April's Middletown Book for Discussion: Tom Lake (April 19)

The MUM Book Discussion group will next meet on Friday, April 19.  Our title is Ann Patchett's Tom Lake.  Here is a brief summary:

"In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew."  (publisher)

Here is where you can find the book:

• There are several copies available in Miami, OhioLINK, and SearchOhio libraries.  
  
• Amazon has the hardcover, paperback, and Kindle available, and Bookshop.org has links to purchase the title from independent booksellers.

Our group is always finding interesting titles to share, and we look forward to the new things you'll bring to the table.  In addition to discussing Absolution, the group also shared these titles for consideration at their March 22 meeting:

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

The Wind Knows my Name by Isabel Allende

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury by Drew Gilpin Faust

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini

The New Look (series on Apple TV+)

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende

Revenge, Yoko Ogawa

Hey, Kiddo, Jarret J. Krosoczka

We will meet at 12 pm on the 19th both in Room 123 in the Library and in Zoom at 

Join Zoom Meeting

Passcode:  979425

‬Add this event to your Google Calendar!  (which includes the Zoom information) 

Please come along to our discussion to share what you've been reading/watching/listening to/experiencing!

If you're looking for something interesting to read, check out our page of past and future reads at http://www.mid.miamioh.edu/library/bookdiscussion.htm

John

"Actors on stage, 1973" by Seattle Municipal Archives is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Survey participation - Regional students and AI use

What AI tools have you heard about or used? Do you think AI tools are beneficial or a waste of time? We are conducting a survey on how Regionals students use AI tools.

The purpose of this research is to examine how Regional campus students are using artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, and what they would like to learn to improve their use. This study is being conducted by researchers from the Regional campus libraries of Miami University. Invitations to complete this online survey have been sent by email to approximately 4000 people. In addition, open invitations have been posted on social networking sites such as Instagram and Facebook. Participation in this research is restricted to persons 18 years of age or older. The survey will close on March 22.

Completing the survey should take about 10 minutes. Your participation is voluntary, you may skip questions you do not want to answer, and you may stop at any time. The survey does not request information that would explicitly identify you. If you inadvertently include identifying information, such information will be removed from stored data. Only the researchers will have access to individual responses. Results of the survey will only be presented publicly as aggregate summaries.

As a thank you for completing the survey, you may also enter to win one of five $20 gift cards. The research survey and the contact information form will not be linked therefore the research data will remain as anonymous as you provided it.  

Follow this link to the survey:

Take the survey

Or copy and paste the URL below into your browser:

https://miamioh.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_430CyWpdNyWbQnI

If you have any questions about this research or you feel you need more information to complete this survey, you can contact the lead researcher at burkejj@miamioh.edu.
 
The Miami University Research Ethics & Integrity Program reviewed and approved this study (04809e). If you have questions or concerns about the rights of research subjects, you may contact our reviewing body: the Research Ethics and Integrity Office at Miami University at (513) 529-3600 or humansubjects@miamioh.edu. 
 
Thank you for your participation!

John Burke
Jessie Long

John J. Burke, MSLS, '23 MAIDT, [he, him, his], Library Director & Principal Librarian 

Gardner-Harvey Library, Miami University Regionals, Middletown, OH 45042

burkejj@miamioh.edu | 513-727-3293 | https://miamioh.edu/burkejj

Strengths: Learner | Responsibility | Connectedness | Achiever | Belief

Students: use Navigate to make an appointment with me!

Read Miami University’s Land Acknowledgement

[Image] "Artificial Intelligence & AI & Machine Learning" by mikemacmarketing is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Sign up today for our Diversity Book Discussion: Hey, Kiddo! (March 19)

Join us for our March discussion where we will be reading Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. We will meet on Tuesday, March 19th, from 12:00 PM-1:00 PM, and our discussion will be led by Dr. Katie Kickel.

The discussion will be simulcast to both locations of the Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (100 Johnston Hall at Middletown and 114 Rentschler Hall at Hamilton) for attendees who would like to meet face-to-face. You will also be able to attend via Zoom.

Below is a brief synopsis of the book:

In kindergarten, Jarrett Krosoczka's teacher asks him to draw his family, with a mommy and a daddy. But Jarrett's family is much more complicated than that. His mom is an addict, in and out of rehab, and in and out of Jarrett's life. His father is a mystery -- Jarrett doesn't know where to find him, or even what his name is. Jarrett lives with his grandparents -- two very loud, very loving, very opinionated people who had thought they were through with raising children until Jarrett came along.Jarrett goes through his childhood trying to make his non-normal life as normal as possible, finding a way to express himself through drawing even as so little is being said to him about what's going on. Only as a teenager can Jarrett begin to piece together the truth of his family, reckoning with his mother and tracking down his father. Hey, Kiddo is a profoundly important memoir about growing up in a family grappling with addiction, and finding the art that helps you survive.

Please use our LinkTree to sign up so we will know if you're coming to one of the Centers or if you'll join us on Zoom. You can also tell us how you'd like to receive your free copy of the book (while supplies last, limited quantities). 

Thank you to our wonderful sponsors:

John Burke, Director, Gardner-Harvey Library

Krista McDonald, Director, Rentschler Library

Bennyce Hamilton, Director, Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We cannot wait for our excellent book discussion!

Join us for March Events at the Gardner-Harvey Library!

The Gardner-Harvey Library staff would like to take this time to invite you to participate in our March events!  If you have any questions about them, please let us know. Additional information on the events is available (and will be updated) in our Events Calendar.  Everyone is welcome to attend!

TEC Lab: Laser Cut Jewelry, Keychains, and More

Wednesday, March 6, 2024, 2-4pm

Create your own unique jewelry piece, keychain, or three dimensional item with our laser cutter. Join us in the TEC Lab (room 125).

Weird Ohio Road Trips: An evening with James A. Willis

Friday, March 8, 2024, 6pm at Verity Lodge

So you’re faced with planning another Ohio family vacation. No worries James Willis has you covered with a whole mess of weird and unique places you can visit that will amaze, entertain, and possibly even freak out your entire family!

 

Animals You Know of But Not About: Platyhelminthes

Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 4pm

Al Cady, professor of Biological Sciences at Miami University Regionals, will take us on a journey through the inner workings of common but largely unknown animals. Join us in the SPACE (room 014) or Zoom. 

National Park Talk: UNESCO sites in Ohio

Tuesday, March 19, 2024, 4:30pm

Tammie L. Gerke, teaching professor in Geology at Miami University, will share the geology, archeology, history, and other interesting information as we trek across the United States. Talks will include visits to the southwest, upstate New York, and the midwest as we look at the new Ohio UNESCO sites. Get your questions answered and participate in a lively discussion on these national treasures on Zoom or in the SPACE (room 014).

DEI Book Club: Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Tuesday, March 19, 2024, Noon

Join representatives from Miami Regionals Libraries and the Center of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in an exploration of literature that embraces diversity in a variety of subject matters. This discussion will focus on the book Hey, Kiddo, "the powerful, unforgettable graphic memoir from Jarrett Krosoczka, about growing up with a drug-addicted mother, a missing father, and two unforgettably opinionated grandparents." Meeting in JHN 100 face-to-face, and via Zoom.

New books (and more) added to the Gardner-Harvey Library in February!

 

We add many new items to the collection each month, and we hope you'll check some out. Take a look at our New Books shelves or the New Media Display to help guide you to titles, or at our selection of James Willis' books (who will tell us all about weird Ohio travel destinations on the night of March 8) or our Women's History Month display. You may also skim down our new materials list of items we added to the collection in February!  

We added 127 books, e-books, DVDs, and other items during that time, thanks to your selections and suggestions. The list can be sorted by call number, area of our collection, or by title. There is definitely something here for everyone!

Here are ten titles from the list, to give you an idea of what we've been buying: 

• Tripping on utopia : Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the troubled birth of psychedelic science / Benjamin Breen
• Radical reparations : healing the soul of a nation / Marcus Anthony Hunter
• All in her head : the truth and lies early medicine taught us about women's bodies and why it matters today / Elizabeth Comen, MD
• The beast within : humans as animals / Jessica Serra   translated by Alison Duncan"
• Splinters : another kind of love story / Leslie Jamison
• Colleges on the brink : the case for financial exigency / Charles M. Ambrose, Michael T. Nietzel
• Who owns this sentence? : a history of copyrights and wrongs / David Bellos, Alexandre Montagu
• Algorithms of resistance : the everyday fight against platform power / Tiziano Bonini and Emiliano Treré
• Disillusioned : five families and the unraveling of America's suburbs / Benjamin Herold   epilogue by Bethany Smith
• The freaks came out to write : the definitive history of the Village Voice, the radical paper that changed American culture / Tricia Romano

This tag will show you all of the prior lists of new materials, in reverse chronological order. We are eager to hear from you about individual items you would like us to buy, or types of items we should be on the look out for, or general subject areas we should build up in the collection.

If you have a suggestion of something to order, please use our "Tell GHL to Buy It" form, email Alan Kelley (kelleya@miamioh.edu), or drop by the library with your request. And pass your general suggestions or comments about the collection to us in those same ways. 

If you know some titles we should add, we have acquisitions funds available.  We look forward to your suggestions of items to add to the collection!