Wednesday May 23, 2012 1:00 to 3:30pm

Special Collections
3rd floor - Post Learning Commons
Saint Joseph’s University

View several volumes of The Saint John’s Bible and the BBC documentary of the making of the Bible.

The Saint John’s Bible is the only handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine Monastery since the advent of the printing press more than 500 years ago. Commissioned by the monks of St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota, the Bible is a fusion of ancient artistic materials and techniques with modern technology envisioned by Donald Jackson, the official scribe and calligrapher for the British Crown.

This event will conclude with a tour of the newly-constructed Learning Commons and the refurbished Drexel Library.

For more information contact:
Marjorie Rathbone
rathbone@sju.edu
610-660-1912

SJU’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations is asking all alumni, parents and friends to participate in the 1 for 1 Commencement Challenge by making a gift to honor current seniors during the month leading up to Commencement, May 12, 2012. They will be counting down the donors needed to reach 1189 gifts during this month long challenge, one gift for every graduating senior. Not only will challenge participants be honoring SJU seniors (even a specific senior if they so choose), they will be supporting current and future SJU students as well.

Check out their website to learn more about the Commencement Challenge, to chart its progress, and to donate!

May 2012

A monthly offering from Drexel Library’s staff about the books we’ve read.

Caleb’s Crossing
Geraldine Brooks

When Geraldine Brooks first moved to Martha’s Vineyard in 2006, she discovered a map of the early native Wampanoag people who inhabited the island before the white settlers came. The map marked the birthplace of Caleb, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College in 1665. Brooks was fascinated by the idea of a young native succeeding in this early bastion of puritanical elitism. She immersed herself in the minimal records of Caleb’s tribe and those of white families who settled on the island in the 1640’s. Brooks created her story, Caleb’s Crossing, in the voice of the brilliant young daughter of the island’s Calvinist minister, Bethia Mayfield. Bethia hungers for knowledge and education but has to stifle her dreams while her dull brothers are carefully prepared for study at Harvard. She meets Caleb at age 12 and their mutual affinity for nature and knowledge creates a lifelong bond.
Brooks creates a fascinating look at early academia, the stifled lives of young women and the crush of civilization on Native American lives. As in her other fiction, Geraldine Brooks takes on big ideas and couches them in rich historical detail. A good read.

This novel can be found in the Popular Reading collection on the first floor of the Library.

Check out the end of the semester events at Drexel Library and Post Learning Commons

This powerpoint slide show (in flash format) highlights some the events and people involved in the Dedication of the Post Academic Center on March 12, 2012.

April 2012

A monthly offering from Drexel Library’s staff about the books we’ve read.

The Marriage Plot
Jeffrey Eugenides

The Marriage Plot is the long awaited work from Pulitzer Prize winning author Jeffrey Eugenides. Starting in the early 1980s, The Marriage Plot follows three Brown University students as they finish their senior year and transition into adulthood. The beginning of the novel starts with graduation day and moves backward and forward through time, bringing to light the relationship between Madeline, Leonard and Mitchell.

Most of the book focuses on 19 th century literature-loving Madeline. While at Brown she is conflicted by her love of Victorian literature and the emerging trend of postmodern literary theory in the English department. She falls in love with Leonard, a brilliant but mentally unstable student. Mitchell, whose interest lies in religion, loves Madeline, but when his love is unrequited he travels to India to work with Mother Teresa.

The story of The Marriage Plot is less about Madeline, Leonard and Mitchell’s love triangle but more about how each character comes of age after college. Like in his previous works Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides, Eugenides’ use of language makes the emotional rollercoaster of these characters a pleasure to read.

This novel can be found in the Popular Reading collection on the first floor of the Library.

On Thursday, March 29, 2012 the SJU Community met to honor the Leadership and Generosity of the Jesuit Community at Saint Joseph’s University and to view the new Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. Special Collections exhibit located on the third floor of the John and Maryanne Hennings Post Learning Commons.

Named after Hopkins, the esteemed nineteenth century Jesuit Victorian poet, the special collections feature, among other items, a diverse and growing collection of Jesuitica and Jesuitana, which includes more than 400 volumes, some quite rare, published between the 16th and 20th centuries.

February 2012

A monthly offering from Drexel Library’s staff about the books we’ve read.

The New Policeman
Kate Thompson
A magical tale from Ireland with a contemporary setting. Teenage fiddler J.J. Liddy notices that nobody seems to have enough hours in the day anymore and he is determined to find out where all the time goes. He journeys to the land of eternal youth, unravels mysteries in his family’s past and discovers, among other things, where all our missing socks really end up. Music is integral to this tale and each chapter is accompanied by a tune. The trilogy continues J.J.’s story with The Last of the High Kings and finishes with the stunning and very timely The White Horse Trick. Read them all: this series will really make you think!

This novel can be found on the second floor in the Curriculum Materials Center (CMC):
CMC PZ7.T3715965 .N4 2007

SJU joins thousands of schools and libraries across the country for the

23rd Annual
African American READ-IN

Come to Drexel Library and read a selection from your favorite African American author, poet, playwright, musician, essayist or historian.

Wednesday, February 8th
4:00 - 5:00 PM
Drexel Library

(refreshments will be served)