Municipal Election Forums

If you're a Shelby County resident you may be interested in a series of upcoming forums taking place next month. The forums, sponsored by the Shelby County Reporter and the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce, will take Monday, August 11th through Wednesday, August 19th in cities and towns across the county that have a contested mayoral race. All candidates who have qualified in the municipal election have been invited to the forums.

All of the candidate forums will begin at 6:30 p.m. Locations and dates are as follows:

• City of Alabaster @ Thompson H.S., August 11th, 2008
• City of Chelsea @ Chelsea H.S., August 11th, 2008
• Town of Wilton @ Montevallo H.S., August 11th, 2008
• City of Montevallo @ Montevallo H.S., August 12th, 2008
  
• City of Columbiana @ Shelby County H.S., August 12th, 2008
• City of Pelham @ Pelham H.S., August 12th, 2008
• Town of Vincent @ Vincent Middle-H.S., August 12th, 2008
• Town of Westover @ ServPro, August 18th, 2008
• City of Calera @ Calera H.S., August 19th, 2008
• Town of Wilsonville @ Wilsonville Town Hall, August 19th, 2008

On the Web:

• Municipal Election Forums promotional flyer
• Shelby County Reporter article written about the upcoming events

E-Journal Cleanup Currently in Progress

A quick note from the Technical Services Department, where we are now busy rooting out some older e-journal records. One of our routine tasks is to remove records for journal titles for which we no longer have full text access. (As part of this process, many journal titles are added every month as well.)

Due to a technical issue with a vendor we have an unusually large number of records to remove this month. I'm posting a note here because it's going to take our small staff several days to resolve this problem.

In the meantime, you may encounter a message that looks like this when you click through from the catalog to our Full-Text Electronic Journal List screen:
If you get this message, you've stumbled onto one of the records that needs to be removed. My (ambitious) goal is to have this work completed by the end of the week, and I'll post here again when we've gotten the issue resolved.

Kay Ryan Named U.S. Poet Laureate

Kay Ryan replaces Charles Simic as Poet Laureate. An article on Ryan from the International Herald Tribune can be found here.

See more on Ryan, read her work, and hear her read her poems at the Academy of American Poets website.

Justice For Vandals Is Poetic

I wanted to share a link from a recent edition of NPR's Talk of the Nation.

Last December, students from Middlebury College broke into the Homer Noble Farm in Ripton, Vt. — the place where poet Robert Frost spent his summers — to hold a party. Before it was over, the house was trashed, with broken china and furniture throughout. Some of the 28 people charged with trespassing and vandalism accepted an unusual plea agreement — they had to take a class on Robert Frost.

Jay Parini, a professor of English and creative writing at Middlebury College, talks about instructing some of these students in poetry and poetic justice.

I thought this a fascinating interview on how poetry can be used to teach life lessons. While we don't yet have his latest book, Why Poetry Matters, you'll find many others written by or edited by Dr. Parini in our catalog.

SOAR Information Fair, July 15-16

Carmichael Library will be among the nearly 20 campus organizations and offices represented at the SOAR (Student Orientation and Registration) Information Fair. The Fair will feature representatives from the McNair Scholars program, the Office of Student Support Services, the Black Student Union, the Office of Student Life, and Gold and Purple Side leaders just to name a few.

Carmichael faculty and staff will be on hand to greet incoming freshmen and their parents, and to answer any questions our new students have about library services. The Fair will take place Tuesday, July 14th and Wednesday, July 15th from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.

Please join us at the SOAR Information Fair in King House Quad (just across from the library) next week!

Catalog Problems Resolved

Our apologies to those who were inconvenienced while attempting to use our public catalog earlier today. As always, please call or e-mail us should you experience any problems while using the catalog. Some issues, such as today's minor glitch, can be resolved in just a few minutes.

McNair scholars' presentations, July 2nd

Dallas Hanbury, McNair scholar
Originally uploaded by carmichaellibrary

Today marks the fifth annual McNair Scholars Program Research Presentations. Most of the librarians are dividing their time between Wills and Carmichael Halls to watch our talented students present their research.

Many believe the McNair program is a bright spot for the university, a sentiment that was offered by UM President Philip Williams in his remarks this morning. The library continues to support UM's McNair scholars by pairing each student with a librarian, one of two faculty mentors who guide students through the research process.

The presentations will continue through the three o'clock hour in the Wills Hall Master classroom on the second floor.