USF Book Club June Selection

The next book the Book Club will be discussing is:

“The Plague of Doves,” by Louise Erdrich.  We will meet on June 14th at noon in room 209 (if room unavailable, other location tbd) of the Gleeson Library.  If you are unable to obtain a copy from the Gleeson Library, you may request it from Link+ or get it at SFPL. (San Francisco Public Library also has digital copies available for your E-book reader.)

The unsolved murder of a farm family haunts the small, white, off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota. The vengeance exacted for this crime and the subsequent distortions of truth transform the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation and shape the passions of both communities for the next generation. The descendants of Ojibwe and white intermarry, their lives intertwine; only the youngest generation, of mixed blood, remains unaware of the role the past continues to play in their lives. Evelina Harp is a witty, ambitious young girl, part Ojibwe, part white, who is prone to falling hopelessly in love. Mooshum, Evelina’s grandfather, is a seductive storyteller, a repository of family and tribal history with an all-too-intimate knowledge of the violent past. Nobody understands the weight of historical injustice better than Judge Antone Bazil Coutts, a thoughtful mixed blood who witnesses the lives of those who appear before him, and whose own love life reflects the entire history of the territory. In distinct and winning voices, Erdrich’s narrators unravel the stories of different generations and families in this corner of North Dakota. Bound by love, torn by history, the two communities’ collective stories finally come together in a wrenching truth revealed in the novel’s final pages. (summary)

Library Faculty Reading

The Gleeson Library is pleased to sponsor a faculty reading on Thursday, April 18 as it welcomes University of San Francisco Professors Kathleen Winter and Brian Dempster (Rhetoric and Language) who will read from their recent works. Kathleen Winter will read from her volume of poetry Nostalgia for the Criminal Past (Elixir Press, 2012). The collection recently won the Antivenom Poetry Award. Professor Dempster will read from his forthcoming volume of poetry, Topaz, as well as Making Home From War: Stories of Japanese American Exile and Resettlement (Heyday Press, 2011). Both works document and consider Japanese American imprisonment experience during World War II and its aftermath in a world that for many had drastically changed in just a few short years.

The program begins at 5:00 on Thursday, April 18 in the Donohue Rare Book Room, located on the third floor of the Gleeson Library. Light refreshments will be served and books will be available for purchase. The program is free and open to the public. All are welcome to attend. For further information, please call (415) 422-2036.

John Hawk
Head Librarian
Special Collections & University Archives

USF Book Club November and December Selections

We have decided to read Cheryl Strayed’s book for November.

Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. November 2nd, 2012 in the Gleeson Library at noon in room 209. Request from Link+ or get at SFPL.

…Four years after her mother’s death, with nothing more to lose, Strayed made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker–indeed, she’d never gone backpacking before her first night on the trail. Her trek was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone…cherylstrayed.com

On December 7th, we will meet at noon in room 209 (due to finals, it may be TBD–an updated location will be given when more information is available) to discuss, China Boy, by Gus Lee.  If the Gleeson library copy is unavailable, check with the SFPL or you may request it from Link+.

Kai Ting is the only American-born son of an aristocratic Mandarin family that fled China in the wake on Mao’s revolution. Growing up in San Francisco’s ghetto, Kai is caught between two worlds–embracing neither the Chinese nor the American way of life. After his mother’s death, Kai is suddenly plunged into American culture by his new stepmother, a Philadelphia society woman who tries to erase every vestige of China from the household. Warm, funny, and deeply moving, China Boy is a brilliantly rendered novel of family relationships, culture shock, and the perils of growing up in an America of sharp differences and shared humanity. -Back cover

Richard Greggory Johnson III Library Reading

The Gleeson Library is pleased to welcome University of San Francisco Associate Professor Richard Greggory Johnson III, who will read from his most recent book on October 25 in the Donohue Rare Book Room. Professor Johnson teaches in the Department of Public and Nonprofit Administration in the School of Management where his focus is public policy and administration, focusing in the areas of social equity, human resources management, higher education management and qualitative research. Dr. Johnson has published several books, including Cultural Competence for Public Managers: Managing Diversity in Today’s World (CRC Press, 2012) and The Black Professorate: Negotiating a Habitable Space in the Academy (Peter Lang, 2011). His most recent title is Teaching College Students Communication Strategies for Effective Social Justice Advocacy (Peter Lang, 2012). Dr. Johnson’s research centers on social equity and human rights within public policy and administration, targeting issues of race, gender, sexual orientation and social class.

The program begins at 5:00 on Thursday, October 25^th in the Donohue Rare Book Room, located on the third floor of the Gleeson Library. Light refreshments will be served and books will be available for purchase. The program is free and open to the public. All are welcome to attend. For further information, please call (415) 422-2036.

John Hawk
Head Librarian, Special Collections & University Archives

USF Book Club October

The USF Book Club will be discussing Just Kids by Patti Smith on Friday, October 5th at the Gleeson Library.  Join us in room 209 from 12-1 pm.

Request via Link+ or from SFPL.

“Just Kids” begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. It serves as a salute to New York City during the late sixties and seventies and to its rich and poor, its hustlers and hellions. A true fable, it is a portrait of two young artists’ ascent, a prelude to fame. [Inside front flap]

Walls Exhibition

On exhibition in the Donohue Rare Book Room through October 9 is the recent acquisition Walls: A Journey Across Three Continents (Santa Cruz: Quail Press, 1990) by master printmaker, Tom Killion. Exhibited with the book is an archive, on loan from the artist, which includes original watercolors and woodcut blocks used to illustrate the book. A prolific printmaker known for his depictions of Northern California and the California Coast, Tom Killion is also a bookmaker and illustrator who works in the fine press tradition. Among his works housed in the Donohue Rare Book Room are The Coast of California: Point Reyes to Point Sur (1979); Fortress Marin (1977); and the William Everson titles Eastward the Armies (1980) and In Medias Res (1984). The Gleeson Library is pleased to exhibit Walls in conjunction with the exhibition Silent Poetry: Woodcut Prints of the California Landscape by Tom Killion in the Thacher Gallery.

An opening reception will take place in the Thacher Gallery and Donohue Rare Book Room on Thursday, September 6th from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. followed by an artist lecture “Topofilia: The California Landscape in Japanese-style Woodcut Prints” in McLaren 250. A printmaking demonstration with USF students will take place in the Donohue Rare Book Room on Tuesday, October 2nd from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Both programs are free to attend and open to the public.

John Hawk
Head Librarian, Special Collections & University Archives

USF Book Club August & September Selections

The next two books being discussed by the USF Book Club are:

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje. Thursday, August 9th, 2012 in the Gleeson Library at noon in room 209. Request from Link+ or get to at SFPL.

In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the “cat’s table”–as far from the Captain’s Table as can be–with a ragtag group of “insignificant” adults and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys tumble from one adventure to another, bursting all over the place like freed mercury. But there are other diversions as well: one man talks with them about jazz and women, another opens the door to the world of literature…From the Hardcover edition

Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. September 7th, 2012 in the Gleeson Library at noon in room 209. Request from Link+ or get at SFPL.

…Four years after her mother’s death, with nothing more to lose, Strayed made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker–indeed, she’d never gone backpacking before her first night on the trail. Her trek was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone…cherylstrayed.com

The Library in a Book

We’ve always had books in the Library, but now the Library is in a book. A small piece of the Library …

The San Francisco Chronicle reviews Bookshelf by Alex Johnson, and includes a photo of the Library’s “I Left My Cart In San Francisco” cable-car themed book cart.

Read a Rare Book This Summer

The San Francisco Public Library’s summer reading program Summer Read SF 2012 begins on June 1. Many readers enjoy books throughout the year, yet there is something inviting about summer reading that encourages one to stretch out a bit: perhaps to spend more time reading while on vacation; to indulge in purely entertaining reading; or to undertake a weighty tome that one has always wanted to complete. In the spirit of adding something new to one’s summer reading regimen, consider reading  a rare book in the Donohue Rare Book Room. The Rare Book Room has nearly 17,000 volumes cataloged in Ignacio, ranging from early printed books to contemporary artists’ books. Most titles are printed in English and many can be enjoyed in one or two visits. Experience the unique opportunity of spending time among Gleeson Library’s special collections with a signed first edition or a deluxe illustrated book. Aside from the singularity of it, imagine how fun it will be to answer the question “have you read any good books this summer?”

Donohue Rare Book Room summer hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For further information, please call (415) 422-2036.

John Hawk
Head Librarian, Special Collections & University Archives

USF Book Club: June & July Selections

The USF Book Club will meet to discuss the following two books in the upcoming months:

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin. Friday, June 8, 2012. Room 209 of Gleeson Library, 12 noon – 1 pm. Request this one through Link+ or get it at SFPL.

Lacey Yeager appears on New York’s art scene as a clever, funny young Sotheby’s intern. With charm, ambition, and occasionally illegal tactics, she climbs the city’s cultural ladder to success in the labyrinthine art world. Her knowledge of art and its collectors quickly grows alongside a list of men she enchants and inevitably destroys. Her rise to society’s highest tiers parallels the soaring heights – and, at times, the dark lows – of the art world and the country from the early ’90s through today. –stevemartin.com

Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick. Friday, July 6, 2012. Room 209 of Gleeson Library, 12 noon – 1 pm. Request this one through Link+ or get it at SFPL.

Ozick reworks Henry James’s The Ambassadors, setting it in 1950s Paris, a seedy, impractical place for well-to-do and disaffected youth. Bea is a divorcee, long shut off from her feelings, who is bullied by her unbearable brother into traveling to Paris to bring back his errant son, Julian. While Bea begins to break through her emotional morass, her actions lead to dreadful results for her niece, her nephew, and his Jewish wife with a tragic past. While it is difficult to comprehend why everyone is so obsessed with Julian, the other characters are beautifully delineated with great sensitivity. Tandy Cronyn is the perfect reader here. Her portrayal of Bea’s emotional fog, the ennui of the Americans in Paris, and the bully Marvin is simply superb, and the pacing is excellent. –Library Journal

Annick Wibben Reading

The Gleeson Library is pleased to welcome University of San Francisco Associate Professor Annick T.R. Wibben who will read from her book Feminist Security Studies: a Narrative Approach (Routledge, 2011) on Wednesday, May 2^nd in the Donohue Rare Book Room. The book rethinks security theory from a feminist perspective and challenges the way we think about security, violence and war. Professor Wibben teaches international politics and specializes in critical security studies, international theory, and feminist international relations. Prior to teaching at the University of San Francisco, she worked with the Information Technology, War and Peace Project at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University from 2001-2005. Her article “Feminist Politics in Feminist Security Studies” (2011) was published in Politics & Gender and “The Gendering of Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan” (co-authored with Keally McBride) is forthcoming in Humanity. She is the Chair of the Bachelor in International Studies program and serves as an Advisory Board Member to Gender and Sexualities Studies; Peace and Justice Studies; and the Master program in International Studies.

The program begins at 5:15 on Wednesday, May 2^nd in the Donohue Rare Book Room, located on the third floor of the Gleeson Library. Light refreshments will be served and books will be available for purchase. The program is free and open to the public. All are welcome to attend. For further information, please call (415) 422-2036.

John Hawk
Head Librarian, Special Collections & University Archives

Dean Rader Poetry Reading

The Gleeson Library is pleased to sponsor a faculty reading on Thursday, April 26 as it welcomes University of San Francisco Associate Professor Dean Rader, who will read from his book Works & Days (Truman State University Press) which received the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry in 2010. Professor Rader has published widely in the fields of poetry, literary studies, American Indian studies, and visual/popular culture. He co-edited Speak To Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry (2003), and his pop culture reader, The World Is A Text, is in its fourth edition. His book Engaged Resistance: American Indian Art, Literature, and Film From Alcatraz to the NMAI was published by the University of Texas Press in 2011. He teaches in the English Department and in the Honors Program in the Humanities. He also is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle City Brights Blog.

The program begins at 5:00 on Thursday, April 26 in the Donohue Rare Book Room, located on the third floor of the Gleeson Library. Light refreshments will be served and books will be available for purchase. The program is free and open to the public. All are welcome to attend. For further information, please call (415) 422-2036.

John Hawk
Head Librarian, Special Collections & University Archives

Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Inform Yourself at the Library

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and there’s still time to get informed and participate in prevention!

At the library, we have a display of books, videos, and DVDs on topics related to sexual assault, prevention, healing, and support. The table is to the right just as you walk into the library:

All of the books and materials in the display can be checked out, so come take a look. There are also brochures and other materials about safety and sexual assault prevention:

In addition to the library display, there are events on campus to raise awareness about sexual assault and its effects. A calendar of events can be found here, and there are  some events happening this week!

These events are co-sponsored by: The Gender and Sexuality Center, Communities Against Sexual Assault (CASA), Health Promotion Services, Student Housing and Residential Education, USF Public Safety, Latinas Unidas, ASUSF Senate, USF Men’s and Women’s Rugby Team, and Social Justice League.

For more information, see the Sexual Assault Awareness Month official web site here.

Gleeson Library on the Lawn

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Once again the Gleeson Library joined the USF Farmstand on the lawn outside Library.  We offered books and DVD’s about organic gardening, real food, and healthy cooking all for check out on the spot.

This was USF’s Farmstands first International Farmstand offering different delectable dishes from around the world. The event also coincided with USF’s Dance Program show

USF Book Club: April and May Selections

Book Club is breaking out of our habit of reading books about boys/kids who have lost their fathers!

April 13, 2012 (Fri), 12-1 pm: A Private Life by Jane Smiley. Room 209 of Gleeson Library.

Gleeson library doesn’t have a paper copy of this one (yet?), so you’ll have to request it through Link+ (comes fast–in about 4 business days!), or read it on one of our iPads or Kindle. If all else fails, the public library has it in many formats.

[This] Pulitzer Prize–winning author offers a cold-eyed view of the compromises required by marriage while also providing an intimate portrait of life in the Midwest and West during the years 1883–1942. By the time she reaches the age of 27, Margaret Mayfield has known a lot of tragedy in her life. She has lost two brothers, one to an accident, the other to illness, as well as her father, who committed suicide. Her strong-minded mother, Lavinia, knows that her daughter’s prospects for marriage are dim and takes every opportunity to encourage Margaret’s friendship with eccentric scientist Andrew Early. When the two marry and move to a naval base in San Francisco, Margaret becomes more than Andrew’s helpmeet—she is also his cook, driver, and typist as well as the captive audience for his rants against Einstein and his own quirky theories about the universe. As Smiley covers in absorbing detail both private and world events—a lovely Missouri wedding, the chaos of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the wrenching death of a baby—she keeps at the center of the narrative Margaret’s growing realization that she has married a madman and her subsequent attempts to deal with her marriage by becoming adept at “the neutral smile, the moment of patient silence,” before giving in to bitterness. Smiley casts a gimlet eye on the institution of marriage even as she offers a fascinating glimpse of a distant era. –Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist

Make sure you speed through it and start this next one early because it’s quite long:

May 11, 2012 (Fri), 12-1 pm: Storyteller : The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl by Donald Sturrock. Probably in room 139 of Gleeson Library, or if the weather is nice, the USF Community Garden… stay tuned for updates.

Gleeson does have a copy of this, but it’s checked out. You can request it through Link+ and the public library has a few copies available. Of course you can also read it on one of our iPads or Kindle.

The first authorized biography of Roald Dahl [author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, most famously], Storyteller is a masterful, witty and incisive look at one of the greatest authors and eccentric characters of the modern age…

Granted unprecedented access to the Dahl estate’s extraordinary archives—personal correspondence, journals and interviews with family members and famous friends—Donald Sturrock draws on a wealth of previously unpublished materials that informed Dahl’s writing and his life. It was a life filled with incident, drama and adventure: from his harrowing experiences as an RAF fighter pilot and his work in wartime intelligence, to his many romances and turbulent marriage to the actress Patricia Neal, to the mental anguish caused by the death of his young daughter Olivia. Tracing a brilliant yet tempestuous ascent toward notoriety, Sturrock sheds new light on Dahl’s need for controversy, his abrasive manner and his fascination for the gruesome and the macabre. –Amazon.com

The USF Book Club is run by Kelci Baughman McDowell, Reference Library Assistant in Gleeson. For information or to sign up for the mailing list, email kbaughmanmcdowell@usfca.edu. You can visit our wiki for more info, as well. (Please note, you do not have to join the wiki to view it.) No rsvp for the meeting is necessary–just drop by if you’ve read the book or if you’re interested in it. Lastly, feel free to bring your lunch. See you in April!