Travel on the World Wide Web is a constantly updated Web directory of travel authored by Dr. Brian Coutts, Head of Library Public Services at WKU. This site provides you with information on “Where to Go,” “Travel Guides,”and “Travel Bookstores and Maps.” Available also is information on airlines, trains, buses, cars, lodging, and restaurants. Cultural events, adventure travel, and outdoor recreation are covered as well.
Author Archives: Robert Harbison
Travel on the Web: Sites to help you plan your vacation.
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From the Suggestion Box
Student Rebekah Golla asks:
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I recently found out about a confusing policy in place with the library. Apparently, if anyone checks out a book and someone else wants that book, the second person can then take the book from the first person by filling out a recall slip. I called the library to ask about this policy, and they confirmed it. They said that even if a student has a book for only two days and another student wants that book, the first student must return his or her book before the original due date or be fined. Does this make sense to anyone? Isn’t the purpose of a duedate for each person to be able to check out a book for a set length of time? If another person wants the book immediately after the first person returns it, I can understand. However, does it make sense for the second person to be able to get the book before the due date? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the second person to wait and to have the library say that the first person cannot renew the book? I can understand if a professor needs the book, but it doesn’t make sense if it’s a fellow student who is on equal ground.
It seems this type of policy could potentially set up type of tug of war over a book. When I called the library, they said I could return the book and then fill out a recall notice. Then the person who wants the book from me would have to return the book to me before he or she is finished with it. Of course, I don’t want to play tug of war with someone so I wouldn’t do that. Why not keep the first policy in place that a book is due on the due date assigned at checkout? I am willing to wait if another person has a book I want and I would completely understand if I could not have the book until that person returned it on his or her due date. Isn’t it possible to order a book through interlibrary loan? It seems this would be a better solution.
Could someone please look into this confusing policy and discuss it at the library?
Thank you for your time. I think the library staff does a wonderful job helping everyone find the materials they need. They are very friendly and willing to be of assistance at anytime which is greatly appreciated by the WKU community.
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Suggestion Box
Thanks for visiting the University Libraries’ Blog.
Please leave any comments about the blog, or the library, here.
Filed under AskUs!, General, Suggestion Box
Suggestion Box
Thanks for visiting the University Libraries’ Blog.
Please leave any comments about the blog, or the library, here.
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Filed under AskUs!, Suggestion Box
“Political Scandals in Kentucky”
Kentucky Live! presented Dr. James C. Klotter on “Political Scandals in Kentucky” on the evening of November 9 in Barnes & Noble.
James Klotter is the author, coauthor or editor of seventeen books. Notable among these include: Kentucky Justice, Southern Honor and American Manhood, A New History of Kentucky, and Kentucky: Portrait in Paradox, 1900-1950. The Kentucky Live! lecture series are sponsored by The Friends of the WKU Libraries & Museum.
If you missed out, here is an album of selected photos of the event. If you missed out, you can listen to the lecture via our Podcast.
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Constitution Week@the Library
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Join University Libraries as we celebrate Constitution Week. “Not in My Library! First Amendment Issues” Helm Library, Room 100 This exhibit will run through September 29. |
Leisure Films Collection
Two years ago the libraries established a Foreign and Independent Films Committee to select DVD’s for our Leisure Films Collection.
Since that time the collection has grown to include more than 4,000 films in 44 different languages, and is the largest collection of its kind in the region. While 83% of the collection (3,464 DVD’s) is in English, the collection includes 166 films in French, 103 in Spanish, 80 in Italian, 57 in German, 56 in Hindi, 40 in Japanese, 32 in Chinese, and 29 in Russian. These were checked out more than 14,000 times last year.
The collection is located near the Cravens Library 4th Floor entrance.
DVD’s can be checked out for one week.
Some of the titles currently offered in the collection include:
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The Way We Laughed
A story told in six separate days, between 1958 and 1964, about the lives of two Sicilian brothers. Giovanni, illiterate and hard working, arrives in Turin where young Pietro studies. Giovanni sacrifices so Pietro can become a teacher. But Pietro doesn’t really want to be a teacher, and isn’t much of a student. Winner of the prestigious Golden Lion award at the 1998 Venice Film Festival, The Way We Laughed is a richly layered drama from Gianni Amelio, the acclaimed director of the multiple-award-winning 1995 arthouse hit Lamerica.
Tous les Matins du Monde (All the Mornings of the World )
It’s late 17th century. The viola player Monsieur de Sainte Colombe comes home to find that his
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wife died while he was away. In his grief he builds a small house in his garden into which he moves to dedicate his life to music and his two young daughters Madeleine and Toinette, avoiding the outside world. Rumor about him and his music is widespread, and even reaches to the court of Louis XIV, who wants him at his court, but Monsieur de Sainte Colombe refuses. One day a young man, Marin Marais, comes to see him with a request, he wants to be taught how to play the viol. The story is slow-paced and lovingly-shot, and deals with love, talent and labour being lost on the road to fame and fortune in the big city. Even in the seventeenth century, musicians sold out and left emotional wreckage behind.
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Xiao cheng zhi chun (Springtime in a Small Town)
Set in the aftermath of the Second World War, in a small town that has been systematically bombed and now mostly in ruins. In a run down old house lives a husband, Liyan with a mysterious ailment, his young sister, and a wife, Yuwen, unsure of what she is looking for in life, certain only that she hasn’t found it yet, and an old manservant. Into this mix comes a doctor from the big city, visiting his old friend, Liyan. Upon arriving he is surprised to discover him married to his childhood sweetheart, the luminescent Yuwen.
Virtual Reference Service
Need help? Got a ? We can help! 
WILLS (Western’s Interactive Live Library Service) allows you to obtain help from a trained reference specialist via Live Chat or E-Mail. WILLS is available Monday – Thursday, 6-10 p.m. Central time. (Holiday & Interim hours vary.)
Click to ask a question on WILLS
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Best Reference Books of 2005
Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Univ. of Regina, Canadian Plains Research Ctr. 1071p. illus. maps. index. ISBN 0-88977-175-8. $125.
Cravens Reference: F1071 .E53 2005
As befits the centennial of Saskatchewan’s entry as a Canadian province, Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan is the single largest publishing project in the province’s history. With contributions from more than 800 writers, it features 2300 pieces that cover all aspects of life and subjects like aboriginal peoples, geography, history, social policy, sports and women. There are over 1,000 charts, graphs, maps, tables and many stunning photographs. Already the winner of multuple awards in its home province, hopefully it will stimulate other provincial reference sources.
Best Reference Books of 2005
Encyclopedia Latina. 4 vols. Grolier. 1826p. ed. by Ilan Stavans & Harold Augenbraum. illus. index. ISBN 0-7172-5815-7. $449. 
“En boca cerrada no entran moscas.†Literally, a closed mouth does not attract flies. This example of dichos, defined here as sayings or witty aphorisms, is just one of 650 spectacular entries consuming 1.2 million words which generated, to quote editor Ilan Stavans (Amherst and PBS’s La Plaza), 26,000 emails. A diverse cast of contributors – academics, artists, journalists, even chefs – have combined their talents to describer Latina life and culture in the U.S., from the age of conquest to the present day. There is extensive coverage of broad themes like literature, music and politics, but also specific articles on mambo, lowriders and pachucos. Articles include excerpts from literature, poetry, speeches and recipes. Approximately 150 articles are biographical, from Oscar Acosta, a 300 pound Chicano lawyer to Emiliano Zapata. Spectacular color plates in each volume, a collection of primary documents, and a detailed index make this a rich and accessible resource.