This colorful display at the back of the reference section was inspired by Ms. Jensen's summer trip to Britain. She had a hiking holiday, and walked the Hadrian's Wall Path end to end, all 84 miles (135 km) of it.
The display highlights the features of the wall and aspects of life in Roman Britain. Books, reference books, and videos complement the display posters.
We also collected relevant and interesting links and online sources on a Hadrian's Wall PageFlakes page - something new we're trying out this year. Check it out and tell us how you like it!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Parents' Weekend
Last weekend, the Academy invited parents to come join us and see what their children's school environment is like. Friday's academic schedule was rearranged to accommodate performances, concerts, community service, and the regular afternoon activities.
We at the library were happy to offer some of our spaces for teacher-parent meetings. There was a lot of activity. In the middle of all the hullabaloo, students were nevertheless able to put in work. As you can see in this photo, also the weather cooperated and presented some of the very best fall decor for parents to admire. We hope everyone is refreshed by the weekend and today's school holiday.
We at the library were happy to offer some of our spaces for teacher-parent meetings. There was a lot of activity. In the middle of all the hullabaloo, students were nevertheless able to put in work. As you can see in this photo, also the weather cooperated and presented some of the very best fall decor for parents to admire. We hope everyone is refreshed by the weekend and today's school holiday.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Have some Happiness
“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”
Frederick Keonig
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
It is strange to think that happiness is a challenge. We assume that it is normal to be happy and it is abnormal to be sad or angry. However, this is not the case. Most people are content, but happiness takes work. In high school students are overwhelmed with homework, friends, family and the day to day struggles of existing. In the midst of this chaos of high school, happiness sometimes falls by the wayside. Students often just try and get through the day.
Here in the library we are going to try and cultivate real happiness. We have put up a “Have Some Happiness” display right behind the “Rules of the Library” (a little ironic I know). While this may sound cheesy (let’s all skip and hold hands) this display is just a reminder to take a moment to smile, or do something silly that makes you happy. Skipping and holding hands is all well and good, but it is the small things that we can appreciate and make us happy.
What you will find on the “Have Some Happiness” display is inspirational quotes, helpful lists, cartoons, pretty pictures, jokes and anything else that could (hopefully) bring a small smile to someone. Students are encouraged to make suggestions of things to add to the board, and if you think it’s too cheesy, say something and we will try to de-cheese.
Frederick Keonig
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
It is strange to think that happiness is a challenge. We assume that it is normal to be happy and it is abnormal to be sad or angry. However, this is not the case. Most people are content, but happiness takes work. In high school students are overwhelmed with homework, friends, family and the day to day struggles of existing. In the midst of this chaos of high school, happiness sometimes falls by the wayside. Students often just try and get through the day.
Here in the library we are going to try and cultivate real happiness. We have put up a “Have Some Happiness” display right behind the “Rules of the Library” (a little ironic I know). While this may sound cheesy (let’s all skip and hold hands) this display is just a reminder to take a moment to smile, or do something silly that makes you happy. Skipping and holding hands is all well and good, but it is the small things that we can appreciate and make us happy.
What you will find on the “Have Some Happiness” display is inspirational quotes, helpful lists, cartoons, pretty pictures, jokes and anything else that could (hopefully) bring a small smile to someone. Students are encouraged to make suggestions of things to add to the board, and if you think it’s too cheesy, say something and we will try to de-cheese.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Object of the Week 5
Each student in Ms. Struck's art class will be transforming one object a week. Each week on Monday afternoon, the objects will be displayed somewhere in the library for that week, until the next objects arrive.
This week's item is a breathing mask. In addition to modifying the item itself, students transformed existing items (like statuary) around campus with the mask and photographed the results.
P.S. Did you get a sudden urge for ice cream?
This week's item is a breathing mask. In addition to modifying the item itself, students transformed existing items (like statuary) around campus with the mask and photographed the results.
P.S. Did you get a sudden urge for ice cream?
Monday, October 17, 2011
Getting Ready for Halloween
We are prepared for Halloween!
We may not have witches, ghosts, ghouls and other ghastly creatures lurking in our foyer - at least not yet... Instead, we do have a selection of our newest and scariest titles on DVD. The titles include Sleepy Hollow, The Thing, Shaun of the Dead, Them, An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Signs, Dracula, Corpse Bride, The Sixth Sense, The Exorcist, and many more.
For the faint of heart, we selected scary books for the lobby display stand. Pick your favorite from among cobwebs and spiders... Titles include Dracula the Un-Dead, Gothic!, Haunting Violet, Book of Ghost Stories, The Haunting of Hill House, Everlost, The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, and The Devil's Alphabet, among others.
There is nothing like watching a film or reading a book that makes you think twice about turning off the lights!
We may not have witches, ghosts, ghouls and other ghastly creatures lurking in our foyer - at least not yet... Instead, we do have a selection of our newest and scariest titles on DVD. The titles include Sleepy Hollow, The Thing, Shaun of the Dead, Them, An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Signs, Dracula, Corpse Bride, The Sixth Sense, The Exorcist, and many more.
For the faint of heart, we selected scary books for the lobby display stand. Pick your favorite from among cobwebs and spiders... Titles include Dracula the Un-Dead, Gothic!, Haunting Violet, Book of Ghost Stories, The Haunting of Hill House, Everlost, The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, and The Devil's Alphabet, among others.
There is nothing like watching a film or reading a book that makes you think twice about turning off the lights!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Archival Storage for National Geographic
Our collection of National Geographic magazines goes back to 1902. The oldest issues have been bound into book format for easier browsing and better protection. They are nevertheless showing their age: The spines are brittle, pages are dog-eared, and the old paper attracts dust. We want to keep them available for our users, though, so we purchased archival boxes to store them in.
Each box is clearly labeled with the magazine name and year(s). The boxes are shelved with the rest of the National Geographics, in the Bragdon Reading Room, in order by year. Feel free to have a - gentle! - look. And if you have questions about our magazine collection, we're happy to answer!
Each box is clearly labeled with the magazine name and year(s). The boxes are shelved with the rest of the National Geographics, in the Bragdon Reading Room, in order by year. Feel free to have a - gentle! - look. And if you have questions about our magazine collection, we're happy to answer!
Monday, October 10, 2011
Object of the Week 4
Each student in Ms. Struck's art class will be transforming one object a week. Each week on Monday afternoon, the objects will be displayed somewhere in the library for that week, until the next objects arrive.
This week's item is a deck of cards. Feel free to visit the lobby display for a glimpse of these resourceful creations!
This week's item is a deck of cards. Feel free to visit the lobby display for a glimpse of these resourceful creations!
Friday, October 07, 2011
Womens Land Army
Through our Archives, we discovered the following:
In the 1917-1918 Annual Report for Radcliffe College, the College President relates Dummer farming to patriotism:
“The most important patriotic work of our students was in farming. By an arrangement with Dummer Academy, a boys’ school in South Byfield, Massachusetts, a farm, planted by the boys in the spring, was taken over by Radcliffe College for the summer. When the girls came back to College and the boys went back to school, the boys became available for harvesting. Throughout the summer, the girls went and came, no squad staying for more than three weeks, though one or two individuals remained through the season. Besides caring for the Dummer farm, squads of our students worked for neighboring farmers who could not have picked and marketed their summer vegetables without such help. The good impression made by our young farmers wherever they went, their actual service to the country in furthering production of food, their evident health and happiness, and the new world that was opened to them in a vigorous out-of-door life have more than paid the College for the money that the experiment demanded. In this first year we expected no pecuniary profit and were quite prepared for a loss. The spirit shown by the girls and the education they received are profit enough. I believe that there are few uses of a summer vacation to which college girls can look back with such measure of satisfaction, and that no year will seem complete without a Radcliffe farm.”
--L.B.R. Briggs, President
We were intrigued. After all, it was the rents of the original farm which financed the Master Moody and his teaching in the Little Red Schoolhouse. So,this additional reference to farming sent us on a research hunt. We discovered the Women's Land Army and School Garden Army which supported the war effort at home during both of the World Wars.
Our display has pictures of the farm here on campus as well as farm implements of the WWI period which came from a farm in Freedom, NH and would have been of the type used here.
In the 1917-1918 Annual Report for Radcliffe College, the College President relates Dummer farming to patriotism:
“The most important patriotic work of our students was in farming. By an arrangement with Dummer Academy, a boys’ school in South Byfield, Massachusetts, a farm, planted by the boys in the spring, was taken over by Radcliffe College for the summer. When the girls came back to College and the boys went back to school, the boys became available for harvesting. Throughout the summer, the girls went and came, no squad staying for more than three weeks, though one or two individuals remained through the season. Besides caring for the Dummer farm, squads of our students worked for neighboring farmers who could not have picked and marketed their summer vegetables without such help. The good impression made by our young farmers wherever they went, their actual service to the country in furthering production of food, their evident health and happiness, and the new world that was opened to them in a vigorous out-of-door life have more than paid the College for the money that the experiment demanded. In this first year we expected no pecuniary profit and were quite prepared for a loss. The spirit shown by the girls and the education they received are profit enough. I believe that there are few uses of a summer vacation to which college girls can look back with such measure of satisfaction, and that no year will seem complete without a Radcliffe farm.”
--L.B.R. Briggs, President
We were intrigued. After all, it was the rents of the original farm which financed the Master Moody and his teaching in the Little Red Schoolhouse. So,this additional reference to farming sent us on a research hunt. We discovered the Women's Land Army and School Garden Army which supported the war effort at home during both of the World Wars.
Our display has pictures of the farm here on campus as well as farm implements of the WWI period which came from a farm in Freedom, NH and would have been of the type used here.
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Latest Reviews: October 2011
We hope you have enjoyed returning to the full swing of the new academic year. If you need a breather, consider borrowing a book reviewed by our staff.
The latest reviews linked to our "virtual collection" include Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier and A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me about Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz.
You can always find even more reviews through our LibraryThing profile.
The latest reviews linked to our "virtual collection" include Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier and A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me about Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter by William Deresiewicz.
You can always find even more reviews through our LibraryThing profile.
Monday, October 03, 2011
Object of the Week 3
Each student in Ms. Struck's art class will be transforming one object a week. Each week on Monday afternoon, the objects will be displayed somewhere in the library for that week, until the next objects arrive.
This week's item is a seven-day pill box. We were happy to note that among the transformations are several miniature book cases - proof that electronic readers have not displaced paper books yet.
This week's item is a seven-day pill box. We were happy to note that among the transformations are several miniature book cases - proof that electronic readers have not displaced paper books yet.
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