Reviews of Kansas Notable Books

Reviews by Carolyn Weeks, 2006 Kansas Notable Books Committee

Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights
by Diane Eickhoff


Generations of women spent their lives fighting for suffrage and equal rights for American women. Some, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, are icons of civil rights. Most, like Clarina Nichols, were part of that vast army of committed women whose labors took place on a more subdued and local level. A child of Vermont, Clarina Howard Carpenter Nichols, began her crusade for women’s rights in the East but soon pushed West to Kansas where she encountered the hardships of frontier life as well as the stacked-deck of a man’s world.

This well-written and well-researched biography of a remarkably gifted and resilient woman gives life to the struggle for gender equality. It has much to teach us about our past as Americans and as Kansans and as participants in that greatest experiment of all: democracy.



(This one is on order here in the library - I expect it by the start of January term)

Ogallala Blue: Water and Life on the High Plains
by William Ashworth


And you thought the oil crisis was the last word in shortages! You’ll never take water for granted again after reading about the vast underground aquifer that supports more than $20 billion dollars worth of agriculture, more than one fifth of the country’s harvest. The Ogallala Aquifer lies under the Great Plains and stretches from South Dakota through Nebraska and Kansas to Oklahoma and Texas. It is deep enough to fill Lake Erie nine times and it is being pumped dry at the rate of five trillion gallons of water per year.

The story is all here: the life of the plains and the legal, recreational, industrial and agricultural infrastructure that supports it. Ashworth details the origins of the Ogallala and its probable future unless reasonable action is taken soon. Kansans, take note, the economic, environmental and humanitarian implications of this problem cannot be underestimated.

Thank you for your reviews, Carolyn.

--Micaela

E-Book of the Month at Butler Community College

Younger You
Unlock the Hidden Power of Your Brain to Look and Feel 15 Years Younger
by Eric R. Braverman
McGraw-Hill, 2007









Finally, a pivotal piece of the aging puzzle is solved. In the December eBook of the Month, Dr. Eric Braverman reveals how controlling brain hormones through diet, lifestyle changes, key vitamins, minerals, and nutritional supplements can halt the aging process.

In the constant battle to stay young and feel fit, we will try any of the quick fixes that come on the market. But you don't need surgery, pricey cosmetics, or starvation to look and feel 15 years younger. With Dr. Braverman as your guide, you will unlock the secrets to living a longer, more vibrant life.

The conversation that resulted:

This was sent to me this afternoon. Dr. Vietti is the college president, Jim Pond is chair of our faculty union:

Dr. Vietti,

Thank you so much for sharing that video as it supports the issues we as educators face today. I didn't mention this specifically last evening but I have heard several people say this semester that the students are more challenging to teach and way less motivated than what we have seen in the past.

The real point that I was hoping to make with the board is that we are facing very different challenges with the students we are working with today. We all need to feel like our efforts are worth while and that we are contributing to the good of the whole. People who are not in the "mix" sometimes see teachers as having it pretty easy and being over paid. My comments were to express a concern and to let them know we are working to make adjustments for successful outcomes and not ignoring the cultural shift. I tried to try to end on a positive note in that we still serve numerous ambitious and capable young people here at Butler, but some things are recognizably different.

Thanks again,

J. Pond


Jacqueline A Vietti wrote:


>Thanks, Micaela, for sharing this excellent resource, so we can develop a better understanding the traditional age students who are coming to us today. I worry about what I perceive to be a dichotomy between our younger students and our older ones, particularly since we serve critical masses of both.
>
>Jim, given your report during last evening's board meeting, I thought you might appreciate this information. You, too, Jon.
>
>Thanks. -- Jackie Vietti
>
>
>Micaela C Ayers wrote:
>
>
>>Dr. Vietti, Dr. Ellis,
>>
>>Prof. Wesch is doing some innovative things in student and information
>>ethnography. I thought you might want to be aware of this!
>>
>>Your librarian,
>>
>>Micaela
>>
>>
>>Arla Jones wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Here's a short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime.
>>>
>>>Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas
>>>State University.
>>>
>>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Arla Jones
>>>Librarian & Proud Member of the American Library Association!
>>>Lawrence High School
>>>1901 Louisiana Street
>>>785-330-2391
>>>fax 785-832-5054
>>>Lawrence, KS 66046-2999
>>>
>>>
>>>Take a look at our cool web page!
>>>http://library.lhs.usd497.org
>>>
>>>" It is as sad to have a library without books as it is to have a
>>library
>>>full of books that nobody reads."
>>>Jesus Ruiz Nestosa


Thanks, Arla, for sharing the video! I am happy to see this conversation going on at the highest levels of administration at the college. We try to supply what the students need here in the library, and are always sending out feelers so we stay ahead of big developments, as we can... thus we were first with wireless on campus.

Micaela

"A Vision of Students Today"

--> Here's a short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime.

Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University.

"A Vision of Students Today"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o


Arla Jones
Librarian & Proud Member of the American Library Association!
Lawrence High School


Arla, thanks. There's quite a few others that Professor Wesch has done. I particularly enjoyed his look at information and libraries in "Information R/evolution" and I want to check out "The Machine is Using Us."

Micaela

Take a survey, if you like...

I submit to you the following email I recently received on the CJCLS listserve:

Greetings:

In August 2007 The Associated Press had IPSOS Public Affairs conduct a poll regarding reading habits. 27% of the people surveyed had not read a book in the previous year. A National Endowment of the Arts Survey published in 2004 found that less than half
of American adults read literature. Hearing about these surveys made me wonder if the reading habits of people who work in libraries are typical. So, here is yet another survey. It is short and will take only a few minutes of your time. Please take it. Your comments regarding reading are welcome so please include them.

http://www.somerset.kctcs.edu/cgi-bin/surveys/read.htm

This message is being posted to several lists, so please excuse duplication.

Thank you.

Shelley

Shelley Wood Burgett
Director of Library Service
Somerset Community College
808 Monticello St.
Somerset, KY 42501
606 451-6711 M - R
606 878-4724 F

_____________________________________

Thank you, Shelley, it was fun...

Micaela

NetLibrary Ebook of the Month, November

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Reference

Only one of the world's mythologies has remained essentially unrecognized: the mythology of Judaism. As Howard Schwartz reveals in Tree of Souls, the first anthology of Jewish mythology in English, this mythical tradition is as rich and as fascinating as any in the world.

Drawing from the Bible, the Pseudepigrapha, the Talmud and Midrash, the kabbalistic literature, medieval folklore, Hasidic texts, and oral lore collected in the modern era, Schwartz has gathered together nearly 700 of the key Jewish myths. Equally important, Schwartz provides a wealth of additional information, revealing the source of the myth and explaining how it relates to other Jewish myths as well as to world literature.

Kansas Memories

Kansas Memory is the Historical Society’s newest online offering, featuring the largest collection of photographs and manuscripts from Kansas history on the Internet, and can be accessed at kansasmemory.org.

Kansas Memory offers unprecedented online access to Kansas history and includes thousands of items from the Kansas Historical Society’s collections of photographs, letters, diaries, and other historic items. Users can browse, search, or share images, and will eventually be able to purchase high-resolution versions online.

The “My Kansas Memory” feature allows users to customize a personal space, save searches, and create bookbags of items. Although it would be impossible to add every single item in the Kansas Historical Society’s collection to Kansas Memory, the Historical Society will actively continue to add images as part of its goal to make Kansas history more accessible to everyone. Visitors to the site can listen to dramatic readings in the Kansas Memory podcasts and subscribe to an RSS feed for the latest content.

Kansas Memory was developed in part with funding from the Information Network of Kansas.
--

Margaret B. Knecht
Head, Library Section
Kansas Historical Society
6425 SW 6th Avenue
Topeka KS 66615-1099

785-272-8681 x272
785-272-8682 fax

(from a press release email Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:52:29
From: "Margaret Knecht"
Subject: [KANLIB-L:14894] Kansas Historical Society Launches Kansas Memory)

Real People. Real Stories. VISIT KSHS ON THE WEB: http://www.kshs.org