Friday, April 30, 2021

END OF AN ERA

 Dear Readers,

After 16 wonderful years, 127, 909 page-views, at least one demonstration at a conference, and visits from all over the US and as far away as Russia, Netherlands, Indonesia, and the UK, Your Alexandria Campus Library blog is signing off.

Don't worry - we're not going away!  We're upgrading.  Follow the new improved Alexandria Library blog here:

Alexandria Library - Just another Nova Blog siteAlexandria Library | Just another Nova Blog site (nvcc.edu)


And if you think you might want to revisit some old times, for nostalgia's sake, this blog will remain visible.  We just won't be updating this one.

Fittingly, tomorrow May 1 is May Day, the traditional start of spring and of new beginnings.


The Ritual of May Day in Western EuropeRead it online!

Tuesday, April 06, 2021

National Library Week

 April 4 - 10 is National Library Week.  

Visit your local public Library (most are open!), or your campus Library (open 10am - 4pm Monday - Thursday).

Or read a good book on Libraries:  Available online from the Library Homepage.

Building Worlds: Emerging Models and Practices of US Academic Libraries Around the Globe

Libraries and Identity: The Role of Institutional Self Image and Identity in the Emergence of New Types of Libraries

Ancient Libraries


(above:  Library of Congress. The mother ship of American Libraries).

Sunday, March 07, 2021

Spring Break

 From March 8 - 12 (Spring Break) the Library will be physically closed, but remote services will continue.



Whatever you do — remember to social distance!

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Pancake Day

 In New Orleans it's known as Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday).  But many people know it as Pancake Day:



Make pancakes!

And read up on Mardi Gras in these e-books:

Blues for New Orleans: Mardi Gras and America's Creole Soul

All on a Mardi Gras Day: Episodes in the History of New Orleans Carnival


Monday, February 08, 2021

We're Baaaack!

 Campus buildings and some campus services re-open to students beginning today, February 8th.



The Library will resume the same hours as Fall semester:

Monday - Thursday:  10:00am - 4:00pm

Remote services continue and research services are available 24-7 via the Library Website

Wednesday, February 03, 2021

Back History Month

Celebrate African American History Month with these online collections and exhibits from the Library of Congress, The National Archives, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and the U.S. Memorial Holocaust Museum.


(Dr Carla Hayden, 14th Librarian of Congress.  From African American History Month Selected Images)

The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society.

As a Harvard-trained historian, Carter G. Woodson, like W. E. B. Du Bois before him, believed that truth could not be denied and that reason would prevail over prejudice. His hopes to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization was realized when he and the organization he founded, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), conceived and announced Negro History Week in 1925. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that encompassed the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The response was overwhelming: Black history clubs sprang up; teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils; and progressive whites, not simply white scholars and philanthropists, stepped forward to endorse the effort.

By the time of Woodson's death in 1950, Negro History Week had become a central part of African American life and substantial progress had been made in bringing more Americans to appreciate the celebration. At mid–century, mayors of cities nationwide issued proclamations noting Negro History Week. The Black Awakening of the 1960s dramatically expanded the consciousness of African Americans about the importance of black history, and the Civil Rights movement focused Americans of all colors on the subject of the contributions of African Americans to our history and culture.

The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, the nation's bicentennial. President Gerald R. Ford urged Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” That year, fifty years after the first celebration, the association held the first African American History Month. By this time, the entire nation had come to recognize the importance of Black history in the drama of the American story. Since then each American president has issued African American History Month proclamations. And the association—now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)—continues to promote the study of Black history all year.

(Excerpt from an essay by Daryl Michael Scott, Howard University, for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History)


Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Spring Semester

 Welcome to Spring 2021!

Once again, we enter a semester that does not quite look like a spring we've had before.  Most classes will continue to be conducted remotely, and the Library will be offering remote services only until at least February 8th.


We're still here!  We're just not here (see library reading room, above).

Library staff continue to work remotely, but all Library services, including ebooks and online journals, articles, and streaming video, and real-time online research help from a  real, live Librarian via chat are available from the Library Homepage24 hours a day 7 days per week.

Come an (virtually) visit us!