Contemporary Catholic Writers Series: Paul Mariani

The Loyola/Notre Dame Library is honored to host Paul Mariani, University Professor of English at Boston College, for our third annual lecture in the Contemporary Catholic Writers Series. Prof. Mariani is the author of sixteen books, including five biographies and six volumes of poetry. His biography "Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Life" was named one of The Washington Post's Best Books of 2008. We hope you'll join us!

How the Sacramental Imagination Works:
 

The Impact of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Flannery O’Connor on Writing Today


Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 7:00 pm

Ridley Auditorium, Loyola ▪ Notre Dame Library

A reception will follow. Space at the lecture is limited; To reserve a free ticket, please visit http://flanneryoconnor.lndlibrary.org

This event is free and open to the public, so please feel free to share this information with any interested friends, family or colleagues.

E-Book of the Week: Politics of the Piazza

Canniffe, Eamonn. Politics of the Piazza: The History and Meaning of the Italian Square. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008.

Broken into four parts, this book discusses the relationship between political systems and their methods of representation in architecture. Illustrated with contemporary photographs, analytical drawings and historic images, it examines approximately 70 significant piazzas and situates these in their social and political contexts, highlighting shifts between autocratic and democratic forms of government from antiquity to the present day. Great for people planning on traveling to Italy or interested in Italian history.

Previewed by Joanne Helouvry, Head of Research and Instruction Services. Click here to read this book.

Guest Access During Final Exams

UPDATE 5/17/11: As library usage has been very light the last few days, we are lifting the restrictions on guest access today.

Due to final exams, from Monday, April 25 through Friday, May 20, only students, faculty and staff from the College of Notre Dame and Loyola University will be admitted to the Library. Students from other institutions, as well as the general public, will not be admitted. We apologize for any inconvenience, and appreciate your understanding.

E-Book of the Week: Mobile Phones

de Bruijin, Mirjam, Francis Nyamnjoh and Inge Brinkman. Mobile Phones: The New Talking Drums of Everyday Africa. Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Research and Publishing Common Initiative Group, 2009.

Mobile Phones explores the way cell phones are reshaping Africa. Each chapter, written by a scholar from a different African country (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Sudan and Tanzania), delves into the societal, economic, and cultural changes brought on by the use of cell phones in these regions, and how the technology is being adapted and transformed by African society. Topics include the many ways in which cell phones are being used: indigenous healers treating patients, individuals staying connected with family members who migrate to other countries, and farmers and merchants selling their goods.

Previewed by Julie Nanavati, Research and Instruction Librarian. Click here to read this book.

Seventh Annual Celebration of Faculty Scholarship

The seventh annual Celebration of Faculty Scholarship is coming up in early April! This celebration will highlight the wide variety of publications authored by faculty of Loyola University Maryland and College of Notre Dame of Maryland, focusing on those published from July 2009 to June 2010.

The Celebration will take place at the library, in the Ferguson Gallery and the Ridley Auditorium. Please join us here on Friday, April 8, from 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. for an exhibit of publications, refreshments, and presentations by several faculty members, who will discuss their research and the publication process (presenters will be announced soon). For additional information, please visit our Faculty Publications page.

UPDATE 4/5: We are pleased to announce our slate of faculty presenters for this year.

E-Book of the Week: The Invisible Gorilla

Chabris, Christopher F. and Daniel J. Simons. The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us. New York: Crown Publishers, 2010.

The Invisible Gorilla examines six areas related to our perceptions -- areas that are often faulty, yet stubbornly resistant to change even when we are made aware of the flaws. Chabris and Simons use examples from psychological experiments and real life situations to demonstrate the illusions of attention, memory, confidence, knowledge, cause, and potential. They also discuss how we can attempt to overcome the flawed logic that results from these illusions.

Previewed by Danielle Whren Johnson, Digital Access Librarian. Click here to read this book.

E-Book of the Week: Buffalo Gal

Pedersen, Laura. Buffalo Gal: A Memoir. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2008.

Laura Pedersen  is a Wall Street millionaire who grew up the snowy city of Buffalo, New York, and this is her comically written memoir. Like many families subsisting in the frigid North during the energy crisis, the Pedersens feared rising prices at the gas pump, argued about the thermostat, fought over the dog to stay warm at night, and often slept in their clothes. From a blue collar family, Laura became the neighborhood wild child, skipping school, playing poker, betting on the horses, and trading stocks. After graduating from high school Pedersen became the youngest person to have a seat on the American Stock Exchange and a millionaire by age 21.

Previewed by Charles Lockwood, Digital Services Librarian. Click here to read this book.

E-Book of the Week: William Shakesepare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

Bloom, Harold (ed.). William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 1996.

This book provides a critical overview of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Bloom starts off the work with a biography of Shakespeare, followed by information on the characters, themes and structure of the play, an especially helpful foundation for those who have found Shakespeare's language difficult to interpret. Following this, Bloom has compiled a list of extracts from critical works reaching back to the early 1800s. Each extract is prefaced by a very brief biography of the author and the work being quoted. Bloom concludes the volume with a bibliography of Shakespeare's works and works about A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Previewed by Alison Cody, Public Relations & Instruction Librarian. Click here to read this book.