Category Archives: Focus on a Topic

Happy Election Day!

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For a bit of background history on why elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, see this article on NPR.

Title against bright yellow background

During the 2008 elections Nate Silver began making a name for himself by using statistics to more accurately predict election results. The library has a copy of his book, The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail But Some Don’t, available under call number CB 158 .S54 2012. The book provides a fascinating look into why numbers used in elections, sports statistics, weather forecasting, and even big events like the financial crash aren’t always accurate or reflecting what we think they are.

In honor of Election Day, here are some ebooks from our collection, which you can read online or download to a device:

Blue and green artistic cover

 American Political Parties and Elections : A Very Short Introduction by Maisel, L. Sandy (ebook!)

A pink piggy bank in the middle of a green cover

 Are Elections for Sale? by Joel Rogers

Photograph of someone voting

The Politics of Voter Suppression: Defending and Expanding America’s Right to Vote by Tova Wang.

(Available as an ebook through the link or as a physical book in our collection under call number JK 1976 .W36 2012)

Cover laid out like the front page of a newspaper

The Myth of Voter Fraud by Lorraine Minnite (ebook!)

To find more ebooks, search the ebrary collection, which you can access from the library page noting it and other database collections.

Durham Reads Together Events Scheduled for October

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A bull reads a red book. Text says, "2014 Durham Reads Together March: Book One. John Lewis. Andrew Aydin. Nate Powell.

Congressman and civil rights advocate, John Lewis’ graphic novel March: Book One, has been selected for the 2014 Durham Community Reads program. March: Book One is the first installation of a trilogy, and spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.

 

Cover of the graphic novel shows a sit-in at the bottom and a lot of people walking at the top.

Students in HIS 132 courses at Durham Tech are reading the book this semester. The library has several copies available of this book for loan and on reserve. Durham Reads Together, held every two years, is sponsored by the Durham County Library, and encourages residents to read and discuss a single book. Admission to all programs is free. View the link below for information about book related events and activities in October.

http://durhamreadstogether.org/events/

Sports! And Reading!

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With all the recent less-than-heartening news about college athletes and academics, it’s nice to see something positive:

Read the article here about University of Georgia’s Malcolm Mitchell and the book club he joined to help him improve his reading.

Our favorite part?

Wait, but what about the touchdowns?

“That came natural,” Mitchell said. “That’s a gift. I had to work to read.”

While we don’t have a book club, we do have lots of great books for you to check out in the library, including The Hunger Games trilogy.  See how fast you can read them.

Celebrate and Remember Dr. Maya Angelou

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Three black and white photographs of Dr. Maya Angelou with the text, "Celebrate and remember Dr. Maya Angelou 1928 - 2014"

Dr. Maya Angelou, one of the most celebrated and admired poets, novelists, and civil-rights activists in the United States, died last month at her home in Winston Salem.  The library has many of Maya Angelou’s works including her novels, poetry collections, autobiographies, essays, and cookbook.

Check the online catalog for titles.

Here are some tributes to her life and work:

New York Times

CNN

NPR

http://mayaangelou.com/bio/

 

Adorable library cats

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You may have heard of Dewey the cat from the book Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron.  This book chronicles Dewey’s story of living in a public library in Spencer, Iowa.  Other libraries around the world also have cats.  To see great photos and read other stories take a look at these fun links:

Dewey the Cat sits above two books.

Spencer Public Library’s Dewey the Cat

http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/quick-guide-library-cats/

http://flavorwire.com/311716/famous-and-fabulous-library-cats/

http://lovemeow.com/2010/01/library-cats-from-all-over-the-world/

 

 

 

Kuzma, a cat, wears a bow tie and walks through the library

Image from http://www.theatlanticcities.com

Kuzma who wears a  bowtie and lives in a Russian library is especially cute.  He was just promoted to assistant librarian!

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2013/09/russian-library-just-hired-stray-cat-their-assistant-librarian/6941

 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, January 20th

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Please join members of the library staff and the college for Durham Tech’s Stop Hunger Now Meal Packaging Event on Mon. Jan. 20th from 9:00 – 6:30 at the Wynn Bldg room 1103.  Click here for more information and to sign up for a volunteer shift.  This important service project is a great way to start off the year!

Black and white photograph of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with his hands clasped in front of him

The library has lots of resources on Dr. King’s life and work, as well as materials on poverty, social justice, activism, and service.

Titles for inspiration and information:

The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A social justice hall of fame
E 747 .D74 2012

Citizen King (DVD) E 185.97 .K5 C58 2004

Citizen You: Doing your part to change the world HN 18.3 .T57 2010 (upstairs, Dr. Phail Wynn Jr. collection)

Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice  REF HM 671 .E53 2007

Everyone Helps, Everyone Wins: How absolutely anyone can pitch in, help out, give back, and make the world a better place
HN 49 .V64 L48 2010 (upstairs, Dr. Phail Wynn Jr. collection)

Gettin’ My Word Out: Voices of urban youth activists HN 19 .A76 2007 (upstairs, Dr. Phail Wynn Jr. collection)

Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s letter from Birmingham Jail and the struggle that changed a nation F 334 .B69 N446 2013

The Great Divergence: America’s growing inequality crisis and what we can do about it  HC 110 .I5 N63 2012 (upstairs, Dr. Phail Wynn Jr. collection)

I See the Promised Land: A life of Martin Luther King, Jr  PS 3556 .L598 I8 2010

The King Years: Historic moments in the civil rights movement
E 185.61 .B7913 2013

Martin Luther King: “I have a dream.” (DVD) E 185.97 .K5 M295 2005

Poor Kids: An intimate portrait of America’s economic crisis (DVD)
HV 741 .P66 2013

Social Justice HM 671 .S623 2010 (upstairs, Dr. Phail Wynn Jr. collection)

Social Welfare: Fighting poverty and homelessness HV 1553 .S62 2011

Search the online catalog for additional materials.

 

 

 

Celebrating the Bull City

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Evening photo overlooking the Durham downtown area.

photo from Design Sponge

Explore Durham’s history and culture with these resources:

Photo shows the front entrance to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park

photo from MILB.com

27 Views of Durham : the Bull City in prose & poetry

Durham County : a history of Durham County, North Carolina

Durham Technical Community College : celebrating 50 years, 1961-2011

A Palette, Not a Portrait : stories from the life of Nathan Garrett

Upbuilding Black Durham : gender, class, and Black community development in the Jim Crow South

Durham Tales : the Morris Street maple, the plastic cow, the Durham Day that was & more

Durham, a Self-Portrait [DVD]

Our Separate Ways : women and the Black Freedom Movement in Durham, North Carolina

Favored by Fortune : George W. Watts & the Hills of Durham

Durham’s Hayti

Mary : an autobiography

Use the online catalog to find call numbers and more information about these materials.

For more information:

Read a list of 300 things that make Durham Great from the Durham Convention & Visitor’s Bureau.

Visit Open Durham a highly interlinked archive/inventory of information about people, places, and history in Durham, NC with excellent photos.

Photo of a historical sign with information about Black Wall Street

photo from flickr

Check out the Museum of Durham History and visit the Durham History Hub in downtown Durham.

Learn about Durham’s “Black Wall Street” from LEARN NC, a program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Education

Attention, graduates! Career resources are available for you in the library and online!

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Career Resources poster in orange, red, and blue with the text, "Career Resources" "Resumes and Cover Letters" "Are you graduating this spring? Are you in the market for a job?" "Interview Skills" "Career Guidebooks"

Take a look at our Career Resources LibGuide for lots of good materials and links.

Did you know that DTCC has an online Career Center?

New print resources in the library:

  • Job Interviews for Dummies
    Call Number: HF 5549.5 .I6 K393 2012
  • The Essential Phone Interview Handbook
    Call Number: HF 5549.5 .I6 B295 2011
  • Resume 101
    Call Number: HF 5383 .S3275 2012
  • Hot Health Care Careers
    Call Number: R 690 .H68 2011
  • Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies
    Call Number: HF 5382.7 .W35 2011

Library resources for understanding the Arab Spring

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Image with words in different colors: ArabSpring, revolution, Egypt, uprising, Yemen, freedom, Bahrain, rebellion, Syria, Libya, democracy, Tunisia

Books and DVDs about the Arab Spring:

Arab spring dreams: the next generation speaks out for freedom and justice from North Africa to Iran  HQ 799 .M628 A73 2012

The Arab uprisings: what everyone needs to know  JQ 1850 .A91 G37 2012

The battle for the Arab Spring: revolution, counter-revolution and the making of a new era JQ 1850 .A91 N68 2012

From Cairo to Wall Street: voices from the global spring  HM 881 .F76 2012

Muslim women reformers: inspiring voices against oppression HQ 1726.5 .L54 2009

On the state of Egypt: what made the revolution inevitable  DT 107.87 .A77 2011

Revolution in Cairo [DVD]  JQ 3831 .R48 2011

The road to Tahrir Square: Egypt and the United States from the rise of Nasser to the fall of Mubarak   E 183.8 .E35 G37 2011

Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan   DS 93 .S956 2011

Yemen  DS 247 .Y48 E26 2004

Online sources of information:

Points of View Reference Center (for remote access, use NC LIVE password)

Academic Search Complete (for remote access, use NC LIVE password)

The Guardian UK Interactive Timeline

NPR: Major Events of the Arab Spring

The Economist Arab Spring topic page

New York Times Arab World Uprisings

 

Do you have Olympic fever?

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Collage with four images and the text "Check out the library's books and movies about sports." The images, from top left clockwise show: a female running track, a male swimmer, a female gymnast, and a male soccer player.

The library has sports-related books and DVDs to get you excited about the London Olympics 2012, which begin on July 27th.

Here are some of our titles:

Sport and Society in the Global Age GV 706.5 .M36 2012

Muhammad Ali : the king of the ring GV 1132 .A44 H45 2011

Sports and Athletes GV 565 .S66 2011

Grace & Glory : a century of women in the Olympics GV 721.5 .G63 1996

Moneyball [DVD] PN 1997.2 .M66 2011

Invictus [DVD] PN 1997.2 .I58 2010

The Heart of the Game [DVD] GV 886 .H43 2007

 

Here is the official website for the summer Olympics:

http://www.olympic.org/london-2012-summer-olympics

Here is the ESPN Olympic portal:

http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012/

Here is the Sports Illustrated Olympics coverage:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2012/

Have fun watching awesome athletes from around the world compete!