Second Semester -- Here we come!

Welcome back, everybody. We are glad you are back and ready to finish up second semester. Don't forget our library hours:
7:30 AM -- 8:00 PM Monday, Tuesday, & Thursday
7:30 AM -- 4:30 PM Wednesday & Friday

AND

the resources and help we have for you after hours. Text us at 66746 or login to AskAway where you can chat with a librarian 24/7 and get help.

Mobile Vet Center Presentation

Tuesday, November 8, 2011
12:15 pm -- 1:00 pm
Room KW102

The Mobile Vet Center staff will give a presentation on tips and pointers for staff and faculty on how best to facilitate the veteran as he transitions from active duty back into civilian and student life.

The Mobile Vet Center will be located outside the OCC Gymnasium from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, contact the OCC Veterans Coordinator at 618-395-7777, ext. 2008.

Lee Martin Author Visit a Hit!

Many thanks to Lee Martin for sharing his expertise with OCC students, IECC Board Members Marilyn Wolfe and Brenda Culver, CEO Terry Bruce, staff, and faculty Friday, Sept. 30th. Special thanks to Deanna Ratts for helping arrange this visit, Carl Sager and Mona Nease for set up, Brittany Bass for single-handedly covering the library, Bev Zeigler and staff for smoothly handling lunch. Introductions by OCC President Rodney Ranes and Dean of Instruction Jeff Cutchin were awesome.

Lee's insights into his writing methods, his inspirations, and his comments about the use of the midwest region as source material for his novels captured the attention of his audience and gave them food for thought. Participants were totally captivated by his readings from his works and audibly sighed when he talked about throwing away 200 pages of the first version of his novel, The Bright Forever.

We were all mightily impressed with our former OCC graduate.

The Bright Forever

Have you read Lee Martin's book, The Bright Forever? This book draws from a real event that happened in Lawrenceville, IL in the 1970's. Good books are often based partly on facts or events that have occurred in a region known to the author. Remember, the advice -- "Write about what you know"-- is really true.
This book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 and it is REALLY good! Once you start reading it, you may be up all night, not able to put it down until the last page.

Lee Martin's From Our House: A Memoir

I just read Lee Martin's From Our House: a Memoir this past weekend in getting ready for his visit Sept. 30. I don't know how I missed it before, but it is a gripping account of his early life. I had to put it down several times to think and to get my balance back after some of the events he describes. It is a sharp picture of rural America, especially our region, and illustrates his talent in describing people, relationships, and consequences of their actions and events that happen to them. Check it out at the Anderson Library at Olney Central College.

Get Reading for Lee Martin's Visit Sept. 30

The Least You Need to Know
January 1996, Sarabande Books

In this collection of seven stories, Lee Martin's own distinctive voice has the qualities of his favorite setting: the commonplace and middle-class turned over with a searchlight of want and need to know. Morticians and insurance men, salesmen and farmers; women hoping to make life more beautiful and less pressing with delicate, bewildering hobbies and necessary flirtations; boys who veer from shame to pride, from decency to irredeemable wrongs, in an afternoon; people who do not quite recover, during the time of our acquaintance, but do not give up gracefully.

Guess Who's Coming to OCC?

We are having a special guest at OCC on Sept. 30, 2011. His name is Lee Martin and he is a nationally recognized and accomplished author. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for fiction in 2006(The Bright Forever)along with E.L. Doctorow (The March)and winner Geraldine Brooks(March).

Lee also happens to be a former OCC student. His books are on display in the Anderson Library at OCC and are available through the IECC college libraries (http://vufind.carli.illinois.edu/vf-iec/) and via the I-Share online catalog. He will make two presentations at OCC in the Banquet Room at 10 AM and 12 PM. Bring your lunch or buy a lunch special at OCC for $5.00 and join us for a lively discussion about writing and books.