mdilwort | Library Blog - Indiana University East

Author Archives: mdilwort

Fair Use: What is it?

To celebrate Fair Use Week (February 21-25, 2022) the IU East Campus Library is highlighting what fair use is and resources available that can help researchers determine if fair use applies to a given situation. What is Fair Use? In US copyright law, fair use is the legal doctrine that allows brief excerpts of copyrighted material, under certain circumstances, to be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research, without the need for permission or payment from the copyright holder. Fair use is vitally important to creativity, teaching and scholarship, and innovation. It is a fundamental right, and thanks to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, it is considered by the Supreme Court to be a “first amendment … Continued

Black Contemporary Science Fiction

african american history, KT Lowe, science fiction February 7, 2022 books mdilwort

In the wake of Octavia Butler’s groundbreaking work in the 1970s, including the Patternfinder series and Kindred, Black science fiction has taken on social justice, culture and history to create one of the freshest and most exciting art forms in contemporary literature. In this blog, we’ll explore some of the biggest names in the field, covering everything from magical realism to postapocalyptic fiction. Nnedi Okorafor Dr. Okorafor was born in Cincinnati to parents of Nigerian descent,and grew up in Illinois. Her writing career began with tragedy when an operation for scoliosis left her paralyzed from the waist down. While recovering, a friend loaned her a copy of the Isaac Asimov classic I, Robot, which Okorafor marked up with notations in … Continued

African Heritage and Health Week features food traditions

african american history, food, health, multicultural January 31, 2022 Library Resources mdilwort

As Black History Month begins, African Heritage & Health Week focuses on food traditions from Africa which have enriched the world. Championed by the nonprofit group Oldways, which educates on heritage-based diets from many world cultures, traditional African dishes and ingredients are highlighted, such as the use of millet, peanut stews, yucca root, and leafy greens. While anyone can benefit from this cuisine, African Americans suffer disproportionately from health issues like diabetes, obesity, and heart disease which can be mitigated by a traditional diet. Oldways offers health studies, recipes, and food preparation guides on their website. The Campus Library offers many valuable, vetted resources as well. Several of our databases focus on African American issues, such as African-American History Online … Continued

University Presses and eBooks

e-books, iucat January 24, 2022 Jesse Whitton, Library Resources mdilwort

A university press publishes books that have been written and reviewed by scholars in their fields. IU East Campus Library has access to more than 300,000 eBooks from various databases. They are free to access for anyone with IU East log-in credentials. The Oxford Scholarship Online (OSO) database provides access to more than 20,000 academic works from the Oxford University Press. OSO covers subjects from humanities and social sciences to medicine and law. Within the past few days, OSO has added over 100 new titles to their collection, covering a diverse range of topics from 19th century Dutch Protestant theology and Baroque violins to questions about communication and censorship and how mental disorders affect one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. Yiddish … Continued

Open Educational Resources (OER): Adding Diversity and Inclusion to the Classroom

diversity, Elizabeth South, multicultural, Open Education Resources January 17, 2022 outreach, Website mdilwort

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a day of reflection and inspiration. It has us thinking more closely about equity and inclusion in our work in the library, and in particular, how we can support classroom endeavors in this cause. One way we can do this is to support the use and development of Open Educational Resources. We often discuss how Open Educational Resources (OER) can be easily adapted to suit the needs of the students and the instructor and how they can be a more affordable (free!) option for students in comparison to traditional textbooks. However, it is also important to highlight that because OER can be remixed, revised, and shared freely, they can be used as an agent … Continued