Category: Library NewsBlog

Who doesn’t like reading a book deemed so dangerous it shouldn’t be read?

At the end of September every year, the American Library Association and Amnesty International partner together to host Banned Books Week. They highlight books previously and currently challenged in bans across the United States.

In the spirit that people should be able to read whatever they want, the map shows nearly 50 countries with books currently banned (or were banned in the recent past). The map shows that, unfortunately, freedom of information is still being curtailed around the world.

Here is a map and in this linked article you’ll find a brief description of each book and why it’s too dangerous to read.

Constitution Day, September 17 annually, commemorates the adoption of the US Constitution, and every year it is celebrated at Michigan Tech and in the community.  This year we celebrate the 19th Amendment, which removed restrictions due to sex from the Constitution.  The 19th reads:  The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

On September 17, 2019 we celebrate the 19th Amendment to the Constitution through the showing of the film, “Iron Jawed Angels,” which tells the tale of the last decade of the seven-decade struggle to gain voting rights for all women citizens in the US.  The film will be shown at 7:30pm in the East Reading Room of the Van Pelt and Opie Library on Michigan Tech’s campus.  The fight for women’s voting rights peaked during World War I, and the adoption of the 19th Amendment was anything but obvious.  Other hot topics at the time were discriminatory racial practices, prohibition, immigration, labor safety and rights, and industrialization.  Following the film there will be an informative discussion led by Michigan Tech Social Sciences Lecturer, Susanna D. Peters, J.D.  Please join us for this educational event.

The Constitution Day film showing is co-sponsored by the Van Pelt and Opie Library, the League of Women Voters of the Copper Country, and riseUP, recognizing the Importance of Women’s Suffrage Everywhere-Upper Peninsula, a local group organizing a year-long educational program surrounding suffrage rights and acquisition of full citizenship rights by all populations.  More information on these groups will be available at the film showing.

Enter our Book Spine Poetry Contest!

Celebrate National Poetry Month by creating your own poetry using titles of books from the library! Looking for more books? Check out the 3rd floor.

1. Grab some books (at least three)
2. Stack them up!
3. Arrange them so the titles make a poem
4. Take a photo and share it in a comment on Michigan
Tech Van Pelt and Opie Library’s FaceBook page @VanPeltAndOpieLibrary!

Developing Service Standards in the Library

Join us to learn about the library staff’s process for developing service standards, discuss opportunities to champion equity, inclusion and diversity issues and how to incorporate inclusive service values in your community at 3 p.m. Thursday (March 28) in the East Reading Room of the Library. “Leading with the Library – Diversity and Inclusion in Service,” will be presented by Library staff Erin Matas, Lindsay Hiltunen, Laurie Stark, John Schneiderhan and CDI.

L. Syd M Johnson, PhD, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Humanities and Affiliate Associate Professor, Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology discusses her new book Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief, and the amicus curiae brief that lead to the book. This work intersects with animal ethics and political philosophy.

Dr. Johnson’s presentation will begin after a short business meeting at 4:45 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Michigan Tech and the United States Patent and Trademark Office

Have you ever dreamed of owning your own business? Are you enrolled in a design course? Learn about how trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and patents play a role in starting a business and designing products.

The Van Pelt and Opie Library at Michigan Tech is hosting the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday, October 23rd.

The morning session, “Intellectual Property Basics & Local Resources”, is being held from 9:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. and will focus on local resources for inventors and students that can assist you in developing your product or starting a business.

The afternoon session, “Advanced Topics for Inventors”, is being held from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. and will focus on advanced topics in patents. Join Damian Porcari, Regional Director of the Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional US Patent and Trademark Office and Primary Patent Examiner Jim McPherson as they speak about advanced topics in patents and how you can protect your invention.

Register for this event before October 23rd at mtu.edu/library/innovation-day or email library@mtu.edu for more information.

This year’s Craft Bazaar and Bake sale features the crafts and baking skills of the staff of the Van Pelt and Opie Library and the Michigan Tech IT department. All proceeds benefit the Keweenaw Community Foundation’s Copper Country Flood Relief Fund. Join us on October 12, from 2 – 4 p.m.!

The Van Pelt and Opie Library, with Professor Thomas Werner (Biological Sciences) and John Jaenike (University of Rochester) announce the launch of Drosophilids of the Midwest and Northeast. This open educational resource is coauthored by Professors Werner and Jaenike and published on Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech.

Join the authors for a reception celebrating the launch of this fascinating, comprehensive and charming example of open educational resource publishing, and the upcoming release of version 2, on October 10th, 2018, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the library’s East Reading Room. Light refreshments will be served.

World War I & the Copper Country Opening Reception and Constitution Day Speaker

Dr. Brett Gary, Associate Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at NYU, will deliver “World War I Speech Catastrophes and the Postwar Struggle for Free Political and Sexual Speech” as a talk for Constitution Day and the opening reception of the World War I & the Copper Country commemoration.</span? Dr. Gary will explore the history of the wartime crackdown on political dissent and sexual impurity, and the development of the parallel civil liberties traditions that emerged in the war’s aftermath.

Dr. Gary will be speaking on Thursday, September 13th, at 4 p.m. in the East Reading Room of the Van Pelt and Opie Library. Light refreshments will be provided.

The following evening, Dr. Hillary Virtanen, Assistant Professor of Finnish & Nordic Studies at Finlandia University, will deliver a related talk entitled “An Unpopular History: Uncovering Copper Country Antiwar Stories in World War I”. Virtanen’s talk will introduce and discuss the process for developing the historical exhibit, “Copper Country Voices of Dissent in the Great War,” opening in the Finnish American Heritage Center the day of her talk. Refreshments will be served.

Dr. Virtanen will speak on Friday, September 14th, at 7 p.m. in the Finnish American Heritage Center at Finlandia University.

Both events are FREE to the public. For more information, visit online or email ww1cc@mtu.edu.

The USPTO is hosting an Anti-Counterfeiting Video Contest to help bring attention to the harmful effects of counterfeit products and the need to stop them at home and abroad.

Students, the general public, and federal employees are all invited to submit 30- to 60-second video submissions as a part of this public awareness campaign. Cash prizes will be awarded for each entrant category.