Category Archives: Library Hacks

2016 Banned Books Week

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Banned Books Week runs this year from September 25th through October 1st.  This year’s theme is about celebrating diversity!  If you’re interested in reading why diversity was picked this year, you might appreciate reading “Why Diverse Books are Commonly Banned,” which mentions that ” ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, has determined that 52% of the books challenged, or banned, over the past decade are from titles that are considered diverse content.”  I also appreciated this point of view from an article in Time.

If you’re interested in reading challenged books with diverse content, here is a list of titles. We of course own many of these books, including these selected titles:

You might also want to check out the 2015 list of the “most challenged” books.

 

Drama Online

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We now have access to the Core Collection of Drama Online, a resource for finding full texts of plays.  It Includes full texts of plays from across the history of the theatre, ranging from Aeschylus to the present day.  It also includes non-English-language works in translation, scholarly and critical editions, first night program texts, and critical analysis and contextual information. Critical interpretations, theatre history surveys and major reference works on authors, movements, practitioners, periods and genres are included alongside performance and practitioner texts, acting and backstage guides.

You can browse by plays, playwrights, genres, periods, context and criticism, and by theatre craft.  Advanced search options also allow you to search by type, playwrights, genre, period, theme, and setting.

Each play in the collection includes a production enquiry, which gives helpful information on who to contact to get performance rights for the play.  Many plays also include useful tools, like a Character Grid that can be used to see only the lines of a given character.

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Another great tool is the Words and Speeches tool that shows how many words and speeches are spoken in different acts of the play.

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Currently we don’t have access to all the Nick Hern plays or the videos, but it’s quite likely that our access will expand in the next year!

New Program: Textbooks on Reserve in Perkins and Lilly

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Starting this semester (Fall 2016), the Duke University Libraries will be piloting a program to provide selected textbooks on 3-hour reserve in Perkins Library on West Campus. Some textbooks will also be available at Lilly Library on East Campus.

Included among the 300 items are textbooks for courses in Economics, Chemistry, Math, Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish. The books have been selected based on orders placed with the Duke Textbook Store by departments and faculty.

Visit our website to see a complete listing of the textbooks on reserve, organized by course.

Please note: Textbooks on reserve are not intended to take the place of students purchasing textbooks for their courses. Due to budget limitations, the Libraries are unable to purchase textbooks for every course at Duke.

Circulation numbers will be reviewed to determine if this pilot program is valued and should be extended.

For questions related to textbook reserves at Perkins Library, please contact: perkins-reserves@duke.edu.

For questions related to textbook reserves at Lilly Library, please contact: lilly-requests@duke.edu

Join Our Student Advisory Boards!

Help us improve the library experience at Duke and make your voice heard by joining one of our student advisory boards.
Help us improve the library experience at Duke and make your voice heard by joining one of our student advisory boards.

The Duke University Libraries are now accepting applications for membership on the 2016-2017 student library advisory boards.

Members of these advisory boards will help improve the learning and research environment for Duke University students and advise the Libraries on topics such as study spaces, research resources, integrating library services into academic courses, and marketing library services to students.

The boards will typically meet four times a semester to discuss all aspects of Duke Libraries and provide feedback to library staff. This is an amazing opportunity for students to serve on the advisory board of a large, nationally recognized non-profit organization.

All three advisory boards are now taking applications or nominations.  Application deadlines are:

Members  of the Graduate and Professional Student Advisory Board and the Undergraduate Advisory Board will be selected and notified by mid-September, and groups will begin to meet in late September. More information is available on our website, where you will also find links to the online applications forms.

For more information or questions about these opportunities, please contact:

Graduate and Professional Student Advisory Board
and Undergraduate Advisory Board

emily_dalyEmily Daly
Head, Assessment and User Experience Department
Librarian for Education
emily.daly@duke.edu
919-660-5879

 

First-Year Advisory Board

boers-greta Greta Boers
Librarian for Linguistics and Classical Studies
greta.boers@duke.edu
919-660-5864

 

Grad Students: A Reading Room Just for You

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The Richard and Nancy Riess Graduate Student Reading Room is located on the 2nd floor of Perkins Library in Room 211, next to the Staff Lounge.

With the start of a new academic year upon us, we thought this would be a good time to remind our hard-working graduate students that we have a dedicated library reading room just for them.

The Richard and Nancy Riess Graduate Student Reading Room is reserved for Duke University graduate students only. With seating for 14 people, it is located on the 2nd floor of Perkins Library in Room 211, next door to the library Staff Lounge. (See map below.)

The reading room is accessible by using a keypad on the door. To get the code, simply stop by the Library Service Desk on the main floor of Perkins Library, show us your Duke ID to verify your graduate student status, and fill out a short form.

Access to the Riess Graduate Student Reading Room is available to all graduate and professional school students throughout the university. We encourage you to stop by the Library Service Desk for the reading room code.

Students with questions about access to the space should contact Bobbi Earp, Service Desk Supervisor (bobbi.earp@duke.edu), Emily Daly, Head of the User Experience Department (emily.daly@duke.edu), or perkins-requests@duke.edu.

Map of the 2nd floor of Perkins Library, showing the location of the Reiss Graduate Student Reading Room.
Map of the 2nd floor of Perkins Library, showing the location of the Reiss Graduate Student Reading Room.

Duke 2020 – Dive into the Libraries

Learn to “swim” – and to keep swimming – in the Libraries!

Library Orientation East Campus
The Libraries welcome  the newest Blue Devils

On East Campus, after students settle in and begin classes, the Lilly Library and Duke Music Library offer several ways for the newest Blue Devils to learn and benefit from the incredible resources of the Duke Libraries. Lilly and Music sponsor Library Orientation events – including a film on the East Campus Quad and an Open House to introduce students to library services and collections. In recent years, students ventured into a library-themed Jurassic Park, played The Library Games, and were wowed by the Incredibles and our libraries’ super powers. This year, the Class of 2020 will explore the power of discovery and the rewards of research, and learn to “keep swimming” in our resources when they …

Dive Into the Libraries

Schedule of Library Orientation Events for Fall Semester 2016

Movie on the Quad: Finding Nemo
  • When: Saturday, September 3rd  at 9pm
  • Where: East Campus Quad between Lilly & the East Campus Union
Duke Class of 2020 Open House
  • When: Tuesday, September 6th from 7pm to 8pm
  • Where: Lilly Library
More Ways to Experience the Duke University Libraries:

After the excitement of the beginning of the new semester subsides, the Duke University Libraries continue to reach out to our students, always ready to offer research support and access to resources in support of their scholarly needs.

Here’s to a great fall semester!

Keep swimming!  And, remember – we’re available to help you “keep searching”!

Thanks to Devils After Dark for partnering
with the East Campus Libraries for our orientation events.

In Memoriam: Horst Meyer

Guest post by Melanie Sturgeon, Librarian for Engineering, Physics, and Computer Science

I was terribly saddened to hear that Professor Horst Meyer passed away this weekend. As the physics librarian, I started working with Horst three years ago. I feel like I should say that I never met anyone like Horst, but that’s not entirely true. Horst reminded me very much of my Grandpa, Harry Goldberg. It wasn’t that Horst acted like a grandfather towards me. It was their personalities. They were of an age and lived through a time that is difficult for most of us to imagine. My Grandpa was part of what we in the U.S. call our “greatest generation.” I’m not sure what they were called in Europe, other than “survivors,” I suppose. But neither Horst nor my Grandpa were hardened by what they had been through. Instead, they were almost giddy with life and determined not only to enjoy every minute of it, but to make sure those around them did as well.

Horst Meyer in Duke Gardens. Photo by W. Ketterle, from his website at the Duke Physics Department.
Horst Meyer in Duke Gardens, undated. Photo by W. Ketterle, from his Duke Physics Department website.

Working with Horst was a joy. He was always passionate about whatever he was doing and thankful to be doing it. As a leading physicist at Duke for almost sixty years, Horst was a brilliant scholar and a very familiar face in the library. Many librarians worked with him over the years and also have stories about him. It was impossible to come away from an interaction with Horst without a positive memory or a story you wanted to share with someone.

When the latest Stephen Hawking book came in for him, he was so excited he literally bounced up and down when I gave it to him. Later, when Horst returned the book, he joked about how proud he was that he was able to understand part of what Hawking wrote. He did clarify that Hawking’s work was in a completely different field of physics than his, then quickly returned to joking and smiled about needing to be a genius to understand the whole book.

I’m sure many people did consider Horst a genius. But as a librarian, my takeaway was an appreciation for someone who obviously enjoyed learning so much. Every interaction with him left me smiling and thankful for the opportunity to work with him. It turned out that Horst was also thankful for those opportunities. A few years ago, he submitted a wonderful letter of appreciation along with a very generous donation to the Libraries for always supporting him. This is something Horst did frequently. If he cared about something, he wanted to help it grow and flourish. You can read more in the beautiful DukeToday article about his dedication to art, music, and the Duke Gardens. Here in the Libraries, we will be forever grateful that he wanted to help with our mission to preserve the past and educate the future. His memory will live on in the Libraries through his contributions to the History of Medicine Collections and our collection of rare materials on physics.

I am deeply grateful for my time with Horst, and I’m reminded of the lessons my Grandpa taught me about truly enjoying life and pursuing your passions. While Harry Goldberg was no world-renowned scholar, he had that same infectious smile and positive outlook that Horst did. To be honest, I had a difficult time remaining professional with Horst, as I was always tempted to hug him goodbye and ask if I could adopt him as an honorary grandfather.

When Horst told me the end was close (while still requesting more research), I became visibly upset. He comforted me and assured me that he was a lucky man who had had a great life. I can only hope that we all feel that way—not just at the end, but every day as we pursue our dreams and appreciate the amazing life around us.

Duke 2020 and First-Year Library Services

… What are the libraries’ hours?  … How do I find a book? … Who can help me with research? … Where can I print?*

Duke University’s newest students will find the answers to these questions (and more!) on the Library’s First-Year Library Services portal page.

Lilly Library on East Campus
Lilly Library on East Campus

Each August, a new class of undergraduates arrives in Durham ready to immerse themselves in the Duke Community. Duke University Libraries serve as the core of intellectual life on campus. Because East Campus is home to the First-Year students, Lilly and Music Libraries have the unique opportunity to introduce our newest “Dukies” to the array of Library resources and research services available.

To help navigate the vast library resources, there is a portal especially for First-Year Students. Through this portal page, new students (and even some not-so-new) can discover all that the Duke University Libraries offer:

Perkins Library

  • Quick Facts: about collections and loan policies
  • Where: to study, print, and … eat!
  • How: to find and check out books, films  & other media, and get…
  • Help!: Meet the “who” – Librarians, Specialists, & First-Year Residence Hall Librarians
  • Research 101: how to navigate the Research Process
  • Citation 101: how to cite using recommended styles

 

*Learn the answers in our list of the Top 12 Questions, as determined by First-Year Library Advisory Board students.

Here’s to a great and successful Fall Semester!

Thank You to Our Annual Fund Donors

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A message from Deborah Jakubs, Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs

Every library book is like a little gift to someone. We never know who will find it or what difference it will make in their life. But in a library of millions of volumes, all those little gifts add up to something truly big.

The same is true for your gift to the Duke University Libraries.

As you see in the charts below, more than 2,000 people make a gift to the Libraries Annual Fund every year. That includes you and me. More than half of those gifts are $100 or less, and many of them come from repeat donors. Together, however, they add up to more than $2.6 million in unrestricted support over the past three years!

Libraries Annual Fund Donors
Libraries Annual Fund Donors
Libraries Annual Fund Cash
Libraries Annual Fund Cash

Unrestricted giving has enabled the Libraries to do some spectacular things. It has allowed us to build world-class collections and implement innovative programs, particularly for undergraduates. In fact, the Libraries are partners in research for students from the moment they step on campus until long after they’ve graduated.

Here are just a few of the things we’re able to do with support from the Libraries Annual Fund.

Every gift counts and every gift makes a difference! Thank you for joining me in supporting the Libraries Annual Fund. Together, we are making a real difference in the Duke community.

 

 

Commencement Weekend Hours for Library Exhibits

The Trent History of Medicine Room (shown here), Mary Duke Biddle Room, and Stone Family Gallery in the Rubenstein Library will all be open on Saturday for Duke Commencement weekend.
Exhibits in the Trent History of Medicine Room (shown here), Mary Duke Biddle Room, and Stone Family Gallery in the Rubenstein Library will all be open on Saturday for Duke Commencement weekend.

The Rubenstein Library exhibit suite (Mary Duke Biddle Room, Stone Family Gallery, and Josiah C. Trent History of Medicine Room) will all be open on Saturday, May 14, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., for Duke Commencement weekend.

Library visitors can see Virginia Woolf’s writing desk, a copy of the Bay Psalm Book (first book printed in what is now the United States), our double-elephant folios of Audubon’s Birds of America, and many other treasures from the Rubenstein Library.

Exhibits currently on display include:

Visit our library exhibits website to find out more.

 

Finals week at Lilly

Where did the semester go?

Finals week at Lilly

As finals loom ahead, Lilly Library is here to help the sailing go as smoothly as possible.

For those of you looking to study all hours of the night and day, Lilly is now open 24/7 beginning Thursday, April 28 at 8 a.m. and closing 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 7.

Join us for our Study Break at 8 p.m. on Monday, May 2 for beverages and lots of snacks, both healthy (fruit and veggies) and the kind you really want to eat (cookies, brownies and the like).

Study Break at Lilly
Puzzles, games and more await for a “Brain Break” in the Relaxation Station in Lilly’s Training Room

And a Lilly tradition for the past several years–the Relaxation Station–is back, opening on Tuesday, May 3 and running through the end of exams on Saturday. The Relaxation Station offers games, puzzles, coloring and crafts so that students may take a moment (or two) to relax and recharge their gray matter!

Finally, Lilly Library is partnering with Devils After Dark to offer snacks on the evenings of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, usually starting around 8 p.m. and in the Lilly foyer.

One more thing – GOOD LUCK on your Finals!

The Puppies are Back! Puppies in Perkins 2016

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If studying for finals has you feeling a little overwhelmed…

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What is this? Did we learn this? Is it even in English?

Good News! It’s time for a study break.

Tuesday May 3rd, Puppies in Perkins will be back! Puppies, wagging tails, and snuggles for all. From 1 pm-4 pm in Perkins 217 therapy dogs will be in the library to soothe all your finals woes and give you the cuddles you so richly deserve.  Come take a study break and meet and greet the cutest pups on campus!

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Your friendly neighborhood puppies are ready to help you study! Or at the very least chew on you pen.

Charlie Hebdo Attack Survivor Philippe Lançon, Apr. 20

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WHAT: Talk and Q&A with French writer and journalist Philippe Lançon

WHEN: Wednesday, April 20, 5:00 p.m.

WHERE: Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room, Rubenstein Library Room 153

Reception to follow.


French writer and journalist, Philippe Lançon, will speak at Duke University on the vital force of reading and writing in the face of terror attacks.

His talk, “Comment lire et écrire après un attentat (How to read and write in the wake of an attack),” will be in French with an English synopsis provided. The Q&A will also be conducted in English.  A reception will follow.

Lançon will be speaking on a subject he knows all too well.  A contributor to the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, he was participating in the editorial meeting the morning of the terrorist attack on January 7, 2015. He came out, injured, and ready to write again a week later.

Parisians rally at the Place de la Republique in support of the victims of the January 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting. Photo by Olivier Ortelpa from Wikimedia Commons.
Parisians rally at the Place de la Republique in support of the victims of the January 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting. Photo by Olivier Ortelpa from Wikimedia Commons.

Lançon’s writing as a critic of literature and the arts is widely known and respected. For his work in Libération and XXI, he has won the Hennessy award as well as the Lagardère Journalist Award.  Lançon has a particular interest in the fiction of Spanish America, especially Cuba.

Lançon is also the author of several novels and short stories, including L’élan  (2011) and  Les îles (2013), publishing playfully under a pseudonym as well.

In 2010, Lançon taught two courses on French literature and politics at Duke in the Department of Romance Studies. He first came to Duke as a Media Fellow in the Sanford School for Public Policy, now part of the Franklin Humanities Institute.

His talk is co-sponsored by the Center for French and Francophone Studies, the Department of Romance Studies, Duke University Libraries, and the Franklin Humanities Institute.

Read more by Philippe Lançon:

 

Researching Shakespeare

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Has our series of blog posts celebrating Shakespeare inspired you to learn more more about him?  You are in luck because there are a lot of primary and secondary sources related to Shakespeare that you can use in your research!

In fact there is so much information out there that you will actually want to give some thought about how to narrow your research.  One way I would suggest doing this is to give some careful thought to the subject headings you use.  Here are some suggestions that I have:

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616–Biography

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616–Characters

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616–Comedies

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616–Criticism and interpretation

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616–Poetic works

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616–Political and social views

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616–Stage history

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616–Tragedies

There are also several very specific Shakespeare related sources to use, such as:

World Shakespeare Bibliography Online.  Provides annotated entries for all important books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions, reviews of productions, audiovisual materials, electronic media, and other scholarly and popular materials related to Shakespeare.

Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare. The complete text of eleven major editions of Shakespeare’s works from the First Folio to the Cambridge edition of 1863-6, twenty four separate contemporary printings of individual plays, selected apocrypha and related works and more than 100 adaptations, sequels, and burlesques from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.

Shakespeare Quarterly. Founded in 1950 by the Shakespeare Association of America, Shakespeare Quarterly is a refereed journal committed to publishing articles in the vanguard of Shakespeare studies.

Shakespeare Studies. An international volume of essays, studies and reviews dealing with the cultural history of early modern England and the place of Shakespeare’s production in it.

Shakespeare Survey.  A series of Shakespeare studies and production. Since 1948 Survey has published the best international scholarship in English and many of its essays have become classics of Shakespeare criticism.

BBC Shakespeare Plays.  Click on “Institution Access” tab to access this database. Between 1978 and 1985, the BBC televised the entire Shakespeare canon of 37 plays. View these acclaimed productions streamed online, as each boasts some of the richest talent in 20th century British theatre and television.

You may also want to look at the historical context that Shakespeare lived in.  I have two recommendations for this.  One is starting with some of the literature resources I have listed on my Medieval and Early Modern page on my Literature guide.  Another is to go to the more complete Medieval and Renaissance Studies guide.

Another avenue of research is to check out some of the materials in the Rubenstein Library.

Finally there are several really great websites that you might find useful:

There’s a rich amount of information to be found on the Folger Shakespeare Library’s website.  A good place to get a sense of what is available is to check out this recent blog post called “Explore Duke’s connection to the Folger Shakespeare Library.”

The MIT Global Shakespeares Video & Performance Archive is a collaborative project providing online access to performances of Shakespeare from many parts of the world as well as essays and metadata by scholars and educators in the field.

The Internet Shakespeare Editions (ISE) is a non-profit scholarly website publishing in three main areas: Shakespeare’s plays and poems, Shakespeare’s life and times, and Shakespeare in performance.  Duke University Libraries is a Friend of the ISE.

The Shakespeare Quartos Archive.  A digital collection of pre-1642 editions of William Shakespeare’s plays. A cross-Atlantic collaboration has also produced an interactive interface for the detailed study of these geographically distant quartos, with full functionality for all thirty-two quarto copies of Hamlet held by participating institutions.

I don’t know how long this tool will be available, but JSTOR has this fun Understanding Shakespeare site where they are connecting digital texts from the Folger Shakespeare Library with articles on JSTOR.

Continue your exploration of Shakespeare by joining us on April 15th at the Shakespeare Everywhere reading!

 

Conquer Finals with the Long Night Against Procrastination

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What: Help with writing, research, finals prep, and de-stressing
Where: The Edge
When: Tuesday, April 19, 7:00-11:00 pm

So you think you have lots of time before finals.  That’s weeks away right? But finals are speeding towards us, and with them sleepless nights and too much caffeine. Don’t let all the final papers, presentations, and exams sneak up on you! Duke University’s 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, and making your finals week that much easier.

 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, button making, and relaxation stations  for when you need a short brain break. And, of course, there will be plenty of snacks and drinks to feed your productivity.

To keep you motivated throughout the night there will be a t-shirt raffle every hour. Anyone who enters a goal on our goal wall, attends a writing session with the TWP Writing Studio staff, attends a reference help session with the librarians at the event, makes a button, or posts about the Libraries on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram will be able to enter the raffle.

 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 Duke University Campus Club and Friends of the Duke University Libraries

How are we doing? Lilly wants to know!

Your opinion counts!

University Archives
East Campus in the early days
East-donuts
Focus Group Goodies!

Earlier this year, Duke University Libraries conducted a survey to obtain feedback about the services and facilities we provide to our users.  Lilly Library, on East Campus, was one area of focus within the broader survey.

Here is your opportunity to share your thoughts about ways to improve and enhance Lilly Library services, spaces, and resources in a one-hour moderated focus group. In particular, because Lilly Library is being considered for renovation in the near future, feedback from interested library users like you is a vital part of our planning process.

In return, we’ll feed you… Monuts, anyone?

Register for ONE of the sessions:

What: Focus Group I for Lilly Library

When: Tuesday, April 19th   5 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Where: East Union Lower Level Classroom 1 — Room 041

Register: http://duke.libcal.com/event/2548767

OR

What: Focus Group II for Lilly Library

When:  Wednesday, April 20th 5 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Where:  Lilly Library Room 001

Register: http://duke.libcal.com/event/2548707


We hope you can attend one of the Focus Group sessions.  If you cannot attend, but still wish to provide feedback, feel free to contact Lilly Library.

Explore Duke’s connection to the Folger Shakespeare Library

This guest post has been written by Heidi Madden, PH.D., the Librarian For Western Europe, as part of our series of Shakespeare related blog posts.

Did you know that Duke University is a member of the Folger Institute Consortium at the Folger Shakespeare Library?

The Folger Institute was founded in 1970, and is sponsored by the Folger Shakespeare Library , home to the largest Shakespeare Collection in the world, and a consortium of 40 universities in the U.S. and abroad. Duke University is part of this network which advances humanities research and learning through seminars, conferences, and colloquia.

Duke faculty and graduate students have benefited from this membership, and generations of Duke undergraduates in the Medieval Studies Focus cluster have had the good fortune of private tours and demonstrations. The materials held extend beyond Shakespeare to include materials in history and politics, theology, law and the arts. For example, the 2015 Focus Program trip to the Folger, accompanied by Duke Faculty and by librarian Heidi Madden, allowed students to explore early modern botanical books.

The best place to read more about the rich history of the Folger and its treasures is the Folgerpedia, which presents all things Folger. The Folger Institute offers fellowships, undergraduate research opportunities, and scholarly programming. Browse the Digital Collections to sample the holdings.

 

Relevant Links

Digital Collections  

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Shakespeare Portraits 

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Folgerpedia 

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International and Area Studies 25th Anniversary Celebration

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WHAT: International and Area Studies 25th Anniversary Celebration
WHEN: Tuesday, April 12, 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room, Rubenstein Library
RECEPTION: Featuring a selection of food and drink from around the world

Join us as we commemorate the founding of the International and Area Studies (IAS) department of the Duke University Libraries with a reception featuring food and drink from around the world.

Remarks by
Deborah Jakubs, Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs

Peter Lange, Thomas A. Langford University Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and former Duke University Provost

Faculty Roundtable
Our program will feature five Duke faculty members in area studies discussing their teaching and research and how they have worked with library.

  • Laurent Dubois (Professor of History and Romance Languages, Director of the Forum for Scholars and Publics) is currently teaching a class on the Modern Caribbean using materials about Haiti recently acquired by the Rubenstein Library.
  • Guo-Juin Hong (Associate Professor, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Director of the Program in Arts of the Moving Image) will talk about curating exhibits on the photography of Sidney D. Gamble and using video oral histories that are part of the Memory Project.
  • Timur Kuran (Professor of Economics and Political Science, Gorter Family Professor of Islamic Studies) will discuss how the social sciences are integrating area studies and facilitating interactions among scholars working on different parts of the world. His observations will focus on the benefits to the study of Islam and the Middle East.
  • Charmaine Royal (Associate Professor, African & African American Studies and Director, Center on Genomics, Race, Identity, Difference) will talk about her research on the intersection of genetics/genomics and concepts of “race,” ancestry, ethnicity, and identity.
  • Sumathi Ramaswamy (Professor and Interim Chair, Department of History) will discuss using the tools of digital humanities to track the itineraries of the terrestrial globe in Mughal India.

Special Thanks to Our Co-Sponsors
Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, Duke University Center for International Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Duke University Middle East Studies Center, Office of Global Affairs

It’s National Library Week, so #ThankALibrarian!

ThankALibrarian Sidewalk Sign

What have we done for you lately?

That’s the question we’re asking Duke students and faculty today—and every day this week.

It’s National Library Week (April 10-16), and we’re celebrating by asking people to #ThankALibrarian and tell us how a librarian has helped them.

Has a librarian helped you with a paper or research project recently?  Or maybe someone helped you check out a book or a DVD? Or maybe someone came to one of your classes and taught you about a new tool or database?

If so, now’s your chance to say thanks! (We’ll only blush a little).

Look for groups of librarians all around campus (East and West) this week. We’ll be taking pictures, posting them on our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts using the hashtag #ThankALibrarian.

Buttons!
Buttons!

You can also send us your own photo by downloading and printing this handy template. Write a message, take a photo, and post your photo with the hashtag #ThankALibrarian on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and tag us (@dukelibraries).

We’ll be giving away fun library buttons (because everyone loves buttons, right?). Plus you can enter a drawing to win one of our sweet Perkins-Bostock-Rubenstein library T-shirts.

T-shirts!
You know you want one of these.

So if you see us out there, take a moment to stop and #ThankALibrarian!

Edge Lightning Talks: Creativity + Research

Workshop Room

What: Research + creativity on display, coffee and dessert
Where: The Edge Workshop Room (Bostock 127)
When: April 11, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.

You’ve seen their projects around campus–come find out what these students are working on! Join us in The Edge for a series of lightning talks given by undergraduate students using the Innovation Co-Lab or The Edge to power their work. They will discuss their research work and future plans. The participating students are working on projects with:

Following the lightning talks and a panel Q&A, join presenters for a coffee and dessert reception to celebrate a successful semester. Student projects from the Innovation Studio will be on display in the Lounge during this time.

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

Learn more about the Innovation Co-Lab and their projects and programming: https://colab.duke.edu/.

This event is co-sponsored by the Innovation Co-Lab and Duke University Libraries.

African-American Filmmakers Before Spike Lee

In the mid 1980s Spike Lee opened the door for many African-spook who satAmerican filmmakers. It is sometimes easy to forget those who laid the groundwork for his success. Ivan Dixon’s 1973 film The Spook Who Sat by bush mamathe Door takes a look at discrimination within the CIA. Haile Gerima, the first important African-American female director, gave us Bush Mama (1975), which details the difficult life of a killer of sheepsingle mother.

Charles Burnett’s classic Killer of Sheep (1977) provides a glimpse of life in the Los Angeles Watts district. Melvin Van Peeples’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song (1971) exploded out of the Blaxploitation era of the late sixties and early seventies. Continue reading African-American Filmmakers Before Spike Lee

An Iconic Identity: Stories and Voices of Duke University Chapel

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A green devil in a stained glass window in the Chapel

A new exhibit focusing on the history and legacy of Duke Chapel is now on display in the Jerry and Bruce Chappell Family Gallery. The exhibit, which will be on display through June 19, opens wide the doors of the Chapel to reveal the stories within—from the origins of the stained glass windows to the legacy of student protest.

Duke Chapel is the most iconic building on West Campus, and it has a history as rich as its architectural grandeur. Over the past eight decades, Duke Chapel has celebrated thousands of services, welcomed millions of guests, and served as the preeminent icon for the university. The Chapel represents many things to many different people. Its varied roles, constituencies, and history allowed it to cultivate an atmosphere that welcomed world-renowned speakers and musicians while also providing space to express the emotions of life in the silence of a sacred space.

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Students protesting South African apartheid outside Duke Chapel in 1985.

The story of Duke Chapel is not just the story of a building. It represents the story of a community and of the richly diverse group of people who have helped to shape the Chapel’s legacy—and who will ultimately shape its future.

An Iconic Identity: Stories and Voices of Duke University Chapel invites visitors to encounter the Chapel’s rich history, walk down memory lane, and learn about the men and women who helped to make James B. Duke’s “great towering church” what it is today.

The exhibit is co-curated by Andrew Klumpp D’14, former Visitor Relations Specialist at Duke University Chapel and current Ph. D. student in American Religious History at Southern Methodist University, with the assistance of Sara Blaine Clark D’09, Assistant Manager, Special Events, Duke University Chapel.

To learn more, please visit the exhibit website.

View of the Flentrop Organ, one of four organs in the Chapel.
View of the Flentrop Organ, one of four organs in the Chapel. Photo by Brian Mullins Photography.

Video Spotlight on Women Filmmakers

It’s Women’s History Month! Spend this March 2016 watching wonderful films created by talented women from around the world.

The Video Spotlight on Women Filmmakers, created by Lilly Library’s own audio-visual specialist and film aficionado, Ken Wetherington, can give you great ideas of where to start.

In recent years women in film have begun to be slightly better recognized, like Katheryn Bigelow’s oscar-winning direction (the only time for a woman!) of The Hurt Locker.  hurt locker

But did you know that in the early days of cinema, many women were powerful creative forces? Movies like Lois Weber’s SuspenseThe Ocean Waif by Alice Guy Blaché and Cleo Madison’s Eleanor’s Catch,  and other women pioneers of early cinema, can be viewed in Duke Libraries’ new subscription database, Kanopy Streaming Video.

WomenFilmmakers2

Check out Lilly’s foyer display exhibiting films by women in the history of cinema. Some of the titles just may surprise you…

Browse Ken’s Video Spotlight Archives for more topical viewing inspiration.

 

See the Pinstripe Bowl Trophy in the Library!

Image by Duke Photography
Head coach David Cutcliffe holds up the New Era Pinstripe Bowl trophy after Duke defeated Indiana. Image by Duke Photography.

On Tuesday, March 1, Duke fans will get a chance to see the university’s latest athletic accolade up-close and in-person in Perkins Library.

The New Era Pinstripe Bowl trophy will be on public display across from the first floor service desk from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors are invited to stop by, take a photo with the trophy, and meet members of the Duke football team and Duke Athletics staff.

Historical Duke football memorabilia from the Duke University Archives will also be displayed, including game programs from the 1942 Rose Bowl, 1945 Sugar Bowl, 1955 Orange Bowl, and 1961 Cotton Bowl. Legendary coach Eddie Cameron’s own scrapbook from the 1945 Sugar Bowl will also be on display, containing photographs, clippings, letters, and souvenirs.

The New Era Pinstripe Bowl trophy commemorates the Blue Devils’ historic win over Indiana University, 44-41, at Yankee Stadium, in one of the most dramatic games of the 2015 postseason.

The game gave Duke its first bowl victory since 1961.

So stop by the library, get a photo, and join us as we celebrate another historic Duke victory!

Related Pinstripe Bowl coverage from Duke Athletics

Fairy Tales on The Edge

Welcome to our blog series on innovative projects coming out of The Edge! The Edge is a collaborative space in Bostock Library where students, faculty, and staff can work on research projects over the course of a semester or academic year. If think you have a project that would be ideal for the Edge, head over to our project spaces page to apply.

The Project: Fairy Tales, from Grimms to Disney

Fairy Tales, from Grimms to Disney is a digital library of 210 Grimms Fairy Tales in English translation, ordered by number and themes. The team built this digital library in WordPress to support the lecture course “Fairy Tales: Grimms to Disney” (Professor Jakob Norberg, Department of German), and students use the WordPress site to blog about weekly readings. Heidi Madden, Librarian for Western European Studies and Medieval Literature, answered some questions for us about this project.

What inspired this project?

Rumpelstiltskin. All images and illustrations by Arthur Rackham from public domain sources.
Rumpelstiltskin. All images and illustrations by Arthur Rackham from public domain sources.

The Fairy Tales course is a popular lecture course taught every year in the German Department by Professor Jakob Norberg. The project arose in conversation with Professor Norberg, who wanted to draw on the visual elements of fairy tales to inspire students to read widely. He also wanted to make the large course more interactive. Students discover and write about modern versions of fairy tales; they find a wide variety—with many international examples—of tales based on Grimm fairy tale characters, themes, and plots. Professor Norberg wanted to capture some of that information from one year to the next by having students contribute their ideas to a blog.

Who are the members of your team? What departments and schools are they part of?

  • Professor Jakob Norberg, Department of German
  • Heidi Madden, Duke University Libraries
  • Nele Fritz is a Library Science student (B.A.) at TH Köln – University of Technology, Arts and Sciences, Cologne, Germany. From September 2015 to March 2016 she worked as an intern in International and Area Studies and in Research Services at Duke University Libraries.
  • Liz Milewics and Will Shaw as Digital Scholarship consultants

How has working in The Edge influenced your team?

The Edge space was an ideal central meeting place for the team. The most important affordances of the project room were the display screen and the writable walls. The site has many pages and images, and we needed room to sketch and evaluate the site. It was also useful to have a large table, so that we could work together on tasks where we needed immediate feedback. Having the project room available to us two afternoons a week really helped with keeping us on schedule.

Little Red Riding Hood
Little Red Riding Hood

What tools do you use to work collaboratively?

We used WordPress, SAKAI, Basecamp, and Photoshop. Many students in the course are in engineering and computer science, and they have explored research involving text-mining and other digital tools for students to work with text data and images. Professor Norberg wanted his class site to list examples of that type of research as inspiration for students who take the class in the future. Having those clean text files readily available on the site allows for mobile reading, but also for downloading text data for projects.

What are you learning as part of this project that is surprising to you?

WordPress can be surprisingly difficult when building multimedia content and when building it with many pages. That’s why planning and sketching out the whole site is very important. Getting an overview of what the plug-ins offer is time-consuming. However, once the project was running, Professor Norberg was delighted to get to know his 43 students through their blogs very quickly.

Tom Thumb
Tom Thumb

What are the difficult problems you are trying to solve?

When the spring course is over, we want to turn the course site into a public site, so students interested in the course can explore the website. We also want to use the public website to showcase some of the original and tech-savvy research students are doing. In addition to that, we want to retain the bibliography of Grimm version fairy tales that students bring to the course from all of their diverse backgrounds.

What would you do with your project if you had unlimited resources?

We want the site to be used in teaching beyond Duke.

Final Thoughts

Nele Fritz, a graduate student from Germany, worked on this project as part of her field experience. Besides planning, sketching and building the site, this experience also included getting to know WordPress very well and monitoring the project with project management tools and strategies.

This post was written and compiled by Hannah Pope, a Master’s of Library Science student at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is interested in instruction, helping with research, and encouraging student innovation in libraries. She is currently working as a field experience intern in the Assessment and User Experience department and with The Edge at the Duke University Libraries.

New Prayer and Meditation Room in Perkins Library

Members of all faiths are welcome to use the new Prayer and Meditation Room in the library.
Members of all faiths are welcome to use the new Prayer and Meditation Room in the library.

 

In response to student requests, the Duke University Libraries are pleased to set aside a dedicated room on the second floor of Perkins Library for prayer and meditation.

Room 220 in Perkins Library is located near the open study area with wooden carrels on the library’s second floor. (See map below.) The room is a shared space open to all members of the Duke community to use either individually or in groups.

Anyone who wishes to use the space is asked to follow a few simple guidelines:

  • Prayer or meditation does not necessarily need to be silent, but it should be quiet enough not to disturb anyone studying in adjacent areas or rooms.
  • The Prayer and Meditation Room cannot be reserved and is not to be used for studying or for meetings.
  • If you use the room, please show respect toward others who use it.  Keep the room clean, take your personal belongings with you when you leave, and do not sleep or bring food into the space.

We hope the room will be of use to members of all faiths who study and work in the library.

The Prayer and Meditation Room is located in Room 220 on the 2nd Floor of Perkins Library.
The Prayer and Meditation Room is located in Room 220 on the 2nd Floor of Perkins Library.

 

Rosati Visiting Writer: Roxana Robinson, Feb. 2

Robinson_JoyceRavid
Author Roxana Robinson

Duke University Libraries will host a reading and discussion with Roxana Robinson, critically acclaimed fiction writer and author most recently of the novel Sparta.

When: Tuesday, February 2, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Where: Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room, Rubenstein Library Room 153
Q&A, book signing, and reception to follow.

Ms. Robinson is the Libraries’ inaugural Rosati Visiting Writer. She will be in residence at Duke January 28-February 18, 2016. She is the acclaimed author of numerous novels and short stories, as well as the definitive biography of Georgia O’Keefe. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine, and elsewhere. She teaches in the Hunter College/CUNY MFA Program, has received NEA and Guggenheim fellowships, and is President of the Authors’ Guild.

This event is free and open to the public.

Master Class Opportunity for Duke Undergrads [REGISTRATION REQUIRED]
In addition to her public reading, Ms. Robinson will conduct a master class in writing for Duke undergraduate students on Tuesday, February 9, 10:05 a.m.-12:35 p.m. Interested students should register for the master class with Sara Seten Berghausen (sara@duke.edu). The registration deadline is February 3, 2016.

Back in Construction Mode (But Only Briefly)

During the winter break, we're reconfiguring the Circulation and Reference Desks into a single combined library service point.
During the winter break, we’re reconfiguring the Circulation and Reference Desks into a single combined library service point.

With the fall semester now over, we are going back into construction mode to complete five small projects in Perkins and Bostock Libraries. The majority of the projects are expected to be wrapped up by the start of the semester in January 2016.

Here’s a summary of the projects and what you can expect if you visit the library over the winter break.

New Perkins Library Service Desk: On the main level of Perkins Library, the Circulation and Reference Desks are being completely reconfigured into a new single library service point. Demolition of the existing desk area started this week and is expected to take a week or so. A new desk, consultation spaces, shelving area and processing area will be created in the existing space. While the work is going on, library services will be available by the Perkins archway entrance.

Bostock Floor 2: The spaces formerly occupied by Library Development, Communications, the Duke Collaboratory for Classics Computing, and Business Services will be renovated. Temporary walls have already been removed and pre-construction work has been completed. Once finished, the Data and Visualization and Digital Scholarship department heads and staff will relocate to offices in the renovated space. There will also be a meeting room within their combined suite. The DC3 (temporarily located in the 1928 Rubenstein Library tower offices) will return to a new space just down the hall from their former location.

The former home of Data and Visualization Services on the 2nd floor of Perkins Library is being transformed into a dedicated Dissertation Reading and Writing Lab for Duke graduate students.
The former home of Data and Visualization Services on the 2nd floor of Perkins Library is being transformed into a dedicated Dissertation Reading and Writing Lab for Duke graduate students.

Bostock Floors 2/3: The spaces formerly occupied by the Library Administration Office, Business Services, and Library Human Resources will be touched up, painted, and furniture will be returned to those areas. The former office for Library Human Resources will revert to a reservable meeting room for library staff.

Perkins Floor 3: The temporary stack and reading room spaces created for Rubenstein Library staff and services during the renovation will be returned to student/public spaces. The temporary walls have already been removed and some furniture has been returned. The shelves are clear and some shelving is being removed or relocated. Books and other materials will return to the third floor later in Spring 2016.

New Dissertation Reading and Writing Lab, Perkins Floor 2: The former Data/Visualization Lab on the 2nd floor of Perkins will become a new Dissertation Reading and Writing Lab. The space will be emptied, new carpet will be installed, and a number of open carrels and portable storage units will be installed in late January for use by graduate students. This space is expected to open in February or March.

Pardon our progress while we continue to improve your library!

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.

edge600x360

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!

Horror in the Libraries

Getting ready for Halloween? So is Lilly Library! Come check out our collection of spooky DVDs and graphic novels, on exhibit through the end of October.

The H Word: Horror in the Libraries
The H Word: Horror in the Libraries
Future Imperfect: Dystopian and Post-Holocaust Cinema
Future Imperfect: Dystopian and Post-Holocaust Cinema

Our film exhibit features Dystopian and Post-Holocaust movies while graphic horror novels are highlighted in our The H Word: Horror in the Libraries exhibit. In addition, check out our guide to “Future Imperfect” for more dystopian movies. Last but not least, we have classic Halloween movie listings at the front desk, including a wide range of films from Ghostbusters to Paranormal Activity: Halloween DVDs at Lilly

No matter what you’re looking for, Lilly Library has something for everyone to get into the Halloween spirit!

Library Writing and Research Award Winners

research

Congratulations to the 2015 Library Writing and Research Award Winners!

The Duke University Libraries are pleased to announce the winners of the 2014-2015 library writing and research awards. The Aptman Prize, the Middlesworth Award, and the Holsti Prize recognize excellence in student research using sources from the Libraries’ general collections, the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and primary sources for political science or public policy, respectively. New this year is the Rudolph William Rosati Creative Writing Award which is given in recognition of an outstanding work of creative writing.

Aptman Prize
Honor Thesis Prize: Tiffany Lieu
Third/Fourth-Year Prize: Jaclyn Grace
First/Second-Year Prize: Zachary Fuchs

Chester P. Middlesworth Award
Undergraduate: Michael Sotsky

Holsti Prize
Honors Thesis: Charlotte Lee
Semester Paper: Jack Dolgin

Rudolph William Rosati Creative Writing Award
Antonio Lopez, Jr.

We will be celebrating their achievements at an awards reception on Friday, October 30 from 3:30-4:30 in the Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room. All are invited to join us for refreshments and the opportunity to honor the recipients.

Note: In our original blog post about these awards, we inadvertently omitted Jack Dolgin’s name when we first announced the winners. Our apologies to Mr. Dolgin!

History Hackathon – a collaborative happening

Students in Rubenstein Reading Room

What is a History Hackathon?

The term “Hackathon” traditionally refers to an event in which computer programmers collaborate intensively on software projects. But Duke University Libraries and the History Department are putting a historical twist on their approach to the Hackathon phenomenon. In this case, the History Hackathon is a contest for undergraduate student teams to research, collaborate, and create projects inspired by the resources available in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library collections. Projects may include performances, essays, websites, infographics, lectures, podcasts, and more. A panel of experts will serve as judges and rank the top three teams. Cash Prizes will be awarded to the winning teams.

The History Hackathon will take place over a 72-hour period from October 23-25, in the Rubenstein Library and The Edge.  All the  guidelines, rules, and details may be found at the History Hackathon: a Collaborative Happening  site.Students in the Edge

  • When:  Friday, October 23rd to
    Sunday, October 25th

http://sites.duke.edu/historyhackathon/register/

Contact : HistoryHackathon@duke.edu


Sponsored by the Duke History Department,  the Duke University Libraries, the David M. Rubenstein Library, and the Duke University Undergraduate Research Support Office.

Contributor: Susannah Roberson

 

 

Beyond the Blue Fence: Finishing Rubenstein

IMG_1988
The construction fence surrounding Rubenstein Library.

Although the inside of Rubenstein Library is now fully renovated and open for use, you may have noticed that, outside, construction vehicles and fencing linger on.

In case you’re wondering, the blue fence around Rubenstein Library is hiding a new landscaping project that will take place over the next few months. Workers will be replacing the topsoil, installing irrigation measures, planting new trees and shrubs, and hardscaping. The whole project is scheduled to be complete by December 31, 2015.

IMG_1986
The corner entrance to Rubenstein will be open after December 31.

In the meantime, the corner entrance to Rubenstein will remain closed so that work vehicles can move back and forth without affecting pedestrians. (You can still see the gorgeous vaulted interior behind that door if you enter through the main library entrance, walk through the Photography Gallery, and hang a left).

Come December, the fences will be down, plantings will be in place, and the public will be free to use BOTH library entrances. Thanks for being patient while we put the finishing touches on Duke’s latest point of pride!

Duke Faculty: Seeking Your Input This Fall

Duke faculty can help us improve library services by participating in the Ithaka Faculty Survey!
Duke faculty can help us improve library services by participating in the Ithaka Faculty Survey!

 

This fall, the Duke University Libraries will be participating in the national Ithaka Faculty Survey.

On Wednesday, September 9, nearly 1,000 Duke faculty will receive an email invitation to participate. The survey will be open through Fall Break, and faculty will be encouraged to complete the online questionnaire throughout the month it is open.

We will use findings from the Ithaka survey to gain a better understanding of Duke faculty members’ research and teaching experiences, habits, and patterns. These findings will help us to direct resources and develop services to help meet their expressed needs.

Institutions that have participated in the past report that their findings were extremely useful for strategic planning and long-term goal setting, so we feel the timing of this survey is especially appropriate as the Provost’s Office embarks on a university-wide strategic planning process. Also, by participating in this national survey, we will have an opportunity to compare local findings with data from peer institutions.

If you are a Duke faculty member and receive a link to the survey, we hope you will participate. As a small incentive, all faculty who complete the survey will be entered into a drawing for a $75 Amazon gift card.

If you have any questions about the Ithaka Faculty Survey, please contact Emily Daly, Head of the Assessment and User Experience Department in the Duke University Libraries.

Join Our Student Advisory Boards!

Help us improve the library experience at Duke and make your voice heard by joining one of our student advisory boards.
Help us improve the library experience at Duke and make your voice heard by joining one of our student advisory boards.

The Duke University Libraries are now accepting applications for membership on the 2015-2016 student library advisory boards.

Members of these advisory boards will help improve the learning and research environment for Duke University students and advise the Libraries on topics such as study spaces, research resources, integrating library services into academic courses, and marketing library services to students.

The boards will typically meet four times a semester to discuss all aspects of Duke Libraries and provide feedback to library staff. This is an amazing opportunity for students to serve on the advisory board of a large, nationally recognized non-profit organization.

All three advisory boards are now taking applications or nominations.  Application deadlines are:

Members  of the Graduate and Professional Student Advisory Board and the Undergraduate Advisory Board will be selected and notified by mid-September, and groups will begin to meet in late September. More information is available on our website, where you will also find links to the online applications forms.

For more information or questions about these opportunities, please contact:

Graduate and Professional Student Advisory Board
and Undergraduate Advisory Board

emily_dalyEmily Daly
Head, Assessment and User Experience Department
Librarian for Education
emily.daly@duke.edu
919-660-5879

 

First-Year Advisory Board

boers-greta Greta Boers
Librarian for Linguistics and Classical Studies
greta.boers@duke.edu
919-660-5864

 

 

munden-dave Dave Munden
Evening Reference Librarian and Supervisor, Lilly Library
dave.munden@duke.edu
919-660-5998

 

Human Rights Studies Online

humanrights

We have a new database called Human Rights Studies Online.  It is a searchable database of documentation, analysis, and interpretation of major human rights violations and atrocity crimes worldwide. The collection takes a case study approach, providing primary and secondary materials for selected events, including Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, and Darfur. It provides access to books, primary documents, audio, maps, images, and video, spanning 1900-2010.

You can browse by various categories such as titles, discipline perspectives, themes, events, organizations, people, and places.  The ability to look at a variety of documents connected to particular events, such as the Holocaust or Darfur, will make it especially useful for understanding the context and history.

This database is a great complement to our Human Rights Archive located in our Rubenstein Library.  Check out this guide for more resources about this important topic.

The First-Year Library Experience

Duke Libraries – Here to Help You

 

Lilly Library on East Campus
Lilly Library on East Campus

When is the library open? How do I find a book? Where do I print?*

Duke University’s newest students can find the answers to these questions (and more!) on the Library’s First-Year Library Services portal page.

Each August, a new class of undergraduates arrives in Durham ready to immerse themselves in the Duke Community.   Duke University Libraries serve as the core of intellectual life on campus. On East Campus particularly, the Lilly and Music Libraries have the unique opportunity to introduce our newest “Dukies” to the array of Library resources and research services available.

To help navigate the vast Library resources, we’ve created a portal especially for First-Year students. Through this portal page, new students (and even some not-so-new) can discover all that the Duke University Libraries offer:

Perkins-reading roomQuick Facts:  about collections and loan policies
Where:  to study, print, and … eat!
How:  to find and check out books & material, and get…
Help!:  Meet the  “who” – Librarians, Specialists, & Residence Hall Librarians
Research 101:  how to navigate the Research Process
Citation 101:  how to cite using recommended  styles
*And when is the Library open?
Find the answer in our list of the Top 12 Questions, developed with input from First-Year Library Advisory Board students.

Here’s to a great Fall Semester!

 

 

 

The Library Is Open…

Welcome to the Duke Class of 2019

Just for Duke 2019 - Clever Class
Just for Duke 2019 – Clever Class

Discover the First-Year Library Experience

On East Campus, after students settle in and begin classes, the Lilly Library and Duke Music Library offer several ways for the newest “Dukies” to learn and benefit from the incredible resources of the Duke Libraries. Lilly and Music sponsor Library Orientation events such as scavenger hunts, film showings, and prize drawings to familiarize them with library services and collections. In recent years, students played The Library Games, and were wowed by the Incredibles and the Libraries’ super powers. This year, the Class of 2019 will experience the power of discovery because …

The “Library is Open”!

Schedule of Events for Fall Semester 2015

Movie on the Quad: Jurassic Park
  • When:  Wednesday, August 26th at 9pm
  • Where: East Campus Quad between Lilly & the East Campus Union
Duke Class of 2019 Open House and Scavenger Hunt
  • When: Wednesday, September 2nd at 7pm
  • Where: Lilly Library
More Ways to Experience  the Duke University Libraries :

After the excitement of the new semester subsides, the Duke University Libraries continue to reach out to our students, always ready to  offer research support and  access to resources  in support of their scholarly needs.

Here’s to a great year – and Duke career –  filled with academic success!

New Interface for Using WorldCat

If you regularly use WorldCat through the Duke University Libraries website, you might notice a small change soon.

Starting Tuesday, June 30, the Libraries will link to WorldCat through a new platform called WorldCat Discovery, instead of FirstSearch, the platform we’ve been using for some time. WorldCat Discovery is available online now at http://duke.on.worldcat.org/advancedsearch, and we invite you to take it for a test-drive!

You can find out more about WorldCat Discovery Services at https://www.oclc.org/worldcat-discovery/features.en.html, and send feedback about the new interface to Emily Daly, emily.daly@duke.edu.

Step into the Spotlight: Dance Films

Dance on film: movies to get your groove on
Step into the Spotlight: Dance Films

The 2015 season of the American Dance Festival has now kicked off with fabulous performances through July 25th.

To help you get your  groove on, check out dance-themed highlights from Lilly Library’s film/video collection in the Lilly Video Spotlight: Dance on Film.

If our spotlight whets your appetite, explore Lilly Library’s large selection of dance DVDs to keep you tripping the light fantastic all summer long.  Don’t feel like tripping the light fantastic with Lilly?  The ADF Archives serve as an excellent resource for dance historians, and  this summer the International Screendance Festival hosts screenings at the Nasher Museum of Art.

Updated from a June 2014 post authored by Danette Pachtner,  Librarian for Film, Video & Digital Media and Women’s Studies

Finals Study Breaks on Wednesday, April 29

We can’t make your finals go away, but we can make them a little bit sweeter.  The Libraries will be hosting two study breaks on Wednesday, April 29 to help ease the pressure of studying for finals.

Starting to feel like this? It's time for a study break!
Starting to feel like this? It’s time for a study break!

Puppies in Perkins is back! Certified therapy dogs will be taking over Perkins 217 from 3:30-5:30 pm for a snuggle-filled study break.  Stop by for a some tail-wagging fun and a little puppy love!

C is for COOOOKIES!!
C is for COOOOKIES!!

The Friends of the Duke University Libraries and the Duke Campus Club will be hosting our spring study break starting at 3:30 pm on the Libraries Terrace (outside, between Perkins and Bostock).  Stop by for some free treats and drinks, but be sure to come early as supplies are limited!

Cookies, Crafts and … Study Cats?

Study Breaks, Relaxation Stations… and do you know about the Fo?

Feed your body and recharge your brain at Lilly Library  during Finals Week.

Scientific studies prove that taking a break from relentless studying improves cognitive skills. When Duke students are on East Campus during Finals Week, they may enjoy (so to speak) expanded hours and even find some fun “stuff”  to do in Lilly Library.

Students studying in the Lilly Reference Room
Students studying in the Lilly Reference Room
  • Thursday the 23rd – Saturday May 2nd: Open 24/7
    Beginning at 8am on Thursday, April 24th, Lilly remains open though the final exam period, closing on Saturday, May 2nd at 7pm.
  • Lilly Relaxation Station Study Cat
    A thankful Study Cat first appeared in Lilly’s Relaxation Station during previous Finals (courtesy of an unknown student)

    Monday the 27th: Lilly Library Study Break at 8pm
    Cookies, homemade treats and a variety of goodies can help counter the stress of studying!

  • Tuesday – Thursday: Relaxation Station
    Crafts, card and board games, jigsaw puzzles are available 24/7 with the bonus of late night refreshments (provided by Devils After Dark )
  • Anytime: Know the Fo
    Want good luck on your exams? It’s a good luck tradition to pet one of the two Fo Dogs guarding the south entry to the Thomas Room.

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    Get Good Luck with the Fo or take a study break in  the Lilly Relaxation Station.

No matter the campus – East or West – , be sure to check out all the information in the Duke Libraries’ End of Semester Survival Guide. Good Luck on Finals, and be sure to take advantage of Lilly Library’s student support system when you are on East Campus!

360 Degrees of Art: An Edgefest Recap

 

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Starry Night

 

Last Thursday, we played host to Edgefest, an arts extravaganza that took advantage of the Libraries’ newest space, The Edge, by filling the walls with art. There was an amazing turnout, with hundreds of students flocking to sample the smorgasbord of tasty treats (everything from mocktails to cupcakes and mushroom sliders) and staying to add their own piece of whiteboard art.

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Just a few of the amazing creations we saw at Edgefest.

The walls of the Edge were covered from top to bottom with art–both doodles and masterpieces alike.  Duke’s unofficial artists had no shortage of creativity; from Van Gogh’s Starry Night to a full color map of Durham, Pacman to Pokémon; we saw all kinds of creations.

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The Poetry Fox types up a new poem for his latest patron.

The Poetry Fox (a local Durham writer who writes on the spot poetry based on a single word) cranked out poems all evening for many eager poetry enthusiasts. Student performers, including Inside Joke, #busstopguy, and DUI, entertained artists throughout the evening.

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A whiteboard rendering of a vintage book plate.

 

Meet Lilly’s Class of 2015

Lilly Library’s “Final Four” – Our Class of 2015

If you’ve been in Lilly Library  over the past four years, chances are you’ve seen our four seniors: Natalie,  Steven, Victor and Kenai.  All of our seniors  have worked at Lilly Library since they arrived as wide-eyed First-Year students on East Campus way back in August of 2011. Get to know our seniors in these profiles, and you’ll appreciate them as much we do.

Natalie Hall:

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Lilly Library’s Senior Natalie at the main desk
  • Hometown: Lansdale, PA (right outside of Philadelphia)
  • Academics: Public Policy Major
  • Activities on campus: Duke Chorale, and President of The Girls’ Club (a mentoring program serving middle school girls in Durham)
  • Favorite campus eatery/food: The Divinity School Cafe
  • Favorite off-campus eatery/food: Dame’s Chicken and Waffles
  • Hobbies or dream vacations: Hobbies are reading graphic novels, finding new music, watching YouTube videos; dream vacations in Istanbul, Hong Kong, and Prague

Q:  Why have you worked at Lilly Library for all 4 years?
A: ​I’ve chosen to work at Lilly for 4 years because of its atmosphere.  The patrons and staff at Lilly create a space where you can relax, be friendly, and open.  Although traveling from West can be a drag sometimes (especially with less buses on weekends), it’s always worth it!  Talking with staff, being with other Lilly student workers, and patrons is always a pleasure.

Q: What is your favorite part about working at Lilly? Least favorite?
A: I think my favorite part of working at Lilly is how friendly everyone is.  Rain or shine, busy or slow day, patrons and staff here are respectful and patient.  I don’t think there’s anything about Lilly that I particularly dislike!

Q: What is your favorite work duty at Lilly? Least favorite duty?

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Lilly’s Head of Access Services Yunyi with Natalie

A: My favorite duty is probably processing books–it’s a time where I can recharge.  My least favorite would have to be shelf-reading…sorry, Yunyi!

Q: What is one memory from Lilly that you will never forget?
A: I studied Chinese to fulfill my language requirement, so practicing speaking Chinese with Yunyi is something I’ll remember always.  Out of nowhere, Yunyi hurls questions at me in Chinese, and I often find  myself scrambling to respond!  Even so, I really appreciate her help–it definitely made me more comfortable in the classroom.

Q: What does a typical weekend shift look like for you? What  shift do you like most?
A: The typical weekend shift is pretty laid back.  I’ll first go to the Regulator Bookstore on 9th street to pick up the New York Times for Lilly.  Then I’ll come back to the library and work at the desk for most of the time.  I enjoy weekday shifts the most, because I feel like they are just busy enough where I don’t feel too overwhelmed.

Q: What is the funniest thing that happened to you recently?
A: At Lilly, the funniest thing that has happened to me recently is  getting to know our weekend security guard Patricia (she usually is at the desk on Saturdays).  Our conversations always make me laugh–last weekend she was helping me online shop for a graduation dress, and it was a lot of fun.

Q: What is your impression of Lilly’s film collection?  Any recommendations?
A: My overall impression of Lilly’s film collection is that it is very eclectic!  If I were to suggest a film, I would say you should check out the documentary 20 Feet from Stardom.

Q: What are your plans for after graduation?
A:  After graduation I plan on either participating in Teach for America, or working more policy/research orientated job in Washington, DC.

Q: What will you miss most about Lilly?
A: The staff, and just the feel of being there.

Q: How will your time at Lilly help you in your future pursuits?
A: My time at Lilly will help my with my multitasking skills, organization, and learning how to help people with any questions they have in a timely manner

Q: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done in Lilly?
A: Nothing too crazy…but if you are feeling tired and need a nap, don’t rule out the staff room couch (of course, never during your shift!)

Graduation in May means Lilly Library will say farewell to  Natalie and our other seniors, treasured members of our Lilly “family”. We appreciate her good work and dedication to Lilly and wish her the best!

EdgeFest: Draw on the Walls! April 2

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Date: Thursday, April 2
5:00 – 8:00 p.m.: Food, Music, Art + More!
All Day: Writeable walls open for artstigating (markers provided)!
Location: The Edge, First Floor of Bostock Library
More Info: Search “EdgeFest Duke” on Facebook

Collaborators: #artstigators, Duke Spoon University, The Duke Bite, and Duke University Libraries

Free! Open to the entire Duke community!

Don’t miss delicious food from Durham’s hot spots, including Juju, Monuts, Pie Pushers, NOSH, Mad Hatter, Pompieri Pizza, Toast & Cupcake Bar!

Stop by for mocktails, music and live entertainment from Poetry Fox, Inside Joke, #BusStopGuy, and DUI!

What’s EdgeFest?
We provide the dry-erase markers. You provide the artstigatin’!

Starting at 9 a.m., the walls of The Edge are your canvas. By the end of the day, the walls will be covered with doodles, pictures, murals, and interactive displays by student groups, individuals, and fellow artstigators.

The creative fun starts at 9:00 a.m. and continues with a reception starting at 5:00 p.m.

Don’t miss EdgeFest on Thursday—the artstigatin’ will be wiped clean on Friday!

What If I’m No “Picasso”?
Everyone is an Artstigator! We have awesome projectors onsite that you can use to project and trace anything you can put on your laptop. Need some inspiration? We’ll have some amazing art books on hand from Lilly Library’s collection to get your creative juices flowing!

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Look for these posters around campus. And come to EdgeFest, April 2!

 

Scholarly Publishing in the Humanities: New Models of Access, Governance, and Sustainability

Image by Nige Brown under a CC BY license.
Image by Nige Brown under a CC BY license.

Date: Tuesday, March 24
Time: 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Location: Perkins Library, Room 217
Contact: Paolo Mangiafico, paolo.mangiafico@duke.edu
Register to attend (it’s free!):  http://bit.ly/humanities-publishing-march24

Please join us for a talk on changing models of scholarly publishing in the humanities, and how a transition to open access models might be funded and sustained.

Through the economic and structural reconfiguration made possible by the Internet, the potential for new modes of publishing scholarship have emerged. However, there has also been much alarm in the humanities disciplines, particularly at the proposed changes to economic models that could underwrite transitions to new models of publishing, such as open access.

In this talk, Dr. Martin Paul Eve, author of Open Access and the Humanities (Cambridge University Press, 2014) will explore the contexts, controversies and pragmatic paths for the future of open access and other potential transitions in scholarly publishing in the humanities.

The event is free and open to the public, but please register to attend.

For more information on the topics Dr. Eve will be discussing, please see:

This event is sponsored by the Office of Copyright and Scholarly Communications, Duke University Libraries.

Library Focus Groups (and free Amazon Gift Cards!)

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Your opinion counts! Share your thoughts about ways to improve and enhance library services, collections, and spaces in a one-hour moderated focus group. All participants  will enjoy snacks during the focus group and receive a $10.00 Amazon Gift card!

Here in the Libraries, we’re always trying to up our game. To help us serve our Duke students and faculty better, we conduct periodic focus groups with undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty members.

Share your input and make a difference. Focus groups help us improve our existing services and develop new ones to meet emerging needs. Click on the links below to be part of a focus group session.

This focus group will center on participants’ experiences accessing full text articles online.

Undergraduate Focus Group:
Wednesday, March 18
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Perkins Library Room 118
Register here.

Faculty and Graduate Student Focus Group:
Thursday, March 19th
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Meet in the lobby of Perkins Library (by the elevators and stone stairs)
Register here.


 

Save the Date! Beer and Banjos, Feb. 10

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Learn about the history of the banjo, see historical and contemporary instrument designs, and enjoy the music!

Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Where: Fullsteam Brewery, 726 Rigsbee Avenue, Durham, NC 27701

Join the Duke University Libraries at Fullsteam Brewery in downtown Durham for a toe-tapping discussion about the history of the banjo with Laurent Dubois, Marcello Lotti Professor of Romance Studies and History at Duke University.

Professor Dubois is currently writing a book about the banjo for Harvard University Press. He is the author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History (2012), Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France (2010), and a frequent contributor to such magazines as the New Republic, Sports Illustrated, and the New Yorker. He will discuss the African roots and Caribbean and North American plantation origins of this versatile instrument and how it has evolved into a multifaceted cultural symbol.

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“Beer and Banjos” will take place at Fullsteam Brewery in downtown Durham on Feb. 10.

Plus live banjo picking!

Professor Dubois will be joined by musicians Zeke Graves, David Garner, and Jay Hammond, who will demonstrate various banjo playing styles and showcase historical and contemporary instrument designs from their own collections.

This event is part of the Engaging Faculty Series, sponsored by the Friends of the Duke University Libraries. Beer and other refreshments will be available for sale by Fullsteam, and complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be provided by the Libraries.

Free and open to the public.

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

You’re Invited! Open House for The Edge, Jan. 14

You’re invited to a Duke University Libraries Open House!

Help us celebrate the completion of

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Wednesday, January 14, 2015
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Bostock Library, First Floor

Remarks at 1:30 p.m. by Deborah Jakubs,
Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian
and Vice Provost for Library Affairs

  • Tour the new spaces, labs, and project rooms
  • Meet and mingle with library staff and The Edge support teams
  • Learn how The Edge can support your research and project work
  • Free giveaways
  • Enjoy refreshments by Parker and Otis
Floorplan of The Edge on the renovated first floor of Bostock Library
Floorplan of The Edge on the renovated first floor of Bostock Library

About The Edge
To meet the needs of interdisciplinary, team-based, data-driven, and digitally reliant research at Duke, the Duke University Libraries have transformed the first floor of Bostock Library into a new academic service hub. With digital tools and collaborative workspaces, reservable rooms for project teams, and expanded technology and training facilities, The Edge: The Ruppert Commons for Research, Technology, and Collaboration is an attractive new research community destination in the heart of campus.

For more information, visit library.duke.edu/edge.

Mark your calendar and join us 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. on January 14!

Meet the Staff: Collection Strategy and Development

The Collection Strategy and Development department coordinates the strategic development and management of the collections at Duke University Libraries. Staff and subject specialists work closely with faculty to devise collection strategies that support instruction and research. Say hello!

 

Jeff pic for blogName: Jeff Kosokoff

Years at Duke:0.67

What I do in the library: As Head of Collection Strategy and Development, the elevator speech says that I provide leadership and vision for the development of the Duke University Libraries collections to ensure that the scope and caliber of the resources to which the Libraries provide access are appropriate to support the mission of Duke University. I help manage our collections budgets, convene our Collections Coordinators Group, work with DUL librarians, and folks in the professional schools and other libraries to get things done with collections in ways that provide great service, help create the right scholarly communication ecosystem, and build on our existing strengths while developing in new directions for the future.

I went to high school: At the Metropolitan Learning Center in Portland, Oregon. MLC is the oldest K-12 public alternative school in the country. We didn’t have desks lined up in rows; we called our teachers by their first names and were largely in classes with other kids of all ages. I honestly can’t remember having any homework until 7th grade.

The most interesting place I traveled to: This is a tough one, as I love to travel. In a way, coming to Durham fits in here. Having said that, last year was a great one, since I spent 2 weeks each in Berlin and Morocco.

My longest road trip in the fastest car: When I was in grad school at Indiana University, I used to drive home to Oregon. My 1985 Tercel and I once completed the approx. 2,200 miles in 38 hours. Not bad considering I stopped a couple of times to nap.

   

Dee pic for blogName: Dee McCullough

Years at Duke: 27 yrs, 4 months at DUL (31 yrs, 3 months at Duke)

What I do in the library: I am your general theme park worker; the rides are: collections budget, approval plans, purchase suggestions, SAP, electronic bookplates, data gathering/analysis, DULSA, web editing, GOBI, lost items replacement and currently New & Noteworthy book selection… ALL ABOARD!

I went to high school: As a Wildcat, at Garinger High in Charlotte, NC, the city’s oldest continuous high school: started as Charlotte High in 1909, then became Central High in 1923 and Garinger in 1959. Also one of the largest (63 acres; student population averaging 2,000), it was highlighted in a 1962 National Geographic issue as Charlotte’s showplace high school. My highlights there were in the footlights as Drama Club booster/president, Snips-n-Cuts yearbook copy editor, and JROTC drill team marcher and military ball queen (and sweating in 95-degree heat during a 2-hour battalion review!)

The most interesting place I traveled to: Definitely Cairo, Egypt… My junior year at Duke was transformed into a 10-month stay at the American University, allowing me to meet some of the friendliest people on the planet while also encountering people and ideas from all over the planet. I walked throughout the city, visiting many sacred and secular sites, and was especially delighted by Khan el-Khalili bazaar which is famous for its diverse commercial activities, souvenirs, antiques and jewelry. Khan el-Khalili’s original purpose was as the burial site for the Fatimid caliphs. Favorite, cheapest, and most nourishing food while in Cairo on a student budget: Kushari, a garlic-spiced mixture of rice/lentils/chickpeas/macaroni topped with tomato vinegar sauce.

My longest road trip in the fastest car: Well, it was the fastest car to me at the time: 1986 Toyota MR2, scooting up to New York City from Durham for a bagel run, and we saved a giant petulant snapping turtle who was stubbornly refusing to leave the middle of I-95!

 

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Name: Candice Brown

Years at Duke: 7

What I do in the library: During my time at Duke, I’ve worked on a variety of    projects. I’ve worked in the basement of Rubenstein with thousands of dusty newspapers and at Smith Warehouse translating Ottoman Turkish with the use of a cheat sheet. I’ve recently joined Collection Development as the Gifts Assistant coordinating gift-in-kind intake and processing.

I went to high school: At Cooperstown High School in upstate New York. It’s a quaint little town with literary history, a beautiful lake, and a major baseball problem – our biggest claim to fame.

The most interesting place I traveled to: Zaanse Schans in the Netherlands.  Windmills, pewter, giant pancakes, and lots of cheese. Can’t go wrong.

My longest road trip in the fastest car: Rochester, New York, to Orlando, Florida, in a Honda Civic. It wasn’t very fast.

 

Judy pic for blogName: Judy Bailey

Years at Duke:  Decades (guess how many!)

What I do in the library:Whatever I’m asked to do

I went to high school: A long time ago

The most interesting place I traveled to: Many places in Israel

My longest road trip in the fastest car: They don’t intersect: fastest car was a ‘69 Vette, but my longest road trip was from Pontiac, Michigan, to Key West, Florida.

 

 

Fall Library Study Break, Dec. 9

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Cookie Time: December 9!

Finals are beginning to loom on the horizon. But don’t despair! Along with finals comes the Library Study Break! The Friends of Duke University Libraries and members of the Campus Club will be baking up a storm of homemade treats to sustain Duke’s student population through yet another round of studying.

Take a break from the books on Tuesday, December 9, at 8 p.m. and come by Perkins 217 to enjoy homemade baked goods of all kinds! Your textbooks will still be there when you come back.

The Friends of the Duke University Libraries Study Break is presented in partnership with the Duke Campus Club and the School of Medicine, and is sponsored by Pepsi, Saladelia Café, and Costco.

 

Puppies in Perkins Study Break: Dec. 10

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Can you handle the cuteness?

It’s almost that time of year again! Finals are just around the corner and—more importantly—so are the puppies!

Once again, Duke University Libraries and Duke PAWS will be bringing puppies back to the library to supply our stressed-out students will all the fur-therapy and snuggly cuddling they can handle during final exams.

Puppies in Perkins will return on Wednesday, December 1o, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. (that’s a three-hour marathon of ear-licking, tail-wagging cuteness) in Perkins Library Room 217.

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Pompey Ducklegs and his entourage, many dog-years ago.

This year we are teaming up with the Duke University Archives to do something new in celebration of one of Duke’s own furry friends: Pompey Ducklegs. Pompey Ducklegs was the pint-sized pal of Samuel Fox Mordecai, the first dean of the Trinity Law School, and a fixture around Duke’s campus for many years. Pompey went wherever Mordecai went, and he became something of a mascot for the Law School. This year marks the 101st birthday of the delightfully named dachshund, and we thought everyone should celebrate. So stop by Perkins 217 on December 10, enjoy some cake in memory of Pompey Ducklegs, and unwind from the stress of finals with the help of some wet noses and wagging tails!

Tired of hitting the books? Looks like somebody needs a puppy break!
Tired of hitting the books? Looks like somebody needs a puppy break!
One final gratuitous puppy pic, for your viewing pleasure.
One final gratuitous puppy pic, for your viewing pleasure.

 

International Education Week Panel: Nov. 12

Creative Commons image via Flickr courtesy Kevin Schoenmakers.
Creative Commons image via Flickr courtesy Kevin Schoenmakers.

Panel Discussion: Duke’s Global Mobility: How Are We Fostering Intercultural Competencies?
Date: Wednesday, November 12
Time: 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Where: Perkins Library, Room 217 (click for map)
Registration: Please RSVP for this event

As part of International Education Week at Duke,  Duke International House and the Professional Affairs Committee (PAC) of the Duke Librarians Assembly are sponsoring a panel discussion on Duke’ global mobility and how we are fostering intercultural competencies. Globalization has an increasing influence on our day-to-day lives, particularly in the education sector. The event will consist of a panel discussion featuring three speakers:

  • Li-Chen Chin, Director of  Intercultural Initiatives and International House
  • Darla Deardorff, Executive Director Association of International Education Administrators and Research Scholar in Education
  • Kearsley Stewart, Professor in Duke Global Health Institute

Seun Bello Olamosu, Associate Director for Intercultural Development and Outreach, will moderate the discussion. Coffee and refreshments will be served. Come by on Wednesday, hear what the panelists have to say, and ask some questions of your own!

Co-sponsored by DukeEngage and Duke Global Education for Undergraduates

 

Enter Our Student Book Collectors Contest

The deadline to enter our student book collectors contest is February 10, 2015.

The Friends of the Duke University Libraries are proud to present the 2015 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 contest includes an undergraduate and a graduate division. Cash prizes for each division are as follows:

First Prize
Undergraduate: $1,000
Graduate: $1,000

Second Prize
Undergraduate: $500
Graduate: $500

Winners of the contest will also be eligible to enter the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest, where they will compete for a $2,500 prize and an invitation to the awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., at the Library of Congress.

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. A collection should reflect a clearly defined unifying theme and will be judged by the extent to which its books and materials represent that field of interest. Entries may incorporate books and manuscripts, ephemera, maps, prints and drawings, and autograph material as long as they are relevant to the collection’s focus. The books do not need to be rare and monetary value will not be considered during judging.

Students who are interested in entering can visit the Book Collectors Contest homepage for more information and read about winning entries from past years. Students may also contact Megan Crain at megan.crain@duke.edu with any questions.

Entries must be received by February 10, 2015.

New Bulletin Boards in Perkins/Bostock

In response to user demand, we recently added three new  bulletin boards in Perkins and Bostock Libraries. These boards are available to the campus community for posting notices and flyers about Duke events and activities throughout the year.

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First floor of Perkins Library, across from the ePrint stations near the Circulation Desk.
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Lower Level 1 of Perkins Library, along the hallway connecting the central Perkins stair/elevator with the Link.
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Lower Level 1 of Bostock Library, next to the Multimedia Project Studio.

Please remember that posting flyers in other locations throughout the library—including stairwells, restrooms, public entryways, windows, and book stacks—is not permitted. Flyers posted in those locations will be taken down. This is to help maintain an attractive and uncluttered library environment, and to increase the effectiveness of library signage intended to assist our users. Please see our library policies for more information.

Save the Date: Henry Petroski Book Discussion, Nov. 5

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Henry Petroski will discuss his most recent book, The House with Sixteen Handmade Doors, on November 5.

Date: Wednesday, November 5
When
: 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. (Refreshments served at 5:00 p.m, program begins at 5:30)
Where: Franklin Humanities Institute Garage, Smith Warehouse Bay 4, (map)

Join the Duke University Libraries on November 5 for a book discussion with Henry Petroski, acclaimed author and Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and Professor of History at Duke. Professor Petroski is the author seventeen popular books on engineering and design, including the classics To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design (1985), The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance (1990), The Book on the Bookshelf (1999), and To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure (2012). Professor Petroski will discuss his most recent work, The House with Sixteen Handmade Doors: A Tale of Architectural Choice and Craftsmanship (2014). The book is an “architectural whodunit” that unlocks the secrets of Petroski’s handmade summer cottage in Maine. The author found himself fascinated by the origins of his 1950s home and set out to discover all the mysteries it contains–from dimly lit closets to a secret passageway. Readers follow along as Petroski slowly reveals the art and craftsmanship that went into the home’s construction, without ever removing a single nail.

Professor Petroski’s lecture is part of the Engaging Faculty Series, sponsored by the Friends of the Duke University Libraries. Books will be for sale at the event, and light refreshments will be served starting at 5:00 p.m. This program is free and open to the public.

PARKING INFORMATION: The gravel lot across from Smith Warehouse on Buchanan Blvd. offers free parking after 5 p.m. If you have a Duke parking pass, the central gated area is accessible by card-swipe after 5 p.m. For more details on parking at Smith Warehouse, visit the Franklin Humanities Institute website.

Read More:

 

Library Research Award Winners Announced

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A snapshot from last year’s awards ceremony. Pictured here (from left to right): Ernest Zitser, librarian for Slavic, Eurasian, and Eastern European Stuides; and 2012-2013 Aptman Prize winners Theodore Leonhardt (center) and Mary Tung (right).

The Duke University Libraries are pleased to announce the winners of the 2013-2014 library research awards.

Every year the Libraries run a series of essay contests recognizing the original research of Duke students and encouraging the use of library resources. This year competition for the awards was particularly keen, reflecting the quality of student research at Duke. The annual Duke University Libraries research awards reception, scheduled as part of Duke Family Weekend on Friday, October 24, at 3:30 p.m. in Lilly Library’s Thomas Room, will honor all the winners and applicants. The entire University community is invited to join us for refreshments and the opportunity to honor the recipients and applicants for the 2014 Aptman Prize, Holsti Prize, and Middlesworth Award.

Over 70 student entrants and their faculty supporters  participated in the process this year. Several of the entries mentioned Duke University librarians and library resources in their applications. Many thanks were reserved for the staff of the Document Delivery Department, which makes other libraries’ collections available for Duke students’ use. In addition, entrants made note of the support of several individual librarians, including Holly Ackerman, Rachel Ariel, Greta Boers, former librarian Margaret Brill, Linda Daniel, Elizabeth Dunn, Joel Herndon, Carson Holloway, Karen Jean Hunt, Kelley Lawton, Catherine Shreve, Lee Sorensen, Erik Zitser and  Luo Zhou.

The Lowell Aptman Prizes are awarded to undergraduates whose research makes excellent use of library resources and collections. It is awarded in three divisions: Honors Thesis, 3rd- and 4th-year students, and 1st- and 2nd-year students.

Honor Thesis Category

  • Winner: Mary Tung – “Bankrolling Apartheid: The Coins that Forged Modernity, Fostered Nationalism, and Funded Apartheid South Africa”
  • Runner-Up:  Rhyne King – “Persian History and Historiography: Understanding the Praxis and Politics of Religion in the Achaemenid Empire”

3rd- and 4th-Year Category

  • Winner: Carmi Medoff – “The Kodak Girl: Every Woman’s Woman”
  • Runner-Up: Brandon Maffei – “Unstable Grounds: Women as Revolutionaries in the Weather Underground”

1st- and 2nd-Year Category

  • Winner: Gayle Powell – “The Advent of  Black Sororities on Duke University’s Campus”
  • Runner-Up: Zachary Johnson – “Dreams of My Father and Self-Identifying”

The Ole R. Holsti Prize, our newest library research award, is awarded to students who exhibit excellence in the field of political science and public policy research. This is the first year the Holsti Prize has been awarded, and we look forward to many more.

  • Co-Winners: Nadia Hajji (“Post-Transitional Justice in Spain: Passing the Historical Memory Law”) and Lauren Hansson (“German Jewish Refugees in 1933: Failure of the League of Nations”)

The Chester P. Middlesworth Award recognizes students whose research makes use of the primary sources and rare materials held in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

  • Winner: Andrea Lewis –  “The Association is Dying: Black Student Activism and the Evolution of Conscious Space-Making at Duke University”

Congratulations to all of our winners!

Learn How the Duke Community Completes this Sentence: “Writing Is Like…”

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In a new exhibit on the Perkins Library Student Wall, Duke students, faculty, and staff all explain what “Writing is like…”

Guest post by Jennie Saia, Thompson Writing Program Coordinator. Jennie worked with Writing Studio Director Vicki Russell and Writing Studio Acting Director Jim Berkey to curate the “Writing Is Like…” exhibit. The exhibit will be on display on the Perkins Library Student Wall through mid-November.

Every October, the Thompson Writing Program (TWP) celebrates how vital writing is to life and work at Duke.

The TWP joins university writing programs around the country in honoring October’s National Day on Writing. Last year, Writing 101 faculty and Writing Studio tutors asked Duke community members to complete the sentence, “Writing is like…”

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Across campus, Duke students, faculty, and staff invented similes that expressed their thoughts on both academic and personal composition. Their comparisons get at the heart of what it feels like to actually sit down and write.

If you want to explore their answers, sixteen of the most creative replies are on display on the first floor of Duke’s Perkins Library. The showcased statements—sometimes profound, often humorous, occasionally sad—represent how the Duke community as a whole views writing. Join the conversation by adding your own simile to the open journal at the start of the exhibit.

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You can also become part of next year’s exhibit by joining the 2014 National Day on Writing celebration. On Monday, October 20, look for writing activities in Perkins Library on West Campus and around the East Campus Quad. Stop by throughout the day to grab some candy, meet other writers, and answer the question, “What is the future of writing?”

Pollinating the Grassroots: The Beehive Design Collective

Guest post by Maria Carla Cella, Graduate Liberal Studies Program. She curated the exhibit of prints currently on display on the Perkins Library Student Wall about the Beehive Design Collective.

Detail from "Mesoamerica Resiste," a poster by the Beehive Design Collective on display in Perkins Library on the Student Wall.
Detail from “Mesoamerica Resiste,” a poster by the Beehive Design Collective on display in Perkins Library on the Student Wall.

In our multimedia world, we are constantly seeking a good way to tell our story. From cave paintings to blog posts, generation after generation of storytellers try to find the most emotive way to record history and pass it on. As a student of Latin America and the Caribbean, I have delved into many mediums in my efforts to understand the complex relationship between the global south and north. Despite the availability of information on the internet, innumerable academic journals, countless books and documentaries on the topic, it is difficult to find a comprehensive examination of what globalization really entails. Transmitting the information in a way that resonates with the widespread population is an even harder task.

Enter the Beehive Design Collective. Founded in 2000, this non-profit, all-volunteer, activist arts collective creates collaborative, anti-copyright images for use as educational and organizing tools. With its mission of “cross-pollinating the grassroots,” the cooperative uses intricate graphic illustration in the form of giant pen and ink posters that communicate stories of resistance to corporate globalization, free trade, militarism, resource extraction, and biotechnology. The Bees spread their art across the Americas, wielding it as an educational tool and aiming to help communities conceptualize alternatives to a globalized economic model based on exploitation. Funding the printing costs with donations, the Bees distribute 50 percent of each print run (full run averaging 20,000-30,000 prints) to communities in the global south free of charge, giving away prints to frontline communities, educators, and organizers actively working on the issues featured in the posters.

The Beehive Collective’s use of imagery and symbolic art ties the local to the global, providing microscopic detail on the interconnected nature of global issues and compiling the images into, literally, a bigger picture that is both overwhelming and hypnotizing. Using a word-to-image approach, the Bees are translators of complex global stories, which they learn and share through conversations with affected communities. The first time I unfurled and laid eyes on their massive poster, Mesoamerica Resiste, I knew I had found a gem that begged to be shared, and that its message would flourish and proliferate in the minds of the Duke community. If you want to dive into the Beehive’s art and see the epic story for yourself, stop by Duke University’s Perkins Library, where four of the Beehive Design Collective’s epic works are on display. You can also learn more about the Beehive Design Collective at their website: beehivecollective.org.

Access Expanded Through New Library Agreement

Books
Starting Oct. 1, Duke students, faculty, and staff will be able to check out books in-person from nearly a dozen other major research libraries.

 

Duke University students, faculty, and staff will soon enjoy on-site library borrowing privileges at several other major research universities, courtesy of a new program known as BorrowDirect Plus.

Under a new pilot agreement beginning October 1, 2014, students, faculty, and staff from the following institutions will have reciprocal on-site borrowing privileges: Brown University, University of Chicago, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University.

Guest users who have been verified and have home library accounts in good standing will have in-person access to materials at any of the participating libraries. When visiting one of these libraries, members of the BorrowDirect Plus community will need to show their campus ID card and log into their home library account to show their current status. Once verified, they will be issued a library card from the institution they are visiting.

Items, collections, and participating libraries available will vary by institution. The lending library’s policies and loan periods apply to guest borrowers, and it is recommended that users considering a visit to another library view their policies ahead of time. Borrowed items may be returned at either the lending library or the user’s home library. (For example, a book checked out at Yale could be returned here at Duke, and vice versa.)

For the most part, these same materials are already available through BorrowDirect, a rapid book request and delivery system used by all of the participating institutions (with the exception of Duke). The new agreement expands the system to include this in-person component.

The Memory Project at Duke: Film Screenings and Events Coming this October

 

Chinese documentary filmmaker Wu Wenguang launched the Memory Project in 2010 to collect oral histories from survivors of the Great Famine (1958-1961) in rural China.
Chinese documentary filmmaker Wu Wenguang launched the Memory Project in 2010 to collect thousands of oral histories from survivors of the Great Famine (1958-1961) across rural China.

This October, Duke will be hosting Chinese documentary filmmaker Wu Wenguang and three of his fellow documentarians for a two-week residency and the launch of a new digital oral history collection.

Wu Wenguang is one of the founding figures of the Chinese independent documentary film movement. His groundbreaking debut film, Bumming in Beijing (1990), portrayed with unscripted candor the disillusionment of five young Chinese artists in the wake of the Tiananmen Square student protests in 1989.

One of Wu’s recent endeavors is the Memory Project, a wide-ranging documentary history of China’s Great Famine (1958-1961), featuring interviews with thousands of famine survivors. The interviews shine a light on one of modern China’s most traumatic episodes. Tens of millions of Chinese citizens died during the Great Famine years as a result of economic and social policies enacted under Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward campaign. The famine and resulting death toll are often glossed over in official Chinese state history.

Starting in 2010, Wu recruited numerous young filmmakers for the Memory Project, dispatching them to 246 villages across twenty rural provinces. More than 1,220 elderly villagers were interviewed and recorded. These interviews also gave the amateur filmmakers from Wu’s studio a chance to leave the bustling chaos of the cities and reconnect with the history of the their families and their nation.

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Visiting filmmakers (left to right) Li Xinmin, Zou Xueping, Wu Wenguang, and Zhang Mengqi.

In 2012, Wu and several of his protégés visited Duke for a series of screenings from the Memory Project. During that trip, he selected Duke’s Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library as an appropriate home for the raw footage of the interviews to be preserved. The first batch of interviews, totaling about 1,150 videos, was brought to Duke in the summer of 2013. Over the next several years, the Duke University Libraries will process the footage into a new digital collection for researchers worldwide to access.

Wu, along with fellow Memory Project documentarians Li Xinmin, Zhang Mengqi, and Zou Xueping, will return to Duke this October for a two-week residency and to launch the pilot for this new digital collection. There will be several events and film screenings to celebrate the filmmakers and their ground-breaking work.

 

Screenings and Events

All events are free and open to the public. Films are in Chinese with English subtitles. Films will be introduced by Duke University professor Guo-Juin Hong and be followed by Q&A discussions with the filmmakers.

Tuesday, October 21, 5:00 p.m.
Panel discussion and reception featuring Ralph Litzinger, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Women’s Studies and Faculty Director of Global Semester Abroad; Tom Rankin, Director of the MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts; and Guo-Juin Hong, Associate Professor of Chinese Literature and Culture, Director of the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image, and Co-Director of the FHI Audiovisualities Lab.
Franklin Humanities Institute Garage, Smith Warehouse (map)

Thursday, October 23, 4:00 p.m.
Reception and short clips with the visiting filmmakers
Perkins Library 217 (map)

Friday, October 24, 7:00 p.m.
Screening of “Trash Village” (2013, 82 mins.) by Zou Xueping
White Lecture Hall, East Campus (map)

Tuesday, October 28
5:00 p.m.: Reception with visiting filmmakers. Thomas Room, Lilly Library, East Campus (map)
7:00 p.m.: Screening of “Self-portrait” (2013, 77 mins.) by Zhang Mengqi. White Lecture Hall, East Campus (map).

Wednesday, October 29, 7:00 p.m.
Screening of “Huamulin, Boy Xiaoqiang” (2013, 76 mins.) by Li Xinmin
Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center (map)

Film screenings are part of the Cine-East Fall 2014 East Asian Film Series, co-sponsored by the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, Screen/Society, the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image, and the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. The panel discussion on October 21 is co-sponsored by the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image.

 

New Exhibit: Queering Duke History: Understanding the LGBTQ Experience at Duke and Beyond

Queering Duke History Exhibit LogoOn exhibit August 14 – December 14, 2014
Perkins Library Gallery, Duke West Campus (Click for map)
Public Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 pm; Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.; Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Hours may vary before the start of the fall semester, and on holidays. Please check our posted library hours for the most up-to-date information.

This exhibition is a part of a semester-long commemoration of LGBTQ history at Duke, including other exhibits and events. More details are available on the Queering Duke History website.

 

About the Exhibit

Towerview Magazine, December 2003
Towerview Magazine, December 2003

A new exhibit in Perkins Library highlights the major points of struggle and triumph in Duke’s LGBTQ history over the past 50 years. The exhibit begins with the earliest records of LGBTQ activity on campus—the dark days of arrest and expulsions—and culminates with the thriving and active queer community seen at Duke today. This transition was neither quick nor linear. LGBTQ individuals on Duke’s campus faced major setbacks in every one of the last five decades.

The exhibit also functions as a timeline, marching the observer decade-by-decade in order to view every artifact within the greater context of Duke’s queer struggle. On display are arrest records for “homosexuality” in the 1960s, early 1970s-era queer publications, the official “dechartering” of the gay and lesbian alliance in the 1980s, the establishment of the LGB center during the 1990s, same-sex unions permitted in Duke Chapel at the start of the new millennium, and finally a reflection of the current vibrancy of Duke’s LGBTQ community.

The exhibit was curated by Duke alumnus Denzell Faison (T’14), with special thanks to co-advisors Dr. Janie Long, former director of Duke’s Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, and Professor Raymond Gavins, Duke Department of History. Thanks also to the Duke University Archives, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, Blue Devils United, and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History & Culture for their institutional support and contributed resources.

For more information, visit the exhibit website.

Scene from the first Coming Out Day at Duke, 2007
Scene from the first Coming Out Day at Duke, 2007

 

Commemorative Exhibit Opening Event and Remarks: Please Join Us!

Date: Thursday, September 25
Time: 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. (Program begins at 5:15 p.m.)
Location: von der Heyden Pavilion, Perkins Library
Remarks by: Exhibit curator Denzell Faison (T’14), former director of the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity Dr. Janie Long, and Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead.

Free and open to the public.

 

 

Service Opportunity: Join Our Student Library Advisory Boards

Help us improve the library experience at Duke and make your voice heard by joining one of our student advisory boards.
Help us improve the library experience at Duke and make your voice heard by joining one of our student advisory boards.

The Duke University Libraries are now accepting applications for membership on the 2014-2015 student library advisory boards.

Members of these boards will help improve the learning and research environment for Duke University students and advise the Libraries on topics such as study spaces, research resources, integrating library services into academic courses, and marketing library services to students.

All three advisory boards are now taking applications or nominations. Deadlines for applying are:

Members will be selected and notified by mid-September, and groups will begin to meet in late September. More information is available on our website, where you will also find links to the online applications forms.

For more information or questions about these opportunities, please contact:

 

Graduate and Professional Student Advisory Board
and 
Undergraduate Advisory Board

emily_dalyEmily Daly
Head, Assessment and User Experience Department
Librarian for Education
emily.daly@duke.edu
919-660-5879

 

 

First-Year Advisory Board

boers-gretaGreta Boers
Librarian for Linguistics and Classical Studies
greta.boers@duke.edu
919-660-5864

 

 

 

munden-daveDave Munden
Evening Reference Librarian and Supervisor, Lilly Library
dave.munden@duke.edu
919-660-5998

 

 

Duke 2018 and the Incredible First-Year Library Experience

How do you “library”? Let the Libraries Save the day!

First-Year Library Orientation
First-Year Library Orientation

Each August, First-Year students arrive on East Campus and begin a Welcome Week filled with numerous events, workshops and programs designed to ease their transition to undergraduate life. The libraries on East Campus support the new students with programs for the First-Year Library Experience.

On East Campus, after students settle in and begin classes, the Lilly Library and Duke Music Library offer several ways for the newest “Dukies” to learn and benefit from the incredible resources of the Duke Libraries. Lilly and Music sponsor Library Orientation events such as scavenger hunts, film showings, and prize drawings to familiarize them with library services and collections. Past years have seen students “Keep Calm and Library On”, play The Library Games, and the Class of 2018 will discover the “Super Powers” of the Incredible Duke Libraries!

Fall Semester 2014:
Meet the Incredible Libraries – Open House and Scavenger Hunt for Duke 2018
When: Tuesday, August 26th at 7pm
Where: Lilly Library

Movie on the Quad: The Incredibles
When: Thursday, September 25th at 8pm
Where: East Campus Quad between Lilly and the Union

In addition to Orientation, the East Campus libraries — Lilly and Music — invite first-year students to engage with the Duke University Libraries in these ways:

Of course, there is another great way to learn about the libraries – work as a student assistant!

Here’s to a great year filled with academic success!

 

Good Questions: Was There Writing on the Wall during the Arab Spring?

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Image from “Revolution Graffiti: Street Art of the New Egypt,” by Swedish photographer Mia Gröndahl (AUC Press, 2013). Gröndahl visited Duke and discussed her work last fall.

The questions we get in Perkins Research Services range from the fatuous to the far-fetched to the fascinating. This is one of a series on our most interesting research questions, and how we go about answering them. (Some details have been changed to protect our users’ privacy.)

We have heard a lot about the use of social media to coordinate the Arab Spring protests. Taking the grassroots question back to earth, a student recently wondered what role graffiti might have played. Perhaps she was inspired by a speaker here at Duke last fall, Mia Grondahl. “Adira” approached the Perkins Research Desk one evening this spring when Stephanie, our late-night librarian, was there.

Stephanie used the library catalog to identify a book on the topic and sent Adira to get it. Adira returned very excited that she also had found some similar books by browsing nearby. That might have been the end of the interaction, but Stephanie kept working on the question after Adira left, determined to find some good journal articles as well to email to her.

What she found was fascinating. It seems that graffiti did not incite protests, but flowered immediately after the Arab Spring, once people felt more empowered and free. As eL Seed, an artist who calls his work “caligraffiti” says in an interview from PRI’s The World, “I hear a lot that artists create revolution, but I believe in Tunisia is the contrary, revolution has created artists.”

The barricades put up in the wake of the uprisings were converted from their original obstructive purpose and became canvasses for uniting people with their spontaneous messages. In addition, they served as memorial spaces dedicated to those killed during the confrontations, as discussed in an article from Theory Culture & Society. In another article, Stephanie found the claim that the graffiti reflected further unification of the people, with Muslim and Christian symbols side by side. Meanwhile in Cairo the government gave up whitewashing the pervasive graffiti because it reappeared almost immediately, according to Al-Arab.

Research librarians learn something new every day thanks to questions like this. Doesn’t it inspire you to find out how graffiti’s role has evolved in the four years since the Arab Spring? Or at least to go out and express yourself, as the students in POLISCI 222 did this spring?

EdwardChenGraffitiArt
Arab Spring graffiti inspired by issues in the Middle East, underneath the Campus Drive bridge at Duke (photo by Edward Chen).

Post by Catherine Shreve, Librarian for Public Policy & Political Science

Badges to Buttons: Students Write About “Images That Shock”

Guest post by Professor Ann Marie Rasmussen and students in her Spring 2014 Writing 101 course, “Images that Shock: Obscenity from the Middle Ages to the Present,” which was co-taught with Heidi Madden, Librarian for Western European and Medieval/Renaissance Studies. Writing 101 courses are offered during a student’s first year at Duke and are designed to offer students a foundation for and  introduction to university-level writing. See more at the Thompson Writing Program’s Writing 101 website, or see a list of all Spring 2014 Writing 101 courses and course descriptions.

As part of their research into the meaning and historical significance of late medieval badges, students in Professor Rasmussen's Writing 101 course turned medieval badges into buttons.
As part of their research into the historical significance of late medieval badges, students in Professor Rasmussen’s Writing 101 course made their badges live again as buttons.

When I teach Writing 101, I focus not on content, but on process. The goal is to give first-year students what my co-teacher, Heidi Madden, and I like to call a tool chest of skills in academic communication, broadly understood, that will help them make the most of studying at Duke. The skills we emphasize include writing skills such as revision; giving and accepting rigorous yet fair feedback; and communicating clearly and effectively for different audiences, media, and formats. We also emphasize turning students into effective, knowledgeable, and critical researchers by teaching them  how to master the complex modern research engine that goes by the name of a research library.

Still, to learn process you have to apply it. For their final paper, students write a research paper in an area of my scholarly expertise, late medieval badges. These are small objects found in Great Britain and northwestern Europe, usually about the size of a quarter and featuring a vivid image. They were made to be worn, usually sewn or pinned to clothing, but sometimes suspended as a pendant. Made of lead-tin alloy, badges were cheap to make and to buy. Some 15,000 survive; millions were probably made in the three hundred years they were in circulation. Although they are little known today, badges were once ubiquitous, ordinary artifacts. What makes badges rewarding for student research are their images, which draw on and disseminate iconographies that, however shocking, mysterious, or inscrutable they now seem to us, were once widely and immediately understood. A badge image presents itself to a modern viewer as a puzzle that repays diligent, focused, expert research by delivering new findings and a deeper understanding of the past.

What a great topic for Writing 101! For their final paper, each student selects and researches a single badge and its image. As a way of getting to know their badge better, we asked students to carefully draw it. Then, we used the library’s button-maker to affix each drawing to an aluminum, pinned back. Viola! The medieval badges live again in a modern form, as buttons. Students were also asked to write a blog post about their badge, which they have identified using categories and data from an important, web-based reference and  research tool for badges, the Kunera database housed at  the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. This assignment allowed them to practice making academic research accessible and compelling to non-specialists. We, teachers and students, hope that the buttons and blogs pique your interest in medieval badges and in Writing 101 at Duke.

 

A Selection of Student Research on Medieval Badges


Tiffany Chen:
What a week this has been! To be honest, when first faced with the task of researching the badge—well, actually, mine is an ampulla—I was sure it would not be so difficult. But when I realized that the ampulla for my paper is… undocumented in a conspicuous way… I found out how challenging researching the unknown can really be.

 

I have felt like a detective lately, sleuthing for clues and trying to piece them together in a way that not only makes sense, but also is likely to be correct. Luckily, I have found clues pointing me in promising directions. For instance, the location of my ampulla was listed as Jerusalem, but I had to look at the ampulla itself and its depiction to discover that it represented Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is held by tradition to be the location where Christ was resurrected.

I am on a good path towards uncovering more clues. So far, I have delved into the ampulla’s rich history, circa 1149-1199 (around the time of the Third Crusade to the Muslim world). I have researched its image and as well ampullae in general to better understand how they were used. But I have yet to uncover information on the ampulla’s inscription of capital letters, HMPO, and on other key features. More to come in the future! Until then, this detective needs to pick up her magnifying glass and see what else she can find.

Kay Hasegawa: Yes, that badge is showing exactly what you think it is, a woman standing next to a penis with little arms and legs, wearing a crown, and carrying a pilgrim staff and a shoulder bag. Very, very eccentric, and not exactly the first thing we would imagine when we think about medieval accessories in Western Europe! But the image embodies a very common desire for the agriculture-intensive peasants of the day, the wish for fertility of the land and of the mother. All hail the medieval phallic figure!

 

Alyse Whitaker: Do me a favor. Imagine a world in which it is acceptable for you and your peers to wear clothing or badges adorned with explicit images of female and male genitalia… In our world, it would be unusual to walk down the street and see a man wearing a shirt with a phallus on it because exposing genitals is not tolerated or legal in American culture. Thinking back to the Middle Ages, which supposedly is a time when people were more modest, it was shocking to discover that this assumption was not accurate. Here is a badge that caught my eye. It shows a phallus on a spit, something used to roast chicken over a fire, with a vulva functioning like a  “grease trap” to catch the drippings. There are so many impressions that could be taken from this image. My first impression was that the artist was trying to express the efficiency of the men when it came to fertility,. Or perhaps the image was supposed to shock and ward off evil spirits? Badges such as this one may have been worn for many different purposes.

 

Special thanks to Elena Feinstein and Aaron Welborn for bringing the button-maker to the library, and to Mark Zupan for photographing the buttons.

 

Regulatory Disaster Scene Investigation- A Bass Connections Project Team and the Library

Regulatory Disaster Investigation - Bass Connections ProjectContributed by Carson Holloway

Beginning May 13th 2014,  a Bass Connection project team of undergraduate and graduate researchers faculty and I began our collaboration, meeting in a dedicated space in Bostock Library and our project team will carry on there through early July.  The Regulatory Disaster Scene Investigation project provides an opportunity to evaluate the process of assisting groups in focused research activities using the resources and expertise available through Duke Libraries. This project is in line with the projected opening of the Library Information Commons in 2015.

The broad intellectual question the group is investigating is “how does government best respond to crises?”   The outcomes from this particular Bass Connections project will include a working visit to Washington D.C. to interview regulators and officials, producing a policy brief/ white paper, and possible conference presentations. This Bass Connections group work will make a contribution to a projected edited work which falls under the umbrella of the Recalibrating Risk working group in the Kenan Institute on Ethics.

The work group was convened in the Library by Professors Lori Bennear and Ed Balleisen and began with a discussion of assignments to investigate the history of government responders to crisis such as the NTSB, the Chemical Safety Board, the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, British Parliamentary Commissions and corresponding institutions in other countries around the globe.  The  group members were assigned the task of preparing annotated bibliographies about the institutions and their histories.

As the project moves forward, librarians with subject specialization and language expertise including Holly Ackerman on Latin America and Greta Boers who has expertise in Dutch are helping these researchers make the best use of their limited time.  Only four more weeks- yikes!  In the future it seems likely that the role of librarians will expand in assisting researchers in time-delimited participation in work groups revolving around new spaces like the Information Commons.

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

Now Available: Check Out E-Books and Audiobooks on Your Phone or Tablet

Just a sampling of the hundreds of popular titles you can now download as eBooks or audiobooks and enjoy on your own device. Click on the image to get started.
Just a sampling of the hundreds of popular titles you can now download as eBooks or audiobooks and enjoy on your own device. Click on the image to get started.

Duke University Libraries and Ford Library at the Fuqua School of Business are excited to offer a new service that allows library users to download and enjoy popular eBooks and audiobooks on their own devices, including iPhones, iPads, NOOKs, Android phones and tablets, and Kindles.

The new service, called OverDrive, has hundreds of popular fiction and non-fiction titles to choose from, including best-selling novels, well-known classics, self-improvement guides, and much more. We are adding new titles to Duke’s collection all the time.

Here’s how it works:

  • To get started, visit the Duke OverDrive website. (You can easily get there through the eBooks portal on our library website.)
  • Browse through the available titles, and check them out using your Duke NetID.
  • You can check out up to five (5) eBooks or audiobooks at one time.
  • Titles will automatically expire at the end of the lending period (21 days). There are no late fees!
  • eBooks can be read immediately on any device with an internet browser. Audiobooks can be streamed using the OverDrive Media Console app, which you can download for free on all major desktop and mobile platforms.
  • If a title is already checked out, you can place it on hold and request to be notified when it becomes available. You can place up to ten (10) titles on hold at a time.
  • If you don’t see a title you’re looking for, submit a request from any search page using the recommendoption. We’ll add requested titles to our wishlist and purchase them as funds become available.
  • Once you download a title, you can transfer it to your iPhone, iPad, NOOK, Android phone or tablet, or Kindle.

That’s it! Pretty simple.

In addition to hundreds of new and recently published books, you can also download tens of thousands of public domain classics as eBooks through OverDrive. Look for the “Project Gutenberg” link under Featured Collections.

We are in the process of adding to our initial selections in OverDrive, so we encourage you to submit recommendations through the site if there are eBooks or audiobooks you’d like to see available.

To get started, visit the Duke OverDrive website. And let us know what you think!

Screenshot of the OverDrive interface. Just a click "Borrow" to check out a title with your Duke NetID, or place it hold and get notified when it becomes available.
Screenshot of the OverDrive interface. Just a click “Borrow” to check out a title with your Duke NetID, or place it on hold and get notified when it becomes available.

Springsteen’s “Born to Run” First Draft to Be Displayed in Perkins Library

Last December, a unique first-draft manuscript of the lyrics to Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 hit song “Born to Run” was placed up for auction at Sotheby’s. The seller of the document remained anonymous, but it was known that the manuscript once belonged to Mike Appel, Springsteen’s former manager. The bids poured in online, in person, and by phone, and one happy bidder went home with a piece of American music history.

That successful purchaser happened to be Floyd Bradley, a leadership donor to the Duke University Libraries and the Nasher Museum of Art, whose parents met in 1942 while students at Duke.

The Bradley and Springsteen families actually share a number of connections. Mr. Bradley’s mother Carol Lake Bradley (WC’43) and Mr. Springsteen’s mother were neighbors and friends in New Jersey. Mr. Bradley’s father, Floyd Henry “Pete” Bradley, Jr. (T’45), sold his house to Mr. Springsteen’s mother-in-law.

Mr. Bradley is also a proud Duke father whose daughter, Melissa, is a graduating senior this year. And so it came about, through special arrangement with Mr. Bradley and his wife Martha Hummer-Bradley, that the “Born to Run” manuscript will be on public display during Duke’s Commencement Weekend in honor of Melissa’s graduation.

The first draft manuscript of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" will be displayed in Perkins Library. Image courtesy of Sotheby's. Click for high-res version.
The first draft manuscript of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” will be displayed in Perkins Library. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s. Click for high-res version.

The document will be exhibited in front of the Circulation Desk on the Perkins Library main floor Thursday and Friday, May 8-9, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, May 10-11, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

After May 11, the manuscript will be moved to the third floor of Perkins, where it will remain on display in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library until June 27 and be available to view during normal library hours.

The “Born to Run” manuscript, written by Springsteen in 1974 in Long Branch, New Jersey, may look like nothing more than a piece of notebook paper scrawled with thirty lines of blue ink. But it offers a glimpse into the creative process of a musical icon. The draft contains a great deal of material that was never included in the final version. Yet the chorus is nearly identical to what we hear in the finished song. The margins and spaces are crowded with second thoughts and edits, illuminating the moments in which a rock and roll anthem was born.

“Born to Run” was the title track of Springsteen’s third album, released to great commercial and critical success in August 1975. Just a few months later, on March 28, 1976, Springsteen and his E Street Band performed in Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium to a packed house. According to a Rolling Stone reporter who was there, “The band played every song from Born to Run in one set, and at show’s end, ‘Raise Your Hand’ did its job: everybody stayed up through the three-song encore that ended with ‘Quarter to Three.’”

Visitors to campus are invited to stop by the library and view this special piece of music history.

Ticket stub from Springsteen's performance at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium in March 1976, just a few months after "Born to Run" was released. Image from Brucebase.
Ticket stub from Springsteen’s performance at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium in March 1976, just a few months after “Born to Run” was released. Image from Brucebase.

Viewing the “Born to Run” Manuscript

Please note: During the summer, all Duke University libraries are open on a more limited schedule than during the academic year. Please check our online schedule of library hours before visiting.

May 8 – 11
On exhibit in front of the Circulation Desk, 1st Floor of Perkins Library
Thursday and Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

May 12 – June 27
On exhibit in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, 3rd Floor of Perkins Library
Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Closed May 24 for Memorial Day Weekend)
Closed Sundays

Take an Exam Break with Puppies at Perkins!

border-collie-speedy-mcspeedster_34702_990x742
It’s time to leave those textbooks behind and come cuddle a puppy!

The end of the semester is at hand, and only one obstacle looms between Duke students and a summer of freedom: Finals Week. The echo of textbooks being opened resounds across campus, accompanied, as always, by the plaintive sighs of undergraduates. However, amid the bleakness of finals, the Libraries are partnering with DukePAWS to bring you a moment of snuggly, furry relief—Puppies at Perkins!

On Tuesday, April 29, come to Perkins Library Room 217 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and trade in your final exams stress for some puppy love. Two shifts of certified therapy dogs along with their owners will be taking over Room 217 (click for floor plan) for three hours for some much needed fur-therapy.

Be sure to drop by for a few minutes (or the full three hours, depending on how much snuggling you require) and unwind from the stress of finals with the help of some wet noses and wagging tails! You can join the Facebook event here.

Also on Tuesday, make sure you stop by Perkins Library at 8:00 p.m. for the Friends of the Duke University Libraries’ Study Break! The event is held in partnership with the Duke Campus Club and the Duke Annual Fund and is sponsored by Pepsi. After a long day of hitting the books, enjoy a smorgasbord of cookies, treats, and other home-baked goodies.

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Another gratuitous puppy picture. You’re welcome.

Friends of Library Study Break, April 29!

choc-chip-cookies
Time for a study break!

The season of long, sleepless study nights is fast approaching. Soon untold cups of coffee and cans of energy drinks will be guzzled (perhaps together) all in the name of finals. When you are ready for a break from all that studying (whether you’ve been at it for five minutes or five hours), the Libraries have got you covered!

The annual Friends of Duke Library Study Break is coming up and Duke students will be a able to enjoy a veritable feast of baked goods. On April 29 at 8:00 p.m., pack up your books and head over to Perkins for a well-deserved break! There will be plenty of free food and drinks to help get you through the evening.

This event will be held in partnership with Duke Campus Club and the Duke Annual Fund and will be sponsored by Pepsi.

Student Writing Prizes: Earn $1,000!

Enter your research paper and you could win $1,000 or $1,500 cash!
Enter your research paper and you could win $1,000 or $1,500 cash!

The Lowell Aptman Prizes, Chester P. Middlesworth Awards, and Ole R. Holsti Prize were established by Duke University Libraries to reward excellence in research and writing. If you’re a Duke student, consider submitting a paper for one of these prizes—you could win $1,000 to $1,500!

The Aptman Prizes recognize undergraduates’ excellence in research, including their analysis, evaluation and synthesis of sources, and encourages students to make use of the general library collections and services at Duke University. Prizes are awarded in three categories (first- and second-year students, third-and fourth-year students, and fourth-year students working on an honors thesis), and each one comes with a cash award of $1,000. Funding for the awards has been generously provided by Eileen and Lowell (T’89) Aptman.

The Middlesworth Awards recognize excellence of research, analysis, and writing by Duke University students in the use of primary sources and rare materials held by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Prizes are awarded in two categories (undergraduates and graduate students), and each one comes with a cash prize of $1,000. Funding for the awards has been generously provided by Chester P. Middlesworth (A.B., 1949) of Statesville, North Carolina.

The Holsti Prize recognizes excellence in undergraduate research using primary sources for political science or public policy. Ole R. Holsti (George V. Allen Professor Emeritus of Political Science) provided funding for this generous prize, which comes with a cash prize of $1,500.

The deadline for all three student library research awards is May 15, 2014. 

All winners will be recognized at a reception held the Friday afternoon of Duke Family Weekend (October 24, 2014), where they will receive award certificates and cash prizes.

For more information, including complete guidelines, application instructions, and selection criteria, visit our library research awards website.

 

Questions?

For questions about the Aptman Prizes, contact:
Carson Holloway
919-660-5997
carson.holloway@duke.edu

For questions about the Middlesworth Awards, contact:
David Pavelich
919-660-5825
david.pavelich@duke.edu

For questions about the Holsti Prize, contact:
Catherine Shreve
919-660-6934
catherine.shreve@duke.edu

End-of-the-Year Book Drive, Apr. 28

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If your dorm room looks like this, be sure to drop off your extra books at the upcoming Friends of the Durham Library book drive! (Unless they are library books. We’ll be needing those back.)

UPDATE! We have added Lilly Library as a book drop-off location. You can now drop off your used books at Perkins Library on West Campus or Lilly Library on East Campus on April 28, 1:00-4:00 p.m.

It’s the ides of April, and that means LDOC (Last Day of Classes) is almost here. Pretty soon the whole Duke student body will be packing, shipping, and storing a year’s worth of stuff.

Among all those items are bound to be a number of books, purchased and read (or not read) for this year’s classes. Before you try to cram them all into the last pocket of your suitcase, consider donating them to the Friends of the Durham Library Book Drive.

Members of the Friends of the Durham Library will be stationed outside of Perkins and Lilly Libraries (weather permitting) on Monday, April 28, 1:00-4:00 p.m. They will be collecting books, CDs, and DVDs to benefit their book sales, the funds of which support Durham County Library programming.  The Friends of the Durham Library hold book sales twice yearly and, to date, have raised over one million dollars to support public libraries around Durham.

Students, faculty, and staff can simply drop off their unwanted books, CDs, and DVDs and, in doing so, support a great cause. So mark your calendar for April 28, and bring us your books!

Cookies + Puppies = Spring Study Break!

As we head into the last few weeks of the spring semester, LDOC is on many a Duke student’s mind. Yet in between now and all that summer fun stands the dreaded slog of Finals Week. Though we can’t take your finals for you, the Duke Libraries will be doing our best to nurse you through the long days of studying with an aptly timed study break!

The Friends of the Duke University Libraries’ Study Break will be Tuesday, April 29, at 8:00 p.m. in Perkins Library. The event will be held in partnership with Duke Campus Club and the Duke Annual Fund and will be sponsored by Pepsi. After a long day of hitting the books, be sure to stop by Perkins Library and enjoy a smorgasbord of cookies, treats, and other home-baked goodies.

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Is your finals week missing a puppy? Come to Puppies in Perkins on April 29!

NEW THIS YEAR! The Libraries will also be partnering with DukePAWS to bring you Puppies in Perkins! Several therapy dogs will be in Perkins Room 217 waiting to dispense and receive hugs, cuddles, and lots of puppy love. The event will take place the afternoon of April 29th (more details to come).

Trade in your calculator and textbooks for some furry snuggles! Your stressed-out brain will thank you for it.

Focus Group Participants Needed (Free Food!)

Focus Groups
We’re looking for undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty to participate in one-hour focus groups.

Your opinion counts! Share your thoughts about ways to improve and enhance library services, collections, and spaces in a one-hour moderated focus group. In return, we’ll feed you!

Here in the Libraries, we’re always trying to up our game. To help us serve our Duke students and faculty better, we conduct periodic focus groups with undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty members.

Your opinion counts! Share your input and make a difference. Focus groups help us improve our existing services and develop new ones to meet emerging needs. Click on the links below to be part of a focus group session.


Focus Groups for Undergraduates

 

Focus Groups for Graduate Students

 

Focus Group for Faculty

Good Questions: April Fools!

The questions we get in Perkins Research Services range from the fatuous to the far-fetched to the fascinating. This is one of a series on our most interesting research questions, and how we go about answering them. (Some details have been changed to protect our users’ privacy.) 

Anonymous IM makes it so easy to prank librarians that over the years we have finely tuned both our crap-detectors and our sense of humor. This month, for your entertainment, we bring you some of the silliest and least research-oriented questions we’ve gotten. We make no assertions about the users’ intentions.

look it upThe quick and frivolous

  • can I freeze rock buns?
  • my computer just got wiped
  • how old are you?
  • can u give me some help with my crush …. pllllllllllllllllllllzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  :_(
  • PERKINS PERKINS COME IN PERKINS. STOP. THIS IS DUKE DIVINITY LIBRARY. STOP. WE ARE BUNKERED IN WITH MASSIVE SNOW. STOP.

Uh-oh
Sometimes our users do us a service by reporting problems in and around the libraries.

To whom it may concern: I wanted to inform you that on the second floor bridge, there is a HUGE ANT problem…I do not know why they are there, but I thought you may want to know!

[Did you know that our experts tell us the ants are seeking moisture, not your lunch? We are aware of the problem and doing our best to battle them on all fronts. To report a sighting, please fill out our building maintenance request form.]

FYI I think your current listing for: 20th century ghosts by Joe Hill is incorrect. It is currently: “There are many things that can go wrong with your car, but it’s knowing what to do that can make the difference between a small repair, a major bill, or worse.”

[We have reported this mismatched book summary to the vendor who provides them.]

Punked
We pride ourselves on providing answers or good referrals for all questions that come our way, however arcane. But we have not yet reached consensus on the answer to this ubiquitous question:

“What does the fox say?”

Post by Catherine Shreve, Librarian for Public Policy & Political Science

Interview Room Pilot at Perkins Library

The new Interview Room, Perkins 130, is equipped with a dedicated phone line.
The new Interview Room, Perkins 130, is equipped with a dedicated phone line.

Have a big job interview coming up this spring? Need a quiet space with a good phone connection? We’ve got you covered.

Starting March 26, Perkins Library will be offering a space for phone and virtual interviews in Perkins 130 for the remainder of the Spring 2014 semester as a pilot study. This room has a dedicated phone line that can be used to make business calls, both long-distance and local. Please visit the Perkins Research or Service Desk for the telephone number if you need to receive a call.

Duke students, staff, and faculty may reserve this room for up to one hour per day. To make a reservation, visit the Library Room Reservation page and click on “Reserve the Interview Room.” Then you can submit your reservation using your name and Duke e-mail address. The system will send a confirmation email to your Duke email. Make sure to respond within an hour to confirm your reservation.

The Interview Room is available whenever Perkins & Bostock Libraries are open. You can also reserve interview spaces in the Career Center at the Smith Warehouse Building.

Questions or comments? Drop us a line at asklib@duke.edu.

Map showing the location of the new Interview Room in Perkins Library.
Map showing the location of the new Interview Room in Perkins Library.

Good Questions: Is It the Shoes?

The questions we get in Perkins Research Services range from the fatuous to the far-fetched to the fascinating. This is the second of a series on our most interesting research questions, and how we go about answering them. (Some details have been changed to protect our users’ privacy.)

Sometimes the questions we get are terse yet timely, like this one: “Articles about engineering and manufacturing of basketball shoes.” This has obvious and immediate import in the month running up to March Madness, so Perkins librarian Brittany, ever on her toes, got right to work on it one Sunday evening.

the sneaker book Did you know there’s a “Sneaker Book?”

In fact, there are at least two, the newer one subtitled “50 years of sport shoe design” and available to Duke users upon request from the library at NC State. (The Triangle Research Libraries are team players, even during basketball season.) Brittany started by recommending these books for “Steve” to get some background before delving into the technical questions.

The full-court press followed, with more specific questions that were not answered in the books:

  • How is a basketball shoe made? What science goes into the design?
  • How do factories make basketball shoes? What machines are used? What is the process in detail?

For these answers Brittany turned to our databases, first constructing a search strategy in ProQuest: ‘athletic shoe’ in Subject AND (manufacture OR design) in Subject

She also recommended the Engineering Village database, which turned up a promising article, “A structural mechanics model for sports shoes: the heel strike” from the Sports Engineering journal. Who knew there was such a specifically targeted journal? Not this Social Sciences generalist.

We aim for both the slam dunk and the buzzer-beater when we answer research questions—zeroing in on exactly the information you need, and just in time. Brittany turned in a good performance in this round.

Moving forward, I wonder if March Madness led to this other question we received about the same time: “I want to find articles about how would drunk people walk. Like would they stumble to their dominant side?” Our answer, in part, is to be careful around those bonfires, folks. LET’S GO, DUKE!

Post by Catherine Shreve, Librarian for Public Policy & Political Science

New Exhibit: Cheap Thrills: The Highs and Lows of Cabaret Culture in Paris, 1880-1939

cabaret couture
Cheap Thrills: The Highs and Lows of Cabaret Culture in Paris, 1880-1939, on exhibit February 18 – May 12 in the Perkins Library Gallery.

On exhibit February 18 – May 12, 2014
Perkins Library Gallery, Duke West Campus (Click for map)
Public Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am–7pm; Saturday, 9am–7pm; Sunday, 10am–7pm
Hours may vary on holidays. Please check our posted library hours for more information.

About the Exhibit

A new exhibit in the Perkins Library Gallery  provides a glimpse into the fascinating world of the Parisian cabaret. Starting in the second half of the nineteenth century, the cabaret became a fixture of Parisian culture. Unlike other social institutions of the time, everyone was freely admitted to these venues, so they became a space in which all—regardless of race, color, class, or creed—could freely mingle. Cheap Thrills: The Highs and Lows of Cabaret Culture in Paris, 1880-1939, seeks to shine the spotlight on the wide spectrum of artists who found a home and a stage in the darkened halls of the cabaret.

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Illustrated cabaret sheet music from Gil Blas Illustre, a French periodical from the late-19th to early 20th centuries.

Music was, of course, essential to the cabaret. It animated the crowd, roused the performers, and vivified the dancing. In order to capture power of cabaret music, members of the Duke New Music Ensemble composed and recorded songs for the exhibit. Based on historical cabaret tunes, these songs represent a modern take on a classic experience. The graphic and print materials composing the exhibit all come from the collections of the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Lilly Library, the Music Library, and Perkins Library.

Related Events and Programs

In addition to the Perkins Library exhibit, there are several related exciting events and programs throughout the spring semester that explore the unique social and cultural significance of the cabaret.

The Nasher Museum of Art is exhibiting a coordinating collection of cabaret material in their Academic Focus Gallery. Be sure to check out Night in the City of Light: Paris’s Cabarets 1881-1914, on exhibit February 15 – June 29, 2014.

In addition to the exhibit, the Nasher Museum will be screening French Cabaret from Stage to Screen on March 22, at 2 p.m. The screening is free and open to the public.

The Duke New Music Ensemble will have two concerts featuring cabaret music. On April 6 at 5 p.m., the Ensemble will be presenting “Melodies and Cacophonies from Paris’s Cabarets” at Fullsteam Brewery in downtown Durham.  Later in the month, on April 13, the Ensemble will be hosting their Spring Concert in Baldwin Auditorium at 8 p.m. featuring selections from cabaret tunes.

Life Is a Cabaret: The Library Party

Last, but certainly not least, the entire Duke community is invited to experience the cabaret first-hand, right in the heart of Perkins Library. The annual Duke Library Party, whose theme this year is “Life Is a Cabaret,” will take place this Friday, February 21, from 9:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. The evening will feature appetizers and desserts from Durham Catering; music from the John Brown Band, the Duke New Music Ensemble, and student DJs; and free giveaways to the first 200 guests. Come in your best cabaret or cocktail attire and prepare to dance the night away!

Library Party Logo for web

When: Friday, February 21
Time: 9:00 p.m. to Midnight
Where: Perkins Library
Admission: Free
Dress: Cocktail Attire, or Your Best Cabaret Costume

The Library Party is sponsored by the Office of the Provost, Office of the President, SOFC/DSG, George Grody, Markets and Management Studies Department.

The exhibits and programs are sponsored by the Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies; Department of Music; Department of Romance Studies; Department of Theater Studies; Program in Literature; Program in Women’s Studies; Center for European Studies; Center for French and Francophone Studies; Friends of Duke University Libraries; Duke University Libraries; and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

Duke to Host Scholarly Communication Institute

Scholarly Comm Institute
The Triangle Scholarly Communication Institute invites proposals from groups interested in participating in a series of seminars, discussions, presentations, and workshops, to be held over four days in Chapel Hill, NC, in November 2014.

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke University Libraries have received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support an annual Scholarly Communication Institute with the goal of advancing scholarship, teaching, and publishing in the humanities through the application of digital technologies.

Over the last two decades, rapid technological changes have fundamentally altered the way in which research and other scholarly writings are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly community, and preserved for future use. There has been lively debate among scholars, librarians, publishers, and technologists about the ways in which scholars share their research within the academic community and beyond. Duke has long been a vocal participant in these discussions and a strong advocate for the knowledge-sharing mission of research universities.

The Scholarly Communication Institute (SCI) began as a Mellon-funded initiative at the University of Virginia in 2003 and was based there for nine years. Duke will host the new SCI, working in close collaboration with partners at the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central University, and the Triangle Research Libraries Network.

Like its predecessor program at UVA, the Triangle SCI will bring together a broad range of experts from inside and outside academia to discuss needs and opportunities in the domain of scholarly communications. The emphasis will be on productive dialogue across boundaries that often separate academic communities with an ultimate goal of fostering new types of collaboration and new models of scholarly dissemination.

“The goal of the SCI is not to schedule breakthroughs, but to create conditions that favor them,” said Deborah Jakubs, Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke.

“It will bring diverse groups together and provide a combination of structured and unstructured time to brainstorm, organize, and jump-start ideas, to experiment and solve problems, and even begin to build,” she said. “This will be an opportunity both to talk and to do.”

Each annual institute will be organized under a broad theme. This year’s is “Scholarship and the Crowd.” It will be held November 9-13 at the Rizzo Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Participants will be selected through a competitive proposal process. For the 2014 institute, applicants from the Triangle area are especially encouraged to submit. Proposals are being accepted through March 24. More information and application instructions are available at the institute’s website: trianglesci.org.

 

Good Questions: How to Track Down a Top-Secret Letter

A declassified "top secret" letter sent by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir to U.S. President Richard Nixon (via several intermediaries) in October 1973.
The declassified “top secret” letter sent by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir to U.S. President Richard Nixon (via several intermediaries) in October 1973. Click on the image to see the full document on the National Security Archive website.

The questions we get in Perkins Research Services range from the fatuous to the far-fetched to the fascinating. This is the first of a series on our most interesting research questions, and how we go about answering them.

In this age of Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks and Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks, a lot of current U.S. classified information is in the news and floating around on the web, should you choose to seek it out. But how do you find top-secret communications between world leaders from the past? This was the question I received via IM recently.

According to several articles, in October 1973 Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir sent an urgent letter to President Richard Nixon via Henry Kissinger. The researcher (let’s call her Mary) had already checked many primary sources, databases, and yes, even Google. But she could not locate the original letter. Only quoted fragments of the declassified document could be found.

Rule #1 of library detective work: Go with your gut (especially if it’s an experienced gut). If you think it should be found in the National Security Archive database and Mary didn’t find it there—look again, trying other search strategies. So I did.

No luck there. This question obviously would take more persistence as well as intestinal fortitude. I checked the print Foreign Relations of the U.S. and other sources in the Reference area then redoubled my efforts. (For those with less research experience in this area, there are clues in the library’s guide to International & Transnational Relations.)

In true government document fashion, my search results often had obscure titles that made it difficult to know if I had hit pay dirt. With a combination of persistence, collaboration, educated guessing, and serendipity….

BINGO! Document 7 in a search of the National Security Archive website through GWU was described thus: “Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Brent Scowcroft to Kissinger, 5 October 1973, enclosing message from Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (passed through Israeli chargé Shalev).” The murky type on the cover page said “Top Secret/Exclusively Eyes Only.” Coo-oo-uhl. Once I deciphered the trail of all the people through whom it was transmitted, it became clear that the next page was Meir’s own message. I IM’d Mary, who excitedly confirmed this by matching some of the quotes she had found.

Although we found our answer on the free web after all, it took a library to index and share the document and librarian intervention to track it down. You might call us everyone’s favorite “intelligence agency,” mining and exposing information for the common good.

Post by Catherine Shreve, Librarian for Public Policy & Political Science

Sick of winter? Need a remedy for cabin fever?

White Ibis Pair
White Ibis Pair: In Tandem

Experience Nature: Up Close and Personal – a Photography Exhibit in Lilly Library

Spring Semester is a misleading term, as it actually begins in January when the cold and barren landscapes of winter abound.

Lilly Library presents an exhibit of photographs to transport you to warmer times and places. Award-winning wildlife and nature photographer Kim Hawks focuses on shore birds, landscapes, and for those who enjoy the beauty of flowers such as those in Duke Gardens, extremely detailed macro plant portraits.

Featured in this exhibit is Turtle Tracks: False Crawl, winner of the 2013 Wildlife in North Carolina Photography Contest (First Place in Animal Behavior Category).

On exhibit January 6 – March 15, 2014
Lilly Library, East Campus (Directions)

Gallery Reception – Meet the Artist
Date: Saturday, February 8, 2014 Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Thomas Room, Lilly Library,East Campus

Cabaret Couture

la_revue_003
Composite photograph of cabaret star Josephine Baker and the cast of “Plantation Days,” a 1923 musical revue by African American jazz pianist James P. Johnson. Parisian cabarets featured comedians, clowns, acrobats, and a variety of other entertainments. But singers and dancers always attracted the largest crowds.

As you might have heard, the Duke Library Party has been resurrected after a one-year hiatus, thanks to the help of the Duke Marketing Club. The date: February 21, 2014. The theme: “Life Is a Cabaret.” Party-goers will be invited to enjoy a rollicking nightlife scene right out of late 19th- and early 20th-century Paris, in what was only hours earlier just another room in Perkins Library. Of course, one must always be fashionably attired when attending such soirées, so we have put together a gallery of cabaret fashions to inspire your inner Parisian of the Belle Époque.

But first, a note on the phenomenon of the cabaret itself. Cabarets took Parisian culture by storm. Until 1867, song lyrics and theatrical performances were carefully censored and regulated in France. By the 1880s, these restrictions had relaxed, and a freer, more risqué form of entertainment began to flourish in the bohemian, working-class neighborhood of Montmartre. Legendary cabarets like the Moulin Rouge, the Chat Noir, and the Mirliton were filled with comedians, clowns, acrobats, and—most importantly—singers and dancers. The songs were bold and bawdy, the dancing suggestive, and audiences adored it.

The historical, artistic, and cultural impact of cabaret life will be the subject of an upcoming library exhibit—Cheap Thrills: The Highs and Lows of Cabaret Culture in Paris, 1880-1939—which will go on display in the Perkins Library Gallery on February 19 and run through May. The exhibit will highlight the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library’s extensive collection of cabaret-related materials, including biographies, guidebooks, periodicals, and musical scores.

Now back to the fashion show.

 gil_blas_005

One of the more ladylike ensembles, this particular dress worn by cabaret star and modern dance pioneer Loie Fuller would have you floating through the crowd this February.

gil_blas_001

For a more scandalous look, this illustration from Gil Blas is classic cabaret, right down to the black stockings and abundant use of tassels. (Don’t forget the fan!) Gentlemen: note the top hats, high collars, and ubiquitous mustaches.

gil_blas_015

Prepare to dance the night away, just like this lovely lady in a flouncy, frilled frock.

josephine_baker_003

Though we can’t recommend this particular ensemble (the Library Party is a respectable event, and banana leaves are hard to come by in February anyway), Josephine Baker’s iconic “banana girdle” outfit is one of the most famous examples of cabaret style.

So there are a few ideas to inspire you, with more to come. Start assembling your bejeweled, ruffled, bohemian, mustachioed wardrobe and get ready to party in the City of Light!

(With the exception of the composite photo at top, all images are taken from two French publications of the time: Gil Blas, a Parisian literary periodical, and Le Mirliton, a weekly newsletter published by the famous cabaret of the same name. All come from the collections of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.)

 

Honoring the Legacy of Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

 

nelsonmandelaexhibitjanuary2014A photographic exhibit in Perkins Library documents the life of Nelson Mandela as taken by his personal photographer Benny Gool. The images were selected from a historic exhibition that took place at Pop International Galleries in New York in February 2013. The prints were made available for this memorial display with the generous help of Todd Ruppert, a member of the Duke University Libraries Advisory Board, and IconsPhotos the representative of the archive. The images cover historic events, major celebrities and world figures, and the endearing charm and connection that Mandela had to the people of South Africa and the world. All photos are available for purchase. Visit http://www.iconsphotos.com/for more information about the original exhibition.

The exhibit will be on display on the Campus Club Exhibit Wall (located near the Bostock corridor entrance) in Perkins Library until February 14, 2014.

 

Save the Date! “Life Is a Cabaret” Library Party: Feb. 21

Library Party Logo for web

The Library Party is a unique Duke tradition. For one night only, Perkins and Bostock Libraries throw open their doors for a night of music, food, and un-shushed entertainment. The event is free and open to the entire Duke community.

After a year on hiatus as we prepared for the Rubenstein Library renovation, the Library Party is back! Once again, the Libraries are partnering with the Duke Marketing Club to organize this year’s event. The theme—“Life is a Cabaret”—is inspired by an upcoming exhibit on 19th- and early-20th-century Parisian cabarets that will be on display in the Perkins Gallery February–May, with a companion exhibit at the Nasher Museum’s Academic Focus Gallery.

Life Is a Cabaret will feature live music, costumes, decorations, food and beverages, and plenty of joie de vivre!

When: Friday, February 21
Time: 9 PM to Midnight
Where: Perkins Library
Admission: Free
Dress: Cocktail Attire, or Your Best Cabaret Costume

Students: Never been to a Library Party? Check out these images, videos, and recaps from our Heroes and Villains Library Party in 2012 and the Mad Men and Mad Women Library Party in 2011.

Many thanks to the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, Duke Student Government/SOFC, George Grody, and the Markets and Management Studies Department for sponsoring this event.

Stay tuned for more updates!

 

Illustration of cabaret girls by Albert Guillaume from Gil Blas, a Parisian literary periodical published 1879-1914.
Illustration of cabaret girls by Albert Guillaume from Gil Blas, a Parisian literary periodical published 1879-1914.

About the Exhibit

Cheap Thrills: The Highs and Lows of Cabaret Culture in Paris, 1880-1939

On display in the Perkins Library Gallery, February 18 – May 12

This upcoming exhibit offers a whirlwind tour of Montmartre’s famed late-19th-century musical revues—the Chat Noir, Folies Bergère, and Moulin Rouge—which boasted such chanteuses as Yvette Guilbert and Josephine Baker. Cheap Thrills highlights the Libraries’ extensive collection of cabaret-related materials, including biographies, guidebooks, periodicals, and musical scores. The exhibit will be sonified, with recreated performances of the cabarets’ raucous ballads and rallying performances, all arranged and recorded by the Duke New Music Ensemble.

Companion Exhibit:
Night in the City of Light: Paris’s Cabarets, 1881-1914

On display in the Nasher Museum of Art’s Academic Focus Gallery, February 15 – June 29

Related Performances and Screenings

Saturday, March 22 (2-4:45 pm): Film Screenings and Discussion: “French Cabaret from Stage to Screen,” Nasher Museum of Art

Sunday, April 6 (5 pm): Duke New Music Ensemble [dnme] presents “Melodies and Cacophonies from Paris’s Cabarets,” Fullsteam Brewery, Durham

Sunday, April 13 (8 pm): Duke New Music Ensemble [dnme] Spring Concert with selections of cabaret melodies to coincide with the exhibitions “Night in the City of Light: Paris’s Cabarets, 1881-1914” and “Cheap Thrills: The Highs and Lows of Cabaret Culture in Paris, 1881-1939,” Baldwin Auditorium, Duke East Campus

Reading Between the Lines: Reflections on a Student-Curated Exhibit

Guest post by Kathryn Desplanque, a third-year Ph.D. student inArt, Art History & Visual Studies. Her work focuses on satirical etchings and engravings in late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century France. This semester she taught a Writing 101 class on modern caricature.

Students arranging artwork for the Student Wall exhibit. Photo courtesy of Kathryn Desplanque.
Students arranging artwork for the Student Wall exhibit. Photo courtesy of Kathryn Desplanque.

In my Writing 101 class, “Laughing Matters: Interpreting and Contextualizing Modern Caricature,” I wanted to give my students a chance to interact with the rich cartoon periodical collection of Perkins Library and the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The cartoon periodicals contained therein, of which my students were particularly drawn to the American Puck and the British Punch, contain gorgeous chromolithographed or woodblock engraved caricatures. These complicated visual objects necessitate interdisciplinary research, and through them, I have encouraged my students to engage with the material history of print culture and the periodical press.

I also wanted to give my students an opportunity to explore a kind of writing which I personally find to be tremendously challenging: writing and curating for public audiences. To prepare our Perkins Student Wall exhibit, the students of W101 “Laughing Matters”  reverse-engineered genre guidelines for label writing, produced magnificent labels, curated and hung our exhibit, Reading Between the Lines: Comical Interpretations of the Nineteenth Century. They did all of this with careful attention to audience experience: they built sub-themes into our exhibit, and hung the caricatures so as to take advantage of the colors and perspectival lines of their pieces. Throughout the curatorial process, I feel like I’ve learned the most of all, thanks to the candid and insightful discussion we’ve had throughout the semester.


Check out the exhibit! Reading Between the Lines will remain up on the Student Wall on the first floor of Perkins Library through the end of the fall 2013 semester.

Social Media Panel Discussion, Dec. 6

Social Media Academic

Academics and Unseen Publics: Approaches to Putting Yourself and Your Work Online
Date: Friday, December 6
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (panel discussion to begin at noon)
Location: Forum for Scholars and Publics, Old Chem 011, West Campus (Click for Map)
Registration: Please register for this event
Contact: Hannah Rozear, hannah.rozear@duke.edu

There is limited attendance as lunch will be provided for attendants and panel members.

Social media offers ways to rapidly communicate ideas and research to peers and broader audiences. The personal investment required to successfully engage in these spaces, however, can compete with attention given to more traditional academic communication. The evolving conventions around engaging in these spaces (e.g., the etiquette of live tweeting), combined with immediate and unexpected challenges from readers, can also make this a difficult activity to accept and incorporate as part of one’s academic work. How can one efficiently and effectively use social media? What opportunities does it enable, and what are the potential pitfalls? How do social media interactions influence how we pursue and talk about our academic research?

The upcoming panel, Academics and Unseen Publics: Approaches to Putting Yourself and Your Work Online, seeks to address all of these questions. Composed of Duke faculty, students, and staff, the panel will  discuss the ways they engage in social media like blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, and offer their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of taking one’s research and academic self online. Discussion will be framed and moderated by Duke University Libraries Coordinator of Scholarly Communication Technology, Paolo Mangiafico.

Panelists:

  • Gary Bennett, Associate Professor of Psychology, Global Health, and Medicine
  • Kieran Healy, Associate Professor in Sociology and the Kenan Institute for Ethics
  • Caitlin Margaret Kelly, Graduate Arts Fellow for the Kenan Institute for Ethics; Artist-In-Residence, Ph.D. Lab in Digital Knowledge; MFA-EDA student and professional photographer
  • Robin Kirk, Faculty Co-Chair of the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute
  • Ava Lowrey, MFA-EDA student and documentary filmmaker
  • Anton Zuiker, Director, Communications at Duke Department of Medicine and co-founder of ScienceOnline
  • Paolo Mangiafico (moderator)

This event is co-sponsored by Duke University Libraries, the PhD Lab in Digital Knowledge, the Forum for Scholars and Publics, HASTAC, and the Thompson Writing Program, as part of the Libraries’ Managing Your Research workshop series.

The Landscape of Crowdsourcing and Transcription: Nov. 20

OCR software doesn't recognize handwriting (even very fine handwriting like Francis Calley Gray's, shown here). So human volunteers must transcribe it before it can be data-mined.
OCR software doesn’t recognize handwriting (even very fine handwriting like Francis Calley Gray’s, shown here). So human volunteers must transcribe it before it can be data-mined.

Date: Wednesday, November 20
Time: 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Location: Perkins Library, Room 217 (Click for map)
Contact: Joshua Sosin, joshua.sosin@duke.edu, or 919-681-2992

This event is free and open to the public.

One of the most popular applications of crowdsourcing to cultural heritage is transcription. Since OCR software doesn’t recognize handwriting, human volunteers are converting letters, diaries, and log books into formats that can be read, mined, searched, and used to improve collection metadata. But cultural heritage institutions aren’t the only organizations working with handwritten material, and many innovations are happening within investigative journalism, citizen science, and genealogy.

This talk will present an overview of the landscape of crowdsourced transcription: where it came from, who’s doing it, and the kinds of contributions their volunteers make, followed by a discussion of motivation, participation, recruitment, and quality controls.

 

About the Speaker

Ben Brumfield earned his B.A. in Computer Science and Linguistics from Rice University in 1997. He has seventeen years experience as a professional software engineer, including a dozen years building software for non-profit organizations, from libraries to genealogical organizations. In 2005, he began developing FromThePage, a collaborative transcription platform. He has spoken on crowdsourcing and collaborative manuscript transcription at the American Historical Association, Museum Computer Network, IMLS WebWise, Text Encoding Initiative, and Digital Humanities conferences,in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Sponsored by the Duke Collaboratory for Classics Computing.

Library Blogs Monthly Recap: October 2013

October disappeared while we were illicitly munching on Halloween candy, and November has appeared out of nowhere, with its shorter days and longer shadows. In case you missed something, here’s a summary of some of the top stories from around the Libraries for the month of October.

 

DoingDHImageDoing Digital Humanities: New Workshops this Fall

Our Digital Scholarship Services department has organized a series of panels, presentations, and workshops this fall to focus on basic skills in digital humanities research.

 

 

4426568251_f9ed0bd32eThe Big Picture About Peer Review

Kevin Smith, Director of Copyright and Scholarly Communications, reacts to a recent report in the journal Science and why its conclusions on open-access publishing and peer review were so wrong.

 

facultybooks13Fall Faculty Books: Yoga, Cholesterol, and Britten                                              

The faculty at Duke have been busy writing on spectrum of topics, from minority aging to differential equations and everything in between. Check out this extensive list of books penned by our very own Duke faculty members, all available in the library.

 

fantasy_collecting_600x360Fantasy Collecting Source Code Released

The source code for Fantasy Collecting, an art education and market simulation program developed here at Duke, was recently made publicly available. Fantasy Collecting is a bit like fantasy football for the art world. Students aim to increase the value and scope of their virtual art collections through promoting, acquiring, and trading art.

 

 A Postcard from Our National Book Collecting Contest Winner 

Ashley Young, a Ph.D. student at Duke and 2nd-prize winner in the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest, wrote about her trip to the awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Library of Congress.

 

httpexhibitslibrarydukeedupluginsdropboxfilesncmph080010030_609b67fac8Soul and Service: The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company

A new exhibit at the Center for Documentary Arts celebrates the 115th anniversary of NC Mutual, the country’s largest and oldest African-American owned insurance company. The exhibit is co-sponsored by NC Mutual and the John Hope Franklin Research Center, part of the Rubenstein Library.

 

ResearchLibrariesAptman and Middlesworth Prize Winners Announced

The winners of the Aptman and Middlesworth research prize were recognized at a special awards ceremony during Duke Family Weekend. These students were recognized for their outstanding work in research and the utilization of library sources.

 

 

Celebrate the Day of the Dead!

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Day of Dead Altar, created by Carla Cella (MALS 2014). On display outside the International and Area Studies Office in Bostock Library, 2nd Floor.

Exhibit Opening and Day of the Dead Reception 

When: Friday, November 1
Time: 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Where: International and Area Studies, 2nd Floor Bostock Library (click for map)

There will be refreshments at the reception, including Pan de Muertos, in celebration of the Day of the Dead.

Two new exhibits will be opening November 1 in Bostock Library, both celebrating the traditional Mexican holiday the Day of the Dead. The first exhibit, assembled by Carla Cella (MALS 2014), is an altar built in the Day of the Dead tradition. Every year Mexicans create altars to honor the lives of those who have died. The altars include foods or objects that were meaningful to the deceased. The exhibit mimics the style of these altars, but is centered around themes of Diaspora and Indigeneity from the 2013 NC Latin American Film Festival. (Read a guest post by Carla about some of the influences behind the altar and those it seeks to honor.)

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Part of the exhibit on printmaker José Guadalupe Posada

The second exhibit is titled José Guadalupe Posada: Printmaker to the Mexican People, and celebrates his contributions to Mexican art, politics, and society. His work inspired famous Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. Posada is best known for his costumed calaveras (skulls) which were often designed as social commentary critiquing the upper classes. However, they have now come to be associated with the Day of the Dead celebration.

Come visit these two fascinating exhibits, while enjoying a taste of the Day of the Dead with some pan de muertos!

These exhibits are presented by the Duke University Libraries Department of International and Area Studies and co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the Program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South.

 

 

Indigeneity on the Move

Guest post by Carla Cella (MALS 2014), creator of the Day of Dead altar and exhibit on display outside International and Area Studies on the 2nd floor of Bostock Library. Read on as she explains and describes some of the influences behind the altar and those it seeks to honor.

Detail of the Day of the Dead altar on display outside the International and Area Studies offices in Bostock Library.
Detail of the Day of the Dead altar on display outside the International and Area Studies offices in Bostock Library.

In a world of growing global migration, indigenous tribes are often thought of as static relics of a past time, stewarding territories passed down for centuries. However, indigenous people are not exempt from global migratory trends. Although most indigenous groups in Latin America still live in rural areas, an increasing number are becoming urbanized. Some drivers of this diaspora are militarization, land dispossession, natural disasters, deteriorating environments, poverty, and a dream for a better life in the big city. By 2000, a third of Mexico’s indigenous people, approximately 12% of the country’s total population, had migrated to cities. Oftentimes, whole communities are displaced in the global push for energy and development. Such is the case with Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam, which will displace between 20,000 and 50,000 people who live adjacent to the Xingu River.

Aside from representing the incorporation of indigenous groups into a contemporary globalized and mobile way of life, Indigeneity on the Move also aims to keep the memory of past indigenous diasporas alive. The United States’ Indian Removal Act of 1830 was responsible for the Trail of Tears, a cultural trauma that was the Native American’s eviction from tribal lands and consolidation into designated reservations in the mid-west.

This altar honors the efforts of original peoples across the Americas to maintain a connection to their traditional culture, and pass it on to their progeny, as they uproot, pack up, and move away from their ancestral lands.

dayofthedeadaltardetail2
Join the Libraries for a special exhibit opening and Day of the Dead reception on Nov. 1. Click on the image for more details.

Postcard from Our National Book Collecting Contest Winner

Guest post by Ashley Young, Ph.D. candidate in history at Duke.

Earlier this year, Ashley Young took first prize in the graduate category of the Andrew T. Nadell Book Collectors Contest, sponsored by the Friends of the Duke University Libraries. In August, we were delighted to find out that she also took second prize in the National Collegiate Book Collectors Contest. This is Ashley’s account of her trip to Washington, D.C., for the awards ceremony on October 18, hosted by the Library of Congress. Visit Ashley’s website to find out more about her research and interest in Southern foodways.


 

The Great Hall of the Library of Congress. Photos courtesy of Ashley Young.
The Great Hall of the Library of Congress. Photos courtesy of Ashley Young.

This past Thursday morning, I headed to the City Archives Division of the New Orleans Public Library as the sun’s first rays skimmed over the Mississippi, knowing that I wanted to get in a full day of research before venturing to Washington, D.C., for the National Collegiate Book Collectors Contest awards ceremony. As I pored over documents at the archive, I couldn’t help but daydream about my impending trip to the Library of Congress (LOC), where my fellow awardees and I were likely to take a tour of the special collections as part of the NCBCC event. Our families were also invited to partake in all of the celebrations, and my parents were planning to drive down from Pittsburgh for the weekend. I was looking forward to hearing Mark Dimunation, chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the LOC, speak about some of the library’s most precious and unique documents. I was also eager to see the complete replica of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library and the celebrated architecture of the LOC’s Great Hall with its marble columns, jewel-toned stained glass ceiling, and brilliantly painted ceiling panels. Although undeniably enthusiastic, I had no inclination as to how memorable and inspiring this trip would be for my parents and me.

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The main reading room at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

The partial government shutdown necessitated some changes in the traditional proceedings of the NCBCC awards ceremony. Instead of heading to the LOC for the special collections tour as originally planned, we visited the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill. The library, which was originally built by the Folger family in the 1930s, is known for possessing the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare materials. Additionally, it houses a rich and deeply fascinating collection of early modern books, manuscripts, and artwork. One of my favorite aspects of the Folger is its main reading room, which is modeled after an Elizabethan-era great hall. The ornate wood, rustic chandeliers, and vaulted ceilings create an environment that undoubtedly inspires the privileged scholars who research there on a regular basis.

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Exploring some highlights from the Folger’s rare book and manuscript collections.

After the guided tour of the library, an extremely kind and animated archivist shared a few highlights of the rare book and manuscripts collection with us. These materials were awe-inspiring, ranging from 16th-century cooking manuscripts to an original printing (c. 1623) of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s works. Other treasures included a law signed by Queen Elizabeth I and an encyclopedia of herbs accompanied by the original wood block that was used to print the image of the plant on the displayed page. We could not help but fall into animated conversations about the practices of book printing and binding in the early modern era. Before we knew it, our time with these amazing materials was up and we were being ushered out of the Folger to go to the NCBCC award ceremony.

The ceremony was a wonderful celebration of the three student collections that were awarded prizes for their creativity and deep scholarly approach. John Cole, the director of the LOC, personally introduced each of our collections and presented us with our award. Then Mark Dimunation interviewed each of us at the podium, asking thought-provoking questions as to why we originally became interested in the focus of our particular collections, how these collections are changing the way scholars understand our nation’s history, and what materials we are eager to include in our collections in the future. I was grateful to have an opportunity to voice my passion for historical cookbooks and the ways in which these sources are so much more than just repositories of recipes. Rather, their pages contain significant historical themes such as American transatlantic ties to Europe; racial tensions in the Jim Crow era; women’s roles in the postbellum South; and New Orleans’ transatlantic cultural exchange with Europe, West Africa, and the Caribbean.

Being interviewed by Mark Dimunation at the awards ceremony.
Being interviewed by Mark Dimunation at the awards ceremony.

After the official ceremony, there was a two-hour cocktail reception—a wonderful opportunity to meet passionate bibliophiles whose collections are as interesting and eccentric as my own. For example, one collector has amassed thousands of copies of Alice in Wonderland in dozens of languages. He even wrote a satirical cookbook based on the fantastical world of Wonderland, and is going to share a copy with me. (That is a cookbook I never expected to have in my collection!) By the time the event had come to a close, I felt as though I had found a new community with which to share my research and collecting interests—one that will inevitably enrich the ties I have already established with my tight-knit scholarly community at Duke.

Now I am settled back into my life in New Orleans with another day of satisfying research under my belt. My evening routine has changed slightly after my weekend in D.C.—instead of drinking my customary cup of tea out of a nondescript mug, I am happily slurping from one I purchased as a keepsake this past weekend. Its words replicate those that grace the Great Hall of the LOC: “Knowledge Comes, but Wisdom Lingers.” As I prepare for another day in the archives, I enjoy the small reminder that my pursuit of a Ph.D. reflects my ultimate dream of being a life-long academic. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to continue to cultivate my historic cookbook collection in the coming years and hopefully turn some of that accumulated knowledge into lingering wisdom.

Feeling certified and celebrated at the Library of Congress.
At the Library of Congress with fellow book collector Thomas Jefferson.

Nasher Hosts Book Discussions for Doris Duke Exhibit

Persepolis: The Story of A Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis: The Story of A Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi

Book Discussion of Persepolis: The Story of A Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

First Session:
When: Sunday, October 20
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Where: The Nasher Museum of Art (click for map)

Second Session:
When: Tuesday, October 22
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Respite Café, Durham

The Nasher Museum will be hosting a series of book discussion in connection with the current exhibit Doris Duke’s Shangri La: Architecture, Landscape, and Islamic Art. The books will focus on explorations of Islamic art and culture. The first, Persepolis: The Story of A Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi, tells the author’s story of life growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. The critically acclaimed graphic novel was also adapted into an animated film which was then nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

 

My Name Is Red
My Name is Red, by Orhan Pamuk

 

Book Discussion of My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk

First Session:
When: Wednesday, November 13
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Where: Nasher Museum of Art (click for map)              

Second Session*:
When: Sunday, November 17
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Where: Nasher Museum of Art

* The second session will begin with a talk from the translator, Erdağ Göknar, followed by a discussion of the book.

The second series of book discussion hosted by the Nasher will focus on Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk’s book, My Name is Red. The novel, which was translated by Duke professor Erdağ Göknar, explores the conflict between Islamic and European principles in a 16th-century setting. The book provides an excellent opportunity to delve into the complex topic of cultural conflicts.

 

For more information about Doris Duke, check out our online timeline of her life, with links to digitized documents, photos, and related materials from the Doris Duke Collection, part of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke.

 

Aptman and Middlesworth Prize Winners Announced

ResearchLibraries

Award Ceremony for Aptman and Middlesworth Prize Winners
When: Friday October 25, 2013
Time: 3:30 – 4:40 p.m.
Where: Thomas Reading Room, Lilly Library (Click for Map)

The Duke University Libraries are pleased to announce the winners of our 2013 Chester P. Middlesworth Awards and Lowell Aptman Prizes!

The Middlesworth Awards were established to encourage and recognize excellence of research, analysis, and writing by Duke University students in the use of primary sources and rare materials held by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. This year the awards were presented in three categories: first-year students, non-first year undergraduates, and graduate students. The winners include:

  • First-Year Student: Ashley Gartin for her paper, “Unity and the Duke Vigil: Civil Rights Challenges at Duke University”
  • Undergraduate (non-first year): Chantel Liggett for her paper, “Divergent Priorities, Diverging Visions: Lesbian Separatist versus Gay Male Integrationist Ideology Surrounding Duke in the 1970s and 80s”
  • Graduate Student: Tessa Handa for her paper, “The Orientalist Reality, Tourism, and Photography: the Parrish Family Albums in Japan, 1899-1904”

The Lowell Aptman Prizes recognize undergraduates’ excellence in research, including their analysis, evaluation and synthesis of sources, and encourages students to make use of the general library collections and services at Duke University. These prizes are also awarded in three categories, one for first and second year students, another for third and fourth year students, and a  final category reserved for fourth year students submitting an honors thesis. This year’s winners are:

  • First/Second Year: Theodore Leonhardt for his paper, “Finding a Role: The Decision to Fight in the Falklands and the Redefinition of British Imperialism”
  • Third/Fourth Year: Mary Tung for her paper, “Engraving the Nation: The Decimal Coinage Bill of 1959, the Mint and Coinage Act of 1964, and the Creation of White South Africa”
  • Honors Thesis: Jocelyn Streid for her thesis, “The Salvation Project: The Secularization of Christian Narratives in American Cancer Care”
All are welcome at the award ceremony, to be held October 25 during Duke Family Weekend. Help us celebrate and congratulate these students on their magnificent work!

 

New Exhibit: Outrageous Ambitions: How a One-Room Schoolhouse Became a Research University

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An architectural drawing of Duke University’s East Campus

Outrageous Ambitions: How a One-Room Schoolhouse Became a Research University

On exhibit: October 13, 2013- February 17, 2014

Public Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am–7pm; Saturday, 9am–7pm; Sunday, 10am–7pm. Hours may vary of the holidays; please check the library hours page for more information.

 

About the Exhibit

Today’s Duke University, a premier research institution with global reputation, came from the humblest of beginnings: a tiny schoolhouse in Randolph County, NC. From there the organization shifted through many manifestations, ultimately transforming from Brown’s Schoolhouse into Duke University.

A new exhibit on display in Perkins Library, Outrageous Ambitions: How a One-Room Schoolhouse Became a Research University, traces the history of Duke University as it evolved and grew over the past 175 years. The exhibit showcases a selection of events that were fundamental in the creation of University, and focuses on several key themes: foundations, academics, student life, student activism, athletics, presidents, the Duke family, women at Duke, and the architecture of campus.

Brown's Schoolhouse, the humble predecessor of Duke University
Brown’s Schoolhouse, the humble predecessor of Duke University

The materials for the exhibit, which include photographs, documents, ephemera, and other objects, were drawn from the University Archives (unless otherwise noted) and vibrantly illustrate the history of the school. Viewers can further explore Duke history by visiting the recently created online timeline, which highlights other key moments in Duke’s past. An online version of the exhibit is also available.

The title of the exhibit, Outrageous Ambitions, references a speech made by former University President Terry Sanford, in which he expounds on the seemingly impossible ambition that was responsible for creating Duke University. The exhibit seeks not only to remember the incredible aspirations that have supported Duke in the past, but also to inspire the continuing work of Duke students, faculty, staff, and alumni as they craft their own extravagant ambitions.

The exhibit was curated by Maureen McCormick Harlow, 175th Anniversary Intern in University Archives, and Valerie Gillispie, University Archivist. Special thanks to Meg Brown, Mark Zupan, Beth Doyle, the University Archives staff, and the staff of the Conservation and Digital Production Departments in the Duke University Libraries.

Open Access Panel Discussion

open access graphic
The Forum for Scholars and Publics will be hosting a panel discussion on Open Access, Oct. 18.

 

Open Access Panel Discussion
When: Friday, October 18
Time: 3:30- 5:00 p.m.
Where: Old Chemistry Building, Room 011 (Click for Map)
Registration: No registration is required

There will be a reception following the panel discussion. 

In celebration of Open Access Week, the Duke Forum for Scholars and Publics will be hosting a panel on Open Access as part of their open house event. The discussion will explore how the push for Open Access to academic journals and other scholarly publications, along with the rapid rise of MOOCs, is reshaping the image of the university in the broader world.

The panelists represent a diverse group of opinions. They include Ken Wissoker from Duke University Press, faculty members Cathy Davidson and Mohamed Noor, and Paolo Mangiafico from the Duke University Libraries. The discussion will be moderated by Mark Anthony Neal, and opening remarks will be made by Dean Laurie Patton.

For more information, see the Forum for Scholars and Publics blog.

This event is sponsored by the Forum for Scholars and Publics.

IEEE Xplore Digital Library Database “Tips & Tricks” Training Session

ieee-xplore
The IEEE Xplore Home Page

IEEE Xplore Digital Library Database “Tips & Tricks” training session for Duke faculty, Researchers, and Students 

When:  Tuesday October 22, 2013
Time: 1:00-2:00 pm
Where:  Schiciano Auditorium – Side A @ Fitzpatrick Center (CIEMAS), (Click for Map)
Contact: Melanie Sturgeon, melanie.sturgeon@duke.edu
Please register to attend: Use our online registration form

Free lunch will be provided for participants before the event in the Schiciano Lobby from 12:00-1:00pm.

Come join us on October 22 and learn how to best use IEEE Xplore, one of the premier resources for scientific and technical content.

The IEEE Xplore digital library is a powerful resource for discovery and access to information published by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and its partners. IEEE Xplore provides Web access to more than 3-million full-text documents from some of the world’s most highly cited publications in electrical engineering, computer science and electronics. The content in IEEE Xplore comprises over 160 journals, over 1,200 conference proceedings, more than 3,800 technical standards, over 1,000 eBooks and over 300 educational courses.

The training session will teach attendees to use this invaluable resource more efficiently, and will focus on several key points of interest.

Topics Covered:

  • Best practices for searching
  • Advanced and Command Searching
  • Downloading Bibliographic Citation information
  • Setting up Alerts
  • and much more!

Lilly Library Exhibit: Smoke Signals

Bill Anderson
Photographs by artist Bill Anderson (1961-2013) are on display at Lilly Library through Dec. 15.

Smoke Signals: An Exhibit of Photographs by Bill Anderson (1961-2013)
On exhibit October 1 – December 15, 2013
Lilly Library, East Campus (Click for map)
General Public Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am–7pm; Saturday, 9am–7pm; Sunday, 10am–7pm
Hours may vary during academic breaks and holidays. Please check our posted library hours for more information.

 

About the Exhibit

Lilly Library is displaying a new exhibit for the fall semester entitled Smoke Signals by Bill Anderson. The exhibit consists of 17 untitled photographs portraying sinuous patterns and swirls of smoke in a myriad of colors.

The artist, Bill Anderson (1960-2013), had a rich history with the arts. He was involved in the founding of the Athens Poor Theater in college, participated as a member of the Wee Scottie Collective in Atlanta (a group that produced a series of short and feature length films). He also had a career in academic libraries at such institutions as Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. At Georgia Tech, Anderson served as the lead digital library developer. All of his technical skills were self-taught, making his art even more remarkable. The exhibit celebrates Anderson’s art and honors his memory.

 

Gallery Talk and Reception: Please Join Us!

Date: Friday, October 18
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Thomas Room, Lilly Library, East Campus (Click for map)
Light refreshments will be served.

Before his death, Bill Anderson intended to title the pieces in the Smoke Signals exhibit. Join the staff of Lilly Library in fulfilling his intention by titling the photographs and enjoying his creative vision!

Bill Anderson Smoke Signals
Viewers have responded to Anderson’s “Smoke Signals” images as floral, sensual, and calligraphic.

Database Training Session: Scopus, Oct. 16 (Free Lunch!)

scopus-home3

Scopus Training Session for Duke Faculty, Researchers, and Graduate Students
When: Wednesday, October 16
Time: 11:00 – 11:45 a.m.
Where: Schiciano Auditorium – Side A, Fitzpatrick Center (Click for map)
Contact: Melanie Sturgeon, melanie.sturgeon@duke.edu
Registration: Please Register to Attend

Note:  Lunch to follow in FCIEMAS lobby, 12:00-1:00 p.m. (provided by Elsevier). We will also be raffling off two iPod shuffles for attendees!

Please join us on October 16 for a Scopus training session on campus with Elsevier.

Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature from international publishers, open access journals, conference proceedings, and trade publications. Database coverage includes Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, and Engineering; Life and Health Sciences; Social Sciences, Psychology, and Economics; Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

This training session will educate science faculty, researchers, and graduate students about Scopus, which was designed to save you time in finding the right articles. 

Topics Covered

  • Coverage and searching
  • Author Identifier / Author Search Tab / Author Evaluator
  • Citation overview
  • Setting up alerts and exporting citations
  • much more!

Additional Training Session for Duke Library Staff:

Date: Wednesday, October 16
Time: 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Where: Bostock Library, Room 023
Contact: Melanie Sturgeon, melanie.sturgeon@duke.edu
Registration: Please Register to Attend

Snacks provided by Elsevier