The JKM Library Blog - JKM Library at Chatham University

January 2014

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Chatham celebrated a big edible book milestone this spring with our 10th International Edible Book Festival event! The JKM Library has been partnering with Chatham's food studies program since 2012 to host this celebration of food and literature. After a three-year hiatus during the heights of COVID-19, the tradition was revived in 2024, and on March 31st, 2025 we celebrated our 10th event!To make this year extra special, we welcomed additional collaborators to help grow the festival. Chatham's Student Success and the Academic Success Center hosted an Essential Needs Item Drive to benefit Chatham's Essential Needs Corner. Anyone who donated to the item drive was entered into a raffle for a $100 gift certificate to Mad Mex.The PA Hunger Free Campus Task Force hosted a silent auction (sans real money) for kitchenware kits, funded by the PA Department of Education. Students were given five tickets that they could use to bid on the specific kits they were interested in. There were five kits auctioned off.And in addition to those amazing activities, we also had honey tasting and education provided by the Eden Hall Apiary. Attendees could taste honey from different seasons and learned a bit about how the flowers from each season alter the flavor profile of the honey created by the area bees.This year's edible book contest was judged by our amazing volunteer faculty members: returning judges Heather McNaugher and Barbara Ann McMonigal, and new judge Laura Livingston. Thank you to our judges for their time and taste buds! Winners of the 10th International Edible Book Festival are:People's Choice Award: "Pete the Cat: I Love My White Choux" submitted by Maggie Vargo and Evelyn FayBest Tasting: "Franks 'N' Brine" submitted by Anne St. JeanMost Creative Literary Interpretation: "Demon Copperhead" submitted by Karin ChipmanThe Rachel Carson Award: "Pete the Cat: I Love My White Choux" submitted by Maggie Vargo and Evelyn FayGrand Prize: "The Masque of the Red Death" submitted by Kate EmoryA huge thank you to Chatham’s food studies program, Alice Julier and Rebecca Nathan in particular, for their sponsorship and support and enthusiasm in planning. Thank you to the Academic Success Center, Chatham Student Success, the PA Hunger Free Campus Task Force, and the Essential Needs Corner for their help growing this event this year. And thanks to all of our ‘edible book’ contestants! ...

Whiteboards Replace Chalk in Study Rooms

We are excited to announce that all group study rooms are now equipped with whiteboards for collaborative work. Prior to this semester, only the third floor group rooms had mounted whiteboards. The second floor rooms had either aging chalkboards or nothing at all, making collaborative group work challenging. This has been a project long in the making, and the library thanks ITS for ordering and installing the remaining whiteboards. In addition to the mounted whiteboards, the library has several portable whiteboards on wheels that can be easily moved around and are heavily used by big groups working at the larger study tables. The library has plans to add more of these portable whiteboards in the near future....

What We Can Learn from Teachers (1984)

As the JKM library's highly respected resident film critic (my boss asked if I'd review one of the movies on the shelves) I’ll admit that this review took longer than I thought and that is mainly due to the truly unique inventory that the library has to offer. For example, there are dozens of films in the collection that I know for a fact aren’t on streaming, such as the 1999 Kevin Smith film Dogma, or the 1992 Rick Seback documentary simply titled Downtown Pittsburgh. This very exciting collection of films left me eager to review the movies that I hadn't heard of before, and that's exactly what I hope to do with this series. The film I chose was 1984’s Teachers– a movie I've never heard of before despite its totally incredible cast, featuring karate kids and McFly's alike with the duo of Ralph Macchio and Crispin Glover as trouble-making students who sneak out of school and hot-wire cars.This fun casting choice (and the DVD cover of an apple with a stem lit like a stick of dynamite) would make you think that this would be a wacky comedy where the school staff (Nick Nolte, Judd Hirsch, and Morgan Freeman) struggle to teach a group of trouble-making students, and end up learning new unorthodox ways to teach the students. Instead of the comedy basics I expected from a 1980s movie called Teachers, I was surprised to see that the movie focused on very real issues of gun violence, budget cuts, and the neglect of children in a massive public school. It goes without saying that these are real problems, and if you have talked to a teacher about difficulties in teaching, or even just had the experience of attending an underfunded school, I feel you will take something away from this movie.While the film tackles very dark subject matter, it is able to find ways to add humor undermining the real world issues it portrays–something I feel many movies often struggle with. In short, Teachers may not be laugh out loud funny, but it still gives the audience funny moments while exploring what it means to work in a difficult profession. Rating: 8 cartoonishly dark red apples out of 10Ethan Newton is currently a freshman at Chatham University (and JKM Library student employee) who has decided that instead of choosing a major he will start smaller and choose different films from the library to review. Ethan urges cool Chatham students to come up to him to discuss old movies and 70s comic books....

International Edible Book Festival FAQ

Do you like The Great British Bake Off? How about puns? Do books and/or food delight you? If the answer is yes to one or all of these questions, the International Edible Book Festival is for you! This time-honored tradition here at Chatham is co-sponsored by the JKM Library and Chatham's food studies department and seeks to bring people together over a shared love of books and food.We know many of you have never had the pleasure of experiencing the International Edible Book Festival, so this post is here to answer all (or hopefully most) of your questions. Have more? Contact the library at reference@chatham.edu.What is the International Edible Book Festival? Started in 2000, this celebration of food and reading brings communities together to share creative literature-inspired food or beverage items (the ‘edible books’ in question). Contestants sign up to bring an ‘edible book’, and on the day of the event they present their book to judges and attendees. The judges taste and evaluate each entry and award prizes, and the attendees vote on their favorites for the People’s Choice prize. A wonderful time is had by all!What does the event look like? We set up a bunch of tables in the JKM Library’s first floor lobby. Contestants set up their ‘edible books’ for display, and the judges begin their tastings and deliberations. Once the judges have had a chance to taste all entries, the tasting is opened up to all attendees. Attendees enjoy the ‘edible books’ and vote for their favorite (the People’s Choice Award). After everyone has had a chance to taste, vote, and socialize, we then announce our winners and distribute our prizes!Who is allowed to participate? Everyone! This event is open to all Chatham students, staff, and faculty. It’s also open to the public at large! Anyone can enter an ‘edible book’ into the festival’s contest.How can I participate? You can attend as just a spectator and vote for your favorite ‘edible book’, or you can participate as a contestant in the festival’s contest! Either way, we ask that you register. It’s important to know how many folks are planning to show up so we can plan for how many people to feed.What do I need to know if I’m submitting an ‘edible book’ to the contest? Register for the event on Happenings and be sure to mark that you will be submitting an ‘edible book’. You will then receive informational emails from the librarians. Your ‘edible book’ can be as simple or complicated as you’d like. It can be a food or beverage item, but it has to have some tie to literature, libraries, or reading. You should include with your ‘edible book’ a list of ingredients (for both judging and dietary restriction purposes) and a copy of the book that inspired you! You are expected to stand with your ‘edible book’ during the judging process to answer any questions, but then are are free to go sample other contestant’s ‘edible books’ and vote for your favorite.‘Edible books’ can be as complicated as an ornate cake or as simple and low maintenance as bringing in pre-made candy or cookies. Below are some examples of ‘edible books’ submitted to our past events: What are the prize categories? Each ‘edible book’ entry is eligible to win prizes. Prizes usually include items like water bottles, cookbooks, gift baskets, gift certificates, honey from Eden Hall, and more. Our current categories are:Best Tasting: This one is fairly straight forward. It’s not how good your ‘edible book’ looks, but how good it tastes.Most Creative Literary Interpretation: Taste is not as important in this category. Instead, it’s your creativity the judges are looking at. The most creative ‘edible book’ wins!People’s Choice: This is the popular vote! All attendees get to taste the ‘edible books’ and vote for their favorite.The Rachel Carson Award: This is awarded to the ‘edible book’ that honors sustainability and/or nature. This could mean that the ingredients are locally or ethically sourced, that the ‘edible book' was created with environmental impact in mind, or that is represents something in nature. Those who would like to be considered for this award need to indicate on their ingredients list if something is local/sustainable or if environmental concerns went into the creation of the food item.Grand Prize: Awarded by the judges, this prize is best in show. It is awarded to the ‘edible book’ that really knocked it out of the park in both taste, creativity, and presentation. Winners from our 2019 event:We hope this piques your interest and that you’ll enter an ‘edible book’ creation of your own in one of our upcoming International Edible Book Festivals. You can also visit the JKM Library's International Edible Book Festival virtual display for book more delicious literary fun!...

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