In this issue:A Spring Break Trip to Boliva |
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Back Issues:
No. 9, Fall 2000 | No.
8, Spring 2000 | No. 7, Fall 1999 | No.
6, Spring 1999 | No. 5, Fall 1998
by Kathi Rickert
During Spring break, I had the pleasure of traveling to Carmen Pampa, Bolivia,
with two other CSC faculty members. We visited the campus of a small (300-400
students) rural college, high in the mountains in northeastern Bolivia. Following
are excerpts from the journal I kept during this amazing week.
Monday:
After two days of travel to reach Carmen Pampa, I awake to a fantastic view
of the mountains out the window of my small room. It has rained overnight, for
it is fall here and still the rainy season. The air feels humid but fresh and
clean, and it feels to be about 60 degrees. Clouds hang onto the tops of the
mountain, and I'm stunned by the beauty of what I see.
Our
interpreter, Becky, is 22 years old and a graduate of South Dakota State. She
gives us a tour of the lower campus, which houses the veterinary science program.
There are many farm animals here, classrooms, dorms and a small library. It
is set within the village of Carmen Pampa, where today is Father's Day, a holiday,
so no one is at work. Since it is Monday, the students are not in classes (classes
are held Tuesday through Saturday). It is a work day for them, and their work
helps pay their expenses. Fees for a semester amount to about $125 for room,
board and expenses, but in a country where the average family earns just $200
per year, this is a sizable sum.
It takes us about 30 minutes to walk up the mountain to the upper campus -
while we get used to being at 6,000 feet, we take it slow. The road is rutty
and muddy, with a small stream crossing it at one point. We pass groves of coffee
plants, which the college is growing and hopes to market.
The upper campus is a-buzz with working students--cleaning, gardening, cutting
grass with machetes, washing clothes by hand. We visit the classrooms, peek
into the dorms (10-12 students share one large room) and the chapel, where a
visitor is completing a beautiful mural covering one wall. The students we encounter
all have a smile and greeting for us, and we feel comfortable with them. We
enjoy our meal of chicken, rice and vegetables, aware that we are no doubt eating
better than the majority of students. After lunch, we hike higher into the mountains
for a perspective on the villages in the surrounding area. A steep, slippery
footpath leads us down into the village again. When it's dark, we sit outside
until the fog rolls in, enjoying the stars of the southern sky and the brilliance
of the Milky Way.
Tuesday:
Mary (Wagner, Library Science) and I will spend most of the rest of our
week in the library. It seems small by our standards, but does a good job of
supporting the college's programs in nursing, vet science and agronomy. The
students don't have textbooks, since they are too expensive to own, and there
is no Internet access for this remote location. Students must take copious notes
in class and from the books in the library. Sometimes they make copies from
books, but that, too, is expensive for them.
Classes are in session now, so the campus is a busy place. Classes start at
8:30 a.m. and the last class ends at 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday:
Cecilia, who manages the college's coffee operations, invites us to watch as
she roasts coffee for us to bring back to the United States. The raw beans have
been dried and sorted, and Cecilia pours about 40 pounds worth into a large
cylinder. 
The
cylinder is pushed on sliders into a huge tub, sealed tightly, and a propane
fire is lit beneath it. The cylinder needs to be turned so that the beans don't
burn, but the motor is broken, so we take turns cranking the cylinder. A person
can only crank about 4 or 5 minutes at a time, but it gets lighter as the moisture
is roasted out of the coffee beans. Gradually, the aroma of the roasted coffee
tells Cecilia that it's almost done, and after about an hour, she pours the
steaming brown beans into a pan. The beans are spread on racks outside to cool,
and we help sort for burned beans, but there aren't many. We even chew a few
warm, roasted beans, and they taste so good! Experiencing how much work goes
into this whole process makes me appreciate so much what it takes to bring me
my morning cup of coffee!
In the evening, we have asked some of the nursing students to meet with us.
We have brought slides of the campus and just want to connect with them. We've
offered prizes for those who come (t-shirts donated by the bookstore) and expect
10 or 20 after their 8:00 p.m. class ends. To our surprise, about 75 students
fill the classroom, and it's standing room only! They ooh and aah over the slides
of our campus, especially the ones of Derham Hall surrounded by snowdrifts and
the Dewdrop in the springtime.
Thursday:
After spending most of the day in the library, Mary and I walk from the upper
campus down to our "home" on the lower. The elementary school has
just let out, and the children are on their way home. They giggle and chatter,
and seem delighted with the sticker sheets and gum we offer. Best of all, Mary
takes pictures with her Polaroid camera and presents the kids with their own
smiling faces.
Friday:
It's still a bit hard to believe I'm here - Bolivia! Carmen Pampa is so
beautiful, set in the majestic Yugas mountain range at the edge of the Andes.
The people have all been so wonderful to us, encouraging and forgiving our attempts
to speak to them in Spanish. I'm so impressed with the students and how hard
they work at their education. With the skills they are learning, they will return
to their home communities and work to improve the conditions of the lives of
their families and neighbors. Most of them are the first in their communities
to receive an education. These are people who will make a difference someday,
and for whom education really is a catalyst for social change.
Saturday:
We pack our things and say some final good-byes to our new friends at Carmen
Pampa. The return trip to La Paz, where we will catch our flight home, is more
interesting since I'm more awake than when I arrived. The narrow road twists
and turns during the 5 hours it takes to traverse the 50 miles to the capital,
elevation 14,000 feet. Carmen Pampa seems so far from this city of over 2 million.
During the long flight home, I'm struck by a sense of what a special place I
have visited, and I hope I will return one day.
A New Library Catalog -- CLICnet III
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New Databases at the CSC Libraries!!Life scientists, health scientists, and social scientists will all benefit from the trio of new databases recently added to the Libraries' growing electronic resources collection. Ecology and Botany Collection via JSTOR, the Nursing Collection II via Ovid CINAHL, and Sociological Abstracts via FirstSearch are all available from the CSC Libraries' webpage. by Laura J. Frese and Amy Shaw |
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Ecology and Botany Collection via JSTOR Through a $1,000 gift for electronic resources from the graduating Class of 1999, St. Paul, (thank you!), the Libraries were able to purchase a membership for the Ecology & Botany Collection via JSTOR. The collection, totaling 29 full-text journals and over one million pages, contains some of the most essential journals published in the environmental sciences. Ecologists, conservationists and scholars in related fields will now be able to research journal literature in the environmental sciences going back more than 130 years. The Ecology and Botany Collection joins the Arts & Sciences I Collection and the General Science Collection in the Libraries' JSTOR subscription. |
Nursing Collection II The Ovid version of CINAHL now has even more full text! Nursing Collection
II joins Nursing Collection I and adds 15 more core nursing journals,
bringing the full-text journal total up to 29. Coverage for Nursing Collection
I begins in 1995, while Nursing Collection II begins in 1996. To search
these full-text collections, select "Journals@OvidFullText"
when accessing Ovid CINAHL. |
Sociological Abstracts Social science researchers now have access to the full Sociological Abstracts
database, available online through the FirstSearch service. SocAbs indexes
more than 1,500 scholarly journals, as well as serials, conference papers,
books, and dissertations from all over the world. In addition to sociology,
the database covers related fields in the social and behavioral sciences.
Coverage begins in 1963, with abstracts beginning in 1974. |
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We hope you find these new resources useful. |
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Moooooove over, wires and cords!
No longer are you restrained to a desktop computer.
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Introducing the Library COW |
News from the Minneapolis CampusOver the past few months, we have purchased a significant number of new titles related to palliative care. A generous donation to the library by Alice Rogers offered us an opportunity to explore recent works related to improving end-of-life experiences for patients, their families and their caregivers. The World Health Organization defines palliative care as "the active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment." The literature of palliative care is multidisciplinary. It includes works on ethics, spiritual and emotional care, pain relief, medical futility, hospice care, health policy, and health technologies. In Minneapolis, this collection development effort was undertaken by Amy Naughton, Reference and Circulation Librarian, and Andrew Jung, a library student staff member and Library and Information Science graduate student. This project dovetails nicely with the College's recent collaborative effort with various community partners on the topic of palliative care. Our intent was to weave together the best recent works to support student, faculty and staff research in this area. written by Cynthia Stromgren |
| Amy Shaw, Assistant Professor and Systems & Performing Arts Librarian, St. Paul Campus, has just completed an article, "Sweet Harmonies from Little Wooden Boxes: Mandolin Playing in Minneapolis and St. Paul," for the spring 2001 issue of Minnesota History. | |
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Lynne Graham Washington, Audio-Visual Technician, joins the staff of the St. Paul campus Library. |
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I joined the CSC Libraries staff last fall, working evenings and weekends on the St. Paul campus as an Audio-Visual Technician. My work here allows me to utilize my computer and graphic skills - check out my work on the video bulletin board on the St. Paul campus. Working at St. Kate's has brought back lots of memories. The floors, hallways, and buildings remind me of my high school days at St. Joseph's Academy. During the day, I work as an audio-visual installer and do freelance work as a videographer and producer. When I'm not at work, I direct the Falcons Drill Team/Drum Corps. We perform at most parades and travel all over the Midwest, winning many trophies and awards along the way. |
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The
article tells the story of the mandolin craze that swept Minnesota at
the turn of the twentieth century. The instrument was brought to the area
in the late 1880s by Italian immigrants, who formed mandolin and guitar
clubs. Before long, the mandolin had attracted players from all walks
of life and many ethnic groups, including Scandinavians, African-Americans,
Filipinos, Russians, and Ukrainians. More than fifty mandolin clubs and
orchestras, including the long-lived University of Minnesota Mandolin
Club, flourished in the Twin Cities over the next five decades. Some of
these ensembles were led by women directors, one of whom was a Sister
of St. Joseph. While the mandolin fell victim to changes in popular taste
after 1940, today it is enjoying a revival across the country. The Minnesota
Mandolin Orchestra of Minneapolis is one of more than twenty groups in
the U.S. which are rediscovering this charming instrument.