Skip to content

Spring semester book displays in place at Harrell Library

Those looking for inspiration on what to read next can visit Harrell Health Sciences Library and check out the latest book displays, where books are available for check-out.

Staff at the library service desk can also help patrons search all of Penn State University Libraries to find exactly the right book.

There are currently three book displays in the library.

Pick Your Poison: Intoxicating Pleasures and Medical Prescriptions:

From March 25 to May 3, the library is hosting the National Library of Medicine traveling exhibit “Pick Your Poison: Intoxicating Pleasures and Medical Prescriptions.”

Accompanying the exhibit is a book display featuring a small selection of related books and materials that are available for checkout after May 3. The six-banner traveling exhibition explores the factors that have shaped the changing definitions of some of the world’s most potent drugs, from medical miracle to social menace.

World Poetry

The Department of Humanities celebrated World Poetry Day March 19, and April is National Poetry Month. This display case features books of poetry by international poets as well as works by two former employees of the College of Medicine.

One of those books is “Wild Onion Nurse” by Judy Schaefer, a member of the Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine. Schaefer worked in hematology, and it was early in the 1980s that she got to know Joanne Trautmann Banks and the students and residents who published the Wild Onions arts and literary journal. Schaefer said, “I was delighted with Wild Onions because I knew no other nurses who were writing poetry as seriously as I thought I was at that time. Wild Onions felt like home.”

Also featured in the display is the book “Sharing the Solitude” by Patrick Quinn, who was a professor of physiology until 2006. The College of Medicine named the Patrick G. Quinn Award For Outstanding Performance by a Post-Comprehensive PhD Candidate in the Department of Cellular & Molecular Physiology in his honor. Before Dr. Quinn worked for his PhD in physiology, he earned a degree in English literature in 1971 from University of Wisconsin.

Black History

The Rev. Darlene Miller Cooley, a staff chaplain in Pastoral Services, curated the “Celebrate Black History” book displays.

Featured in the display are Penn State library books on various facets of black history, culture and experience. Also featured are books from the Rev. Cooley’s personal collection, including the New Testament translated to Gullah. Gullah is a Creole language spoken by the Gullah people, an African-American population living in coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia. The Rev. Cooley joined the full-time pastoral services staff in July 2016. Currently her clinical assignments include the cardiac care and neurology departments.

Read more

If you're having trouble accessing this content, or would like it in another format, please email the Penn State College of Medicine web department.