Colgate University Libraries News and Events

Professor Manning Marable was the founding director of Colgate's Africana & Latin American Studies program.  He died in April, 2011, just days before the release of his critically acclaimed biography Malcolm X:  A Life of Reinvention.
 
The book has been described by Wil Haygood in the Washington Post as going "... deeper and richer than a mere homage to Malcolm X. It is a work of art, a feast that combines genres skillfully: biography, true-crime, political commentary. It gives us Malcolm X in full gallop, a man who died for his belief in freedom, a man whom Marable calls the 'fountainhead' of the black power movement in America."
 
This and dozens of other works by Professor Marable are available at the Colgate University Libraries by searching the library catalog by author/Marable, Manning.
 
Photo:  NPR.org

I found in my email this morning sad news. One of my favorite authors, Russell Hoban, died yesterday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/14/russell-hoban-dies-86?CMP=twt_fd
I was one of a privileged few who subscribed to his cult fan-club email group, the-Kraken.  Besides discussing the books and sharing the joy of finding another mention of Russ's works in the larger world out there, the-Kraken celebrated Russ's birthday, each Feb. 4, by participating in the SA4QE - Slickman A4 (paper) Quotation Event, documented here.  May you all have a writer in your life whose words so inspire you to celebrate mystery and humanity.
 
 
 

As you prepare for the inevitable end of the semester mad crush here at the library, maybe you would enjoy a few words from Mr. Rollins, blogging at LA Weekly about his visit to the National Archives and the Library of Congress. He got to peek at a few of our national treasures. As he says,

I know that collector types can be a pain in the neck and seem perpetually frozen in time -- or at least in their parents' basement -- but someone has to look out for the past, lest it slip away forever.

We may not have an early draft of the Bill of Rights at Colgate but we do have some treasures. A first edition of Darwin's On the Origin of Species and a copy of Dickens' A Christmas Carol illustrated by Arthur Rackham, for example.

Tis the season for bbq, beaches, and hopefully some fireworks. In addition, it might be your moment to take some time and read for pleasure. Do you do this anymore? If so, where? I've been experimenting with reading on the iPad, and it's not so bad. It's unlikely to ever replace the tactile sensation of print for me, but during this season of travel, it's convenience wins. How about you? Where do you do your reading these days? Does it depend on what you're reading?
If you're looking for some suggestions as to what to read, you could start with the New York Public Library's Summer Reading Program. They've put out a list for adults. We've got several of the titles at Case-Geyer, including The Bad Girl and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Nancy Pearl, of the Seattle Public Library and library figurine (with shushing action) fame, also has a list of 10 Terrific Summer Reads up on NPR. She's included a set of graphic novels, Castle Waiting I and II. We've got the first. Did you know that we have graphic novels? Castle Waiting I is not alone on the shelf.
If we haven't got something you're looking for, Connect NY might have it.
I'll be reading Bossypants and listening to The Harrow and the Harvest, Gillian Welch's first new album in almost 10 years. What about you?
 

This is the annual contest that I wait for every summer, the Tour de France. And what a start it has been! With the prologue and 2 stages complete (haven't seen today's stage 3 results yet - that's for tonight's re-broadcast), there has already been numerous crashes, and some big names are out of the competetion. Everyone held their breath at the end of stage 1, when crash after crash took down competitors, one crash bringing the entire peleton to a stop. In stage 2, the combination of rain and oil leaked from an officials motorcylce took down numerous favorites and took Christian Vandevelde (broken ribs) and Frank Schleck out the race!
 
What's in store: today was cobblestones (hopefully, they had a dry day), then more than 3,000 km of "flat", mountains, and an individual time trial. I wish they'd bring back the team time trials, there's nothing quite so beautiful as a well executed team stage. It all cumulates in he final triumphant (and heart stopping) finale down the Champs Elysees.
 
Follow the action on the official Tour de France website, and for those of us following on TV, Versus (Time Warner channels 50 and 803). In the libraries, you can also catch news from databases like LexisNexis Academic and Access World News International, or check out books in our catalog on cycling, bicycle racing, or the Tour itself.

Early today, the U.S. Senate's longest serving member, Robert Byrd (D - West Virginia), died at Inova Fairfax Hospital. Perhaps best know for his knowledge of and passion for the Constitution (he is reported to have always carried a copy on the Senate floor), he was also a fiddle player, and the author of 5 books: The Senate, 1789-1989; The Senate of the Roman Republic:  Addresses on the History of Roman Constitutionalism;  Losing America: Confronting A Reckless and Arrogant Presidency;  Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields;  and Letter to a New President, co-authored with Steve Kettmann. Colgate owns most of these books, the majority of which are official U.S. government documents. Take a look at them in our catalog, and then in person.
 
There is a lengthy obituary about Byrd in the Washington Post, and more information about him is available on the Senate website.
 
As might be expected, speeches about Byrd came quickly in Congress. You can read those by going to fdsys.gov and search for Byrd in the Congressional Record daily. I'd limit your results to after June 27, 2010 and add terms like remembering, condolences, and memorium. Try this link, and see if it gets you there (don't know if FDSys has durable URLs).

That quadrennial sporting event beloved by the world and ingored by a significant number of Americans, is underway in South Africa. If you haven't found your way to watch the matches or stay up to date on the news and events, check out our list of online and TV sources. Have a good one that isn't listed? Post a comment with the link and I'll add it our webpage.

Welcome to the first of what I hope to be monthly entries highlighting a new and/or interesting U.S. federal document in the Colgate Libraries Collection. I'll start with a new arrival: Oriskany: a Place of Great Sadness: a Mohawk Valley Battlefield Ethnography. Call number Case Docs I 29.2:OR 4.  The Mohawk Valley Ethnography Project was designed to document the relationships between contemporary Native Americans and Europeans/Americans in the mid to late 18th century, focusing on Fort Stanwix (just up the road in Rome, NY). Fort Stanwix was the site of several critical treaties between the British and the Iroquois and, after the Revolution, the U.S. and the Iroquois. The region is the homeland of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, whose neutrality or military support was desired by both the Brisith and the "rebels" during the Revolution.
The Project was particualrly interested in finding and documenting any oral traditions that survive among the descendatns of particpants in the Battle of Oriskany (8/6/1777). Although none were found, archival research and consultation with current Native Americans resulted in this document, which includes mangement and planning for the Fort Stanwix National Monument.
Enjoy,

What happens when John Papola, the executive producer of Spike TV and fan of economist  Friedrich von Hayek (the intellectual founder of what is known today as the Austrian School of Economics) teams up with libertarian economist Russell Roberts, co-author of the Hayek blog and host of the podcast EconTalk? A 6 1/2-minute music video which tells the story of Keynes and Hayek going out for a night on the town and debating their theories. Listen and view the video at the National Public Radio website.

NPR's at it again. Every April 1st, my husband and I listen intently to Morning Edition to see how quickly we can identify their April Fool's story. It's done straight; indeed they get mail from outraged listeners who miss the joke. This year, they got us - two stories, not one!
 
You haven't missed out on the fun. Not only do we link you to today's stories, but you can use LexisNexis Academic to read transcripts of favorites from the past. Can you find the missing story (April 1, 2008) in Radio & TV Transcripts in  LN Academic? Find the story and get your name on our blog!
 
2009 Pro Sports Team Mascots
2009 The Economist opens a Theme Park
2007 Cell phones in N.Y. city
2006 A Perilous Encounter with the i-Bod
2005 Exploding maple trees
2004 Portable Zip Code
2003 Meigs Field, Chicago
2002 Universial Health Care for Pets
2001 Advertising on the Moon
1999 Speech recognition technology for dogs
1998 Boston Celtics or Keltics?