Category Archives: Events

A Conversation with Photographer Edward Ranney, May 7

Moray, 1975. Toned gelatin silver print by Edward Ranney.
Moray, 1975. Toned gelatin silver print by Edward Ranney.

Who: Edward Ranney
When: Tuesday, May 7, 1:00 p.m.
Where: Perkins Library, Room 217 (Click for map)
Contact: Kirston Johnson, 919-681-7963, kirston.johnson@duke.edu

Edward Ranney is an internationally recognized photographer who has photographed the natural and man-altered landscape for over forty years. His work of the 1970s in the southern Andes of Peru resulted in the book Monuments of the Incas (1982), which was reprinted in an expanded edition in 2010.

Since 1985, Ranney has dedicated himself to a comprehensive photographic survey of pre-Columbian sites along the Andean Desert Coast. His recent work with Lucy R. Lippard in the Galisteo Basin, near Sante Fe, was published in Down Country in 2010.

Edward Ranney has received numerous awards, including two Fulbright fellowships for his work in Peru, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Photography Fellowship. His work has been presented in individual exhibitions at the Princeton University Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of New Mexico Art Museum, and the Centro Cultural of Miraflores in Lima, Peru. His other books include Stonework of the MayaPrairie Passage, and Pablo Neruda’s Heights of Macchu Picchu.

This event is free and open to the public.

A Conversation with David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, May 10

David S. Ferriero, Tenth Archivist of the United States
David S. Ferriero, Tenth Archivist of the United States

Who: David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States
When: Friday, May 10, 3:00 p.m.
Where: Gothic Reading Room, Rubenstein Library (Click for map)
Contact: Aaron Welborn, 919-660-5816, aaron.welborn@duke.edu

In 2009, David S. Ferriero was appointed by President Obama as the tenth Archivist of the United States. A former director of the New York Public Libraries, the largest public library system in the country, he is the first librarian to lead the National Archives and Records Administration. From 1996 to 2004, Ferriero served as Duke’s university librarian. In that role, he helped raise more than $50 million to expand and renovate the West Campus libraries, developed initiatives for instructional technology, and worked to increase public access to libraries and museums throughout North Carolina.

Ferriero will receive an honorary degree at Duke’s commencement on May 12. Deborah Jakubs, the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke, will lead this Q&A public conversation with him.

Reception to follow. This event is free and open to the public.

 

Parking Information

Starting Friday, May 10, all parking lots on campus will be open and available for parking without charge throughout commencement weekend. Parking is on a first-come basis, so please allow time to find a space. For more information, see the announcement on DukeToday about 2013 commencement parking, or contact Duke Parking and Transportation Services at (919) 684-7275 or tranpark@duke.edu.

 

Find Out More

New Exhibit: Botanical Treasures from Duke’s Hidden Library; Reception 4/29

Herbarium Exhibit Banner Image

On exhibit April 10 – July 14, 2013
Perkins Library Gallery, Duke West Campus (Click for map)
Public Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am–7pm; Saturday, 9am–7pm; Sunday, 10am–7pm
Hours may vary during the summer months. Please check our posted library hours for more information.

 

About the Exhibit 

When you hear the word herbarium, you might think herb garden. Not so.

Instead, think of an herbarium as a kind of library of preserved plants. But instead of shelves upon shelves of books, an herbarium contains cabinets upon cabinets of dried and labeled plant specimens. Unlike most books in a library, which can be repurchased or duplicated, each herbarium specimen is truly unique. It is a representative of plant biodiversity at a particular place and time in the history of life on earth.

A new exhibit in Perkins Library explores the beauty and importance of herbaria in furthering our understanding of the natural world and highlights our own “hidden library” of plants right here on campus—the Duke Herbarium.

Detail: Herbarium sample of Rhynchospora, commonly known as beak-rush or beak-sedge.
Detail: Herbarium sample of Rhynchospora, commonly known as beak-rush or beak-sedge.

The Duke Herbarium, located in the Biological Sciences Building next to the French Family Science Center, is one of the largest herbaria in the United States and the second largest at a private U.S. university (after Harvard). With more than 800,000 specimens of vascular plants, bryophytes, algae, lichens, and fungi, the Duke Herbarium is a unique and irreplaceable resource used by local, national, and international scientific communities.

The role of herbaria in housing and protecting plant specimens is invaluable. Herbaria are where biologists turn to identify plant species, check the validity of a newly described species, track how a species has changed over time, and even analyze how entire landscapes have been altered. Herbarium specimens can yield information to help us better protect our planet. This is especially important today, when humans have a greater impact on the environment and plants are exposed to conditions they never would have encountered just a century ago.

Botanical Treasures of Duke’s Hidden Library examines the work of the Duke Herbarium, explains how plant specimens are collected, and highlights some surprising stories from the field, like how Duke biologists recently named a newly discovered genus of ferns after Lady Gaga!

The exhibit was curated by Layne Huiet, Senior Research Scientist and Vascular Plants Collections Manager, Duke Herbarium; Tiff Shao, Trinity 2012 (Biology), Associate in Research, Duke Herbarium; Anne Johnson, Trinity 2013 (Biology); and Kathleen Pryer, Professor of Biology and Director of the Duke Herbarium.

For more information, visit the exhibit website, or check out the website of the Duke Herbarium.

 

Exhibit Reception and Lecture—Please Join Us!

Alfred Russel Wallace in the Amazon: The Making of a Naturalist
Speaker:
 Sandra Knapp, Research Botanist at the Natural History Museum in London (Click for bio)
Date: Monday, April 29
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Perkins Library, Room 217, Duke West Campus (Click for map)
Exhibit reception to follow in the Perkins Library Gallery. Light refreshments will be served.
Contact: Meg Brown, meg.brown@duke.edu, 919-681-2071

Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace: British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist

Digital Forensics, Emulation, and the Art of Restoration: April 24

The Thing

Who: Ben Fino-Radin
When: Wednesday, April 24, 4:00 p.m.
Where: Perkins Library, Room 217 (Click for map)
Contact: Winston Atkins (winston.atkins@duke.edu)

In 1991, from a basement in lower Manhattan, contemporary artist Wolfgang Staehle founded The Thing, an electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS) that served as a cyber-utopian hub for NYC-based artists integrating computers and into their creative practice.

The Thing emerged at a moment when contemporary artists were coming to grips with personal computers and the role they played in visual art. The BBS, which began as a temporary experiment, grew to become an international network of artists and ideas. Then the World Wide Web emerged and in 1995 Staehle abandoned the BBS for a web-based iteration of The Thing. The cultural record of these crucial early years, inscribed on the platters of the hard drive that hosted the BBS, was left to sit in a dusty basement.

The Thing 2

Fast forward to 2013. Digital conservator Ben Fino-Radin reached out to Staehle to investigate the state of the BBS. Did the machine that hosted The Thing still exist? Could the board be restored to working order?

For scholars interested in the intersection of art and technology, the ability to investigate the contents of the BBS and observe its original look and feel would help flesh out the history of the emergence of personal computers and visual art. Tragically, it was discovered that the computer that hosted The Thing BBS was at some point discarded.

Join Ben Fino-Radin on April 24 to discuss the process of digital forensics, investigation, and anthropology involved in the process of restoring The Thing BBS from the scattered bits and pieces of evidence that managed to survive, and how this story serves as a case-study in the need for a new model of digital preservation in archives.

This event is free and open to the public.

 

About the Speaker
fino-radinBen Fino-Radin is a New York based media archaeologist and conservator of born-digital and computer-based works of contemporary art. At Rhizome at the New Museum, he leads the preservation and curation of the ArtBase, one of the oldest and most comprehensive collections of born-digital works of art. He is also in practice in the conservation department of the Museum of Modern Art, managing the museum’s repository for digital assets in the collection, as well as contributing to media conservation projects. He is near completion of an MFA in digital arts and MS in Library and Information Science at Pratt Institute, with a BFA from Alfred University.

 

Find Out More

Ben Fino-Radin:

The Thing:

Rhizome:

  • Rhizome is dedicated to the creation, presentation, preservation, and critique of emerging artistic practices that engage technology.” (from the Rhizome mission statement)

 

Congratulations to Our Book Collectors Contest Winners!

Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people—people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.

– E.B. White

We just had to share this video with some of our fellow bibliophiles out there.

On February 21, 2013, Duke undergraduate and graduate students gathered in Perkins Library to show off their personal book collections for the Andrew T. Nadell Book Collectors Contest.

Since 1947, the Friends of the Duke University Libraries have organized the contest in alternate years to promote reading for enjoyment and the development of students’ personal libraries. Eighteen students participated in this year’s contest—a record turnout! Here’s what they had to say about the books they love best. Enjoy!

 

 

Congratulations to the winners of the 2013 Andrew T. Nadell Book Collectors Contest!

Undergraduate 1st Prize
Kenny Gould

Undergraduate 2nd Prize
Laurel Burk

Graduate 1st Prize
Ashley Young

Graduate 2nd Prize (tie)
Adrienne Krone
Beth Sanchez

Battle of the Books

Students will be showing off their personal book collections on Thursday, February 21 from 1:30-3:00 pm during the 2013 Andrew T. Nadell Book Collectors Contest.  This contest, which has been hosted by the Friends of the Duke University Libraries every other year since 1947, allows Duke undergraduate and graduate students to display their personal libraries.  Students are competing for cash prizes in the undergraduate and graduate divisions, as well as the opportunity to compete in the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest.  In 2011 Duke graduate student Mitch Fraas took home first prize, a trip to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and $2,500.

Students, faculty, staff, and visitors are invited to view the collections and speak with students about their collections during the contest.  Students will have materials from their collections on display in the Perkins Lobby throughout the contest.

Road Trip with the Friends!

On Friday, April 26, the Friends of the Duke University Libraries will be hitting the road to Wilmington, North Carolina, to learn more about the race riot of 1898.  In honor of the 115th anniversary of this historic event, we will tour the 1898 exhibit at the Cape Fear Museum with LaRae Umfleet, historian and author of the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission Report.  We will also visit the Bellamy Mansion and 1898 Memorial, followed by a tour of key sites and a discussion with Barbara Wright, author of the novel Crow, a fictional account of Wilmington in 1898.  The evening will be open for sightseeing and dinner in Wilmington before the return to Durham.

For more information or to sign up for the trip. please contact Megan Lawson at 919-660-5856 or megan.lawson@duke.edu.  The trip is open to everyone.  The cost of the trip is $75, which includes transportation, lunch, and admission to the sites.  The registration deadline is March 26, 2013.

Wilmington_Flier

Book Talk: Selected Letters of William Styron: Feb. 13

Date: Wednesday, February 13
Time: 5:00 p.m. reception, 5:30 talk
Location: Gothic Reading Room, Rubenstein Library, Duke West Campus (Map)
Contact: Aaron Welborn, aaron.welborn@duke.edu, 919-660-5816

Join the Libraries for a public conversation with Rose Styron and R. Blakeslee Gilpin, editors of the recently published Selected Letters of William Styron (Random House, 2012) at 5 p.m. Wednesday, February 13, in the Rubenstein Library’s Gothic Reading Room. The event is free and open to the public.

Styron Letters Cover
Photo credit: Alison Shaw

Born in Virginia, William Styron (1925-2006) was a graduate of Duke University (1947), a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and the author of numerous award-winning books. His first novel, Lie Down in Darkness, was published to critical acclaim when Styron was just twenty-six years old. His controversial The Confessions of Nat Turner won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize, while Sophie’s Choice was awarded the 1980 National Book Award. Darkness Visible, Styron’s groundbreaking recounting of his ordeal with depression, was not only a literary triumph but became a landmark in the field.

Styron’s letters contain some of his most memorable meditations on the craft of writing. They also open a window onto his friendships with Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, John and Jackie Kennedy, Arthur Miller, James Jones, Carlos Fuentes, Wallace Stegner, Robert Penn Warren, Philip Roth, C. Vann Woodward, and many of the other leading writers and intellectuals of the second half of the twentieth century. The book takes readers on a journey from FDR to George W. Bush through the trenchant observations of one of the country’s greatest writers.

Styron’s papers are held at Duke in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Copies of the book will be available for sale at the event.

 

2013 Andrew T. Nadell Book Collectors Contest

The Friends of the Duke University Libraries are proud to present the 2013 Andrew T. Nadell Book Collectors Contest.  Since 1947, the Friends have presented the contest in alternate years to promote reading for enjoyment and the development of students’ personal libraries. The 2013 contest is named for Dr. Andrew T. Nadell M’74, an avid collector in the areas of Gothic Revival, Doctors of Medicine, and Learned Professions and Occupations.

The contest includes an undergraduate and a graduate division. Cash prizes for each division are as follows:

 First Prize                                 Second Prize
Undergraduate                                                    $500                                             $250

Graduate                                                                 $750                                             $500

The contest is open to all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who are regularly enrolled at Duke University.  Students do not have to be “book collectors” to enter the contest.  Collections may be in any area of interest, and they do not have to be academic in nature.  Collections will be judged for the extent to which its books and materials represent a well-defined field of interest.  Monetary value of a collection will not be a factor in judging.

Students who are interested in entering can visit the Book Collectors Contest homepage for more information on the contest.  Students may also contact Megan Lawson (megan.lawson@duke.edu) with any questions.  Entries must be received by February 11, 2013. 

 

 

A Night of 1,000 Cookies

Date: Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Time: 8:00 PM
Location: Perkins Lobby

The weather is growing colder and the Libraries are filled with students busy with work. To the Friends of the Libraries, this can only mean one thing: it’s time for a study break! Once a semester during finals the Friends unleash “A Night of 1,000 Cookies” for students who are ready for a break from studying and in need of a baked treat and a hot drink.  The Friends will fill the Perkins Lobby with homemade goodies, hot coffee, and bottled water to show our support for Duke’s great students.  Be sure to stop by to grab a snack and say hello–before it’s all gone!

The Reading Blue Devil says, “It’s time for a study break!”

The Perkins Study Break is sponsored by: the Friends of the Duke University Libraries, Saladelia, Pepsi, Campus Club, and Student Health Nutrition Services.

Lilly Library Gallery Talk: Interwoven Histories, Nov. 27

Ashanti Kente cloths, from the exhibit “Interwoven Histories: Luxury Cloths of Atlantic Africa” in Lilly Library

Date: Tuesday, November 27
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Thomas Room, Lilly Library (Map)
Contact:  Greta Boers, greta.boers@duke.edu

Please join the staff of Lilly Library on Tuesday, November 27, for a gallery talk about a new library exhibit on African weaving.

“Interwoven Histories: Luxury Cloths of Atlantic Africa” draws from the private collection of Professor J. Lorand Matory and Ms. Olubunmi Fatoye-Matory, celebrating the genius of West African weavers, dyers, printers, appliqué artists, and embroiderers who have employed a cosmopolitan array of techniques and materials to create wearable art. They draw their designs from ancient African sources and from as far afield as Indonesia to supply markets, museums, interior designers and couturiers in Africa, Europe and the Americas.

These cloths express not only dignity, heritage, and style but also the old reality of internationalism and changing fashion in Africa, a continent often falsely associated with cultural isolation and stasis.

Moreover, like African drumming, African cloth speaks. Many weaves and printed designs convey literal messages that swathe the body in counsel, consolation, prayer, and warning on the occasion of births, weddings, coronations, elections, diplomatic negotiations, and deaths.

These richest of textile arts from Ghana and Nigeria illustrate tradition and change from the period of independence until the present.

The Center for African and African American Research at Duke University and the Duke University Libraries invite you behind the veil of vivid texture and color and into the world of West African taste, class, and history.

Harvesting a Legacy of Action, Nov. 12

 

North Carolina has a long history of support and activism on behalf of immigrant communities. But only recently have immigrant activists begun to view their work from a human rights perspective.

That will be the topic of a community discussion on immigration and human rights at 5:30 p.m., November 12, in the Rare Book Room of Duke’s Perkins Library. “Harvesting a Legacy of Action: Immigration Activism and Human Rights” will feature a panel of experts discussing the challenges and possibilities of placing immigration activism within a human rights framework.

The panel will be moderated by Robin Kirk, co-director of the Duke Human Rights Center.  Panelists will include Guadalupe Gamboa, Senior Program Officer for Worker Rights at Oxfam America; Ramon Zepeda, Youth Organizer for Student Action with Farmworkers and labor activist and organizer; and Paul Ortiz, History Professor at the University of Florida.

The panel discussion is part of a larger series of events around the state celebrating the 20th anniversary of Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF), a nonprofit organization that brings together students, community members, and farmworkers in the Southeast to work for justice in the agricultural system. What began as a small group of Duke Public Policy students documenting farmworker conditions has since grown to an independent nonprofit with a national impact. The organization’s papers are held by Duke’s Human Rights Archive in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Three exhibitions currently on display at the library explore the human experience of farmworkers and the history of SAF. The exhibits reflect historical and contemporary concerns with student activism, access to safe and healthy food, organized labor, and immigration. The exhibits run through December 9, 2012.

The exhibits and panel discussion are sponsored by SAF, the Duke University Libraries, the Center for Documentary Studies, the Franklin Humanities Institute BorderWorks Lab, the Duke University Service Learning Program, and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

Watch Election Returns and Get Day-After Analysis at Lilly Library

We have two great programs lined up for the election, both featuring expert commentary and analysis by Duke faculty experts.

November 6: Election Returns and Results

Returns, Reflections and Refreshments! We’ll be broadcasting the election returns live while Duke professors of political science and public policy help you understand the developments. Plus, you can sample some of President Obama’s and Governor Romney’s favorite snacks!

Date: Tuesday, November 6
Time: 8:00 p.m. – Until
Location: Lilly Library, Room 103 (map)
Contact: Dave Munden, dave.munden@duke.edu, 919-660 9465

Jerry Hough
James B. Duke Professor of Political Science

Professor Hough teaches courses on the U.S. Presidency. A well-known figure in comparative politics and especially the Soviet Union, his recent research centers on the American state and democracy. This semester, Professor Hough is teaching “The American Presidency.” His most recent book is Changing Party Coalitions:  The Strange Red-Blue State Alignment.
Appearing 8-9 pm

 

John Aldrich
Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science
Professor Aldrich specializes in American political behavior, and his current research focuses upon campaigns and elections. This semester, he is teaching “From Voting to Protests,” and his most recent book is Why Parties? A Second Look.
Appearing 9-10 pm

 

 

Nick Carnes
Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Faculty Affiliate, DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy, Duke Population Research Institute
Professor Carnes specializes in economic and social inequality in American Politics. This semester, he is teaching “The Politics of the Policy Process.” His most recent article accepted for publication is “Does the Numerical Underrepresentation of the Working Class in Congress Matter?”
Appearing 10pm-Midnight

 

November 7: Beyond the Election: The Day After

Duke faculty experts evaluate the election results. Light refreshments served.

Date: Wednesday, November 7
Time: Refreshments 3:30 p.m., Program 4:00-5:00
Location: Lilly Library, Thomas Room (map)
Contact: Dave Munden, dave.munden@duke.edu, 919-660 9465

Peter Feaver
Professor of Political Science
Professor Feaver specializes in international relations, security studies, and civil-military relations. He served on the National Security Council staff in the White Houses of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He’s currently Director of the Triangle Institute for Security Studies (TISS) and also directs the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy (AGS). He co-authored Paying the Human Costs of War and Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and Civil-Military Relations. This semester he is teaching “American Grand Strategy.”

Bruce Jentleson
Professor of Political Science and Public Policy
Professor Jentleson specializes in U.S. foreign policy, global governance, and conflict prevention and peacekeeping. He has served as senior advisor to the U.S. State Department and as foreign policy advisor to several senate political campaigns. He currently serves as a member of the Responsibility to Protect Working Group co-chaired by Madeleine Albright and Rich Williamson, and as co-director of Amidst the Revolutions: U.S. Strategy in a Changing Middle East, a project of the Center for a New American Security. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including the upcoming fifth edition of American Foreign Policy: The Dynamics of Choice in the 21st Century (2013), The End of Arrogance: America in the Global Competition of Ideas, and Global Governance in a Copernican World. This semester, he is teaching “Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy.”

UPDATE: This discussion will also be webcast live on Ustream. If you are unable to join us in person, please tune in online and tweet your comments with the hashtag #dukelive.

Both events are part of a series—Election 2012: Debates, Results, and Beyond—focusing on the presidential debates and election. All events are free, open to the public, and held at Lilly Library on Duke’s East Campus.

Lilly Library gratefully acknowledges the support of the Sanford School of Public Policy and East Campus Residence Life.

For more information, visit Lilly Library’s Election 2012 website.

Ring the Victory Bell in the Library!

The Victory Bell will be publicly displayed in Perkins Library on Friday, November 2, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Visitors will be invited to ring the bell themselves. Photo courtesy of Duke Athletics.

UPDATE: President Richard H. Brodhead and Coach David Cutcliffe will be on hand to ring the bell in Perkins Library on Friday at 1:15 p.m.

Duke’s dramatic victory on October 20 over the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill brought more than football bragging rights to the Blue Devils this year. It also brought the Victory Bell back home.

The Victory Bell is given to the winner of the annual Duke-UNC football game. The tradition goes back to 1948, when the idea was conceived by Duke head cheerleader Loring Jones, Jr., and UNC head cheerleader Norm Speer as a way to foster more friendly relations between the two campuses. (For more on the history of the Victory Bell, read this blog post by the Duke University Archives.)

This is the first time the bell has been in Duke’s possession since 2003. Now is your chance to see it up-close, give it a ring, and support Duke’s football team as they prepare to face Clemson this Saturday at 7 p.m. in Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium.

The Victory Bell will be on public display in the entrance lobby of Perkins Library this Friday, November 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Historical photographs and Duke football memorabilia from the Duke University Archives will also be displayed and University Archives staff will be on hand to answer questions.

Once an hour, on the hour, visitors will be able to ring the Victory Bell themselves. You can also ring it outside of the library when the bell first arrives at 10 a.m. and when it is leaving at 2 p.m.

So stop by the library this Friday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and join us as we celebrate another historic Duke victory!

Check out the video below to see the Victory Bell in action as Duke football players and fans react to the dramatic Oct. 20 win over UNC.

Chinese Documentary Filmmaker Wu Wenguang, Oct. 26

Date: Friday, October 26, 2012
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Location: Thomas Room, Lilly Library, Duke East Campus (Map)
Contact: Danette Pachtner, danette.p@duke.edu, 919-660-5886

Documentary Filmmaker Wu Wenguang

Join us for conversation and light refreshments with celebrated documentary filmmaker Wu Wenguang, one of the founding figures in Chinese independent documentary film. His work includes Bumming in Beijing, At Home in the World and most recently Treatment.

The talk is part of a series of presentations at Duke this week on The Memory Project. Four visiting Chinese filmmakers, including Wu Wenguang, screen their work on memories of the Great Famine (1959-1961). The Memory Project is based at Caochangdi Workstation in Beijing. From the Chinese capital, young filmmakers fanned out to return to family villages and their own pasts, real and imagined, to inquire about the Great Famine—a disaster whose memories have been actively abandoned by the state. But the films reveal as much about the wish for memory as of memory itself, and of the interesting role of film in such projects of retrieval.

Click here for complete film descriptions and screening information.

This event is free and open to the public.

Author and Cancer Physician Siddhartha Mukherjee to Speak at Duke, Nov. 28

Author and oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee will discuss his book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer at 6 p.m. Wednesday, November 28, in Duke University’s Page Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Mukherjee is a leading cancer physician and researcher at Columbia University. Ten years in the writing, The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago to the epic battles of modern times to cure, control, and conquer it. Mukherjee examines this shape-shifting and formidable disease with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with—and perished from—for more than five thousand years. The book won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2010 by the New York Times.

A Rhodes scholar, Siddhartha Mukherjee graduated from Stanford University, the University of Oxford, and Harvard Medical School. He has published articles in NatureThe New England Journal of MedicineThe New York Times, and The New Republic. He lives in New York with his wife and daughters.

Mukherjee will be delivering the Weaver Memorial Lecture, hosted every other year by the Duke University Libraries in memory of William B. Weaver, a 1972 Duke graduate and former member of the Library Advisory Board. The event is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, Office of the Chancellor for Health Affairs, the Duke Department of Medicine, and the Duke Cancer Institute.

Copies of the book will be available for sale at the event.

Admission is free, but tickets are required and are available through the Duke Box Office. Visit tickets.duke.edu for more information.

EVENT PARKING: A limited number of free parking spaces will be available on a first-come, first-served basis on the West Campus Quad in front of Duke Chapel starting at 5 p.m. (Click here for map to the West Campus Quad). Parking will also be available in the Bryan Center Parking Garage (Parking Garage IV) for a $5 charge. (Click here for map to Bryan Center Garage.)

Media are invited to attend the event, but recording is not permitted. Members of the media interested in covering the talk should contact Aaron Welborn, Director of Communications, Duke University Libraries, at 919-660-5816 or aaron.welborn@duke.edu by November 26.

Fair Use Ascendant, Nov. 19

Date: Monday, November 19, 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: Perkins Library, Room 217, Duke West Campus (Map)
Contact: Kevin Smith, kevin.l.smith@duke.edu

Fair Use Ascendant:
Where Do We Stand After the Recent Copyright Victories for Higher Ed?

A presentation and discussion for librarians and faculty
Lead by Kevin Smith, Director of the Copyright and Scholarly Communications Office

In the past four months, we have seen positive rulings in two major copyright cases brought against universities and their libraries, and the dismissal of a third.  These ruling have confirmed the importance of fair use in higher education, and they suggest that libraries and faculty members should feel more confident embracing fair use for certain kinds of online activities.

Come learn about these decisions—we will review each briefly and also discuss the ARL Code of Best Practices in Fair Use—and join a discussion about the opportunities they create.

Strategic Scrapbooking: October 29

Date: Monday, October 29, 2012
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Location: Rare Book Room, Rubenstein Library, Duke West Campus (Map)
Contact: Aaron Welborn, aaron.welborn@duke.edu, 919-660-5816

Men and women 150 years ago grappled with information overload by making scrapbooks — the ancestors of Google and blogging. From Mark Twain to Susan B. Anthony, abolitionists to Confederates, African American janitors to farmwomen, people cut out and pasted down their reading.

Ellen Gruber Garvey, author of Writing with Scissors: American Scrapbooks from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance (Oxford, 2012) opens a new window into the feelings and thoughts of ordinary and extraordinary Americans. Her groundbreaking book reveals a previously unexplored layer of American popular culture. “Scrapbooks are a democratic archive,” says Garvey. “They tell us what the 99 percent of the past read and cared about.”

Garvey is Professor of English at New Jersey City University. Her talk is titled “Strategic Scrapbooks: Nineteenth-Century Activists Remake the Newspaper for African American History and Women’s Rights.” The talk will also include a display of historical scrapbooks from the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, which Garvey consulted in the writing of her book.

Free and open to the public. A reception with refreshments will follow the program.

Copies of the book will be available for sale.

Video Contest Submissions: Vote for Your Favorite!

The submissions are in! Last month, we challenged Duke students to “be our Super PAC” and make a short mock election video for the Duke University Libraries.

We want to thank everyone who participated. We received some great entries, each of which makes a compelling case for choosing the Duke University Libraries as your source for knowledge, inspiration, and fun.

Now it’s time to watch the democratic process in action.

Take a look at the three video entries below (each one is less than 90 seconds), and let us know which one is your favorite. You can vote here on our blog, or on our Facebook page by “liking” your favorite video.

Popular voting begins today (October 8) and ends October 22. The Library Administration and Library Advisory Board will tally the winning votes and announce the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place later this month.

What do our candidates stand to win? Here’s a look at the fabulous prizes…

1st Place: Two (2) student wristbands to the Duke vs. UNC men’s basketball game, February 13, 2013, at Cameron Indoor Stadium
2nd Place: $200 gift certificate to Sushi Love restaurant
3rd Place: $150 gift certificate to Cuban Revolution restaurant

So watch the videos, and help us pick a winner!


Video 1: Submitted by DeAnne Georges (Undergrad, Class of 2013)

Video 2: Submitted by Jordan Thomas (Undergrad, Class of 2015) and Reem Alfahad (Undergrad, Class of 2015)

Video 3: Submitted by Yi Zhu (Undergrad, Class of 2013)

http://vimeo.com/50867572


Watch the Presidential Debates at Lilly Library

Framing the Debate: Professors Mac McCorkle and Don Taylor

Date: Wednesday, October 3
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Location: Lilly Library, Room 103 (map)
Contact: Dave Munden, dave.munden@duke.edu, 919-660 9465

 

Mac McCorkle
Associate Professor of the Practice of Public Policy and Director of Graduate Studies, Master of Public Policy Program

 

 

 

Don Taylor
Associate Professor of Public Policy, Sanford School; and Associate Professor of Community and Family Medicine and Nursing, Duke Medical Center

 

 

Are you planning to watch the presidential debates? So are we! And we’re recruiting Duke’s own resident experts to help you understand the issues and deconstruct the sound-bites.

Mac McCorkle and Don Taylor of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy will present “Framing the Debate,” a preview of the first Obama-Romney debate on domestic policy. Their talk begins at 8:00 p.m. in Lilly Library Room 103, followed by the live broadcast of the debate beginning at 9:00 p.m. Bring your friends, or meet some new ones!

The event is the first in a series—Election 2012: Debates, Results, and Beyond—focusing on the upcoming presidential debates and election. All events are free, open to the public, and held at Lilly Library on Duke’s East Campus.

For more information, visit Lilly Library’s Election 2012 website.

And if you just can’t get enough election fever, enter our “Vote for the Library” Video Contest. You could win two tickets to the Duke/UNC men’s basketball game! Deadline: October 5.

Text Mining Talk > TODAY at 2:30

Ryan Shaw is an assistant professor in the School of Information and Library Science, UNC Chapel HIll.

Date: Thursday, September 20
Time: 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Location: Perkins Library, Room 217 (map)
Contact: Liz Milewicz, (919) 660-5911, liz.milewicz@duke.edu

Today Duke University Libraries launches its new Digital Scholarship Series, Text > Data, with a talk by UNC SILS faculty member Ryan Shaw – 2:30-4:00 PM in Perkins Library 217. All are welcome to attend.

Ryan will provide an overview and a critique of text-mining projects, and discuss project design, methodology, scope, integrity of data and analysis as well as preservation. This presentation will help scholars understand the research potential of text mining, and offer a summary of issues and concerns about technology and methods.

This presentation will be an excellent introduction to text mining as a methodological approach. And if you’re a PhD student, you can earn 2 RCR credits (GS712) for attending this talk — just be sure to register your attendance: http://library.duke.edu/events/digital-scholarship/event.do?id=6321.

Open Access Week Talk: Altmetrics and the Decoupled Journal

Date: Monday, October 22
Time: 3:00 p.m.
Location: Perkins Library, Room 217 (map)
Contact: Paolo Mangiafico, (919) 613-6317, paolo.mangiafico@duke.edu

To celebrate international Open Access Week this year (October 22-28), the Libraries have lined up an exciting talk and you’re invited to attend. Jason Priem (http://jasonpriem.org/), a doctoral student at UNC-SILS and pioneer of the idea of “altmetrics” (alternative ways of tracking the impact of scholarly work), will be speaking about how open access and new measuring and filtering tools are changing scholarly publishing. Here’s how Priem describes it:

As the movement toward universal open access (OA) gathers momentum, the most salient OA questions are changing from “if” and even “when,” to “what will an OA world look like?” Is open access an incremental improvement, or will it lead to fundamental shifts in the way scholarship is communicated, filtered, and disseminated? In this talk, I’ll argue that the latter is the case: new ways of measuring scholarly impact on the social Web — “altmetrics” — will allow real-time, crowdsourced filtering of diverse scholarly products, leading to a new landscape of interoperable services that replace traditional journals. I’ll also demonstrate ImpactStory, an open-source tool for gathering altmetrics, and show how it can be used to promote OA, open data, and open source to faculty.

This event is  open to the public. We hope you can join us!

“Vote for the Library” Video Contest

It’s election season, and there are a lot of hearts and minds to win out there. We want yours.

We’re asking Duke University students to make a short “election” video for the Duke University Libraries.

Is Perkins your ideal of hope and change? Does Lilly have the cure for the knowledge economy? Should librarians rule the world?

Be our Super PAC. Help us make the case for the Duke University Libraries with a mock political campaign ad. Need inspiration? Check out some of the latest commercials by both political parties.

The rules are simple. You must be a registered Duke student. Your video must be 90 seconds or less. It should look, feel, and sound like an actual political commercial. And it should make a compelling case for choosing the Duke University Libraries as your source for knowledge, inspiration, and fun. 

Parody, irreverence, swelling music, patriotism, fear mongering, and nostalgia are encouraged.

The Duke University Libraries will select the best videos and post them on our Facebook page, where you can vote for your favorite. The top three winners will be announced November 2, 2012.

 

Big prizes!

Skip K-Ville and go straight to the game!

GRAND PRIZE: Two (2) student wristbands to the Duke vs. UNC men’s basketball game, February 13, 2013, at Cameron Indoor Stadium

2nd Place: $200 gift certificate to Sushi Love restaurant
3rd Place: $150 gift certificate to Cuban Revolution restaurant

 

Never made a video?

No problem! You can check out video cameras from the Link in Perkins Library. And the Multimedia Project Studio has everything you need to edit and produce your own videos. The Multimedia Project Studio has two locations, one in Lilly Library and the newly opened West Campus location in the lower level of Bostock Library, near the Link.

The new Multimedia Project Studio location in Bostock Library

 

Contest rules

  • You must be a registered undergraduate or graduate student at Duke with a valid DukeCard in your name.
  • Videos will be judged according to the following criteria: creativity, persuasiveness, production qualities, and humor.
  • Your entry must obey all laws, including all applicable copyright and privacy laws. This also applies to any music samples used in your video.
  • You agree to let the Duke University Libraries place your entry on its website and use your video in its promotional and educational efforts.
  • If filming in a library, be courteous and respectful of people studying.
  • Your video should be no longer than 90 seconds, including credits. Videos longer than 90 seconds may be disqualified or returned for editing.
  • You are responsible for any tax implications if you win a gift card.
  • Students may work individually or in groups. Winning videos will receive only one prize. If you work in a group, you split the prize.
  • Entries must be submitted by midnight on Friday, October 5, 2012, to be eligible. No extensions. Anything submitted after this date will not be considered.
  • The Duke University Libraries reserves the right to reject or return for editing any video that doesn’t comply with these guidelines or violates the Duke University student code of conduct.

 

How to submit your video

You may submit your video one of two ways:

Online submissions
1. Upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo
2. Send an email to Aaron Welborn, Director of Communications, at aaron.welborn@duke.edu, including:

  • A link to your video
  • Your name and contact information (email and phone)
  • Your expected graduation date (indicate whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student)

3. We will send you a confirmation email that we received your video within 24 hours.

In-Person Submissions 
1. Save your video to a CD, DVD, or flash drive
2. Put it in an envelope addressed to: Vote for the Library Video Contest. Inside the envelope, please include:

  • Your name and contact information (email and phone)
  • Your expected graduation date (indicate whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student)

3. Deliver your entry to the Libraries Administration Office, Perkins Library Room 112, by 5:00 PM on October 5, 2012. (Note that in-person submissions must be dropped off earlier than online submissions.)

 

Contest Timeline

  • Deadline for Submitting Videos:  Midnight, Friday, October 5, 2012 (5:00 PM for in-person submissions)
  • Videos Posted on Libraries’ Facebook Page, Popular Voting Begins:  October 8
  • Library Administration and Library Advisory Board choose top three videos:  October 22
  • Winners Announced:  November 2

 

Questions?

For more information, contact:
Aaron Welborn
Director of Communications
Duke University Libraries
aaron.welborn@duke.edu
919-660-5816

From “A Long and Happy Life” to “Midstream”

Reynolds Price's final book, "Midstream," will be published in May 2012.

Date: Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Gothic Reading Room, Rubenstein Library, Duke West Campus (map)
Contact: Will Hansen, (919) 660-5958 or william.hansen@duke.edu

To celebrate the publication of Reynolds Price’s final book, Midstream, as well as the fiftieth anniversary of his first book, A Long and Happy Life, the Libraries welcome a distinguished group of Price’s friends, family, and colleagues to discuss his life, work, and legacy.

Speakers include:

Rachel Davies WC’72 AM ’89, student and friend of Reynolds Price
Allan Gurganus, acclaimed author of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All and White People
Susan Moldow, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Scribner, and editor of many of Reynolds Price’s books
William Price T’63, former Director of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, and Reynolds Price’s brother

The event will include a display of materials from the Reynolds Price Papers in the Rubenstein Library, including early handwritten manuscripts of A Long and Happy Life, rare photographs and letters, and more.

Free and open to the public. A reception with refreshments will follow the program.

Co-sponsored by the Department of English.

Heroes and Villains: The Library Party

Duke students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other members of the Duke community are invited to a night of seriously graphic fun, sponsored by the the Duke Marketing Club and Duke University Libraries.

Bringing together the entire Duke community, Heroes & Villains will be an adventure of its own, drawing inspiration from the Duke University Libraries’ vast collection of comic books from all periods and genres.

When: Friday, February 24
What Time: 9 PM to Midnight
Where: Perkins Library
Admission: Free
Dress: Cocktail Attire, or Your Best Heroic/Villainous Costume

Students: Midterms got you feeling like a mere mortal? Throw on your cape and utility belt. Things are about to get supernaturally weird in Perkins.

Need more inspiration? Check out the Edwin and Terry Murray Comic Book Collection in Duke’s Rubenstein Library, one of the largest institutional collections of comics in the world!

Many thanks to our superhero sponsors: the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, the Deans of Trinity College, the Annual Fund, SOFC, Duke University Union, and the Sociology Department.

Find Heroes and Villains on Facebook and Twitter.

Stay tuned for more updates!

“The Public Readings of Charles Dickens,” as performed by Michael Malone

Charles Dickens at his last public reading in London, 1870

Join us for a special celebration of Charles Dickens’s 200th birthday!

When: Wednesday, February 8, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Biddle Rare Book Room, Perkins Library (Map)

Throughout the 1850s and 1860s, Charles Dickens performed in a series of dramatic public readings adapted from his own works, impersonating characters from famous scenes in Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, Great Expectations, and other beloved novels. In celebration of Dickens’s 200th birthday in February, please join award-winning Duke author, Professor of the Practice of Theater Studies, and consummate Dickensian Michael Malone as he re-enacts these entertaining performances.

The event is held in conjunction with the exhibition Charles Dickens: 200 Years of Commerce and Controversy, on display outside of the Biddle Rare Book Room beginning January 30, featuring rare first editions of Dickens’s works and other materials from the holdings of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

A reception with refreshments will be held after the performance. This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact:
Will Hansen
william.hansen@duke.edu
919-660-5958