International Beer Day

Some rights reserved by davidwoliver through Flickr CC

According to archaeologists man has been brewing beer for at least seven thousand years. In Europe during the Middle Ages the common person drank beer instead of water because the brewing process destroyed bacteria that often contaminated the drinking water.

So, on August 1, 2014 celebrate one of mankind’s earliest technological achievements for International Beer Day.

Some rights reserved by jdparker through Flickr CC

If you’re interested in brewing your own, Charles Bamforth’s Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing might prove useful.

Or start with the basics with Beer for Dummies.

Learn more about the development of Idaho’s breweries with Steven Koonce’s Idaho Beer: From Grain to Glass in the Gem State.

And, if you think you might want to start your own brewery, get some insight from Dogfish Head’s founder, Sam Calagione.


Terry Madden, Elizabeth Ramsey

The Scott Preston Papers are now available for research!

As part of my internship experience, I had the opportunity to process and make available for research the Scott Preston Papers. It was quite the experience organizing the papers of someone’s life.While putting things in order, I learned who Scott was, what personal foibles he had, and his passion for poetry. It was very satisfying to see disorganization turn into 23 neat, researchable boxes. So, who was Scott Preston?

Photo Source: The Wood River Journal, May 16, 2007, p. A13.

Scott Preston was a poet, performer, and publisher largely based in the Wood River Valley, Idaho.

Preston considered his poems his diary. Special Collections now houses 20 years’ worth of published and unpublished poems.
 
Also writing for The Wood River Journal, Preston penned reviews, articles, and most notably, opinions in his weekly article, “Potshots.” In 1981, Preston began the Wind Vein Press and self-published collections of poetry called the White Clouds Revue.

As an advocate for cowboy poetry, the collection also contains memorabilia from various cowboy poetry gatherings, numerous books, and audio recordings of Preston himself and other cowboy poets.

The Scott Preston Papers give researchers the insight of the challenges of independent presses in Idaho, and the culture of the cowboy poet. To learn more about what the collection holds, see the finding aid here: nwda.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv53259/

A special thanks goes to all the folks who work in Special Collections. They are the best mentors an intern could have.

Mandy Moncur,
Special Collections and Archives Summer Intern

Dance Appreciation Month

From Albertsons Library's Historic Boise State Collection

July is dance appreciation month and the last Saturday of the month is National Dance Day! As you might expect, Albertsons Library has resources to help you find your bop, boogie, or pirouette!

Let’s start with the books. If you type dance history into the search box on the front page of the library website, you’ll retrieve over 25,000 books and eBooks. To be clear, not every one of these titles is sitting in the library, but about 2200 of them are, with another 600+ online titles that Boise State University students, faculty, and staff can access immediately. Most of the other 22,000 titles can be acquired via the library’s Interlibrary Loan service - free! Below are just a few examples. Click the title to view details.

Though these books look really interesting, dance lends itself to the moving image, and the library can help with that too! There are a number of DVDs in our collection, but we also subscribe to a streaming video database entirely devoted to the art of dance.

Dance in Video is a library of over five hundred hours of dance productions and documentaries from the 20th Century. Content covers a variety of genres, including ballet, jazz, tap, improvisational, and concert dance.

Search or browse for videos in a variety of ways, including genre, title or choreographer. Each video is accompanied by a complete transcript and is divided into tracks. Those who create a free account can save playlists and/or video clips. In addition, tools are provided for citing and sharing videos with others in the Boise State University community.

You can get to Dance in Video from the Albertsons Library website under the “Videos & Music” tab.

Of course, there are a plethora of great dance resources on the Web. The New York Public Library has put together a guide to the best of the web for dance so that you don’t have to dig through all those Google search results.

As always, the librarians at Albertsons Library are happy to help if you have questions. Until then - let’s dance! 

Ellie Dworak

KAPOW! Batman swag on the Quad!

Albertsons Library is not the only institution celebrating a birthday this year. Batman has us beat by a full 25 years. The cowled crusader first appeared in a DC comic in 1939, and has since grown to be, as Warner Brothers claims, “the single most successful film franchise in history,” with additional appearances on TV series, in video games, and publishing and merchandise.

We’ll be celebrating Batman’s birthday on Wednesday, July 23rd from 11am on the Quad as various Bat Girls and mini Batmen hand out swag bags. With limited quantities available, it’s a good idea to get there quickly! If you miss it, or need an additional Batman fix you might check out these resources available at the library:

On our shelves
Dark Knight Rises Soundtrack2nd Floor, Compact Disc M1527.Z55 D37 2008

DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore3rd Floor, PN6727.M664 A6 2006

Batman: the Dark Knight Strikes Again3rd Floor, PN6728.B36 M546 2002

eBooks
Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Iconhttp://boisestate.worldcat.org/oclc/857365220

Fan Phenomena: Batmanhttp://boisestate.worldcat.org/oclc/856869786

Hunting The Dark Knighthttp://boisestate.worldcat.org/oclc/851315641

Online
DC Comics 75thhttp://bit.ly/1hZzMol

“Batman: Strange Days” official 75th short film
http://bit.ly/1ev2A67

TIME Magazine’s history of Batman logohttp://time.com/41410/batman-logos-gif/

This post is the second in a series celebrating Albertsons Library’s 50th [#BoiseStLibraryat50]

Elizabeth Ramsey & Deana Brown,
Reference Librarians

Just Visiting: Idaho’s Protected Wilderness

New Digital Collection and Window Exhibit at Albertsons Library

2014 marks a big year for the United States ~ the Wilderness Act is turning 50! In 1964, with a few swishes of President Lyndon Johnson’s hand, the President acknowledged the intrinsic value of wild and unspoiled spaces and almost 10 million acres of federally owned land were afforded the highest level of conservation and preservation. In fact, the law states that a wilderness is “where a man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” At the time, the new law created the most restrictive land-use policy for public land in the world, because of its constraints on logging, mining, road construction and the use of motorized vehicles.

Can you imagine the controversy and negotiations which were necessary in the decade leading up to the 1964 signing? Since the Wilderness Act impacted both the current and future uses of the land, almost everyone had an opinion and you can bet that very few agreed on much. From what areas to include and which activities should be allowed or prohibited in those areas, the topic was a hot one. Idaho’s political figures spent a good deal of time in Washington D.C. and back home listening to constituents and drafting legislation to build a responsible system for wilderness.

Today, the State of Idaho’s designated wilderness areas have increased to 4.5 million acres (3rd most in the country) and in the fifty years since the Wilderness Act was passed, the debates rage on - pitting ATV enthusiasts against backpackers, mining companies against conservationists, and states against the federal government...and that’s just the short list! Does federal control of land in Idaho trample state rights or does federal control of the land protect Idaho’s public land from economic exploitation? Does the desire to have a space as natural and wild as possible unnecessarily limit the outdoor enthusiasts’ ability to enjoy that
space? Who decides how to manage public land?

 

To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, Special Collections and Archives recently published a new online Wilderness Collection. We also have a wonderful new window exhibit created by Mandy Moncur (a graduate student in the history department who interned with Special Collections and Archives this summer). The new exhibit highlights key people and places associated with the Wilderness Act
in Idaho.

Interested in learning more about the Wilderness Act? Here’s how—browse the newly created online collection, view the new exhibit on the 2nd floor of Albertsons Library, or visit Special Collections (open 9-5, M-W). We have letters, speeches, government reports, photographs, diaries and much more available for research. We invite you to discover the pleasure of studying national policy at the most intimate level - first hand from the people who helped to create and shape it!

The digital collection contains material from the collections of Frank Church, Cecil D. Andrus, Len B. Jordan, Larry LaRocco, Gracie Pfost, Ted Trueblood and others.

Jennele Estrada & Jim Duran,
Special Collections and Archives

Construction Update in Albertsons Library

Summer time may be synonymous with beach reads, cold drinks, and floating the river--but it also means construction projects! 

The library elevator renovation project is about half way completed. Contractors continue to work on the elevator motor and refurbishing the cabs. Renovation is projected to be completed just after the start of Fall 2014 semester. 

Starting Friday, July 11 construction will commence on relocating Starbucks’ entrance. The door will be moved to the vestibule to improve traffic flow in and out of the coffee shop. The project is slated to be completed in less than 10 business days. Starbucks will remain open throughout the duration of the construction so your iced latte addiction can continue unimpeded.

If you have any questions about construction and access to the building and collections during the project, please contact Mary Aagard at maryaagard@boisestate.edu or 426-4025.

Freedom Summer

Photo from the Frank Church Collection in Boise State University, Albertsons Library’s Special Collections

Idaho Senator, Frank Church, advises then President Lyndon Johnson during the creation of the Civil Rights Voting Act of 1965. This bill was conceived in response to demonstrations and violent reprisals against demonstrators throughout the South during the early sixties.

The summer before the bill was signed into law more than 700 university students, black and white, journeyed to Mississippi to assist the locals in registering to vote. It was thought by the organizers, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), that the participation of these students would draw greater attention to the lack of not only voting rights, but the general poor standard of living of the black citizens of Mississippi. Within a day of the students’ arrival, three of them went missing. Their bodies were not found for six months. This time in American history is known as Freedom Summer.

An American Experience documentary on Freedom Summer recently premiered on PBS. You can still watch it online http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/freedomsummer/ or learn more about this momentous time in American History through a number of resources at Albertsons Library including:

The print book Freedom Summer by Doug McAdam looks at the impact of Freedom Summer on volunteers’ political, professional and personal lives

http://boisestate.worldcat.org/oclc/17676678

John Dittmer’s Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi examines the experiences of the local black communities during Freedom Summer and beyond 

http://boisestate.worldcat.org/oclc/29184630

Another print book, Faces of Freedom Summer, presents the event from the viewpoint of photographer Herbert Eugene Randall, who documented the experience

http://boisestate.worldcat.org/oclc/44454539

The ebook, After Freedom Summer, examines how the event changed the political landscape of Mississippi http://boisestate.worldcat.org/oclc/757826249

The video Freedom Summer, produced by A&E, is available online in a streaming format http://boisestate.worldcat.org/oclc/677927121

This blog post is the first in a series, produced in coordination with the celebration of Albertsons Library’s 50th Anniversary.

Elizabeth Ramsey,
Assistant professor, Librarian

Celebrate Idaho!

 "Idaho" by w i n t e r t w i n e d  is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

124 years ago, the state of Idaho was welcomed as America’s 43rd state. I grew up in south-central Idaho and have a deep love for the Gem State. Every year on this day, I like to sing the Idaho state song and the Idaho centennial song. 

I was in 4th grade during the Centennial year, and in 4th grade you study Idaho history. Not only did I learn the state song and the county song, I also learned the song chosen to commemorate the centennial, “Celebrate Idaho.” You can hear a recording of this song, along with other Idaho centennial songs on this cassette tape, “Celebrate: A Selection of Idaho Centennial Songs” found in the library’s Curriculum Resource Center.

If you are not an Idaho native, or if you haven’t had a chance to travel to all of the Idaho places you wish to go, check out “Northwest Getaways: Trips in Idaho and Beyond,” published by the Idaho Statesman. The Library collects topographical maps of the various parts of the state so if you are looking for new hiking trails, fishing spots, or public land to camp on--you can check out these maps for 2 weeks at a time. Though I grew up here, there are still plenty of places for me to explore. As you travel the state, use the hashtag  #IDBucketList to let us all know about your adventures.

Singing of Idaho…  Mary Aagard

Library Closed on July 4th

The Albertsons Library, along with the rest of campus, will be closed on Friday, July 4th. Regular hours resume on Saturday, July 5th, but our online resources are available to you 24/7.

Have a safe & happy Independence Day!