The news @ Western Libraries
Raising Student Voices
Posted on Tue, 2012-01-31 11:02
Carmen Werder (TLA/Western Libraries) and two students from the Teaching-Learning Learning Academy (TLA, Dmitri Simuel and Daniel Espinoza-Gonzalez, co-presented on "Raising Student Voices: Developing Democratic Engagement Through Dialogue About Teaching and Learning" at the AAC&U annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 27. With support from the VPUE's office, Werder and Matt Miller also participated in the annual conference as co-chairs of the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE). Also featured at the conference was a new report titled "A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy's Future," (commissioned by the US Department of Education and written by a National Task Force on Civic Learning & Democratic Engagement), which highlighted what the report terms "a ground-breaking book Citizen Across the Curriculum," which includes a chapter authored by Werder.
Easy Access NW Archivist News
Posted on Sat, 2012-01-21 14:53
The Winter 2012 issue of Easy Access, the quarterly publication of Northwest Archivists is now available! Lots of great news from around the region.
Library 3 Things - Winter Newsletter
Posted on Thu, 2012-01-19 12:12The new Library 3 Things Winter 2012 Newsletter is now online. Features include:
Something New: QR Codes Help You Browse the Daylight Lounge
This Issue's Great Tip: Keeping Up 101: An easy way to track our new arrivals
Did You Know? Be Inspired @ CLIC Conference February 25th
Forum on LSD [sound recording]
Forty five years ago, on Feb. 4, 1967, famed LSD advocate Timothy Leary (1920-1996) came to town for a "Forum on LSD," sponsored by the Social Issues Committee of the student body of Western Washington State College.
Compost that paper towel!
Posted on Wed, 2011-12-28 17:43
As part of the green energy fee initiative, a pilot project to compost paper towels used in the first and second floors of Haggard Hall begins Winter Qtr. 2012!
Composting will significantly decrease the amount of waste that this campus sends to landfills. The focus is on compost because according to the AS Recycle Center, 72% of Western’s waste is already recycled and the majority of the remaining portion is compostable.
A major expense for the university is the purchasing and disposal of paper towels. An essential part of this compost program is educating the general public about compost and waste reduction on campus. 
By increasing informational signs around composting and trash bins, students will be better apt to sort their waste & further decrease the amount of waste sent to the landfill. The main goal of this project is to reduce overall use and waste of resources, namely paper towels.
The measurable objectives will be to increase composting options on campus through composting paper towels in bathrooms and increasing educational signage pertaining to composting on campus. Additionally, a blog online will provide interested students and faculty with statistics, information, videos, and updated results as the project moves along. This blog can be found at www.papertowelcompost.wordpress.com.
"Viva la California!" - Gold Rush Letters Online
Posted on Tue, 2011-12-20 13:46Digital content from the papers of M. L. (Marc La Riviere) Stangroom is now available online as part of Western Libraries’ Digital Collections. Born in England in 1832, Stangroom travelled to America as a young man, where he engaged in railroad surveying work and mining speculation in California and the Sierra Nevadas. In 1888, at the request of railroad magnate Pierre Cornwall, Stangroom moved to Bellingham, Washington to assist in building the Bellingham Bay and British Columbia railway.
The new online collection includes digital copies and transcripts of correspondence from Stangroom to family members about his travels and experiences from 1855 through 1873. These handwritten letters provide extensive and fascinating detail of his early life and career, and vivid descriptions of western landscapes including California redwood forests and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Stangroom documents gold prospecting efforts, life in the mining town of Michigan Bluff (Placer County, California), and interactions between white settlers and the Native American population. A June 1858 letter describes how Californians are driven “stark raving mad” by the lure of gold in British Columbia, with hundreds of men leaving daily for the Fraser River. Stangroom’s letters also reveal aspects of his personal and family life, including his courtship and marriage.
Illustrated portion of a December 2, 1855 letter by M.L. Stangroom.
The online collection includes full-text, searchable transcripts of all letters, a 16 page reminiscence by Stangroom about his life (also transcribed), and a fifteen-page report about the construction of the Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad. Completed in 1891, the BB&BC Railroad provided a rail connection from Bellingham to Sumas and the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway.
The original and larger collection of Stangroom papers is archived and available at WWU’s Center for Pacific Northwest (CPNWS). A complete guide to the collection is available online.
Additional CPNWS holdings on the Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad include corporate records of the Bellingham Bay Improvement Company. Related images are available in the Bruce Cheever Railroad Photograph Collection and through the online CPNWS Photo Database.
A Christmas Carol in Prose: Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas
"Tis the season of many holidays and celebrations: Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's and probably more. My own tradition includes an annual reading of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.
Children's & Young Adult Book Sale
Posted on Wed, 2011-12-07 11:44
Last week the Children's & Young Adult Book Sale happened in Special Collections. The book sale raises funds for the Children's Literature Conference, an annual event at Western.
The books are all new, fiction and non-fiction, including science, biographies, chapter books, easy readers, and books for both young people and adults or cross-over books. The sale is always popular, and many people came to buy during the two day sale.
Students in ENG 441, Children's Literature for Elementary and Middle School, were involved in setup and organization of the book sale, and selected over 170 books to donate to a local Foster Parent/Caregiver Holiday Event.
Sylvia Tag, book sale coordinator and ENG 441 instructor, with Kathryn Boyd, Extended Education, take a moment during the sale to smile for the camera.
“Who We Are” art exhibit
Posted on Tue, 2011-12-06 17:37
Who We Are: A Subjective Observation of the Human Condition By Laura Converse
Art exhibit is in Wilson Library Gallery 2 through February 2012.
Laura Converse, a young artist working out of Bellingham, presents 11 works that offer her subjective observation of the human condition.
She creates stylized and surreal art, making use of jarring colors, jagged lines and sharp contrasts as a way of expressing the tension she perceives in the world around her.
Watch for new works being added to this display through January & February, as Laura plans to keep her exhibit fresh by swapping in additional works.
Preschoolers visit Special Collections
Posted on Mon, 2011-11-28 16:20|
Sixteen students from the Bloedel Donovan Pre-School visited Special Collections on Wednesday, November 23rd. Part of a general tour of the library, the pre-schoolers came to Special Collections to see the "kid's books." They may have the distinction of being the youngest students ever to use the materials in Special Collections and spend time in the Research Room. |
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| Selections from the Helene Whitson Collection of pop-up books were available on the tables. "Titanic," a pop-up book by Martin Jenkins and illustrated by Brian Sanders was a favorite. The book opens to reveal a three-dimensional model of the Titanic that is 2 1/2 feet long, and includes six pop-up scenes of the interior, menu cards, and personal histories. |  |
| Parents enjoyed viewing "The Historie of the World," by Sir Walter Raleigh, printed in 1634, the oldest book in the library. The library's own Gabe Gossett attended with spouse Gillian, Blake (5) and Sylvia (2). Blake came away with a "pronounced enthusiasm for books," and Sylvia liked the chairs in the Reading Room, because when sitting on a chair, "she could see over the edge of the table." |  |
