Category Archives: Events

Mike Binder, Dean of WKU Libraries, met Erwin Woodye, Chief Librarian, University of Belize

From July 20 through 31, 2009, Erwin Woodye, Chief Librarian of University of Belize, visited Bowling Green and was oriented to WKU Libraries. He met Mike Binder, Dean of Libraries as well as other librarians and staff and visited different areas of the Libraries.

On Thursday morning, July 30, 2009, WKU Libraries threw a farewell party for Erwin Woodye. Dean Binder gave him a book and a Big Red T-shirt as presents after Mr. Woodye made an enthusiastic remark about his experience with the visit and extended his thankfulness to the dean and those who had helped him. Refreshments, mostly made by staff of the Dean’s Office, were served at the party.

At noon the same day, WKU faculty who had visited Belize ate lunch with Erwin Woodye at the house of Peggy Wright, a WKU librarian who had helped plan three libraries in Belize and co-authored books about the country with Brian Coutts, Head of Department of Library Public Services, WKU. Also present at the lunch were Lynn Austin, Head of Allied Health; David Keeling, Head of Geography & Geology; Cornell Menking, Chief International Officer; Emmanuel Iyiegbuniwe, Public Health Department; Daniel Carter, Allied Health Department; Mike Binder, Dean of WKU Libraries; and Haiwang Yuan, Special Assistant to the Dean of Libraries.

More Photos: Farewell Party | Lunch | Tour of WKU Libraries | Erwin with Dean Binder

The Kentucky Library & Museum is offering a Batik Silk Dying Workshop with Dr. Laura McGee on Saturday, August 15 from 10 am- 12 noon. “We always look forward to working with Laura,” says Lynne Ferguson, WKU Libraries Artist-in-Residence. “She’s a very talented artist and brings her wealth of experience to the community.”

McGee is a Modern Languages Associate Professor at WKU and has taught silk painting and dying workshops at the Kentucky Library & Museum previously. With the upcoming Batik Workshop, participants will complete the painting of an 11”x60” crepe de chine silk scarf. Crepe de chine is sometimes called the “Mercedes” of silks because it drapes so beautifully.

The Batik Workshop is a part of the Kentucky Library & Museum’s fall workshop series. The course fee is $50 and includes all the materials including one scarf. For more information or to register for the workshop, go to www.wku.edu/library/kylm/education.

WKU Libraries is hosting Erwin Woodye, Chief Librarian, from the University of Belize as part of an administrator exchange program sponsored by COBEC (Consortium for Belize Educational Cooperation). Established in the late 1980s, COBEC’s purpose is to link post-secondary educational institutions in Belize and other countries to strengthen and expand their capabilities in higher education.

When asked why he chose WKU to visit, Woodye said there were several factors including the positive response he received working with the university as well as WKU’s library science program. He hopes to collaborate with WKU Libraries in the future. “It has been a great learning experience and everyone has been so hospitable,” says Woodye. “The only thing I would recommend is that the program be longer. There’s so much to absorb; a semester would be better.”

“We have enjoyed having Erwin with us this week,” says Dr. Mike Binder, Dean of WKU Libraries. “He is here from July 21-31 to gather information and learn about our programs, operations, policies and services, some of which may find application to his library system.”

Erwin Woodye, Chief Librarian of the University of Belize, is currently visiting WKU Libraries. He arrived on Monday, July 20, 2009.

On the evening of July 23, Erwin was invited to the home of librarian Haiwang Yuan and treated to a table of homemade Chinese dinner.

More Photos

Dr. Bryan Carson, Special Assistant to the Dean of Libraries for Grants and Projects, was recently elected to a three-year term as Director-at-Large on the Board of the EPSCoR Scientific Information Group (ESIG), a national consortium of librarians that are eligible to receive National Science Foundation EBSCoR Grants. The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (known as EPSCoR) is a federal program for university researchers located in states that receive less than the median amount of federal research grant funding. Researchers in EPSCoR states have access to special grant opportunities. The purpose of ESIG is to enable libraries at EPSCoR-eligible universities to better provide scientific information to their researchers. Dr. Carson replaces Mary Beth Thompson at the University of Kentucky.

“I am looking forward to participating on the board,” says Carson. “Working with libraries from across the country is beneficial on many levels. Not only do we receive costs savings on group subscriptions, but also learn of new opportunities for accessing scientific research information that will be useful for our researchers.”

The Military Order of the Stars and Bars has selected Josie Underwood’s Civil War Diary, edited by Nancy Disher Baird as the winner of the 2009 Basil W. Duke Award, which recognizes the publisher who reissues the best work in Confederate history.

Available for the first time in print, Josie Underwood’s Civil War Diary offers a vivid, firsthand account of a family that owned slaves and opposed Lincoln, yet remained unshakably loyal to the Union. Josie’s father, Warner, played an important role in keeping Kentucky from seceding. Among the many highlights of the diary is Josie’s record of meeting the president in wartime Washington, which served to soften her opinion of him. Josie describes her fear of secession and war, and the anguish of having relatives and friends fighting on opposite sides, noting in the spring of 1861 that many friendships and families were breaking up “faster than the Union.” The diary also brings to life the fears, frustrations, and deprivations of living under occupation in strategically important Bowling Green, KY known as the “Gibraltar of the Confederacy” during the war. Despite the wartime upheaval, Josie’s life is also refreshingly normal at times and she recounts travel, parties, local gossip, and the search for her “true Prince.”

The Southern Kentucky (SOKY) Book Fest partners have received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to host another Big Read project in Bowling Green and the surrounding region. The Big Read gives communities the opportunity to come together to read, discuss, and celebrate one of 30 selections from American and world literature. The Big Read in Bowling Green will center on the classic book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald<. The project will be held September 15 to November 15 and focus on the theme of the American Dream.

The partners chose The Great Gatsby because of several Kentucky ties to the book. Author Fitzgerald was stationed in Kentucky during WWI, and he frequented the famous Seelbach Hotel in Louisville. His wife Zelda’s family was also from Kentucky. The Great Gatsby characters Nick and Daisy meet in Louisville where she is said to be from a wealthy Southern family.

SOKY Book Fest is one of 269 organizations nationwide and seven in Kentucky to receive a grant to host The Big Read during the upcoming academic year. To date, the NEA has given more than 800 grants to support local Big Read projects. For more information about The Big Read please visit www.neabigread.org

SOKY Book Fest is a partnership project of WKU Libraries, Warren County Public Library, and Barnes and Noble booksellers. For more information visit www.sokybookfest.org or contact Tracy Harkins at 270-745-5016.