Category Archives: Focus on a Topic

April is Poetry Month!

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April is National Poetry Month!

National Poetry Month, April 2021. Celebrating 25 years. The 2021 poster was designed by twelfth grader Bao Lu from Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York, who was the winner of the 2021 National Poetry Month Poster Contest, and features lines by U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. "There is nowhere else I want to be but here. I lean into the rhythm of your heart to see where it will take us." Image is an impressionistic painting of a young man floating (or falling) over the telephone lines of a three or four lane road with houses lining the sides. A red-orange-pink ball hovers below his left foot. A yellow hand on a crossing sign is illuminated. The colors are vibrant on a wash of black, white, gray, and tans that make up the scene.

Last year, we did a blackout poetry Crafternoon, and this year we’d like to ask you:

Who is your favorite poet?

What’s your favorite poem?

Let me (Meredith Lewis) know by 5:00 this Friday, April 16 either via email (lewisma@durhamtech.edu) or Teams chat for a chance to have you favorite poem made into this year’s Durham Tech Library Poetry Month bookmarks.

(I’m going to tell you a secret: If you send me a poem or poet that you’d just think would make a good bookmark, I won’t hold it against you and no one is fact-checking what “favorite” means in this context. A short to mid-length poem with vivid imagery is ideal.)

Click through to see previous Durham Tech Library Poetry Month bookmarks and print your own (which are designed to be colored in if you so desire). 

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New Spanish Language Collection available in the Durham Tech Libraries

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Thanks to grant funding from the Durham Tech Foundation, the Durham Tech Library now has a brand-new Spanish Language Collection!

Close up of some book spines with the new ESPAÑOL (Spanish) stickers on them

Containing nearly 300 titles in print (100 of them brand new!) at the Main Campus Library and over 300 new ebooks/audiobooks available via the Dogwood Digital Library, the Spanish Language Collection is now available to all Durham Tech students, staff, and faculty. 

This collection is a complement to our Spanish language courses (SPA) at Durham Tech and provides a variety of reading material by some of the Spanish-speaking world’s most celebrated authors and some books in translation, including collections of short stories, poetry, and children’s books. 

There’s something here for everyone! Keep reading for more information about our print titles, our digital titles, and our new and updated Library Resource Guides (LibGuides). 

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What We’re Watching: Bridgerton! (and Romance Reading through Dogwood Digital)

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bridgerton, on Netflix December 25, 2020

Title: Bridgerton, Season 1 (available streaming on Netflix)

Genre: Period drama; Romance; Regency Romance

This series was watched by Rachel Smith, Northern Durham Center Librarian. 

Set in 19th-century London, Bridgerton centers on the aristocratic Bridgerton family. The widow Violet, Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton is mother to eight children. As eldest daughter Daphne Bridgerton enters her first courting season with Queen Charlotte’s favor, she meets Simon Bassett, Duke of Hastings and best friend of her eldest brother, Anthony. Despite being encouraged by his mentor, Lady Danbury, the Duke is determined not to ever get married and he plots with Daphne to secure his bachelordom and to secure her a suitable marriage.

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Library Reads for International Women’s Day

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March 8 is International Women’s Day and was created to focus on the achievements of women across the globe and emphasize the continued need to push for gender parity. 

International Women's Day: We will choose to challenge gender stereotypes and bias #ChooseToChallenge

This year’s theme is “Choose to Challenge,” acknowledging that gender bias left unchallenged allows it to continue. 

To celebrate International Women’s Day, check out some of the books that the Durham Tech Library has online and in our physical collection to celebrate women’s voices, accomplishments, and experiences. 

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What You Could Be Watching: The Hayti Heritage Film Festival

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The Hayti Heritage Film Festival, created in 1994 to create and celebrate a “Black film ecosystem in the South” and normally held in Durham at St. Joseph’s United AME Church, is mostly virtual this year. 

Hayti Heritage Film Festival-- The Hero's Journey: Call to Action, March 1-6, 2021

Now in its 27th year, the films are centered around the theme of “The Hero’s Journey,” and has a combination of films and panels, running from Monday, March 1 to Saturday, March 6. While most films will be screened online, there will be a few drive-in movies. 

Check out the schedule to purchase tickets or passes. 

The Hayti Heritage Foundation hosts events throughout the year, including walking tours of both Black Wall Street and the Hayti neighborhood (by appointment). For more information about historic Durham, including the Hayti neighborhood, keep reading. 

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Celebrate Black History Month with Streaming Films

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We are highlighting three important films from our Library’s streaming video collections.  Simply log in with your Durham Tech username and password to watch the films or clips from the films. A transcript and closed captioning are provided for each film.

February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four film cover, showing the backs of 4 men sitting at the counter of a lunch counter

Do you know the history of the Greensboro Four?  You can watch the documentary film, February One, to learn about the four NC A&T University students who sat down at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. in 1960 as part of the civil rights movement. 

John Lewis 'Good Trouble' documentary film cover showing a drawing of the mugshot a young John Lewis, slightly smiling

John Lewis: Good Trouble is an inspirational new film that shares the life and legacy of legendary U.S. Representative John Lewis and his 60 years of  activism for civil rights. 

Fannie Lou Hamer speaking into a handheld microphone and surrounded by people

Learn more about Mississippi civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer and her work for voting rights and women’s rights in the 1960’s, in the film The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer: Never Turn Back.  

To discover additional streaming films, explore Films on Demand and AVON: Academic Video Online.