Creative Conversations – Spring 2015

Join us this Spring for Creative Conversations. Bring your curiosity and join in conversations about the discovery, creation, and sharing of knowledge.

CC Spring 2015

Where: Library Reading Room, Main Floor (Wheelchair Accessible)
Cost: Free

Christa Pierce, BA ’13
Thursday, April 30th
3–3:50 p.m.

Did You Know How Much I Love You? Children’s Book Publishing with Christa Pierce

SPU Alumna Christa Pierce will be telling the story of how she signed a two-book deal with HarperCollins during her senior finals at SPU, and sharing what industry knowledge she has learned since. Come join the conversation if you love art, writing, or kid’s books, and are interested in learning more about publishing, agents, and editors.

Doug Strong, Theology
Thursday, May 7th
3–3:50 p.m.

Rediscovering our Evangelical Hertiage: A Tradition and Trajectory of Integrating Piety and Justice

In the book by this name published forty years ago, Donald Dayton “showed that many evangelical Christians in the 19th century didn’t distinguish between a private faith focused exclusively on personal salvation and radical concern for the poor and oppressed…It wasn’t an evangelical faith concerned only about heaven and the life hereafter but also about bringing the kingdom of God into this world.” [Quoted from the “Foreword” by Jim Wallis.] Doug Strong, who had the honor of writing a new introduction and conclusion for the republication of this classic text, will be presenting second edition of this book.

Chris Hoke, MFA ’13
Thursday, May 14th
12–12:50 p.m.

Monasticism in Lockdown America: Re-Purposing Prison Cells for Monastic Renewal

As a chaplain in a Washington State county jail for the past ten years, much of Chris’s time is spent with men whose lives are spent in an environment with many of the major ingredients for a monastery: all men, wearing the same clothes, set apart from temptations and their daily hustle of addictions and distractions, deeply examining their lives, while spending most of their days in small bare rooms called cells. At the same time, Chris has been exploring monastic spiritual formation in his own life: community, humility, repentance, quiet, prayer, study and deeper transformation by mercy. He has explored both in practice with inmates, and in writing (in Image Journal’s “Good Letters” blog), how we can appropriate monastic practices inside the hard shell of the America’s dismal penal system. He is considering developing this into my second book.

Dyana Herron, Image Milton Fellow
Thursday, May 21th
12–12:50 p.m.

Laughing in the Dark: Using Humor to Write About (Seriously) Tough Topics

Each year SPU and Image Journal award a one-year writing and teaching fellowship to a postgraduate writer working to complete his or her first full-length fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry manuscript. During this Creative Conversations talk, current Milton Fellow Dyana Herron will discuss her project—which explores the experience of having a family member sentenced to federal prison—while focusing on both the advantages and potential pitfalls of using humor to approach painful or delicate material.

Need a room? Book it instantly.

Tech updates in study rooms.

Reserving a room just got easier! In the Spring, SPU introduced Room Finder to replace the old reservations system – now putting all of SPU’s available spaces across campus on the same page. You can now book small conference, study rooms, and media rooms at the Library instantly.

There are several ways you can reserve a room. Here’s how:

  • Use the QR code posted on the room window to reserve a room instantly or check the room’s availability with your mobile device.
  • From your dorm room or home, use your laptop to reserve a room for your next study group through the link on the library webpage.
  • The library Seminar Room is a mediated room and requires approval, so be sure to submit your request well in advance of the date needed and make sure your request meets the policies of the room.

Keep in mind that midterms and finals are an especially busy time for library study rooms. By planning ahead and anticipating your study requirements, this system will allow you to reserve your room in advance so you can beat the last minute rush for rooms.

We’re here to help with your research and academic needs. If you ever need assistance in reserving a room at the Library, or need to discuss the availability of the seminar room or other spaces in the Library, please contact Jo Krough at 206-281-2413 or email libraryrooms@spu.edu.

Books and Crannies: The Test-File Room

card_catalogThe test-file room sits in the bottom corner of the library, past a card-catalog cabinet of large proportions, under lock and key. Dominated by the hum of elevator shaft machinery, a ticking clock, and the smell of hospital floors & hot cardboard boxes, the room is a safe deposit for psychological tests and mental measurements and stores the library’s phonograph record collection. Do you have a record player and a desire to explore various popular, world, and classical musics? If so, avail yourself of this massive resource! Check out grooves from Iannis Xenakis, Jefferson Airplane, Eskimo folk traditions and way beyond. You can savor leafing through the card-catalog for titles, or browse this online list. Bring us the call numbers for records you’d like to try, and we’ll retrieve them from the room. There’s nothing like that warm vinyl sound…

record_room

A Message from the Director: New at the Library

Dear Members of the SPU Community,

Welcome to a new academic year at SPU! The purpose of this memo is to highlight a few exciting changes at the SPU Library this quarter:

New hours: Beginning this week, the library has new, longer hours:

  • Mondays-Thursdays, 7:30 a.m.-Midnight
  • Fridays, 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m.
  • Saturdays, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
  • Sundays, 10 a.m.-Midnight

More information about hours, including Reference Desk hours, is available from our hours website.

New technology: We have mounted large computer monitors in all study rooms on the 3rd Level, including the Graduate Study Room, and new print/copy/scan devices are located on every level of the library. For more information:

Tech updates in study rooms.

New speaker series: Come to the library Reading Room to hear members of the SPU community share scholarly and creative works in progress. Speaking this quarter:

  • Jeff Keuss (Theology), “The Gospel According to Stephen King”: Thursday, October 24, 3-3:40 p.m.
  • Shannon Huffman Polson (MFA ’12), “North of Hope: Memoir, Memory, and Mercy”: Thursday, October 31, 12:10-12:50 p.m.
  • Ben McFarland (Biochemistry), “The Quickening: How Chemistry Shaped Biology”: Thursday, November 7, 3-3:40 p.m.
  • David Wicks and Andrew Lumpe (Education), “bPortfolios: Using an Open Blogging Platform for Reflective Learning”: Thursday, November 14, 12:10-12:50 p.m.

For more information about this series, see the Creative Conversation site.

To find out more about the library and the many ways we support your work and the discovery, creation, and sharing of knowledge at SPU, visit us in person or online at http://spu.edu/library.

 

Michael J. Paulus, Jr.

University Librarian and Associate Professor

Seattle Pacific University

Books and Crannies: Floor with a View

view

The third floor is usually the most lively – and for good reason. Big desks and beautiful views make for lovely study spaces that allow one to settle in for the long haul. The far corners of the floor give you windows and light from two sides, sweeping views of Fremont, the canal, the mountains, and campus, and some indoor foliage to break up the walls and carpet.The far right corner lands you right by the P section – all our literature, poetry, and novels.

thirdfloor