Thanks for Reading!

Well, since this is the last day of finals, it's a pretty safe bet this will be the last post for The Plague Strikes Longview! Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. We'll be back next year with a new campus-wide reading selection.

Some parting thoughts:

Very strange that, as we finish up The Plague this semester, the country is anxiously watching a new kind of plague - swine flu. Of course, there are tons of good resources on swine flu out there. The CDC site and the WHO site (which I consulted frequently for my bubonic plague bibliographies and blog posts) are both thorough, understandable, and frequently updated.

(image at right: 4,298 Confirmed and Probable Cases in 47 States, from the CDC H1N1 Flu site)

But, for whatever reason, I was more interested in this article from the Trentonian newspaper about the 1976 swine flu outbreak in the US. If you have a second, give it a quick read and think about the similarities and differences between three scenarios: Camus's 1940s Oran, the US in the 1970s, and the current global swine flu situation.

Another question raised by Camus and the Trentonian article: What do you do when the cure might be more harmful than the disease? Thankfully, I don't believe we've had to answer that one yet with the current flu, and hopefully we won't have to.

OK - that's all I got! Have a great summer and come see us in the library when you get back. (summer hours here, if you're taking classes...)

Upcoming Plague Events

As the semester winds down, keep these remaining events in mind:

A Plague of Experts Panel Lecture - Tuesday, April 7, 2009 - Mel Aytes Education Center - 7:00 PM -- Panelists will address the novel in its social and political contexts and respond to issues presented in the novel. They will also discuss the ways in which Camus and existentialists probed the greater questions of life: meaning, purpose, alienation, and the need to bridge the unbridgeable gulf that separates individuals.

Student Essay Contest - Deadline April 15, 2009

Last Book Discussion - Friday, April 17, 2009 - Campus Center Private Dining Room - Noon to 1:00 PM - Discussion will be led by Linda Cox and Jama Rooney

A Glimpse Behind the Curtain

Greetings and belated "Welcome Back!" I hope everyone had a good, relaxing Spring Break. Mine was so relaxing that I had to take an extra week off (mostly for college basketball-related reasons...) Which, of course, led to spending all last week catching up on everything from the previous two weeks.

Anyhoo - this all leads into my topic this week. As librarians, one of our more important, but often behind-the-scenes, duties is selecting materials - often called collection development. We spend most of our free time at the reference desk reading magazines, journals, listserv and blog posts, websites, etc. - all dedicated to helping us decide what materials to purchase for the library. So imagine my surprise when, during my catch-up, I read this review by Nancy Cannon on Booklist Online (http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=3198973):

Threats to human life invariably arouse public interest. Written for the nonspecialist, Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Pandemics, and Plagues covers the medical, cultural, sociological, and historical aspects of infectious diseases from prehistoric times to the present. About 300 articles, authored and signed by subject specialists, present an authoritative, often-engaging overview of diseases of consequence to humankind worldwide.

Covering the broad aspects of human pandemics, articles range in length from one to several pages. Examples of articles include Biblical plagues, Bioterrorism, Black Death (1347–1352), Chinese disease theory and medicine, Legionnaires’ disease, Measles in the colonial Americas, Neolithic revolution and epidemic disease, Slavery and disease, and Whooping cough. There are also entries for individuals such as Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur. This work provides some fascinating background material on human diseases: for example, we learn that the pre-Columbian Incas believed that disease was linked to proper behavior, ritual purity, and the relationship between humans and the divine; debate continues on the organism responsible for the Black Death, which decimated human populations in Europe and the Mediterranean world in the fourteenth century; at least 40 million people died worldwide during the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919; isolated instances of bubonic plague still occur in the U.S. About 70 black-and-white illustrations and photographs supplement the text. References to further reading are included at the end of most articles, and some articles are augmented by primary source documents, highlighted in sidebars. Appendixes include an 11-page glossary and a 13-page bibliography. A 30-page index provides subject access to the contents.

Sounds great, no? Well, guess what? We don't have it at the Longview Library and chances are we won't be getting it. There are several factors that go into selection decisions:

1) The most important factor is quality. We generally don't waste our time and money on material that hasn't received good reviews.

2) Of course, in this economic climate, another important factor is cost. Retail price on the EoPP&P is $199.95, which actually isn't too bad for a 920-page, hard-cover reference book with illustrations.

3) A third consideration is appropriateness, or how well material fits into our collection. This includes intended audience (4th-graders, college students, or nuclear physicists, for three examples) and specific classes or departments the material will support. This is one of the reasons why I don't think we'll be ordering the EoPP&P. After this semester's campus-wide reading of The Plague (which the Encyclopedia would have been perfect for...), there just aren't too many classes I can imagine needing to use an in-depth reference book on infectious diseases. In fact, as of this posting, the main library at WashU in St. Louis and the veterinary library (!) at MU were the only academic libraries in Missouri that had purchased it.

4) But the main reason I think we won't be buying the EoPP&P is duplication of materials. In general, we try not to buy stuff that covers the same ground as sources we already own. There are exceptions, of course. The most important one is updating older resources. Another would be anticipation of high demand (this would be material like dictionaries or extra copies of The Plague). If you didn't click on the link above, here's the next part of Nancy Cannon's review:

A complementary work, Facts On File’s Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence: From Ancient Times to the Present (3d ed., 2007), has entries for more than 700 epidemics or outbreaks but not for related topics such as infectious diseases, treatments, individuals, and historical contexts.

As I'm sure you can guess, we have this source. In fact, I cited it in this post. As noted there, we don't have the paper copy, but rather have access through one of our online subscription databases - Ancient and Medieval History Online, in this case - so you don't even have to come to the library to use it. Of course, we always appreciate people coming to the library too - it gives us a good excuse to stop reviewing materials for a while!

.

(PS - If you have any trouble accessing the library's Online Databases, give us a call at 672-2268 or go to our website and click the Reference Librarian Chat button - helping you use our resources is even more important than collection development!)

Spring Break "Roch"-Trip?

One more leftover before we all take a week off...

Camus mentions in passing that Father Paneloux's first sermon took place at "a High Mass celebrated under the auspices of St. Roch, the plague-stricken saint..." Like Saint Sebastian, who I covered back here, Saint Roch also has a biography in The Golden Legend. Here's the lowdown:

*** According to the Legend, Roch was born into nobility in Montpelier, a city on the Mediterranean coast of France. When he was 20, he gave away all of his worldly possessions and set out on a pilgrimage to Rome. His pilgrimage took him across a region suffering a plague epidemic, and the Legend mentions at least five cities where Roch cared for plague victims in the hospitals.

*** Unfortunately, in the town of Piacenza, Roch himself finally came down with plague. He was banished from the town and lived in a hut in the forest. Supposedly, he survived by eating food brought to him by the dog of a local nobleman. When the nobleman discovered Roch, he became his sidekick and also gave away all of his possessions.


*** Later, Roch was travelling between two warring regions and was arrested as a spy. He ordered his followers not to reveal his identity or noble upbringing and, after five years in prison, he died. SQPN, a Catholic media company, gives the years 1295 to 1327 for Roch's lifespan (here's their St. Roch page).

*** During Europe's infamous Black Death (1347-1349) and subsequent plague outbreaks, Roch's legend also spread. Besides being the patron saint of plague sufferers, SQPN says he is also the patron saint of dogs, diseased cattle, and bachelors! Today there are churches all over the world named St. Roch. The closest one I could find is in St. Louis - http://www.strochparish.com/ . So maybe, if you're going east this Spring Break, you should stop by, light a votive candle, and thank St. Roch for keeping Missouri safe from the plague!

(All images in this post are from SQPN - http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-roch-gallery/)

What Happened Last Monday?

Hello again, loyal readers. Sorry - no plague trivia or disgusting photos or disturbing news reports this week. In fact, I need you to educate me a little bit this time around...

Last Monday, Feb. 23, was Contagion Day on campus. In the Campus Center Dining Room, Longview's own Dr. Brian Mitchell led a discussion on infectious diseases after the group watched the 2003 PBS documentary "Hot Zones". Only one problem - I didn't make it to campus on Monday for the presentation. But I know a lot of you did! My 'inside sources' told me there were at least 70 people crammed into the Dining Room and others turned away at the door after seeing the crowd (perfectly understandable, considering that large groups of people, cramped spaces and infectious diseases aren't a very good mix...)

So - for those of you who were there - how'd you like it? What did you learn? What did you like? Anything you didn't like? Give me the full review and help those who, like me, weren't there in person. Thanks!

PS - For slackers like myself, the DVD is on reserve at the Circulation Desk in the library. It checks out for two days. AND it's narrated by Matt Damon, so how about that? You can also check out the PBS website for the series here (complete with Matt Damon biography!). Again, the episode's title is "Hot Zones".

PPS - OK. One disgusting photo. But it's a bad one. Ready? Click here

Leftovers

Short post this week: just some extra trivia that didn't make it into the last few entries, along with a schedule of upcoming Plague-related events at Longview. Mark your calendars!

*** The plague may be the latest weapon in the War on Terror. According to this 1/19/09 article from the British newspaper The Telegraph, at least 40 al-Qaeda members died after the plague swept through a training camp in northern Algeria (on the Mediterranean coast, approx. 300 miles east of Oran). This follow-up article suggests that the al-Qaeda cell may have been trying to develop the disease into a biological weapon.

*** The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies plague as a Category A Bioterrorism Agent. Characteristics of Category A diseases include: ease of transmission from person-to-person, high mortality rates, and the possibility of "public panic and social disruption". Anthrax, smallpox, and the Ebola virus are also Category A agents. (image, above, from the CDC's Plague Images page - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/pics.htm)

*** Yersinia pestis, the plague bacteria, is named after Alexandre Yersin, the French doctor who discovered it in 1894. Yersin was a student of the famous scientist Louis Pasteur, and when Yersin discovered the bacteria, he named it Pasteurella pestis. It wasn't changed to honor Yersin until 1967. (Information here and below from the article "Yersin, Alexandre" in The Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (2001), retrieved from Longview's Biography Reference Bank online database)

*** In 1895, Yersin began building laboratory facilities in Nha Trang, Indochina (now Vietnam), to produce anti-plague serum. He eventually moved there and stayed until his death in 1943. To this day, his tomb there is maintained as a shrine and the town is the site of the Yersin Museum. (photo, above, from the Pasteur Institute Archives - http://www.pasteur.fr/infosci/archives/yer0.html)

UPCOMING PLAGUE-RELATED EVENTS

February 23, 2009 - 11:30 - 12:45 PM
Contagion Day "Hot Zones"
Led by Brian Mitchell, view a 55-minute film which explores infectious diseases
Campus Center Private Dining Room

March 5, 2009 - 2:30 - 3:30 PM
Book Discussion of The Plague, led by David Reeves and Debi Serrano
Campus Center, Private Dining Room

.

March 24, 2009 - 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Book Discussion of The Plague, led by Tensy Marcos-Bodker and Shelley Carney
Campus Center, Private Dining Room
Bring your lunch (how appetizing!)

April 17, 2009 - 12:00 - 1:00 PM
Book Discussion of The Plague, led by Jama Rooney and Linda Cox
Campus Center, Private Dining Room
Bring your lunch (extra credit if anything you're eating resembles a bubo...)

(Sorry I forgot to plug Jama and Linda's discussion on February 13. I heard it was a good discussion, attended by about 15 students, faculty, and staff)

"Thus from the dawn of recorded history the scourge of God has humbled the proud of heart"

This entry's title is a quote from the beginning of Father Paneloux's first sermon (it starts about a third of the way through the novel, in Part Two). During the course of his sermon, the Father makes reference to several historical plague outbreaks, so I thought I'd see what I could dig up for you. (As always, all sources referenced are available on the shelf at Longview Library, through the library's online databases, or from 'reputable' websites)

*** Paneloux quotes text from the biblical Book of Exodus, and calls this the "first time this scourge appears in history." The relevant passage seems to be Exodus 9: 8-12, which describes the sixth of the ten plagues visited on Egypt to help Moses convince the Pharaoh to free the Israelites: "So they [Moses and his brother Aaron] took soot from the kiln, and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses threw it in the air, and it caused festering boils on humans and animals." (Exod 9:10, NRSV, quoted in The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. 1 (1994))

*** There is ongoing debate over the historical accuracy of the Ten Plagues. But it is interesting to note that the sixth plague is preceded by plagues of biting insects and a pestilence that kills livestock. While not exactly the same, it is similar to the progression of bubonic plague from fleas to rats and other small mammals to humans.

(image of 'The Plague of Boils', from the British Library - http://www.bl.uk/learning/cult/inside/goldhaggadahstories/10plagues/plaguesofegypt.html)

*** According to the Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence (3rd ed.), the first "certain instance of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean world" was an outbreak in Libya in the first century CE. The source of the account mentions that buboes were also common in Egypt and Syria and refers to an earlier source that may indicate the outbreak of bubonic plague as early as the 3rd century BCE. By way of comparison, according to Hebrew tradition, Moses was born sometime in the late 14th century BCE. (From George Childs Kohn's article, "Libyan plague of the first century CE", available in the online database Ancient and Medieval History Online)

*** Father Paneloux also tells of an Italian plague outbreak. His source, the Golden Legend, is a collection of biographies of saints, or 'hagiographies'. It was compiled in the 13th century CE and was actually one of the most popular books of the medieval era. Father Paneloux's story is from the life of Saint Sebastian, a martyr from the 3rd century CE. According to the story, the plague outbreak stopped after an altar with relics of Sebastian's body was built. (From Edward D. English's article "Golden Legend", in the Encyclopedia of the Medieval World, available in Ancient and Medieval History Online).

.

(image below, "Suffering from the Plague", is from Ancient and Medieval History Online and shows "a chaotic scene outside a temple in a Roman city".)

.

*** Although Father Paneloux mentions the Italian plague outbreak occurred during the reign of King "Umberto", the translation of the Golden Legend I read (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume2.htm) referred to King "Gumbert". In any case, the outbreak he's speaking of may have been the Plague of Cyprian, which ran through the Mediterranean coasts of Africa, the Near East, and Europe, and - at it's height - killed 5,000 people a day in Rome alone. Most scientists now believe the Cyprian Plague was smallpox or measles, not bubonic plague.

Blinding you with science

Well, something strange is certainly happening in Oran - dead rats, a dead concierge, more dead rats, some very sick people... If you've made it to the end of Part One, then you know what Dr. Rieux and Dr. Castel suspected all along: It's the plague (pretty big twist, considering the novel is titled The Plague - huh?).

But what is the plague? Here's some background information for us non-doctors. The following tidbits are taken from Carol Turkington and Bonnie Lee Ashby's article "Plague" in The Encyclopedia of Infectious Diseases (3rd ed., 2007). This article - and many others on the plague - is available through Longview's Health Reference Center online database.

*** "The scourge of early history, plague is a serious infectious disease transmitted by the bites of rat fleas."

*** "Fleas found on rodents can carry the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis (formerly Bacillus pestis or Pasteurella pestis). More than 100 species of fleas have been reported to be naturally infected with plague." (image of oriental rat flea engorged with blood, from the CDC Plague Home Page - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/)

*** "There are three major forms of the disease: bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic, each of which can occur alone or together, as the disease moves throughout the body. Bubonic plague is centered in the lymphatic system, creating swelling lymph nodes (buboes), from which it gets its name. Septicemic plague affects the bloodstream. Pneumonic plague occurs when the bacteria enters the lungs."

(shameful admission: I have a bachelor's degree in linguistics, and I didn't get the 'buboes'/'bubonic' connection until I looked up "bubo" in one of our medical dictionaries. Talk about your 'Well, duh' moments!)

*** "Two to five days after infection, patients experience sudden fever, shivering, seizures, and severe headaches followed by buboes—smooth, oval, reddened, and very painful swellings in the armpits, groin, or neck." (bubo image also from the CDC Plague Home Page)

*** "Pneumonic plague causes severe, overwhelming pneumonia, with shortness of breath, high fever, and blood in the phlegm. (Onset of these symptoms begins only one to three days after exposure.) If untreated, half the patients will die; if blood poisoning occurs as an early complication, patients may die before the buboes appear."

*** "Plague can be treated successfully if it is caught early. Untreated pneumonic plague is almost always fatal, and the chances of survival are very low unless specific antibiotic treatment is started within 15 to 18 hours after symptoms appear."

*** And, finally, the fact that surprised me the most: "Plague is ... found among ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and marmots in parts of Arizona, New Mexico, California, Colorado, and Nevada. Between 10 and 50 Americans each year contract plague during the spring and summer months." (plague distribution map from the CDC Plague Home Page)

For those interested in more information on the medical aspects of plague, here is a bibliography of scientific resources. All are available on the shelf at Longview Library, through our online databases, or from authoritative websites, such as the Center for Disease Control's and the World Health Organization's.

Next week: a look at plague outbreaks throughout history, including those mentioned by Father Paneloux in his first sermon.

"The town itself, let us admit, is ugly."

Well - how about that? First sentence of the novel's second paragraph. Camus - or at least his narrator - is pretty blunt about his feelings for Oran. Let's see what you think!

First, some background information:

Oran is located on the coast of the Mediterranean in northwestern Algeria, a country in northern Africa. (The maps below are from the Facts on File World Atlas database, available through Longview Library's Online Databases page.)

There are about 2 million people living in Oran and the surrounding region, which makes it the second-largest city in Algeria, trailing only the capital, Algiers. Because of its coastal position, Oran has been an important port ever since the city was founded by Moorish traders in the 10th century CE.

Its importance has, of course, led to the city being invaded, conquered, occupied, or otherwise controlled numerous times. The Spanish captured the city from the Moors in 1509. The Turks took over in 1708. The Spanish re-captured the city in 1732, but lost Oran to the Ottoman Empire in 1791. The French took over in 1831.

Several important developments occurred in the 1940s, the decade in which The Plague is set. In July 1940, France surrendered to Nazi Germany. The terms of the surrender gave Germany about three-fifths of France, including Paris and the enire Atlantic coast. The remaining two-fifths remained unoccupied and the French relocated their government from Paris to Vichy. Most historians now agree that the 'Vichy regime' was actually a puppet government controlled by the Nazis, but in any case, Vichy France controlled 'French North Africa', as it was called, until British and American naval troops reclaimed the area in November 1942.

So, some questions:

1) Do you think The Plague is set before or after November 1942? Why?

2) Judging from what he writes after the second paragraph, do you think that Camus (or his narrator) really believes the city is "ugly"? If not, why do you think he describes it that way on the first page of the book? (Feel free to come back and comment again if your feelings change as you read on)

3) And - most importantly - do you think Oran is ugly? Click here to look at pictures taken from the DHD Multimedia Gallery, the Wikimedia Commons, or the Visit Oran website - http://www.visitoran.com/photos/ - which has tons of other images in their Photo Galleries.

(Geographical and historical information adapted from Facts on File World Atlas and CultureGrams World Edition - both available through Longview Library's Online Databases page)

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a good, relaxing holiday break. Because we'll have some rather ugly business to attend to this semester...

How would you feel if you came to class one day and were told you wouldn't be allowed to leave campus at the end of the day? Then you were told the "authorities" weren't sure how long you'd have to stay put. Oh, and - by the way - you're also not allowed to communicate in any way with anyone off campus.

Pretty horrible, huh? But what if it gets worse? What if, after a few hours of being stuck on campus, people - the same people who are stuck here just like you - start getting very, very sick...

___________________________________________________


These are some of the nightmarish scenarios that befall the townspeople of Oran, Algeria, in Albert Camus's The Plague. As we go through this discussion, we'll look at the different ways Camus's characters deal with their situation and talk about how we might handle it today.

Since The Plague is a campus-wide reading project, my hope for this discussion blog is to benefit from the various backgrounds and insights of all the different groups reading the novel. English students learning from Biology students, and vice versa. Math students learning from Psychology students, and vice versa. Faculty and staff learning from students, and - well, you get the picture.

So, without further ado, let The Plague begin!