Author

Author

Native American Heritage Month

Native American Heritage Month

Richmond, Indiana was founded in 1818, but the history of people in this area goes back thousands of years before that. Native American tribes, including the Miami, Potawatomi, Delaware, and Shawnee, thrived in Indiana. November is Native American Heritage Month, and you can learn more about the diverse and complex history of Native Americans at the IU East Campus Library. One excellent database that features resources about the Native American Experience is American Indian History Online. http://www.fofweb.com/NuHistory/default.asp?ItemID=WE43&NewItemID=True This database allows you to choose search terms based on what you wish to study. You can search by region, tribe, person, event, or topic. There are extensive timelines, going as far back as the first humans on the North American continent, as … Continued
CredoReference

CredoReference

You may be familiar with some of our bigger and better known databases – EBSCO, JSTOR, ProQuest – but we have some real treasures among the lesser-known ones, too.  CredoReference is one of them. CredoReference is like a reference shelf full of hundreds of dictionaries, encyclopedias, quotation guides, and biographies all in one place.  Some are specialized, focusing on subjects like business or medicine.  Some are general works.  But the strength of this database is its interconnectedness.  And while you have the standard encyclopedia entries, you also have access to multimedia content including images, maps, videos, music files, tables, and statistics – all linked together. Have you ever used the Encyclopaedia Britannica?  While reading an article about Mozart, have you … Continued
Billie Girl

Billie Girl

A few days ago we were privileged to hear Vickie Weaver speak and read from her book Billie Girl, which won the 2009 Leapfrog Fiction Contest.  Weaver spoke on her journey towards becoming an author, and the challenges of that work. One thing Ms. Weaver has found is that her writing has naturally gravitated to giving voice to the voiceless and underrepresented in society.   This awakening began for her in college, as she discovered women’s studies classes, and now flows naturally from her novels. Ms. Weaver is an alumna of IU East, and received her M.F.A. in creative writing from Spalding University.  While she is first and foremost a writer, Weaver also teaches composition and creative writing part-time at IU … Continued
New Information in Genealogy

New Information in Genealogy

The Indiana State Library has recently hosted two genealogy workshops.  This fall the Indiana Genealogy and Local History Fair had vendors selling county history books, introductions to county libraries, and genealogy supply vendors.  The best part, this year, were the three speakers.  The first speaker, Marianne S. Wokeck, gave a presentation on “What Was in it for Women? The Role of Female Immigrants and Settlers.”  The second speaker, Dani Pfaff, gave a presentation called “Indiana Land Records: Not for the Faint of Heart.”  After lunch the third speaker, Andrew Kossack, spoke on “Access to Public Records Act Essentials.” While the speakers were there to talk about genealogy, I found that most of their information would fit in with some of … Continued
Bog Child and Breast Cancer Awareness

Bog Child and Breast Cancer Awareness

Sometimes you come across a book that grabs you and holds you from the first page until the last. Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd, winner of the Carnegie Medal in Literature in 2009, is one of these books.  One of the many wonderful books available in the IU East Campus Library’s Young Adult collection, this beautifully written novel captures two times in one place. It is set in Northern Ireland in 1981, during the violence and upheaval known as “The Troubles.” Fergus McCann is struggling to finish his exams and plan for his future, but finds himself continually distracted by the chaos around him. His older brother joins a prison Hunger Strike and Fergus struggles to understand his own place … Continued