The Library of Michigan has announced the selections for the 2024 Michigan Notable Books list. Every year, the Library of Michigan selects up to twenty of the most notable books, either written by a Michigan resident or about Michigan or the Great Lakes. The selected books are honored in the year after their publication or copyright date. Each selected title speaks to our state’s rich cultural, historical, and literary heritage and proves without a doubt that some of the greatest stories are found in the Great Lakes State. You can check out these picks through MeLCat!

• The All-American by Susie Finkbeiner – Revell
• Cinema Ann Arbor: How Campus Rebels Forged a Singular Film Culture by Frank Uhle – University of Michigan Press/Fifth Avenue Press
• A Cold, Hard Prayer by John Smolens – MSU Press
• Dearborn: Stories by Ghassan Zeineddine – Tin House Books
• Enough to Lose by R.S. Deeren – Wayne State University Press
• Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant: A Memoir by Curtis Chin – Little, Brown and Company
• Everything is Just Beginning: A Novel by Erin Bartels – Revell
• Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America by Audrey Clare Farley – Grand Central Publishing
• Great Women of Mackinac, 1800-1950 by Melissa Croghan – MSU Press
• In the Upper Country: A Novel by Kai Thomas – Viking
• Making Art in Prison: Survival and Resistance by Janie Paul – Hat & Beard Press
• Michigan Rocks!: A Guide to Geologic Sites in the Great Lakes State by Paul Brandes – Mountain Press
• My Murder: A Novel by Katie Williams – Riverhead Books
• An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford by Richard Norton Smith – Harper
• Pulp: A Practical Guide to Cooking with Fruit by Abra Berens – Chronicle
• The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk – Yale University Press
• Strikers: A Graphic Novel by Kiel Phegley – Graphic Universe
• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett – Harper
• Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley – Henry Holt and Co.
• The White Stripes: Complete Lyrics, 1997-2007 by Jack White – Third Man Books

Find more information about the Michigan Notable Books program by visiting Michigan.gov/NotableBooks. The Michigan Notable Books program is sponsored in part by the Library of Michigan Foundation, Michigan Center for the Book, and Michigan Humanities.

Not sure where to start your research? Try our Research Toolkit!

Become a more confident researcher with our tips on preparation, finding resources, evaluating information, and citations.

Librarians are available for individual consultations via Microsoft Teams or in person. Make an Appointment or email us at reference@kzoo.edu!

Want to know more about using your library? Check out our helpful videos on Microsoft Stream!

Perhaps you have an animal buddy at home. Maybe you’ve pet dogs in the Chapel (most Tuesdays and Wednesdays!) or the Library (during 10th week). Or it’s possible you’ve befriended a squirrel here on campus. Whatever your relationship with them, May is the month to celebrate compassion towards animals!

The Library has materials on these topics and more:

• The human-animal bond
• Animal welfare
• Animal behavior
• Animals in art
• Animals in literature
• Religious aspects of animals

See what you can find at the Library!

The Internet Archive makes many titles available as eBooks for free through the Open Library!

All you need to do to access a digital copy is create an Internet Archive account with any email address and password. This will give you access to digital titles for two weeks.

You can borrow ten books at a time from Open Library. Loans are for one hour for browsing and/or 14 days if the book is fully borrowable. When loans expire the books will be disabled on your device. Any book that you can borrow from Open Library is also available in audio form. Click the “listen” button next to the “borrow” button. Learn moe at the Open Library FAQ.

The A.M. Todd Rare Book Room at the Kalamazoo College Library is hosting A Scroll Through Time: The Evolution of Chinese and Japanese Bookbinding, an exhibit curated by Indigo Corvidae ’24!

Date: April 1 – June 7, 2024

Day/Time: Mondays: 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. and Fridays: 3 p.m. – 5p.m.

Location: Upjohn Library Commons, room 326

Celebrate National Poetry Month!

Kalamazoo has a special relationship with poetry. There are live poetry events, workshops, and readings year round! We are also home to Diane Seuss ’78, winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her work frank: sonnets.

Here are some poetry events and materials you can take advantage of in April (and all year!):

• Check out our virtual display featuring poetry books from our collection
• Attend an event by the Kalamazoo Poetry Festival
• Check out the Poetry Foundation, where you can search for poems or sign up for a poem of the day.
• Listen to poets read and discuss their works on the New Yorker Poetry Podcast
• Check out a book of poetry from our collection
• Read about 30 ways to celebrate National Poetry Month online or at home

Right to Read Day is a day for readers, advocates, and library lovers to take action to protect, defend, and celebrate the right to read against censorship and book banning.

Censors have recently accelerated their attempts to ban books in schools and public libraries. In 2023, the American Library Association documented efforts to censor 4,240 unique book titles in schools and public libraries.

The ACLU of Michigan recently launched an interactive map to track acts of censorship in Michigan. This map tracks incidents that resulted in a formal review process, so other acts of censorship that occur are not listed.

To celebrate Right to Read Day, take action and tell your elected officials to stand up to censorship. The Right to Read Day website has a form you can easily fill out to send a letter to your senators and representatives and ask them to defend your right to read!