Languages Week Celebrated at Alexandria

The World Languages Department at the Alexandria Campus hosted Celebrate Languages Week, March 14 to 17. The week kicked off with the screening of two films, “The Postman,” in Italian and “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” in Spanish, which were followed by discussions moderated by professors Nadya Malagò and Eddy Arana. On March 16, Professor Lama Hamdan showed the Arabic language film “Amreeka” and led the discussion that followed.

 

Matt Todd, Patricia Escamilla-Hamm (mother of former NOVA student Patrick Hamm) and Martha Davis.

Professors Martha Davis, Laura Franklin and Dali Tan hosted an international poetry reading on Tuesday. World Language students recited poems in Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese. This event also featured a display of selected texts from a new collection to the Alexandria Campus Library donated in honor of former student, Patrick Hamm. Hamm was an avid reader and caring friend who took pride in his Mexican heritage. After he died suddenly on October 9, 2015 at the age of 32, his friends from his fall 2014 Spanish 202 class raised $500 to purchase Mexican and Mexican-American literature and nonfiction, in Spanish and English. Each book contains a bilingual bookplate indicating that it was donated in Hamm’s honor.

Shonette Grant, Terry Nealon (CEO of Fishtree) and Martha Davis.

On Thursday three events were featured. In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Terry Nealon, Alexandria resident, native of County Mayo, Ireland, and CEO of the educational software firm, Fishtree, presented a “Celebration of Irish Culture and Language.” An International Karaoke Contest followed the presentation. Professor Amanda Trostle hosted the event, and Franklin and Hamdan served as faculty judges. The first, second and third place winners sang in Spanish, Chinese and French, respectively, and were presented with gift cards. Celebrate Languages Week activities concluded with a session of international board games for students of Spanish and Chinese, including Scrabble en español and mah jongg.

Also during Celebrate Languages Week, and under the direction of Professor Elizabeth Bull, the French Club decorated the Liberal Arts Division display case with images of La Francophonie.

From Intercom: http://blogs.nvcc.edu/intercom/2016/03/28/languages-week-celebrated-at-alexandria/

Throwback Thursday

Online discovery system?  Electronic databases?  MARC records?  Metadata?

Forget all that and journey back in time to simpler days when we used hand-typed card catalogs:

We're not sure when this picture was taken, but we're pretty sure it depicts Library Specialist Emerita Marion Mirehouse,

Oh, the good old days.

International Languages Week

The Alexandria World Languages Department celebrated International Languages week from March 14-18.  The Library pitched in to support International Poetry Reading, featuring student readers reciting poems in Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese.

The International Poetry Reading also featured the dedication of a new collection to NOVA Alexandria’s Library donated in honor of former NOVA student, Patrick Hamm, an avid reader and caring friend who took pride in his Mexican heritage.

After Patrick died suddenly on October 9, 2015 at the age of 32, his friends from his Fall 2014 Spanish 202 class raised $500 to purchase Mexican and Mexican-American literature and non-fiction, in Spanish and English. Each book contains a bilingual bookplate indicating that it was donated in Patrick’s honor. Patrick’s friends take comfort in knowing that the the books will be enjoyed by generations of students to come.

Pictured above with a sample of the collection of the donated books are L to R: Matt Todd (Library Director), Patricia Escamilla-Hamm (Patrick’s mother) and Martha Davis (Assistant Dean, World Languages).

It's a mad mad world

Midterm Madness came and went with committed studying, consumption of much coffee, and eating of many many Oreo cookies.

Over 170 students stayed late with us and took advantage of the Library extended hours.

Coming next week:  Spring Break!!!

Time for a little respite (although one student assures us that "Spring Break is a cruel joke!  I have too much to catch up on!").  From Monday March 7 - Friday March 11 the Library will be open 8.30am - 5.00pm and closed Saturday March 12th.

Normal hours, and the second 8-week session (register now!) resume March 14th.

Will your Spring Break look like this?