The Patriot Spot

The Robert R. Muntz Library will feature the exhibit “The Great Bronze Age of China: An Exhibition from the People’s Republic of China” in the library’s reading room. The exhibit will run from July 7^th to August 8^th, 2008.

The exhibit is part of the traveling exhibit series provided by Humanities Texas, the Texas affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The exhibit provides an opportunity for the campus and the community to get a glimpse of the brilliant artistic achievements of the Chinese Bronze Age culture from its beginnings, around 2,000 B.C., to its final flowering in the second century B.C. The exhibit reveals the superb skills of ancient artists, and it enables us to learn about the religious, political, economic, and cultural aspects of a civilization which developed around the same time that Stonehenge in England was being built and that the principles of Judaism were being framed. With the upcoming Olympiad in Beijing, this exhibit is another way for us to learn more about China.

Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducts and supports public programs in history, literature, philosophy, and other humanities disciplines. Humanities Texas also supports various programs across the state such as lectures, oral history projects, teacher institutes, museum exhibitions, and documentary films. In addition, Texas Humanities circulates more than 5o exhibits, including the exhibit the library will be featuring.

The “Great Bronze Age of China” exhibit is free and open to the public. It can be viewed during library regular hours. For hours and information about the library, please visit our library website. For more information about the exhibit and other activities in the library, contact Angel Rivera, Outreach Librarian, at (903) 566-7165 or arivera@uttyler.edu.

On Wednesday, April 23, 2008, the library held its annual Poetry Read-out. We read from 10:00am to 2:00pm in the library’s reading area. This was part of the library’s programs celebrating National Poetry Month during April. We had a good number of readers who came to the library to share their favorite pieces of poetry with the audience. We came together to celebrate the beauty of language and the art of verse. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the participants for sharing their verses and the audience for their support.

Some of the highlights:

• Anne McCrady and Cheryl Cooper had a pretty lively conversation about poetry. They went back and forth, and they both read poetry. Cheryl chose selections by Billy Collins. Anne read from her own works.
• Our head men’s soccer coach, Kenny Jones, read as well. He picked his poems on the spot from the selection of books we provided. From Robert Frost to “Casey at the Bat,” he delighted our audience.
• We heard poetry in Old English when Dr. Victor Scherb gave us a history of the English language in 15 minutes through his selections.

I took some photos of the event, which interested folks can find in my Flickr account. I included brief descriptions with the photos. Here is the direct link.

We hope to see you all for next year’s poetry read-out. Happy reading!

As part of the activities for National Poetry Month, we would like to invite our students, faculty, and staff to join us for the Annual Poetry Read-out at the Robert R. Muntz Library.

The Annual Poetry Read-out will take place this Wednesday, April 23rd 2008 from 9:00am to 5:00pm. You can call Joanne Buendtner at 903-566-7174 to sign up for a timeslot to read. It will take place in the library’s 2nd floor lounge area (the reading area). You can also just show up and read on the spot.

Forgot your poetry book? No problem. We will have poetry books on hand so you can select your favorite poems to read.

Want to read your own poetry? Rock on, go right ahead. Just remember that if you submitted one of your poems to our poetry contest, you cannot read that particular poem during the Read-out. Anything else is fine.

Don’t want to read? That’s cool too. Come join us and enjoy a nice day of poetry as you listen to our readers.

See y’all at the Read-out!

As part of the festivities for National Poetry Month, the UT Tyler Robert R. Muntz Library, in cooperation with the Poetry Society of Texas, would like to invite our students, faculty, staff, and friends to share in a special evening of recognition and entertainment. Please join us for the Annual University of Texas at Tyler Student Poetry Awards Ceremony. This year we are featuring as keynote speaker the 2007-2008 Texas Poet Laureate, Award-winning Poet Mr. Larry D. Thomas. The details are as follows:

The Place: Braithwaite Auditorium, UT Tyler.

The Date and Time: Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 7:00pm.

Note that there is a reception and book signing with the Texas Poet Laureate from 6:00pm to 6:45pm in the Braithwaite Lobby. Please call 903-566-7174 or 566-7161 for complimentary reservations.

The events are free and open to the public. The program is made possible in part by a grant from the UT Tyler Friends of the Arts.

I would like to thank the students and visitors who stopped by our table last week during the Student Services Expo at the UC. I enjoyed spending some time out there promoting the library and meeting our students. I also had the opportunity myself to learn more about the other campus services available on campus. I often get questions at the reference desk about campus services: is a particular service available? where are they located? who can I talk to about X or Y topic? Attending events like these gives me the chance to learn a bit more while I get to talk to students about the many services that the library offers. Make sure to stop by the library for your information and research needs. While you are here, if you have not done so, check out the new computer tables in the reference computer area.

Best.

One of the best parts of my job as Outreach Librarian is when I actually go out and do outreach. In other words, it’s great when I get the chance to go out and spread the good word about the library. This past Saturday (Dec. 1), the University of Texas at Tyler held its Patriot Preview Day for prospective students and their parents to “visit our campus; meet our faculty, staff and students; and ask the college-related questions you need answered!” (from the website). The library, along with other campus groups and organizations, hosted a table during the University Showcase at the Herrington Patriot Center. This gave me a great opportunity to meet with prospective students and their parents. I greeted people: I had a chance to just chat and talk to kids and their parents about the university as well as the library. I told them about some of the services we offer, and I did emphasize that our students can access our catalog as well as our databases from home (of course, for databases, this does require a log-in, which I mentioned as well). I also answered a few questions. For instance, someone was asking about tutoring on campus, and I was able to refer them to services such as those offered by the Office of Student Success. In another example, a young lady was asking about library school, so that gave me a chance to talk a bit about what it is I do and how to get the education to become a librarian.

For me, this is my first year at UT Tyler, so the event was a learning experience for me as well. I took a bit of time to walk around as well and get some information from the other groups. I also introduced myself to other campus people. Part of the reason I did that was to get a sense of just how many and what kind of services are available on the campus. Also, it is a way for me to make some contacts for library outreach as well. In addition, I also collect some of the literature the organizations and campus offices offer. I keep a small folder in my files labeled “campus information.” This is something that helps me learn more about my campus, which in turn allows me to better serve my students and patrons. The library gets a lot of questions about other campus services, so the librarians are expected to know the answers. Attending events like this is one way for me to learn those answers. Plus I get to spend time with kids and parents.

I would like to thank the Office of Admissions for inviting the library to take part in Patriot Preview Day. I am looking forward to participating again in the Spring (March 29, mark your calendars, folks). To our visitors, thank you for stopping by and spending part of your Saturday with us here at UT Tyler.