Library News
Booth Library hosts Finals Week Activities May 4-8
Posted on April 28th, 2026
Booth Library offers a series of Finals Week activities to provide opportunities for you to relax and enjoy yourself during the end of this semester! We hope you’ll join us for our fun-filled week:
- Snack Break & Study Tables, May 4, 5 to 7 p.m. on the Atrium Bridge & Collaboration Commons
Enjoy a lemonade bar and birthday snacks (Happy 75th Birthday, Miss Booth!) and join a group study session in the adjacent Collaboration Commons. Grab a snack and a study spot to recharge your laser focus on finishing the semester strong!
- Therapy Dogs, May 4 & 5, 1 to 3 p.m. in the library’s South Lobby
If you need a nuzzle, stop by Booth’s south entry on Monday and Tuesday, May 4 and 5 between 1 and 3 p.m. to cuddle a canine and let your stress melt away.
- Zero Balancing Sessions by appointment, May 4, 9 to 11:30 a.m. & May 5, 10 a.m. to noon in the Edgar Reading Room
Misty Rhoads, Ph.D., CZB will be offering FREE, brief Zero Balancing sessions by appointment. Zero Balancing produces an experience of deep relaxation while helping reduce stress, promoting structural alignment, and enhancing energy flow. While fully clothed and lying face-up on a massage table, Dr. Rhoads will work with pressure points in your body to help relieve body aches and boost well-being. Treat yourself to fifteen minutes of deep relaxation and stress relief!
- Retro Gaming, May 4-6 in the 4000 Lounge
Vintage video games, a massive video screen, and comfy chairs: perfect for a quick break from your academic endeavors! Visit our Library Technology Services desk on the 4000 level to get started.
- Send a Postcard Home, all week on the 3000 concourse
Let your family and friends at home know you’re working hard and will see them soon. You provide the message; we’ll provide the postage.
- Games & Puzzles, all week on the 3000 concourse
Help complete a puzzle on the 3000-level corridor! While you’re there, grab some coloring sheets or puzzles on paper to tuck into your backpack for later.
All of these events are free and open to the EIU community. Work hard, practice self-care, and finish strong! Booth Librarians are on standby to help you. You’ve got this!
Celebrate National Library Week at Booth Library April 20-23
Posted on April 17th, 2026
National Library Week is an annual celebration of the contributions libraries provide for scholarship and community connection. From April 20th-23rd, find your library joy during Booth Library’s fun-filled events and activities! Join us as we celebrate intellectual freedom and uplift our community of library patrons and workers.
Monday, April 20th
- Right to Read Day: Defend our right to read! Use today to take action to protect the freedom to read and fight back against censorship. Learn more about Right to Read Day online.
- Button-Making with the LAB: Stop by the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union from 11 AM-1 PM to make your own button and visit with the LAB members!
- University Archives Open House: Check out our Mary J. Booth display and our collection of EIU artifacts in the south entry of Booth Library from 1-3 PM.
- Exhibit Opening/Artists’ Talk: Celebrate the artistic talents of EIU students and engage in discussion with the 75th Anniversary Student Art Contest finalists in the West Reading Room at 5 PM.
Tuesday, April 21st
- National Library Workers Day: Libraries work because we do! Now is the time to celebrate the hard work put in by our library workers. We encourage EIU faculty and staff to send a shout out to a library worker online.
- 17th Annual Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Works: Join us in the West Reading Room from 4 PM-5:30 PM to celebrate our award recipients.
Wednesday, April 22nd
- EIU Giving Day: Step up for Booth Library and uphold the future of EIU!
Thursday, April 23rd
- Take Actions for Libraries Day: Advocate for libraries across the country! Look to ALA for ways to campaign against book bans and voice your support for libraries.
- Documentary Watch Party: Discover how librarians fight against book banning in the United States during our screening of the documentary film The Librarians (2025) in the West Reading Room from 6-8 PM.
All events are free and open to the public. For the latest information, follow Booth Library on Facebook and Instagram.
It’s MEDIA MAYHEM at Booth Library’s spring media sale April 15
Posted on April 10th, 2026
No worries about inclement weather this time!
Booth Library Spring Annual Book Sale will be in the library’s Atrium from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, at the center of the library’s main level, regardless of weather conditions outdoors! To find the Media Sale in the library’s Atrium, enter the building at the north or south entry, and take the 3000 level concourse to the central elevator or Atrium stairs, then proceed downstairs to the 1000 level.
Take note, we’re spinning a different tune this time, and hosting a Book Sale without the BOOKS.
Instead, we’re rolling out the VINYL and other media collections that don’t tolerate heat, moisture and outdoor conditions at our traditional sale events! Look forward to browsing classical, jazz, and popular music:
- More than 800 LPs
- More than 700 DVDs
- More than 2000 CDs
- Audiobooks
- Sheet music, too!
No reading required. Just press play. Browse our Vinyl, DVDs, CDs, including audio books, all at bargain basement prices! Pre-sale browsing, holds and purchases will not be permitted. All items have been donated by the campus and local communities. The proceeds from the sale are used to enhance library programs and services. For the latest information, check the library website, www.eiu.edu/booth/booksale, or find Booth Library on Facebook or Instagram.
Dynamic Data Exploration: JMP Data Analysis Workshop April 14
Posted on April 3rd, 2026
Booth Library’s Center for Student Innovation invites the EIU community to attend the JMP Data Analysis Workshop on Tuesday, April 14 from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Kevin Potcner, a professional statistician from JMP Software, will demonstrate analyzing data using a no-code interactive statistics software during this introductory workshop. Participants will learn the best practices and thought processes in exploring data through visualizations to transform raw data into meaningful features. These methods will be presented using examples across many disciplines, including business, engineering, health sciences, and others. Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptop to work with.
This workshop will be held at the 1000 level of Booth Library in the Center for Student Innovation. Register to attend the JMP Data Analysis Workshop through LibCal. For more information, please contact the CSI at csi@eiu.edu.
Booth Library to host “Authors@EIU” April 9 & April 15
Posted on April 1st, 2026
CHARLESTON – Booth Library’s Authors@EIU series continues April 9 and April 15. On April 9, the second event in the Spring 2026 series will recognize two recently published EIU faculty:
Alan Pocaro, Associate Professor, Art + Design
Tom Torluemke: Live! On Paper, 1987-2024, contributor Alan D. Pocaro
Skira-Arte Publishing, May, 2025
Pocaro’s long-form essay “In the Beginning” is featured in the 2025 book Tom Torluemke: Live! On Paper, 1987-2024, published by the prestigious SKIRA in 2025. “In the Beginning” traces the evolution of drawing into “works on paper,” charting a larger shift in which images move from sacred, active agents in the world to autonomous artworks and, ultimately, commodified objects. The essay culminates in the work of Tom Torluemke, whose practice reclaims paper as a vital, expressive space—reinvesting contemporary art with a sense of immediacy, humanity, and lived experience.
Alan Pocaro is an artist, writer, and educator. The author of over two hundred articles, essays, and reviews, his critical practice is deeply rooted in Chicago and the American Midwest.
and Gary Canivez, Ph.D., Professor, Psychology
Assessing Psychometric Fitness of Intelligence Tests Toward Evidence-Based Interpretation Practices, edited by Gary L. Canivez, Ph.D.
Bloomsbury Publishing, April, 2025
This book addresses issues and concerns regarding appropriate ethical and scientific underpinnings for the appropriate interpretation of intelligence tests. Ethical test interpretation requires test users to consider the empirical evidence for individual and all test score comparisons and to make appropriate clinical decisions accordingly. This requires test users to have competencies in advanced psychometric principles.
Gary Canivez, Ph.D. is professor of Psychology at Eastern Illinois University and principally involved in the Specialist in School Psychology program. He is senior editor for School Psychology Review and serves on the editorial boards of School Psychology and the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. Dr. Canivez is the author or coauthor of over 100 peer-reviewed articles. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 5 and 16), a Charter Fellow of the Midwestern Psychological Association, and an elected member of the Society for the Study of School Psychology. His research focuses on psychometric studies of tests of intelligence and psychopathology to help provide evidence necessary to guide evidence-based assessment.
On April 15, the final event in the Spring 2026 series will recognize three recently published EIU faculty:
Danelle Larson, Ph.D., Professor, Music Education and Director of the Music Education Division
Music Teaching and Learning in America’s Public Normal Schools
Edited by Danelle Larson, Ph.D. and Jill M. Sullivan, Ph.D.
Bloomsbury Publishing, January 2026
Dr. Larson and her colleague Dr. Jill Sullivan, Arizona State University, collaborated with fourteen authors who share research on histories of music in public normal schools (institutions for training teachers) in America. Combined with these histories are considerations of the impacts of race, gender, and geographic location on curriculum in America’s Public Normal Schools. Dr. Larson conducted research at EIU and authored the chapter “Music in the Eastern Illinois State Normal School.”
Danelle D. Larson is Professor of Music Education and Director of the Music Education Division at EIU. She teaches a variety of courses in the music education curriculum, supervises student teachers, and oversees the Master of Arts, Music Education Degree program that serves practicing music educators across the country. Her research interests include mentorship of new teachers, female military bands, and history of music education in public schools.
and Robin L. Murray, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, English, Film Studies and Women/Gender/Sexuality Studies
along with
Joseph K. Heumann, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Communication Studies
Eco-Teen Films, by Robin L. Murray, Ph.D. and Joseph K. Heumann, Ph.D.
Routledge, September, 2024
Focused on the impacts of environmental disasters and climate crises globally, this book examines the experiences of teens grappling with eco-disasters and issues in films of the twenty-first century. With an emphasis on teen activism, international settings and filmmakers, and marginalized perspectives, this book showcases teens on film that are struggling with present and future everyday eco-disasters amplified by climate change. By highlighting and interrogating diverse genres of teen films in which young adults encounter, address, and battle environmental issues and calamities while also struggling with adolescent development, this book acknowledges the young adult point of view missing from most critical ecocinema research and underlines connections between the more complex ‘coming-of-age’ themes found in teen films with ecocinema themes and approaches.
Robin L. Murray is Professor Emeritus of English, Film Studies, and Women/Gender/Sexuality Studies, EIU. Joseph K. Heumann is Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies, EIU. They have co-authored eight ecocinema books: Ecology and Popular Film: Cinema on the Edge (SUNY Press 2009) That’s All Folks?: Ecocritical Readings of American Animated Features (U Nebraska Press 2011) Gunfight at the Eco-Corral: Western Cinema and the Environment (U Oklahoma Press 2012), Film and Everyday Ecodisasters (U Nebraska Press 2014), Monstrous Nature: Environment and Horror on the Big Screen (U Nebraska Press 2016), Ecocinema and the City (Routledge 2018), Film, Environment, Comedy: Eco-Comedies on the Big Screen (Routledge 2022), and Eco-Teen Films (Routledge 2025).
Five authors are being featured in three Spring 2026 Authors@EIU events to celebrate the research, scholarship and creative success of EIU faculty and alumni who have recently achieved publication of a book or comparable scholarly or creative work. Both the April 9 and April 15 event will be held in the Library’s West Reading Room beginning with a shared reception at 5 p.m. Presentations will begin at 5:30 with introductory remarks, author presentations, and question & answer sessions for each author.
All members of the Charleston and EIU communities are welcome, including students.
###
MEDIA CONTACT:
Diane Highland
Events & Programming Coordinator, Booth Library
dehighland@eiu.edu /217-581-6061
Enhancing Creativity with Technology: CSI Workshops April 2026
Posted on March 31st, 2026
The Center for Student Innovation at Booth Library will be hosting four beginner-friendly workshops this April dedicated to helping the EIU community develop technical skills. Here are the upcoming workshops happening this month:
- Learn how to create professional flyers, social media posts, and more during the Adobe Express for Creative Works Learning Lab hosted on Wednesday, April 1st from 4 to 4:45 p.m.
- Add unique backgrounds to your photographs and videos during the Green Screen 101 workshop hosted on Wednesday, April 8th from 4 to 5 p.m.
- Turn a 3D model from a digital file into a printed 3D object during the 3D Printing 101 workshop hosted on Monday, April 13th from 6 to 7 p.m.
- Learn how to independently use the equipment in the CSI’s Podcasting Studio during the Podcasting 101 workshop hosted on Wednesday, April 15th from 5 to 6 p.m.
All events take place at the 1000 level of Booth Library in the Center for Student Innovation. Register to attend CSI workshops and learning labs through LibCal. For more information, please contact the CSI at csi@eiu.edu.
Make Your First Beat: Intro to Digital Audio Workstations March 25
Posted on March 9th, 2026
Booth Library’s Center for Student Innovation invites the EIU community to attend the Introduction to Digital Audio Workstations workshop on March 25th from 4-5:30 pm.
At this beginner-friendly workshop, participants will discover the technological elements of music and audio production through instructor-led guidance. Participants will learn how to utilize digital workstations and web-based tools to create and modify audio.
The Introduction to Digital Audio Workstations workshop will be led by Dr. Bradley D. Decker, Assistant Professor of Music Composition & Technology.
This workshop will be held at the 1000 level of Booth Library in the Center for Student Innovation. Register to attend the Introduction to Digital Audio Workstations workshop through LibCal. For more information, please contact the CSI at csi@eiu.edu.
Spring into Technology: CSI Workshops This March
Posted on March 6th, 2026
Throughout March, the Center for Student Innovation at Booth Library will be hosting three workshops dedicated to helping you learn more about the evolving technological landscape! These events are open to people of all expertise; from beginners to experts, you are welcome to participate! Look through the list of workshops happening this March:
Add unique backgrounds to your photographs and videos during the Green Screen 101 workshop hosted on Tuesday, March 10th from 6-7 pm.
Learn how to independently use the equipment in the CSI’s Podcasting Studio during the Podcasting 101 workshop hosted on Wednesday, March 11th from 4-5 pm.
Turn a 3D model from a digital file into a printed 3D object during the 3D Printing 101 workshop hosted on Wednesday, March 11th from 5:30-6:30 pm.
All workshops take place at the 1000 level of Booth Library in the Center for Student Innovation. Register to attend CSI workshops and learning labs through LibCal. For more information, please contact the CSI at csi@eiu.edu.
New library acquisitions for February
Posted on March 5th, 2026
Booth Library’s collections added a multitude of new items last month! Booth Library acquired and cataloged 447 physical items (books, DVDs, government documents, archival resources, and more) and 2385 electronic resources (including ebooks, ejournals, digital audiobooks, EIU student theses, and streaming videos) in February 2026. Please find the lists of new items at the links below. Individual issues of current periodicals are excluded. All items are discoverable through the library’s online catalog.
New acquisitions include items selected for purchase by Booth’s subject librarians, donations, re-cataloged library items, freely available government publications, and consortium-wide purchases.
Please contact your subject librarian with any questions.
Public Presentations Announced for EIU Children’s Literature Symposium
Posted on February 11th, 2026
CHARLESTON – Booth Library invites the campus and community to join us Wednesday and Thursday, February 25 and 26, for two featured public talks as part of the EIU Children’s Literature Symposium.
The EIU Children’s Literature Symposium is a two-day celebration honoring the importance, craftsmanship, and rich history of literature created for children. Through partnerships between Booth Library’s Ballenger Teachers Center, the EIU College of Education and Department of English, Charleston CUSD #1 elementary schools, and St. John’s Lutheran School, the symposium exemplifies the strong and collaborative bonds between Eastern Illinois University and the surrounding community.
The talks will allow the campus and greater community to engage with two accomplished professionals in the field of children’s literature. Both presentations are free and open to the public.
Wednesday, February 25:
5:00 p.m. Reception
5:30 p.m. Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Ph.D.
Making Books for ALL Children: A Celebration of My Life’s Work
Dr. Gilchrist will join us for an Alumni edition of our speaker series, Authors@EIU. She has illustrated 109 children’s books, authored 5 children’s books and a host of academic and textbook illustrations. Dr. Gilchrist holds a B.S. degree in Art Education from EIU; an M.A. in Painting from the University of Northern Iowa; an M.F.A. from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and a Ph.D. in English from Madison University.
*The Black Student Union RSO is co-hosting a documentary screening of Colors of Love: The Jan Spivey Gilchrist Story, on Monday, February 23 at 5 p.m. in the Library’s Center for Student Innovation. The documentary illustrates Gilchrist’s triumph from the dark shadows of the civil rights era to ascend as a heralded children’s book illustrator and author.
Thursday, February 26:
5:00 p.m. Reception
5:30 p.m. Suzan Alteri, Ph.D.
Racism and Representation in Children’s Literature
Dr. Alteri is Assistant Director of the Center for Children’s Books at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She previously served as Curator of the Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature at the University of Florida, one of the world’s most significant collections documenting the history of children’s books.
Each presentation will be followed by question-and-answer sessions. Parking is free and open to the public after 5:00 p.m.
Also publicly available Thursday, February 26, at 4:00 p.m. will be Children’s Literature Research Lightning Rounds in which Faculty scholars who conduct research in the field of children’s literature will share their findings.
Community members, students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend our public events to celebrate the importance of literature for children and early learning, and to engage with leading voices in children’s literature scholarship, including a distinguished EIU alumna.
###
MEDIA CONTACT:
Diane Highland
Events & Exhibits Coordinator, Booth Library
dehighland@eiu.edu / 217-581-6061
