Current Events

There are parties planned across the country to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. At this point there doesn't appear to be an official party in Ohio, but there is a celebration planned in Louisville, Kentucky on July 11th at Carmichael's Bookstore.

I know you're now inspired to plan your own party for your friends, so here are some titles of some books you might consider checking out to learn more about the book:

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird: The Relationship between Text and Film by R. Barton Palmer. King Library 2nd Floor PN1995.3 .P35 2008

To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries by Claudia Durst Johnson. King Library 2nd Floor PS3562.E353 T634 1994

On Harper Lee: Essays and Reflections edited by Alice Hall Petry. King Library 2nd Floor PS3562.E353 T636 2007

Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields. King Library 2nd Floor PS3562.E353 Z94 2006

At the very least you might consider re-reading the book this summer (yes, I know you read it in high school, but it really is the kind of book that deserves to be re-read). We have several copies available at Miami University Libraries.

You could also check out the movie from our library because let's face it, Gregory Peck was amazing as Atticus:

The 2010 Pulitzer Prizes were announced recently. Come to the library and check out some of the winners:

Winner in Biography: The First Tycoon : The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles.

Winner in History: Lords of Finance : the Bankers who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed.

Winner in Fiction: Tinkers by Paul Harding.

Winner in Poetry: Versed by Rae Armantrout.

Winner in General Non-fiction: The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman.

See the complete list!

King Library will have a display up in the foyer of the first floor in honor of National Poetry Month for the month of April. This year's theme for the display is performance poetry and other kinds of poems that are read aloud (partially inspired by the 2009 Summer Reading pick Taylor Mali).

If you've never seen any poetry performances, here are some YouTube videos to inspire you!

If you're interested in reading about performance poetry, here are a couple of titles to get you started:

Eleveld, Mark. The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip-Hop & the Poetry of a New Generation. King Library, Ground Floor, IMC | PS615 .S65 2003.

Foley, John Miles. How to Read an Oral Poem. King Library (2nd floor) PN1341 .F65 2002.

Glazner, Gary Mex. Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry. King Library (2nd floor) PS615 .P629 2000.

Olson, Alix. Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution. King Library (2nd floor) PS589 .W77 2007.

Wheeler, Lesley. Voicing American Poetry: Sound and Performance from the 1920s to the Present. King Library (2nd floor) PN4151 .W47 2008.

Finally if you're interested in reading some poetry, here's some suggested poetry books.

This month the world will turn to Vancouver, British Columbia, when the 2010 Winter Olympic Games take place. From February 12 through 28, skaters, skiers, sledders, snowboarders, and curlers will compete in and around this West Coast city.

• Olympic.org
  
  Provides useful information about Olympics activities, links to related sites.


• Vancouver2010.com
  
  The official site for the events. Find out about events, about venues, schedules, results, and more. Maps and images of the region are online, and in the maps collection, show the communities and the event locations. The Venues page tells what events are to be held there, and at the Transportation tab, gives directions to the venue with a street map of the arena location.

I created a Google Map to show the venues in Vancouver and vicinity, at Cypress Mountain, and in Whistler. Natural Resources Canada provides this satellite view with a guide to using imagery. Successive views focus on specific areas, and reveal that BC Place, site of the opening and closing ceremonies, and awards ceremonies each night, is visible from space.

New maps in the our collection cover this area, as well. Four of them are by International Travel Maps, based in the Vancouver area:

• Vancouver covers the greater Vancouver area.
• Vancouver's Northshore includes the Cypress Mountain area.
• Whistler & Sea to Sky Highway shows the Whistler Village area, and includes a map showing Canada Highway 99 (the Sea to Sky).
• Whistler & Vancouver incorporates the Whistler maps, and the greater Vancouver map on a single sheet.
• Vancouver Destination Map from National Geographic Maps, focuses on the central area of Vancouver.

Finally, a blog, Beyond Binary, by Ina Friend at Cnet, has begun a series of articles on the science and technology of the Winter Games, beginning with one on the issue of preserving snow at Cypress Mountain, site of the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events.

It may be cliche for librarians to talk about their favorite books, but I don't remember having a favorite until I read J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye as a junior in high school. Like a lot of teenagers, I related to Holden's frustration of being caught between childhood and adulthood - wishing for innocent eyes like those of his sister Phoebe but having experienced too much of the corrupt adult world to ignore. It's this state of inbetween - of adolescence - that attracts so many teens to this book.

J.D. Salinger died last week at the age of 91, nearly 60 years after The Catcher in the Rye was first published. If you haven't read it, I encourage you to pick up a copy. If you have read it, try picking up one of his other books or checking out some of the copies we have in Special Collections on the 3rd floor of King.

The following is a good collection of information and resources regarding the devastating Haitian earthquakes. If you know of any good resources, let us know.

News & Emergency Information

• Crisis Map of Haiti
  This real-time map is updated with emergency information coming from SMS messages, the web, email, radio, telephone and other sources. It's the most comprehensive map for humanitarian and relief efforts.
• Google Crisis Response
  A comprehensive resources with information about donations and charity, videos, Google Earth imagery. Also includes a person finder!
• United States State Department
  Information on the earthquakes and the relief response from the State Department.

Relief Efforts/Donations

• American Red Cross
• Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
• Doctors Without Borders
• Charity Navigator

Social Media

• Twitter
  The primary hashtags for the Haitian earthquake are #haiti #earthquake. ReadWriteWeb is reporting on a new twitter hashtag syntax system to more efficiently coordinate relief efforts. Learn about it.
• Earthquake Timeline on Dipity
  A very cool timeline featuring YouTube videos, Flickr images, news stories and more.
• Collecta Real-time Search
  Real-time search engine results for Haiti. See updates as they occur from Twitter, Facebook, blog posts, Flickr and more.
• Help the People in Haiti! Facebook Event Page

Comment

• Photos:Haiti's History of Misery from Time Magazine
• Why Haiti Matters by President Barack Obama
• Haiti Six Days Later from Boston.com

If you saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie over the break and really liked it, you might be interested in reading some of the original books. Sure they don't have as many fistfights as the new movie, but the mysteries are often very good. In fact the New York Times recently had a great article comparing the new movie with the original books and some of the other movies.

Here are a couple of titles we own at Miami University Libraries:

The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. King Library PR4621 .K55 2005. Three volumes

The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes. King Library PR4622 .C38 1999

The Return of Sherlock Holmes: A Facsmile of the Stories as They Were First Published in the Strand Magazine, London. King Library PR4622 .R48 1975

The Hound of the Baskervilles. King Library PR4622 .H69 2006

We also have copies of some of the older movies:

Murder at the Baskervilles and The Woman in Green. King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, DVD | PN1997 .S53653 2005

The Sign of Four and The triumph of Sherlock Holmes. King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, DVD | PN1997 .S5346 2005

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, DVD | PN1997 .P758 2003

Finally we have books about Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:

The World of Sherlock Holmes: The Facts and Fiction behind the World's Greatest Detective by Martin Fido. King Library PR4624 .F54 1998

Sherlock Holmes: Victorian Sleuth to Modern Hero edited by Charles R. Putney. King Library PR4624 .S475 1996

The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Sherlock Holmes by Dick Riley and Pam McAllister. King Library PR4624 .R55 1999

The Man who Created Sherlock Holmes: The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by Andrew Lycett. King Library PR4623 .L93 2007

The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle: A Biography by Russell Miller. King Library PR4623 .M55 2008

Victorian Detective Fiction and the Nature of Evidence: The Scientific Investigations of Poe, Dickens, and Doyle by Lawrence Frank. King Library PR878.D4 F73 2003

Happy sleuthing!

James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, has selected 25 motion pictures that will be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures for generations to come. Spanning the period 1911-1995, the films named to the 2009 National Film Registry of the Library of Congress range from the sci-fi classic "The Incredible Shrinking Man" and Bette Davis’ Oscar-winning performance in "Jezebel" to the Muppets’ movie debut and Michael Jackson’s iconic video "Thriller." This year’s selections bring the number of films in the registry to 525.

To see the complete list of 25 motion pictures selected for 2009:
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2009/09-250.html

To nominate films for the 2010 National Film Registry:
http://www.loc.gov/film/

The GIL/IMC Area (Government Information and Law / Instructional Media Center) has a limited number of printed tax forms available for U.S. federal taxes. The links below provide online copies of these forms, as well as to tax forms for Ohio, the Midwest-area states, and Canada.

For more information about accessing these forms, contact Government Information and Law at King Library.

For quick access to this blog entry, feel free to use this URL: http://tinyurl.com/MU2009taxes

Federal Tax Forms:
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html

Oxford City Tax Forms:
http://www.ritaohio.com/individual/formsandinstructions.htm

Ohio State Tax Forms:
http://www.tax.ohio.gov/forms/index.stm

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Great Lakes area State Tax Forms

Illinois Tax Forms:
http://www.revenue.state.il.us/taxforms/index.htm
Indiana Tax Forms:
http://www.in.gov/dor/taxforms/
Iowa Tax Forms:
http://www.state.ia.us/tax/forms/indinc.html
Kentucky Tax Forms:
http://revenue.ky.gov/forms/curyrfrms.htm
Michigan Tax Forms:
http://www.michigan.gov/taxes
Minnesota Tax Forms:
http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/taxes/individ/forms.shtml
Missouri Tax Forms:
http://dor.mo.gov/tax/personal/individual/forms/2009/
Pennsylvania Tax Forms:
http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/forms_for_indi...
West Virginia Tax Forms:
http://www.state.wv.us/taxrev/personal.html
Wisconsin Tax Forms:
http://www.dor.state.wi.us/html/formpub.html

Canada Revenue Agency:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/menu-e.html

" 'My idea of good company, Mr. Eliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.' 'You are mistaken,' said he gently, 'that is not good company, that is the best.' " (Persuasion).

If you can't spend Jane Austen's birthday surrounded by the best company, then perhaps some of these new titles about Jane Austen might do the trick:

A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen edited by Susannah Carson. (on order for King Library and available through OhioLINK)

Jane Austen and Marriage by Hazel Jones (King Library PR4038.M3 J66 2009)

A Fine Brush on Ivory: An Appreciation of Jane Austen by Richard Jenkyns (Hamilton Library PR4037 .J45 2007)

The Cinematic Jane Austen: Essays on the Filmic Sensibility of the Novels by David Monaghan, Ariane Hudelet, and John Wiltshire (King Library PR4038.F55 M66 2009)

Jane Austen & Charles Darwin: Naturalists and Novelists by Peter W. Graham (King Library PR4036 .G73 2008)

Or how about checking out this journal devoted to the study of Jane Austen: Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal

Or go check out an 1894 edition of Pride and Prejudice in our Special Collections on the third floor of King Library. It's bound in dark green cloth with gold embossed decorations.

If you're looking for a present to help me celebrate, I would love tickets to New York City to go see the exhibit A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and Legacy at the Morgan Library!