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Show AggieLife Page 6 Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009 Students find tomes of unimaginable knowledge By JILL STETTLER staff writer Every day, hundreds of students flock to the library to study, take refuge from roommates, enjoy peace and quiet or meet with groups for class projects. Thousands of books line the shelves in the library, from references on all subjects to music CDs, magazines, newspapers and style guides. But unknown to most of the student population at USU, the MerrillCazier Library has books that wait for some unsuspecting student to pick them up. There are many of them. Take, for example, the Encyclopedia of Swearing by Geoffrey Hughes, a book that gives not only a definition of curses but also a history of every vulgar word in the English language. Vicki Read, head of patron services in the library, explained why the Encyclopedia of Swearing is on the shelves. “Typically, when we have books like that, it’s tied to culture,” Read said. “It shows the culture of what’s happening during a period of time and how swearing has evolved and how different words that didn’t used to be a swearword became a swearword. The purpose for those books are to show anthropology by looking at the evolution of man and his history through writing, rather than digging up graves.” The library also has dictionaries of slang, which, like many books, constantly have to be updated, Read said. Dictionaries also need to be updated. For example, the word “bootylicious” is now in the Oxford Dictionary, Read said. Another unique book in the library is “Scary Nuns: Sisters at Work and Play,” a collection of black-and-white pictures of nuns. “It has that aura of this strict, disciplinary nun, that a lot of people that went to Catholic schools remember from their childhood. They probably say, ‘I remember Sister Adith, and she was the meanest, and she looks like the nun on Page 23.’” “Codex Seraphinianus” is also available in the Merrill-Cazier Library. It is considered by publishers to be the weirdest book ever published, Read said. The book’s author, Luigi Serafini, made up his own language. Though it may look readable, it can’t be read, Read said. “It is the history of mannerisms and flora and fauna of this imaginary place,” said Kathy Schoknel, manager of arts and music collection in the library, in reference to “Codex Seraphinianus.” Publishers circulated many odd books with the idea that books should be seen as art instead of just words. Some of the odd books are contained in a little white box in the Arts and Music Collection portion of the library. One of the more unique books inside the white box is inside a can that is the shape of playdough. When opened, this book is a folded paper with a stamp on it, accompanied by a small packet of ink. That is what constitutes the book, Read said. Read’s favorite book is a crumbled paper that came inside of the white box. “When we got it, we weren’t sure if it was a book or a filler,” Read said. “We’ve never opened it.” Pop-up books are generally associated with children, but there are some pop-up books in the Merrill-Cazier Library that a child wouldn’t know what to do with. In these pop-up books, the format is set up to explain things, Schoknel said. “It shows the possibilities of what you can do with visual material in pop-up format and how you can actually teach the concepts of art,” Schoknel said. Read said, “It’s like a regular pop-up book you would buy for kids, except this is explaining art and how your eye is drawn to something.” Though the pop-up books are well constructed, they’re not allowed to be checked out by anyone, Schoknel said. A cultural history on canvas is available in the library as well, Schoknel said. The library has a large collection of the “Beat Poetry” started by a few people, such as Jack Kerouac. By looking at these collections of poetry, students can see how things changed in the world, Schoknel said. Ann Buttars is the curator of Western and Mormon Americana and the associate librarian in Special Collections and has worked with every section of Special Collections. In this section of the library, students can find old university yearbooks, “Book of Hours,” a first-edition Book of Mormon – the first book the library purchased – manuscript collections from various people of significance such as Utah legislators and early Cache Valley diaries MANY UNIQUE BOOKS ARE offered in the Merrill-Cazier Library. Vicki Read, head of patron services in the library said these books are on the shelves because they are tied to culture. ANI MIEZAKHANYAN photo illustration and journals, Buttars said. Most of the items in this section were given to the library. The Hatch Room is also in the Special Collections, Buttars said. It is the old English room and was given to the university in 1953 from the Hatch family. It dates back to the 1600s, Buttars said. “We have a huge Jack London collection,” Buttars said. “We have the second largest collection in the nation.” The library also has “Book Collection 21.” “This collection is all of our erotica that we can’t put on the shelves because people would either mutilate it, steal it or faint,” Read said. Other uncommon things that are in the Special Collections that students probably won’t find in any other library include a cowboy hat and a painting of a woman’s perspective of what the Bear Lake Monster looks like. “The Special Collections is really a very fascinating place,” Buttars said. “You can come and see all sorts of things. Read and Schocknel encourage students to come to the library and take advantage of the resources there. – jill.redspiral@gmail.com Diwali offers students an opportunity for a shot of culture By APRIL ASHLAND staff writer The Indian Student Association (ISA) will be hosting its annual celebration of The Festival of Lights Saturday Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom. The festival celebrates the return of the God Ram after 14 years in exile to his kingdom. His people lit the way back with lights, earning the celebration its name. Ameya Mashruwala, attaining a Ph.D. in biochemistry, has been attending the celebration for three years and is helping to plan and execute the event as a way to give back to his community. The Diwali experience has been offered by the ISA for 20 years. Mashruwala said the goal of the event is to increase the association between the students and the Logan community. “For lots of people, this is their first or only exposure to the Indian culture. They’ve maybe had takeout from the Indian Oven back when it was a gas station, but this is often the only time they get to learn about Indian culture,” Mashruwala said. Mshruwala said the event consists of performances, dances and food. There will be a seven-course authentic Indian dinner, for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. “The (Aggie) Marketplace will be cooking for the event. They have been really helpful and cooperative,” Mashruwala said. In this year’s celebration there will be 15-18 dances, including Bollywood and traditional folk dances from the various states in India. Bollywood is India’s movie industry. The dances are drawn from the music and dance in the movies, which are often dramatic and fun. The dances will feature traditional and modern attire from India. Bharatnatyam, a dance being performed, is a classical dance that originated in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Mashruwala said. “The dance can be accompanied by classical Indian music or it can be accompanied by a fusion of Indian classical and western music,” he said. Rajasthani is based on a folk dance from Rajashtan, a state in India. This dance will be performed for the audiences as well, featuring colorful costumes. There will also be a dance to the song Jai Ho from the Oscar winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire,” a pantomine and Indian songs. Mshruwala said each year the ISA sells 400500 tickets to the Diwali festival and the ISA estimates having sold 450-480 tickets. Tickets will be sold at the door, for $15-18, or can be bought by contacting Manzeer Shaik at 435213-5755 or Ameya Mashruwala at 512-7882744. – april.ashland@aggiemail.usu.edu DANCERS PERFORM AT the Diwali festival last year. This year the annual celebration will be Saturday Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. in the TSC Ballroom. 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