Monthly Archives: November 2015

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Defeat Finals with the Long Night Against Procrastination!

LNAP-Flyer
“Procrastination is something best put off until tomorrow.” –Gerald Vaughan

What: Help with writing, research, finals prep, and de-stressing
Where: The Edge
When: Tuesday, December 1, 8:00-12:00 pm

So you think you have lots of time before finals.  That’s weeks away right? Actually, there are less than nine days of classes before finals are upon us.  Don’t let all the final papers, presentations, and exams sneak up on you! Duke University’s inaugural Long Night Against Procrastination is a night set apart for maximum productivity–an evening you can devote to staying on stop of everything on your to-do list.

 Staff from the Libraries, the TWP Writing Studio, and the Academic Resource Center will be on hand to provide research and writing assistance.  You can track your study progress and pick up free study materials throughout the evening.

There will also be stress-relieving activities including coloring, origami, and relaxation stations  for when you need a short brain break. And, of course, there will be plenty of snacks and coffee to feed your productivity.  Come out for a Long Night Against Procrastination and conquer your finals week!

Sponsored by Duke University Libraries, the TWP Writing Studio, Duke Student Wellness Center, and the Academic Resource Center

Refreshments provided by Little Debbie Bakery Snacks, Saladelia, Pepsi, Duke University Campus Club, and Friends of the Duke University Libraries

Feature Articles, Feature Articles, Humanities, Just for Fun

What to read this month

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Before you leave for Thanksgiving break, consider bringing home a book to read.  We’ve got a lot of great titles in New and Noteworthy and Current Literature.

  1. The League of Regrettable Superheroes : half-baked heroes from comic book history! by Jon Morris.  You know about Batman, Superman, and Spiderman, but have you heard of Doll Man, Doctor Hormone, or Spider Queen? In The League of Regrettable Superheroes , you’ll meet one hundred of the strangest superheroes ever to see print, complete with backstories, vintage art, and colorful commentary. So prepare yourself for such not-ready-for-prime-time heroes as Bee Man (Batman, but with bees), the Clown (circus-themed crimebuster), the Eye (a giant, floating eyeball; just accept it), and many other oddballs and oddities. Drawing on the entire history of the medium, The League of Regrettable Superheroes will appeal to die-hard comics fans, casual comics readers, and anyone who enjoys peering into the stranger corners of pop culture.
  2. Keep it fake : inventing an authentic life by Eric G. Wilson.  This is an interesting philosophical exploration of authenticity and how we invent versions of ourselves.  To learn more about it you may want to read this review or this podcast with the author.
  3. For anyone looking for a thriller to read over the break, you might want to try Karin Slaughter’s Pretty Girls.  Lee Child described this book as a “A stunning family tragedy and a hold-your-breath pedal-to-the-metal thriller magically blended by Karin Slaughter’s trademark passion, intensity, and humanity.  Certain to be a book of the year.”
  4. The gap of time : the Winter’s tale retold by Jeanette Winterson.  This book is the first in a new series called The Hogarth Shakepeare from Vintage books.  It is launching to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and will feature stand-alone retellings written by some of today’s leading authors, including Jeanette Winterson and Anne Tyler (who will be taking on The Taming of the Shrew).
  5. The pleasure of reading edited by Antonia Fraser and Victoria Gray.  This collection features essays from 40 authors, such as Margaret Atwood, J.G. Ballard, A.S. Byatt, Kamila Shamsie, Ruth Rendell, and Tom Stoppard, about what first made them interested in literature and in reading.  You can read some excerpts here.

Announcement, Digital Scholarship, Duke researchers, Events, Original research, Services, Technology, Tips for students

Edge Lightning Talks: A Series of Works in Progress

Edge Lightning Talks Photo
Ever wonder who those teams of people are and what they’re working on? Come find out December 4!

 

What: Research-in-progress, coffee and dessert
Where: The Edge Workshop Room (Bostock Library 127)
When: Friday, December 4, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.

You’ve seen the project teams in The Edge—come find out what they’re working on! In between LDOC festivities, join us in The Edge for a series of lightning talks given by Bass Connections project team participants about their team’s research work in progress and future plans. The participating teams are:

Following the lightning talks and a panel Q&A, join the team members for a coffee and dessert reception to celebrate a successful semester.

Interested in project space in The Edge next semester? We’re accepting applications for the Spring 2016 semester. Submit an application online or email us at edge@duke.edu for more information.

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Announcement, Feature Articles

2015 University Press Week

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Duke University Press will be celebrating University Press Week November 8-15, 2015, along with the Association of American University Presses and its more than 130 members. University Press Week highlights the extraordinary work of nonprofit scholarly publishers and their many contributions to culture, the academy, and an informed society.  A number of local events are planned.

For the first time ever, The Regulator Bookshop in Durham will host a pop-up university press bookstore in its lower level. The bookstore will feature books and journals from local presses Duke University Press and Wake Forest University Press as well as presses from around the country. Browsers may be surprised to find how many books of general interest university presses publish, from cookbooks to music books to local history, memoir and travel. The Regulator Bookshop will also host two events during the week, a reading by Alejandro Velasco, author of Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela (University of California Press) and a reception followed by a reading by Ambassador James Joseph, author of Saved for a Purpose: A Journey from Private Virtues to Public Values (Duke University Press).

Other events celebrating University Press Week include displays of Duke University Press books and journals in the Durham County Library and Duke University’s Perkins Library.  The Perkins display can be found on the first floor near the Duke Authors display. The Center for Documentary Studies will sponsor an artist talk and book signing at Duke University’s Rubenstein Library, featuring Nadia Sablin, whose book Aunties: The Seven Summers of Alevtina and Ludmila is the seventh winner of the CDS/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography.  You can find more details about this event here.

Duke University Press will feature special University Press Week posts on its blog and will sponsor online contests during the week. Fans of university presses are encouraged to use the hashtags #ReadUP and #PublishUP to talk online about why they love to read, teach, and write university press books and journal articles and to use the #UPShelfie hashtag to share pictures of the university press books on their shelves.

 

Collections Highlight, Exhibits, Humanities, Just for Fun, Librarians, Lilly Library, Rubenstein Library

William Henry Harrison and Reform?

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Guest post by Carson Holloway, Librarian for History of Science and Technology, Military History, British and Irish Studies, Canadian Studies and General History

Why does this beautifully crafted lapel pin connect Harrison’s name with reform? Such questions provide a good deal of the appeal of fourteen campaign pins on display as part of the Kenneth Hubbard Collection of Political Campaign Ephemera in the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. In the current season of election news, Hubbard, a Duke alumnus and donor, has provided tokens of particular interest in contextualizing some notable presidential campaigns between 1840 and 1948.

William Henry Harrison’s is a name to ponder. Some might recognize that he was a President before the American Civil War. The alliteration of his name may sound familiar. Fewer could identify him as hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe, though more would recognize the campaign slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” referring to Harrison and his running mate, and successor.  Harrison, the oldest person elected President until Ronald Reagan, died from pneumonia contracted at his inauguration after serving fewer than forty days.

Harrison Lapel Pin

“Reform,” in Harrison’s campaign of 1840, was economic reform required as a result of a protracted depression known as the “Panic of 1837.”  Over a third of American banks in New York and elsewhere faltered and then failed after President Andrew Jackson’s administration decentralized the Federal banking system and British banks raised interest rates in response to perceived risk. Jackson’s Democratic successor, Van Buren, was unable to correct the economic course and prices for important agricultural export products like cotton plummeted. Whether Harrison’s Whig reforms would have been effective is questionable. The severe economic downturn lasted until 1844.

Like the Harrison pin, each of the items on display in the Rubenstein is interesting in its own right. A few have great aesthetic appeal like the Harrison pin. Other buttons illustrate powerful personalities and world-changing events. One particularly rare pin is from the only presidential campaign in which the candidate was running while serving a term in federal prison!

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Panel Discussion: Enhancing the Impact of Scholarship

Authors Alliance Logo

Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain and the UNC Libraries, UNC School of Information and Library Science, and UNC Center for Media Law and Policy are pleased to sponsor this Authors Alliance Event:

Enhancing the Impact of Scholarship: 
How Authors Can Better Reach Readers in the New Publishing Economy

The Edge Workshop Room | Bostock Library | Duke University
November 5, 2015, 3:30pm to 5:00pm with reception to follow

Free and open to the public. RSVP encouraged. Register here:http://authorsalliance.org/duke

 

How and when does open access benefit authors?

What’s the difference between open access and public access?

What uses of social media can enhance the impact of your work?

Do “open” models work outside the sciences?

How can I persuade my tenure committee that my scholarship is having impact?

Authors who write to be read care about how their works are published and what that means for reader access, but the range of academic publishing outlets available can seem daunting. While conventional book and journal publishing still predominate in many fields, new opportunities exist to share scholarly works—everything from open access journals and institutional repositories to academic blogging and personal websites. Even scholarly monographs are increasingly made available under Creative Commons licenses. What works best to get scholarly ideas out there and under what circumstances?

Join us for this panel discussion with Authors Alliance, where we will explore the opportunities and challenges scholars face in maximizing the impact of their work. Authors Alliance will introduce a new, author-oriented guide to the ins and outs of open access publishing and explain why authors of books should consider rights reversions.

 

Panelists include:

  • James Boyle (moderator) William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law, Duke Law
  • Tori Ekstrand, Assistant Professor, UNC School of Media and Journalism
  • Pamela Samuelson, Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Berkeley Law School
  • John Sherer, Spangler Family Director, UNC Press
  • Kevin Smith, Director of Copyright and Scholarly Communication, Duke Libraries
  • Harry Watson, Atlanta Alumni Distinguished Professor of Southern Culture, UNC History

 

Agenda: 

3:30 p.m.    Introduction to Authors Alliance
3:35 p.m.    Moderated Panel Discussion
4:35 p.m.    Questions & Answers
5:00 p.m.    Reception

 

Sponsored by:
UNC Libraries
UNC School of Information and Library Science
UNC Center for Media Law and Policy
Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain

Free and open to the public. RSVP encouraged. Register here:http://authorsalliance.org/duke

About Authors Alliance: Co-founded by four members of the U.C. Berkeley faculty, Authors Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for and empowering authors who write to be read, supported by a growing international community of members. Recent Authors Alliance initiatives include efforts to demystify and simplify publishing contracts, voicing official positions on copyright reform and litigation, and producing guides on legal issues authors are likely to encounter. For more information, see http://authorsalliance.org