Chinese New Year – Welcome to the year of the horse!

Image courtesy of Feelart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Today sees the start of 15 days of celebration to mark the Chinese New Year. Sometimes called Spring Festival, this is a time for visiting family and friends, special meals, fireworks and giving gifts. We’re not sure the weather at the moment is particularly good for fireworks, but all that sounds very lovely to us!

If you’d like to find out more about China or Chinese New Year, we do of course have lots of books and journals that you might be interested in. You might also like to check out this handy article from The Week, Kung hei fat choy! Saddle up for Chinese New Year. If you’re looking for some local celebrations, why not call in at the National Waterfront Museum on Sunday and see what’s going on?

Happy Independence Day!

Hot on the heels of Canada Day on Friday, today is American Independence Day. Fourth of July celebrations will be taking place today in the United States and all over the world. Once again you can get yourself in the mood for the festivities with the help of your SMU Library. We have an extensive collection of American literature in Townhill Library: Herman Melville, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac, Alice Walker... We've got them all! Dynevor Library has a superb collection of DVDs, so you can enjoy Hollywood classics like 42nd Street or more modern thrillers such as The Bourne Identity. (Remember, during the summer vacation, even the two-day loans will be issued out to 6th October 2011!) As ever, Owen Library is the place to go for tourism resources, so head to Mount Pleasant for travel guides and information on the USA and its cities and states. Go on, tuck into some of mom's apple pie and immerse yourself in some American culture. (Please don't get any pie on our resources, though!)

O Canada

1st July is Canada Day. It's the day when the people of Canada rejoice in all things Canadian (and their independence from Great Britain), so why not celebrate by rocking out to Summer of 69 and then settling down to watch Back to the Future? (Bryan Adams and Michael J. Fox are both Canadian, you see. ) The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, aka Kate and Wills, are joining in with events on the second day of their Canadian tour, but you can still mark the day if the furthest you're going is your SMU library. Introduce a Canadian theme to your borrowing - Townhill Library has a selection of books by Canadian author Margaret Atwood (I can heartedly recommend The Blind Assassin), find out more about the country with a travel guide from Owen Library at Mount Pleasant, or find out more about Canadian art and artists at Dynevor Library. Happy Canada Day everyone!