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Phone: (904) 808-7474

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Dean of Library Services: Carmen Cummings

Campus Librarian: Christina Will

Public Services Librarian: Royce Bass

LTA: Circulation Manager: Colise Hunt

LTA: Serials Manager: Andy Calvert

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

The Life and Works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Resources at the SJRCC Libraries

"Born in 1928, Garcia Marquez spent the first eight years of his life in the small Colombian village of Aracataca. His grandmother cultivated his imagination with fantastic stories of Colombian history and myth. Her influence, combined with the superstitions and myths of the townspeople, provided the writer with a rich background from which he created his fiction. Upon returning to Aracataca some years later, Garcia Marquez found the town suffering from many years of economic and social decline. A sense of nostalgia for his first home spurred his sense of history and his desire to preserve the great myths and stories of his childhood.

Garcia Marquez attended the University of Bogota. In 1948 it closed down due to civil warfare, and he transferred to the University of Cartegena and entered the journalism field. He eventually left school to pursue this career full time, publishing short pieces of fiction in addition to news stories. His first novella, La hojarasca, was published in 1955. It was translated into English in 1972 as the title piece in Leaf Storm and Other Stories, which included the translation of "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World." Meanwhile, Garcia Marquez's journalism had become increasingly political. After writing a series of articles exposing the carrying of contraband cargo by the Colombian navy, he moved to Europe to avoid the wrath of the government.

Most of Garcia Marquez's short stories were written in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Many of these were collected and published in 1972 under such titles as Ojos de perro azul (Eyes of a Blue Dog), and La incredible y triste historia de la candida Erendira y de su abuela desalmada (The Incredible and Sad Story of Poor Erendira and Her Heartless Grandmother). Critics generally considered these works unconventional because of their use of such experimental techniques as multiple narrators, shifting points of view, and fantastic events. Another collection, Los funerales de la Mama Grande (The Funeral of Big Mama), found an enthusiastic audience who admired its use of archetypal, mythical characters who function in timeless, often nameless, places.

Garcia Marquez remains best known, however, for his many novels. He achieved world wide fame for his 1967 masterpiece Cien anos de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude), which tells the history of the fictional village of Macondo, based on the real history of Aracataca. After living in Paris, and then returning to Colombia, Garcia Marquez settled in Mexico, where he now resides. He is widely considered Colombia's foremost writer. In 1982 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, an indication of his worldwide reputation."

"Gabriel Garcia Marquez." LitFinder Contemporary Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 31 Aug. 2010.

Each month the library features a topic or person. Check out past features.

Celebrating Constitution Day

"Most Americans know that July 4th is our nation's birthday. Far fewer Americans know that September 17th is the birthday of our government, the date in 1787 on which delegates to the Philadelphia Convention completed and signed the U.S. Constitution.

The ideas on which America was founded--commitments to the rule of law, limited government and the ideals of liberty, equality and justice--are embodied in the Constitution, the oldest written constitution of any nation on Earth. Constitution Day is intended to celebrate not only the birthday of our government, but the ideas that make us Americans." - www.constitutionday.us

Learn about the Constitution, its drafting, and its meaning with these selected resources at the SJRCC Libraries.

HURRICANE SEASON 2010

Be prepared - Visit the Florida Division of Emergency Management for shelter information, evacuation routes, links to road closure alerts, and extensive hurricane preparedness information.

Don't forget about your pets! The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has a brochure that will help you ensure their care.

Be aware - Track storms with updates from the National Hurricane Center and The Weather Channel's Hurricane Tracker and Information page.

Learn from Florida's hurricane history - Florida Memory has an online exhibit of Historic Hurricane Photos - Selected images from 1896 through 2005. The St. Augustine Campus Library also has several books on the topic.

Feel like surfing? Check out past sites of the month.