Monthly Archives: April 2012

Kentucky Writers Conference

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This year, the Kentucky Writers Conference and the SOKY Book Fest Children’s Day coordinators teamed up to bring you the Children’s Writers Conference on Friday, April 20, 2012. Authors offered three presentations on writing and illustrating topics to students during the day.

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SOKY Book Fest at the Knicely Center on Saturday

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The SOKY Book Fest returns to the Knicely Convention Center on Saturday, April 21.  We had a great lineup of authors this year, including Carl Hiaasen, Heather Graham, Silas House, and Stacy Curtis as well as returning favorite Bobbie Ann Mason.  There was something for every interest and age at the Book Fest.  This event provides funding for literary activities throughout the region.

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SOKY Book Fest’s Children’s Day

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The Southern Kentucky Book Fest was a two-day community event. Day 1 was Children’s Day which was held Friday, April 20. It was devoted to school children in grades K-12, librarians, and educators. Students had the opportunity to meet and hear from their favorite authors, participate in dramatic and musical performances, and exercise their creativity in the make and do area. It was lots of fun for teachers and parents, too!

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Matthew Lyon: A Lion For Free Speech

 A broadside found in the Moore House at 801 State Street in Bowling Green reveals resolutions supporting Matthew Lyon and his bid for the election of 1802. Lyon was born in Ireland in 1749 but immigrated to Connecticut in 1764. He served with the Green Mountain Boys and lived in Vermont before moving to Kentucky. He served four terms as the Congressional Representative from the Western District of Kentucky and was first elected in the fall of 1802.  Lyon was the first person to be put to trial for violating the Alien and Sedition Acts and criticizing President John Adams thus becoming a defender of free speech rights. The broadside entitled, Resolutions of the Corresponding Society was produced in Russellville, KY and condemns the criticisms of Lyon. For more information about this and other Special Collections library materials see our search engine, KenCAT.

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Filed under General, Latest News, People, Reference, Stuff

Kentucky Live!: Travel Writer, Gary P. West

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Leading Kentucky travel writer Gary West shared his travel secrets with us and signed his books in this month’s “Kentucky Live! Series” at Barnes & Noble Bookstore, Bowling Green, Kentucky on Thursday, April 19, 2012.

West is one of the authors featured in this year’s Southern Kentucky Bookfest at the Knicely Conference Center in Bowling Green, on Saturday, April 21st from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

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“Something for the Girls”

 

Pam Elrod, Kentucky Girl Scout

Pam Elrod, Kentucky Girl Scout

“I’ve got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America and all the world,” declared Juliette Gordon Low when she assembled the first Girl Scouts at her Savannah, Georgia home on March 12, 1912.  Here in Bowling Green, the first troop was organized in 1920.  By 1947, there were 22 troops with some 300 girls.  By 1962, the 50th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, there were at least 30 local troops with about 400 members.

As the Girl Scouts celebrate their 100th anniversary, WKU’s Special Collections Library continues to collect material documenting the history of this organization in Warren County and elsewhere in Kentucky.  Our holdings include uniforms, photos, video, membership cards, and a Girl Scouts autograph book.  Scrapbooks of newspaper clippings detail the activities of local troops from 1947-1962.  Included is volume 1, number 1 of Scoutabout, the inaugural 1963 newsletter of Senior Troop 62, offering news of all 23 troops active in the area.  In another collection, a cartoon drawn by a soldier serving in the Persian Gulf War commemorates the support of a troop of Elizabethtown Girl Scouts during his deployment.

With a commitment to honor both past and future and to produce “happy, resourceful, creative citizens willing and able to serve others everywhere,” the Girl Scouts are, of course, about much more than their famous cookies.  Nevertheless, Scoutabout offered a few tips for cookie merchandising success.  Girls were advised to say “thank you” even if they didn’t make a sale, to be knowledgeable about each kind of cookie and its correct price, to wear their pin and uniform if possible, and to be “spic and span from head to toe.”

Search KenCat and TopSCHOLAR to learn more about our Special Collections Library holdings relating to the Girl Scouts.

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Filed under Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

DLPS Faculty Celebrated National Library Week in Glasgow

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Faculty members had their monthly meeting in the Glasgow Regional Campus Library and celebrated National Library Week on April 18, 2012. Interim Dean Connie Foster joined them at the reception, where a delicious cake was served with other light refreshments. Door prized were given out at the conclusion of the reception.

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A Jazz Performance at Noon Concert in Java City/Helm Library

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Today a large crowd gathered to hear celebrated song-stylist and WKU Residence Hall Director Lauren Cunningham perform her musical magic which ranged from soulful jazz to blues to the Beatles. Ms. Cunningham was accompanied by guitarist James Michael Meece and guest performer Ashley Coulter took the stage to add her own musical enchantment.

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TopSCHOLAR Indexed in Google Scholar. Learn More from Webcasts

Good news! Google Scholar confirms that all Digital Commons sites, including TopSCHOLAR, are ” fully optimized for Google Scholar crawlers.”  Bepress continues to work with Google Scholar to facilitate crawling and thus indexing the content in Digital Commons repositories.

If you want to learn more about this indexing and access, there are forthcoming webinars:

Webcast: Indexing Repository Content in Google Scholar
Presenter: Darcy Dapra – Partner Manager, Google Scholar
Date: Tuesday, June 19th, 11am Pacific
Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/883942882

Webcast: Optimizing Repository Content for Google and Google Scholar
Presenter: bepress
Date: Wednesday, July 11th, 9am Pacific (for U.S., Canada, and Europe)
Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/177667794
Date: Wednesday, July 11th, 5pm Pacific (Thursday, July 12th, 10am Eastern Australia)
Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/704157826

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“A Good Captain and a Slow Boat”

Jennie Green and the Titanic

Jennie Green and the Titanic

One hundred years ago this month, 33-year-old Jennie Scott Green was headed home to Grayson County.  The daughter of Colonel Lafayette Green, patriarch of a family lumber, milling and farming empire in Falls of Rough, Kentucky, Jennie had spent her inheritance on an extended stay in Europe and was returning home to manage a household for her three bachelor brothers.

Like many trans-Atlantic travelers, Jennie had heard of the magnificent new White Star liner, the Titanic, then offering luxurious and speedy passage from Southampton to New York.  As tempted as she was to join the world’s business and social elite on the great ship’s maiden voyage, Jennie settled for a ticket on the President Lincoln, a smaller craft scheduled to dock several hours ahead of the Titanic.

The President Lincoln followed the same course as the Titanic through the frigid North Atlantic waters, and Jennie and her fellow passengers were awakened for a glimpse of the iceberg that, unbeknownst to them, would doom the “unsinkable” ship following behind.  As the fog closed in, the ship’s band played the rest of the night to soothe the nervous travelers.  They arrived in New York safely, only to be greeted by the dreadful news about the Titanic.  “I’ve always felt our ship might have had the same fate,” Jennie later remarked, “if we hadn’t had a good captain and a slow boat.”

In this centennial year of the Titanic‘s sinking on April 14-15, 1912, learn more about Jennie and her remarkable family by clicking here and here to download finding aids for relevant collections at WKU’s Special Collections Library.

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