Dr. Erica Brady from the WKU Department of Folk Studies gave a presentation on bluegrass music on the evening of April 2, 2013 in the Choir Rehearsal Room of the Music Hall on campus. It was part of the America’s Music event co-organized by the WKU Libraries and the Department of Music and sponsored by the Tribeca Film Institute, the National Endowment for Humanities, the American Library Association, and the Tribeca Flashpoint.
Comments Off on High Lonesome: The Story of Bluegrass Music
Filed under Uncategorized
Student Awareness Earth Week
In 1976 WKU students observed Earth Week April 11th – 17th. A group sprang up calling themselves Energy for Student Awareness. They were concerned and printed a 12 page newsletter. The group screened films, had a food drive for Guatemalans and staged the Earth Awareness Festival outside Downing University Center. The newsletter includes articles regarding The Farm a commune in Summerton, Tennessee, nuclear energy, alternative energy sources, healthy eating, Native American rights and ecological legislation.
Do you remember Earth Awareness Festival? How did you participate? What will you be doing for Earth Day, April 22nd?
This and many other records are available for researchers through our online catalog, KenCat and in the Harrison-Baird Reading Room of the Kentucky Library & Museum Monday – Saturday, 9 – 4.
Comments Off on Earth Awareness Festival
Filed under University Archives
WKU Libraries is proud to announce the addition of the Washington Post Historical edition to our electronic collection. Provided by ProQuest, this database provides full-text access to the entire run of the Washington Post from 1877 to 1996. WKU already offers the full text of the Washington Post from 1997 to the present as part of the ProQuest Newstand database.
Known for its comprehensive political reporting, first-rate photo essays, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writing, and in-depth investigative reporting, the Washington Post is a vital resource for today’s budding journalists, political historians, and students of government.
Links to these and all of other our other research databases may be found in the Databases list on the Library web page. These databases are available both on and off campus — off-campus access requires a valid WKU NetID and password. If you need assistance please stop at the Reference Desk in the Commons at Cravens, call for assistance at (270) 745-6125, or email us at web.reference@wku.edu.
Comments Off on Washington Post Historical Now Available through WKU
Filed under Uncategorized
April is National Stress Awareness Month. The library has many books on recognizing stress and its effects, as well as physical and psychological ways to manage stress. Stop by the reference area to read about stress and learn how to manage its effects.
Comments Off on April Reference Area Book Display
Filed under Reference
Bowling Green, Ky. –The Southern Kentucky Book Fest partnership announces the five finalists for the 2013 Kentucky Literary Award. This year’s award will go to a work of non-fiction by a Kentucky author or with a significant Kentucky theme that was published in 2011 or 2012. The five finalists include:
A Few Honest Words: The Kentucky Roots of Popular Music by Jason Howard
Arab and Jewish Women in Kentucky: Stories of Accommodation and Audacity by Nora Rose Moosnick
Bluegrass Baseball: A Year in the Minor League Life by Katya Cengal
Confederate Outlaw: Champ Ferguson and the Civil War in Appalachia by Brian McKnight
The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America’s Premier Sporting Event by James Nicholson
The award winner will be announced at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest’s Meet the Authors reception to be held Friday, April 19–the night before the main Book Fest event. For more information about the program, contact Kristie Lowry, Book Fest and Literary Outreach Coordinator, at kristie.lowry@wku.edu or 745-4502.
The Southern Kentucky Book Fest is a partnership of Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Warren County Public Library, and Western Kentucky University Libraries. For more information, go to sokybookfest.org.
Comments Off on SOKY Book Fest partners select finalists for 2013 Kentucky Literary Award
Filed under Uncategorized
On the evening of March 28, 2013, Dr. Stephen Groce from the Department of Sociology, WKU gave a presentation on “Women and the Sociology of Popular Music” in Helm Library 100. The presentation was one of the “America’s Music” series organized by the WKU Libraries and the Department of Music and co-sponsored by the Tribeca Film Institute, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Library Association, and the Tribeca Flashpoint.
Comments Off on Women in the Sociology of Popular Music
Filed under Uncategorized
In 1930, President Henry Hardin Cherry handpicked Mary Leiper Moore to collect and assemble historical relics and documents relating to the commonwealth of Kentucky. This “Kentucky Collection” would eventually be known as the Special Collections Library and the Kentucky Museum, two separate entities operating under one roof to educate the public and preserve Kentucky’s history. In an article about the Kentucky Building from the Nashville Tennessean, Moore stated that “there are not many persons so fortunate as I am, because I am getting a salary for pushing my hobby.”
Moore hosted a radio show during the 1940s-1950s based on the collections housed within the Kentucky Building. The broadcasts advertised the scope of the building’s historical collections by exposing listeners to stories like those about the Harpe brothers, the Great Diamond Hoax, the Long Hunters, Mammoth Cave, and the VanMeter family.
Moore’s collection captures her quest in finding and assessing collections and contains her correspondence with genealogists and authors from the Depression until the mid-1950s. Her collection includes correspondence with potential donors and scripts from the radio shows, as well as public relations material relating to the Kentucky Building’s dedication in 1936.
In a speech that she delivered in June 1954, Moore encouraged people to use the historical collections she had help amass and expressed her appreciation to the Kentucky Building’s donors, stating “…its contents have been made possible for your use through the generosity of Kentuckians, and you are cordially invited to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities offered here.” To see a finding aid for Moore’s collection, click here. To see other online finding aids, search TopSCHOLAR. To browse other collections housed in the Special Collections Library and the Kentucky Museum, search KenCat.
Comments Off on “Getting a salary for pushing my hobby.”
Filed under Uncategorized
New! Natural Standard integrative medicine database is now available through WKU Libraries. Natural Standard lets you find comprehensive, evidence-based, peer-reviewed information on foods, herbs, supplements and natural therapies. Sections include color photographs, history, dosage, interactions, adverse effects, allergies, efficacy, pregnancy/lactation data and mechanism of action. Available evidence is collected from a variety of scholarly sources, summarized, and graded. Patient handouts in English & Spanish & CE/CME programs included.
Natural Standard was founded by clinicians from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and University of California in response to widespread use of complementary and alternative therapies and lack of reliable sources of information. Monographs undergo blinded review by clinical and research faculty at academic medical centers.
Natural Standard is available on or off campus. You can find it in the Databases list on the Library website, or through the TOPCAT online catalog.
Questions? Need help?
For help with this or any library resource, please visit our Research Assistance Desk at the Commons at Cravens. You can also call us at (270) 745-6125, or email us at: web.reference@wku.edu.
Comments Off on Natural Standard at WKU Libraries
Filed under Latest News, Reference
The Waltons Actress Mary McDonough leads
workshop on body image at Book Fest
Bowling Green, Ky. –Well-known actress, author, and life coach Mary McDonough will be presenting “Body Branding: Getting Comfortable with the Skin You’re In” on Saturday, April 20 at 8 am at the Knicely Conference Center. Widely known for her role as Erin on The Waltons, McDonough leads groups to help with personal change, create life balance, and return to a sense of self.
According to her website, the Body Branding workshop explores how we view ourselves, the best way to undo any negativity about ourselves, and how to change how we project ourselves to the world. Suitable ages for this workshop are tweens, teens, college age, and adults. The breakfast & workshop costs $15 per person. Tickets are available at the Warren County Public Library, (main and Kirby branches), Barnes & Noble, and WKU Libraries Dean’s Office.
McDonough will be joining more than 140 authors for adults, youth, and children at this year’s SOKY Book Fest, including well-known actor and author Henry Winkler, radio host Bob Edwards, and bestselling authors Sherrilyn Kenyon and Mary Alice Monroe. Bestselling children’s author Obert Skye will headline Children’s Day on Friday, April 19 and other children and youth authors attending include Amy Ingnatow with The Popularity Papers series and Jarrett Krosoczka who wrote the Lunch Lady series. Krosoczka will also be leading a writing workshop on that Saturday, April 20 for upper elementary to middle school grade children.
All Book Fest events, including the Kentucky Writers Conference, will take place at the Knicely Conference Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Children’s Day will be on Friday, April 19 from 9 am to 2 pm, and the Kentucky Writers Conference will also take place on Friday from 9 am to 3:30 pm. The main Book Fest event with all the authors will be from 9 am to 3 pm on Saturday, April 20. All events, with the exception of the McDonough workshop, are free and open to the public.
SOKY Book Fest is a partnership project of WKU Libraries, Warren County Public Library, and Barnes and Noble Booksellers. For more information, visit the website at sokybookfest.org or contact Book Fest organizer Kristie Lowry at WKU Libraries at (270) 745-4502 or Kristie.lowry@wku.edu.
Comments Off on The Waltons Actress Mary McDonough leads workshop
Filed under Uncategorized
Vette City Roller Derby
Thomas Harper, a folklife intern in the Manuscripts & Folklife Archives section of WKU’s Special Collections Library, writes this about a collection he has recently processed:
Beginning in 2009, the Bowling Green sports scene was forever changed with the introduction of Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby. Vette City Roller Derby offers a thrilling, fast-paced spectacle of skill, speed and bone-jarring hits at each bout.
“Derby girls” come from all walks of life; they are women you know and interact with on a daily basis in the community. They are housewives, stay-at-home mothers, university professors, and other professionals. These amazing women share a common passion for competing in the sport and participating in the unique culture of roller derby, among them costuming and body art.
Folk studies graduate student Molly Bolick conducted ethnographic fieldwork during the fall of 2011 for her course in Folk Art (FLK 561). A copy of Bolick’s paper, Embodied Art: Identity, Adornment, and Style in Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby, is housed in WKU’s Folklife Archives. In her paper, Bolick explains that she centered her research around Pravina Shukla’s idea that everyday dress is a marker of identity in everyday life and can therefore be a means to explore personal differences within cultures. With Shukla’s basic model for the study of body art as her guide, Bolick focused her research on the personal choices of adornment, aesthetics, and taste in the dress of the individual skaters, and how these choices fit within the broad scope of “derby style,” yet maintained individual expression.
A finding aid for Embodied Art can be downloaded by clicking here. For more folklife collections, search TopSCHOLAR and KenCat.
Comments Off on Derby Girls
Filed under Manuscripts & Folklife Archives
