Professor Karen Fresco, Head of the French Department, named Officier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques

Congratulations to Associate Professor Karen Fresco, Head of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s French Department, for being recognized Officier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques. This prestigious title is awarded to members of the international community for outstanding contributions to French pedagogy, scholarship, and culture, as well as to the French language. L’Ordre des Palmes Académiques was instituted by founded by Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte on March 19, 1808. For more information on the award, click here.

Dr. Fresco, who also serves as an Associate Professor in the Gender and Women’s Studies and Medieval Studies Department, has been affiliated with the University of Illinois for over twenty years. She has edited or co-edited five essay collections, including, most recently, Collections in Context: The Organization of Knowledge and Community in Europe (2012, Ohio State University Press) with Anne D. Hedeman. The book is part of the Literature and Languages Library collection. Fresco has also produced several critical editions and is currently working on one for Christine de Pizan’s Les Enseignements moraux (ca. 1398-1401). She has also published half a dozen scholarly articles.

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Online Research Resources to be retired this Friday

If you’ve used Online Research Resources (ORR) to find Library e-resources in the past, please be aware that this interface is being permanently retired this Friday, to be replaced by Online Journals & Databases. The functions formerly served by the ORR are all available through Online Journals & Databases: you can use this tool to search for journals, databases, and other Library resources.

You can also search for journals and databases through the Easy Search box at the top of the Literatures and Languages Library homepage: for example, a search for JSTOR will bring up this message at the top of your search results:

You can click the “Direct link to: JSTOR” to be taken directly into the database. You can do the same for journal titles.

Links to ORR search screens (for example, this search for a journal which is held in several databases) will no longer be valid after Friday. If you have links like this bookmarked, you can update them to links in Online Journals & Databases (like this search for the same journal) and these links will work the same way.

If you have any questions about the migration from Online Research Resources to Online Journals & Databases, please feel free to get in touch with us.

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2012 Orange Prize Longlist announced

The judges for this year's Orange Prize are Joanna Trollope, Lisa Appignanesi, Victoria Derbyshire, Natalie Haynes, and Natasha Kaplinsky.

The longlist for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction has been announced – a diverse range of works, including five first novels. You can read the complete longlist (along with synopses of the novels and short biographies of the writers) at the Orange Prize homepage, or view shortlists and prize-winners from previous years.

Established in 1996, the Orange Prize is awarded to female writers of novels. Prize-winners receive £30,000 and a bronze sculpture called the “Bessie.” The shortlist for this year’s Orange Prize will be announced on April 17th, and the winner will be announced May 30th.

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Intensive Foreign Language Instruction Program (IFLIP) – Winter 2012

Want to learn a new language or brush up on old one? The Intensive Foreign Language Instruction Program (IFLIP) at the UIUC is a great (and fun) way to do so. Once again the program is offering winter session courses. Here are some key facts about the opportunity:

·         Open to members of the University community and to the general public.

·         Classes meet Monday through Friday, 3 hours a day, for two weeks (except holidays).

·         Taught by advanced graduate students or faculty.

·         Courses focus on conversational skills, travel preparation and language survival skills.

·         There is minimal homework, no attendance policy, and no academic credit.

Please register by December 9, 2011.

·         Classes with fewer than 10 participants by December 9, 2011, are subject to cancellation.

WINTER SESSION

JANUARY 3-13, 2012

Languages and levels offered:

Chinese, Elementary

French, Intermediate

German, Elementary

Italian, Elementary

Japanese, Elementary

Portuguese, Elementary

Spanish, Elementary

Spanish, Intermediate

Spanish, Advanced

*All classes meet 9AM-Noon, Monday-Friday

For more information, see http://www.slcl.illinois.edu/resources/iflip/ or contact SLCL@illinois.edu

Register at http://go.illinois.edu/iflip/register

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International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: the longlist

The longlist for 2011’s International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award has been announced. Based out of Ireland’s Dublin City Public Libraries, this prestigious award’s potential winners are nominated by libraries worldwide, and the award currently carries the greatest cash prize of any literary award  (€100,000).

You can view the longlist of 157 nominees here. Nominated titles represent a wide range of international literatures, many having been translated from European, Asian and Eastern European languages, in addition to a number of titles by English and American authors.

This year’s longlist includes a number of titles that have won other literary prizes, such as Per Petterson’s I Curse the River of Time (winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize; Petterson also won the 2007 IMPAC Award for Out Stealing Horses), Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction), Jaimy Gordon’s Lord of Misrule (winner of the National Book Award for Fiction) and Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question (winner of the Man Booker Prize).

Last year’s prize-winner was Colum McCann for his novel Let the Great World Spin.

Other resources available on the site for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award include an award archive (with longlists and shortlists of nominated titles going back to the award’s beginnings in 1996) and an FAQ which includes information on the judges choosing the winner annually.

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New Program: Spanish language classes for children

The University Language Academy for Children is currently enrolling for the Academic Yearly 2011-2012 Spanish language program (pre-K/K/1st & 2nd grade, ages 4-8). Classes last 50 minutes and meet 4 times a week (Mon-Thurs) from September to May. There are two sessions each day (2:45 and 4:00 PM).

The classes take place at the University Primary School in Champaign – register by August 31st. Classes start Sept. 5th. For information about tuition and fees, visit http://www.languageacademy.illinois.edu/. Questions? Contact sip-ulac[at]illinois.edu.

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Workshops and Library Services for Instructors

The Center for Teaching Excellence will be offering several workshops for instructors during July on various strategies and aspects of effective instruction, including syllabi, lesson planning, grading, designing teamwork and group assignments for students, and teaching with I>Clickers. You can visit the Center for Teaching Excellence’s events calendar to learn more about these workshops (please note that all events are free, but require registration).

Additionally, instructors may like to keep in mind that requests for course reserves can be placed electronically through the Library website. You can visit the Library’s page for Placing Materials on Reserve for more information and to fill out the necessary forms. (Note that since IPM tends to receive a high volume of material around the start of each semester, it’s best to submit materials to them for reserve processing as early as possible.)

Last, please keep in mind that, as always, Literatures and Languages librarians are available for individual and group instruction. You can get in touch with our librarians via email or phone: contact information is available through the Literatures and Language’s Library’s website. And our seminar room is available for group meetings: contact us to make a reservation.

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New Exhibition in RBML

This Wednesday, April 13th, will inaugurate a new exhibition in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library: “Miracle within a Miracle: Johannes Reuchlin and the Jewish Book Controversy.”

At 3 p.m. on April 13th, Prof. David Price will deliver a lecture, “The Renaissance Campaign to Destroy Jewish Books,” and provide a tour of the exhibition. You can read more about this exhibition at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s news page.

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2011 Early Spring Literary Festival, March 13-16

Join the Department of English’s Creative Writing program for their 2011 Early Spring Literary Festival on March 13-16. Events are being held both on campus and at off-campus venues, and feature a host of accomplished writers and scholars from UIUC and beyond.

For the festival schedule and more information, visit the Creative Writing program’s website at http://creativewriting.english.illinois.edu/carr/.

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Local booksellers and Amazon shopping

It’s not possible for any library (even UIUC’s library!) to buy every book that’s out there. However, the Library has compiled a list of local booksellers for your convenience: http://www.library.illinois.edu/services/bookreferral.html.

[Edit: the Amazon Affiliates program in which Amazon purchases can benefit the UIUC Library has been canceled due to the imposition of a new Illinois state tax law.]

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