Streaming films for a rainy Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day, which is your annual reminder to give the planet a hug. 

If you're stuck inside not planting trees because of the rain, you can learn more about global warming and its effects in An Inconvenient Truth, see the toll the food industry takes on the environment in Food, Inc., or even check out a cult classic thriller's bleak take on industrialization in Soylent Green. All are available streaming FREE from Swank Digital Campus. 

Lehman Library Extended Hours - Open Late for You

Finals week is just around the corner, which means the library will be open late each night, starting this Sunday (April 24).

The library will be closed on Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8. Stay tuned to the blog for summer hours updates!

#TBT in the Archives 4/7/16: Dorm Rooms

Despite all the changes that take place at a university over the years, dorm rooms remain a constant! More than just a place to sleep, study, and socialize with friends, a dorm room serves as a student's home away from home. Read on to see how Ship students have decorated and used their dorm rooms over the last 50 years.

In the 1950s, dorms were segregated by gender. There were separate dorms for men and women, and there were strict regulations regarding access to the opposite gender's living spaces.

In these photos from 1951, students hang out in their dorm rooms and get ready for the day.

No matter the decade, studying can be exhausting. Perhaps what made studying in the 1960s most different from today was the lack of computers. However, students still personalized their dorm rooms by decorating their walls, and of course piling their desks with study materials.

Though the walls of this dorm room (from 1968) have Peanuts characters on them, the room looks like a dorm of today--dresser, desk, books, and posters!

This student, who was studying hard, shows what a dorm room's best function is--sleep!

In the 1970s, technology similar to what we would see in dorms today began to appear. Students had smaller TVs and different devices for playing back music. Their time would be spent reading and studying in their rooms. Their desks, like today, were rarely clean and quickly became overwhelmed with books, papers, and food.

Studying, 1976

A desk cluttered with books, food, and drinks, 1976

Students have always brought belongings to school which remind them of home and make them feel more comfortable in their dorm.

This student's room shows her books and trinkets from home! (1988)

Dorm rooms from a decade ago most closely resemble the dorms of today. But again, we see how quickly technology changes. Check out the large square computer monitor in the room pictured below.

A computer monitor adorns a student's desk alongside pictures of friends and family (2005)

Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Contact Archives & Special Collections via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.

National Library Week April 10-16, 2016

What is "National Library Week? 

Except from Library History Buff (libraryhistorybuff.org)

"In 1957 the National Book Committee, a joint committee of the American Library Association and the American Book Publishers Council, recommended the establishment of a National Library Week.  The first National Library Week was observed May 16-22, 1958 with the theme “Wake Up and Read”. It has continued every year since 1958.  In 1974, the American Library Association became the sole sponsor of the event. 

Although the current National Library week originated in 1958, the idea of a week to promote libraries was not new. In fact the Publicity Committee of the American Library Association recommended such a week in 1922 at the Detroit Conference of the American Library Association.  The Publicity Committee suggested April, 1923 as a possible time to initiate a Library Week."

This year's National Library Week theme is Libraries Transform, reminding all Americans that today's libraries are not just about what we have for people, but what we do for and with people.

Visit Ezra Lehman Memorial Library during the week of April 10-16 to view the posters display in the main gallery showing how the transformation has taken place in the history of the library's services.  

2+2 = April! It's Math Awareness Month

CC-BY-SA

In case you didn't know, April is Math Awareness Month. There may be a lot of us who don't think about math too much, but it is part of our every day lives, whether we like it or not.

For some fun math knowledge, watch this video from the library's Films on Demand database - "The Story of Math."

#TBT in the Archives 3/31/16: Spring Fling!

Spring was a very exciting season at Shippensburg University in the 1970s and 80s. With each spring came the annual "Spring Fling" gala, an outdoor rock concert, which was hosted by Sigma Pi. The gala became such a huge event that by the 10th Annual Spring Fling in 1982, college students from all over the country journeyed to Ship to enjoy the festivities!

This photo from the April 27, 1982 Slate shows attendees enjoying the Spring Fling

To ensure that the 10th Annual Spring Fling would be the biggest and best yet, the event was advertised in newspapers in all of the big schools around the state. The Flashlight newspaper out of Mansfield (shown below) explains the details of the event. The Edge, Second Wind, and Great Train Robbery were the opening acts for the heavy-metal band KIX.

Example of an ad placed by the Ship chapter of Sigma Pi in the student newspapers across the state

The bands who came to play the 10th annual gala were well-known artists who Sigma Pi hoped would draw in large crowds. The previous year had seen 7000 people in attendance and Sigma Pi hoped to up the number as much as possible.

Great Train Robbery was one of the bands who played at the Spring Fling

The Spring Fling offered a day of relaxation, fun, and sunbathing before finals and the summer holiday began. However, with more people in attendance, crowd control posed more of an issue year after year. With growing concerns for student safety, the Spring Fling tradition was ended after the 10th year.

Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Contact Archives & Special Collections via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.

Why do we celebrate April Fool's Day?

BA, April Fools by Stijn Vogels, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

April Fool's Day celebrations have been linked to the first day of spring in the western hemisphere, the ancient Roman festival of Hilaria, and even the date when France switched from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar. Those that didn't realize the switch celebrated the new year on April 1, which we now know as April Fool's Day.

Whatever the reason that April 1 is the day for pranks, you can find more information about any of these historical April Fool's Day topics, or more modern pranks, in the library's collection.

Have you heard about Sidd Finch? Or what about when Taco Bell advertised in the New York times that they were going to buy the Liberty Bell? Do a little digging in ProQuest this April Fool's to find some of the most successful April Fool's Day pranks of all time.