The Library’s Blog

I am very sad to announce that this is my good friend Jenny’s last week here at the Tredway library.  Jenny has been the Head of the Circulation department for longer than I have been here at Augustana.  She has been a great asset to my home department, and will now be moving on to bigger and better things at the Cherry Valley Public Library.

 Jenny, Buddy and I will miss you greatly!

With tail wags and puppy kisses, Augie T-Dog

Wednesday evening, Owen and I filled ourselves with the sweetness of baby Wythe, born on May 9 to Jamie Nelson, Special Collections librarian extraordinaire, and Eric Anderson (class of ‘99). Wythe, whose Anglo-Saxon name means “from the willow tree”–appropriate for a baby whose dad is into the cultivation and preservation of trees–was born almost two months premature, but is healthily growing now at a steady rate and has lots of fine black hair. Owen and I can testify that Wythe likes to kick his legs, wave his arms, and look to the right. We tried to detect a prediliction for books or trees but he’s not revealing his proclivities just yet. Milk is good, holding is good, sleeping is good, and cooing/squeaking sounds are very good. In the pictures, you can see the baby blanket Jamie’s knitting friends presented to Wythe (you also get a good view of Dad’s knees). The knitters include library staffers Ruth Ann Hyser, who works with all things periodic (aka journals and magazines), Emily Hughes-Dominick, a whiz at processing archival collections in Special; Ellie Beach, floating professor of religion and esteemed wife of CVR leader Dr. Bob Haak (Ellie spins and weaves wool, too); Jen Smith, who leads the library at Kaplan University; and me. I wonder if Wythe is the first Tredway Special Collections baby ever. We’ll have to do some research.–Margi

Back in April, we asked students, faculty and staff to complete an online satisfaction survey about the library. 533 people responded — THANK YOU! Now we’ve compiled the results (take a look, using the link below!) and we’re busy analyzing them to see how we can improve our services.

full-document.pdf

A Journey to the End of the Millennium by A.B. Yehoshua

 I just noticed that we have a new novel by this Israeli writer on our leisure reading shelf: A Woman in Jerusalem. I recently read Yehoshua’s novel A Journey to the End of the Millennium (1999) and it’s a beautifully written, evocative tale that takes place in the months leading up to the year 1000. Southern Jews and northern Jews come together in a story about family, love, commerce, culture clash, and faith. Ben Attar, a merchant from Morocco, loads his two wives, his Muslim partner, a Rabbi and his son, and two baby camels onto a ship headed to the strange village of Paris where he is determined to prove to his nephew’s new German wife that his bigamous marriage is worthy of respect. Trouble and entanglements proceed. Every page overflows with lush sentences that one can linger over and savor. The story will leave you thinking, too, about relationships–how they are constructed and what they mean. –Margi Rogal