Presidents' Day Weekend

Library Hours for Presidents' Day Weekend:

Saturday, Feb. 14 - Closed
Sunday, Feb. 15 - Closed
Monday, Feb. 16 - 4 pm - 11 pm

He's 200 years old!

Well, maybe not! The library does have a special display in honor of the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. There is a collection of various sources on the top of the "new book" bookcase. Come in and take a look!

The Newest...

My name is Keri Youngstrand and my title is Library Associate. Basically, my duties include helping with Interlibrary Loan and processing new books as well as various other tasks. I started in this position on January 2, 2009, which makes me the newest. I have an English degree from Jamestown College with a minor in music. Prior to beginning this position, I worked as an Assistant Cashier at Dakota Western Bank in Bowman, ND. I live on a farmstead north-east of Amidon with my husband, Jason, and our two children, Trent and Logan. We have ten cows, four horses, a dog, and more jackrabbits than I can count. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, baking, crocheting, singing, and spending time with my boys. I am the Sunday School Superintendent at Lebanon Lutheran in Amidon and a member of the Slope County Fairboard. Recently, I have learned to play the guitar and begun teaching piano again.

Office Manager and Circulation Supervisor

My turn: I am Renee Newton, the Office Manager and Circulation Supervisor at Stoxen Library. I’ve been in my position since September but as a DSU student I worked here and it’s great to be back! My duties include checking in newspapers and periodicals, training and support of the student workers, and office related tasks. When not working, I spend time taking care of my family and trying to squeeze in as much reading (am enjoying the Twilight series right now) and knitting (dishcloths are the current obsession) as possible – if only I didn’t need to sleep!

New ebook for February!

NetLibrary is once again offering us an additional free ebook for February. To celebrate African-American History month, Raising Freedom's Child: Black Children and Visions of the Future After Slavery is free until February 28. According to their website:

"Drawing on previously untapped resources, author Mary Niall Mitchell demonstrates how the black child became a figure upon which people projected their hopes and fears about slavery's abolition. From the 1850s and the Civil War to emancipation and the official end of Reconstruction in 1877, Raising Freedom's Child examines slave emancipation and opposition to it as a far-reaching, national event with profound social, political, and cultural consequences. Mitchell analyzes multiple views of the black child—in letters, photographs, newspapers, novels, and court cases—to demonstrate how Americans contested and defended slavery and abolition."

To access this resource, go to the library homepage, then choose "online reference resources" and finally "netlibrary."

Monday Night movie

This video is available to check out! DVD PN1997.2 .I76 2004

Iron Jawed Angels

Stoxen Library, Women’s Voices and the Campus Activities Board are sponsoring a showing of Iron Jawed Angels on Monday, Jan. 26th at 7 p.m. in Beck Auditorium. If you are not familiar with it, this is an HBO produced movie dealing with the early women’s suffrage movement and particularly an incident in which a group of women picketing the White House asking for the vote were imprisoned for obstructing sidewalk traffic.

This is a link to the web page at HBO for the movie.
http://www.hbo.com/films/ironjawedangels/synopsis/

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago. Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.The women were jailed for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press. It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Yet one more staff member!

I am Rita Ennen and privileged to be the Director of Library Services. I came to DSU in 2001 as Technical Services Librarian. I still love Dickinson and serving students at DSU. In addition to general management, I also handle all of the library's magazine and journal subscriptions, assist with collection development of audiovisual materials, and serve as systems librarian for Aleph (our integrated library system software). I am currently serving as local arrangements chair for the next North Dakota Library Association conference to be held in Dickinson Sept. 27-29, 2009.

When I'm not working I enjoy music and drama events with/for my children. (Next play at the high school is Ramshackle Inn a comedy/mystery Feb. 27 - Mar. 1.) I enjoy reading (sci fi is favorite!), playing piano for worship at my church and camping and gardening in the summer time.

Technical Services Librarian

I am S. Faith Wanner; my title is the “Technical Services Librarian.” Does that mean I am a technician for the library computers? That’s not the case. What makes my library position technical? Providing access to library resources is a complex process; it requires knowledge of bibliographic and data control. I am responsible for the jobs that pertain to resource management, including acquiring, cataloging, processing, accessing, maintaining holdings of library resources, and account management. I also coordinate interlibrary loan services and assist the other librarians in providing reference and public service to the community.

I’m starting my seventh year at Dickinson State. Previous to that, I worked in various K-12 schools in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. I have a Masters in Library Science (MLS) for grades K-12 from Spalding University in Louisville, KY. In December 2007, I completed a MLS with an emphasis in academic/university libraries from the University of North Texas, Denton, TX.

When not working, my hobbies are quilting, reading, and spending time with family and friends. I enjoy watching HGTV, the Food Network, CSI, and science fiction.

Becky Needham

My name is Becky Needham and I am a library assistant/evening supervisor. The assistant part of my job title means I help with various tasks such as interlibrary loans, reserve items and my favorite part, helping to process all of the new materials the library receives. My evening supervisor duties involve watching over the library and all that takes place in it on Sundays and Monday thru Thursday nights. I have a degree in geology from UND and I taught my first geology lab last semester and will be teaching another one this semester.


Outside of work I enjoy the outdoors with my husband, Brock and our dog Radar. I like to take pictures with my digital camera, but by no means consider myself a photographer. Brock and I also like to hang out with our friends and play the game Rock Band.

Introducing...

We thought it might be time to introduce ourselves to all of you. Some of the library staff members have been here awhile...and we have a couple of new folk. So we are going to use the blog to tell you a little about ourselves.

I am Eileen Kopren, Public Services Librarian. What does a Public Services Librarian do, you ask? My primary responsibilities include library instruction, supervision of all circulation activities including student employees and reference work. This is my 34th year at Stoxen Library...and, yes, I do love my job! During my time here, the library has evolved and changed in numerous ways.

I am a DSU grad and proud of it! I have a Masters in Library Science from George Peabody College at Vanderbilt University.

Outside of my job responsibilities I enjoy walking and reading (what else would you expect a librarian to say!). I also sing in a church choir and play in a handbell choir.

Free ebook for January

Is your New Year's resolution to lead a healthier lifestyle? Well, netLibrary's free ebook for the month of January may help with that. Move Yourself: The Cooper Clinic Medical Director's Guide to All the Healing Benefits of Exercise (Even a Little!) describes ways to exercise without running a marathon or even breaking a sweat (really, that's what it says!!) Dr. Tedd Mitchell of the Cooper Clinic, fitness research expert Dr. Tim Church, and health writer Martin Zucker are the authors of this exercise program.

To access this book, begin at the library homepage, choose "Online Reference Resources" and then "netLibrary." This source is available from Jan. 1 - 31, 2009.

Happy New Year!

Book Swap

Did you read a book on summer vacation and now don't know what to do with it? Bring it to the library for the new "book swap" collection. Below see the guidelines for donating to this collection.

1. Please leave donations at the Main Circ Desk.
2. Books for this exchange may be fiction or non-fiction.
3. No textbooks, please.
4. Individuals may take a book to read and keep it or return it to the collection. To return it to the collection, please leave it at the Main Circ Desk of the Library.
5. The library staff reserves the right to not accept books for this collection.
6. The library staff will occasionally discard books from this collection.

New ebook for December!

The "free" ebook from netLibrary this month is "Barack Obama: the New Face of American Politics" by Martin Dupuis and Keith Boeckelman. Access to this ebook is through netLibrary. Choose "online reference resources" on the library homepage and then "netLibrary" on the next page. This book may be freely accessed from Dec. 1 - 31, 2008.

November's free ebook from netLibrary

This month's free ebook is "Foreclosure Survival Guide: Keep Your House or Walk Away With Money In Your Pocket." On the Library's homepage, choose "online reference resources." netLibrary is a choice on the next page. This free electronic book can be accessed on netLibrary's homepage.

"Written by a practicing lawyer who has helped hundreds keep their homes or come out of foreclosure financially sound, Foreclosure Survival Guide provides practical solutions and information that can help readers make the best decisions possible, including what to expect from foreclosure, whether it's worth trying to keep the house and using Chapter 13 bankruptcy to save a home."

For Your Convenience!

It is Alcohol Awareness Week.
The staff at Stoxen Library pulled items of interest for your convenience. See the displays for Alcohol Awareness, Leadership and National Parks.

Geography Trivia Fans!

The Columbia Gazetteer of the World, 2^nd edition, is on the shelves in Stoxen Library.

The three-volume set is in Reference with the call number of
Ref. G 103.5 .C65 2008

With over 170,000 entries, the Columbia Gazetteer of the World is an A to Z encyclopedia of geographical places and features. Whether you're looking for the ten highest mountain peaks in North America, the major commercial crops in Brazil's economy, all the rivers in Southeast Asia, the former name of the city of Yangon, or the natural resources available in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Gazetteer is the one-stop resource for all your information needs.

The Gazetteer features new entries and extensive revisions to reflect recent administrative divisions in countries around the world. It also contains new maps, population figures, and an expanded glossary of geographical and geological terms. With its long history of accuracy and authority, there is no other encyclopedia like Gazetteer.

The Columbia Gazetteer covers:

* Political world-countries, provinces, regions, states, counties, capitals, cities, towns, villages, and neighborhoods.

* Physical world-continents, oceans, seas, lakes, lagoons, rivers, bays, inlets, channels, and streams, along with islands, archipelagos, peninsulas, atolls, mountains, mountain ranges, canyons, deserts, valleys, and volcanoes.

* Special places-national parks and monuments, historic and archaeological sites, harbors, ports, airports, nuclear plants, canals, and destinations of interest.

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-14554-1/the-columbia-gazetteer-of-the-world

Library now open 7 days a week!

Beginning this Saturday, Sept. 6, the library will be open 7 days of the week! Regular library hours will be:
Monday – Thursday – 8 am – 11 pm
Friday – 8 am – 5 pm
Saturday – 2 pm – 5 pm
Sunday – 4 pm – 11 pm

Please note the library is also now open until 5 on Fridays (versus 4:30 pm).

Library hours vary over University breaks and holidays.

We moved this summer!

We haven’t actually moved the library, but we did spend time this summer re-arranging the books and periodicals so we thought we would let you know where some of your favorite items may now be located.

First of all, we evaluated books in the reference collection and moved some of them to the open book stacks. That means you can now check out, for example, such resources as the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, the Folklore of American Holidays, the Encyclopedia of Human Emotions and the Encyclopedia of Sports Science. For those of you that require students to use reference books, you might want to double-check the stacks to see what remains. There are still plenty of resources there.

We also moved the oversize books from the north end of the balcony down to the main floor at the beginning of the reference shelving. There are some real treasures in this collection, so check it out.

We then shifted (and vacuumed) every other book in the library. For most books this means they moved several sections from where they were. I know there are some who will need to “re-learn” the location of your favorite section. Believe me when I say that I’m still in the process of relearning where those frequently used sources are…I feel your pain!

We now have a “new” collection in the library called the Curriculum Library. These are textbooks and curriculum guides used in the elementary and secondary schools. You will find these materials on the lower level of the library in the compact shelving.

Have a great school year and come see us in the library.

Free netLibrary book for August

The free book from netLibrary until August 31 is Competition and Development: the Power of Competitive Markets. netLibrary describes this book as:

"The growth of international trade and investment has brought about many changes in the economies of developing countries, including a move away from state-controlled enterprise. However, it has also made developing countries more vulnerable to new and potentially harmful types of anticompetitive business practices.
Competition and Development: The Power of Competitive Markets demonstrates the importance of true and fair competition to sustainable development and an effective marketplace, touching on issues of globalization, consumer welfare, cartels and monopolies, and trade liberalization. It provides an introduction to competition, and competition law and policy in developing countries. It focuses on the practical problems faced in developing countries and the steps that have been and can be taken to overcome those problems."

To access this online book, go the the library homepage, then choose Online Reference Resources and then netLibrary.