Thursday, April 14, 2011

Easter Holiday Hours at Shake Library

Thursday, April 21 - 7:30am- 4:30pm
Friday, April 22 - CLOSED
Saturday, April 23 - Noon -4pm
Sunday, April 24 - 6:00pm-Midnight

Regular hours resume on Monday, April 25

Front Entrance Doors & the Computer Labs close 15 minutes prior to the building closing.

Image: Stock.xchng- user: A. Laczek

Monday, April 11, 2011

National Library Week 2011


Today, April 10, 2011, marks the beginning of National Library week. This is a week of awareness created to promote libraries around the country, and to recognize the contributions made by library staff and Friends organizations. The celebration began in 1958, and is annually sponsored by the American Library Association.

We, at Shake Library, are pleased to bring you five limited edition resources with which to celebrate. We invite you to checkout our web page and take a look.  Explore global issues in context or a transnational archive devoted to the study of Slavery. Gain access to global references on the environment, energy, and natural resources or try your hand at Powerspeak Languages.

We would love to include your thoughts in our upcoming newsletter. Tell us why you love the library!


Shake LRC Celebrates National Library Week: http://bit.ly/nlw11
Shake LRC Celebrates National Poetry Month: http://bit.ly/vupoetry


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

A vacation is...

...what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking. 

Spring Break is almost here. Whether you are vacationing in Cancun or planning the Staycation of your dreams. Why not take one of our new additions for some fun reading? Check these out:

Jay-Z, . Decoded. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2010. Print. [Call #782.42164 J42d 2010]
An excerpt: "When I first started working on this book, I told my editor that I wanted it to do three important things. The first was to make the case that hip-hop lyrics-not just my lyrics, but those of every great MC-are poetry if you look at them closely enough. The second was I wanted the book to tell a little bit of the story of my generation, to show the context for the choices we made at a violent and chaotic crossroads in recent history.  And the third piece was that I wanted the book to show how hip-hop created a way to take a very specific and powerful experience and turn it into a story that everyone in the world could feel and relate to."


Reagan, Ron. My Father at 100. New York: Viking, 2011. Print. [Call #973.927 R287re 2011]

The son of Ronald and Nancy Reagan presents an assessment of his father's life that features his childhood observations of the qualities that rendered the future fortieth president a powerful leader.

Cole, Teju. Open City: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2011. Print. [Call #Fiction: C689o]

Feeling adrift after ending a relationship, Julius, a young Nigerian doctor living in New York, takes long walks through the city while listening to the stories of fellow immigrants until a shattering truth is revealed.





Palumbi, Stephen R, and Carolyn Sotka. The Death and Life of Monterey Bay: A Story of Revival. Washington, D.C: Island Press, 2011. Print. [Call #333.72 P184d 2011]

Monterey began as a natural paradise, but became the poster child for industrial devastation in John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, and is now one of the most celebrated shorelines in the world. Monterey is thriving because of an eccentric mayor who wasn't afraid to use pistols, axes, or the force of law to protect her coasts. It is because of fishermen who love their livelihood, scientists who are fascinated by the sea's mysteries, and philanthropists and community leaders willing to invest in a world-class aquarium. The shores of Monterey Bay revived because of human passion-passion that enlivens every page of this hopeful book.


Heinrich, Bernd. The Nesting Season: Cuckoos, Cuckolds, and the Invention of Monogamy. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010. Print. [Call #598.156 H469n 2010]

One of the world's great naturalists and nature writers, Heinrich shows us how the sensual beauty of birds can open our eyes to a hidden evolutionary process. Nesting, as Heinrich explores it here, encompasses what fascinates us most about birds- from their delightful songs and spectacular displays to their varied eggs and colorful plumage; from their sex roles and mating rituals to nest parasitism, infanticide, and predation.What moves birds to mate and parent their young in so many different ways is what interests Heinrich- and his insights into the nesting behavior of birds has more than a little to say about our own.


Zelizer, Viviana A. R. Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011. Print. [Call # 306.3 Z49e 2011]

Economic Lives shows how shared cultural understandings and interpersonal relations shape everyday economic activities. Far from being simple response to narrow individual incentives and preferences, economic actions emerge, persist, and are transformed by our relations to others




Coggan, Philip. Guide to Hedge Funds: What They Are, What They Do, Their Risks, Their Advantages. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2011. Print. [Call #332.645 C676g 2011]

Hedge fund managers are the new "masters of the universe." The best earn more than $1 billion a year and are so sought after that they can afford to turn investor money away. The funds they run have, to some extent, established an alternative financial system, replacing banks as lenders to risky companies, acting as providers of liquidity to markets and insurers of last resort for risks such as hurricanes, and replacing pension funds and mutual funds as the most significant investors in many companies-even in some cases buying companies outright. The revised and updated second edition of this lively guide sheds much needed light on the world of hedge funds by explaining what they are, what they do, who the main players are, the regulations affecting them, the arguments as to whether they are a force for good or bad, and what the future holds for them.


Title Quote: Earl Wilson.
Images: WorldCat

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Spring Break Hours at Shake Library

Please note that our hours will change for Spring Break:

March 4 (Friday): 7:30am-4:15pm
March 5 (Saturday): Closed
March 6 (Sunday): Closed
March 7-10 (Monday-Thursday): 8am- 4:15pm
March 11 (Friday): Closed
March 12 (Saturday): Closed
March 13 (Sunday): 6pm- 11:45pm


We will resume regular hours on Monday, March 14, 2011

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Let the library set you up on a blind date!

Blind Date Corner @ Shake Library
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Shake Library has entered the matchmaking business. No, not in the sense of helping people romantically. Instead we challenge you to go on a blind date with one of our favorite books, sight unseen. 
That’s right, pick out a wrapped book from our display at the circulation desk. Don’t worry… they’ve each got a little profile to give you a hint of what’s in store for you. Want to take a peek? Head over to our Facebook page and look at their profiles in our photo album. 
Loved it, hated it? Tell us what you thought by emailing us your review to libref@vinu.edu. We’ll post them on our FB page at the end of the week.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Pets, Lincoln, Edison, and Chocolate!

This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one for big celebrations.

You may have already seen the Google doodle for today commemorating Thomas Edison's 164th birthday.


At Shake library you can explore lots of Edison's inventions from the light-bulb to the electric chair. Why not flip through his biography in our ebook collection?

  • Dyer, Frank L. Edison, His Life and Inventions. Champaign, Ill: Project Gutenberg, 1990. Ebook.

Image: Worldcat
Tomorrow we celebrate Lincoln's birthday! There's no shortage of books on him in our library (over 100 so far). Newly published is Richard Campanella's treatment of Lincoln's Flatboat Voyages which took him through Vincennes!

Campanella, Richard. Lincoln in New Orleans: The 1828-1831 Flatboat Voyages and Their Place in History. Lafayette: University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2010.


In 1876 the abolitionist Frederick Douglass observed, "No man can say anything that is new of Abraham Lincoln." but that hasn't stopped scholars from continuing to explore the legacy of this incredible president. Curious to know more? You might want to check out Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World (New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2008.) by Eric Foner. Here you'll find essay's on Lincoln's views on race and citizenship, political acumen, his literary style, religious beliefs, and family life. 

Well, enough about these individuals, let's turn to this Monday's Valentine's day festivities. Whether you are eagerly anticipating the holiday or generally dreading the influx of red & pink, you'll find some great resources in the library. Such as: 

Critical Thinking About Sex, Love, and Romance in the Mass Media by  Mary-Lou Galician &  Debra L. Merskin. (Media Literacy Applications. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007.) This book explores how romantic coupleship is represented in books, magazines, popular music, movies, television, and the Internet within entertainment, advertising, and news/information. 

Image: Worldcat
not interested? Well how about....Mort Rosenblum's Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light. (New York: North Point Press, 2005.)

Science, over recent years, has confirmed what chocolate lovers have always known: the stuff is actually good for you. It's the Valentine's Day drug of choice, has more antioxidants than red wine, and triggers the same brain responses as falling in love. Nothing, in the end, can stand up to chocolate as a basic fundament to human life. In this scintillating narrative, acclaimed foodie Mort Rosenblum delves into the complex world of chocolate. From the mole poblano--chile-laced chicken with chocolate--of ancient Mexico to the contemporary French chocolatiers who produce the palets d'or--bite-sized, gold-flecked bricks of dark chocolate--to the vast empires of Hershey, Godiva, and Valrhona, Rosenblum follows the chocolate trail the world over. He visits cacao plantations, meets with growers, buyers, makers, and tasters, and investigates the dark side of the chocolate trade as well as the enduring appeal of its product. (Publisher's Description)

Whatever you celebrate over the next 3-4 days don't forget that this month is Responsible Pet Owner Month!

Do you know how to protect your pets in an emergency?  Click here for information from the CDC