Books, Bites and Banter!

Please join us for a book discussion of Toni Morrison's new book A Mercy!

In anticipation of Toni Morrison's visit to Oberlin as a Convocation Series speaker, the Oberlin College Library and Student Friends of the Library are hosting four one-time book discussion groups. We hope you can make it to one of them!

See the discussion groups web page for more information about the book and how to get in on the discussions. Light refreshments will be provided.

The EJC has been fully restored

Here's the latest word from the folks at OhioLINK:

As of yesterday mid-day the EJC was fully restored with over 12.5 million articles. There is still general clean-up going on (let us know if any searches point you to the wrong article), but journal menus and tables of contents are complete.

Once again our apologies for the reduced services the past month. Thank you very much for your patience and support throughout this recovery process. As we originally noted, our hardware failure was a very unexpected and improbable occurrence. Nonetheless we are taking steps to minimize even further the possibility of a recurrence.

Long live the EJC!

extended A-Level and Scholar Study hours

The A-Level and Scholar Studies will be open continuously beginning Sunday, March 15 and continuing until midnight on Friday, March 20. The card swipe will remain active until 8 a.m. each morning.

Even though we're open, please consider taking regular breaks for sleep, meals, and showering.

Come see Helvetica

The Student Friends of the Library are sponsoring a screening of Helvetica, a documentary about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture.

Join us at 8pm on Thursday, March 12th in Mudd 113!

Spotlight on the Collections: Small Press Literature

What do Allen Ginsberg, Yehuda Amichai, and Elizabeth Alexander have in common? Carole Maso, Robert Creeley, Paul Bowles, Lucille Clifton and Susan Howe? These writers have all been published by small presses.

There is a long history of small press literary publishing in the U.S., integral to the development of modern American literature. Presses such as New Directions, City Lights, and Black Sparrow have been publishing since the mid 20^th century, and continue to this day. Countless other presses have come and gone over time, sometimes lasting only a year or two. Small and independent press publishing in the U.S. remains vibrant and ever-changing, and continues to publish some of the most important and thought-provoking literary work today.

Given the critical role of small and independent press publishing in shaping the American literary terrain, Oberlin College Library has long made a concerted effort to acquire books by these publishers.

Make sure to check out the current Spotlight on the Collections display of small press literature in the Academic Commons!

Book Talk by Pam Brooks today at 4:30pm

Join the Friends of the Oberlin College Library at a faculty book talk by Pamela Brooks, Associate Professor of African American Studies

Thursday, March 5, 4:30 p.m.
Moffett Auditorium, A Level, Mudd Center

Pam Brook’s new book, Boycotts, Buses, and Passes: Black Women’s Resistance in the U.S. and South Africa (University of Massachusetts Press, 2008), is a comparative history of the liberation struggles of women in the United States and South Africa. Drawing extensively on oral histories, the book portrays the rise of political consciousness and activism among black women in the two countries within the context of a larger global struggle to end the vestiges of European colonialism. “A very ambitious project, elegantly and sensitively written” (Françoise N. Hamlin, Brown University).

EJC is Almost Back to Normal

OhioLINK is in the final stages of recovering from last month’s serious hardware failure.

Access to almost all records has now been restored, and the records that are still inaccessible will direct you to the journal publisher’s web site.

New Books, Recordings, Scores, and Videos

Check out the list of library materials cataloged in February!