The Moraine Valley Library and the Moraine Valley Book Store are happy to announce that the 2010-2011 One Book, One College text will be Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. To watch an online video about the book and to learn more about the program, visit our Web site: www.morainevalley.edu/ImmortalLife

Access to the Library’s online catalog and electronic databases will not be available from off campus from 5 p.m. on Friday, May 21st through 9 a.m. on Monday, May 24th. The scheduled electrical work affecting the L and B buildings this weekend will require that the library’s computer system be shut down. Access to the library’s electronic databases will, however, be available from computers in the other buildings on campus.

Congratulations to the library’s Information Literacy Librarian, Leslie Warren, on her recent election as a Director-At-Large for the Illinois Library Association. We are excited that Leslie will be representing the Moraine Valley Library at the state level.

Black Swan events are events that defy probability. They are things like wars, disease, and accidents that are highly unlikely but they happen and greatly change our lives and world. The library’s Check It Out podcast invited math faculty members Jerimi Walker and Mario Borha to discuss Nassim Taleb’s book The Black Swan. This is an interesting discussion about the unlikely things that happen all around us.

The audio of this event is available below:

Here are some additional resources on The Black Swan:

First, if you are interested in picking this up in library in the south suburbs of Chicago, here’s a link: The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb.

If you want to listen on the Web: ‘Black Swans’ and the Problems of Probability from NPR.

If you want more depth, you may want to listen to “Taleb on Black Swans, Fragility, and Mistakes from Econtalk.

The library welcomed panelists Dr. Janell Hart, Dr. Maleeha Ashan, and Anna Coco, who discussed the causes, symptoms, treatment, and prevention of self-injury. This event was organized by the Behavioral Sciences Department.

The audio of this event is available below: