National Library Week!

Celebrate National Library Week April 23-29, 2023!

National Library Week is an annual celebration sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA). It has been observed throughout the United States every April since 1958! The week highlights the many ways libraries, librarians, and library workers transform lives and strengthen school, public, academic, and special-interest communities.

The theme for that first National Library Week in 1958 was "Wake Up and Read!" This year, for the 65th celebration, the theme is “There's More to the Story."

While the "brand" of most libraries is books, "there's more to the story." Our print and digital resources form the space for the scholarly conversation and the sharing of the human experience across chronological, linguistic, cultural, and geographic barriers. Come and contribute to the great ongoing story!

Throughout the week, stop by Reeves Hall and visit the Reeves Memorial Library spaces upstairs and downstairs for research help, interactive whiteboard questions, bookmark and sticker giveaways, Mindful Moments with the Counseling Center, and easy ways to express your support for the Library, its staff, and its resources. And make sure to participate on social media by following us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

National Library Week Events:

Monday-Friday, all day: New whiteboard question and bookmark or sticker giveaway every day (by the Library desk on the main level of the Learning Commons)

Monday (Right to Read Day): ALA releases the State of America's Libraries report and the Top Ten (13 this year!) Frequently Challenged Books of 2022 (watch our social media)

Tuesday (National Library Workers Day): Library Aide appreciation day - thank a student Library worker

Wednesday (National Library Outreach Day): Cheer Kelly on at the Honors Club "Life Raft Event" in front of McKenna at 7:00 p.m. and vote for her to make it to the deserted island!

Thursday (Take Action for Libraries Day): Stop by the main level of the Learning Commons and write a postcard in support of Reeves Memorial Library

2023 Research Award Winners Announced!

The Reeves Library Research Award was created to recognize and encourage the development of information fluency in resource-based research. Each award recipient is recognized at honors convocation and receives a monetary prize in the amount of $250.

Rowan Mentzer received the award in the Junior & Senior division for the paper, "Drama Therapy in Prisons: The Benefits of Playing Pretend with Incarcerated Individuals." The reviewers were impressed by "the high quality of writing and the extremely effective organized way that the topic was presented" and loved the "unique approach combining theatre, [psychology], and [criminal justice] elements." The entry was sponsored by Dr. Kellee Van Aken.

Sarah Minghini was the first-year/sophomore level award winner for the project, "Duolingo Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Report." Our review panelists said that the project displayed both "qualitative and quantitative depth" as well as "excellent (and professional!) analysis." The entry was sponsored by Dr. Jen Jones.

Please join us in congratulating both Rowan and Sarah, and in applauding loudly at Honors Convocation!

ACRL in PGH!

I (Kelly) had the opportunity to attend the annual conference of the Association of College & Research Libraries last week when it came to Pittsburgh! This was my first national conference since graduate school (a looooong time ago), so I made the most of the 36 hours I attended in person. 

The conference was held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. This was my first time visiting the venue, and it was perfect for a large conference such as this one. 

The fun & games area included this self-serve photo booth. You could elect to get a photo or a gif of yourself, and I opted for the still image. 

The games and relaxation area also included oversized Jenga, coloring tables, a bookshelf mural where you could add your favorite book title, and much more. I didn't spend much time there, but it was fun to walk through. 

The weather was cold but beautiful, and the many outdoor decks and patios had stunning views of downtown Pittsburgh. 

Because I was only at the convention center for the first evening and first full day, I tried to attend as many in-person-only sessions as possible. I wish I'd had more time to explore the exhibits hall. It's always exciting to see what new initiatives and resources are out there! I did get to chat with some folks from OCLC (who provide our WorldCat Discovery tool, among other things) and the representatives from Sage (a major publisher in the social sciences). 

I also got to meet representatives of an up-and-coming AI research tool and of several open-access publishing collectives. We're planning to do more to connect students and faculty with open educational resources in the coming months, so stay tuned!

Friday Reads: A Gentleman in Moscow

For this week's Friday Reads, Adam shares A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, a delightful novel about a less-than-delightful situation. 

Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov is a Russian aristocrat, a learned man of impeccable manners and wit, whose life of leisure changes drastically when he is brought before a Bolshevik tribunal in 1922. Declared a "Former Person" by the new Communist government, Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in his current Moscow residence, the grand Metropol hotel, where he is moved from his luxury suite to a cramped attic room, and threatened with execution should he ever set foot outside the hotel. He passes his days reading, making his weekly visit to the hotel barber, dining and drinking in the hotel's restaurants and bar, and getting to know the hotel's staff and other guests. He befriends a bright, enthusiastic young girl named Nina, who shows him the hotel's hidden nooks and crannies. He begins an affair with a famous actress, and takes a job as headwaiter in the hotel's fanciest restaurant. I'm only about halfway through the book, and it's only 1930, so I look forward to finding out what happens to the count and his acquaintances over the coming decades. How will the count experience, from the confines of the hotel, the lean years of the Depression, the terror of Stalin's purges, the brutality of World War II, and the onset of the Cold War? Will he ever get to leave the Metropol?


This novel as an absolute joy to read. It's not just that Count Rostov is such a likable character, or that Towles captures Rostov's inner life and the workings of the hotel so beautifully, or fun little details like the chapter titles all beginning with the letter "A." The book is so elegantly written, and with such warm humor and a light touch, that it feels just about perfect. It's one of those novels that's so well-written that it seems effortless, as if the text just came to be in its final form through some sort of magic.

Friday Reads: Have I Told You This Already?

This week's Friday Reads is a Friday Listen! Kelly has been listening to the audiobook of Lauren Graham's Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don't Want to Forget to Remember, which is read by the fast-talking author.

Most people would probably recognize Lauren Graham, though where they know her from may depend on how old they are. Some people would recognize her as one of Jerry's many brief girlfriends from Seinfeld; others know her best from Parenthood. She's been in a few movies and currently stars in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers on Disney+. I, personally, will always think of her as Lorelai Gilmore.

Before she hit the small and silver screens, Graham majored in English, and it shows in her writing. (She also has an MFA in acting.) She's written both a novel and a previous book of memoir-ish essays. For the first 45 minutes or so of this audiobook, I couldn't help comparing this installment unfavorably to Talking as Fast as I Can, but it has now definitely hit its stride. Graham tells us more stories of how she worked her way up through small theatre productions, commercial gigs, and bit parts to achieve her current semi-celebrity status.

Because the sense you get from this book is that she is a "semi-celebrity." She shops and dines in the same places as Gwen Stefani and Ryan Reynolds, but she never loses her sense of wonder that she is there. She is also happy to be our informant "on the inside," spilling secrets about awards-shows arrival times and Hollywood hierarchies. She may not move in the same circles as the A-listers, but she's an old hand in the industry and seems to genuinely enjoy her job -- and to view it as just that, a job, though one with unusual and often really cool benefits.

I'd recommend reading or listening to her first book of essays, Talking as Fast as I Can, before this one. Each can stand alone, but Have I Told You This Already often assumes that the reader is familiar with stories and bits from the first book.

Friday Reads: Babylon's Ashes

Happy Friday! If you've had quite enough of Earth for the time being, why not escape into "The Expanse" with Adam's Friday Reads, Babylon's Ashes by James S. A. Corey?

Babylon's Ashes is the sixth book in the sci-fi adventure series The Expanse, the source material for the recent SYFY/Prime original series of the same title. The series is set a few centuries in the future, after humans have settled throughout the solar system, having colonized the Moon, Mars, and the Asteroid belt. By this point in the series, alien technology has also allowed humans to journey to the far reaches of the galaxy through interstellar ring gates, colonizing planets in distant solar systems and discovering new sources of vital resources. Militant citizens of the Asteroid belt (so-called "Belters"), tired of being exploited by the "Inners" of Earth and Mars, have launched a devastating attack against Earth, leading to an all-out war for survival and control of our solar system's dwindling resources. And right in the middle, as always, is Captain James Holden and his crew, the central characters in the series, who must navigate the perilous space between all of these warring factions.

The series is exciting and superbly written, with storylines touching on science, politics, medicine, religion, philosophy, business, and many other areas. One of the things I appreciate most about the series is how clearly the authors (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck writing together under a joint pen name) define the stakes for each of the warring groups, especially the Belters. They've been exploited and marginalized for generations by Earth and Mars, and now that humans have begun colonizing other solar systems, the resources from the Belt may no longer be needed, potentially leaving the Belters without an economic base. And Belters can't pack up and find a new home on a distant planet, because most of them can't survive in the gravity of a planetary surface when their bodies have adapted physiologically to Belter life in low or no gravity. Even if you don't agree with the actions of their charismatic leader, Marco Inaros, you can't help but feel sympathy for their cause.

Library Newsletter, Spring 2023

 The Spring 2023 Library Newsletter for faculty and staff is available now!

Check it out here. 

Have a great weekend -- we'll see you on Tuesday!