• Kansas Book Challenges on Literary Classics, Young Adult, and Children's Literature in K-12 Education. 
  October 3rd at 6 pm in the Basement of Axe Library.
  Join us as Dr. Susan Carlson discusses the impact book challenges have on K-12 education and professor Jorge León discusses resources from ALA. 
  
  
  
•  Censorship in USA: Is Free Speech truly free?
  October 4th at 3 pm in the Basement of Axe Library
  Join Dr. Ken Ward and Dr. Matt Tarpey as they explore and discuss the context of censorship and how public policy has shaped and is shaped by censorship.

Presentations are open to all. These sessions qualify for the Library Champion Study Room Giveaway. 

Thursday August 31st from 11am-1pm outside Axe Library. 

Join the partners at Axe Library as we help welcome our student back with a 'Welcome Beach Fair' outside of the Axe Library. 

Come grab a quick lunch on us as we will have food, drinks, music, games, and give aways. The academic and support departments want to make sure students know the friendly faces that are here to help.

Library Services is excited to announce the Save-The-Date and First Call for our 40th University Authors Reception.

This year the reception will be held on Thursday November 9 th at 3 pm on the 1st floor of Axe Library. 

The University Authors Reception is a great opportunity for us to celebrate and recognize colleagues that have authored, published, or created works (including artistic endeavors) this past 2022 and 2023.

We want to celebrate the works of our PSU community. If you are interested in submitting your work the University AUthors Reception and published bibliography, please follow the link the Submission Form. The deadline for submissions this year will be October 20th 2023.

If you are new or want to check out prior years - Bibliography from prior years:  Digital Commons and prior Video Presentations .

Questions to Jorge León

Watch Last year's digital section where book authors discuss their works.

Dead Week and Finals are around the corner!

Axe Library is already keeping its doors open till 1 am, Sunday -Thursday nights. But with Dead Week and Finals approaching, we have to do our part with stress breaks, programming, and snacks in the evening.

During Dead Week (Sun-Thur) and Finals (Sun-Wed), keep an eye out for snacks and drinks at 9 pm.  

Additional programming:

Bad Art

Returning this semester! We will have another round of Bad Art on May 2nd at 8 pm. All the supplies provided. Just bring your creativity and create something truly unique.

Sticker Art Night

Starting the Sunday of Finals, join us assembling a collaborative Sticker Art work. It will be a done over several nights, Sunday - Wednesday 7:30 pm -8:30 pm - or until it is finished!

Library Services is doing it's best to respond to student feedback and requests. 

The Leonard H. Axe Library will be open until 1 am each evening (Sunday - Thursday) for the remainder of the Spring 2023 semester.

Currently, this is on a trial basis. There may be requests for feedback through out the building, please feel free to leave us your feedback. 

Annual Library Services Book Sale! 

The Spring 2023 book sale takes takes place Thursday April 6 th from 10 am - 2 pm on the first floor of Axe Library. 

Tables of with paperback and hardback books priced at $1 -$2 will be available for purchase. Topics and materials vary each year, based on prior donations. Come find a new title to explore, from westerns, to romance, to educational titles, to YA, there will something interesting to find. 

The sale is only possible due to help from community donations. If you have any gently used titles please consider donating to Axe Library. Donations can be dropped off or reach out to Jorge. 

The Library Book sale is open to PSU and community, with profits going to fund annual library programming. Your support is greatly appreciated. We hope to see you at the sale! If you have questions communicate with Jorge León  (jleon@pittstate.edu or at 620.235.4892 ) 

The Opening Reception will be Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 3pm. 

The exhibit will be hosted at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts’ Gallery Exhibit in conjunction with Open Education Week in March. 

Current PSU students and employees submitted 2D visual artwork on the theme of “Open”. 

Learn more about the Open Reception ( link )

Join us for the Annual Gene DeGruson Memorial Lecture on October 27th at 7:00 pm in the basement of Leonard H. Axe Library.

This year the event is a panel discussion titled “The Bender Family Crimes: 150 Years Later.”  Listen to Kansas historians discuss the horrific crimes committed by the “Bloody Benders” nearly 150 years ago.  

The Bender family set up an inn in remote Labette County and murdered nearly a dozen travelers over several years. These crimes were not discovered until after the family fled the area and their fate remains a mystery.  

The panelists include Max McCoy, historian and professor at Emporia State University; Carol Staton and Mike Wood, curators at the Cherryvale Museum (which houses some Bender family artifacts), and Bob Miller, current owner of the Bender property. Funding and support for this program is provided by Humanities Kansas.  

The event is open to everyone and a reception follows the event.  
For more information, contact Steve Cox, curator of the Special Collections & University Archives at (620) 235-4883 or spcox@pittstate.edu. 

Come check out any of the 2022 recepients of the Kansas Notable Books award.

This is an annual program by the State Libary of Kansas. It recognizes, "15 outstanding titles either written by Kansans or about a Kansas related topic. The Kansas Notable Book List highlights our lively contemporary writing community and encourages readers to enjoy some of the best writing of the authors among us."

You can check out the annual lists going back to 2006 - here. 

Current 2022 winners are on display in Axe Library in the basement display case. Come check one out.

Or check out any of the prior winners from the catalog - here. 

All sorts of different games and activities through out the week! Join in on the fun. Sponsored along with Gorilla Guild and ABC. 

Monday - Gorilla - D&D - 1-5 pm Axe Library 

Thursday - ABC - Game Night - 7-9 pm Axe Library 029

Puzzle and Games available through out the week at KTC Library & 1st floor Axe Library

Find out more on Engage

Extended Hours and Free Snacks!

Leonard H. Axe Library has extended open hours for students working through Dead Week and Finals.

Axe Library is open till 1 am on selected nights: 

Sunday May 1 st - 12 pm - 1 am
Mon May 2 nd - Thur May 5 th - 7:30 am - 1 am 

Sunday May 8 th - 12 pm - 1 am
Mon May 9 th - Wed May 11 th - 7:30 am - 1 am 

Drop by at 10 pm, during the extended nights, for drinks and snacks. Just a small token to help students working on those last papers, tests, assignments, and more. You all got this!

Late Nights sponsored by Library Services with support from:

College of Arts and Sciences
Kelce College of Business
College of Education
College of Technology

Join us Sunday December 5th at 2 pm for a poetry reading with Author J.T. Knoll. Come down to Axe basement Rm. 029 to hear J.T. read from his newest poetry book Counterpart. 

Other titles by J.T. include Paperboy, True Stories, Entry / Exit Point, Chorus Line, Where the Pavement Ends and Fetch Crazy. 

Event open to the PSU and public. Light refreshments available. 

Library Services is here to help. During Dead Week and Finals, Axe Library will have extended hours and our Late Nights At Axe will have a range of programming and snacks!

Dead Week hours:

Nov. 28th                       12 pm- 1 am
Nov. 29th - Dec 2nd        7:30 am - 1 am

Dec. 5th                          12 pm- 1 am
Dec 6th - 8th                   7:30 am - 1 am

• Snacks and drink breaks at 10 pm on the evenings with extended hours. Courtesy of Library Services.
• Late Night at the Library with GAB . 9 pm - 11 pm. Come take a break and de-stress. Food, give aways, and activities.
• SVP, GSA, NASA are all helping set up "Self care and Destress" tables. Check out some of the materials and take care of yourself!

The Gene Degruson Memorial Lecture - "The Amazon Army: The Fight for Workers' Rights and Social Justice in the Kansas Coalfields." with presenter Linda Knoll. Presentation on October 5 th at 7 pm in the basement of Axe Library. 

"One hundred years ago, women of Crawford County held a protest. The wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of local miners protested the creation of the Court of Industrial Relations in 1920, which restricted many of the miners’ rights, including the right to strike. Alexander Howat, the head of the Kansas coal miner union, was jailed for failing to recognize this court. In December 1921, in a protest that made national news, several thousand women marched to the mine headquarters in Franklin, Kansas, in an event that became known as the Amazon Army March.

This year’s Gene DeGruson Memorial Lecture features local historian Linda Knoll in a talk titled “The Amazon Army: The Fight for Workers’ Rights and Social Justice in the Kansas Coalfields.”

This free lecture will be given on Tuesday, October 5, at 7:00 pm in the basement of Axe Library on the Pittsburg State University campus.

This Gene DeGruson Memorial Lecture series is in honor of the late Gene DeGruson, the first and long-time curator of the Special Collections & University Archives at PSU. 

The event is free and open to all. A reception will take place afterwards. For more information, email: speccoll@pittstate.edu, or call: (620) 235-488