Library Blog

The Durham Tech Library staff is heartbroken to announce the death of Rachel Smith, our Northern Durham Center Librarian and off-site library liaison. We are shocked and devastated, and in addition to feeling Rachel's loss at our college, we are incredibly sad for her family’s loss. Rachel joined our Durham Tech Library team in January 2020. Ten weeks later, we were all off-campus and trying to adapt to new, uncharted circumstances. To help support our campus community during the transition

“Atlanta is where I learned the rules and learned them quick. No one ever called me stupid. But home isn’t where you land; home is where you launch. You can’t pick your home any more than you can choose your family. In poker, you get five cards. Three of them you can swap out, but two are yours to keep: family and native land.” --Roy Othaniel Hamilton Jr in An American Marriage Roy and his wife Celestial are a young, attractive, highly-educated African American couple on the way to living their

Dig deep while reading narrow by completing a microhistory for the Read Great Things 2021 Challenge. The most important question: What the heck is a microhistory? A microhistory is a narrowly-focused, in-depth examination of a certain subject or individual over time. Some microhistories focus on illuminating the life and impact of a lesser-known group, event, or individual. Others dig deep into a subject or object to trace its historical, social, and/or other (economic, cultural, psychological

April is Financial Literacy Month! What's that? April is almost over? Better late than never! Sometimes the most useful pieces of financial literacy are how to negotiate initial salary or pay raises, how to get that public service loan forgiveness, how to reduce medical bills (ask for that bill to be itemized), and other things that involve more than teaching someone how to open a checking account. See below for resources Durham Tech and the library offer for helping you handle your money. Allow

Hello, hello, hello! The podcast is back after a short break and this time I spoke with Durham Tech librarian Tracey Callison about our new Spanish Language Collection. She put in the leg work to make this happen. Find out how a library collection gets put together, why having more Spanish language materials is important, and what Tracey is reading! (Hint: She's reading one of our favorites!) Find the 2021 Read Great Things Challenge categories on the library blog! Follow the library on Facebook

Thanks to everyone who sent me your favorite poem! This year's poetry month bookmarks contain some nature poems, some poems about peeking at other people's houses (consensually), an ode to James Baldwin, and several more. Click through to download previous years' and 2021's Durham Tech Library Poetry Month bookmarks, which include Joy Harjo's “Ah, Ah,” Danez Smith's “little prayer,” Kay Ryan's “Sharks’ Teeth,” Stanley Kunitz's “Halley’s Comet,” Rita Dove's “My Mother Enters the Work Force,” Karl

How are you celebrating Earth Day today? Are you watching the Earthday.org live stream? Are you heading over to the Piedmont Wildlife Center for their Earth Day Fly-Thru? Going on a hike? Attending the virtual Piedmont Earth Day Fair? Getting ready to take pictures of trees and flowers in your neighborhood to participate in the City Nature Challenge? Watching nature documentaries? How about reading? Check out these great new books we have in the Dr. Phail Wynn Collection. Any one (or all) would

In addition to almost being Earth Day, it's time for April's Crafternoon! Current students can pick up a spring flower kit that includes a seed packet of flowers, a small bag of potting soil, a ceramic pot, and a set of paints and brush to decorate your pot in one of two places: 1) in the Main Campus Library or 2) at the Food Pantry's outdoor pickup location (outside of Phillips). Kits are first come, first served. Send us pictures of your painted planters to library@durhamtech.edu Crafternoons

Earth Day is April 22nd, but there is no need to wait until Thursday to start joining the action! You can join TODAY. There are 3 events in the run up to Earth Day, and then there will be Earth Day Live on April 22nd. Click the link below to find information about each event and reading recommendations! All events are virtual and free. April 20th, 2:30 PM ET Youth Speaks: Our Message to World Leaders on Earth Day 2021 Organized by Earth Uprising International and Earthday.org, this is a four

Are you planning a trip to see some waterfalls? Want to find some wildflowers nearby those waterfalls? The library can help! We have several guidebooks to waterfall hikes in North Carolina and the surrounding areas. You read that right, these guidebooks are to WATERFALL hikes. Not boring hikes where you just look at trees, or mountains, or gorges. Waterfalls are where it's at.* Hiking Waterfalls North Carolina: A Guide to the State's Best Waterfall Hikes A great guide of all the waterfall hikes