Word of the Day

cherry-pick

\ CHER-ee-pik \, verb;

1.Informal . to select with great care: You can cherry-pick your own stereo components .

2.Informal . (in retail use) to buy only the sale items and ignore the other merchandise.

Quotes:

It’s easy to cherry-pick silly or ill-considered or factually flawed things he’s said.

-- Hendrick Hertzberg, "Foul Tip," The New Yorker , Jan. 16, 2009

It is only on a second reading that one can see how delicately Sethe cherry-picks what can be told to Denver as the epic triumph of Denver's birth…

-- A.S. Byatt, Toni Morrison, "Introduction," Beloved , 2006

Origin:

Cherry-pick entered English in the 1960s possibly as an extension of the slang term cherry-picker , defined by Railroad Magazine in 1940 as a "switchman, so called because of red lights on switch stands. Also any railroad man who is always figuring on the best jobs and sidestepping undesirable ones."

Dictionary.com

Happy Admininstrative Professionals Day!

Where would we be without the administrative professionals of the world? Who would keep you on schedule? Complete all that typing and take care of your mountains of paperwork? Make appointments and take phone calls? And so much more. We'd be lost without them.

Today is Administrative Professionals Day. Take some time to thank the administrative professionals in your life. Without them, we'd all be lost.

Magazine Monday: Film Comment

by Steven D. Mathews, Library Assistant

The Yocum Library subscribes to the print edition of Film Comment, a bimonthly magazine published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City. 

For more than fifty years, Film Comment has reviewed and discussed the world of current cinema and its history. The January/February 2017 issue features an article on the works of Martin Scorsese and his new film Silence (2016)

The most recent issue (March/April 2017) features an article on Albert Serra’s The Death of King Louis XIV (2016). The cover of the issue shows the 76-year-old Sun King, the nickname for King Louis XIV of France (1638–1715), in a huge wig and ostentatious eighteenth-century clothes, lying on his back, presumably on his deathbed. 

Yonca Talu’s article on the film describes Serra’s lack of romanticism for the Sun King’s death: “The King’s physical deterioration is rendered through an unnervingly static and hypnotically paced mise en scène that, while viscerally involving the audience in Louis’s suffering, does not induce identification: the film’s true protagonist is not Louis XIV, but rather death, treated as a simultaneously cruel and banal fact of life” (26). The film reminds us no one can escape mortality, even the so-called divine ruler who built the Palace of Versailles.

Another article, “Text and Image” by Max Nelson, provides striking examples from the silent-movie era to the present of how on-screen texts, either as diegetic (from the world of the film) or non-diegetic (placed intentionally by the filmmakers), can impact the cinematic experience. 

“On-screen words can lodge in a film’s world, hover over it (in superimpositions), or interject themselves around it (in intertitles). Visually, they can announce themselves at the front of the frame, peek out from its corners, slither through it elusively, lurk in its background, or—as often happens with superimposed text—emerge as its single most striking element” (48). The article reviews a new book on the subject, Words on Screen, by the French theorist, Michel Chion.

Besides reviews and articles of cinema, books on cinema, home media, and streaming services, Film Comment also has web-only content on their web site, which includes reviews of Turner Classic Movie programming, recent film festivals, and a podcast.

Judith Croteau awarded Ronald F. Borkert Library Research Award

Judith Croteau (center) with Yocum librarians Pat Nouhra (left) and Kim Stahler (right)

Judith Croteau, business student of Mary Lou Kline, won the Ronald F. Borkert Library Research Award, which was presented at RACC’s Academic Awards Ceremony on Friday, April 21. 

Her essay was chosen by Yocum faculty librarians for its excellent use of library resources combined with her own experience and analysis. Congratulations Judith!

 

Library of Congress Celebrates Birthday Today

Today, the Library of Congress celebrates its birthday. On April 24, 1800, President John Adams approved the appropriation of $5,000 for the purchase of “such books as may be necessary for the use of congress.”

The books, the first purchased for the Library of Congress, were ordered from London and arrived in 1801. The collection of 740 volumes and three maps was stored in the U.S. Capitol, the Library’s first home. On January 26, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson approved the first legislation that defined the role and functions of the new institution.

The Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. The Library’s mission is to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the American people, and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations. As of 2016, the vast holdings of the Library number well over 164 million items.

From Library of Congress web site "This Day in History"

Cherry Blossom Trees Make Unexpected Comeback!

 We thought our late winter storm destroyed the chances of the cherry blossom trees from blooming. However, some of the trees along the Schuylkill Navigation Trail and at least one at the back of The Yocum Library are in full bloom. Another tree at the back of the library is struggling to make its debut, but so far only half of it has blossomed.

Are You a Comic Book Aficionado?

You can access hundreds of e-comic books via Hoopla, a program available to library cardholders from the Reading Public Library and RACC.

You need to sign up using your library card and then you'll have access to all of the comic books included with Hoopla. In addition, there are hundreds of e-books, audibooks, and e-magazines.

Check it out soon!

Celebrating National Library Week and National Poetry Month

April 9-15 is National Library Week and April is National Poetry Month. We're combining the two events for this post.

The American Library Association 

states that National Library Week "is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and library workers and to promote library use and support. From free access to books and online resources for families to library business centers that help support entrepreneurship and retraining, libraries offer opportunity to all. The theme for 2017 National Library Week is "Libraries Transform."

According to poets.org, National Poetry Month "is the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K-12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, bloggers, and, of course, poets marking poetry’s important place in our culture and our lives." 

To celebrate both events, we're posting Nikki Giovanni's poem, "My First Memory (of Librarians)."

"My First Memory (of Librarians)"
by Nikki Giovanni, 1943

This is my first memory:
A big room with heavy wooden tables that sat on a creaky
wood floor
A line of green shades—bankers’ lights—down the center
Heavy oak chairs that were too low or maybe I was simply
too short
For me to sit in and read
So my first book was always big

In the foyer up four steps a semi-circle desk presided
To the left side the card catalogue
On the right newspapers draped over what looked like
a quilt rack
Magazines face out from the wall

The welcoming smile of my librarian
The anticipation in my heart
All those books—another world—just waiting
At my fingertips.

“My First Memory (of Librarians)" from Acolytes by Nikki Giovanni. Copyright © 2007 by Nikki Giovanni.

Spring Break II-College/The Yocum Library Closed

The Yocum Library will be closed Friday, April 14 through Sunday, April 16 for Spring Break II. We will re-open at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, April 17.

Don't forget! If you want to work on research during the weekend, you have 24/7 access to our online databases. If you want to watch a movie, you can borrow one via Hoopla.

Book Review: American Women’s History--A Very Short Introduction

by Theresa Ann Barbieri

As RACC increases the number of courses focused on women, The Yocum Library has increased the number of its holdings to support these courses. A relatively new acquisition is American Women’s History: A Very Short Introduction by Susan Ware (published in 2015 by Oxford University Press).

It’s a small book that makes it--it's only 7 x 4.5 inches and 118 pages--which makes it a quick and easy read. The book provides all the basic information about American women’s lives and struggles from the settlement of the New World to today. It’s divided into four chapters, each covering a specific time period. 

The first chapter discusses North America’s women from the beginning to 1750. The author begins with the lives of Native American women who were here long before the Europeans arrived. Pocohontas is a featured story in this chapter as might be expected; however, it’s not the tales you might have heard, but several theories from a number of historians as to who she was and what she did.

The second chapter covers 1750 to 1848, the time of the preparations for the American Revolution, the actual war and the immediate post war period. Some little-known stories are those about the women who actually fought in the American Revolution disguised as men.

The third chapter covers 1848 to 1920 and focuses on women fighting for their rights especially the right to vote. The suffrage movement is a large focus of this chapter.

The final chapter covers what Ware calls Modern American Women, 1920 to the present. This is the longest chapter and includes information about women breaking into the work world, women in World War II, Title IX, and more recent issues such as the International Women’s Conference, women in politics, and more.

One of the strongest features is that the book covers all of American women’s history: native American, African American, immigrants of other ethnicities and races, as well as European Caucasians.

Along with the importance of women in each time period, it looks at the average woman’s life and experiences. The book intersperses little-known stories along with those that are well-known to punctuate the discussion of the importance of events in women’s history.

While the book focuses on women’s roles throughout history, it also serves as a good overview of many of American history’s memorable events. Now if we can just get our history textbooks to include more of women’s contributions....

Need a quiet area to study?

The Yocum Library's third floor is designated a Quiet Zone and is marked with the Quiet Zone signs seen in this post. So if you need a quiet place to study or complete an assignment or just zone out to relax, our third floor is the place to be.

Use the second floor if you need to use the computers or discuss your work or other topics.

Best in Show Winner Awarded

Mayra Perez with her two winning works of art

The results are in! As you know, the Yocum Library has been exhibiting the art work of students in Ms. Joanne Schlosser's ART 230: 3D Design class. This semester, we asked you to vote for the "Best in Show."

"We Meet Again," Mayra Perez's "Best in Show" winner

On Thursday, May 30, the award was presented during a ceremony in The Yocum Library. Mayra Perez received the most votes from you for her work. She received top prize for "We Meet Again," paper art created from a book. Perez's "Ellie the Dragon," a wire sculpture, received the next highest vote. 

Congratulations to Mayra and to all of the artists whose work is on display!

Family History Tips--Part 14

Using Land Records to Research your Family History

One of the least used sources to research family histories are land records—property tax lists, grants, warrants, patents, and deeds. They are helpful for finding a name associated with a purchase, but they don’t often include details, such as a person’s age, family members, current residence, etc. However, the latter I find most useful.

Property deeds are often a wealth of information. The parties involved, grantors and grantees, are often identified like this: “William Heffner, miller, of Maidencreek Township and his wife Maria to Daniel Dries, yeoman, of Rockland Township and his wife Catharine.” Current residences, occupations and spouses are valuable information. If you can’t find a person in a census record, or you are not sure when a person’s wife passed away or remarried, these clues are important. Sometimes deeds are useful to determine heirs to an estate, particularly when a will or probate has insufficient information or is not available.

One of several deeds that was useful to my research was of my ancestor John Saul who died in 1867. The 1860 U.S. Census states he was a land-owning farmer living in Maidencreek Township, Berks County, Pa. Most of his children were born in the earlier half of the century, so only a few children were still at home. There was no will, and the probate of the estate only mentioned two executors, probably John Saul’s heirs. Knowing that there had to be information concerning his property, I turned to a deed search. I discovered that the land was sold in March 1870. There were nine heirs named, including their spouses and their current residences, two of which lived in Illinois.

Decennial U.S. Census records from 1850 to 1940 often state if the person owned a property. Keep in mind if a person did not own property, for example, in 1860 and died in 1869, a property may have been purchased after the census date. Therefore, always check the deeds. Look for deed records close to a date of death. Sometimes it takes several years to settle an estate.

Most county courthouses do not have deeds or indexes online, so an onsite excursion is necessary or you could pay a fee for the research, especially if the distance is too great. If your ancestor lived in Berks County, you are lucky. The Berks Recorder of Deeds has an online index and digital images dating back to the county’s formation in 1752. The site is free, but registration is required and there is a printing fee. The indexes and database collection are a bit complex, but there are instructions. Contact me if you are having difficulty using this site.

Lancaster County’s Recorder of Deeds has the same online services.