May is Be Kind to Animals Month!

photo of a sheep

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:

See what you can find at the Library!

It’s National Library Week!

National Library Week logo 2023

National Library Week (April 23 – 29, 2023) is a time to celebrate our nation’s libraries, library workers’ contributions, and promote library use and support. The theme for National Library Week 2023 is “There’s More to the Story,” illustrating the fact that in addition to the books in library collections, available in a variety of formats, libraries offer so much more! Libraries bring communities together, providing internet and technology access, literacy skills, and support for users.

We are grateful for our Kalamazoo College library staff and student workers! Thank you!

Rare Book Room Spring 2023 Exhibit

Rare Book Room poster Spring 2023

The A.M. Todd Rare Book Room at the Kalamazoo College Library is hosting Play and Poverty: Childhood in the A.M. Todd Rare Book Room, an exhibit curated by Meaghan Kelly ’23!

Date: March 18 – June 9, 2023

Day/Time: Tuesday: 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Friday: 1 p.m.-4p.m., other times by appointment

Location: Upjohn Library Commons, room 326

Resources: Sexual Assault Survivors’ Library

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and the Library has (virtually) gathered titles to help people who want to learn more about sexual assault survivorship. Check out our Virtual Book Display for Sexual Assault Survivors for some of our library’s resources and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center for more on Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Need more information? Reference Librarians are here to help you! Email reference@kzoo.edu or use the Ask a Librarian
online form to make an appointment.

April is National Poetry Month

typewriter with poem

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!):

AntiRacism Reading Knook March 2023 Discussion

AntiRacism Reading Knook

ARRK March 2023 Discussion

Join us on Tuesday, March 21st in the ARRK Meeting Space at 11:30 a.m ET to discuss Chapter Five: There is No Innocence of Reckoning: Kalamazoo College Uncovers Its Racial and Colonial Past (37 pages total) by Anne Dueweke. If you are unable to attend the discussion, please feel free to post your thoughts on the chapter in the ARRK Meeting Space. Also refer to the list below for some helpful discussion/reading questions supplied by Anne Dueweke.

For further details on the AntiRacism Reading Knook, see the ARRK (AntiRacism Reading Knook) on the Inclusive Excellence website.


The AntiRacism Reading Knook (ARRK) is a collaboration between the K College library staff and our Inclusive Excellence (KCIE) leadership team. This initiative is NOT a book club, but seeks to facilitate campus-wide engagement with the books in the KCIE Reading for Change book collection. This collection was created to encourage learning about and facilitate greater access to antiracism information to all members of the campus community.

ARRK aims to:

  1. reduce barrier to entry into reading antiracism books,
  2. identify and highlight campus facilitators with experience teaching and/or disciplinary expertise who can provide context and guide discussions of specific texts,
  3. foster broader relationships among faculty and staff, and thus
  4. build greater capacity for an inclusive campus through sustained and focused engagement with shared texts.
  5. help catalyze members of the campus to engage in small group discussions of entire books in the collection (self-organized book clubs, if you will).

For further information on #ARRK see the KCIE AntiRacism Reading Knook page. To volunteer to lead one of these sessions complete the ARRK Discussion Leader application.

Therapy Dogs in the Library 10th Week!

Photo of dog and students

Relax and relieve some stress by spending a few minutes petting a furry animal friend! Therapy dogs will visit campus in the Kalamazoo College Library lobby on Thursday, March 9 from 3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. De-stress a bit with a canine companion before finals week kicks in.

Date: Thursday, March 9, 2022
Time: 3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Location: Upjohn Library Commons Lobby