Library Blog - Indiana University East

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Billie Girl

autobiography, books, Programs November 8, 2010 Friends of the Library, Matt Dilworth, Programs, Uncategorized mdilwort

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

conferences, genealogy November 1, 2010 Marcia Sloan masloan 0 Comments

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

books, breast cancer, reading for pleasure October 25, 2010 books, Caitlin Tracey-Miller ctraceym 0 Comments

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

New Software in the Library

IUWare, study rooms October 18, 2010 Library Services, Matt Dilworth, Uncategorized mdilwort

If you’re a regular to the library, you know about our study rooms — a great place to watch a video or work on a group project. And now there are even more possibilities. Room 145 has been equipped with the Dragon Naturally Speaking software, a speech-recognition tool, courtesy of our friends in Student Support Services. If typing a paper is difficult or uncomfortable for you, Dragon can ease the problem. You speak into the program naturally, and it figures out word spacing and the commands you give it, translating them into text. The program has a brief setup phase where it acclimates itself to your unique voice – and that profile grows and strengthens as you continue to use … Continued

The Un-Wikipedia

e-resources, reference databases October 11, 2010 Library Resources, Matt Dilworth mdilwort

Have you ever been researching a topic for class and really needed an encyclopedia? We’ve all been there, and often we click to Wikipedia. That sometimes is okay for getting you familiar with a topic, but for academic purposes, that source just isn’t reliable enough….even according to that online encyclopedia’s founder! (http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Wikipedia-Founder-Discourages/2305) Fortunately, the IU East Campus Library subscribes to Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. This is a thorough and reliable encyclopedia assembled, like the old paper version, by the best minds in their fields. Like many of the resources IU East subscribes to, it has been rigorously peer-reviewed and verified for accuracy. Wikipedia is produced by its users – some are quite smart, others not so much. The Encyclopaedia Britannica counts some … Continued