SciFi Book Club to discuss “Trillium” by Jeff Lemire

The Science Fiction Book Club is looking forward to our last venture into time (for the semester) with Jeff Lemire’s Trillium. It’s a cross between Romeo & Juliet, Indiana Jones, and Cloud Atlas with a heavy dose of sci-fi masterfully illustrated in ink and watercolor. Trillium was originally published as comic book miniseries. This collects all eight issues into one trade publication.

Lemire is a prolific comic creator, having written and illustrated many titles of his own and contributed to works published by DC and Marvel. Lemire’s perhaps best known for Essex County, a graphic novel about a fictionalized version of his hometown in Canada. With it he earned a nomination for a Harvey Award in 2008 for Best New Talent. The first volume won the Alex Award from the American Library Association. Trillium was nominated for an Eisner (the Oscars of comics) for Best Limited Series.

You can find Trillium at your local public library or through interlibrary loan.

We look forward to chatting with you about Trillium on Tuesday, December 4th at 2pm in Library 314.

Spooky Books for Halloween

Halloween is right around the corner, and if you’re looking for a spooky read this month, our library staff have a few favorites to recommend!

Some of the books below we own, while others can be requested through the Commonwealth Catalog (ComCat) using your UMassD login. You can also download ebooks and audiobooks from the Boston Public Library collection if you register for a free Boston Public Library eCard (https://www.bpl.org/ecard/).

Questions about how to get fun books to read or listen to when you need a break from school? Ask a librarian!

Great reads from your librarians:

Rachel Baum, social sciences & data services librarian

Billy Cryer, web & discovery services Librarian

Judy Farrar, Archives & Special Collections Librarian

Lorraine Heffernan, business & economics librarian

Hilary Kraus, nursing & health librarian

Olivia Miller, arts & humanities librarian

  • The graphic novel series Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (content warning for violence, sexual assault, and physical abuse) (read a review; request a copy)

Kari Mofford, undergraduate & user services librarian

Susan Raidy-Klein, collection development & acquisitions Librarian

Matt Sylvain, systems and digital services librarian

The Science Fiction Book Club team recommends A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (read a review; read our copy) and Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (read a review; request a copy), both of which we read last year. Heather Tripp, video production specialist in University Marketing and one of our dedicated Science Fiction Book Club members, suggests Hannibal by Thomas Harris (read a review; request a copy).

SF Book Club to discuss Blackout by Connie Willis

The Science Fiction Book Club is ready for our second read of the semester: Connie Willis’ Blackout. The book centers around a group of Historians (yes, capital H) at Oxford in 2060 that travel back in time (as Historians do) to varying times and places in WWII England. Without spoiling too much, things don’t go as planned. This is actually the first of two volumes, so be prepared to want to read All Clear immediately after finishing this one.

Blackout and All Clear are part of Willis’ “Oxford Time Travel” universe, where many of her previous works, such as Doomsday Book and the short story “Fire Watch,” are set. If you enjoy this, you’ll have much more to explore! Willis is a prolific science fiction author, bearing the title of “Grand Master” by the Science Fiction Writers of America. She’s won numerous Hugo and Nebula Awards, including one of each for the combined work made up of Blackout and All Clear.

You can find Blackout at your local public library or through interlibrary loan.

We look forward to chatting with you about Blackout on Monday, November 5th at 1pm in Library 314.

Join us for a presentation on Portuguese immigrant Laurinda Andrade

The Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese American Archives at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth announces a presentation by Dr. Celia Martins Cordeiro titled “Intersectional Feminism: Laurinda Andrade’s Social and Cultural Mobilities in the Diaspora.”

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Dr. Celia Martins Cordeiro

The talk, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 5:30 PM on Thursday, September 27th, in the Prince Henry Society Reading Room of the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives, located on the mezzanine floor of the Claire T. Carney Library.

The talk focuses on the life and times of Laurinda Andrade, a penniless young woman who migrated to the U.S. alone at the age of 17 from the Island of Terceira and went on to found the first department of Portuguese at New Bedford High School. Dr. Cordeiro explores Ms. Andrade’s experience of living in “between spaces,” and how she utilized some of the nationalistic values of Portuguese culture from the period of the Salazar dictatorship in order to assert herself within the “cacophony of third spaces” found at the intersection of various social

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Laurinda Andrade

Cordeiro teaches Portuguese and Spanish language and culture in the Department of  Global Languages and Literatures at Bridgewater State University. Born and raised in the Azores, Portugal, where she completed her undergraduate studies, Cordeiro travelled to the U.S. to attend graduate school, receiving her PhD in Iberian and Latin American Languages and Cultures from the University of Texas at Austin in 2018. Dr. Cordeiro’s current research maps Portuguese female migrants’ distinct geographic trajectories and forms of cultural production – literary texts, festivals, and fado music – in their host countries throughout the twentieth century. She is the author of Ana de Castro Osório e a Mulher Republicana Portuguesa (Lisbon, 2012), a book that deals with the first wave of feminism in Portugal, as well as several articles in peer-reviewed journals.

The entrance to the Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives is located on the campus side of the Claire T. Carney Library.

For further information, call 508-999-8684 or email spacheco@umassd.edu.

Library’s Read & Return Collection – Donations Welcomed!

The Claire T. Carney Library invites you to come take a look at the Read & Return collection, which is located in the Library Living Room and the 2nd floor lecture room hallway. These books are donated to us for students–and the rest of the UMassD Community. You simply take a book, read it, then return the book once you are finished. There is no formal “check out” required. (Nor are there any late fees!) Books include popular fiction titles as well as a variety of nonfiction titles. There’s something for everyone.

Image of the Read and Return collection

The Read & Return collection, however, relies primarily on book donations. For this reason, we ask the Corsair Community to consider bringing in any gently used books taking up space at home so that we can add them to our Read & Return collection.

Genres to donate include the following:

  • Popular adult fiction
  • Young Adult/Manga
  • Nonfiction titles for a general audience

If you have some things you’d like to donate, please bring your books to the Library Circulation Desk. Questions?  Please contact Kari Mofford: kmofford@umassd.edu or 508-999-8865.

Science Fiction Book Club to discuss “Timeline” by Michael Crichton

The Science Fiction Book Club is excited to go backwards and forwards in time this semester! At our first meeting, we’ll discuss Michael Crichton’s Timeline. This book takes us to France (Dordogne, to be exact) during the Hundred Years War where a team of historians and archaeologists find themselves trapped thanks to quantum technology and the company financing their dig.

Michael Crichton was a prolific author and “entertainment giant.” He was probably most well-known for Jurassic Park. If you’ve ever read one of his books, his skill with writing technical details is obvious and can be explained by his degree in medicine. He published regularly until his untimely death in 2008 at the age of 66. Several books have been published posthumously, such as Dragon Teeth, and his work Westworld has taken on new life thanks to HBO.

You can find Timeline on reserve in our library, at your local public library, or through interlibrary loan.

We look forward to chatting with you about Timeline on Thursday, October 4th at 12:30pm in Library 314.

Welcome Back! Information for Students and Faculty

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Library Learning Commons

Welcome back to another academic year at UMass Dartmouth! Here are a few important things to know about the library, including how to get things that you need for your research projects.

Library Hours: The Claire T. Carney Library is on academic year hours (calendar below). As always, as the semester progresses, hours will increase. You can always check the library calendar to see hours for each day.

Study Spaces: There are lots of study spaces throughout the library for individual and group study, and whiteboards throughout the building for team work. We have a new study room booking system, so if you have any questions, please ask us!  If you need a quiet space to study, please go to our South Reading Room near the Learning Commons on the first floor.  A map of the library is available to see all our spaces and you can even use the Find Me Here tool to send a link of where you are studying in the library to a friend or group to help make meeting easier.

Computers: You will find full computer and printing facilities on the first and second floors in our Learning Commons and Scholarly Commons. If public computers are full, remember to check the computer classrooms (128, 225, 226) to see if they are open.  We also have laptops at the Circulation Desk that may be borrowed for the day. Stop by our Learning Commons Desk on the 1st floor to get assistance with IT questions.

Tutoring: Also new this year: You can now work with a tutor from the new Multiliteracy Communication Center Sunday through Thursday from 6:00PM-9:00PM in Library Room 135. Make an appointment with a tutor on the website.

Research Help: If you’re back and already thinking about your senior project, your master’s thesis, or the big paper you’ll have to write this semester, you might want to look up one of our expert subject librarians to help you with your research. If you are an online student, check our Library Services for Online Learners guide. It provides information about special services for online students, such as free home delivery of UMassD library books, and connects you with helpful library staff.

Leisure & Fun: For more fun reading, we have a Read and Return section in the Library Living Room that is on the honor system.  We also feature a Game Night every Thursday night from 7:00PM-10:00PM in our Living Room. These board games may also be checked out for the day at any other time with your UMass Pass. Material from any other collection also needs to be checked out using your UMass Pass at the Circulation Desk.

We’re glad you’re back and we hope that you’ll stop by at one of our service points and ask if there is some way we can be of help.   

Welcome Back!

– Claire T. Carney Library Staff

Fall 2018 Library Hours

Sept. 5 (Wednesday)– Sept. 30 (Sunday)
Monday – Thursday:  7:30AM – 11:00PM
Friday:   7:30AM – 9:00PM
Saturday:  9:00AM – 9:00PM
Sunday:  Noon – 11:00PM

Oct. 1 (Monday) – Dec. 1 (Saturday) – Regular Hours
Monday – Thursday:  7:30AM – 1:00AM
Friday:   7:30AM – 9:00PM
Saturday:  9:00AM – 9:00PM
Sunday:  Noon – 1:00AM

Exceptions:
Oct. 8 (Monday) Columbus Day: Noon-1:00AM
Nov. 12 (Monday) Veterans’ Day: Noon – 1:00AM
Nov. 21 (Wednesday) Day Before Thanksgiving: 7:30AM – 5:00PM
Nov. 22 (Thursday) Thanksgiving: CLOSED
Nov. 23 (Friday): 7:30AM – 5:00PM
Nov. 24 (Saturday): 7:30AM – 5:00PM
Nov. 25 (Sunday): Regular hours

SciFi Book Club to discuss “Ash” by Malinda Lo

Continuing on our Cinderella Summer theme, the Science Fiction Book Club is now reading Ash by Malinda Lo. Ash is a Cinderella retelling that leans more to fantasy than science fiction. As usual, Ash’s parents have died and she’s left with a Step Mother who’s not so great. Unlike most retellings, however, Ash’s love is not so predictable. This version acknowledges the weight of grief and brings LGBTQ representation into a stereotypically heteronormative story.

Considering Ash is Lo’s first novel, the fact it was nominated and placed on so many award lists is truly impressive. Some particularly noteworthy ones include being nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and the William C. Morris Debut YA Award. Lo keeps a thorough and informative blog on her website. If you dig deep enough you can find some gems such as a reflection on writing five years after Ash was published, a guide to researching for a “diverse” scifi/fantasy novel, and thoughts on self-rejection as a person from a marginalized group.

If you can’t tell from her blog, Lo has been very active in bringing attention to the fact young adult books have historically been very homogeneous. In 2011 she founded a website with fellow author Cindy Pon called Diversity in YA. While it’s currently on an indefinite hiatus, you can still look through their blog posts and statistics on the emerging representation in the genre.

You can find Ash at your local public library or through interlibrary loan.

We look forward to chatting with you about Ash on Wednesday, July 18th at 12pm in Library 314.

 

Announcing the New Issue of PLCS: Transnational Africas: Visual, Material and Sonic Cultures of Lusophone Africa

We are pleased to announce that Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies (PLCS) 30/31, Transnational Africas: Visual, Material and Sonic Cultures of Lusophone Africa, is now available.  You can find this issue as well as all back issues available for free on the journal’s website!Image of the cover of PLCS 30/31. The cover shows a stucco doorway with water views.

Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies (PLCS) is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed hybrid online and print journal that publishes original research related to the literatures and cultures of the diverse communities of the Portuguese-speaking world from a broad range of academic, critical and theoretical approaches. PLCS is published semi-annually by Tagus Press in the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

The Center for Portuguese Studies and Cultures ‘s Tagus Press publishes its electronic version of Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies (PLCS) on the library’s journal hosting platform.

SciFi Book Club to discuss “Cinder” by Marissa Meyer

The Science Fiction Book Club is taking a summer detour from our typical reads for something a little different: Cinderella stories! The first book on our list is Cinder by Marissa Meyer.

In this version, Cinderella is a 16-year-old cyborg who works as a mechanic. Earth is on the brink of war with the moon and an incurable disease is running rampant. As you can already tell, this has a little more science fiction than most Cinderella retellings. We felt this would be a great book to transition to a slightly different genre for the season.

Meyer started the book as part of NaNoWriMo in 2008, wrote the first draft in two weeks and slowly perfected it over the course of two years before sending it to a publisher. Not only is Meyer’s academic background in creative writing and publishing, but she also spent a decade writing fanfiction. You can say her entire life has been preparing her to write fairy tale retellings! Cinder is the first of four books (not to mention other works in the same universe) in The Lunar Chronicles, with each of the books being retellings of other fairy tale heroines that all fit into one overarching storyline.

You can find it (and the other books in the series) at your local public library or through interlibrary loan.

We look forward to chatting with you about Cinder on Wednesday, June 20th at 12:00pm in Library 314.