Poetry in motion

It was a full house here at the FKCC library on Wednesday when National Library Week and Poetry Month converged for a reading featuring students from English Professor E.J. Miller Laino's Poetry Workshop, followed by readings from faculty and an open mic. One student even performed an original song. There were more than 70 people here and the readings were well-received.

It was great to see so many people enjoying the library and enjoying poetry -- we've got a display up showing a small selection from our poetry collection -- stop in and check it out.

Happy Library Week!

It's National Library Week, something you can read all about at the American Library Association website -- or check out a video from Library Week Chair Julie Andrews at the Monroe County Public Library's site. We're celebrating all this week at the FKCC library, starting with a talk Monday from Key West resident and esteemed writer Robert Richardson. Richardson recently won the prestigious Bancroft Prize for his biography of William James. He talked about libraries, his experience doing research in them, the experience of others (including the guy who found notebooks of Leonardo DaVinci that had been lost for 500 years but had been hiding out unnoticed in a library).
Richardson also addressed the much-debated question of whether, in the age of Google, libraries are still necessary. He says they are. He's no Luddite: Google is wonderful for many things, he said, but in some cases you can't beat good old Bartlett's Familiar Quotations or other printed reference material. Plus there's the physical experience of reading and consulting a printed book. This is very different from reading on screen -- and in some cases it's actually easier to find information in a book. Richardson said computers are actually a throwback in reading technology to the scroll -- you read in order -- while books are codexes.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11 a.m. is our first annual student poetry reading and at 6 p.m. art students will show us their digital book projects. Read on!

Countdown to Library Week ....

We're still adding events to our celebration of National Library Week here at FKCC -- two students from Lynne Bentley-Kemp's Digital Camera Work course will be presenting their projects -- books they've created -- at 6 p.m. Wednesday here at the library. As with all the events, everyone's welcome and refreshments will be provided.

And don't forget our other events: Biographer/literary scholar Robert Richardson will speak at 6 p.m. Monday about libraries and why they matter and at 11 a.m. Wednesday, E.J. Miller-Laino's poetry workshop students will do a reading, followed by an open mic. Free entertainment! Free food! Libraries rock!

And ... we're back!

Spring Break is over, the college and library are back in session and things are hopping -- the library is gearing up to celebrate Poetry Month and, next week, National Library Week. Some special events already planned:
* Monday, April 14, at 6 p.m., special guest Dr. Robert Richardson, Bancroft Prize-winning biographer, will give a talk about why libraries matter
* Wednesday, April 16, from 11 a.m. to noon, Dr. E.J. Miller Laino's Poetry class will be presenting a reading, featuring students and faculty. And refreshments!
* No Limits, the Haitian art show presented by Dr. Lynne Bentley-Kemp's Gallery & Display class is still up at the Library Gallery and well worth checking out. Come on in!

A study in contrasts

Over break, Library Director Juana Careaga says she plans to finish reading "The New Year's Quilt," a part of the Elm Creek Quilts series, and start Jim Cramer's "Stay Mad For Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)."

More Spring Break reading

Diva/Workstudy extraordinaire Vogue contributes some planned reading: "City of Dreadful Delight" by Judith Walkowitz and "Transgender Warriors" (which has a terrific subtitle: "Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman"). Can't wait to hear the report back on those books.
Meanwhile, over at IT, Technology Support Services Director Bryan Gilchrist reports that spring break is the only time he gets to read for fun. His idea of fun? “The War at the End of the World” by Mario Vargas Llosa, “Southern Comforts – Rooted in a Florida Place” by recent FKCC guest Sudye Cauthen and
“Bruce Chatwin” by Nicholas Shakespeare. Keep 'em coming, gang!

Spring Break reading

For some people, Spring Break means getting serious beach time and/or serious bar time. For some of us, it means serious reading time. So we're polling FKCC people to ask what they plan to read over Spring Break. Personally, my list includes the new Library of America volume collecting the poetry, fiction, translations and letters of Elizabeth Bishop, "The Right Hand of Sleep," a historical novel by John Wray and -- in preparation for Library Week which is coming right up in April -- a book from our collection called "Library: An Unquiet History."
The first person to respond to my highly unscientific email survey this morning was former librarian/current distance learning maven Gavin McKeirnan who has more ambitious plans: "Other than catching up on my epicurean magazines, National Geos and Self (yes, I have to fit a little attempt at health in there somewhere) I’ll be reading Tolle’s "A New Earth" and books in my Pema Chodron for some Zen while gazing at the volcano in Costa Rica next week. It’s that time of the year for renewal and refreshing! I’ll also be reading my textbooks for my Educator’s Prep Institute classes that begin when we return from break. Beyond that I won’t have time for much else but really need to get back into some serious fun reading soon!"
Stay tuned here for future posts on what FKCC people plan to read over break.