The IU East Campus Library has moved to a new blog platform. We are currently migrating our old blog posts over, but stay tuned! We’ll be back to our regular blog schedule (new posts every Monday) very soon.
Thank you for your patience,
The IU East Library Team
One hundred years ago, nine newspapers got together to sponsor a spelling competition for middle school students at the national level. While the words and the spellers have changed, the National Spelling Bee celebrated its 100th anniversary on May 31. This year’s winner, Faizan Zaki, is from Allen, TX and took second place last year. This year’s winning word? Eclaircissement, which means “to clear up something obscure” or “enlightenment”.
Some of the winning words in the past were perhaps easier to spell. Can you match the winning word with its definition?
| A. Gladiolus (1925) B. Shalloon (1971) C. Insouciant (1951) D. Euonym (1997) E. Odontalgia (1986) F. Semaphore (1946) G. Abseil (2024) | 1. An apt name for something 2. To rappel up a rock wall 3. A perennial flower related to iris 4. Indifferent, or showing lack of concern 5. A type of wool fabric 6. A toothache 7. A type of communication using flags |
(Answers: a: 4, b:2, c:5, d:1, e:6, f:7, g:2)
According to Scripps, the longtime sponsor of the National Spelling Bee, the term “spelling bee” dates to roughly 1875. However, spelling contests probably date to about the time the US was founded, which coincides with the publication of the first English language dictionaries. While it celebrates 100 years of the National Spelling Bee, this year’s contest is only the 97th competition. The spelling bee was called off during World War II in 1943, 1944 and 1945, and also in 2020 during COVID.
The National Spelling Been has been subject to a number of firsts. In 1936, Akron, OH native MacNolia Cox became the first Black spelling bee finalist, making her way to the final five in 1936. Her success paved the way for future champions of color, with 30 of the past 36 coming from India. While most spelling bees have only one winner, 2019’s contest resulted in many more, the first time more than a single winner was declared. After three tie-breaking rounds in which each speller correctly spelled their words, eight winners were given the title of co-champion. The ninth-place winner was considered the runner-up that year.
How good is your spelling? One of the best ways to become an effective speller is to know the histories and origins of words. The Oxford English Dictionary is the premier source for a task of this sort. A better understanding of the long and tangled history of the English language can also be helpful. If you are spelling competitively, it also helps if the person before you spelled their word incorrectly – in which case you are 13% more likely to spell it right. But if you have other questions about spelling, feel free to ask us! iueref@iu.edu.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to reflect on the importance of mental well-being. While conversations around mental health are becoming more common, it can still be difficult to know where to start when caring for your own mental health.
Fortunately, many national organizations offer valuable resources to help guide you:
Taking the first step can be hard—but you’re not alone, and help is always available.
Online counseling sessions are available for all students via Timely Care. IU East students also have access to Chat with a Counselor via Director of Behavioral Health Jennifer Claypoole. Students can stop by Springwood 229, schedule an appointment online, or call 765-973-8646 to make an appointment. Employees can get help through the SupportLinc Employee Assistance Program.
The library provides several reliable resources to support mental well-being. Databases such as PsychInfo, Proquest Psychology, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection and MEDLINE with Full Text offer valuable resources to support mental health research. Additionally, our collection of mental health books include: Give me space but don’t go far : my unlikely friendship with anxiety by Haley Weaver, Saving Five by Amanda Nguyen, Marbles : mania, depression, Michelangelo, and me by Ellen Forney, The Me Without by Jacqueline Raposo, and more. For even more, explore eBook Central and eBooks by EBSCO.
Whether you are conducting research or seeking personal growth, we are here for you. ASK US! iueref@iu.edu or simply click this button:
IU East is fortunate to have over 100 veterans as part of our student body, 52 of them women, including this year’s stirring commencement speaker, Brea Hunter. The perspectives and lived experiences of veterans and active-duty servicemembers adds immeasurably to the discussion in any classroom, from nursing to history to criminal justice. IU East seeks to grow this relationship, offering online Bachelor’s and Master’s programs targeted to help mobile service-members to complete their degrees, and returning something of value to those who bravely serve in our defense.
May is Military Appreciation Month, and contains Memorial Day and Armed Services Day, which give us the opportunity to reflect on the courage and selflessness of veterans. Women have been part of the United States’s military since 1775, although originally in civilian roles like nursing and cooking. Loretta Walsh was the first non-nurse enlisted in the U.S. military, joining the United States Naval Reserve in 1917, and eventually becoming a Naval Reserve petty officer. By the time of the Vietnam War, over ten thousand women formally served as air traffic controllers, intelligence officers, and clerks, and their involvement and scope of service in all branches of the military has only grown since then. Today, over 15% of West Point graduates are women, and ten women have risen to the rank of four-star general or admiral.
The library can support both scholarship and casual learning about women who serve. Several databases are exceptional on the history of the armed services, including Military and Government Collection and ProQuest Military. The library also offers ebooks like Women and Gender Perspectives in the Military: An International Comparison by Robert Egnell, Women in the United States Military: An Annotated Bibliography by Judith Bellafaire, Soldiers’ Stories: Military Women in Cinema and Television since World War II by Yvonne Tasker, Women at War: The Story of Fifty Military Nurses Who Served in Vietnam by Elizabeth Norman, Serving Our Country: Japanese American Women in the Military During World War II by Brenda Lee Moore, A Woman’s War: The Professional and Personal Journey of the Navy’s First African American Female Intelligence Officer by Gail Harris, Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II by Sarah Byrn Rickman, and Women at War by Elspeth Cameron Ritchie.
Or you can check out our display of books in the library, including The girls who stepped out of line: untold stories of the women who changed the course of World War II by Major General Mari K. Eder, Fly like a girl: one woman’s dramatic fight in Afghanistan and on the home front by Mary Jennings Hegar, Forgotten warriors: the long history of women in combat by Sarah Percy, Beyond the call: three women on the front lines in Afghanistan by Eileen Rivers, An army in skirts by Frances DeBra Brown, and Band of sisters: American women at war in Iraq by Kirsten Holmstedt.
Are you interested in discovering more military history? You can Ask Us at iueref@iu.edu or click this button:
The Center for Faculty Development and the Campus Library would like to congratulate Tim Scales from the School of Business and Dr. Young You from the School of Natural Science and Mathematics for being awarded the Course Material Transformation Fellowship!
This fellowship supports instructors in their efforts to adopt and create affordable course materials, including open educational resources (OER), library licensed content, and open access materials. The Fellowship Program aims to:
Fellowship recipients receive a $2,000 stipend from the Center for Faculty Development and will have the assistance of instructional technologists and librarians during the process of locating, developing, and adapting the course material.
Tim will be eliminating a $175 textbook/ $45 eText by using local resources such as videos from WCTV’s “In Your Business,” “My Life Indiana: Super Achievers” stories from the Allen County Genealogy Center, and IU Venture podcast episodes to curate zero cost learning material for his BUS-W212 Exploring Entrepreneurship class. With an expected 15 students a semester, Tim’s students can expect to save anywhere between $675-$2,625 in textbook costs.
Dr. You will be using OER material, such as math tutorials and notes from Paul’s Online Notes for MATH-M313 Elementary Differential Equations and Its Applications. Dr. You will also create new lecture videos, problem sets, and homework material to accompany the new reading material. By moving away from the traditional eText which cost $60.79, Dr. You can expect his 70-80 students to save an estimated $4,255-$4,863 in textbook cost annually.
Both faculty members will work over the course of the summer and fall to complete the work in transitioning their courses to a zero-cost textbook class and will implement the materials in spring 2026. Students will be surveyed on the effectiveness of the materials at the end of the courses.
This fellowship aligns with the IU East 2030 plan to support student success by lowering the cost of higher education and making course materials accessible on the first day of class a reality for all students, regardless of socioeconomic status. If you have any questions about the Course Material Transformation Fellowship or open education at IU East, please reach out to Assistant Librarian of Access Services Beth South at eabrockm@iu.edu.
Although the term “zombie” dates to the late 18th century, Western depictions of zombies are fairly recent, although myriad in interpretation. Zombies are generally associated with Haiti, a connection fostered through literature at least since the early 20th century. While Wade Davis’ examination of zombies in 1986 became a bestseller and led to a movie of the same name, a precursor exists. “The Magic Island” by William Seabrook, was originally published in 1929 and is believed to be the first English-language text focused on zombies.
Among the classic monsters, zombies receive some of the more interesting treatments in popular culture. The beloved Jane Austen novel “Pride and Prejudice” received a zombified makeover in 2009 with the clever “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”. While the undead feature heavily in many forms of print and visual media, few think of music as a primary vehicle for discussing zombies. Sufjan Stevens included a zombie-themed song on his epic album “Illinoise,” which recalls the plot of Wes Craven’s classic film “Night of the Living Dead.” Zombies, like all other monsters, have been reimagined according to their place and time. Two television series, “Resurrection” and “Glitch” include new twists on zombies, maintain only the idea of returning from the dead.
But the eternal life aspect of zombies has led to the coining of a new information literacy term. “Zombie claims” refer to false stories that come back over and over again, regardless of the evidence against them. It can be difficult to identify a zombie claim at first, but when you start digging for proof, you may find information that is quite old, maybe ten years or more, that is associated with the claim. Moreover, since these stories keep returning, you may have seen one of them before – and you remember that it’s not true, no matter how many other people might believe them. Yet no matter how many times fact checkers and experts debunk them, they keep coming back for new audiences.
An awareness, and even an appreciation, of zombies might be more useful than you think. Established by the Zombie Research Society in 2007, Zombie Awareness Month isn’t just about popular culture and video games. Rather, zombies can serve as a basis for educating about a number of topics, including mathematics, epidemiology, neuroscience and many others. Interested in other ways zombies have been explored or used in education? Want to know more about how the term “zombie” has been used? Curious about other uses for terms like “the living dead”? ask us! iueref@iu.edu.
It’s that time of the semester. Final projects are coming due. Final exams are next week. Graduation is in a couple weeks. Have last minute questions about your research? Stop by the Library for Pop-Up Research at the Library!
Mark your calendars! Tuesday, April 29th.
Don’t have time on Tuesday? Reach out to your IU East Campus Library team for assistance with all your research needs. Email us at iueref@iu.edu.
In the meantime, here are some of our top picks for getting your research started:
CQ Researcher Database: Dive into comprehensive reports on the hottest current and trending issues! From health and social trends to criminal justice, international affairs, education, technology, and the economy, CQ Researcher has you covered with in-depth analyses.
ComAbstracts: Explore over 100,000 articles, books, and records in human communication studies. Topics include mass communication, human interaction, rhetoric, health communication, journalism, and more. Perfect for crafting effective research questions and defining primary sources!
JSTOR: Dive into a treasure trove of multidisciplinary collections that bring history to life. Explore rare monographs, pamphlets, manuscripts, letters, oral histories, government documents, images, 3D models, spatial data, type specimens, drawings, paintings, and more. Embark on a journey through time and space with JSTOR’s primary sources
Opposing Viewpoints: An engaging online experience for anyone seeking in-depth information and diverse opinions on today’s hottest social issues. Drawing from the acclaimed Greenhaven Press series, this resource features continuously updated viewpoint articles, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files, and links to vetted websites, all organized into a user-friendly portal.
On February 9, 1964, a quartet of four young men from the northern port city of Liverpool, England, made their American television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. By April 4 of that year, that same band would hold ten of the top 12 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including the entire top 5. Heavily bootlegged, widely covered and deemed the best selling artist of all time by Billboard, the Beatles remain a musical phenomenon unparalleled in popular music history. As troubadours and rock stars, they wrote an enduring collection of romantic modern classics. As trendsetters and influencers, they also placed an emphasis on universal love that had been rarely explored in popular music to that time.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney met on July 6, 1957, after John’s band The Quarrymen had finished playing a show at a local church. John was 16 and Paul had just turned 15 years old. The two of them connected over a shared love of American music, particularly rock and roll and rhythm and blues but a number of other genres as well, and began playing together throughout the Liverpool area. When they decided they needed a better guitar player, Paul mentioned his schoolmate George Harrison, who was 14 years old. The three of them formed the core of what became the Beatles, adding drummer Ringo Starr in 1962.
While early songs focused on more conventional romantic tropes, such as She Loves You, Love Me Do and Can’t Buy Me Love, they quickly evolved their musical repertoire to encompass self- doubt, conflict, and anti-establishment sentiments. Yet it is their treatment of love on a worldwide scale that may be among their more important contributions to songwriting. Beginning in 1965 with The Word, the group began composing and recording songs that reflected a deeper, more emotionally resonant worldview that allowed everyone to participate.
Although songs like “Within You Without You” and “With a Little Help from My Friends” both feature a sense of camaraderie and human connection, “All You Need is Love” is probably the most triumphant example of a song focused on all-encompassing fellowship and peace. While the song was intended to be recorded entirely live as part of the groundbreaking Our World satellite broadcast on June 25, 1967, drums and some of the orchestration had been recorded ahead of time for technical reasons. John wrote the song especially for the broadcast, which went to #1 in both the US and the UK in the summer of 1967. Other songs that feature this same sense of love include Across the Universe, Come Together and All Together Now.
The Beatles broke up in 1970-after recording eight albums and 213 songs, yet their impact on popular music is indelible and long-lasting. On February 2, 2025, they earned their most recent Grammy for Best Rock Performance for their single Now and Then. Their work together and individually has influenced countless artists, and their rapid growth and demonstrated experimentation remains unparalleled. Interested in learning more about the Beatles? Want to gain insight into popular music of the 1960s? Curious about how the British Invasion affected American music? Ask us! iueref@iu.edu.
Being a part of Indiana University enables free access to a dazzling array of academic resources. However, even the largest institution doesn’t have everything, and eventually any scholar will find a citation for a vital resource to which they do not have access. Perhaps a book, or an article, or even a DVD. Whatever it is, you know it would make your research deeper and better. But it can only be found through a paywall
Fortunately, the library can help you get those hard-to-acquire resources. For books that any IU library owns, you can get them transferred from another campus easily – from IUCAT, Indiana University’s catalog, you can request books be sent here from by clicking the red ‘Request Delivery’ button. And for articles you find the citation for in a library database, click ‘Find It’ or ‘LibKey Instant PDF’ which will help you connect to the full text of articles – or download the LibKey Nomad browser extension, which will even work when you are using non-library sites like Google Scholar, or PubMed, or Wikipedia.
Still, some things just aren’t available for free anywhere online. For that, we can seek it out from another library that owns it. This process is called interlibrary loan, and at IU, the system to make interlibrary loan requests is called ILLiad. All students, faculty, and staff can use ILLiad. If it is your first time, click ‘create an account’ and make up a username and password (you can use your IU email for this, but do not have to, if there’s another you prefer).
After you have an account, under ‘Create Request’, choose what you want to obtain – normally a book (or something else tangible that has to be returned, like a DVD) or an article (or something similar that does not have to be returned, like a book chapter or a dissertation). Put in as much information as you know about the item(s) in question – not all blanks have to be filled in – and click submit. There is no cost for using ILLiad. Our library will contact other libraries that do own what you need, and request that it be sent here for your use. Articles and other digitally-delivered items will typically come in within a few business days. Books and other materials that come through the mail will take longer – and there is currently a large-scale back-up and the Indianapolis hub of the United State Postal Office, so expect a two week minimum to get those. So, if you need books for your final paper or project, request them now! More detailed instructions for using ILLiad can be found here.
Most types of academic material are obtainable, but there are sometimes cases where the item can’t be acquired. Perhaps it’s a rare book, and not many libraries have it, or everyone who does has it in a non-circulating collection (genealogy books are particularly notorious for this). Interlibrary loan will typically not be able to obtain full issues of periodicals, as well as some CDs or DVDs. And whole ebooks are not available through interlibrary loan, although we can request chapters from them. More information about potential restrictions and copyright issues can be found here.
Don’t be intimidated by a paywall – it is not the end of the story, and most things not held by IU East can still be obtained for your use. If you need any assistance (in creating an account, managing your requests, finding the status of your requests, or even just help finding an article or book), please contact us at iueill@iu.edu. More information about the ILL system can also be found here.
Currently, the entire staff of The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has been placed on administrative leave. Despite Congress’ support to continue funding this agency, President Trump signed an executive order to begin dismantling IMLS. This small agency, which only receives about 0.005% of the annual federal budget, greatly impacts communities across the country. IMLS awards grants to museums and libraries to support programs such as job training, psychological and wellness needs, collection preservation and exhibits, disability services, climate change preparations, reading programs and bookmobiles, and basic library services such as access to internet, technology, and digital books (Limbong, 2025; Curlin, 2025).
Attacks on libraries and librarians are nothing new in recent years, but with the disheartening announcement of the current shutdown of IMLS, the IU East Campus Library would like to make a special effort to recognize National Library Week this year, and to remind the IU East campus community that your library team is here to support you and your learning. It is our mission to provide resources and services that support the academic engagement and research of diverse participants in our teaching and learning community.
The Campus Library continues to evolve with new programming and collection development opportunities and we hope that we can continue to connect people with knowledge, technology, and resources while fostering civic engagement, critical thinking, and lifelong learning. We will also continue to protect your right to read, think, and explore without censorship, and provide a welcoming space for all.
The IU East Campus library team works hard to make our library services efficient and to satisfy all our patrons needs. As the interim director, I would like to personally thank Coordinator of Reference and Media Services Matt Dilworth, Coordinator of User Services and Archivist Jesse Whitton, Assistant Librarian of Instruction and Outreach KT Lowe, and Associate Librarian of Research and Journal of Student Research at IU East (JSRIUE) editor Sue McFadden for all their efforts in their roles. I would also like to send my support and encouragement to all my library colleagues this National Library Week. You are all awesome in your efforts to find creative ways to make do with all the challenges we face.
If you have any questions related to our IU East Campus library services or need help with research assistance, Just Ask Us at iueref@iu.edu. And if you’re able, thank your favorite librarian this week or stop by the library to say hello! We like hellos.
ALA Public Policy and Advocacy. (2025). “Federal Resources.” https://www.ala.org/advocacy/federal-resources
American Library Association. (2025, March 31) “ALA says White House “cutting off opportunity” for Americans as administration cuts IMLS staff.” https://www.ala.org/news/2025/03/ala-says-white-house-cutting-opportunity-americans-administration-cuts-imls-staff
Curlin, E. (2025, March 31). “Indiana libraries could see reduced services, longer wait times after national IMLS cuts.” Indiana Daily Student. https://www.idsnews.com/article/2025/03/indiana-monroe-county-library-imls-cuts
Limbong, A. (2025, March 31). “Entire staff at federal agency that funds libraries and museums put on leave.” NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/03/31/nx-s1-5334415/doge-institute-of-museum-and-library-services