Did you know that Illinois leads the country in pumpkin production? There are 457 million pounds of pumpkins that come from Illinois each year out of a total of 998 million pounds nation wide. You can learn more interesting halloween facts at this US Census Bureau page. If you are in the Halloween spirit, you may want to checkout some of these classic Ghost story books from the library.

It is with sadness that we morn the passing of Civil Right activist and pioneer, Rosa Parks. Parks is often known as the “mother of civil rights movement” garnered national attention in 1955, when she refused to give up her seat at the front of a bus to a white man. For interviews with Ms. Parks, visit this NPR site or visit this article from Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people on Ms. Parks. The library has several items in our collection available for check out on Ms. Parks.

In honor of the Sox reaching the world series, here are a couple of useful sources on the White Sox:

1) History of the White Sox from Major League Baseball

2) Historic Sox Photos from Library of Congress

3) Items in the Library’s Collection on the History of Baseball

The Swedish Academy has awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to British playwright Harold Pinter. The MVCC library has a number of works by Harold Pinter, as well as, works about Harold Pinter. This LION author page on Pinterlists additional information (off campus users must have an MVCC password).

This LIS news post about the quality of Wikipedia mentions that Wikipedia and similar technologies worship “the cult of the amateur.” Many experts call sources like Wikipedia into question because, frankly, there is very little quality control in Wikipedia. It is an unedited information source that does not cite sources or verify information. Anyone can write anything. Thus, this becomes a questionable source for student papers. If you are interested, you may want to read this Rough Type posting about quality control on the Web.

The Time Archive includes every cover throughout the history of Time magazine. It also has pieces of articles, but it charges you to read the entire artile. Remember, Moraine Valley students can access many of these articles fulltext through our online databases. Here are some interesting covers from various decades:

Pearl Jam (circa 1992)/a>
Miami Vice (circa 1985)
Chicago Bears (circa 1986)
Al Capone (circa 1930)
Hippies (circa 1967)
Man on the Moon (circa 1969)
George Orwell (circa 1983)
U.S. Atomic Arsenal (circa 1963)

“In 2006, City Lights and poetry lovers … will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the first publication of ‘Howl and Other Poems’ by Allen Ginsberg. Beginning in October 2005 and lasting through the fall of 2006, there will be a series of celebrations and commemorative readings.” The site includes a history of this poem (first read on October 6, 1955, at the Six Gallery in San Francisco), and a listing of celebrations. From City Lights Books.(citation from LII.org)

You can find many of Allen Ginsberg’s poems (including Howl) in the Moraine Valley Library collection.

Harriet Miers Nominated for Supreme Court: “Compilation of stories about the nomination by President George H. W. Bush of White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court. Provides audio files of broadcasts with information about her legal background, and a brief discussion of justices who had not previously served in the judiciary (such as Earl Warren, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Hugo Black, Louis Brandeis, and Abe Fortas). From National Public Radio.” (citation from LII.org)

Kelli over at the Lancing Library Internet and Technology Blog put up this post about Cook County Propterty Tax. It might be useful for all of you property owners.

Many Moraine Valley students read the works of the late pulitzer prize winning playwright August Wilson for literature and drama classes. Listen to thisNPR Story about Wilson. You can find materials in the MVCC library collection in the library’s catalog by clicking here. For additional information on Wilson, visit August Wilson’s main page in LION (MVCC password required) or visit Dartmouth’s August Wilson site.