Laupus Library celebrates National Library Week April 7-13

Laupus Library will join libraries across the country this week in celebrating the many ways libraries build strong communities by providing critical resources, programs and expertise.

National Library Week, observed April 7-13 this year, is an annual celebration highlighting the valuable role libraries, librarians and library workers play in transforming lives and communities. The national observance began in 1958 and is sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries across the country each April.

Laupus Library Director Beth Ketterman said the library embodies the spirit of this year’s theme, “Building Strong Communities,” in many ways.

“We take our instruction on the road within a 23-county region to teach community health providers how to find quality health information in their sites of practice,” Ketterman said. “Our library spaces are literally built for community building – we get accolades regularly from our students who use collaborative learning spaces to work together on projects or to just get through the rigorous experience of the health sciences curricula together.”

Within the Division of Health Sciences, Laupus connects students and faculty with experts in technology, statistics and information-finding so they can take a team approach to their research and instruction.

Laupus Library will celebrate National Library Week by hosting free programs and exhibits for library visitors that will run through late April. These programs and exhibits will include:

• A Medical History Interest Group lecture, “The Transformations of Autism,” presented by Duke University’s Dr. Jeffrey P. Baker, at 4:30 p.m. on April 9 that will explore debates over autism and how race, class and education have played into the diagnosis.
• An exhibit in the library’s fourth floor gallery, “Scientists and Their Microscopes,” will showcase a collection of microscope models used by famous scientists. A display of Civil War-era artifacts including a surgical kit, crutches, prosthetics, bone saw and medicines, on loan from The Country Doctor Museum, will also be available for viewing.
• In commemoration of the 300^th anniversary of Blackbeard’s death in North Carolina, “The Plague of Piracy” will be on display on the second floor of the library. Three replicas of medical artifacts recovered from the Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck, along with other artifacts, highlight the medical history of the era.
• Traveling artifacts on loan from The Country Doctor Museum are featured in “Cabinet of Wonder,” displayed on the second floor of ECU’s Family Medicine Center.
• “Models of Care,” displayed on the first floor of ECU’s Brody School of Medicine, highlights the diverse narratives of doctors and nurses from the 19th and 20th centuries.
• The College of Nursing’s lobby will display “Nursing School Memories: Nursing Education in the Mid-20^th Century,” an exhibit depicting the history of three-year diploma training programs at local hospitals from 1940-1960.
• A new exhibit at The Country Doctor Museum, “Race and Medical History in North Carolina,” interprets the legacy of medicine along racial lines. Visitors will have an opportunity to see a collection of artifacts, medical receipts, ledgers, correspondence and other material related to slave medical care and the treatment emancipated slaves received from white physicians in the 19^thand early 20^th

Opened in 1968, The Country Doctor Museum shares the history of medicine in rural America and is managed as part of the History Collections of Laupus Library. It is the oldest museum in the United States dedicated to the history of America’s rural health care and is located in Bailey.

Laupus will also continue to celebrate its 50-year anniversary throughout 2019 with special activities and events. On the last Thursday of each month through October, Laupus will offer sweet treats to library visitors.

Library staff are also hiding golden tickets around the library and posting clues to their locations on Laupus’ Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. Tickets may be redeemed at the service desk for a prize.

“Many of these fun events that show our community of patrons that we care are possible because of the support of the Friends of Laupus Library,” said Ketterman. “The Friends raise funds so that we can enrich our existing programs and spaces at times when we wouldn’t otherwise be able to.”

Read more about the Friends in this photo story.

For more information, visit Laupus Library at 500 Health Science Drive, Greenville, N.C. 27834, call (252) 744-2219 or view the library’s website.

–By: Kelly Rogers Dilda, University Communications