| WILLIS N. HACKNEY LIBRARY, Barton College, Wilson, NC |
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NEWS AND EVENTS
 News
The installation of the library's new AC system is now completed, and the driveway behind the library has been reopened. We are looking forward to better climate-control within the building as a result of the installation. Thanks again to Vann Pearsall, Barton College Director of Annual Giving, for helping us acquire a grant for $80,000 from The Cannon Foundation to fund the replacement of the library's original AC system.
To help prevent the spread of viruses and other germs on campus, the library has installed an automatic hand sanitizer on a dispensing stand just inside the library's front doors. There is no need to touch anything to activate it; simply place your hand under the dispenser to receive the sanitizing foam (no paper towels are needed as the foam dissolves as you rub it on your hands). Please help us maintain good hygiene and health in the library by making use of this new addition!
Work is still ongoing in the development of the Hackney Library Technology Plan, which is being funded by an LSTA Technology Planning Grant from the State Library of North Carolina for the 2009-10 year. Consultant Robert Burgin and his associates of the firm RB Software and Consulting, Inc. have been working with library faculty and staff to conduct technology needs assessment and to develop a comprehensive technology plan. Federal LSTA funds are made possible through grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.
As of December 14, 2009, Hackney Library began providing 317 additional E-books made available through NCLIVE with an LSTA grant from the State Library of North Carolina. The new E-books, with subjects focusing primarily on classic literature, history, biography, language learning, health, and medicine, are accessible to Hackney Library patrons through our online catalog both within the building as well as remotely from off campus (Barton log-in is required for access from off campus). A complete list of these titles is available. NCLIVE purchased the E-books through Ingram Digital and is making the books available through their MyiLibrary platform. Patrons can read the books online without downloading any material and no proprietary E-book reader is needed to view the books.
The table is situated on the first floor near the circulation desk, and dry-erase markers are available for check out at the circulation desk. If student usage warrants it, the library may purchase additional brainstorming tables as funds become available. Come try it out and give us your feedback!
Each year, the Friends organization hosts two signature dinners in its Friends of Hackney Library Dinner & Lecture Series at which well-known authors speak about or read from their works. (See our Friends of Hackney Library Archive Page page for information on our Fall 2009 event, held October 6, 2009.)
The Friends program will be held on Tuesday, April 13, 2010, beginning with a book signing and wine reception at 6:00 pm, followed by dinner and a lecture at 7:00 pm., in Barton College's Hardy Alumni Hall. Dr. Leuchtenburg is one of the nation's top experts on the U.S. presidency in general, and the leading national scholar on Franklin Delano Roosevelt in particular. A native of Queens, New York, Dr. Leuchtenburg received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University, and his master's and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. After brief teaching stints at both Smith College and Harvard University, he began his 30-year tenure on the faculty at Columbia University, where he became De Witt Clinton Professor of American History. In 2008, he received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Columbia. He also served as Harmsworth Professor at Oxford University. Lured to the UNC-Chapel Hill campus from Columbia in 1982, Dr. Leuchtenburg served for 20 years at UNC until his retirement in 2002. He has also served as president of three major historical organizations: the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the Society of American Historians. Dr. Leuchtenburg is the author of more than a dozen books on twentieth-century American History, including Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940 and The White House Looks South: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson. Although the majority of his books concern FDR and the New Deal, he was asked by his longtime friend, the late Arthur Schlesinger Jr., to write his latest book, Herbert Hoover, as part of the American Presidents Series of biographies on all the presidents. The book was released in January 2009. He and his wife, Jean Anne, reside in Chapel Hill.
Due to popular student demand and the success of the Spring 2009 event, Hackney Library's "Study 'Round the Clock" returned during final exams in December. As before, for much of this exam period, the library remained open 24/7.
The library was open during the following hours during Reading Day/Exams:
"Study 'Round the Clock" provided an additional 38 hours of study time during exam period compared to the regular semester. One hundred and thirteen students took advantage of the extended hours during the event, which consisted of four midnight to 8 am extra shifts (one more than during the Spring "Study" event). During these 24/7 periods, library services were available from 8 am until midnight only. From midnight until 8 am the following morning, no library services were available, but a police officer was on hand providing security during that time. (Access was limited to Barton students only during the midnight to 8 am time slots. Barton ID was required for admission from midnight until 8 am). The event was sponsored by the Friends of Hackney Library, the Barton College Office of Student Affairs, and the Barton Student Government Association, and Hackney Library.
Bonnie's latest work is Django: World's Greatest Jazz Guitarist, which debuted in September 2009. Django Reinhardt, who as a child taught himself to play guitar and began to make his living on the streets of Paris and in jazz clubs, suffered severe burns as a teenager to his hands after a tragic fire that doctors thought would put an end to his budding musical career. But he persevered and proved the doctors spectacularly wrong, becoming one of the world's most renowned jazz guitarists.
One of Christensen's paintings from Django is currently in a show at the Society of Illustrators in New York, to which Christensen has just been elected a member; she joins the ranks of that organization whose early members included Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, and Frederic Remington. Copies of Django and Christensen's other works were available for purchase and signing at the event. Christensen began her career working in New York theater after earning a B.A. degree in Theatre and Communication from the University of Vermont. Her theater work included Joe Papp's Public Theatre, New York Shakespeare Festival, and others. Christensen eventually focused primarily on playwriting, and some of her plays were produced off-off-Broadway. During this time, she also worked for Screen Actors Guild and Paramount Pictures. After studying wood engraving and attending classes at Parsons School of Design and Center for Book Arts, Christensen returned to Vermont to focus on wood engraving and was offered her first illustration work. She explains her eventual emergence as a book author and illustrator: "Through a keen interest in printmaking and letterpress printing I eventually hand-printed and bound a limited-edition book. Desire to see that book reach a wider audience eventually led me to trade publishers and initiated my career," she says in Something About the Author (vol. 110, p. 41). She authored and illustrated her first book for children in 1994, an ABC book called An Edible Alphabet, which received critical acclaim for its design and illustrations. Other books she has both written and illustrated include Rebus Riot (1997), Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People (2001), In My Grandmother's House (2003), The Daring Nellie Bly (2003), and the forthcoming Fabulous: A Portrait of Andy Warhol (2011). In addition, Christensen has illustrated others' works, including award winners such as Stephen Krensky's Breaking Into Print (1996), Craig Crist Evan's Moon Over Tennessee (1999), Mary Pope Osborne's Pompeii, Lost and Found (2006), and the forthcoming Princess of Borscht (2011) by Leda Schubert. In addition to her books, she has contributed to periodicals such as Vermont Life, National Gardening, and Ladybug.Christensen was Guest Lecturer/Artist in Residence at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, in Venice, Italy and served as adjunct professor of Fine Arts at St. Michaels' College in Burlington, VT. Bonnie currently resides in Wilson, North Carolina. For more information about Bonnie Christensen and her work, visit her web site.
Last updated January 29, 2010 |
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The library has purchased a new "brainstorming table" from 
Spring 2010 Program
The Spring 2010 Dinner/Lecture will feature noted modern American history scholar Dr. William E. Leuchtenburg, the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
December 10-15, 2009: "Study 'Round the Clock" -- Library Open 24/7 During Exams
The Friends of Hackney Library hosted a book signing and reception for author and illustrator Bonnie Christensen. (Christensen recently participated as a panelist on the Friends' Spring 2009 panel of children's book illustrators.) The event, which was free and open to the public as well as the Barton community, was held in Hackney Library from 4-6 pm on Tuesday, December 8. Light refreshments were served to some 50 attendees.
The book has garnered early praise: As Publishers Weekly's review of Christensen's picture book explains, "Richly expressive paint and ink illustrations portray the hard-earned successes of Django Reinhardt, whose childhood was spent traveling with his impoverished gypsy family, where music was a constant and illuminating presence....A sensuous tribute to an illustrious musician" (PW, August 10, 2009, p. 56). School Library Journal's starred review of the book says that Christensen "includes enough detail to give perspective, but it is her lush paintings that so effectively give life to the man's effervescent charm and determined courage" (SLJ, September 2009, p. 139). And Booklist's starred review has this to say: "Christensen supports the inspirational story with rich, vibrant paintings that capture the texture and tone of the landscapes in Django’s life: burnt oranges and various shades of brown bring the Gypsy campfires to vivid life, while bright blues shimmering under the sharp yellows of stage footlights depict the electricity of the guitarist in performance" (Bill Ott,