On Tuesday, September 17, 2024, the Friends of the Lehigh University Libraries hosted its 13th annual Harvest of Ideas reception in the Linderman Library Rotunda for faculty who published or edited a book or composition during the previous year. Greg Reihman, Vice Provost for Library and Technology Services, Boaz Nadav-Manes, University Librarian, and Bill George, Chair of the Friends of Lehigh University Library Programming Committee, presided over the celebration.
Reihman welcomed attendees and congratulated faculty authors, recognizing their work in creating and sharing diverse scholarship with the Lehigh community. He also provided updates on Linderman Library’s summer renovations, highlighting leather furniture and beautiful new flooring in the Rotunda. Additionally, Reihman proudly announced that Lehigh's library was awarded the 10th spot on The Princeton Review's list of "Best College Libraries" in the nation, based on student feedback.
Nadav-Manes shared several exciting new developments at the Lehigh Libraries in support of one of Lehigh's Future Makers goals to expand and strengthen the university's research environment. These include the launch of Single Search, a unified search platform for all library resources, enhancing ILL services, the expansion of journal and database collections relevant to the research community, and the acquisition of a significant science fiction fanzine collection. In the rapidly evolving field of generative AI, the Libraries have also expanded their text and data mining tools and begun testing Keenious, an AI tool that helps researchers find relevant academic articles.
In a spirited address, George, co-founder of Touchstone Theatre and Lehigh alum, expressed his passion for books and their transformative power. Recalling a moment of awe while reading Moby Dick, he emphasized that literature's magic goes beyond ink on paper and described the library as an extraordinary place of endless knowledge and dedication to community. Grateful to support the library’s mission, and as the Chair of the Friends’ Programming Committee, he invited others to join the Friends of the Lehigh Libraries and previewed its upcoming events that he said will "playfully, provocatively, tease our spirits and our minds to reach our way through knowledge."
A reading of all 18 authors and their publications followed.
The Faculty Authors collection represents a range of scholarly output, and this year's additions include monographs, textbooks, music scores, short stories, poetry, and more by faculty from across Lehigh’s colleges. A copy of each book authored by Lehigh faculty is added to Special Collections and noted in the library catalog. Faculty-authored books are also on display in the Linderman Library reading room.
About the Friends
The Friends of the Lehigh University Libraries support engaging library programs, activities, and services to advance the excellence of Lehigh Libraries. To become a member or learn more, visit Joining the Friends.
Faculty honored and their book titles included:
- Dean Caivano, A Politics of All: Thomas Jefferson and Radical Democracy
- Constance Cook, Medicine and Healing in Ancient East Asia: A View from Excavated Texts (Elements in Ancient East Asia)
- Maryann DiEdwardo, The Significance of the Writing of Thomas Merton, Cultivating Peace
- Lifang He, Tensor Learning Theory and its Applications
- Dawn Keetley, Folk Gothic
- Michael Kramp, Patriarchy's Creative Resilience: Late Victorian Speculative Fiction
- Gordon Moskowitz, Social Cognition: The Essential Questions and Ideas and The Handbook of Impression Formation: A Social Psychological Approach
- Pablo Munoz, The Leader's Algorithm: How a personal theory of action transforms your life, work, and relationships
- Ashley Murphy, The Writing Process Reader
- Mary Nicholas, Moscow Conceptualism, 1975-1985: Words, Deeds, Legacies
- Nik Nikolov, Pedagogical Experiments in Architecture for a Changing Climate
- Ugur Pece, Island and Empire: How Civil War in Crete Mobilized the Ottoman World
- Norrin Ripsman, The Oracle of Spring Garden Road and Song Book
- Florencia San Martin, The Routledge Companion to Decolonizing Art History and Dismantling the Nation: Contemporary Art in Chile
- Nicholas Sawicki, Through the Eyes of Franz Kafka: Between Image and Language
- Nicholas Sawicki and William Crow & copublished by LUAG, Shimon Attie. Starstruck: An American Tale
- Dustin Stoltz, Mapping Texts: Computational Text Analysis for the Social Sciences
- Kyrle Wernke, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (for orchestra with optional narrator) and To the Stars (orchestra) & (Concert band)
- Shellen Wu, Birth of the Geopolitical Age: Global Frontiers and the Making of Modern China
Photo credit: Kathy Frederick
