Berntsen Library Blog

When the Library Takes Over

Over the summer of 2021, a fateful meeting occurred between two departments here on campus. The amazing Choua LeMay and Lisa Fredricks from the Cultural Development office wanted to partner with us. They had a fun idea - a takeover of the FORCE Instagram account. It sounds aggressive, but we promise they gave us permission! So we got to scheming and designing and recording videos, and last week all of our hard work came to fruition. Maybe you caught some of our stories on the @unwFORCE insta? Or maybe you didn't? Well fear not, we're here to give you a taste of what you missed. (Or you can see the saved highlight on their page!)

The mission of FORCE, and the meaning of their name, is to be a Fellowship of Reconciling Cultures Everywhere. Our goal in partnering with FORCE and the Cultural Development department was to highlight the resources we have available that can aid in that reconciliation. These books focus on the narratives, viewpoints, experiences, and issues of cultures from around the world, and from across our very own campus. Reconciling with other cultures begins by understanding and appreciating them, and we hope these resources will give you a place to start (or continue) that journey.

All of the following resources are available to check out, and can be found through Library Search.

There are so many more books we wanted to highlight and review, but there simply wasn't time or space! So we put them into a reading list so they're easy to find. This list is a work in progress, so check back again!

We also received some recommendations of books we should add to our collection, including:

• For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color, by Prisca Dorcas
• The Poet X and With The Fire on High, by Elizabeth Acevedo
• I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, by Erika L. Sánchez
• A Brief History of China, by Jonathan Clements

We're glad to say we already have some of these in our collection, and we will look into purchasing the rest! If you have a book you think the library should have in its collection, let us know! Send us an email at unwlibrary@unwsp.edu with your titles, and mention this blog.