ASU celebrates the life and work of Charles Darwin with Darwinfest

Arizona State University celebrates Darwin‘s 200th birthday and commemorates the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species with Darwinfest – a creative scientific enterprise. Darwinfest includes a unique set of multifaceted events, contests, lectures, artistic performances, educational workshops, tea parties, and even a look-alike contest.

Upcoming event:  ASU Darwinfest continues  with Princeton Emeritus Professors Peter and Rosemary Grant, who will speak about their work with “Darwin’s Finches” and sign books: “The beak of the finch” by Jonathan Weiner (1995), which won a Pulitzer Prize. “How and why species multiply. The radiation of Darwin’s finches.” Princeton University Press, 2006.   This event will be held on Wednesday, October 28, 6:00pm – 7:30pm in the Turquoise Ballroom, Memorial Union 220.   Books can be purchased in advance and for a 20% discount from the ASU Bookstore.

Check out the entire event schedule on the Darwinfest web site.

Get More Information About Darwin: Our Life Sciences Librarians created a special “Darwin LibGuide” with links to relevant books, articles and selected information on the web about Charles Darwin, evolution and other related topics.  This timely LibGuide was created especially to coincide with ASU’s special celebration, Darwinfest:  Bold Ideas Change Worlds.

Internationally acclaimed author Leslie Marmon Silko, Laguna Pueblo, will deliver the fall Simon Ortiz and Labriola Center Lecture on Indigenous Land, Culture, and Community, on Thursday, October 8 at 7 p.m. at Phoenix’s Heard Museum. This semi-annual lecture series is held through a partnership between the Heard Museum and Arizona State University.

The evening will begin with a reading by Silko from her forthcoming memoir, Turquoise Ledge, followed by an informal discussion with the audience.

Silko is best known for her universally-praised novel Ceremony, which was first published in 1977 to rave reviews. It continues to be the American Indian novel most often set on college and university syllabi, and is one of the few individual works by any Native author to have received book-length critical assessments. Ceremony’s message of healing and reconciliation between races and people resonates with both Native and non-Native readers to this day.

Silko has won prizes, fellowships, and grants from such sources as the National Endowment for the Arts and The Boston Globe. She was the youngest writer to be included in The Norton Anthology of Women’s Literature for her short story “Lullaby.” In 1981 she won a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant. Silko has continued to be a force in American Indian literature in both the fiction and non-fiction genres.

The lecture series is sponsored by the Heard Museum and Arizona State University’s American Indian Studies Program, Department of English, Department of History, Labriola Center and Women and Gender Studies Program.

Fletcher Library on the West campus and the student chapter of Amnesty International are hosting two events to recognize Banned Book Awareness Week:

Book Arts Program
Join the West campus Community in creating original book art in recognition of Banned Book Awareness Week. Your Book Art will be on display in the Fletcher Library during Banned Book Awareness Week September 26-October 3, 2009

Date/Time:  Tuesday 9/29 4:30-6pm
Date/Time: Wednesday 9/30 11:30-1pm
Location:  West side Fletcher Patio

Banned and Challenged Books Reading
Listen to readings from banned and challenged books, and read from your favorite banned or challenged book.  Books will be provided, or bring your favorite.

Date:  October 1
Time:  4:30-6pm
Location:  Fletcher Lawn

Everyone is welcome to join us for these events and no registration is required.

In this week’s Library Minute, Anali gives us the lowdown on Constitution Day, provides interesting facts about the Constitution and invites all ASU students, faculty and staff to join in the public reading of the Constitution (ASU Reads the Constitution) to mark this year’s Constitution Day on Thursday September 17, 2009.

Download iPod Ready Video (mp4 video)

Event Details:

Date:  Thursday September 17

Time:  11:30am-1:00pm

Location:  On the stage in between the Hayden Library and Memorial Union, on the Tempe campus

View all the Library Minutes on YouTube!

The Library Minute is Hosted by Anali Perry.

All ASU faculty, staff and students are invited to join together for “ASU Reads the Constitution” to celebrate Constitution Day this Thursday, September 17.  The ASU Libraries and the Undergraduate Student Government are collaborating to organize this public reading of the Constitution.

Event Details:

Date:  Thursday, September 17, 2009.

Time:  11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Location:  Outdoor stage between the Hayden Library and the Memorial Union, Tempe campus

What’s Involved:  Read a brief (less than one minute) section of the Constitution aloud.  We have divided the Constitution into one hundred sections, and you’ll be assigned one as you arrive.  Unfortunately readers are not able to reserve any specific section.

As a bonus, we will be distributing free pocket Constitutions to attendees.

More information about Constitution Day:

• Library Channel podcast interview:  What Is Constitution Day
• Constitution Center:  Constitution Day

The Library Channel is proud to present the third installment of the Simon Ortiz and Labriola Center Lecture on Indigenous Land, Culture, and Community, sponsored by ASU American Indian Studies Program, ASU Department of English, ASU American Indian Policy Institute, ASU Labriola Center, and the Heard Museum.

Recorded March 23, 2009 at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, University of Victoria Professor of Indigenous Governance Gerald Taiaiake Alfred talks about the “Resurgence of Traditional Ways of Being: Indigenous Paths of Action and Freedom”

Taiaiake Alfred is known for his leadership and groundbreaking research in the fields of Indigenous governance, philosophy and history, and also for his incisive social and political criticism. He has been awarded a Canada Research Chair, a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the field of education, and the Native American Journalists Association award for best column writing.

Download Podcast (MP3)

For more information please visit:

About Gerald Taiaiake Alfred
The Simon Ortiz and Labriola Center Lecture on Indigenous Land, Culture, and Community
Library Channel event information

NEW! The full event video is now available and will be coming soon to ASUtv.

Episode 96
Running Time: 1:15:04

Speaker:

Gerald Taiaiake Alfred

Professor Simon Ortiz opens the presentation.

Opportunity for Public Comment

Date: Thursday April 2nd, 2009
Time: 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Location:  University Center Building, 411 N. Central Ave
Information Commons Computer Lab, Lower Level
Arizona State University at the Downtown Phoenix campus

You are invited to help us build Why Arizona? The Arizona Migration Digital Library, a freely accessible digital library of archival materials that tell us stories about why people chose to come to Arizona, why they stayed, and why they left. Through the lens of thousands of archival photos, audio recordings, videos and texts we will connect individuals and families of the past and present who chose Arizona for employment, religious freedom, ethnic communities or recreation.

We invite anyone to participate in this project by offering their stories, suggesting topics or events they would like to see documented here, or simply cheering us on! At this meeting the public will be invited to learn about the progress of the project, see samples and descriptions of materials nominated for digitization and public access and add their voice to our work! If you can’t attend the meeting, please visit our website at www.whyarizona.org and email your comments!

Why Arizona is a multi-year collaboration of archivists, librarians and technology professionals from the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University that will be formally unveiled in time for the Arizona Centennial in 2012. In the meantime, watch us grow! The project is supported with funds granted by the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records Agency under the Library Services and Technology Act, which is administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Why Arizona? The Arizona Migration Digital Library is grateful to the Arizona Historical Advisory Commission for designation of Why Arizona? as an Arizona Centennial Legacy Project.

Arizona archives collect, preserve and make accessible millions of resources for your use. Please visit:

• Arizona Memory Project
• Arizona Archives Online
• Arizona Cultural Inventory Project

The third installment of the ASU Indigenous speaker series, the Simon Ortiz and Labriola Center Lecture on Indigenous Land, Culture, and Community will take place Monday March 23rd, 2009.

Professor of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria, Gerald Taiaiake Alfred, will deliver a lecture entitled “Resurgence of Traditional Ways of Being: Indigenous Paths of Action and Freedom” at the Heard Museum Steele Auditorium at 7PM with a reception and book signing to follow at 8PM.

The Labriola National American Indian Data Center will host a reception on the ASU Tempe Campus from 3:00-4:00PM in the Labriola Center, Hayden Library room 209 .

All events are free and open to the public.

About Gerald Taiaiake Alfred

Professor of Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria (Canada), Gerald Taiaiake Alfred is known for his leadership and groundbreaking research in the fields of Indigenous governance, philosophy and history, and also for his incisive social and political criticism. He has been awarded a Canada Research Chair, a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the field of education, and the Native American Journalists Association award for best column writing.

Educated at Concordia and Cornell, Taiaiake lectures at universities and colleges in Canada, the United States, England and Australia, and serves as an advisor on land and governance issues for his own and many other Indigenous governments and organizations. His writing includes numerous scholarly articles and contributed essays in newspapers and journals, as well as three books: the influential and best-selling Peace, Power, Righteousness (2008), now in its second edition; Wasáse (2005), a runner-up for the McNally Robinson Aboriginal Book of the Year in 2005; and Heeding the Voices of Our Ancestors (1995).

About the Simon Ortiz and Labriola Center Lecture Series

The Simon Ortiz and Labriola Center Lecture on Indigenous Land, Culture, and Community at Arizona State University brings notable scholars and speakers to Arizona for public lectures twice a year. These speakers address topics and issues across disciplines in the arts, humanities, sciences, and politics. Underscoring Indigenous American experiences and perspectives, this series seeks to create and celebrate knowledge that evolves from an Indigenous worldview that is inclusive and that is applicable to all walks of life.

Fred McIlvain presents the News from the ASU Libraries.

 
Download Podcast (MP3 Audio)

Stories:

Reduced Spring Break hours: Hours and closures for March 8 – 14

LibGuides! A handy tool for the resources you need.

Gerald Taiaiake Alfred lecture at the Heard Museum: The third Simon Ortiz and Labriola Center Lecture on Indigenous Land, Culture and Community on March 23rd.

Interlibrary Loan: Possibly the best library service you may never have tried!

Featured Exhibit: Shelter in the Storm: Agnes Smedley at Yaddo (related Podcast)

Host: Fred McIlvain

Episode 91
Running time:4:42

Join us at the ASU Libraries on Tuesday January 20 to watch Barack Obama be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.  We will be showing the televised coverage of the Inauguration Ceremonies at the following libraries: