CUL NEWSLETTER

The Friends of the SMU Libraries is joining with the Meadows Museum to co-sponsor a book club that will explore literary works connected to the museum’s renowned collection of Spanish art. The group will meet once a month on a Thursday evening at 7 p.m.

Dates:

• Feb. 20 (Book: Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi by Donald Spoto)
• Mar. 20 (Book: Collected Poems of Federico Garcia Lorca)
• Apr. 24 (Book: I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton De Trevino)
• May 8 (Book: Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges)

Where: Meadows Museum, 5900 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus

Cost: $5 per book club meeting; $2.50 each for Friends and museum members

Info: Call Judy at 214-768-3225 or Lisa at 214-768-2516.

If you have any questions, or need a copy of the evaluation form, contact Mary Ann Herbel, 214-768-2401

The Interlibrary Loan office is pleased to announce that we have a new staff member, Jennifer Matson. Jennifer comes to us from Pittsburg, Kansas, where she has been working in Interlibrary Loan lending for several years at Pittsburg State University. Before that she worked in circulation and interlibrary loan at the Pittsburg Public Library.

Please welcome Virginia  "Gin" Johnstone to CUL. She recently joined us in CIP as our new Administrative Assistant. She is a graduate of UT-Tyler and Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Her position in CIP has been restructured in order to provide us with more administrative help. She will also be doing many financial duties in addition to being a part of the Training Team. 

We are happy to welcome Violet Le as our new Electronic Periodicals Librarian. Violet recently completed her MLIS at the University of Texas at Austin. She has worked with the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission as a Web Development Intern and in the UT GSLIS Information Technology Lab as a Teaching Assistant.

GIMR is happy to welcome Sola Babatunde as a Library Specialist IV in support of the Government Information and Map Resources Department. Sola should be familiar to many of you either as an employee of CUL's own Center for Information Processing (CIP), or in his capacities as a student in SMU's School of Law, from which he is soon to receive his LLM in Comparative and International Law.

CIP is sad to announce the departure of Amanda Martin, who moved to Maryland to be with her family, and Sola Babatunde, who has taken the position of LSIV in GIMR Department. 

Cammie Vitale Shuman has been contacted by at least 20 people from all over the United States and Canada who have read the news story about the DeGolyer cookbook collection.  This is some of the greatest and most widespread publicity DeGolyer has had in quite some time. (click here for story)

A TRIBUTE TO CUL MOMS

According to the 2003 Chase's Calendar of Events May is:

Clean Air Month

Get Caught Reading Month

National Hamburger Month

National Egg Month

National Book Month

National Salsa Month

1st Loyalty Day

3rd Lumpy Rug Day

4th-10th Be Kind to Animals Week

5th Slow Down Day

8th No Socks Day

12th-18th National Etiquette Week

16th National Bike to Work Day

23rd World Turtle Day

30th Hug Your Cat Day

31st World No-Tobacco Day

• May Astrological Signs:
  • Taurus: April 20 - May 20
  • Gemini: May 21 - June 20
• May Birthstone: Emerald
• May Flower: Lily-of-the-Valley
• According to the early Roman calendar, May was the third month. Later, the ancient Romans used January 1 for the beginning of their year, and May became the fifth month. May has always had 31 days. 
• Several stories are passed around to show how the month of May was named. The most widely accepted explanation is that it was named for Maia, the Roman goddess of spring and growth. Her name related to a Latin word that means increase or growth. 
• May is of of the most beautiful months of the year in the North Temperate Zone. Usually the snow and ice are gone and the hot temperatures haven't arrived. The first garden begins to sprout in May. The wild flowers are blooming, and the trees and grasses have turned green. Wild flowers that bloom in different parts of America are the forsythia, dogwood, violets, and jack-in-the-box. Many birds have built their nests, and mother birds are sitting on the eggs, which will soon hatch. 
• May customs:
  • Even in ancient times, May 1st was a day for outdoor festivals. In Rome, May 1st fell at a time that was sacred to Flora, the goddess of flowers. The Romans celebrated the day with flower-decked parades. 
  • The English also observed many beautiful May Day customs. Maypoles were erected in village parks. On the morning of May 1, the village youths went to the woods and gathered "mayflowers," or hawthorn blossoms, to decorate the Maypole. The girls wore their prettiest dresses, each hoping that she would be elected May queen. The queen danced around the Maypole with her "subjects."
• May Holidays:
  • Memorial Day or Decoration Day is observed, in most states of the United States, the last Monday in May. It is a legal holiday and is observed in memory of those who died while serving the United States in war. The graves of the war heroes are decorated with flowers. It was first observed in 1866. 
  • Mother's Day was first observed in 1908. It was designated by Presidential proclamation, and was recognized officially by Congress and the President in 1914. It is celebrated in honor of Mothers on the second Sunday of May.
  • Armed Forces Day is celebrated the third Saturday of May. The United States honors the men and women of the military services. The Armed Forces Day Celebration combined the Army, Navy, and the Air Force in 1950. Prior to that year, they had been held at separate times.
  • Many Mexican Americans celebrate what they call Cinco De Mayo, on May 5th. It is the anniversary of the Mexican victory over the French at Puebla in 1862. It is a national holiday in Mexico.