Library News – Page 53

Art Library moving to Main Library July 27 – August 7

Materials from the Art Library will not be available from July 27-August 7 while we are moving them to the 2nd floor of the Main Library.

Please use Interlibrary Loan for items you need during this time. Delivery requests placed after midnight July 23 will not be processed until we reopen. Since the “art stacks” will be open for browsing in the Main Library, we will no longer offer the Main Library as a pick-up location.

The Art and Music Libraries office, room 2006, has Art’s current journal issues, media and Fall Reserves.

Share Your Thoughts about Iowa City Book Festival

Saturday proved to be a great day to host the Iowa City Book Festival at the UI Main Library and Gibson Square park. The weather was cool and the attendees were enthusiastic.

As we review the successes and the areas to improve this year’s festival, we would love to hear from you. What did you think about the festival? How can we improve this event in the years to come?

Just click to our online evaluation form – www.iowacitybookfestival.org/evaluation – to share your thoughts.

Osher Institute offers inside look at Libraries Conservation Lab – July 22

“The Inner Workings of the UI Libraries Conservation Lab” will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m., July 22, at the University of Iowa Main Library Conservation Lab.

The program is part of the “Wednesday Night at the Lab” series offered by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the UI. The course fee is $5 for Osher Institute members and $20 for non-members.

Attendees will observe the cleaning and repair of flood-damaged items from the African American Museum of Iowa, the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library, and the Johnson County Historical Society. Each participant can experience the patience and skill required to be a conservator by stitching a pamphlet and making a protective enclosure.

Register online at http://www.olliatiowa.org, or contact Linsey Abbott at 319-384-4221 or coa-osher@uiowa.edu for more information.

Welcome to the Iowa City Book Festival

Writing and reading are at the center of what we do at the University of Iowa and an essential component of Iowa City’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature, yet a book festival has been missing from our cultural landscape. The University of Iowa Libraries, in partnership with the University of Iowa Press, is very pleased to launch a campus and community event that will fill the void — The Iowa City Book Festival.

The Iowa City Book Festival is a day-long celebration of books, reading and writing. We envision it as an event that could become an annual tradition in our city. This first year will commemorate of the acquisition of the University of Iowa Libraries’ 5 millionth volume and the 40th anniversary of the University of Iowa Press.

Please spend the day visiting the local and regional booksellers, who have set up shop in Gibson Square Park. You may want to sit in the shade and peruse your purchases and enjoy some live music. We also have a full schedule of readings, discussions and workshops that I’m sure you’ll find informative and entertaining.

Before you leave, please tell us what you think. You can find surveys in all of the sessions, at the Information Booth in Gibson Square and on the Festival website (www.iowacitybookfestival.org).

Storytime at Book Festival – 10:15 a.m.

The Iowa City Public Library’s Saturday morning storytime will be held on the Gibson Square Stage at the Iowa City Book Festival this week. It will start at 10:15 a.m. (which is earlier than it’s usual start time).

Join Debbie D and percussionist Sonny Lott for “Whoppers from Around the World” at the Iowa City Book Festival.

Storytime includes both shorter and longer stories combined with action games and activities.

Family Storytime is recommended for all ages, but parents are asked to sit with their younger children.

Corridor is Buzzing about the Miller Brothers

Identical twin brothers Logan and Noah Miller are part of the Shambaugh Author Series for the Iowa City Book Festival. They recently talked with Loren Keller at the Corridor Buzz.

http://corridorbuzz.com/articles/twin_filmmakers_trade_baseball_for_books.htm

Logan and Noah will be presenting their film Touching Home starring Ed Harris on Friday, July 17 at 10 p.m. and Saturday, July 18 at 4 p.m. in the Shambaugh Auditorium in the UI Main Library.

Both screenings are FREE and Open to the Public.

Five Million Volumes and Counting

The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa

The University of Iowa Libraries has reached 5 million volumes. It has been cataloged and shelved and is ready for eager minds to use. To wrap your brain around what 5 million books really represent, let’s think about them in concrete terms. If placed end to end, 5 million books could reach between Iowa City and San Francisco. Five million books translate to 1.67 books for each person in the state of Iowa (but only 1 book for every 3 hogs). In economic terms, at an average price of $60 per book, the UI Libraries’ collection has an estimated value of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.

So what is the 5 millionth book, you may be wondering. To recognize the UI Libraries partnership with the University of Iowa Press and the anniversary of their 40th year, we’ve selected one of their recent publications: The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa, edited by David Hudson, Marvin Bergman and Loren Horton.

Written by an impressive team of more than 150 scholars and writers, the readable narratives include each subject’s name, birth and death dates, place of birth, education, career and contributions. Many of the names will be instantly recognizable to most Iowans; others are largely forgotten but deserve to be remembered. Beyond the distinctive lives and times captured in the individual biographies, readers of the dictionary will gain an appreciation for how the character of the state has been shaped by the character of the individuals who have inhabited it.

The UI Libraries has taken The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa digital – creating a fully searchable, easy-to-navigate interface you can access from anywhere (http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/uipress/bdi).

UI Libraries acquires sci-fi fanzine collection; includes ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Wars’ pieces

The University of Iowa Libraries has announced the acquisition of the Mariellen (Ming) Wathne Fanzine Archive Collection. This large collection of some 3,000 science fiction fanzines is an important accumulation of fan-created work and a significant addition to the fanzine holdings of the University Libraries.

The Fanzine Archive Collection contains thousands of fanzines focused on popular media properties such as “Star Trek” and “Star Wars.” Those related to “Star Wars” were originally collected by Lucasfilm Ltd., producer of the Star Wars series. This collection was offered back to fans in the 1990s, and a California fan named Mariellen Wathne accepted it and began a lending library to distribute ‘zines among fans. In addition to “Star Wars” fanzines, there are also many fanzines related to “Star Trek,” including some of the most important early pieces.

Since the 1960s, when television series such as “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” and “Star Trek” cultivated large followings, fans have produced their own publications developing stories involving their favorite characters. These fanzines provide a unique perspective on participatory culture—rather than passively consuming media, fans actively interacted with it and developed complex spin-off works that were distributed at conventions and through the mail, says Greg Prickman, assistant head of Special Collections at the UI Libraries.

“In many ways, fan culture pre-dates and anticipates our modern remix mash-up internet culture,” said Prickman. “And there is a great deal of scholarly interest in this type of activity today. “

The collection was acquired with the help of the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to preserving and protecting works created by media science fiction fans. As part of a concerted effort to collect fanzines and other artifacts of fandom, the University Libraries has established a joint effort with the OTW called the Fan Culture Preservation Project. The Libraries and the OTW will work together to identify important collections and bring them to the UI.

These fanzine collections help make the UI Libraries one of the country’s leading research centers for the study of 20th-century popular culture, adding to important collections documenting filmmaking, vaudeville and theatre, underground art, independent music, and science fiction fandom.

Iowa City Book Festival Receives Humanities Iowa Grant

The University of Iowa Libraries was awarded $5,000 for the Iowa City Book Festival by Humanities Iowa, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities

The grant was one of 17 totaling more than $160,000 awarded at the recent HI board meeting in Ames.

The Iowa City Book Festival will be a daylong celebration of books, reading and writing. The festival also is a celebration of the five millionth volume purchased by the UI Libraries as well as the 40th anniversary of the UI Press. Kristi Bontrager, the library’s public relations coordinator, said it also is a way to thank the public for their help moving books during last summer’s flood.

“It brought back the idea that books are an important part of people’s lives,” Bontrager said. “We saw this as a way to create a dialogue between writers and readers.”

The festival will include workshops on starting a writer’s group, and finding book discussion groups. There will also be food and music and activities for children.

“The Iowa City Book Festival brings together everything that makes our community so refreshing in summertime: books, reading, writing and sweet corn,” said Holly Carver, the editor at UI Press. “As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the University of Iowa Press, we are delighted to be part of this first-but-not-last annual festival.”

The festival will also include book vendors and book arts demonstrations as well a program by Iowa’s poet laureates, Mary Swander, Robert Dana and Marvin Bell. There also will be a presentation by the editors of “The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa,” David Hudson, Marvin Bergman and Loren Horton; and a keynote address by “The Oxford Project” creators Peter Feldstein and Steven Bloom.

Other programs to promote literacy include workshops on adult literacy, starting up a writer’s group, finding a book discussion group, library research for writers and writing a literary blog among others.

“Books are one of the things that makes Iowa City a special place,” said HI executive director Christopher Rossi. “The Iowa City Book Festival is a great way to celebrate that heritage while also promoting the literary arts.”

Nancy Baker, university librarian for the University of Iowa Libraries, said the book festival should help fill a “cultural gap” in the community.

“We noticed that a book festival was missing from the landscape of our City of Literature,” Baker said. “The Iowa City Book Festival will be a place that brings all kinds of writers, readers and book-lovers together in conversation. With the help of Humanities Iowa and our other partners, we hope to make the Iowa City Book Festival an annual tradition.”

To learn more about the Iowa City Book Festival, check the website www.iowacitybookfestival.org.

‘Animal, Vegetable, Miracle’ selected for One Community, One Book

“Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year in Food Life” by Barbara Kingsolver, with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver, is the 2009 selection for “One Community, One Book.”

The project promotes insights on human rights in the United States and across the globe and is coordinated by the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights (UICHR) in conjunction with other sponsoring organizations from Johnson County and the UI.

The goal of the project is to encourage people to read and discuss the selected book in order to develop a greater community awareness of human rights issues locally, nationally and internationally.

“Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” tells the story of how Kingsolver and her family for one year deliberately ate food produced in the place where they live. Kingsolver wrote the central narrative, and her husband, Steven Hopp, wrote in-depth sidebars about various aspects of food-production science and industry. Kingsolver’s 19-year-old daughter, Camille, wrote brief essays on the local-food project, plus nutritional information, meal plans and recipes.

“Although this does not sound like our typical human-rights themed book, this book acknowledges that there is a right to adequate food for all humans, that not everyone can afford to make these kinds of food choices and that climate change can diminish the ability to grow food,” said Joan Nashelsky, UICHR project assistant and One Community, One Book co-organizer. “With strong local interest in sustainable agriculture, the effects of climate change on agriculture, the local food movement and the ECO Iowa City grant administered by the Iowa City Public Library and the City of Iowa City Public Works Division, the time seems right for a book with broader human rights issues close to home.”

Nashelsky coordinates the project with volunteer Pat Schnack. ECO Iowa City is a grant-funded initiative to improve environmental sustainability in Iowa City.

Kingsolver’s 12 books of fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction include the novels “The Bean Trees” and “The Poisonwood Bible.” Translated into 19 languages, her work has won a devoted worldwide readership and many awards, including the National Humanities Medal.

Hopp teaches environmental studies at Emory and Henry College and conducts research in bioacoustics and the natural history of vireos, a group of small to medium-sized perching birds.

Camille Kingsolver attends Duke University, where she studies biology, anatomy and dance.

The “One Community, One Book” project will run from mid-September through mid-November. Teachers, students, librarians, book groups and others are encouraged to participate. By announcing the selection now, the project sponsors hope to allow time for groups to read the book and participate in fall community discussion forums, and for teachers to plan classroom discussions around the book.

In addition to UICHR, past project sponsors have included the UI International Writing Program, Prairie Lights Books, the UI Libraries, Iowa City Public Library, Coralville Public Library, North Liberty Community Library, Hancher Auditorium, Hills Bank & Trust Company, Iowa Book LLC, Iowa City Human Rights Commission, Solon Public Library, UI Charter Committee on Human Rights, UI Department of English, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, UI Department of History, UI International Programs and University Book Store. Iowa City High School and West High School have also participated.

For more information, contact UICHR at 319-335-3900 or uichr@uiowa.edu.