fall 2012 - rensselaer libraries - rensselaer polytechnic institute
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Folsom Library
Unabridged
Published by the Friends of the Folsom Library
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Fall 2012
Lunch & Learn Programs Remain Popular
One never knows what one’s going to learn at one of the
Lunch & Learn talks. Jointly sponsored by the Rensselaer
Retirees Forum and the Friends of the Folsom Library,
there’s always something that’s bound to pique a person’s
interest. Here’s what’s coming up in the near future:
On December 7th, RPI Athletic Director Jim Knowlton
will present “Athletics at RPI--An Inspiring Story!” Jim
plans to start off with a quiz (with prizes!) to see how
knowledgeable the audience is about Rensselaer's athletic
programs. In case one of the questions is "What percentage
of our students participate in some form of organized
athletics?" the answer is 70%. Pretty surprising, don't you
think? Please note: This program will take place on the first
Friday of the month rather than the second.
There won’t be a program in January because a lot of the community is not here during the semester break,
but we’ve been fortunate to have Rensselaer County Historical Society Curator Stacy Pomeroy Draper
agree to come talk about "The Great Fire of Troy" on February 8th. This year marks the 150th anniversary
of this horrific fire.
Stacy sent me the photo
seen on the right, which
shows the burnt district
in the foreground. The
many-spired building
on top of the hill was
the Troy University,
which later became St.
Joseph's Seminary.
After the building was
razed, the Folsom
Library was built on
the site. Aftermath of The Great Fire of Troy (1862)
Image courtesy of the Rensselaer County Historical Society
2
I’m always interested in hearing what others are reading, so I asked our Friends. Here are some of the responses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I just finished up reading the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. I do recommend the
book! The Hyperion Cantos is a series of four books, split up into two sets. Dan Simmons
does an amazing job leading his readers through his vast and impressive universe in this
piece of science fiction. As he relays the lives of his characters through their own eyes, the
reader gets to experience being a warrior, a priest, a diplomat, and many more lives as he
ties and twines several plots together. The reader is in store for amazing plot twists,
fantastic revelations, and cliff hangers that keep you on edge and wanting more! This book
has things for all sorts of readers to enjoy, whether it's utopian/dystopian
settings, apocalyptic risks, the crazy and mysterious unknown, or just the appreciation for
an incredibly well written text - it can be found with the Cantos.
— Chaz Goodwine, Troy, NY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What Books Friends Are Currently Reading
Oh dear, Adrienne, I don't read the kind of book that normal folks read. But if you
think it would give some of the other Friends a chuckle, I'll mention that the tome
occupying me at present is An Introduction to Large-Lap Valves & Their Use On
the LMS by Adrian Tester and Wales Aberystwyth. It's about design matters related
to some classes of steam locomotive that ran many years ago on the London,
Midland & Scottish Railway.
Come to think of it, Friends might be interested in the book after all......something to
have at one's bedside, as a remedy for insomnia.
I just read your message more carefully and realized that you didn't restrict the subject to books. One
interesting magazine article I just read is "Cuba's New Now" by Cynthia Gorny, in the November issue of
National Geographic. It made me feel so sorry for the many in Cuba who struggle daily just to exist in its
idealistic but badly out-of-kilter system.
— Steven Smith ‘55, Camden, ME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m reading Steve Jobs, the biography of the
iconic Apple founder, by Walter Isaacson.
— Jeff Miner ‘78, Troy, NY
(continued on page 3)
Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw. In 1901, he was the richest man in the world
and by 1919, he had give almost all of it away. His fortune built over 2,500
libraries in the world.
— Bob Mayo, Grafton, NY
3
(continued from page 2)
New Assistant Archivist Joins the Library
Carol and I have both finished Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945
(Vintage) by Sir Max Hastings (2012) and Winston's War: Churchill,
1940-1945 (Vintage) by Sir Max Hastings (2011). I have finished The
Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David
Halberstam (2007) and The Korean War by Max Hastings (1988), and
Carol is currently reading The Coldest Winter: America and the
Korean War by David Halberstam (2007)
— Sam Wait ‘53, Niskayuna, NY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Earlier this year, the Folsom Library was very fortunate to hire
Jenifer Kuba to fill the Assistant Institute Archivist position
vacated when Amy Rupert left last year to take a position with
EBSCO in Massachusetts. Jenifer received her M.S in
Information Science from the University at Albany and her B.A.
in Art History from Skidmore College. Prior to her arrival at
Rensselaer, she was the Assistant Director and Archivist of the
Adirondack History Center Museum in charge of the museum’s
Brewster Library as well as responsible for all museum and
library programming, outreach, and was curator for all
exhibitions. Jenifer began her career at RPI by implementing a
new database for the Archives collection guides. To date, Jenifer
has transformed the “RPI History Revealed” blog, staged a new
exhibit at Folsom Library entitled “Signs, Seals & Symbols,” is
re-doing the Archives and Special Collections website, and is
planning a presentation for spring 2013 to share more collections
with the Rensselaer community. Welcome, Jenifer!
Jenifer Kuba
I was reading The Spirit of Compromise: Why Governing Demands It and
Campaigning Undermines It by Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson
(Princeton 2012). Helps to understand the political agony we're in but
can't say I'm optimistic about getting out of the agony.
— Bob Albern ‘54, Kinderhook, NY
4
A Year of Exceptional Lunch & Learn Presentations
For those Friends who weren’t able to make some of our past talks, here’s a recap on what was offered in
the last several months:
October 2012 — “How Are You Using LinkedIn? What’s New, What Works and
Why Should I Care?” presented by Tom Whalen, Director of MBA and MS Career
Resources at the Lally School of Management and Technology
September 2012 — “Amos Eaton’s Land,”
presented by Kathleen Helfrich '68, '96
May 2012 — “Amateur Radio: A Beginning,”
presented by Brandon Graham, 2012 graduate of the Institute
and former president of Rensselaer’s Amateur Radio Club
April 2012 — “Granville Hicks: The Man, His Books, and the Controversy,”
presented by Rensselaer Libraries Director Bob Mayo
March 2012 — “Fuel Cells and Their Role in Electrochemical
Energy Conversion,” presented by Dr. Daniel Lewis, Associate
Professor in RPI’s department of Materials Science and Engineering
February 2012 — “Moving Toward the Light:
One Family's Journey into Solar Power,”
presented by RPI’s Jim Evans,
Director of Multimedia Services at RPI
December 2011 — “Good Stories Are Everywhere,”
presented by Gazette reporter Sara Foss
November 2011 — “Wings of Fortune,” presented by
former Rensselaer ROTC instructor Edward Chevrette
October 2011 — “Fado: A View From Lisbon,”
presented by Dr. David Mendonca, Associate Professor in
Industrial and Systems Engineering
September 2011 — “Sustaining an Information-Driven World,”
presented by Dr. Fran Berman, Vice President for Research at the Institute
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Than
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The Friends of the Folsom Library is an active service organization comprised of Rensselaer faculty, staff, alumni, retirees, and interested community members dedicated to enriching the collections, services, and events provided at the Folsom Library.
5
New Roof Almost Completed
The Folsom Library is
now sporting a new
roof. Construction took
place over the summer
and a portion of this
fall. Although it’s
certainly not something
we see very often, it
sure is gratifying not to
have to worry about leaks potentially ruining our
collections or causing damage to the building,
especially after a long, wet weekend.
2012 McKinney Contest
As the group does every
year, the Friends of the
Folsom Library again
contributed $250 to help the
Department of Humanities,
Arts, and Social Sciences
fund its annual McKinney
Writing Contest awards
ceremony. The event was
co-sponsored by the New
York State Writers
Institute.
Winners of the writing contest competition received
their awards from novelist Ann Enright during the
ceremony in the Biotech Auditorium, Center for
Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies on
April 18.
Enright, who won the 2007 Man Booker Prize for
her novel The Gathering, has also has published
essays, short stories, a non-fiction book, and several
other novels. The Irish author's writing explores
themes such as family relationships, love and sex,
and Ireland's difficult past. Her latest novel, The
Forgotten Waltz (2011), won the 2012 Andrew
Carnegie Medal in Fiction.
In addition to the $250 contribution, Friends also
covered one-half the cost of about a dozen
softcover editions of The Gathering and The
Forgotten Waltz sold in the campus bookstore to
students, staff, faculty, and Friends.
Anne Enright
FOLSOM LIBRARY UNABRIDGED
is published annually by
Friends of the Folsom Library,
Adrienne Birchler, Coordinator.
Correspondence should be
directed to:
Friends of the Folsom Library
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 Eighth Street
Troy, NY 12180-3590
Telephone: 518-276-8329
“When I got my library card, that's when my life began.” ~ Rita Mae Brown
QUOTES WORTH SHARING
“The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from
Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from
the entire planet and from all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to
inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human
species. I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the
underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by
how well we support our libraries.” ~ Carl Sagan, Cosmos
“The richest person in the world - in fact all the riches in the world -
couldn't provide you with anything like the endless, incredible loot available at your local library.” ~ Malcolm Forbes
“A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never-failing spring in the desert.“ ~ Andrew Carnegie
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