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.
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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.
Pollen dust cloud got you down? Try these pollen-free* new reads in their freshly wrapped dust jackets.
*No guarantees once they leave the library. It’s brutal out there, y’all.
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!
Want some more poetry in your life? Check out local public libraries and independent bookstores for more events.
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!
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.
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 →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.
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.
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.
Get your read on with these new nonfiction titles at the Orange County Campus Library, most of which fit neatly into Read Great Things Challenge 2019 categories.
Remember that your Durham Tech Library card is valid at all Durham Tech Library locations and you can request to pick up a book from another campus at your home campus (though you’re always welcome to come visit).
There are worldwide events and webinars this week to increase awareness about textbook costs as barriers to education and the potential for technology to enhance teaching and learning.
Durham Tech Library advocates for Open Educational Resources and provides support for faculty and staff interested in exploring OER. Stop by the Main Campus or Orange County Campus libraries to pick up an OER button to show your support.
Here are some resources to help you learn more:
Open Education North Carolina is an initiative that aims to reduce the cost of higher education for North Carolina students by providing free, open textbooks for the most frequently-taught courses across North Carolina’s colleges and universities.
Grant opportunities are available through OENC now! One Durham Tech instructor has been awarded a $1,000 grant for adopting an open textbook for an ART 111 course for Fall 2019 semester.
Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) offers frequent webinars, research and case studies, and resources for faculty. To celebrate Open Education Week, CCCOER will hold five Faculty Dialogue webinars, each day this week, in which faculty in a specific discipline will discuss the intricacies of teaching with OER in that subject and answer audience questions.
The Open Education Resource Guide from Virginia Tech offers a guide to getting started with open, editable, and lower-cost textbooks and open teaching & learning resources. Especially helpful is the information on finding OER by discipline and open textbook authoring and editing.
SPARC, a global coalition committed to making open the default for research and education, offers events, updates on policies and projects, news, and resources on all aspects of open education.
Do you want to learn more about OER or get involved at Durham Tech? Please contact Julie Humphrey (humphreyj@durhamtech.edu or 919-536-7211 x 1602) for more information. Stay tuned for upcoming events and discussions on campus.