Labor Day

While you are enjoying Labor Day this comming Monday, I thought that you might be interested to know what Labor Day is all about and how it came to be. This information comes from the U.S. Department of Labor web site:

"Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country."

"More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers."

"Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.""

"But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic."

"The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883."

"In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country."


More information can be found at the U.S. Department of Labor site at: http://www.dol.gov/OPA/ABOUTDOL/LABORDAY.HTM

Textbooks Now Available in the Library!

The cost of textbooks has increased markedly in the last few years and many students are having difficulty in purchasing all the required texts for their courses. To help alleviate this challenge, SE has established the Textbook Reserve Program (TRP). The TRP cannot provide textbooks for every course offered; however, the program wishes to serve as many students as possible.

• The TRP currently targets currently enrolled undergraduate students.
• Textbooks are available for the following courses: College Success; all zero-level courses; all general education courses.
• Number of textbooks available for a class is based on enrollment (ca. 1 for every 33 students)
• Textbooks may be checked out from the Circulation Desk at the Henry G. Bennett Library for a 2-hour period with a valid student ID.
• Textbooks are for room use only and may not be removed from the library or checked out overnight.
• A list of textbooks available in the TRP may be found on the TRP website (textbooks are listed by Instructor, Course Title, and Course Number).
• There are plans to expand the program in the future.

The web address for the TRP program is as follows: http://www.se.edu/lib/trp/

Welcome/Welcome Back SE Students!

The Library faculty and staff would like to take this opportunity to welcome all new students to Southeastern Oklahoma State University, and to welcome back those returning students. We hope that your time here at SE will be enjoyable and that you will drink freely in the fountian of knowledge that is being offered to you while you are here.

Hiroshima--The Atomic Bomb 63 Years Later

On August 6, 1945, a single U.S. airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima. The Japanese who lived in the city were not afraid of a single airplane. But the ensuing destruction caused by the bomb to the city, and the thousands who died in the blast and in the years afterward.
Whether the atomic bomb was needed to end the war with Japan, or whether the U.S. used the bomb to scare the Russians is debatable, but this much is known: that the destructive power of the nuclear bomb is so great, that such a weapon has been used on people in wartime only twice, in August 1945. Since then the destructive power of nuclear bombs have grown tremendously, but since 1945 they have not been used. Here are some websites that discuss Hiroshima nad Nagasaki:

The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Hiroshima Archive
The Voice of Hibakusha: Eyewitness Accounts of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered