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February 1, begins Black History Month or African American History Month in the United States. While this is a time to remember and celebrate the many contributions of African Americans to our shared history, we shall begin this month, remembering Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South African, who recently died at the age of 90. Tutu was a powerful force in deconstructing apartheid, the South African system of racial discrimination, and as a result is an inspiration to peoples around the world.

Born in Klerksdorp in 1931, Desmond Tutu was the son of Althea, a domestic worker, and Zachariah, a teacher at a Methodist school. Desmond was baptized Methodist in his youth, but later his entire family joined the Anglican church.

After studying at Pretoria Bantu Normal College and earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Africa, Tutu followed in his father’s footsteps and became a teacher. This lasted for three years, until the Bantu Education Act, legislation that lowered the standards for Black students, went into effect and Tutu resigned in protest.

Because of his dedication to service, Tutu then turned to ministry. In 1961, he was ordained as an Anglican priest at St. Peter's Theological College. Tutu served in local churches before going to England for further study. There, he earned Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Theology at King's College.

Tutu returned to South Africa where he served as a lecturer. In addition, he traveled through Asia and Africa on behalf of the Theological Education Fund, administering scholarships for the World Council of Churches.

In 1975 Tutu was named the Anglican Dean of Johannesburg. The following year he was consecrated Bishop of Lesotho. Then, in 1978 he became the first Black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. Inspired by his childhood mentor, Reverend Trever Huddleston, a campaigner against apartheid, Tutu utilized his new position to establish the organization as a major force against apartheid.

The council established scholarships for Black youths, organized self-help programs in Black townships, hired lawyers to defend Black defendants under security laws, and supported families of those detained without trial. In 1984, Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.

The legacy Desmond Tutu is a powerful one full of love, forgiveness, and peace. If you are interested in learning more about this phenomenal man, the Loras Library has a display on the third floor featuring books written by Desmond on his teachings, values, beliefs, and ideas: The Rainbow People of God : the Making of a Peaceful Revolution, No Future Without Forgiveness, The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, God Has A Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time, Made for Goodness: and Why this Makes all the Difference, and The Words of  Desmond Tutu. The young readers in your life can also learn about Tutu. He wrote many children's books which are available through interlibrary loan: Desmond and the Very Mean World, Let There Be Light, and God’s Dream.

Does it feel like it’s getting harder to separate fact from fiction? National News Literacy Week is upon us, and the library would like to mark the occasion by providing a few tips to help you become a news literate person. We are all living in a complex information landscape, and the library is here to help.
What is news literacy? Well, one definition is: 

• The ability to determine the credibility of news and other content, to identify different types of information, and to use the standards of authoritative, fact-based journalism to determine what to trust, share and act on.

Tip #1
Slow down and recognize when information is prompting an emotional response. If a news story seems to be deliberately is making you angry, beware. It’s time to dig deeper - it’s possible you are being manipulated by a dubious news item.

Tip #2
Differentiate between news and opinion. If you see labels like “editorial,” “column,” “commentary,” “punditry” then you’ve found an opinion piece, which may also be distinguished by use of the first person, sarcasm, and (potentially) exaggeration. Related: watch out for satirical news sites, like The Onion, and paid advertising masquerading as news. Sometime these items will be labeled “Sponsored” news. Think you have a handle on it? Take this quiz: How well can you tell factual from opinion statements?

Tip #3
Recognize “Bad Actors” like Trolls, Sockpuppets, and Bots. 

Trolls post offensive, inflammatory, highly partisan content to provoke people and create conflict. To identify them, look at the history of the account. Does it regularly post content that is inflammatory, offensive, or highly partisan? Are the images designed to anger or offend? Do posts on the account use disparaging language directed at specific people? These are all warning signs on accounts by trolls.

Sockpuppets are imposter accounts. False online accounts are used to influence opinion about a person or organization with the intention of making it seem like the account is not affiliated in any way with that person or organization.

A bot is a computer program that is designed to post content automatically according to a set of guidelines, without human intervention. Use a bot-detector like Botometer  https://botometer.osome.iu.edu/ to check the activity of a Twitter account. Higher scores mean more bot-like activity.

Tip #4
Do lateral reading or fact-checking. Do a google search on the news item and try to find independent confirmation of the story. Other fact-checking resources: 
▪    Politifact https://www.politifact.com  
▪    Factcheck.org https://factcheck.org 
▪    Lead Stories https://leadstories.com/ 
▪    Snopes https://www.snopes.com/ 
▪    Internet Meme Database https://knowyourmeme.com/

Tip #5
Use reverse-image search to verify photos. Out-of-context and doctored images can fool and mislead. Photos containing signs, t-shirts, baseball hats are easy to photoshop.  Reverse-image search resources:
▪    Google – 1) right-click on the image and click on “search google for image” or 2) open tab to https://images.google.com and crop image in search bar
▪    Tineye https://www.tineye.com
▪    ImgOps https://imgops.com

Feeling overwhelmed? Not to worry. A final take-away? Always get your news from a variety of sources!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist pastor, was one of the most visible leaders of nonviolent activism in the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. His commitment to equality and nonviolence, however, went beyond this arena. For King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (Letter from a Birmingham Jail, August 1963).

King saw close connections between the peace movement opposing the Vietnam War and the civil rights cause. He spoke out against the war not only because he considered it unjust, but also because it was being fought primarily by poor and minority soldiers and drained resources away from social programs at home. In 1967, he expanded his efforts further by beginning the “Poor People's Campaign” to fight economic inequality. This commitment let him to advocate for workers’ rights. The day King was assassinated, April 4, 1968, he was preparing to lead a protest march in support of the Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike.  

The campaign to create a federal holiday in King’s honor began soon after his death, but it was not until 1983 that Ronald Regan singed legislation creating the MLK holiday on the third Monday of January each year. It was another three years before it was first observed and not until 2000 that it was observed in all fifty states. Early on, the focus of the day has been not simply on remembering but on continuing King’s legacy by participating in community service. Congressman John Lewis and Senator Harris Wofford coauthored the King Holiday and Service Act, signed into law in 1994. Since this time, the day of service has been coordinated nationally by AmeriCorps. The only other official national day of service in the US, is September 11 National Day of Service.

Loras Library has hundreds of resources available if you are interested in learning more about Martin Luther King, Jr.

Julien Dubuque: Portrait of a Pioneer by Robert Klein provides a new in-depth look at the life of the first white settler in Iowa and his relationship with the Native American tribes of the Upper Mississippi region. This farmer, miner, and trader established a small trading post where a village or 30 or so people worked and lived at a time when the United States was just in its early formation period with its thirteen colonies.

As a lifelong Dubuquer, past president and longtime board member of the Dubuque County Historical Society, and a co-founder of the Loras College Center for Dubuque History, Klein has a strong interest in the history of city and its eponym. Klein stated, “I wrote this book because I wanted to know more about Julien Dubuque than I found in the previous biography that appeared 100 years ago. Julien Dubuque deserves more recognition than he has received until now. This is a step in that direction.”

Writing this book was no easy task. As Klein explained, “Dubuque left no journal, no diary, no family photo album, and few direct pieces of evidence. There is no secret cache of emails, or tweets to be found. Among the new resources used, and now printed in the book, is the inventory of personal items left in his estate after his death in March of 1810.”

The new biography is currently available for sale at Loras College Barnes & Noble Bookstore and River Lights Bookstore in Dubuque. Of course, it also can be borrowed from the Loras Library. 

J-term can be an intense and stressful time with one class concentrated into just a few weeks. Adding additional reading to this schedule may seem a bit daunting but reading a good novel or mystery might be just the thing you need.

A 2009 study from University of Sussex found that reading reduced stress levels by 68%, making it a more effective means of relaxation than taking a walk, drinking a cup of tea, or playing video games. When the brain is engaged with the story, the heart rate slows and muscles relax. Additionally, reading helps improve focus and concentration.

As Dr. Lewis, director of the study, explained, “[B]y losing yourself in a thoroughly engrossing book you can escape from the worries and stresses of the everyday world and spend a while exploring the domain of the author’s imagination. This is more than merely a distraction but an active engaging of the imagination as the words on the printed page stimulate your creativity and cause you to enter what is essentially an altered state of consciousness.”

The Loras Library has a large Popular Reading section on the main floor of the library that includes general fiction, mysteries, horror, thrillers, romance, fantasy, and science fiction as well as some popular non-fiction. For something even lighter, you could explore the PK12 Collection on the first floor of the library for award-winning juvenile and young adult books. After you select your book, find a comfy chair, and sit back and relax into reading.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” - Dr. Seuss