Library Hosts Sunshine Week Reception to Promote Open Government
The New Mexico State University Library will host its first annual Sunshine Week reception on Wednesday, March 13, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., on the third floor of Zuhl Library. The free public event is being held in conjunction with National Sunshine Week, running March 10 to 16. 
Sunshine Week is a national event that coincides with James Madison’s birthday, aiming to promote and educate about the importance of open government, transparency and freedom of information. Madison was a strong proponent of open government.
1st and 2nd place winners of the Library’s Sunshine Week essay contest will be honored, followed by featured speaker Walter Rubel, Managing Editor of the Las Cruces Sun-News. Rubel will share his own experiences fighting for open government and discuss the important role Sunshine Laws play in modern democracy.
Walter Rubel first came to Las Cruces to work at the Las Cruces Sun-News in 2002 as a news editor. In 2004 he was appointed the newspaper’s bureau chief in Santa Fe and covered the state government. He returned to Las Cruces in 2007 and has been managing editor of the paper since that time. He is primarily responsible for the editorial page, but is also involved in the planning and editing of the news section. Rubel is a native of Denver and a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado. A seasoned newsman, he has been a journalist since 1982, working with newspapers in Kansas, California, Wyoming and Colorado before coming to New Mexico.
The Sunshine Week Essay Contest and reception are sponsored by NMSU alumnus Tim Parker, the NMSU Library and the NMSU Department of Journalism & Mass Communications. For more information visit nmsu.libguides.com/sun or contact Library Specialist Jonathan Butz at butz@nmsu.edu or Government Documents & Maps Librarian Josefine Smith at jmasmith@nmsu.edu.
Veteran Dog a Faithful Companion to NMSU Student
Fabian Martinez and his faithful companion Ike, a military veteran dog, are becoming familiar faces at NMSU’s Branson Library. Fabian is the son of Library Specialist Graciela (Gracie) Martinez, who works in the Technical Services Department in Branson.
Fabian was a medic in the Army National Guard but his military career ended when he was injured in Afghanistan. Gracie said that Fabian was proud to serve his country. “It was all he ever wanted to do since he was a child.”
Ike helps Fabian emotionally and physically. Fabian and Ike trained together for two weeks in New York, which included training in balance, retrieval and nightmare interruptions.
Fabian is now attending NMSU, and he is often seen on campus with Ike always at his side. For more information, contact the Library Administration at (575) 646-1508.
NMSU Library Displays Contemporary Paintings by Joan Talty
Several untitled contemporary abstract paintings by Las Cruces artist Joan Talty recently went on permanent display for students to enjoy at NMSU’s Zuhl Library. They are hung in the Quiet Study Zone on the Library’s third floor. The new paintings are displayed near other works by Talty on the same floor, including “9/11.”
The vivid colors of the paintings show the influence of one of Talty’s favorite artists, Henri Matisse. Talty admires not only the color and form of the works of Matisse, but also his philosophy that art should make a positive statement and should be joyful and uplifting.
Talty originally studied music at Sarah Lawrence College. When she returned home bedridden from an illness, she began to draw in bed. She credits her recovery to her drawing and says that throughout her life, art has made her well. Encouraged to pursue art, she studied at the prestigious Art Students League of New York, which provided an intensive course of instruction that nurtured her creativity. Talty learned there that artists are the antennae of society and that they have a responsibility to the viewers of their art.
Talty moved with her husband Herbert Zuhl from Manhattan to Las Cruces in 1991. They donated a generous naming gift for Zuhl Library, and their Zuhl Geological Collection is displayed for the NMSU community and the public at the Zuhl Museum on campus, as well as at Zuhl Library and Breland Hall.
For more information, contact the Library Administration at (505) 646-1508.
Tenenbaum to Share Stories and Images of Mexican Revolution
Historian/librarian Barbara Tenenbaum will share stories and images of the Mexican Revolution on Thursday February 21, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Zuhl Library Conference Room. 
Tenenbaum is Mexican Culture Specialist at the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress and Curator of the Jay I. Kislak Collection in the Rare Book & Special Collections Division. Her talk, “Vámonos: The Mexican Revolution in Sights and Sound at the Library of Congress,” will feature illustrations from original materials on the Mexican Revolution from the Library of Congress collections.
In her talk, Tenenbaum will answer such intriguing questions as why Pancho Villa didn’t fight at night, how Tex-Mex food got started and why Mexican soldiers understood fighting better than U.S. forces.
The free public presentation, co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American and Border Studies and the NMSU Library, will be followed by a reception. For more information, contact Molloy, NMSU Library, (575) 646-6931, mmolloy@nmsu.edu or Seth Wilson, NMSU Center for Latin American and Border Studies at (575) 646-6814, sewilson@nmsu.edu.
Historian, Librarian Barbara Tenenbaum to Speak at NMSU Library
Come and meet historian and librarian Barbara Tenenbaum for stories and images of the Mexican Revolution on Thursday February 21, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in NMSU’s Zuhl Library Conference Room. The free public presentation, co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American and Border Studies and the NMSU Library, will be followed by a reception.
Tenenbaum is Mexican Culture Specialist at the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress and Curator of the Jay I. Kislak Collection in the Rare Book & Special Collections Division. Her talk, “Vámonos: The Mexican Revolution in Sights and Sound at the Library of Congress,” will feature illustrations from original materials on the Mexican Revolution from the Library of Congress collections. The presentation will feature the Library of Congress website Distant Neighbors: The United States and the Mexican Revolution, available at http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/mexico/intro_a.html.
In her talk, Tenenbaum will answer such intriguing questions as why Pancho Villa didn’t fight at night, how Tex-Mex food got started and why Mexican soldiers understood fighting better than U.S. forces.
Tenenbaum taught Latin American history at Vassar College, the University of South Carolina, Catholic University and Howard University before joining the Hispanic Division at the Library of Congress in 1992.
A specialist in Mexican culture, Tenenbaum is the author/editor of many books and articles about Mexico and the Library of Congress Hispanic collections. The NMSU Library is honoring Tenenbaum at the reception to thank her for her recent donations to the Library from her personal collections of research materials on Mexican and Latin American history, economics and culture. The Library received her generous donation at the beginning of 2012, and more than 150 books not previously owned by NMSU have been added to the library catalog.
The Library’s Latin America & Border Studies Librarian, Molly Molloy, first met Tenenbaum at a meeting of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials in the early 1990s and got to know her better through her entertaining and scholarly presentations at conferences, as well as during winter trips to the Mesilla Valley to visit family and get some respite from the snow and slush of Washington, D.C. Tenenbaum has presented several times at the Center for Latin American and Border Studies, always highlighting special collections at the Library of Congress that provide new insights into Mexican history and culture.
Mexican history was Tenenbaum’s passion long before she became a librarian. She studied at Harvard University under John Womack and published her dissertation as The Politics of Penury: Debts and Taxes in Mexico, 1821-1856 (University of New Mexico Press, 1986). In addition to many other monographs and articles, Tenenbaum is editor-in-chief of the multi-volume Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture (Scribners, 1996), a masterful, award-winning and comprehensive reference work on the region.
In a recent conversation with Molloy, Tenenbaum said that her training as an academic historian was great preparation for what she calls “the perfect job for me” at the Library of Congress, where she is responsible for all Mexican acquisitions. She reviews hundreds of books that come to the Library each year through blanket orders from several Mexican book sellers. The Library of Congress makes a great effort to acquire all of the original materials published in the region that would be of use now and in the future to readers and researchers.
Tenenbaum’s work encompasses much more than books and ranges from the modern to the ancient. She recently located a Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648 or 1651-1695) manuscript that was purchased by the Library of Congress. She was also recently consulted by staff from another division of the library when they found an original drawing by Martin Ramirez (1895-1963). An immigrant from Jalisco, Mexico, Ramirez spent much of his later life in a mental asylum in California where he created many drawings that have become iconic in what is sometimes called “outsider art.” Tenenbaum worked with the Ramirez family to arrange for the work to be exhibited at the Library of Congress. For more information, visit http://www.folkartmuseum.org/ramirez.
Molloy recently asked Tenenbaum if she had a favorite book or story about the Mexican Revolution. She did not hesitate for a second, and replied, “The Wind that Swept Mexico. It makes you feel it. It makes you feel what the Revolution was to people.” The WindThatSweptMexico: The History of the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1942, text by Anita Brenner, is available at Zuhl Library, F1234 .B83 1943.
As for her favorite story, she said, “My father didn’t know anything about Mexico or the revolution, but he always loved that photograph (by Casasola) of the guy smoking a cigarette while he was being shot. I remember when my mother saw the film Like Water for Chocolate, and she would always ask me, ‘Why didn’t Tita marry the nice doctor?’ I later wrote a whole paper based on that and used the title: ‘Why Tita Didn’t Marry the Doctor.’” Like Water for Chocolate is available on DVD at Branson Library, DVD PQ7298.15.S638 C6613 2000, and the novel by Laura Esquivel is available at Zuhl Library, PQ7298.15.S638 C6613 1992.
Tenenbaum also said that she was fascinated by Pancho Villa, and especially recommends the biography by Friedrich Katz, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa (Stanford University Press, 1998), Zuhl Library, F1234.V63 K38 1998.
For more information, contact Molloy, NMSU Library, (575) 646-6931, mmolloy@nmsu.edu or Seth Wilson, NMSU Center for Latin American and Border Studies at (575) 646-6814, sewilson@nmsu.edu.
Southwest Book Awards Announced
The Border Regional Library Association is pleased to announce the 42nd Annual Southwest Book Awards. Since 1971, the awards have been presented in recognition of outstanding books about the Southwest published each year in any genre (e.g. fiction, nonfiction, reference) and directed toward any audience (scholarly, popular, children). Original video and audio materials are also considered.
The 2013 winners are:
• Amadito and the Hero Children / Amadito y los Niños Heroes, by Enrique R. Lamadrid, illustrations by Amy Cordova (University of New Mexico Press)
• Border Junkies, by Scott Comar (University of Texas Press)
• En el Puente con la Migra, edited by Hector Antonio Padilla Delgado (Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juárez)
• From this Wicked Patch of Dust, by Sergio Troncoso (University of Arizona Press)
• Grandpa Lolo’s Navajo Saddle Blanket / La Tilma de Abuelito Lolo, by Nasario Garcia (University of New Mexico Press)
• Hard to Have Heroes, by Buddy Mays (University of New Mexico Press)
• The Plazas of New Mexico, edited by Chris Wilson and Stefanos Polyzoides (Trinity University Press)
• Santa Rita del Cobre: A Copper Mining Community in New Mexico, by Christopher J. Huggard and Terrence M. Humble (University Press of Colorado)
Award eligibility is based on five criteria: Materials must be about the Southwest, defined as West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico; appearing in book or nonprint format for the first time; published between August 1, 2011, and July 31, 2012; of high quality, both in the context of the current year’s entries and in the existing body of Southwestern literature; and books which reflect and interpret the Southwest.
A scholarly work must make a well documented contribution to scholarship in some aspect of Southwestern history or culture. Other nonfiction works should make reliable information accessible to the general reader. Poetry and fiction must reflect Southwestern culture and/or be set in the Southwest.
For more information please contact John Sandstrom, Acquisitions Librarian, NMSU Library, (575) 646-8093 or jsand713@nmsu.edu.
Border Regional Library Association Announces Awards Banquet
The Border Regional Library Association cordially invites book and library lovers to attend the 42nd BRLA Awards Banquet. The banquet will be held at Ardovino’s Desert Crossing on Saturday, February 23, at 6:00 p. m. The event will feature the presentation of the 42nd Southwest Books Awards as well as Librarian and Library Staff Member of the Year awards.
The cost is $30 per person, and reservations can be made until February 15. Reservation forms and additional information is available at http://brla.info/banquetreg.htm.
The Border Regional Library Association (BRLA) is an organization founded in 1966 for the promotion of library service and librarianship in the El Paso/Las Cruces/Juárez metroplex. Current membership includes over one hundred librarians, paraprofessionals, media specialists and library friends and trustees from all types of libraries in the tri-state area of Trans-Pecos Texas, Southern New Mexico and Northern Chihuahua.
As librarians and information specialists, BRLA members find that the organization provides a forum for local issues, which impact the future of all types of libraries in the region. BRLA also serves as a support group to promote libraries as important educational and cultural institutions, which have a direct impact on communities and democratic action. Annual dues are low in cost but high in rewarding returns. BRLA welcomes and encourages your membership and involvement.
For more information please contact John Sandstrom, Acquisitions Librarian, New Mexico State University Library, (575) 646-8093 or jsand713@nmsu.edu.
Norice Lee Named to State Library Commission
The NMSU Library’s Associate Dean, Norice Lee, has been appointed to the New Mexico State Library Commission by Governor Susana Martinez.
The New Mexico State Library Commission, created in 1975, is composed of five members. Lee is serving in the “professional librarian” position.
The Library Commission provides advice, upon request of the State Librarian, on matters and duties of the State Library and any other issues related to libraries in New Mexico. It has a minimum of four public meetings or hearings per year.
Norice Lee was appointed Associate Dean of the Library in 2012. Her previous positions have included Department Head of the Library’s Access Services Department, Regional Branch Manager for the El Paso Public Library and Library Director at Doña Ana Community College.
Lee earned her master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996. She is on the board of the New Mexico Library Association, and active in the New Mexico Consortium of Academic Libraries and the American Library Association.
For more information, contact Lee at (575) 646-1508.
Take a Tour of the NMSU Library
Do you know where to go for help with a research paper? Or how to get books from libraries all over the world? Or where to browse DVDs, CDs and current magazines?
According to NMSU Library Reference Assistant Wendy Simpson, the NMSU Library is a complex place, and many people do not know about the many useful resources that are available.
All members of the campus community are invited to join the Library staff for a forty-minute tour of both NMSU Library buildings. It is not necessary to sign up in advance. In addition to seeing highlights of services and collections, attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions.
Tours will begin at the Information Desk at Zuhl Library on the following dates and times:
- Wednesday, January 23 11:30 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.
- Wednesday, January 23 12:30 p.m. to 1:10 p.m.
- Thursday, January 24 11:00 a.m. to 11:40 a.m.
- Monday, January 28 10:30 a.m. to 11:10 a.m.
- Tuesday, January 29 1:00 p.m. to 1:40 p.m.
- Thursday, February 7 3:00 to 3:40 p.m.
- Friday, February 8 9:30 a.m. to 10:10 a.m.
Individual tours can also be arranged. Students can get a certificate of attendance that instructors may count toward extra credit.
For more information contact Simpson at (575) 646-4129, the Information Desk at (575) 646-5792 or visit http://lib.nmsu.edu/tours/.
Library Holds Student Essay Contest for Sunshine Week
The NMSU Library is co-sponsoring a student essay contest as part of a celebration of Sunshine Week.
Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. It is held each year in March to coincide with James Madison’s birthday and will be celebrated during the week of March 10-16, 2013.
The contest is open to all students currently enrolled at New Mexico State University. 1st prize is a $200 gift card and 2nd prize is a $100 gift card, both from the Barnes & Noble at NMSU bookstore.
Choosing either New Mexico’s Open Meetings Act (10-15-1 NMSA 1978 et seq) or Inspection of Public Records Act (14-2-1 NMSA 1978 et seq), contestants are asked to write an original 600-800 word essay answering the following questions: 1) How does the law encourage citizen participation in state government? 2) Does the law provide citizens with sufficient access to the work of our state government? and 3) Are the sanctions for violations of the law sufficient?
Entry forms and detailed contest information are available at the Library’s Sunshine Week libguide at http://nmsu.libguides.com/sun.
The deadline for submissions is Monday, February 25, at 9:00 a.m. Winners will be announced the first week in March, and prizes will be awarded at a reception to be held at Zuhl Library on Wednesday, March 13.
The contest and NMSU’s Sunshine Week activities are sponsored by NMSU alumnus Tim Parker, the NMSU Library and the NMSU Department of Journalism & Mass Communications.
For more information, contact Library Specialist Jonathan Butz at butz@nmsu.edu or Government Documents & Maps Librarian Josefine Smith at jmasmith@nmsu.edu.