WILLIS N. HACKNEY LIBRARY, Barton College, Wilson, NC Skip Navigation Link Library Home Site Search Help
Picture of Hackney Library
Library Services:
My Library Record
Renew Items
Library Collections
NCLIVE
Citation Tips and Tools
Computers
Reserves
Interlibrary Loan
Fax Services
Ask a Librarian
Suggestions
Disabled/Handicapped
Services
About the Library:
Hours
Contact Information
Directions
Circulation Policies
Fines
Library Faculty/Staff
Library Statistics
Friends of Hackney Library
Discipliana Collection
Public Use
Library Mission
Ask a Librarian:
Hackney Library Help via Email
NCknows: 24/7 Reference Help

Blackboard Enterprise

Barton College Home Page

Questions or comments may be directed to: reference@barton.edu
NEWS AND EVENTS


News

Library Receives NCLA Award for Promoting a Web Site

Image of winning bulldog stress reliever Hackney Library received first prize in the North Carolina Library Association's Swap and Chat Best of Show category for web site promotional materials in small libraries. The library received the award for its stress reliever "Bully" bulldog, which sports the library's web site address on its back. The bulldogs, which are being distributed to freshman following their FYS orientation session in the library this year, have proven to be very popular. In fact, they were first introduced at our 2007 Fall Open House to rave reviews, and they also garnered the American Library Association's 2008 'Best in Show' award for printed materials promoting web sites.

The NCLA award was presented by State Librarian Mary Boone on October 8 in Greenville during NCLA's annual conference. The plaque commemorating the award will be mounted in the library.

New "QuickSearch" Feature Added to Library Web Page

Due to less-than-satisfactory performance by our former QuickSearch tool, the library has changed vendors and is now contracting with EBSCO to use its Integrated Search product instead. This federated search tool allows users to search multiple indexes and databases (for books, articles, and more) with one search query. It is located at the top of the library's home page under "Find Resources-QuickSearch" area.

We have also added subject-specific "QuickSearch" boxes to our Article Indexes by Subject pages. These search multiple subject-specific databases.

If you have any questions about accessing or using this resource, please contact the reference desk at 252-399-6502 (x6502 from on campus).

Library Receives HVAC Replacement Grant

Thanks to the assistance of Vann Pearsall, Barton College Director of Annual Giving, Hackney Library has received a grant for $80,000 from The Cannon Foundation to fund the replacement of the library's original HVAC system installed when the building first opened in the late 1970s. As many patrons (and library faculty/staff) can attest, the temperature inside the building has often been uncomfortably cold (and sometimes uncomfortably hot) due to the age of the current system. The new system, which is in the process of being installed, should also help with humidity control in the building. Many thanks to Vann for helping us locate this grant resource.

New Online ATLA Religion Database plus ATLA Serials (ATLAS) Now Available

Hackney Library has replaced the Religion Index One: Periodicals index, whose publisher is ceasing publication of the print version, with the online ATLA Religion Database with ATLA Serials. This electronic resource includes not only the indexing of material formerly in the print Religion Index One, but also the full text of articles contained in over 140 full-text religion and theology journals in ATLA's serials database (ATLAS). (The library will retain the print volumes of Religion Index One: Periodicals already in the collection.)

This addition is now reflected on the Hackney Library web site.

Library Receives LSTA Technology Planning Grant

Hackney Library has received an LSTA Technology Planning Grant from the State Library of North Carolina for the 2009-10 year. The grant will fund a study of the library's overall technology needs and will provide a comprehensive technology plan. Consultants will be hired and will be working with library faculty and staff to develop the 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.


Events

Book Signing: Featuring illustrator and author Bonnie Christensen, and her latest children's book, Django, December 8, 2009

Image of author/illustrator Bonnie Christensen The Friends of Hackney Library will host a book signing and reception for author and illustrator Bonnie Christensen. The event, which is free and open to the public as well as the Barton community, will be held in Hackney Library from 4-6 pm on Tuesday, December 8. Light refreshments will be served. (Christensen recently participated as a panelist on the Friends' Spring 2009 panel of children's book illustrators.)

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.

Image of the cover of Christensen's picture book, 'Django' 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, Booklist Online).

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 will be 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, visit her web site. For details about the book signing, please contact Cynthia Collins at 252-399-6503, or via email.

Clip art image of a pocket watch December 10-15, 2009: "Study 'Round the Clock" -- Library Open 24/7 During Exams

Due to popular student demand and the success of last semester's event, Hackney Library's "Study 'Round the Clock" will return during final exams in December. As before, for much of this exam period, the library will again remain open 24/7.

The library will be open during the following hours during Reading Day/Exams:

  • Thursday, December 10 (Reading Day) and Friday, December 11: From 8 am Thursday until 6 pm Friday
  • Saturday, December 12: 10 am - 5 pm
  • Sunday, December 13-Wednesday, December 16: Open 2 pm Sunday and remain open continuously until closing at 6 pm Wednesday
  • Thursday, December 17 and Friday, December 18: 8 am - 5 pm

"Study 'Round the Clock" provides an additional 38 hours the library will be open during exam period compared to the regular semester.

During these 24/7 periods, library services will be available from 8 am until midnight only. From midnight until 8 am the following morning, no library services will be available, but a police officer will be on hand providing security during that time. (Access will be limited to Barton students only during the midnight to 8 am time slots. Barton ID will be required for admission from midnight until 8 am).

The event is being sponsored by the Friends of Hackney Library, the Barton College Office of Student Affairs, and the Barton Student Government Association, and Hackney Library.

Friends of Hackney Library Dinner / Lecture Series

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.)

Spring 2010 Program

Image of historian William E. Leuchtenburg 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.

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.

Last updated November 17, 2009
To Barton College Home Page Library Home Help Back to Top