Spanning the Centuries at the Ort Library

Be sure to check out the FSU history display located on the 3rd floor of the Ort Library. The exhibit was created for the "Spanning the Centuries" program held during Parents Weekend, as part of "Passport FSU." Highlighting the exhibit are such artifacts from the past as a FSU freshman beanie (remember those?), the first Nemacolin yearbook from 1935, and a photograph taken at the Groundbreaking ceremony of Old Main, in 1898. Other items of interest include a photograph of E.D. Murdaugh, first principal of State Normal School #2 (as FSU was known at the time), and a photograph of last principal and first president, John Dunkle. The exhibit also showcases items representative of present day FSU, such as the 2009 yearbook, and in person (or in cat, as the case may be) until October 14th, Bob E. Cat. Come in and say hello to Bob!

If You Ban Them, We Will Read Them

Banned Books Reading, Sept. 29

On a third floor teeming with the energy of students working and generally being collegiate nearby, we co-hosted, with the English Department and Sigma Tau Delta, the English Department's honors society, a reading of books that have been challenged, banned, or removed from book stores, libraries, schools. This was part of the American Library Association's 18th annual Banned Books Week.

Students and faculty read selections from contentious texts such as Brave New World, Beloved, Han Nolan's Dancing On the Edge, Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, and Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, banned from the Laytonville, CA school district in 1989. Laytonville's chief industry: lumber.

The mood was jocular and effervescent. There were cookies.

To learn more about Banned Books Week, book challenges, and intellectual freedom, see:

Banned Books Week.org

The Nation's Blog post on BBW

Wall Street Journal: Not a big fan of BBW

Book Of the Month for October

B▫O▫M Book of the Month for October
IN ROOMS OF MEMORY Hilary Masters
PS 3563 A82I525 (currently "new titles" display)

Masters, noted essayist and fiction writer and son of Edgar Lee Masters, has crafted this volume of essays concerning his incomplete relationship with his father, the craft of writing, and travel.
From "My Father's Image:
So what I am left with is secondhand, abbreviated,
and possibly just a paste-up at that, while what
is missing is the sensual aura of the man: the
smell and feel of him, the handling and warmth
of him on a cold morning, the rub and texture
of his ordinary stubble.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review profiles Masters

Wikipedia Bibliography

Wikipedia Bibliography, Sept. 09 installment

There's no letup in the storm of attention on Wikipedia and other forms of user-created content. And in addition to the mainstream media, scholarly journals are
publishing on the issue with increasing frequency.
The philosophical issues surrounding social knowledge are as important as any issue to students and faculty: let's all be as informed as possible.

Here's a selective bibliography of recent articles focusing specifically
on Wikipedia. Within a particular category they are in descending chronological order. Each comes with a permalink to its citation within its FSU database (log-in required). Some will allow you full-text access and some will not.


In Academia

Polkinghorne, S., & Hoffman, C. (2009, June). Crown Jewel or Pure Evil? Wikipedia Through an Information Literacy Lens. Feliciter, 55(3), 101-103.
Link

Badke, W. (2009, March). Stepping Beyond WIKIPEDIA. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 54-58.
Link
Camihort, K. (2009, March). Students as Creators of Knowledge: When Wikipedia Is the Assignment. Athletic Therapy Today, 14(2), 30-34.
Link
Leaver, T. (2009, March). WIKIPEDIA: WHAT'S IN IT FOR TEACHERS?. Screen Education
Link
Crovitz, D., & Smoot, W. (2009, January). Wikipedia: Friend, Not Foe. English Journal, 98(3), 91-97.
Link


Characteristics of Contributors 

Ha, J., & Kim, Y. (2009, Spring2009). An Exploration on On-line Mass Collaboration: focusing on its motivation structure. International Journal of Social Sciences, 4(2), 138-143.
Link
Amichai-Hamburger, Y., Lamdan, N., Madiel, R., & Hayat, T. (2008, December). Personality Characteristics of Wikipedia Members. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(6), 679-681.
Link
Nov, O., & Kuk, G. (2008, September 17). Open source content contributors’ response to free-riding: The effect of personality and context. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(6), 2848-2861. Retrieved September 16, 2009, doi:10.1016/j.chb.2008.04.009
Link

Information Theory

Anthony, D., Smith, S., & Williamson, T. (2009, August). THE CASE OF THE ONLINE ENCYCLOPEDIA WIKIPEDIA. Rationality & Society, 21(3), 283-306. Retrieved September 16, 2009, doi:10.1177/1043463109336804
Link
Hansen, S., Berente, N., & Lyytinen, K. (2009, January). Wikipedia, Critical Social Theory, and the Possibility of Rational Discourse. Information Society, 25(1), 38-59. Retrieved September 16, 2009, doi:10.1080/01972240802587562
Link
Garfinkel, S. (2008, November). Wikipedia and the Meaning of Truth. Technology Review, 111(6), 84-86.
Link

Banned Books Reading, Sept. 29

The American Library Association's Banned Books week is Monday Sept. 28-Sat. Oct. 3. To commerate it, the Library is collaborating, for the second straight year, with the English Department's honor society Sigma Tau Delta to host a reading of banned

and challenged books.

Tues. Sept. 29 7:30 p.m.

3rd floor, Ort Library

free and open to the public

refreshments served

Readers will include Sigma Tau Delta members and other members of the university community.

In past years, featured titles have included Vonnegut's Slaughter-house Five, Ginsberg's Howl and America, and several Young Adult titles.

For more info, contact Jeff Maehre at jamaehre@frostburg.edu.

Constitution Day Display

Celebrate Constitution Day, September 17 by viewing the Constitution Day Display, Ort Library, floor 4. Learn about 3 of the signers from Maryland and read the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. See which colony signed the Constitution and the date the representatives signed. The first flag of the United States represents the thirteen original colonies and signers of the Constitution.

Learn More About Constitution Day

Constitution Day Is Sept. 17th

Learn more about the United States Constitution with the following links:
Interactive

Constitution Center.org
virtual field trips, interactive games, etc.
The Constitutional Convention
From teachingamericanhistory.org, includes an interactive map and a four-part drama by Gordon Lloyd.
Library of Congress: a Century of Lawmaking
Not highly interactive, but searchable, with a wealth of information.

Maryland's Role in Constitution

Bio, Daniel Carroll
Bio, James McHenry
Letter, Daniel Carroll to George Washington: navigate to others by Carroll.