Happy Halloween!!

Need a good, scary movie for the occasion?  Stop by Lane Library and get something really frightening!  We have modern classics, thrillers, suspense, supernatural, and super campy.  All are available in the video section of the main floor in Lane Library.

Let the Right One In - Scandinavian vampire, note: she doesn't glitter and she is spooky

The Orphanage - Spanish suspense/horror film

Ringu - Often named as one of the only *truly* scary movies

Or maybe you don't want something too scary, but still fantasy/dark, watch Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro

The Devil's Backbone - horror/drama (also by Guillermo del Toro)



Gozu - a Japanese horror movie described as "sick" "twisted" "psychosexual" and "surreal" on RottenTomatoes



Lastly, for a cult-classic campy horror movie, watch Dead Alive - one of Peter Jackson's (who directed The Lord of the Rings films) first movies.  Gorey, funny, ridiculous, fantastic.  Not actually scary unless you fear New Zealanders.


These are just a sampling of what we have, stop by and browse the videos to see more.  Of course, there are always lots of good, spooky books in the library too!

Lane Library celebrates the freedom to read! (by guest poster, Emelia Erickson)

Ripon College recently joined the fight for the freedom to read in the 2012 Virtual Read-Out hosted by the American Library Association during Banned Books Week, September 30^th to October 6^th.

15 members of the Ripon College Community, students and staff participated in making a video for the Virtual Read-Out. Each read a section of a banned or challenged book found on the shelves of Lane Library. The video was submitted as part of a nationwide event to spread awareness about Banned Books Week and speak out against censorship.

The issue that I wanted to capture with this event was that the books that are being banned or challenged are books that we love. While, to a certain extent, banning a book increases its popularity or infamousness, the act is a slap in the face to the fact that we should be able to decide what books we can read for ourselves. In the library the day of the event, there was an entire cart of banned books, and the best part was that I saw people struggling to choose just one book.

Leading up to the event, I talked to many people who were almost as excited as I was that Ripon was hosting such an event. Several professors voiced their support, and told me how glad they were that this had come to Ripon. Many classes here read texts that have been banned at some point, somewhere in the world.

Here in the U.S., most books are banned in K-12 schools because parents raise concerns about their content. But there are still some countries that have governmental bans on books. Some of the students I talked to about Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” being banned thought that maybe Germany is right to ban it. But who decides what criteria should be banned? And for whom should it be banned? As you’ll see in the video, Dr. Seuss’s “Green Eggs and Ham” was banned in China.

Censorship is nothing more than trying to force your views on others, by restricting the information they have access to. I’m grateful that Ripon College has shown such strong support for the freedom to read, and that as a school, we support access to all knowledge.

For more information, visit www.ala.org and view Advocacy, Legislation, and Issues. 

-Emelia Erickson

Lane Library display assistant and BBW video director

@nfl #packers #scabs #paytherefs

The big news this morning is the absolutely terrible call made last night in favor of the Seahawks.  This is the image that best sums up the situation:

Photo courtesy of Rachel Nichols twitter feed, @Rachel_Nichols

At the heart of the matter is the fact that these referees are not as well trained as the refs who should have been on the field last night.  Those refs are currently on strike due to contract disagreements. People who take jobs from striking workers are called "scabs" - and this word is supposed to bring out all the negative connotation you can imagine.  Those two in the picture are scabs, doing their job badly.

Scabs have a long and colorful history in our country. One of the most infamous incidents is called the Haymarket Riot.  After a prolonged and bitter strike where the scabs were given the working conditions that the union had demanded, some union members had attacked scabs and the police ended up killing two men and wounding many others.  On May 4th, 1886, what was supposed to be a peaceful gathering ended up killing seven police officers, four men, and countless wounded.  May Day is now used as a commemoration of this.

Image taken from PBS's History of US:   http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web09/features/see_it_now/1880.0093.html

Read a first person account of the Haymarket Riot from an eyewitness
Read a first person account of the Haymarket Riot from a police officer, titled "Anarchists were flying everywhere"

For more information on the history of unions, striking, and scabs, Lane Library has tons of books, here are just a few:

                    

Here are more books on the history of the labor movement available at Lane Library

Thanks to PBS for information on the Haymarket Riot

#yougetwhatyoupayfor

Traveling the globe via postcards

Our main job here at Lane Library is to help our students get the most out of college, usually that means helping out with research.  One thing that is so particular and important to the college experience is the opportunity to travel abroad.  It is truly a priceless experience in every respect and we want to encourage everyone to take this rare opportunity!  

It is in the spirit of encouraging our students to travel that we joined up with Postcrossing.com. For every card we send out telling people all about Ripon, Wisconsin, we receive one in return from a randomly chosen location across the globe.  So far we have received 7 from across Europe and Asia.  All of the postcards we get are hanging in the copier room at the library next to a map with numbered pins in the area the card is from.  Here are digital images of the postcards we've received so far:  

The first one we got was from a teacher, Inna, in the Ukraine 

From Vatsala in Pune, India celebrating her country's badminton bronze medal winner in this year's Olymipcs

A beautiful seascape from Tatyana, in Tomsk, Russia

From Matylda in Bialystok, Poland, one of Poland's largest cities with 3 major universities

From Verna in Hong Kong, who wrote all about the amazing food in her city (as if we need ANOTHER reason to go!)

From Xu in China, who wrote "Welcome to China" on the back in Chinese (thank you to Ray, our circ worker for helping with the translation)

From Winni in Funkstadt-Nauen, Germany, home of Deutsche Welle and Radio Berlin

We love getting postcards from around the world and look forward to building quite a collection.  Next time you are printing something out, take a moment to flip through the cards and check out the map.  If you are interested in learning more about Postcrossing, visit Postcrossing.com.  Happy Postcrossing, Lane Library!

Last day of summer

There has been so much activity here at the library with the renovations that we aren't sure where the summer went.  If you have not been following us on Facebook, we had the red-orange carpet removed from 3A, got lots of new chairs and tables, removed carpet from walls (yes, you read that right), got new paint, and new computer set ups.  I would say we're "leaner and meaner," but "more inviting" and "cozier" is a much more accurate way to phrase it. (see pics below)


Just a few of our improvements include:

• No more waiting to print a document!  Students will now be able to use a "Quick Print" station.  Basically, this is two computers whose only function is to open files and send to the printer.  

• The South Reading Room has popular magazines and newspapers, and lots of comfy furniture to study, read, work, and socialize.

• The North Reading Room has all new wooden chairs and tables for group work or if you need a lot of surface area for your stuff.  

• The Information Commons now has secluded cozy spots, comfortable people-watching seating by windows, lots of group work space, three movable white boards, and plenty of computers.

North Reading Room (before) - note the plastic chairs and veneer tables

North Reading Room (after) with hard wood tables and chairs

South Reading Room (before)

South Reading Room (after) with comfortable furniture and newspapers

Looking into the North Reading Room from the Circ Desk before renovation

After renovation - so much brighter and more open!  Did you notice the new wall paint and decoration, too?

We are so happy with the new interior.  I know the library will be used much more this year due to how elegant and comfortable it has been made - the library is exponentially more inviting.  I can't wait to hear the returning students' reactions (and am keeping a running list of quotes).  We'd like to thank those who have generously given to make this possible - from the librarians, student workers, and patrons, thank you!

De-stress from finals at the Library

Get your mind off of finals and get crafty at the library!  Using repurposed library materials, you can make all kinds of objects.  See our Pinterest page for some ideas.

Get started on Mother's Day by hand-making a card:

Any mom would be happy to get one of these cards

Color in a historical picture from the college archives:

Yes, yes that is the Women's Rifle Team

Or make something of your own design:

King of Lane Library, benevolent, but stern.

All supplies are located in the South Reading Room, along with directions.  There is a shelf you can store works in progress and another to donate your work to the library.  If you have any other ideas for crafting or finals week de-stressers, please post to our comments.  

-Kate

Guest post from Rachel Wedeward, Bernice Wells Carlson Intern 2011-12

I applied for the Bernice Wells Carlson in hopes of seeing what working in a library would be like. Even from my interview with Carl, I knew I would enjoy working here at Lane Library. I have been interested in working in a library as far back as junior or senior year of high school. However, opportunities for library positions in my hometown of Madison were always taken right away. 

My luck changed in April 2011, when I was awarded the Bernice Wells Carlson award at the annual Awards Convocation. The Bernice Wells Carlson award is a yearlong paid internship shadowing librarians in their respective departments.  For example, when I worked in the archives department, I researched what Ripon College was like during the Cold War and made a display in West Hall. Also, when I worked in government documents, I created an interactive pathfinder, a list of resources for students to go to, that would help students find government documents. 

Along the way, I saw what I liked and didn’t like about working in a library; however, I can definitely say I have NEVER had a bad day working here. I think a lot of it has to do with the many bosses I’ve had. I see their passion and excitement for their jobs and for helping students, and it only makes me want to be a librarian, just that much more. What I thought was going to be a silly campus job, with some sort of possibility of seeing if librarianship was right for me, turned into something that I plan on pursuing as a lifelong career. I always wanted a career where I was helping others, benefitting them in some way, and librarianship offers that. 

As a result of this internship, I was awarded the Wisconsin Association of Academic Libraries (WAAL) scholarship to attend their annual conference. Despite being the only undergraduate there, it was a wonderful opportunity to network and meet other librarians across Wisconsin. 

It saddens me to be ending my time as the Bernice Wells Carlson intern, but I’ve learned so much, and hope others even slightly interested in librarianship will take this golden opportunity.