There's still time to read the DePaul President's Book Club selection, Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know by Julie E. Sweig, before next week's discussion at the John T. Richard Library! If you've followed debates about U.S.-Cuban relations in the news and want to know more, this book tells the story. Organized in an engaging Q & A format, Dr. Sweig presents a concise history of Cuba, its internal politics, and its role in world affairs.

After reading the book, join faculty, staff, and students, along with author Dr. Julie Sweig, for a discussion and reception. The President's Book Club will meet on Tuesday, October 27th at 3 p.m. in room 400 of the Richardson Library.

Register online at: http://www.itd.depaul.edu/quickdata2/viewwebform.asp?id=4618

We now have access to a new online database for scholarly research, industry news, and market trends related to hospitality and tourism. Sources included in this database are domestic and international in scope, and full text is provided for many of the journals, company and country reports, and books.

You'll find Hospitality and Tourism Complete especially useful for research in these areas:

• Food & beverage management
  
• Hotel management & administration
• Hospitality law
• Culinary arts
• Leisure & business travel

Our research guides for Business & Economics and Management are great places to find additional resources in these areas. Or ask a librarian if you need suggestions for other places to continue your research. 

Welcome, families! In celebration of Family Weekend, we'd like to invite students and families to join us at the Richardson Library from 4-6 p.m. tonight, October 16th, for Game Night. We'll be playing a variety of games from Wii Play to CandyLand to chess.

And then stop by on Saturday, October 17th, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a tour of Richardson Library. Tours leave every half hour from the circulation desk and will highlight our unique resources and eclectic array of art.

 

Although Christopher Columbus set out to discover a western ocean route to Asia in 1492, he instead stumbled across the Americas and sparked an era of exploration in the "New World". Columbus Day is now observed as a public holiday throughout the Americas and in many Spanish-speaking countries. In honor of the 400th anniversary of the historic voyage, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and in 1937 President Roosevelt proclaimed October 12th as "Columbus Day". Of course, much controversy surrounds this holiday, especially related to Columbus' treatment of indigenous people. In fact, Columbus was eventually accused of mismanagement in the New World and ordered back to Spain.

We have plenty of resources to help you learn more about the Age of Exploration; use the library catalog to search for books about exploration in the Americas, first encounters between Native Americans and Europeans, and other related topics. And use our History research guide to find databases like America: History and Life.

DePaul University Libraries are open as usual on Columbus Day.

photo: Images of Christopher Columbus and His Voyages: Selection from the Collections of the Library of Congress

Long before the days of blogging, one of the best ways to broadcast your opinion was by pamphleteering. An important means of public debate, pamphlets can offer today's researchers insight into popular attitudes and ideas of the time. And now JSTOR has released a digital collection of more than 20,000 19th-century British pamphlets covering a wide range of political, social, and intellectual thought. Some pamphlets include additional material like advertisements, maps, cartoons, letters, and petitions. 

If you're looking for primary resources from this period, try browsing the pamphlet collection from the title list, or try a keyword search using the Advanced Search screen and marking the checkbox labeled "Pamphlet".

Here are just a few examples of what you'll come across in this new resource (login remotely using your Campus Connect ID and password):

• A letter to George Washington, on the subject of the late treaty concluded between Great Britain & the United States of America, including other matters (1819) by Thomas Paine 

• Mr. J. S. Mill upon personal representation (1884) by John Stuart Mill

• Opinions of Women on Women's Suffrage (1879)

• A Letter to the Queen, in behalf of her suffering people: to which is added, a plain and ernest appeal to the fears of the land-owners (1841) by "The Poor Man's Friend" 

• A Word to the Wise: observations on peerage for life (1856) by Charles Babbage

• Army sanitary administration, and its reform under the late Lord Herbert (1862) by Florence Nightingale

 

We've replaced the Lincoln Park Campus microfilm readers with two new digital readers that offer options for both scanning and printing to paper. The new machines are faster, easier to use, and produce higher quality images. So getting material like historic issues of the  New York Times and the DePaulia on microfilm or documents from the ERIC education database on microfiche will be a little more convenient.

Digital scans of microfilm can be cropped and edited and then saved to a flash drive or emailed as an attachment. Paper printouts will remain free of charge. The new readers can accommodate microfilm, microfiche and ultrafiche.

Microfilm might seem intimidating at first, but we'll help you get the hang of it! Library staff are available to help you find the microfilm you need, set up the machines, and make your copies or scans.

Other new equipment in the library includes color photocopy machines that double as scanners, which were highlighted in a summer blog post and are ready for use at both the Lincoln Park and Loop campuses.

 

The Chicago Jazz Festival, a Labor Day weekend tradition, kicks off this Friday, September 4th at Grant Park with headliners Madeleine Peyroux and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. The rest of the weekend is packed with live performances in genres from big band to Latin, contemporary, classic, and vocal jazz. Catch local acts like vocalist Dee Alexander, saxophonist Fred Anderson, and the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, as well as artists from all over the U.S. and around the world. Events are free all weekend long through Sunday night's world premier performance of an orchestral piece, "Spiralview," composed by Muhal Richard Abrams.

Check out the full schedule of events, and be sure not miss a performance by our very own DePaul University Jazz Ensemble, led by Bob Lark, on Saturday, September 5th at 3 p.m. on the Young Jazz Lions Stage!

If you can't make the festival this weekend but still want to hear some jazz, consider checking out one of these new albums recently added to our circulating CD collection:

T Time by Stanley Turrentine
Benny Goodman: Yale University Archives, 1955-1986
Round & Round by Lee Konitz
The Hawk Flies High (remastered) by Coleman Hawkins
The New Crystal Silence by Chick Corea and Gary Burton
Nightmoves by Kurt Elling
Appearing Nightly by Carla Bley and her Remarkable Big Band

Each year before the summer winds down and students start thinking about heading back to school, we still have the annual Bud Billiken Day Parade to look forward to!

This year Bud Billiken will celebrate it's 80th anniversary on Saturday, August 8th with a "Salute to President Barack Obama." The parade stretches up 5 miles long and features more than 300 floats, as well as celebrities, politicians, and civic and youth organizations. But the highlight for many parade-goers are the high energy marching bands, twirlers, drum cores, steppers and tumbling groups. With attendance in the millions, the parade is one of the largest African-American community events in the nation.

But if you've ever wondered who's the man behind the Bud Billiken Day parade, here's the story:

In 1923 Robert S. Abbott and Lucius Harper, founder and managing editor of the Chicago Defender, started a club to serve as an outlet for African-American youth on Chicago's South Side. In forming the club's name, Harper combined his own nickname, "Bud," along with the term "Billiken," which he understood to mean a mythical Chinese protector of childen. The club issued membership cards and buttons and proved such a success that its founders also planned a parade and picnic that would give young club members a chance to showcase their talents and spend a day in the spotlight. The first parade was held in 1929 and has been held annually since then on the second Saturday of August. Among the many celebraties to march over the years are Muhammad Ali, Lena Horne, Michael Jordan, L.L. Cool J, Oprah Winfrey, Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and, of course, then-Senator Barack Obama.

This year's Bud Billiken Day Parade steps off from Martin Luther King Drive and 39th Street on Saturday, August 8th at 10 a.m. and is expected to last until at least 3 p.m.  If you can't catch the action in person, tune in to local station WGN-TV for live coverage.

Photo credit: "A Portion of the Bud Billiken Day Parade Along Dr. Martin L King Jr. Drive on Chicago's South Side... 8/1973." The National Archives.

Sources: 

Best, Wallace. "Bud Billiken Day Parade." Encyclopedia of Chicago.

"Bud Billiken at 80." Chicago Tribune. 31 July 2009.

 

The Ravinia Festival season is underway with concerts and performances nearly every night of the week through mid-September. One of the oldest outdoor music festivals in America and the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia's season includes classical music, jazz, rock and pop bands, world music, and dance. Performances can be enjoyed from pavilion seating or from the lawn, where the music is broadcast and picnicking is encouraged! Metra helps make getting to Highland Park easier with "Ravinia Special" train schedules and fares.

And the best part is that college students are eligible for free lawn passes to Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts and Martin Theatre events. Just present your current DePaul student ID at the box office on the evening of the performance to receive one free lawn pass. Your student ID will also score you a reserved seat on the night of these performances for only $10, pending availability.

So start packing your picnic basket, and check out Ravinia's season calendar to plan your trip! And for more free concerts this summer, also check out Millennium Park's music schedule, which includes mariachi to opera to reggae.

 

photo provided courtesy of Ravinia Festival

June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month, a celebration and recognition of contributions made by LGBT Americans. In 2000, President Bill Clinton first designated the month of June as Gay and Lesbian Pride month, and earlier this month President Barack Obama issued a proclamation to reinstate this designation. 

Along with many other cities around the world, Chicago hosts an annual gay pride parade, PRIDEChicago, which will step off from Belmont and Halsted at 12 p.m. on Sunday, June 28th. This year's parade commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a landmark event in LGBT history that is often cited as the birth of the gay rights movement. In the wake of a routine police raid at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village on June 28, 1969, a spontaneous and violent resistance by gay clientele spilled out onto the street and resulted in a dozen arrests and injuries. As news of the riot spread, thousands of LGBT people reconvened over the next several nights to demonstrate and protest harassment. The meetings and community discussions that grew out these demonstrations led to the establishment of hundreds of gay and lesbian organizations by the mid-1970s and thousands by the end of that decade.

To learn more about the Stonewall riots and the gay rights movement, check out these books and videos available at the library. Throughout the month, the Lincoln Park campus library will also feature a display of selected new LGBT books on the hallway bulletin board just outside the library.

Sources:
Wasserman, Fred. "Stonewall Riots." LGBT: Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America. 2004.
Kocurek, Carly A. "Stonewall Rebellion." Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice. Accessed from Sage Reference Online on 17 June 2009.