The month of October has a few observances. For instance, October is American Archives Month (see our note on the excellent program our Archivist put together here) and National Hispanic Month overlaps into October (September 15 to October 15; see notes on our programs on that here and here). October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month (link to President Obama’s proclamation for the observance). On October 13 (last Tuesday), there was a campus vigil in rememberance of domestic violence victims and those who work with them. The event took place here in the library.
Here is a small list of resources on the topic freely available on the World Wide Web:
- Here on campus, C.A.R.E. (Campus Assault Response Effort) is an excellent resource.
- For Smith County and East Texas, you can find help at the East Texas Crisis Center.
- Also in Texas, the Texas Council on Family Violence has put together a very good resource kit. You can find statistics, a media kit, sample op-ed letters in case you wish to write to your local newspapers (or maybe you need a little inspiration if you have a blog), and other items. They also provided the image I am using for this post (see below).
- Nationally there is a National Domestic Violence Hotline if you need help. The number is 1−800−799−SAFE (7233) or TTY 1−800−787−3224. The website has some additional resources. I will emphasize that if you are in imminent and present danger to dial 911.
- The U.S. Department of Justice has an Office on Violence Against Women. If you need information, facts, statistics, so on, this is a good resource on the issue.
- The Domestic Violence Awareness Project. These are the folks who promote and maintain activities for the observance. On their site, you can learn about campaigns, find educational materials, and get links, and phone numbers if you need help.
This is not a comprehensive list, but these links should give readers a place to get started if they are researching the topic as well as provide folks who may need help more information and places to get help.
In addition, you can visit the library where a reference librarian will be happy to help you find books, articles, and other materials related to the domestic violence or other topics in our holdings.
If you are at home, and you are affiliated with the university (currently enrolled student, currently employed faculty, currently employed staff), you can use our databases to do research on this and other topics. Just remember you will need your Patriots log-in and password to access our databases from home. You can also find other resources on our website.
