We have so many amazing new books (and beautiful covers) this month! I’m including more than usual and I STILL couldn’t include them all. You’re going to have to stop by and check them out yourself. (See what I did there 🙂 )
What We’re Reading: Meal
Title: Meal
Author: Blue Delliquanti with Soleil Ho
Format: Graphic Novel
Genre: Fiction
Why did you choose to read this book?
Continue Reading →The cover drew me to it at first. I like food and I like books about food and the images of the characters looked fun. Then, once I realized it was about eating bugs I was even more fascinated.
What We’re Reading: There There
Title: There There
Author: Tommy Orange
Genre: fiction
Why did you choose to read this book?
There There appeared on so many best-books-of-2018 lists and received rave reviews from authors and critics alike that I felt like it was following me, or the universe was telling me to read this book. Also, my book club chose it.
Continue Reading →
Library hosts fourth annual Student Art Exhibition
The library is excited to host our fourth annual Student Art Exhibition which features wonderful art works by our talented Associate in Fine Arts students. Paintings, ceramics, sculpture, and drawings are presented. The art will be on display through May 2nd. Enjoy photos of some of the art works in the exhibition below. An opening reception with refreshments will be held on Wed. Apr. 24 from 4:00-6:00 pm in Library Room 212 to celebrate the artists.
Alexandria Rainey “Still Life of Flowers and Oranges” 
Bryant Law “Son of God” 
Linnea Murthy “Around the World in 80 Days” 
Emmanuel Oquaye “Portrait of Native American” after Nicolai Fechin 
Brian Perez “Module Project” 
Ashley Polanco “Simply Floral” 
Christina Chareunsip “Transparent and Reflective project” 
Au’Dasia Newsome “I See You” 
Jasmin Ochoa-Benitez “Woman Gazing at Apple” 
Emmanuel Oquaye “Natural Vessel” 
Mfonobong Utin “Homage to the Harlem Hellfighters: Past Present and Future” 
Sumeya Kiradoh “Module Project” 
Melanie Antle “Myrkur” 
Josie Harkinson “Pot” 
Abigail Smith “Wearily” Wire Project
Fresh Finds at the OCC
Pollen dust cloud got you down? Try these pollen-free* new reads in their freshly wrapped dust jackets.Â
*No guarantees once they leave the library. It’s brutal out there, y’all.Â
Reese’s Book Club April 2019 Pick 
Book 3 in the series 
NC Author 
Book 3 in the series 
Book 3 in the series 
Celebrate Poetry Month with Durham Tech
April is National Poetry Month, which celebrates and encourages people to read and rediscover poets and poetry in their literary lives.
How can you participate at Durham Tech? Good news! We’ve got a few easy suggestions!
- Visit The Poetry Fox in the Main Campus Library on Thursday, April 4 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and celebrate local vulpine poets.Â
- Check out a book from the poetry displays in the Main and Orange County Campus Libraries.
- Write some of your own poetry inspired by the many seasons we’ve had in the past two weeks.
- Pick up or print out your own copy of the Durham Tech Library’s 2019 Poetry Month bookmarks.Â
Want some more poetry in your life? Check out local public libraries and independent bookstores for more events.
Dance as Cultural Reflection and Influence
If you’ve walked by the entrance to the library this week you may have seen our new dance themed window display. Books about dance or that feature dance, both non-fiction and fiction, academic texts to children’s books. Complete with dance shoes and a poster advertising the upcoming Dancing the African Diaspora event with Dr. DeFrantz.
Dr. Thomas DeFrantz is a professor at Duke University teaching African American Studies, Dance, and Women’s Studies. He’ll be coming to share his knowledge as both a scholar and performer with all of us. See the full event description below!
Dancing the African Diaspora: Black American Social Dances
Black music and dance provide the creative engine for a global system of expressive culture. For example, we find hip hop, voguing, jazz dance, and swing dance practiced all over the planet by eager groups of social dancers, many of whom have little daily connection to African American people.
This talk explores the terms of encounter that have created the spaces of Black Social Dance. Moving outward from a consideration of African American-derived systems of embodied knowledge, the talk constructs historical and theoretical models to allow for a deeper understanding of how Black social dances come to be, what they do in the world, and how they hold enormous and continuous currency of motion as an urgent site of embodied expression that speaks to an increasingly diverse global populace.
Come join in! Exploring historical modes of Black Social Dance, we will dance together as well!
This event is sponsored by Viva the Arts.
Carolina Asia Center Funds New Library Material
We have a bunch of awesome new materials for check out thanks to the Carolina Asia Center at UNC. Funded by their Title VI grant from the Department of Education, the Carolina Asian Center fosters Asian studies on campus by supporting instruction, collaborating on cultural events, and working with faculty interested in adding Asian content to their courses.
Continue Reading →North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Endows Dr. Phail Wynn Jr. Library Collection
The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation has awarded $50,000 to the Durham Technical Community College Foundation to create the Dr. Phail Wynn, Jr. Library Endowment.
Dr. Phail Wynn, Jr. served as president of Durham Tech for 27 years. Upon his retirement in 2007, he established The Dr. Phail Wynn, Jr. Collection at the Durham Tech Library. Dr. Wynn generously supported the collection through personal philanthropy until his passing in July 2018. The library is very proud of Dr. Wynn’s collection and we are thrilled that that we can sustain and grow it in the years to come to honor his memory and legacy. When students ask about the special collection it is a wonderful opportunity to tell them about our inspirational former president and his commitment to education, passion for service, dedication to the community, and his vision for the future.
Durham Technical Community College
1980-2007
Dr. Wynn’s collection promotes cultural awareness, tolerance, diversity, environmental conservation, sustainability, and peace. The collection is located on the upper level of the library. Here are some new titles recently added to the collection. Visit our display window at the entrance to the library and ask a staff member if you would like to borrow any of the materials on display.
Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future 
Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education 
How to Work with and Lead People Not Like You: Practical Solutions for Today’s Diverse Workplace 
Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life 
Zero Waste: Simple Life Hacks to Drastically Reduce Your Trash 
Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America 
The Revolution Generation: How Millennials Can Save America and the World (Before It’s Too Late) 
Team Human 
Reduce, Reuse, Reimagine: Sorting Out the Recycling System 
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students
What We’re Reading: The Feather Thief
This book was read by Meredith Lewis, the [mostly] Orange County Campus Librarian, and is available for checkout at the Orange County Campus Library.
Title: The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century
Author: Kirk Wallace Johnson
Genre: Social Science, True Crime [against a museum and the historical record], History [of animal specimen collection and feather fashion], Ethics
#ReadGreatThings2019 Category: A social science book; A book by a person you admire; A book that features college or higher education
Check out our blog post on the Read Great Things 2019 Challenge.
Why did you choose this book?
I read a lot of book lists and this one popped up sometime last year. Plot-wise, I like museums and true crime, and a museum heist was immediately something interesting to me. I don’t fly fish, but you don’t need to in order to enjoy this book.
Really, The Feather Thief is kind of about a lot of things– recovering after personal and professional disappointment, Victorian fly fishing lures, the role of museums and museum specimens in the historical record and preservation, the ecologically destructive power of fashion, and what can happen to an insular community when something illegal impacts them. At its core, it’s about a young man who, realizing he has an opportunity to make some money in a niche community that he is a member of, breaks into a natural history museum, steals a lot of rare bird carcasses, and then sells the feathers. He gets caught (not really a spoiler). A portion of the fly fishing community reacts (or refuses to acknowledge their participation). People justify the bad behavior as not so bad and ignore the parts that don’t impact them directly. Reflection ensues.
Did it remind you of any other book or a movie?
It reminded me a little of Bad Blood by John Carreyrou (available through the OCC Library) and there’s this movie on Amazon Prime I watched a while ago about a man who forges (copies?) famous paintings and then donates them to art museums called Art & Craft. Both of them examine how people justify or try to hide behaviors that are bad or ethically just not right, but in different ways. I guess that’s a topic that interests me. Who knew?
Who would you recommend this book to?
Anyone ready to be surprised by an engaging nonfiction book that may not perfectly align with their own interests. Anyone looking to fill their social science checkbox in the Read Great Things 2019 Challenge. People who like true crime, but want to avoid the murdery ones.
Also, people who like to tie their own fly fishing lures. This book talks your talk, unless you’re sensitive about buying authentic feathers for Victorian-era lures– then you may feel exceptionally called out.