Today is Constitution Day and to celebrate we wanted to highlight a couple of videos about the US Constitution from our Films on Demand database. Films on Demand has streaming video that is free to watch and easily embedded into Sakai.
Continue Reading →Author Archives: Courtney Bippley
Getting Support During the Fall Semester
The semester has started! That means assignments, deadlines, work, school, family, friends, pandemic, economy, politics, and more, are all stressors as we move into pumpkin spice season fall. Find resources below to help manage that stress and take care of your mental health.
Minority Mental Health Month
**This post is in collaboration with Durham Tech Counseling Services.**
July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, and while the month is almost over, many of these resources are available all year round both through Durham Tech and through outside agencies.
Are you a Durham Tech student looking for a safe space to discuss anxiety and other issues due to Covid-19? Have your heard about Let’s Cope?
The Let’s Cope group, hosted by LaKe’a Teel and Letoria Brown, is a support group for Durham Tech students that meets virtually over Microsoft Teams twice a week. They discuss specific topics, coping strategies, and share their experiences. This year has been tough (an understatement), and it looks like things will stay tough into the fall semester.
If you’re a student, please consider joining the group if and when you need to. If you are faculty or staff, direct students to the group whenever possible. We all need a support system to deal with things both big and small, from a global pandemic to help concentrating on schoolwork.
Information on previously covered topics can be found on the Counseling Services page, and many more topics are scheduled for the upcoming semester.
Click here for more resourcesLaptop Loaner Program at the Library
Are you using your phone to access your online coursework? Do you need a laptop for the upcoming semester? Do you know a student who needs one?
We All Scream For Ice Cream
It’s hot, y’all.
It’s hot and humid and sticky and gross. This is that part of a North Carolina summer my relatives in Pennsylvania tell me is inhumane. (The joke is on them when they get snow in November though.)
Sometimes, when the sun seems angry at you personally and the world feels like it’s falling apart (see: pandemic, police brutality, climate change, the 24-hour news cycle), there’s nothing better than some ice cream to cool off and coat your insides with delicious sugar (or dairy-free with sugar substitute– do you). Want to surround yourself with ice cream history and recipes? The library can help with that.
click here for ice cream recipes and more!What We’re Reading: Record of a Spaceborn Few
Title: Record of a Spaceborn Few
Author: Becky Chambers
Genre: Science Fiction
Read Great Things Challenge 2020 Categories: A book that is part of a series, a book suggested by a Durham Tech librarian.
Description: Hundreds of years ago, the last humans on Earth boarded the Exodus Fleet in search of a new home among the stars. After centuries spent wandering empty space, their descendants were eventually accepted by the well-established species that govern the Milky Way.
But that was long ago. Today, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, the birthplace of many, yet a place few outsiders have ever visited. While the Exodans take great pride in their original community and traditions, their culture has been influenced by others beyond their bulkheads. As many Exodans leave for alien cities or terrestrial colonies, those who remain are left to ponder their own lives and futures: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? Why remain in space when there are habitable worlds available to live? What is the price of sustaining their carefully balanced way of life—and is it worth saving at all?
A young apprentice, a lifelong spacer with young children, a planet-raised traveler, an alien academic, a caretaker for the dead, and an Archivist whose mission is to ensure no one’s story is forgotten, wrestle with these profound universal questions. The answers may seem small on the galactic scale, but to these individuals, it could mean everything.–HarperCollins blurb
Read Courtney’s thoughtsWhat We’re Reading: Cool Beans
This week’s What We’re Reading post is a little different because this book is a cookbook! I’ve included a couple of pictures of the food I’ve made. My amateur food photography skills are on full display.
Title: Cool Beans: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking with the World’s Most Versatile Plant-Based Protein, with 125 Recipes
Author: Joe Yonan
Description: Joe Yonan, food editor of the Washington Post,provides a master base recipe for cooking any sort of bean in any sort of appliance—Instant Pot, slow cooker, or stovetop—as well as creative recipes for using beans in daily life, from Harissa-Roasted Carrot and White Bean Dip to Crunchy Spiced Chickpeas to Smoky Black Bean and Plantain Chili. Drawing on the culinary traditions of the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Africa, South America, Asia, and the American South, and with beautiful photography throughout, this book has recipes for everyone. With fresh flavors, vibrant spices, and clever techniques, Yonan shows how beans can make for thrilling dinners, lunches, breakfasts—and even desserts!–Penguin Random House
See the tasty food i madeNational Library Week 2020: Find the Library at your Place (and our New Social Media Accounts)
It’s Friday, y’all! We made it to the end of another week doing the social distance disco. This week is National Library Week, too.
Earth Day! A Database and Story Time
It’s Earth Day, as you know, and in honor of that I’d like to highlight a database we have that is focused on environmental issues. Then, I’ll tell you a story and ask for your stories in return. Just go with it, it’s gonna be fun!
Learn a database and read a storyWhat We’re Reading: The City We Became
This audiobook was listened to by Courtney Bippley, a Reference Librarian at the Main Campus Library (currently working from home). It was received for free from through the Libro.fm ALC program.
Title: The City We Became: A Novel
Author: N.K. Jemisin
Narrator: Robin Miles
Genre: Fantasy
Summary: Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City.
In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn’t remember who he is, where he’s from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power.
In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it’s as if the paint is literally calling to her.
In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels.
And they’re not the only ones.
Every great city has a soul. Some are ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York? She’s got six. –Hachette Book Group
Read Great Things 2020 Challenge Category: Recommended by a Durham Tech Librarian, A book that is part of a series (Great Cities #1)
Read courtney’s thoughts on this book