Author

Author

Finding Your Past

Finding Your Past

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
In A Chance in the World, this year’s One Book, Steve Pemberton recounts his history as an orphan in the foster care system. Untethered from any roots, he conducted a search for his birth family and located his grandparents and all four of his siblings, who had been fostered with different families.  The experience was part of a long effort to reconcile his personal identity. Most of us don’t face nearly the same challenge in identifying our family, but even so, how many of us can go much further back than our great-grandparents? Genealogy is the search for our roots, building a family tree of names, dates, and history that shaped how we came into this world. And it can … Continued
Artistic Pursuits

Artistic Pursuits

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
Music and art are an experience – how can words adequately characterize or explain them? As a researcher, you might have thoughts along these lines. And while you use academic databases for history or science or economics papers, when it comes to art, maybe you think you’re fine on your own. Understanding the musical, performance, and graphic arts does indeed rely on your own critical experience more than most disciplines. But it’s an error to think that scholarly resources won’t be of use. The library has many databases for both – from ProQuest Arts for scholarship and criticism in each of these areas to the Naxos Music Library for streaming music. But one critical resource in the arts is Oxford … Continued
OMA: Opening Minds through Art

OMA: Opening Minds through Art

, Frances Yates, outreach, Programs
Now in its second year, Opening Minds through Art (OMA) is an intergenerational program bringing students together with elders with dementia to produce failure-free works of abstract art. OMA is highly interactive, with the student acting as a facilitator for the elder artist’s vision and abilities. IU East has partnered with Friends Fellowship Community in Richmond to continue this award-winning, enlightening program. Friends Fellowship is the only facility in the state of Indiana to offer OMA to its residents. OMA uses art projects as a basis for communication between students and elder artists. The end results, besides impressive works of art, include increased self esteem for the artists and increased awareness of dementia for the students. Melissa Baxter, OMA Program … Continued
INSPIRE-ational

INSPIRE-ational

, , Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
At IU East, we advocate strongly for using the best, most trustworthy sources for your scholarship. And we have loads of great academic databases designed to do just that, linking you to reliable, vetted content that hasn’t been twisted by the vacuous, editor-free and repetitive fluff that makes up the bulk of the free web. But after you graduate, where will get the same trustworthy and authoritative information? If you live in the state of Indiana (as most of our graduates do), the answer is INSPIRE. Provided by the Indiana State Library, anyone with an Indiana IP address can access dozens of databases freely. This deeply benefits public and school libraries across the state, and the ISL’s negotiations help subsidize … Continued
Digging up Great Things

Digging up Great Things

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth, Programs
Retired anthropology professor Rob Tolley and his wife Nancy have long been dedicated to IU East, creating many opportunities for students in the decades he spent teaching. His field trips to Utah to give firsthand experience in surface surveying and classes in prehistory and Southwestern literature are still fondly remembered. But they have been active in supporting IU East since his retirement, as well, and are donating $50,000 to help fund an archaeological methodology lab. To be located in the woods east of campus, it will allow students the hands-on opportunity to perform their own digs. The artifacts will be simulated – pig skeletons, burned and buried structures, and ceramics crafted by IU East art students – but the experience … Continued