Discover Auburn Book Talk

The Pines:  Southern Forests

Chuck Hemard, Associate Professor, Auburn University Department of Art and Art History

Date and Time:  Wednesday, March 7 at 3 p.m.

Location:  Special Collections and Archives Department, Ground Floor, Ralph Brown Draughon Library

The Pines is a photobook monograph that explores remnants of the old-growth longleaf pinelands across the southeastern United states.  Historically, this was once one of America's significant landscapes.

Chuck Hemard's photographs have been exhibited nationally and throughout the Southeast including the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia in Atlanta, Opal Gallery in Atlanta, The Light Factory in Charlotte, N.C. as well and a commissioned project with the Columbus Museum in Columbus, Ga.  his work is in public collections throughout the region including the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, and the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, Miss.

Sponsored by Auburn University Libraries - reception and book signing to follow.

Patience Essah Africana Studies Lecture Series

Democracy Is Rooted in Accessible, Secure, and Fair Elections:  Looking Ahead to the 2018 Federal Election (An EAC Perspective)

Mr. Thomas Hicks, Vice Chairman, United States Election Assistance Commission

Date and Time:  Tuesday, February 27 at 3:30 p.m.

Location:  Special Collections and Archives Department, Ground Floor, Ralph Brown Draughon Library

Thomas Hicks was nominated by President Barack H. Obama and confirmed by unanimous consent of the United States Senate in 2014 to serve on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.  He has talked with Americans in every state about their voting experiences.  In addition, he has worked with state and local election officials across America to address critical election concerns.  In his previous role as Senior Elections Counsel and Minority Elections Counsel in the House of Representatives, Mr. Hicks addressed issues relating to campaign finance, election reform, contested elections and oversight of both the Election Assistance Commission and Federal Elections Commission.

Mr. Thomas Hicks received his J.D. from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law and his B.A. in Government from Clark University (Worcester, Mass.).  He also studied at the University of London (London, England) and law at the University of Adelaide (Adelaide, Australia).

Sponsored by the Africana Studies Program and Auburn University Libraries.

Discover Auburn Lecture

On Multilingualism

Dr. Iulia Pittman, Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Auburn University

Date and Time:  Thursday, February 22 at 3 p.m.

Location:  Special Collections and Archives Department, Ground Floor, Ralph Brown Draughon Library

Multilingualism in the world is the rule rather than the exception.   Are most people you know monolingual or multilingual?   Come to this lecture to find out more about what it is like to grow up speaking several languages and to raise children multilingually in a monolingual environment.  To what do the terms "folk bilingualism" and "elite bilingualism" refer?  Is "mixing" languages a sign that you don't speak either language well?

Speaking several languages often also means that you are comfortable in several different cultures.   What multilinguals know quite well is that language, culture, and identity go hand in hand.

Dr. Iulia Pittman grew up in a Romanian-Hungarian family in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, Romania.  There, she attended a German school and later learned English as a foreign language.   She has worked as a certified translator and interpreter for Romanian, Hungarian, German, English, and Dutch.  In 2000, she moved to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. in Linguistics at the University of Georgia.  She joined the Foreign Languages Department at Auburn University in 2006, where she has been teaching courses in German language, business, and linguistics.   Her current research focusses on family language policies, multilingual practices, and minority language maintenance.

Sponsored by Auburn University Libraries.

Academic Video Online (AVON)

A streaming video collection that provides access to documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs, field recordings, and raw footage licensed from selected producers and filmmakers.

Discover Auburn Talk

Getting Out of the Mud:  The Alabama Good Roads Movement and Highway Administration, 1898-1928

Dr. Marty Olliff, Professor of History and Director of the Wiregrass Archives, Troy University, Dothan

Date and Time:  Thursday, February 8 at 3 p.m.

Location:  Special Collections and Archives, Ground Floor, Ralph Brown Draughon Library

With the development of national markets in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Americans began to regard the nation as a whole, rather than their state or region, as the most important political entity.  Many Alabamians wished to travel beyond their local communities in all seasons without getting stuck in the mud of rudimentary rutted dirt roads.   Dr. Olliff explores the history of the Good Roads Movement and how middle-class reformers in Alabama overcame obstacles to construct a road system that would accommodate economic growth in the twentieth century.

Sponsored by:  Auburn University Libraries.

Patience Essah Africana Studies Lecture Series

African American Covers of Country Music BEFORE Ray Charles:  Prevalence and Significance

Dr. Tim Dodge, Reference Librarian, History and Political Science Subject Specialist, Auburn University Libraries

Date and Time:  Tuesday, January 16 at 3:30 p.m.

Location:  Ground Floor Auditorium, Ralph Brown Draughon Library

Ray Charles's 1962 release of his "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" L.P. is considered a milestone and is regarded as the first successful attempt of an African American artist to record music that was first recorded by a Country artist.  However, it turns out that Charles was by no means the first African American artist to have done so.  Tim Dodge will provide a historical overview of the phenomenon and will explore both the prevalence and significance of this recording activity.  Brief musical examples will be provided to help illustrate this little-known aspect of African American recording history.

Sponsored by:  Auburn University Libraries and the Auburn University Office of Inclusion and Diversity.

Be sure to check library hours of operation during the Intersession and Holiday season by clicking on the Hours link located  in the top central section of the Auburn University Libraries homepage.  Intersession hours will be in effect December 18 and 19 (following Commencement Hours December 16 and closure December 17) and January 3-9 (closed January 7).  Holiday hours will be in effect December 20 - January 2 (and the library will be closed December 23-26,  and December 31 -  January 1).Regular hours of operation will resume on January 10, the first day of classes for the Spring Semester.

Faculty, staff, and students wishing to obtain Interlibrary Loan and AUBIExpress services between the dates of December 20, 2017 and January 2, 2018 should take note of the following deadlines and plan research materials requests accordingly.   The Interlibrary Loan and AUBIExpress offices will be closed December 20, 2017 through January 2, 2018.   Book requests submitted after December 8, 2017 may not arrive after January 3, 2018.   Article requests submitted after December 15, 2017 may not arrive until after January 3, 2018.

Be sure to check library hours of operation during Final Exams December 11-15 by clicking on the Hours link located in the top central section of the Auburn University Libraries homepage.  Special hours will be in place also for December 8-10 for classes ending and for Study Days, and December 16-17 for Commencement Weekend.  Intersession Hours, Christmas Break, and New Year's Break will affect library hours December 18-January 9. 

Be sure to check the Hours link located in the top central portion of the Auburn University Libraries homepage to see library hours of operation during the Thanksgiving holiday period.  Dates affected are Sunday, November 19 through Saturday, November 25.  Regular hours resume on Sunday, November 26 at 1 p.m.