MSL buzz: the Michael Schwartz Library blog

Take a break with us and recharge!
 

If you’re already camped out in the library studying, hit pause and take a quick brain break in the Stress Busting Zone in the 1st floor Library Connection Lounge all through finals week. It’s just steps away from your study spot.

Here’s what’s waiting for you:

Play games, color, solve puzzles, and drop your worries in the Worry Box so you don’t have to carry them to your next exam. Paint and personalize your own holiday ornament (yes, of course you get to take it home!).

Find helpful mental health and wellness resources from the Cleveland State University Counseling Center — or follow them on Facebook to stay connected.

Rune the therapy dog is also stopping by for some serious serotonin boosts. Come say hi and get some puppy love:

• Monday, December 8, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, December 10, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Drop in, unwind, and head back to your work feeling recharged. You’ve got this!

 

...And remember, we'll be here for you during finals week with 
EXTENDED STUDY HOURS:
 

Sunday, December 7:  1pm-10pm

Monday - Thursday, December 8-11:  8am - 10pm

FINALS WEEK HOURS

Sunday, December 7:  1 p.m.-10 p.m.
Monday - Thursday, December 8-11:  8 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday, December 12:  8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Need to put in some extra study time at the end of the semester?
Your library will be here for you with extended evening and weekend hours

>> Computers, scanners and printers are available on the first floor <<
>> Quiet study carrels are available on the second floor <<
>> Group study areas are available on the fourth floor <<
>> Your Librarians will be standing by to help in-person or via chat, text, & phone <<
check our hours page for “ask a librarian” hours

We've even got games, puzzles, coloring, and serotonin boosts from Rune the therapy dog planned for you.
Take a quick brain break in our Stress Busting Zone on the 1st floor, then head back to your work feeling recharged. 

** REMEMBER:  Your Viking Card is required for swipe card access to the Library **

You've got this.  We're here for you.

BE INSPIRED! 

📅 Date: Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025
🕛 Time: 10am-1pm
📍 Location: Student Center 1st floor atrium

Stop at the Student Center atrium today  and experience the creativity and hard work of CSU students in action. The Digital CSU Student Showcase brings together finished and in-progress digital projects from across campus and invites our academic community to explore, ask questions, and be inspired.​

Digital projects on display may include websites, video or audio pieces, presentations, podcasts, interactive visualizations, lesson plans, maps, timelines, and more. Every semester the showcase reveals something unexpected, whether it's a clever new way to tell a story, a fresh approach to course content, or a tool you've read about but never seen before.​

Think of it as a poster-session-meets-digital-lab: students stand with their work, ready to talk about their process, the tools they used, and what they learned along the way. Whether you are faculty, staff, or a fellow student, a quick walk through the atrium might spark your next assignment idea, collaboration, or classroom project
  

Join us…be inspired!
 

IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER!

📅 Date: Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025
🕛 Time: 10am-1pm
📍 Location: Student Center 1st floor atrium

Students:  show off your creativity and hard work!  The Digital CSU Student Showcase is an opportunity for students to present finished or in-progress digital projects created for their courses in a poster session style event to their faculty, staff, and their peers. Digital projects might include websites, video or audio productions, presentations, podcasts, interactive visualizations, lesson plans, or maps - if you're not sure about your project, send an email to b.c.richards@csuohio.edu.

The Showcase will take place in the Student Center Atrium on Tuesday December 2nd, 10am-1pm. You do not have to attend the entire duration of the showcase.

Your participation will not only highlight your work, but will inspire others in our academic community.  Join us!

REGISTER TODAY

November 17th-21st is International Education Week!
 

International education is all about expanding horizons, making connections, and establishing mutual understanding between people in the United States and other countries. Please join us in the library throughout the week as we celebrate our international students! There will be films available for checkout, a panel discussion, a world map where you can mark your home country, and conversation-starting whiteboards. We'll also have candies from several countries.  

PANEL DISCUSSION:  Global Voices at CSU

Tuesday, November 18th
10:00 am
Michael Schwartz Library
RT 304

Join us for snacks, conversation, and a lively, engaging panel discussion featuring insights from CSU's international students.

All are welcome!

FEATURED VIEWING: 

Discover stories from around the globe with these streaming world language films available through our Films on Demand database. Whether you’re seeking a new perspective, expanding your language skills, or simply enjoying world cinema, these selections offer a rich exploration of cultures and experiences beyond our borders.

Streaming world language films from our Films on Demand database
 

FEATURED READING: 

International Education Week invites us to explore new perspectives, and each of these books offers valuable insights and context into the complexities and opportunities of learning across borders. Whether you’re curious about global education trends or seeking deeper understanding of international student experiences, these books from experts in global learning, cross-cultural exchange, and international policy provide a solid foundation for understanding the significance and impact of international education in today’s interconnected world.

• Our International Education
  by Sherry Marx, Monica Housen, Christine Tapu 
  2016
• International Student Mobility in Higher Education: Case Studies in Agency
  by Jason C Schneider
  2025
• Bridges: United States Academia for First-Generation and International College Students
  by Shawn Higgins
  2021
• Intercultural Learning: Critical preparation for international student travel
  by Peter Jones, Debra Miles, Narayan Gopalkrishnan
  2018
• Supporting International Students in US Higher Education: A Theory-Based Approach
  by Darbi Roberts, Ravichandran Ammigan 
  2024
• The Winchester guide to keywords and concepts for international students in art, media and design
  by Morley, Simon
  2015
• University Academic Writing for International Students
  by Carol Lynn Moder, Carol Lynn Alys Avalos-Rivera, Ho'omana Nathan Horton, Miriam Kinfe, Paul Sims, Seth French, Yelin Zhao
  2020
• Chinese International Students’ Stressors and Coping Strategies in the United States
  By Kun Yan
  2017
• The international student's guide to writing a research paper
  by Janine Carlock
  2017
• The Lived Experience of Chinese International Students in the U.S : An Academic Journey
  by Yalun Zhou, Michael Wei
  2021

RESEARCH GUIDES:

Your librarians at the Michael Schwartz Library have created these research and cultural guides especially for students at Cleveland State University, designed to help you navigate campus life and explore new perspectives during your studies.

• International Students' Guide to Research
• Engaging with International Students

JUST FOR FUN:
How many countries' flags can you identify?  Try this quiz
 

ABOUT INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS DAY

The first International Students Day was observed on November 17, 1941 in London to commemorate the anniversary of the 1939 Nazi capture and arrest of protesting students from Czech universities. Nine student leaders were murdered and over 1,200 students were sent to concentration camps as a result. The day was noted to celebrate the bravery of these students. Today November 17 is recognized as a day to celebrate the diversity, multiculturalism, strength, and courage of international students who make great sacrifices to move and study abroad. 
 

Honoring Indigenous Voices: 

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month at the Michael Schwartz Library
Each November, the Michael Schwartz Library joins the nation in celebrating Native American Heritage Month, a time to recognize the rich histories, diverse cultures, and ongoing contributions of Indigenous peoples across the United States. This month offers an opportunity to learn, reflect, and engage with Native stories — not only through history books, but through contemporary literature, film, art, and scholarship that continue to shape our shared understanding of the world.

Acknowledging the Land We Share
Cleveland State University stands on the traditional lands of the Erie, Wyandot, and other Indigenous nations who lived, worked, and cared for this region long before it became known as Ohio. By acknowledging this history, we honor the resilience and stewardship of these communities and reaffirm our commitment to respect and education.

Explore Indigenous Perspectives

Throughout November, the Library invites the CSU community to explore materials that highlight Indigenous voices and experiences:

FEATURED READS

• There There by Tommy Orange
  A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. Fierce, funny, suspenseful, and impossible to put down--full of poetry and rage, exploding onto the page with urgency and force. There There is at once poignant and unflinching, utterly contemporary and truly unforgettable.
   
• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
  As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as "the younger brothers of creation".
   
• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
  Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now, for the first time, acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortizoffers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire.
   
• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer
  Growing up Ojibwe on a reservation in Minnesota, training as an anthropologist, and researching Native life past and present for his nonfiction and novels, David Treuer has uncovered a different narrative from the received idea of Native American history: that American Indian history essentially ended with the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. Because they did not disappear—and not despite but rather because of their intense struggles to preserve their language, their traditions, their families, and their very existence—the story of American Indians since the end of the nineteenth century to the present is one of unprecedented resourcefulness and reinvention.

All titles are available through the Michael Schwartz Library, OhioLINK, and Cleveland Public Library partnerships.

WATCH & LEARN
Through Kanopy, CSU students, faculty, and staff can stream award-winning films such as:

• Tarahumara: Festival of The Easter Moon (2005)
  Shot in 1976, but never released, this film is a rare visual document of the Tarahumara - one of the most remote and isolated tribes of the North American continent. Filmed during a gathering at the mission village of Norogachic of northwest Mexico, the nomadic Tarahumara are observed celebrating their special interpretation of the Easter Festival. The week-long gathering uniquely explores both Christian and pre-Christian expressions of honoring the Easter Moon, the time when traditionally the Tarahumara dance, plant corn and drink Tesvino, the corn wine that blesses nearly every Tarahumara occasion from birth to death.
• Unnatural Causes: Bad Sugar (2008)
  What happened to the health of the Pima? BAD SUGAR explores this topic.
  The Pima and Tohono O’odham Indians of southern Arizona have arguably the highest diabetes rates in the world – half of all adults are afflicted. But a century ago, diabetes was virtually unknown here. Researchers have poked and prodded the Pima for decades in search of a biological – or more recently, genetic – explanation for their high rates of disease. Meanwhile, medical-only interventions have failed to stem the rising tide not just among Native Americans, but globally.
• Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2014)
  Red Crow Mi'gMaq reservation, 1976: By government decree, every Indian child under the age of 16 must attend residential school. In the kingdom of the Crow, that means imprisonment at St. Dymphna’s, where students are under the mercy of "Popper," the sadistic agent who runs the school. At 15, Aila is the weed princess of Red Crow. Hustling with her uncle Burner, she sells enough dope to pay Popper her “truancy tax”, keeping her out of St.Ds. But when Aila's drug money is stolen and her father Joseph returns from prison, the precarious balance of Aila’s world is destroyed. Her only options are to run or fight… and Mi'gMaq don't run.

These stories highlight the creativity, resilience, and cultural impact of Indigenous artists and communities.

KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING
Native American Heritage Month is more than a commemoration — it’s an invitation to continue learning and listening all year long. The Michael Schwartz Library remains dedicated to providing resources that honor diversity, promote understanding, and connect our campus community through shared discovery.

💚 You Belong Here — at the Michael Schwartz Library. 💚

Sustainability Tips for the Week of October 27th - October 31st: 

Are Your Halloween Treats Hiding a Scary Secret?
(Hint: It's palm oil!)
 

As we have for the past few years, the Michael Schwartz Library Sustainability Team will be sending out some sustainability tips each week of October, Campus Sustainability Month. Here are this week's tips!

When it comes to Halloween, the scariest thing might not be the ghosts and goblins at your door, but the palm oil hiding in your favorite candies. Palm oil is in everything from chocolates to chewy sweets, and it’s a major driver of rainforest destruction, putting endangered species like orangutans, tigers, and rhinos at real risk.​

Palm oil can be found in products ranging from shampoo, to Nutella, to Oreos.  Mostly grown in the rainforests of Indonesia, Borneo, and other tropical regions, the equivalent of 300 football fields of rainforest are destroyed every hour to make way for palm oil plantations in these areas. Currently, deforestation causes 80% of Indonesia's carbon emissions, and the country is the third largest emitter in the world. 

Besides being globally devastating because of the important role the rainforest plays in diverting climate change, this deforestation also destroys the biodiversity of these areas and puts animals like the Bornean orangutan and the Sumatran tiger at imminent risk of extinction. Finally, the palm oil industry has been linked to accusations of human rights abuse, mostly because of their illegal methods of slashing and burning forests, putting the people who live in the region at risk and ruining their livelihoods.  Clearly, the harvesting of palm oil is causing a serious crisis. 

But good news—this story comes with a sweet twist! 
Happily, the news is not all grim. You don’t have to ghost your favorite treats to help forests and wildlife survive.​  Check out the resources listed below, which include lists of responsibly sourced candy: 

• Orangutan-Friendly Halloween Guide
• Orangutan-Friendly Candy List from the Primate Rescue Center

• Deforestation Education No Palm Oil Candy List 

As you can see, there are many familiar options that don't contain palm oil, and we can continue to send the message to manufacturers that using palm oil is not okay by avoiding products with that ingredient whenever possible. Note: there are some products that claim to contain “sustainable palm oil”. It can be difficult to know how reliable these claims are, so it's usually best to just avoid palm oil in products all together.

Thanks for helping to make our campus (and your home) more sustainable!   

-This week's tips compiled by Mandi Goodsett, Performing Arts & Humanities Librarian, Michael Schwartz Library

Connect with CSU Faculty
featuring Dr. Rachel Lovell
Associate Professor of Criminology, Director, Criminology Research Center, Criminology & Sociology
Presenting “The Problem of Untested Sexual Assault Kits 
and Gender Differences in Those Seeking Assistance Post Assault”

Tuesday, November 4th, 2025
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Rhodes Tower, Michael Schwartz Library

Free and open to all CSU faculty, staff, and students and the general public.

Dr. Lovell's presentation will provide an overview of the problem of untested sexual assault kits—why there are so many untested sexual assault kits, what is being done to address this issue, and suggestions for moving forward. The presentation will also detail findings from two recently published studies detailing gender differences in those who seek sexual assault kit exams post-sexual assault.

In 2021, the Cleveland Division of Police completed inventorying nearly 3,000 over approximately 7,000 kits and submitted for forensic testing all kits remaining in its possession—all of which are outside of the statute of limitations and therefore unable to be prosecuted. 

Unfortunately, Northeast Ohio is not unique in its possession of so many untested kits. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of kits have languished for decades, untested, in evidence storage facilities. The existence of such a large number of kits that were never submitted for testing highlights the criminal justice system’s inadequate response to sexual assault. Moreover, untested kits are missed opportunities to identify unknown offenders, confirm the identity of known offenders, connect offenders to previously unsolved crimes, possibly exonerate innocent suspects, and populate the federal DNA database.

Join us for this free event on Tuesday, November 4th

ABOUT DR. LOVELL
Rachel E. Lovell, PhD (The Ohio State University, Sociology, 2007), is an Associate Professor of Criminology in the Department of Criminology and Sociology and Director of the Criminology Research Center in the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Lovell has taught at Cleveland State University since Fall 2021.

A criminologist and methodologist, she specializes in applied research and evaluation, collaborating closely with criminal justice agencies, community organizations, and public and social service systems. Her work focuses on issues including sexual assault, sexual assault kits, human trafficking, intimate partner violence, and gun violence. She is an established scholar, securing over $7 million in external funding since 2013, published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and recently served as lead editor of the monograph Sexual Assault Kits and Reforming the Response to Rape. Her research has been featured in The Atlantic, Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, Pro Publica, and Sports Illustrated.

Since 2015, Dr. Lovell has been the Principal Investigator on several large action research projects on untested sexual assault kits in collaboration with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, the Akron Police Department, and the Cleveland Police Department, with funding provided by the Department of Justice’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. 

“Connect with CSU Faculty” is a pilot project initiated by the Friends of the Library to recognize the research of Cleveland State University faculty. 

Connect with CSU Faculty for Día de los Muertos at the Library

a holiday for celebrating and remembering loved ones who have died

all events will be on Friday, October 31st on the 1st floor of the Michael Schwartz Library
 

11:30am – 12:30pm
Sugar-skull painting and calavera mask-making

Create and wear your own calavera mask with CSU's Club de Español.  These masks serve multiple purposes, including honoring the dead and warding off evil spirits.  Skulls are a ​symbol​ of mortality or death and have become linked with ​Día de los Muertos​, a holiday for celebrating and remembering loved ones who have died. 

12:30-1:30pm
Dr. Stephen Gingerich

Dr. Gingerich, Spanish Professor in the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, will discuss the art and cultural practices of Day of the Dead celebrations, with a special focus on Guatemala.  Part of the Friends of the Library's “Connect with CSU Faculty” series.

After the presentation, relax in the Connection Lounge, converse in Spanish and enjoy cookies and pan de muerto with CSU's Club de Español.

Join us!
 

Friends of the Library
Book Sale

Don't miss our 2-day book sale, sponsored by the Friends of the Michael Schwartz Library!

Thursday, October 23rd & Friday, October 24th, 2025

10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Book Sale Prices:
$2 for hardcover; $1.00 for softcover
Media: $.50 

stop in and browse!