A-State’s Dean B. Ellis Library Receives Grant To Host “Let’s Talk About It: Muslim Journeys” Series
JONESBORO, Ark. — The Dean B. Ellis Library at Arkansas State University received a $3,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA) to host a five-part reading and discussion series titled, “Let’s Talk About It: Muslim Journeys.”
The library is one of 125 libraries and state humanities councils across the country selected to participate in the project which seeks to familiarize public audiences in the United States with the people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims in the United States and around the world. The Muslim Journeys theme that Dean B. Ellis Library has chosen to explore is “Pathways of Faith.”
“We are delighted to have been chosen to host this unique series that will allow patrons a chance to discuss some important themes in Muslim history and literature with the help of a well-qualified scholar,” said Jeff Bailey, Library Director.
The first program will explore “The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam” by F.E. Peters and will be held Tuesday, April 1, at 7 p.m. All discussion programs will be held at the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library Round Room. For details or to register, visit http://www.libguides.astate.edu/muslim or contact April Sheppard at (870) 972-2766 or asheppard@astate.edu.
Additional books will be discussed once every two weeks at the library. Dr. John Kaltner, the Virginia Ballou McGehee Professor of Muslim-Christian Relations at Rhodes College in Memphis, will lead a discussion of the book at each session.
All of the books to be discussed in this series are part of the “Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys.” The books and films comprising the Bookshelf were selected with the advice of librarians and cultural programming experts, as well as distinguished scholars in the fields of anthropology, world history, religious studies, interfaith dialogue, the history of art and architecture, world literature, Middle East studies, southeast Asian studies, African studies, and Islamic studies.
The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf is a project of NEH, conducted in cooperation with the ALA Public Programs Office, with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts. Local support is provided by the Jonesboro Public Library.
