Words to Say It & Poet Jonathan Fink

Already this semester, the Words to Say It Visiting Writers Series has featured the award-winning Michael Martone and Sonya Huber. This Thursday, Nov. 10, at 5:30 p.m., the series continues with a poetry reading by Jonathan Fink.

Author Jonathan Fink

Jason Ockert, Coastal's ten-year fiction faculty member, is eager for the reading. "Jon's poems are both accessible and intellectually engaging," he claims. For further proof, he pointed to Fink's numerous scholarships, fellowships, awards, and publications as well as praise from renowned writers like Thomas Lux, Mary Karr, and Brooks Haxton. Even Natasha Trethewey is a fan, calling Fink's work "an exploration of our common humanity."

There's more to a reading than prestigious poetry, though. "The spoken word matters," explains Ockert. "People may be surprised how moving a public reading can be. When an author reads his or her work, it often comes alive in unique and meaningful ways."

As always, the reading includes a reception afterward, giving attendees a chance to enjoy delicious cheeses, chat with others from the community, and purchase some of the author's work. You'll also have a chance to congratulate Fink on the coming release of his second poetry collection, Barbarossa: The German Invasion of the Soviet Union and the Siege of Leningrad.

If you're still undecided, feel free to read some samples, browse the library's database Literary Reference Center Plus for similar poetry from Lux, Karr, Haxton, or Trethewey or borrow a collection from our catalog.

The Words to Say It series brings several critically acclaimed authors to campus each year. These authors are selected both for their literary skill and their commitment to the socially transformative imagination. This event is held in the Johnson Auditorium in the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration. The Wall College is located at 119 Chanticleer Drive E. on the Conway campus. For more information, contact Jason Ockert, coordinator of creative writing, at 843-349-2531, or email jockert@coastal.edu.

Alternatives to Saturday Sessions

Thanks to Hurricane Matthew, many of you are stuck choosing between holding classes on Saturday or creating online assignments. Enter Kimbel Library, savior of Saturdays and cultivator of resources to make your online assignments easier.

Classroom Discussions Online Discussion
Most classes necessitate student discussions that, even on the best of days, can be difficult to kindle. Can you imagine how damp such discussions would be on a Saturday? Follow CeTEAL's advice and create an online discussion in Moodle instead.

Kimbel Library provides access to electronic resources that can enrich your online discussions. While a section of textbook might suffice, an online article may encourage more participation. To find one, you can browse databases by subject or by title, or head straight to a journal. Once you have something riveting, include the permalink for the article in the introduction area, say a bit about the piece to get students started, and watch the posts proliferate.

Classroom Discussions Research Assignment
If you're hesitant about online discussions, research assignments might be more your style. Here, each student can find and review a different article using the library's Discover! service. Such exposure often helps struggling students better understand business profiles, lab reports, and literary critiques. Plus, it improves their research skills without taxing yours.

Classroom Presentation Online Presentation
Presentations, often the greatest burden on class schedules, can also be transitioned online. Through the library's equipment checkout service students can check-out webcams, microphones, camcorders, and laptops to work from home or use any of the library's webcam-equipped desktops, each with presentation software. Either way, the challenge of the assignment is preserved as is everyone's weekend.

Something Else
These are only a few assignments to try. For additional assignment suggestions, check CeTEAL's guide for Contingency Instruction or contact them directly. For additional resources, review your course's LibGuide or contact your friendly library staff.

Enjoy your Saturday!

Banned Books Week

Starting Sunday, September 25, Kimbel Library and Bryan Information Commons is hosting Banned Books Week with events to highlight ongoing censorship.

If you need a bit of levity, join a live Twitter session on Tuesday or roast marshmallows on Thursday.

Burning to share your favorite banned book? Volunteer any day to read a few passages for a video compilation. After months of planning the events, Hailey Schaub is eager to read a memoir for the video. She's still deciding which memoir, though, and is open to any suggestions.

There're even displays featuring banned books ready for you to checkout and read in solace off-campus.

Of course, Banned Books Week is more than an excuse to have fun with coworkers or read blacklisted books. It's a chance to resist ignorance and promote growth.

Censorship is, even in the best scenario, a narrowing of perspective, directly contradicting the spirit of inquiry that we, as educators, strive to foster in students, colleagues, and the community. This week, we have an opportunity to remind everyone of those dangers and of the value in unrestricted perspectives.

To that end, maybe you'd care to share your perspective with us? Is there a banned work that deserves the attention of the campus or a taboo topic that we need to discuss? Contact us directly with your thoughts or, better yet, collaborate with us this week and share your perspective with everyone at Kimbel Library. We'll be waiting for you.

Banned Books Week is fully realized thanks to the Judith F. Krug Memorial Fund of The Freedom to Read Foundation, whose mission is the protection of intellectual freedom. This grant was obtained by Christi Rippy, now with the Office of Philanthropy.

Fall Hours

On Sunday, August 21, at 7:30 a.m. the library and commons buildings will open again for regular semester hours. We will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week!

See the library hours webpage for exceptions to these hours.

Visible Body on Ovid

Learn human anatomy and physiology with Visible Body on Ovid, a new interactive and animated 3D app. The app lets you manipulate different systems of the human body. Move the arm with your mouse and watch the muscles engage. Build the skeletal system or investigate all of the functions of the heart by stripping away or adding features as you go.

Along with the animation, there are videos, images with definitions, and quizzes to test yourself. Visible Body includes the Human Anatomy Atlas and these modules: Anatomy & Physiology, Muscles, Skeleton, Physiology Animations, and Heart & Circulatory.

Note: Visible Body works best on a desktop computer. Please read the specific system requirements in order to use the product fully.

Check out Visible Body on Ovid

GoPro at Kimbel Library

Beginning this semester, students can check out a GoPro from Kimbel Library! Each camera checks out with a kit that includes a variety of mounts.

You may be wondering what uses the GoPro has at a university? We think that there are many possibilities: It can be used to record music and theater performances, create video content for a portfolio and to record group projects. If you go snorkeling, diving or are on the water, the Library’s GoPros have a waterproof case and a floating bobber attachment. Maybe you want to improve your tennis game or your golf swing; you can record video or take bursts of photos at 30 frames per second. We are excited to hear how you would use it!

Best Reads - Fiction

A Round­up of 2015’s Best Reads: Fiction

Here are 5 of some of the most written about, highly rated and acclaimed novels of 2015 (all

which can be found in your library!)


1.       Book of Aron

Jim Shepard

Main Stacks PS3569.H39384B77

This historical fiction features real­life Warsaw Ghetto hero, Janusz Korczak, a Jewish

pediatrician and children’s advocated who founded an orphanage and refused to abandon the

children in his care.  According to a Booklist review, author Shepard “presents a profoundly

moving portrait of Korczak; explores, with awe, our instinct to adapt and survive; and through

the evolving consciousness of his phenomenally commanding young narrator, exposes the

catastrophic impact of war and genocide on children.” (Booklist, vol 111, number 16, p32)


2.       Finders Keepers

Stephen King

Main stacks PS3561.I483F56

Publishers weekly calls this one a “taut thriller” and the main character, Morris Bellamy, one of

King’s “creapiest creations – a literate and intelligent character whom any passionate reader will

both identify with and be repelled by.”  If you are looking for novel filled with nail­biting

suspense, checkout Finders Keepers. (Publishers Weekly, vol 262, issue 16)


3.       Green Road

Anne Enright

Main stacks PR6055.N73G74

Library Journal claims VERDICT Booker Prize winner Enright “lays bare the hopes, desperations,

and all too brief moments of understanding in family and modern life.” Rosaleen's adult children

gather for Christmas in Ireland for the first time in years. Rosaleen can't be made happy, and

her children are far from trying anymore, if they ever did. Rosaleen forces her children to see

her and her choices in a new light. (Library Journal, vol 140, issue 6, p73)


4.       Illuminations

Andrew  O’Hagan

Main stacks PR6065.H18I44

O'Hagan, a multi­award winner named one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists in 2003,

tells a story about storytelling and how it must sometimes be blown out of the water. Library

Journal summarizes that a documentary photographer, Anne Quirk, has survived loving a

devious man by creating her own ongoing deceptions. But then her grandson Luke, a captain in

the Royal Western Fusiliers, returns home to Scotland after finding his perceptions of the world

wiped clean by the war in Afghanistan. Luke and Anne join forces to investigate a mystery in

Anne's past (Library Journal, vol 139, issue 16, p63)


5.       Spool of Blue Thread

Anne Tyler

Main stacks PS3570.Y45S68

A chronicle of the Whitshank family though several generations in Baltimore, Maryland.

Publishers Weekly mentions some problems with cohesion, but otherwise says the story is

thoroughly enjoyable and that Tyler is a ‘gifted and engrossing storyteller.” (Publishers Weekly,

vol 261, issue 50, p)