Meet Author Elizabeth Nunez Feb. 5

This Friday, February 5, at noon, author Elizabeth Nunez will be speaking about about her novel Anna in Between in 421 Snell Library. The novel centers around Anna, a New York City-based editor who returns to her home in the Caribbean only to find out about her mother’s cancer diagnosis.  Refreshments will be served. Download the event flyer. One of Nunez’s earlier novels, Prospero’s Daughter, is a post-colonial re-telling of The Tempest, in the tradition of Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea. You can check out all three books, (along with Anna in Between) at Snell Library. (Follow the links above, to the books’ call numbers in NUCAT.)

Meet communications scholar Bob McChesney and award-winning journalist John Nichols, authors of The Death and Life of American Journalism

On Tuesday, February 2, 2010, communications specialist Bob McChesney and journalist John Nichols will be at Northeastern University as part of our Meet the Author series. They will be discussing the commercialism and special interests that impact reporting today.  They claim that the art has strayed from its fundamental purpose as a tool for public service and to spread knowledge.  In their book they discuss new methods that can help journalism succeed in today’s society. The book is available at Snell Library. The authors will be speaking at 90 Snell Library at noon. Refreshments will be served. Download the event flyer here.

Meet journalist Christina Asquith, author of Sisters in War: A Story of Love, Family, and Survival in the New Iraq

On Thursday, journalist Christina Asquith is giving a talk and book signing on her accounts, Sisters in War: A Story of Love, Family, and Survival in the New Iraq. Her book is available at Snell Library.  Visiting her website,  I was interested to see her experience as education reporter who spent a year teaching in Philadelphia’s worst performing school, and then wrote a book about her experience. Her talk will be held this Thursday, January 28 @ 2:30 pm, in the Alumni Center, 716 Columbus Avenue. To download an event flyer, click here.

Harvard Educational Review now available

The NU community now has access to the Harvard Educational Review online through the NU Libraries.  It’s a scholarly journal of opinion and research in education, self-described as “one of the most prestigious journals in education, with circulation to policymakers, researchers, administrators, and teachers.” When I first heard we were getting this journal, I figured it was for education geeks and not for me, but I found a really interesting and accessible article by Houman Harouni in the latest issue, on something really relevant to our work here at the NU Libraries. The article is about the pedagogical problems and opportunities presented by Wikipedia, and how a high-school teacher worked with students to address them.  Should he disparage Wikipedia?  Allow it to be cited?  Vandalize it? Assign students to contribute to it?  Well, a little of all of the above…which led his class to some very interesting understandings of the issue of authorship and scholarly discourse. I signed up for the rss feed so I get notified when new issues of the journal are published.  Enjoy the Harvard Educational Review…you may be surprised at how relevant it is to your work, too!