Kennedy Library Out Loud

Apr 2

Reinventing the library website

Perhaps you’ve heard it through the grapevine. Or maybe you have participated in our ongoing user studies. You may have even sketched your ideal library website for us. All of these are the telltale signs of a project afoot, right?

Right.

Recent statistics and student surveys have revealed to us that it’s time to raise the bar for our library website. As part of that effort, we’ve established a Web Steering Committee to address some of the goals and challenges in our process.

Mar 28

Six Recent Reads

In the past few months I’ve been reading like there’s no tomorrow. Here’s my attempt to catch up the blogging to the reading.

The Boy in the Suitcase, by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis.

This was a book club read, and not a genre I generally visit: Nordic crime fiction. Probably Stieg Larsson fans would devour it, or at least I guess they would (I’ve only seen the Dragon Tattoo movie — parts of it with my hands over my eyes — and haven’t read the book). Plot-driven doesn’t begin to describe it; I will say that the pages practically turned themselves. Read more

Mar 28

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The history of fun reading

This is a guest post by Kristen Thorp, the Student Assistant Coordinator for Access Services. In her spare time she manages the library’s Good Reads collection. She’s excited to receive her MLIS in June.

Good Reads are just that: good reads! The Good Reads collection at Kennedy Library is here for your fun reading. This small collection of fiction and non-fiction books is the phoenix of Kennedy Library. Around since the late 1970s, before we were even in this building, it was born as Recreation Reading, re-birthed as The Browsing Collection and is now resurrected as Good Reads. We have more readers than ever! You can find Good Reads on the second floor by Julian’s Café.

Mar 25

Elsewhere: a Memoir, by Richard Russo

I’ve loved Russo’s novels forever, and noticed that a lot of them had absent or flaky fathers, so I always wondered if this was part of his past. Elsewhere cleared that up: Russo’s father did leave when Richard was a child. But we also learn one of the main reasons: his mother’s mental illness. As an only child, Russo spent all of his childhood, as well a huge chunk of his adult life trying to make things all right for her. As with many families affected by mental illness, the family members are in a constant state of triage, dealing with the fallout, without acknowledging (or in some cases even fully realizing) that the illness exists. This was definitely the case with Russo. Read more

Mar 18

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Journey into Libraryland: Top 10 things I learned from my Kennedy Library internship

Victoria Billings is the communications and public programs intern at Kennedy Library. ‘Journey into library land’ is a series about what she’s learned creating media for Cal Poly’s university library.

Mar 13

Kinesiology and Kennedy

A newly renovated first floor gallery means that I get to be privy to new and exciting ideas almost constantly. In January, it was the 2nd year architecture students’ Julia Morgan-inspired projects. For the last several weeks, it has been fun drawings by Cal Poly students. Today, it was a journey into the world of health and body, when students in Kinesiology 319, Introductory Research Methods, presented their research proposals in the gallery. Read more

Mar 11

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Nerd entrepreneurs, bro entrepreneurs, and inspiration at Cal Poly

I like to think I’m an old hat at Science Cafes. After all, I’ve worked at Kennedy Library for eight months, and already worked two Science Cafes. I should have mastered it, right? Of course, just when I feel like I know what to expect, a Cal Poly Science Café comes along to prove to me just how unique each library event is. Read more