The idea of compost often conjures images of kitchen scraps, farms and backyard gardens.

Now a Cornell staff member and her cohorts are encouraging city renters to join in the effort.

“There are a lot of properties in Collegetown,” said Roberta Dixon, the Cornell documentation specialist who conjured up the idea as part of a 10-month Tompkins County community leadership program. “We approached owners and pointed out how a composting program aimed at renters could reduce the amount of solid waste being hauled away from rental properties.”

Ithaca Rentals and Renovations liked being part of something so innovative, and Cayuga Compost agreed to pick up the kitchen waste. Unfortunately, thunderstorms limited participation during the program’s kick-off event last May; but a recent follow-up event to promote apartment composting, educate people on the new idea and hand out free compost buckets proved a success.

In 2009 Dixon was chosen by Cornell to attend the Leadership Tompkins program. Teams within the program decide on and plan out a final community action project, and the composting project was hers.

- Krishna Ramanujan

Keith Waldrop won the 2009 National Book Award in Poetry for “Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy” at a Nov. 18 ceremony at Cipriani in New York City, although the Cornell community was hoping for another result. Assistant professor of English Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon was a fellow finalist for the award for her recent collection “Open Interval” (University of Pittsburgh Press).

“We’re very proud to have Lyrae as a colleague – and proud of ourselves for hiring her and supporting her even before she was the famous poet she is destined to become,” said Department of English Chair Ellis Hanson.

Speakers and honorees at the ceremony included Dave Eggers, Joanne Woodward, Gore Vidal and host Andy Borowitz. The 2009 awards ceremony and dinner will be televised on C-SPAN2/BookTV, Saturday, Nov. 21, at 8 p.m. EST and Nov. 22 at 10 a.m. EST. Information: www.nationalbook.org.

– Daniel Aloi

Trying to visualize the places described in “The Grapes of Wrath”? A new map exhibit in Olin Library leads the reader through John Steinbeck’s classic, recreating the Joads’ itinerary. The exhibit includes images of Route 66, “The Mother Road,” which immigrants took to California; the severe wind erosion in the Dust Bowl area between 1935-1940; and the efforts of the federal authorities to create better living conditions for the migrants.

The maps in the exhibit come in different formats, including original creations using GIS software. The Maps and Media Unit in the Research & Learning Services Department of Olin and Uris Libraries created the exhibit, as well as an online map as part of the New Student Reading Project that focused on Steinbeck’s masterpiece this summer.

To see the exhibit, check out the cases in the lower-level lobby of Olin anytime the library is open.

-Gwen Glazer

The electronic documents housed in DigitalCommons@ILR, which cover an immense range of workplace topics, will soon upload its 10,000th document.

“It’s an important milestone,” said Catherwood Library Web and Digital Projects Manager Jim DelRosso, “not only because of the quantity of documents in the repository, but also because it brings attention to the variety and quality of the resources made available through DigitalCommons@ILR.”

Featuring the scholarship of ILR faculty and researchers, DigitalCommons@ILR also contains workplace-related collections selected by Catherwood staff. Items include collective records of Congressional commissions and archives of labor and globalization-related Web sites.

Catherwood Collection Development Librarian Suzanne Cohen said, “The dual purpose of our repository has allowed us to help promote the great work of ILR School authors while extending our library’s collection development mission into the digital arena by collecting materials relevant to ILR disciplines, regardless of origin.”

The repository launched in 2004, and its documents have been downloaded nearly 2 million times.

The most downloaded items? Works by ILR faculty, archived issues of the ILR Review and reports from the Congressional Research Service.

It was just last October that we at the Cornell Chronicle office bade farewell to Tanner, the beloved yellow Labrador retriever seeing-eye-puppy-in-training we were lucky enough to help raise until she was old enough to begin her life of service.

With Tanner’s departure came the arrival of Doco, the eight-week-old chocolate Lab who would be her successor. Doco, raised primarily by Cornell Chronicle managing editor Susan Lang, joined us as a cuddly, dark-brown puppy full of both love and sass – and grew up to be a smart, gentle, affectionate and treasured member of our office.

Which is all to say – Doco is ready to begin her intensive training with the Freedom Guide Dog Foundation, and then to take her place at the side of a human who needs her.

It hasn’t quite hit us yet. We will miss her, as we still miss Tanner. But we’re also preparing for a new puppy – another female yellow Lab, from the foundation through Franklin Hill Labrador Retrievers, who will join us on Monday.

And here’s the thing: The new puppy doesn’t have a name yet. We have a few ideas, but we need your help.

So, e-mail your ideas! If we choose your suggestion, you’ll get the satisfaction of knowing you were a part of the giant effort that goes into raising a service dog – one of the biggest prizes there is.

– Lauren Gold

The film “In 500 Words or Less” portrays the college application process through the lives of four American high school students as they navigate the high-stakes world of college fairs, SAT prep, campus visits, applications and the largest hurdle – the personal essay – before awaiting the fat envelope stuffed with an acceptance letter.

Leo Rosario, a first-generation Dominican American from Yonkers, N.Y., plays tenor sax, loves sports and dreams of becoming the first in his family to attend an Ivy League school. He ultimately lands a full-tuition scholarship to Cornell, where he is now a sophomore in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

In the documentary, Rosario, raised by a single mother who never finished college, sets his sights on the top schools, convinced that anything less would be a failure. “Do not let anyone put you down,” he says. “If you dream of something, do it.”

The film, directed and produced by Molly Fowler and released by Point Made Films, earned an official selection at the Orlando Film Festival. But critics and movie buffs aren’t the only ones giving it rave reviews. “This film is outstanding – simply outstanding,” says Doris Davis, Cornell’s associate provost for admissions and enrollment.

– Ted Boscia

People looking to return books at the John Henrik Clarke Africana Library can shave a few minutes off their trips: The library now has a convenient outside book drop on the parking lot side of the Africana Center.

And because materials from any campus library can be returned to any other campus library regardless of where they were checked out, the new drop box can save Africana Center visitors a trip to anywhere else on campus.

– Gwen Glazer

Hans Bethe House is soliciting student proposals for a site-specific art installation for its Jansen Dining Room.

The winning entry will be produced in spring 2010 and will occupy the high-ceilinged space at the dining room’s southwest corner. Artwork can be hung from the ceiling or wall-mounted, should have dynamic elements, and should convey Bethe’s work and ideas in physics, astronomy, energy production in stars, and nuclear arms control.

The competition is open to all Cornell students, and collaborations are welcome. Submissions in the form of concept drawings and/or models are due Dec. 7 at 4 p.m. in the Bethe House Dean’s Office.

Winners will be announced and notified Dec. 14. First prize is $250, and second prize is $100. Winners will lead a team during the spring semester to refine their concept and build the installation.

The jury for the competition includes professors Jack Elliott, design and environmental analysis; Elisabeth Meyer, art; Francis Moon, mechanical and aerospace engineering; John Zissovici, architecture; Bethe House Dean Porus Olpadwala and Assistant Dean Thomas Noel Jr.; and a representative from the Hans Bethe House council.

Information: Denise Shaw, 102 Hans Bethe House; call 607-255-7212 or e-mail with “Hans Bethe House Competition” in the subject line.

- Daniel Aloi

The popular science website scientificblogging.com is holding its first writing competition for graduate students, and four Cornell students have been selected as finalists – but they need your vote to win.

Go to the students’ individual blogs, and if you like what you read, click on the “vote” button. Voting ends Sunday, Nov. 22. The student whose entry gets the most votes wins $2,500 and a three-month paid writing internship for the Web site. The top vote-earners in each of the 6 disciplines also win a cash prize.

Here’s a look at the blogs:

Ryan Anderson, astronomy: MSL: Mars Action Hero; about the Mars Science Lab and how it will improve exploration and data collection on Mars.

Laura Martin, natural resources: Is there a red environmentalism and a blue environmentalism? Investigates why there is a presumed political divide when it comes to environmentalism.

Katie Schoenberg, animal science: The need for a grey area; Discusses the differences between conventional and organic dairy farming and why choosing which one is “better” is not a black-and-white issue.

Yisong Yue, computer science: Self-improving systems learn through human interaction; Examines how computers and computer programs, ranging from Twitter feeds to Google search results, improve their value to the human users based on what input the users are giving.

– Sarah Purdue

This 1931 letter lays out Eleanor Roosevelt’s ideas for Depression-era workers, which she affirmed through her support for Cornell’s College of Home Economics.

Roosevelt, who died 47 years ago this month, played an integral role in the development of the college from the 1920s to the 1940s.

In celebration of the Home Economics centennial anniversary in 2001, Cornell Library digitized highlights from its collection of Roosevelt materials. Go online to view photographs, a telegram and personal correspondence, or visit the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections to see the items in person.

– Gwen Glazer

Image courtesy of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library