at Tarleton. Notes from Clarke’s friends are written directly on many pages. Other notes, especially from male admirers, are glued to the pages. Memorabilia include a yell book, programs for events, newspaper clippings, souvenirs from parties and banquets, greeting cards from friends and family, calling cards from friends, and lyrics of songs, and a poem Clarke wrote about the college.
















Although we have both the front and back covers, most of the pages of the scrapbook were torn from the binding string, so archival staff untied the scrapbook. The covers and the pages are stored in original order. Small preservation measures were taken to secure items coming loose from pages.  Note that some of the items in the scrapbook, like the umbrella and pumpkin, are three-dimensional.  Loose items from the front and the back of the scrapbook were gathered into two folders and are stored in an archival box with the scrapbook.

Pictured below are two pages from the Leonard De Bennett scrapbook, 1923-1925 (click on the image to make it larger).  This collection is the personal scrapbook of Leonard Bennett (1903-1967) showing his time as a student at John Tarleton Agricultural College from 1923 to 1925.  The collection consists of ten unbound scrapbook leaves of various sizes containing photographs and newspaper clippings, twelve loose photographs, one loose clipping from the Southwestern Sportsman magazine, and an April 8, 1925 J-TAC. The photographs are of basketball teams, football games, cadets on the drill field, students, and campus scenes.

The Flora Clarke and Leonard Bennett scrapbooks reflect the experiences of male and female college students in the 1923-1926 era at John Tarleton Agricultural College, then a small, rural two-year Texas school.  Both scrapbooks were donated to the archives by relatives of these former students.  Both scrapbooks are quite fragile, so we hope to obtain a grant to have them digitized and made more easily accessible.

Above: Flora Clarke (left) and Leonard Bennett (right) from the 1926 and 1924 Grassburrs respectively.

Homecoming 2018: Back to Our Roots - Sources on Tarleton History

Homecoming 2018 is this week, October 14-20.  Some of the Homecoming traditions, like the Silver Bugle Hunt and Beat the Drum, are tied into Tarleton's history.  Here are some sources to learn more about that history.

Books

John Tarleton and his legacy: the history of Tarleton State University, 1899-1999, by Christopher E. Guthrie, 1999.
--Call number LD5271 .T35 G88 1999 - in Special Collections, and in General Stacks when not on reserve.

The John Tarleton College story: the golden days of purple & white, by C. Richard King, 1998.
--Call number LD5271 .T33 K55 1998 - in Special Collections, and in General Stacks when not on reserve.

The history of John Tarleton College, by J. Rice Finley, 1933.
--Call number LD5271 .T35 A22 1933 - in Special Collections.

JOHN TARLETON : A MEMORIAL TO THE FOUNDER OF TARLETON COLLEGE.
--Call number LD5271 .T35 T3 - in Special Collections, and in General Stacks when not on reserve.

Tarleton State University: the traditions remain  by executive editor Stephen D. Giddens  and writer Catherine Mayhew, 2007.
--Call number LD5271 .T33 T37 2007 - in Special Collections.

The birth of Tarleton's spirit: the "heartbeat" of our traditions, 1899-1999, by Sharon McNeill Matherne, 1998.
--Call number LD5271 .T33 M38 1998 - in Special Collections.

The development of John Tarleton College, by Preston Breckenridge Grissom, 1933.
--Call number LD5271 .T35 A22 1933A  - in Special Collections.

Oscar P's alphabet adventure, written by Kathleen Davis, illustrated by Tiffanie Forbus, 2013.
--Call Number EDUC LD5271 .T33 D38 2013, in the Curriculum Collection on the lower level - a children's book about Tarleton traditions.

Grassburr yearbooks
Call number LD5271.T35G7.
-- Limited Collection houses the most complete set. In-house use only.
-- Curriculum Collection (lower level) yearbooks can be checked out.
-- Also available online - see the next section.


Online Resources

Grassburr yearbooks are in the Portal to Texas History.

J-TAC student newspapers are also in the Portal to Texas History.

Alumni J-TACs have recently been added to the Portal to Texas History.

HistoryPin tour (which is the basis for the Original 40 Acres Tour event during Homecoming weekend) is an interactive Google Maps based tour of the Stephenville campus created by the Library's Special Collections and Archives staff, with additional photographs, links, and source material.

Cross Timbers Historical Images Project (also linked here), spearheaded by Dick Smith Library staff, offers historical images and narrative descriptions of Tarleton and surrounding communities. Sources are cited to facilitate further research.

• Use Search features.
• Browse collections.
  -- Click "Collections" link.
  -- Choose desired collection.
  -- Browse narratives.

Tarleton History posts on Library Online Lounge blog are about Tarleton's history: events, people, and campus life.

Tarleton History & Traditions Pinterest board is curated by Tarleton Libraries staff, and links ot many of the Tarleton History posts on the library's blog.

Purple Book explains Tarleton traditions, legends, and landmarks.

Tarleton Traditions offers links to campus organizations information, the Purple Book, etc.

Tarleton's Historical Timeline is an interactive photographic exploration of Tarleton's history.

Research Week

This week Tarleton celebrates Research and Scholarship Week!  Faculty from across campus will showcase their scholarship at events through out the week, and students will present their research and creative works at the Tarleton Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium.

The library is offering two sessions as well!

Reading & Sharing Collections: Creativity, Scholarship & Brunch

Date & Time: October 9, 2018 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Location: Library Multipurpose Room 104

Join the library to recognize the latest releases in creative scholarship from Tarleton faculty & students, as well as the collections from published Tarleton authors made freely available online.
This brunch event will include readings by Dr. Marilyn Robitaille, Associate Professor of English, from her recently published book, Not by Design: Fifty Poems and Images, along with readings from student editors of the Anthology journal. These readings will be followed by a display of archives materials created by former Tarleton English professor Dr. Randall Popken with an introduction by Dr. Kathleen Mollick, Professor of English. Highlights of publications preserved and openly available in the Portal to Texas History digital repository will round out this event.

 VIDEOS: Educational Exemptions vs Performance Rights

Date & Time: October 9, 2018 2-3 p.m.
Location: Library Multipurpose Room 104

The Dick Smith Library’s Copyright Task Force will be presenting a session focusing on:

• films in the classroom
• showing videos online or in Blackboard
• determining when/if you need permission
• how to obtain public performance rights
• Library resources: Kanopy and Films on Demand

Refreshments will be provided.

Please join the library for these events on October 9th!!!

Constitution Day

Monday September 17th was Constitution Day. On that day in 1787, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed the proposed Constitution and submitted it to the Congress for consideration.

Signatures on the US Constitution, 1787.
By Constitutional Convention of 1787 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The library has a large collection of items for learning more about the Constitution. Such as these titles:  

Alexander Hamilton and the Constitution

The Constitutional History of the United States 

The Debate on the Constitution 

The Essential Federalist and anti-Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers

Hamilton, Madison, and Jay on the Constitution

James Madison: Father of the Constitution, 1787-1800

James Madison: Creating the American Constitution

Original Intents: Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and the American Founding

A Pocket Guide to the US Constitution: What Every American Needs to Know 

Let us know if we can help you find information on the Constitution or any other topic at 254-968-9249 or reference@tarleton.edu. 

Computers in the Library

Do you know there are over 200 computers (desktops and laptops) available for use in the Dick Smith Library?  Machines are located on each floor.  

Last year (FY 18) our desktop computers were used more than 323,747 hours with over 180,250 logins! 

Because our computers are so heavily used, we provide a Real Time Computer Availability map that shows which computers are busy and which ones are available for you to use.

Here is a list of some of the most used software and websites on library computers.  See your favorite on the list?

• Google Chrome - 62,870 launches with 38,464 focused hours
• Firefox - 51,461 launches with 26,786 focused hours
• MS Word - 70,920 launches with 25,044 focused hours of work
• MS Excel - 6,352 launches with 1,899.6 work hours
• YouTube - 1,108 launches with over 849.4 hours of videos watched
• Gmail - 1,959 launches and 100.2 hours of use 
• Photoshop -  873 starts with over 285 hours of use

The best thing about library computers is that they come with help!  The staff at both the Reference Desk and the Tech Spot are nearby to assist you if needed. 

If you have any questions about the computers in the library please contact the Library System Department (libsys@tarleton.edu) or 254-968-9030.

How to Renew Items from the Dick Smith Library in Stephenville

1.  On the library’s home page (www.tarleton.edu/library), select “Services” in the right-hand column, then “Renew Items.”

2.  Log in with your NTNET user name and password.

3.  Then click on the "Checkouts" tab.

4.  Use the checkboxes to mark the books you want to renew, or check the "Select All" box, then click the "Renew" button.

5.  If an item does not renew, you will get a message, and you will need to return the item. 

6.  Items won’t renew if someone else has placed a hold on them. Items also won’t renew beyond the last date of the current semester.  Finally, you can only renew items three times online.  If you need to renew the item again after that, you will need to bring it back to the Circulation Desk on the main floor of the library and ask to speak to a supervisor.

Interlibrary Loans

The library's software for processing interlibrary loan requests changed over the summer.  Here are the steps you go through to request a book or other physical item be sent to you from either another Tarleton library, or from a library somewhere in the world that might have the item:


1.  On the library's home page (https://www.tarleton.edu/library/), click “Services” in the right-hand column to open the menu, then click "Interlibrary Loan.”

2.  READ everything on the Interlibrary Loan page (https://www.tarleton.edu/library/services/ill.html), then click "Login to Interlibrary loan" (in center of screen). 

3. Login using your NTNET user name & password.

4. Then click the "Create Request" button.

5. This example is a request for the loan of a book or other physical item, and not an article from a periodical such as an academic journal or a newspaper, so click the "Loan" button.

6. Then use the drop-down menu to select the correct Pickup Location.

7.  All the fields with an asterisk * (also highlighted in yellow below) on the page should be filled out.  Some of the fields, such as your first and last name, and the service type, should already be complete.  You can add information for the other fields, if you have it.  For the "Needed Before" date, you should probably put the date the assignment is due.  Keep in mind, though, that most loans of physical items will take at least a week to arrive, even if they are coming from another Tarleton campus, so plan accordingly.

 

8.  Finally, click "Submit Request" at the bottom of the screen (as in the photo just above).


For an article from a periodical, you'll still need to provide/check your first and last name, your NTNET number, and the Needed Before date.  Under About my item, the required fields are Journal Title and Date, Page Numbers, and Title of Article.  The Service Type should be COPY.  Articles can often be sent as a PDF and so often they will arrive quickly, but again, you need to plan for delays.

If you have any questions, please ask a librarian or contact the Interlibrary Loan staff at ill@tarleton.edu, or 254-968-9660.

New Online Room Reservation System

The Dick Smith Library has several spaces that you can reserve: two group study rooms, a presentation practice room, and the multi-purpose room for faculty/staff events or meetings for student organizations with an approved library event request in TexanSync. Click here for more information about all of the library's spaces.

To reserve library rooms you can always call 254-968-9450. However, starting this semester you can also reserve these spaces online. To do so, click on the Facilities link on the right hand side the library's website: https://www.tarleton.edu/library/ (see screenshot below).

Under Facilities click on the Reserve a Room link (see screenshot below).

That will take you to this page. From here you can select the room you want to reserve. In this example, I have chosen Group Study Rooms (see screenshot below).

After you select the room you want to reserve, then click on the Go To Date button to choose which day you want to reserve the room (see screenshot below).

The online system will show you the times that the rooms are available on that day. Green means available, red means unavailable and yellow is your reservation (see screenshot below). Click on the available time you want, and the color will turn from green to yellow.

When you click on the time you want, the default is to reserve the room for one hour. If you need it for longer, select the dropdown menu below to extend the time requested (see screenshot below). Each type of room has different limits for how long your reservation may last.

When you're ready click on the Submit Times button. You will then be asked to log in with your NTNET username and password. After you log in enter your phone number and the number of people who will be using the room. Then click Submit my Booking (see screenshot below).

A confirmation email will then be sent to you.

If you need to reserve a room, or have any questions about using the online system, please call 254-968-9450.

Meet Our Staff: Jacob Martin

Jacob Martin
User Services Assistant - Access Services
254-968-1896
jsmartin@tarleton.edu
Dick Smith Library – Main Floor

The User Services Assistant has many different areas of operation, but the main tasks revolve around scheduling rooms inside of the library, most notably the Multi-Purpose Room and the Practice Presentation Room, and staffing the Reference Desk 5-8 p.m. on weekdays. Other tasks that are assigned to this position involve an inventory and recurring health checks of the collection.

Jacob says, "I attended Stephenville schools for my whole life and graduated from Stephenville High School in the top 10% of the class of 2015.  I began studying at Tarleton in August 2015 with the intention of securing a bachelor’s degree in English along with teacher certification to teach at the secondary level.  Due to changes in interest, I graduated on August 10, 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Spanish."

Before joining the library staff, Jacob worked as a machine operator and packaging assistant at Square One Machine, inspected and packaged goods at Schreiber Foods, and served as a student worker in our cataloging department.

Jacob's off-the-job interests include reading philosophical or fantastical material, creative writing, language learning, and  traveling (intercontinentally or internationally).  His spare-time activities include ultimate frisbee, walking and hiking, and reading when there is time.  His favorite books are
The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, and World War Z by Max Brooks.

Summer Reading Recommendations - Three from Kim Gragg

A couple months ago, the Library posted a video on our YouTube Channel with staff recommendations for summer reading.  Here's the "why?" behind some of those recommendations, as well as other books that did not make it into the video.  All are available as e-books in our OverDrive collection.

Kimberly Gragg, our Circulation and Interlibrary Loan Manager, had three suggestions.

Kim said, "I really enjoyed The Alice Network. It’s historical fiction and based on a network of spies that utilize women to get knowledge on the enemy in World War I." This fascinating story is based on the real-life "Alice Network" of mostly-female spies centered in Lille, France, on the border with Belgium.  This book has two story lines, one set during World War I and the other in 1947.  Eve Gardiner is the character that ties them together.

The tale goes back and forth in time and between narrators.  The other narrator is Charlotte "Charlie" St. Clair, who enlists Eve's help in 1947 to find her French cousin Rose, who disappeared in World War II.  Author Kate Quinn does a masterful job weaving them and other characters (some real-life), places, and incidents into the story.

Lois Lowry's The Giver is a popular fantasy.  This 1994 Newbery Medalist has become a classic, and one that is frequently challenged in schools and libraries, for reasons ranging from “contains graphic themes,” and  “contains blasphemous ideas and content,” to “depicts ideas and actions that are inappropriate for young readers,” and “inappropriate for [elementary] grade level.”

The plot in a nutshell:  Jonas, the main character, learns his utopian world is really dystopian.

Same Kind of Different as Me is the true story of a wealthy white man, Ron Hall, and a homeless black man, Denver Moore, brought together by the white man’s wife, Deborah, who dies from colon and liver cancer. The book is short chapters alternately narrated by Ron and Denver.

The Giver is also available in both print and audiobook format, both on the lower level of the Dick Smith Library.  Same Kind of Different as Me can also be found in print in the General Stacks on the upper level of the library.