Ce qui se passe...
The newsletter of
Ellender Memorial Library
Nicholls State University
volume 4 issue 3
Library Summer Hours
Monday
7:30 am – 11:00 pm
Tuesday – Thursday
7:30 am – 11:00 pm
Friday
7:30 am – 4:30 pm
Saturday
12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Sunday
3:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Note: For changes to schedule
due to holidays or emergency
closures, please see the library
website. All patrons are asked to
leave the library 15 minutes prior
to closing. The phone number for
library hours is 985-448-4660.
On the Fly Classes
We offer On the Fly Classes
in Research Methods, Literature, Musicology, and
Culinary Arts Resources,
among others!
Contact
Melissa Goldsmith at 4484626 if you have a group of
three or more students who
would like a session we do
not currently offer.
Library Tip 1
If you’re a professor and would
like to know how better to
coordinate your students’ research with the library, you
should know that librarians
welcome copies of assignments
and syllabi sent in advance.
This allows us to create the
most effective and efficient
method of addressing student
needs for each assignment.
While we fully endorse challenging research assignments,
we are most grateful when
we’re given a “heads up” by
professors and instructors, so
that we can prepare the best
possible strategy.
www.nicholls.edu/library
Summer 2008
Cajun Zydeco Festival a Success
On Wednesday, April 9, the Ellender Memorial Library celebrated the Twelfth Annual Cajun/Zydeco Music and Dance Exhibit. This year the theme was Louisiana
Women Musicians of Cajun and Zydeco Music. Part of the Jubilee: A Celebration of the
Arts and Humanities, and co-sponsored by
the Houma Regional Arts Council, the Chef
John Folse Culinary Institute, BTNEP, and Bonsoir, Catin and Rosie Ledet on stage, with event essayCoca-Cola, the event began with a reception ist / interviewer Ben Sandmel.
held in Ellender Memorial Library. In front
of a library display which gave information
on the program, event poster, and event
theme, Library Director Carol Mathias
and Program Director Anke Tonn welcomed participants. Refreshments were
served, and everyone enjoyed live music.
Tonn points out that in this case, success
can be attributed to hard work and determination: “After twelve years of sponsoring Gino Delafose and his band performs for guests at a spethis program, members of the local and sur- cial dinner dance, held in conjunction with Jubilee and the
rounding communities anticipate and look Cajun/Zydeco Festival.
forward to the festivities. This year we had
another successful program. The Library’s first floor from the entrance, through the hallways,
the area in front of the display cases, and the open Ellender Room of the Archives were filled
with guests and participants. Many guests arrived early, to make sure they had time to see the
exhibit, to visit with friends, and to meet new people.” This year’s event featured Bonsoir, Catin, a four-woman traditional Cajun band. According to Tonn, the musical atmosphere and cultural spirit brought people closer together, as even visitors were soon dancing and becoming
part of the program. In addition, library staff was very much involved in preparing for the
event, welcoming and visiting with guests, serving refreshments, and participating in the merriment that made the Library an important part of the celebration.
Continued on page 3
Below: Guests dance to the sounds of Cajun and Zydeco music in the
Student Union.
Below: Tonn and a guest dance
in the Library foyer.
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 3
www.nicholls.edu/library
PAGE 2
Turning Acquisitions into an Art
Van Viator, the art department liaison
for the library, purchases books and
videos in the discipline while juggling
the problems of availability, need, and
budget. Like most librarians, his being a
liaison has meant expanding his education. He has taken a number of art history courses at LSU and Nicholls so that
he can make informed decisions. He also
has the help of his departmental contact, Dr. Deborah Cibelli, professor of
art and art history.
Once items are agreed upon and purchased, Viator sends a monthly list of
new acquisitions to Cibelli, department
head Jean Donegan, and departmental
secretary Connie Doran. The three
make certain the list is distributed to
other art faculty. Viator has been liaison to the Art Department for years
now, ordering books and multimedia
items on a variety of subjects—ranging
from the Italian Renaissance painting to
ceramics and pottery. “What I like about
our art department is its diversity,” he
states. “They teach a variety of subjects
such as art history, printmaking, painting, graphic design, sculpture, and photography. This enables me to purchase
books and videos on many subjects, and
it never gets boring.” He also praises
instructors like Cibelli, who proactively
requests a large number of items.
Art instructors submit requests either
directly to Viator, or visit the library
webpage to order books using the
“Recommend a Book” link, which leads
to a form that can be submitted electronically. Cibelli notes that faculty in
the department “…have always been
encouraged to recommend titles that
enhance instruction and facilitate student learning, and the librarians see
that the best titles are added to the
collection.” She expresses pride in the
collection, adding that “new titles recently acquired from major university
presses and book publishers include
books that examine media and studio
techniques, as well as monographs and
books on aesthetics and the history of
art. We are fortunate to have librarians
at Nicholls who are so responsive to
program needs and who value all faculty recommendations.”
Viator, an art aficionado himself, realizes that collecting for an academic
library has its challenges, such as
money: “Many of the large art books
with glossy photographs can be expensive.” He explains that tools like the
Netlibrary collection of electronic books
become invaluable in such cases. The
library has access to over 40,000 electronic books (e-books). While appreciating the reality that staring at a book on
a computer monitor is not the most
ideal situation for readers, he notes that
since the Netlibrary service specializes in
recent publications, it’s a great source for
current research. In addition, e-books
offer helpful search features such as an
electronic dictionary and thesaurus, as
well as a keyword search that allows for
locating a specific word no matter where
it occurs in a text.
To Viator, the library’s art collection
includes more than just books. He specifically mentions one of Ellender’s online
journal databases, Art Abstracts, as being a godsend. According to Viator, the
database indexes 378 international art
journals, and some of the articles will be
full text, so they can be conveniently
printed from any computer. He also
points out that the Library recently purchased ARTstor, a digital library of approximately 700,000 images in the areas
of art, architecture, the humanities, and
social sciences.
Overall, as Viator explains, the Library
has a pretty impressive art book collection. In addition, Archives has beautiful
books on the Sistine Chapel, as well as a
large collection of Audubon prints, and
throughout the library, paintings from
retired professor Ben Forbes’ private collection is visible. “There is much here
that the art student or aficionado will
appreciate,” Viator states. ■
Submitted for Your Approval: Book Review
Crowther, Peter, ed. PostScripts 10.
Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2007. 808.838738 P846m
PostScripts 10 is a special hard-bound
issue of a quarterly published by PS
Publishing. Just a cursory glance at the
table of contents page reveals that
Crowther has managed a veritable who’s
who of greats in the horror genre. First,
there is a special section devoted entirely to Michael Marshall Smith, a master of the subtle dark fantasy tale.
Crowther includes six excellent Smith
tales, as well as an excerpt from the
novel The Intruders. “REMTemps” and
“Night Falls, Again” read like wellcrafted Charlie Kaufman scripts. In the
former, Smith’s narrator takes a job
dreaming other people’s frustration
dreams and nightmares, with frighten-
ing results, while in the latter the narrator is destined to relive a negligent
homicide, over and over. The excerpt
from The Intruders is delightfully eerie.
The regular fiction section includes
writers such as Nancy Kilpatrick, Rick
Hautala, T. M. Wright, Thomas
Tessier, Christopher Fowler, P. D. Cacek, Tim Lebbon, Graham Joyce, Ramsey Campbell, and Stephen King.
Tales by Shepard, Volk, and Cacek
stand out. Shephard’s over-the-top
vampire tale posits a universe where
vampires control (and have always controlled) the actions of human beings,
and by extension, governments and
nations. Volk’s and Cacek’s tales are
both more psychological in nature, relying on the authors’ abilities to create a
sense of disruption in the way readers
view life. Volk’s “Who Dies Best,” the best
story in the volume, relates the vision of
a near future where the terminally ill,
the suicidal, and the condemned can literally sell their deaths to Hollywood. Told
from the point of view of a man who is
obsessed with watching his mother’s
death scene (in a remake of a film about
the Darrow gang), the tale is heartbreaking and thoughtful, in the vein of
the best Rod Serling stories. Cacek’s “Call
Waiting” (dedicated to the recently deceased Charles Grant, a brilliant author
in the genre) is about a recent widower
who continually calls his wife’s land line
from his cell to leave messages about his
day, simply to hear her voice once again.
Of course, there are stories that rank as
near misses—but they do little to detract
from what is a wonderful read. ■
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 3
www.nicholls.edu/library
PAGE 3
Cajun/Zydeco (continued from page 1)
The library-hosted portion of the program
also included an educational component,
supplying guests with information about
the historical developments of Cajun and
Creole music. This year’s scholar was
Ben Sandmel, a musician, and the author
of Louisiana Cultural History, and essay
“The Women of Cajun Music and Zydeco,”
a publication which was made available
to everyone.
held on Friday, March 28, 2008. This,
the third dinner dance with Delafose,
treated guests to one of the most famous
musical groups from Louisiana. Delafose’s band filled the room with dance
music in many different styles. Local musicians, such as Dr. Will Robichaux, John
Babin, and Patrick Sylvest entertained
guests during their arrival and the time
before dinner.
The second part of the program was held
in the Cotillion Ballroom, where Sandmel
interviewed five women musicians: Rosie
Ledet, Anya Schoenegge Burgess, Kristi
Guillory, Yvette Landry, and Christine
Balfa Powell. Dr. David Boudreaux,
Vice President of Institutional Advancement, recognized the musicians with a
certificate of appreciation. Performances
by Ledet (the Zydeco Sweetheart) and
The Zydeco Playboys, Bonsoir, Catin followed. Guests danced, socialized with
friends and new acquaintances, and enjoyed both the food from the concession
stand and the refreshments from the
cash bar .
The set-up for dinner was exquisite, and
delectable cuisine was served. Guests at
the event had a wonderful time, as the
smiles on the faces of the dancers attested. One could not help but think that
this cultural experience would affect everyone present, especially the younger
students who joined in the festivities.
Thanks to the Student Government Association, groups of Nicholls students filled
two tables (seating 8 students each) at
the event. Plans have begun for the Thirteenth Annual Cajun/Zydeco event, to be
held on Friday, March 13, 2009. The
event theme will be The Different Aspects of the Cajun Music Tradition. Les
Freres Michot and The Lost Bayou Ramblers will be the headline performers, and
the Nicholls community is welcome. ■
Another event, a dinner dance with Geno
Dalafose and French Rock’n Boogie, was
Reference Librarian Melissa Goldsmith
tries to drum up student interest at this
year’s incoming Freshman Information
Expo. Goldsmith called attention to the
Library’s sponsorship of the Third Beats
and Bongos Poetry Reading and Performance Happening, held June 25th.
Library Tip 2
ALWAYS check to make sure that you
have taken your travel drive or flash
drive with you when you finish working
on any computer here on campus, especially in the library. We find an average of
two flash drives a week that are left behind accidentally.
Positively Note-able: Music Resources at Ellender
Want to find out information about a recent popular recording artist? Need scholarly books for that music history paper?
Wonder what other recordings or literature exists to follow up on an English
assignment? Hope to find lyrics or guitar
tabs to perform a song?
Ellender Library houses over 5000 books
that have something to do with music––
from new scholarly books about Beethoven and German Lieder, to recent insider
knowledge about John Lennon’s “lost
weekend.”
Over 1200 scores, 1000 CD titles, and
4000 LP titles are housed in the Multimedia Department on the first floor of the
library. Listening to the needs of students and faculty in the Music Department, the library now allows for students
and faculty to borrow scores for up to
three weeks (unless placed on reserve for
courses). The scores themselves represent
the diversity of this collection. Not only
is there a hodgepodge of popular sheet
music, instrument instruction booklets,
songbooks, and scores and parts. There is
also a core set of scores for scholarly musical study, from performing to critical
editions.
While the CDs give listeners access to
new music and reissues, the LPs offer
opportunities for comparative listening.
One of the recent goals of collection development in this area is to acquire scores to
go with recordings already owned, and
vice versa. Having the score in hand
while listening to the music gives students in courses focusing on music the
greatest advantage to succeed.
Books about music, databases like Oxford
Music Online (including The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians), and
reference books are housed on the second
floor. There are books about music history, musicology, music theory, and music education, among others. To meet the
growing demands of and interests in
music education, the library just acquired many MENC titles (the National Association for Music Education), including Spotlight books on
various kinds of topics in teaching
music (for example, band management and choral conducting).
Over 1000 books are devoted to some
aspect of music history (from medieval to present), focusing on composer
biography, scholarly approaches to
understanding and interpreting music, musicology, and the history of
certain instruments. They offer
depth to most information found on
the Internet, as well as fresh perspectives on most classical and vernacular subjects (for example, film
composer interviews). A new reference book, Jazzology, teaches how to
read, play, and interpret jazz music
in the same way as professional jazz
musicians and scholars. ■
VOUME 4 ISSUE 3
www.nicholls.edu/library
Library News
The American Musicological SocietySouthern Society for Ethnomusicology
Joint Regional Conference.
Sandi Chauvin (Serials) earned her
Master Advisor certificate. She also received a letter from the Vice President for
Student Affairs congratulating her on
being named as a staff member who had
made significant contributions to individual student development for a graduating
senior.
Hunter Knight, the grandson of
Jolene Knight (Multimedia), won third
place in a statewide 4th grade poetry
writing competition. His poem, “The
Cold Darkness,” will be published in
both Les Jeunes Ecrivanins and Reading: Exploration and Discovery, both
sponsored and published by the Louisiana Reading Association.
Tony Fonseca (Serials) published a
study of horror readership titled “He
Said, She Said: A Survey of Men’s and
Women’s Views of the Genre and Its Sex
Roles” in Dissections: The Journal of Contemporary Horror, out of the University
of Brighton and a review of Sins of the
Sirens and Five Strokes to Midnight, two
anthologies, in Dead Reckonings: A Review of Horror Literature. He recently
presented a paper titled “Music to Our
Fears: The Recontextualization of Horror
through Film Scoring in Hannibal and
Candyman” at The American Musicological Society-Southern Society for Ethnomusicology Joint Regional Conference, in
Tallahassee.
Melissa Goldsmith (Reference) has just
finished writing two book reviews for
Fontes Artis Musicae: The Journal of the
International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation
Centres. She recently had two presentations: “Beats and Bongos: Making the
Library the Cultural Center of Academe” (with Fonseca), at the Louisiana
Library Association in Shreveport, and
“Jim Morrison vs. The Miami Herald” at
Anke Tonn (Interlibrary Loan),
Clifton Theriot (Archives), and Library Director Carol Mathias attended
the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) annual awards presentation at Houmas House Plantation.
Ellis Marsalis was awarded Humanist of
the Year and Nicholls history professor,
J. Paul Leslie was honored.
Van Viator (Reference), along with coauthors Fonseca and Goldsmith, published an article on Ellender Library’s
outreach programs in the Spring 2008
issue of Louisiana Libraries. The article
is titled “Beats and Bongos: Making the
Library the Cultural Center of Academe,” and it examines outreach programs in academic libraries, citing Ellender’s as example.
Library Tip 3
Wonder where the old File menu, with commands for opening files, saving, and printing
disappeared to? In Microsoft Office 2007,
these commands can be found in the circular,
multicolored icon that appears at the top left
of the document.
Library Tip 4
To simultaneously search EBSCO databases, look for the box
below the search interface that says "in:". The name of the
database you chose to search will be in this box, and you will
notice that this box has a pull-down menu attached to it. Simply open that menu, and (1) scroll until you see the name of
any other database you want to search, then (2) put a check in
the box that is next to that database, and (3) click "Submit".
You will know you have done this correctly when you see the
phrase Specific Databases in the box that has "in:" next to
it, and below this you see listed the names of all the databases
you wish to search. You will then see that you are searching
multiple databases at one time. Simply type in your search
terms and you’ll quickly be looking under every possible haystack for that needle.
PAGE 4
Committee Reports
Ellender Memorial Library’s Sign
Committee has been investigating the
library’s need to improve the signage
within the library. Our goal is to replace
the inadequate and out-of-date signs
throughout the library with an improved
system of information that better meets
our patrons’ needs. Towards this end,
we plan to place a layout of each floor in
strategic locations that will assist people
new to the library in finding the department, service, or resources they are
seeking. In addition, we are striving to
improve signs that explain library
hours, policies, and rules. Hopefully, our
efforts will reduce patron dependence on
staff for some of the most basic and frequent requests through a more intuitive
system of signage, enhancing the experience for library users and staff alike.
In April, the Publicity and Public
Relations Committee (PaPR) threw a
Tiki Party to honor faculty who have
been actively involved in the Library’s
collection development, as well as Library student workers and former employees. Members of PaPR cooked Hawaiian fare and made non-alcoholic
drinks for this extremely successful
event that featured Hawaiin based Tiki
Lounge music and homemade lava
lamps. PaPR also hosted a presentation
by published local mystery writer June
Shaw for the Library’s Spring Lecture
Series. Shaw discussed her literary beginnings as a student at Nicholls, her
emergence as a published novelist, and
her current novel, in progress. ■
Cleaning out your office, or shelves at
home?
Remember that the Friends of Ellender
Memorial Library are collecting books for
a fund-raiser in October. If you are interested in helping with the book sale by giving us your unwanted novels, short story
collections, books of poetry, biographies,
histories, and other works of non-fiction,
just bring your donation to the Multimedia Room, on the first floor of the library.
Contributing Writers this Issue: Anke Tonn, Interlibrary Loan; Van Viator, Reference; Tony Fonseca, Serials; Melissa Goldsmith, Reference; and Neil Guilbeau,
Archives. Managing Editor: Tony Fonseca. Editorial Staff: Sandi Chauvin, Melissa Goldsmith, Danny Gorr, Carol Mathias, Daisy Pope. Technical Consultant:
Jeremy Landry. Please e-mail comments and/or suggestions to Tony Fonseca (tony.fonseca@nicholls.edu). The statements and opinions included in these pages are
those of the newsletter staff only, and not those of Nicholls State University or the University of Louisiana System.