Main Library on Roxboro Street in downtown Durham. All Duke students are eligible to use your local public library, even if you’re not a permanent NC resident.
It’s the start of the fall semester at Duke, and we’ve got a quick and easy way you can level up your library game!
Stop by Perkins Library on Thursday, Aug. 29, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m., and sign up for a Durham County Library Card.
It’s free and easy. All you need is your Duke ID (if you’re a Duke student) or other photo ID and proof of Durham residency (everybody else).
That’s right! ALL DUKE STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE to get a free Durham County Library Card*. Even if you’re not a permanent North Carolina resident, you can still use your local public library, and you don’t even have to leave your dorm room once you sign up.
Not to mention popular streaming services like Hoopla (Kids TV, popular movies, comics, e-books, and more) and IndieFlix (classic films, award-winning shorts, documentaries).
The Durham County Library consists of six branches spread throughout Durham County including the Main Library in downtown. It’s one of the Bull City’s most recent architectural points of pride. If you need a break from studying in our campus libraries, check out their quiet study spots with inspiring views of downtown Durham. You can thank us later when you ace those exams.
* If you only have a Duke ID when you sign up, you’ll get a Student Card, which lets you check out 10 items at a time, plus access all electronic resources. If you also can show some proof of NC address (can be electronic, photo of a utility bill, piece of mail, etc.), you’ll get a full Library Card, which lets you check out up to 50 items.
As the fall 2024 semester gets underway, we want to remind students that you can check out copies of textbooks for some Duke courses from the library.
The books include required texts for some of Duke’s most popular courses in Chemistry, Math, Computer Science, Biology, Psychology, and other subjects. They can be checked out for three hours at a time and are available at the Perkins Library Service Desk.
We also have a number of semester-loan textbooks available to check out for an entire semester at a time. Students can find these on the main floor of Perkins Library near the New & Noteworthy Collection.
Semester-loan textbooks available in Perkins Library, near the New & Noteworthy Collection on the main floor.
Top Textbooks is one of our most popular library services, and students regularly tell us how much they appreciate it. And no wonder, when the cost of a single textbook can often exceed $300. We also encourage students to donate their textbooks to us at the end of the year, so that future students can check them out. It’s just one small way we’re working to make a Duke education more affordable for all.
Please note: The Top Textbooks program is 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.
Find Out More
For more information about our textbook donation program, please contact Jeremy Martin, Reserves Coordinator in Perkins Library.
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 three 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. 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 the advisory board website, where you will also find links to the online applications forms.
Not sure you want to commit to serving on a board? Consider joining our Student Experience Panel (STEP). You can join at any time, and you’ll receive occasional invitations to participate in library feedback opportunities. Joining STEP does not obligate you to participate in any of the opportunities.
For more information or questions about these opportunities, please contact:
Post by Joyce Chapman, Assessment Analyst and Consultant.
Our path to hosting library data parties started with something we’ve done many times before. Every two years, the Duke University Libraries runs a large-scale student satisfaction survey to learn how the Libraries can better meet our student needs. Once the data is in, our work begins: small teams of staff code thousands of comments with topical tags, reformat the data, and build interactive dashboards with which both quantitative and qualitative survey data can be analyzed and explored. Once the dashboards are ready, we hold a large staff workshop, where over 50 staff from different library departments come together to explore student feedback. At the workshop, staff document trends, note areas where the Libraries needs to improve, and look for areas where students of a specific demographic (such as undergraduates, or students a particular school) have different concerns or problems than the main body of students. Staff then brainstorm solutions that the Libraries can enact to address the problem areas uncovered by the survey, and finally they rank the cost and impact of each solution. The recommendations are then presented to library leadership teams, and groups of staff work over the course of the next year to enact as many solutions as possible.
Staff explore the survey data using an interactive Tableau dashboard.
While students provide the data by taking the survey, in the past they have not been involved in data analysis or brainstorming potential solutions to problem areas the survey uncovered. In 2024, the Libraries decided to try something new to bring students’ valuable feedback to these parts of the process where it had been historically lacking. We threw some parties!!! Because who doesn’t like a good party?
What happens at library Data Parties?
At this point the burning question on your mind is likely “what happens at a library data party?” Are there data-themed cocktails? Are participants required to interpret data through dance? The answer is no. This is just the most exciting name we can come up with for a 2-hour intensive workshop with free snacks that involves a lot of data.
We held one event for undergraduates and another for graduate students. During the Data Parties, students were split into small groups, and each group was provided with a worksheet to complete as they moved through five stations in a large conference room. Each station focused on a topic, such as “physical spaces in the libraries.” A set of large visualizations were taped to the walls displaying the data from the survey relevant to that topical station. Students had ten minutes per station, half of which was spent examining the data individually prior to discussing the data as a group and completing the worksheet. At each station, students were asked to consider the following questions:
What, if anything, surprises you about the data?
Do you notice any other patterns?
What more do you wish you knew or what additional information do you wish you had?
Given the data, what are the problems or issues that exist for the libraries in this area?
Following the small group work, students came together with staff moderators. In a group conversation, students generated a list of problems on a whiteboard, which they then ranked with colored post-its as having high, medium, and low impact. Next, they brainstormed solutions to the problems on a second whiteboard.
In one of the data party visualizations, students see how services stack up by comparing importance ratings to satisfaction scores.The full group brainstorms during the Data Parties helped identify specific, high-priority problems and some possible solutions.
How did we organize the Data Parties and get people to show up?
The Libraries sent direct email invitations to the 437 students who had volunteered their contact information on the biennial student survey to participate in “future feedback opportunities with the Libraries.” Thirty-eight kindly souls responded, though due to scheduling conflicts, not all of them were able to participate. We got 14 additional volunteers by advertising via the Libraries’ social media accounts, posting an event that appeared on the library homepage carousel, flyering outside the library coffeeshop with candy, and submitting a blurb to be included in the Duke International Student Center’s newsletter. As an incentive, participants were offered a $25 Amazon or restaurant gift card, as well as snacks during the event.
How well did the Data Parties work?
The structure of the Data Parties worked well to engage students in discussions about the survey data and generate high priority solutions. Students used their unique perspective and knowledge of campus facilities and organizations to generate ideas for how to address problems that staff would not have come up with on their own. A post-event feedback form indicated that students enjoyed talking with peers about the libraries and brainstorming solutions.
One difficulty was that with a single, two-hour event, students only saw a staff-curated view of the data via pre-made charts and graphs. They were not able to explore the data deeply and generate their own insights. This was because we had tried to keep it easy for students to participate by keeping the event short and avoiding pre-work. Graduate students in particular said they would have liked to explore the data in more depth themselves, and might be willing to participate in a series of discussions instead of a single event.
Another challenge was recruitment and participation. Despite slots filling up quickly, only half of the graduate students registered for the event actually showed up. We used that information to increase our recruitment efforts for the undergraduate event.
We also found it difficult to juggle gathering feedback from both students and other library stakeholders. This method of engaging students in the analysis process had the unintended result of generating suggestions that did not get reviewed by the broader library staff at the staff workshop, which had already occurred. In the future, it may be better to treat the process as three phases that each need both staff and student feedback: analyzing survey data, brainstorming recommendations, and prioritizing those recommendations.
Recommendations for the Libraries to pursue
The highest areas of need and impact uncovered by our direct analysis of the survey data, discussions during the staff survey data workshop, and the Data Parties with students are Outreach and Space Strategy. The primary recommendations are:
Coordinated patron outreach
The 2023 Student Survey, 2023 International Student Study, and 2024 Strategic Plan have all identified a critical need for increased outreach to students and faculty providing information about the Libraries’ services, resources, and spaces. Findings from the student survey emphasize a need for centralized vision and management for this outreach. Ideally, a new staff position would be hired to address the increased demand for communication strategy and graphic design support these recommendations would require. As a new position may be impossible in the short term, we recommend a combination of stop-gap measures:
Re-designate part of an existing staff person’s responsibilities to take ownership over new patron outreach efforts
Hire an outreach design intern (proposal being put forward by AUXS)
Form a standing outreach and content strategy working group to prioritize project work and develop content, in partnership with the outreach coordinator and the Web Editorial Board
Coordinated space strategy
While every student survey generates suggestions for improvements to spaces, the post-pandemic survey results suggest more dramatic changes than have been undertaken in recent years. These changes require looking at use of our spaces as a whole; understanding the changing needs of our patrons; and developing a multi-year, multi-space strategy for keeping our spaces responsive to patron needs between renovations. As with outreach, a coordinated approach to space strategy would ideally be assigned to a dedicated staff person, but the Assessment Core Team recommends a stop-gap measure of charging a standing space strategy team. A motivated and dedicated leader will be critical to the team’s success. A spaces team has also been recommended after past biennial student satisfaction surveys.
What’s next?
The Libraries is entering a new strategic plan cycle, and we expect a lot of changes to be happening in over the next few years. Our plan is to reflect on our new priorities and what we have learned from our biennial surveys, and redesign our survey instrument and analysis process. Some changes we are considering are: lengthen the cycle to one survey every three years, redesign the survey to reduce the length and ensure coverage of high priority topics, expand our engagement with students during survey analysis, use the Data Party format for staff data exploration events as well, and make sure our recommendations are focused and reflective of a combination of data from both the student and staff perspective.
For the last several years, the Duke University Libraries has purchased copies of the assigned texts for a wide range of Duke courses and made them available to check out for free. It’s one of our most popular services, and students regularly tell us how much they appreciate it. And no wonder, when the cost of a single textbook can often exceed $300.
Now there’s a way you can help us make the program even better and do something about the ridiculous cost of textbooks at the same time. At the end of this semester, donate your textbooks to the library. We’ll make them available for other students to check out for free.
Don’t you wish someone had done that for you? Be that someone.
Look for the textbook donation bins in Perkins, Bostock, Lilly, and Divinity libraries starting this week. When you’ve finished with your classes, simply drop your books in the bin and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you’ve made some future Duke student’s day.
So if you passed your classes, pass it on. Donate your textbooks to us and make a Duke education more affordable for all.
(And if you didn’t pass, we’ll understand if you need to hang on to those books a little longer.)
Guest post by Gabe Cooper, a first-year student from Columbia, SC. He intends to major in Economics with maybe a French minor and an Innovation & Entrepreneurship Certificate.
A dynamic scene of a caiman holding a false coral snake in its mouth, from Maria Sibylla Merian’s Surinam Album.
I discovered this FOCUS cluster almost completely by accident. I came up to Duke to visit during Blue Devil Days and chose to attend a lecture about unraveling the secrets of Leonardo da Vinci, knowing I had enjoyed learning about the Renaissance in the past but also not really knowing what I was getting myself into. When I walked into the lecture room, I was greeted by an eccentric, wise person; the epitome of a college history professor—this is when I met Professor Robisheaux.
Gabe Cooper
I was expecting the mini lecture to be simple—a lecture where Professor Robisheaux talked to us about Leonardo da Vinci. Instead, he tasked the class of newly accepted Duke students to unravel the mystery of Leonardo ourselves. How was the world connected for Leonardo da Vinci? What did his artwork, architectural designs, and a piece of music have in common? All these questions Professor Robisheaux asked us, and all that we had to answer were primary materials and each other. Suddenly, I was in the position to be the one who investigated and be the historian; Professor Robisheaux was just a guide.
This experience during Blue Devil Days drew me to sign up for this MedRen FOCUS cluster because Professor Robisheaux’s teaching style was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, and the lecture made me rethink everything I knew about Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. I wanted to explore this cluster further, and I am so glad I did.
As a student interested in the sciences, what did studying the Renaissance in a humanities program like the MedRen Focus teach you?
The MedRen FOCUS taught me that the distinctions we make today between different subjects in the sciences and the humanities are not as strong as I previously believed. Almost all the figures we studied with Professor Robisheaux were polymaths: Leonardo da Vinci was an artist, scientist, engineer, and courtier; Maria Sibylla Merian was an artist, biologist, and explorer; Paracelsus was a physician who understood medicine and the human body through art and his religious beliefs. Everything was interconnected during the Renaissance, and by studying this period in history, I’ve been better able to see the interconnectedness of the world around me.
A busy scene of Huntsman spiders, pink toe tarantulas, leaf-cutter ants, and a ruby-topaz hummingbird, from Maria Sibylla Merian’s Insects of Suriname.
What was it like encountering early printed books from the Renaissance for the first time?
It was stupefying to encounter early printed books because time seemed to have collapsed. These books were a physical representation of time—they had survived centuries before me and would likely survive centuries after me. But at the same time, the books were just books. They looked ordinary and you could still understand their pictures and sometimes even what they were saying. It was a weird dichotomy between awe and ordinariness, and I would highly encourage anyone to explore the Rubenstein Library’s collection.
What was your topic for the final paper in Professor Robisheaux’s class? What did you choose to write about and why?
My topic for my final paper in Professor Robisheaux’s class was centered around the question “How did art become the pinnacle of subjectivity that we know today?” I came up with this question because throughout Professor Robisheaux’s course, a key theme that emerged in our discussions was the fact that art was viewed as mainly objective during the Renaissance, with very set guidelines and procedures. However, while looking at De europische insecten at the Rubenstein Library during class one day, Maria Sibylla Merian seemed to stand out as an outlier. All of her work had very little commentary, a sense of chaos, and focused on the subjective, individual experience of nature.
And perhaps the most exemplary in accomplishing this switch to subjectivity is Merian’s Surinam Album, which masterfully displaying the wildlife of Surinam in the eighteenth century. This album, full of vibrant colors, intricate details, and dynamic scenes, gives the impression that Merian is tasking the viewer with making sense of what these scenes in nature mean, as if she is rendering them the scientist. I wanted to dive deeper into these themes in my final paper, using everything I had learned throughout the course to try to become a historian.
Two Menelaus Blue Morpho butterflies fluttering around its caterpillar form on a Barbados Cherry, from Maria Sibylla Merian’s Insects of Suriname.
Any other things you would like others (especially future students!) to know about the FOCUS program or the Libraries?
One of the most valuable aspects of FOCUS is the relationships you make with fellow classmates and your professors. Meeting with Professor Robisheaux, Professor Kate Driscoll, Professor Roseen Giles, Dr. Heidi Madden, Ms. Rachel Ingold, and all of your classmates every week for dinner and field trips allows you to really get to know everyone in your FOCUS program. This is truly invaluable because when you take FOCUS as a first semester freshman, you are dealing with a lot of uncertainty. Who will be your friends? Are you going to achieve the same amount of success you did in high school? How do you deal with being on your own? Having a tightly-knit community that is provided by FOCUS makes the entire college transition much easier because you have professors and librarians that want to help you succeed and classmates who are going through the same challenges you are.
Guest post by Brandon Britt, Access Services Librarian, and Annette Tillery, Perkins Service Desk Supervisor
The Duke University Libraries are highly invested in ensuring that the services and experiences we offer to all who visit us at our Service Desk are as responsive to user feedback as possible.
The Perkins Library Customer Service Experience Survey is a short, 3-minute survey which allows you to give feedback on your time engaging with the people and resources in the building. We welcome constructive remarks about your time in the building!
Simply click the survey link above or scan the QR code when you see these signs around Perkins Library.
If you’re a graduate student at Duke, Fall Break may be a good time to work through several of your RCR credits in just two days! The Duke University Libraries offer a cluster of workshops on diverse subjects in several different disciplines on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 16-17. Register now!
Recent Duke doctoral graduate Joshua Shelly (Ph.D., 2023) won second prize in the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest. (Image courtesy Joshua Shelly/Carolina-Duke German Studies Program)
Congratulations to Joshua Shelly, a newly minted Ph.D. from the Carolina-Duke German Studies Program, who just won second place in the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest!
In recognition of his bibliophilic brilliance, he will receive a $1,000 cash prize (presumably to spend on more books!) and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent Duke at a special awards ceremony on September 22 at 5:00 p.m. at the Library of Congress’s Whittall Pavilion. As his home institution, the Duke University Libraries also receives $500.
Joshua’s collection was inspired by an essay he came across while in an archive working on his dissertation. “Alte Bücher in Haifa” (Old Books in Haifa), published in Paris in the 1930s, captures the experience of a German-reading Jew seeking to rebuild his library through Haifa’s used book market. Joshua’s collection focuses on works important to German Jews in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He notes, “Whether clicking through internet pages on the path to that one title, browsing Bücherschränke (little libraries) in Berlin, or else leafing through physical pages in a book shop in Jerusalem, my decision to add a book to my collection is shaped by factors such as the book’s physical condition, price—where relevant—and my own idiosyncratic literary taste.”
Earlier this year, Joshua took first place in the graduate category of the Andrew T. Nadell Book Collectors Contest, sponsored by the Friends of the Duke University Libraries, for his collection “Alte Bücher in Haifa: (Re)building a German Jewish Library in the 21st Century.” That earned him a $1,500 cash prize and the eligibility to compete on the national level.
Duke has been well-represented in the National Collegiate Book Collecting Competition. Past winners include:
2021 Winner, Essay Prize: Joseph E. Hiller,Como un detective salvaje: Gathering Small Press, Experimental, and Untranslated Latin American Literature
2015 Winner, Essay Prize: Anne Steptoe,Look Homeward: Journeying Home through 20th Century Southern Literature
2013 Winner, 2nd Prize: Ashley Young,New Orleans’ Nourishing Networks: Foodways and Municipal Markets in the Nineteenth Century Global South
2011 Winner, 1st Prize: Mitch Fraas,Anglo-American Legal Printing 1702 to the Present
Look for the announcement of the applications for the 2025 Nadell Book Prize in Spring 2025!
In a digital world where famous quotations are used in memes and inspirational social media posts, often, like a game of telephone, quotes evolve into something that differs significantly from the original words spoken or written. Verifying the authenticity of quotes can take time and effort. Arianne Hartsell-Gundy, Head of Humanities and Social Sciences and Librarian for Literature, has provided tips and tricks to streamline the search process!
Tips:
When using an online authentication website, i.e., The Quotations Page, don’t use the whole quote because you might get inaccurate results if it’s incorrect. Consider using a word or phrase from the quote plus the author’s name.
Try searching using a quotation reference volume (such as the Oxford Essential Quotations) available digitally from the library. Digital reference books can be searched using the same method described above: author’s name plus a keyword or phrase from the original quote.
Another quick tool to consider is using Google Books and searching by the author or person’s name plus keywords or phrases from the quote. If the quote exists, an excerpt is likely going to come up. If cited, you can follow the citation from the eBook to the original document where the words were issued, such as correspondence, diaries, speeches, interviews, etc.
Most of all, don’t get discouraged; sometimes, it is impossible to nail down a precise quotation. Recently, Arianne worked with a scholar trying to verify a quote attributed to Edward O. Wilson: “Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive, and even spiritual satisfaction.” She hunted for the quote in the general quote collections, science-specific quotation sources, and Google Books, which cited Biophilia; however, Biophilia did not provide this quotation, leaving the origins of those words as a mystery indicating somewhere along the way words were modified. The scholar went so far as to reach out to Edward O. Wilson, who was unsure of its origins! This example demonstrates the complexities of verifying quotations and that, occasionally, there’s no definitive answer. Still, it is always good to do due diligence before using a quotation in a paper or article. We hope with these tips, it may be possible for you to get at close as possible to the approximation of who said what! For more suggestions, visit Arianne’s Literature in English research guide.
Post by Joyce Chapman, Assessment Analyst and Consultant; Sarah Park, Librarian for Engineering and Computer Science; and Matthew Hayes, Librarian for Japanese Studies and Asian American Studies
Duke students enjoy Holi, the Hindu holiday also known as the Festival of Colors. Photo by Jared Lazarus/University Communications.
How can the Duke Libraries better support the needs of international students at Duke? A team of library staff conducted qualitative research with international students over the past year in order to answer this question. This research was part of a multi-year effort at the Libraries to better understand the experiences and needs of various populations at Duke, including first-generation college students, and Black students.
Our final report discusses the full research process and our findings in more detail than that provided below, including a full list of recommendations resulting from the study.
We began by reading existing research on university and academic libraries’ support of international students and speaking with key stakeholders on campus. In fall of 2022 and spring of 2023, we conducted a series of discussion groups with both graduate and undergraduate international students. We also surveyed international students to better understand their library and campus experiences at Duke.
On the whole, participants express high satisfaction both with the Libraries and Duke University. In the 2023 Libraries Student Survey, international student respondents were more likely to report feeling welcomed at the Libraries and that the library is an important part of their Duke experience than domestic students. When asked in discussion groups what helps them feel welcome, international students discussed how the Libraries’ wide array of exhibits and events with international focus, as well as visible print materials in non-English languages, make the Libraries a welcoming space for them. Numerous students mentioned the positive impact of the Duke International Student Center (DISC) and a range of orientational programs, such as campus wide, program specific, and international student specific orientations, in fostering a sense of belonging and welcome at Duke. For undergraduates specifically, peers play an important role in making them feel welcome.
Studying for finals in Lilly Library on Duke’s East Campus. Photo by Bill Snead/University Communications.
Participants were also asked which people, services, and spaces feel supportive and safe at Duke University. For undergraduates, examples include Counseling and Psychological Services; Duke LIFE (Lower Income, First-Generation Engagement); the campus farm; Resident Advisor supervisors; advisors; fellow Duke students; professors and Teaching Assistants; the Career Resource Center; campus events; Duke health insurance; student clubs; and the campus gyms. For graduate students, supportive services primarily revolve around departments and programs, including departmental staff such as program administrators, Directors of Graduate Studies and Director of Graduate Studies Assistants, program advisors, career services teams within schools, and department coordinators. Graduate students also discussed fellow international students, upperclass students within their programs, instructors, and lab mates as sources of support.
Overall, international students at Duke feel welcome and supported by both fellow students and faculty. Participants also discussed aspects of Duke that have felt unwelcoming, including the additional stress of administrative requirements around acquiring healthcare, visas, driver’s licenses, social security numbers, and housing. Both graduate and undergraduate participants discussed how cultural differences can make students feel out of place. A few students shared their experiences of encountering microaggressions from some fellow students and faculty. These microaggressions often stem from assumptions made by the microaggressor based on the students’ nationality or from the microaggressor’s own U.S.-centric worldview, even in academic situations where a global perspective is expected. A theme among undergraduate students was the unwelcoming exclusivity of social groups and some clubs, which was described as a cause of social anxiety. For graduate students in particular, the cost of living, feeling unsafe off campus, and transportation are three of the least welcoming aspects of life at Duke. Some students additionally brought up the stress caused by the pervasive nature of academic elitism at Duke, an issue that would not be unique to international students.
Participants were asked who they turn to when they have questions. Undergraduates often turn to friends, upperclass students, advisors, student support offices, and even large chat groups used by their cohorts. Graduate students tend to rely more on formal entities such as advisors, graduate program offices, and faculty, though they also consult lab mates, upperclass students, friends, and their extended networks.
Duke students and alumni celebrate Homecoming Weekend on the Bryan Center Plaza. Photo by Jared Lazarus/University Communications.
Students reflected on what was most challenging for them when they first arrived in Durham or on campus. Literature reviews discussing the challenges international students face while studying abroad often emphasize language and communication barriers. However, challenges identified at Duke centered more on cultural and social interactions, with little mention of basic communication issues. Students expressed feelings of being overwhelmed with a bewildering variety of resources and facing challenges in navigating through available options. While such overwhelming feelings are not unique to international students, it is notable that their American counterparts are often guided by relatives who have experience with the U.S. education system. Additionally, many undergraduate students talked about differences in education systems and pedagogical approaches between their home countries and Duke.
We also asked participants how they use the Libraries at Duke and what works well for them. The overall attitude toward the Libraries is very positive. International students use and value the Libraries for its variety of study spaces, online resources, textbook loans program, interlibrary loan services, and research support. When asked what works well in the Libraries, the majority of comments focused on the ease-of-use of library facilities and spaces, as well as on the accessibility of library materials. Many students also appreciate the ability to use the Libraries as a place to relax and unwind throughout the day. Students praised the volume of Duke’s holdings, its networked relationship to other lending institutions, the ease of finding online resources, and the savvy work of librarians in assisting students during research consultations.
International students also identified several areas of the library that do not work well for them. Among these, students described their limited awareness of library services and librarian subject expertise. Many also commented on the crowded nature of study spaces, and the frustrating waitlist for carrels. While study rooms are highly valued by international and domestic students, we found that they are also one of the Libraries’ services for which students express frustrations and a greater need. We found that many undergraduate international students were unaware of the ability to receive personalized help from library staff, and that the Libraries’ support role is known only to small cross-sections of the international student population. When students learn of personalized assistance from librarians they often do not do so through the Libraries, but from professors and other students. Students praised information provided by librarians in their Writing 101 and English for International Students classes, but requested that the Libraries provide more outreach and information sessions extended over a longer portion of the student’s academic career at Duke. Some students expressed a strong interest in having tour opportunities, more library orientations, and greater awareness of the general services offered by U.S. academic libraries, with which many international students may be unfamiliar.
When asked what services and programs the Libraries could offer to further support international students, participants had several ideas. The overarching theme was a desire for enhanced communication and promotion of library services and resources. This could include promotion through the DISC newsletter and international student orientations. It could also include channels not specific to international students, such as professors, programs, program orientations, and increasing advertising about the Libraries on campus but outside the library buildings themselves. Students were also interested in the Libraries increasing its offerings of workshops and tours. Echoing findings from the Libraries’ 2023 Student Survey, a recurring request from international students in discussion groups was for increased foreign language materials, and in particular, leisure reading materials and current newspapers. Other ideas from students include increasing collaboration with DISC and other campus offices, and providing popular games from students’ home countries in a leisure area of the Libraries.
Getting ready for final exams in the Link at Perkins Library. Photo by Jared Lazarus/University Communications.
What’s Next?
These findings became the basis of 29 recommendations outlined in the Research Team’s full report. The Research Team will present this study at the Libraries’ all-staff meeting, and will share it widely with other units on Duke’s campus over the summer of 2023. We will also share the report within the library community to encourage other libraries to consider these questions and undertake similar work at their own institutions.
One of the report’s recommendations is that the Libraries’ charge an International Student Study Implementation Team in fall 2023 that will prioritize and coordinate the implementation of recommendations from the study.
For more information on this study, contact Joyce Chapman, Assessment Analyst and Consultant, at joyce.chapman@duke.edu.
The new Main Library in downtown Durham is one of the Bull City’s newest architectural gems. All Duke students are eligible to use your local public library, even if you’re not a permanent NC resident.
It’s National Library Week, and we’ve got a quick and easy way you can celebrate!
Stop by Perkins Library on Tuesday, April 25, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m., and sign up for a Durham County Library Card.
It’s free and easy. All you need is your Duke ID (if you’re a Duke student) or other photo ID and proof of Durham residency (everybody else).
That’s right! ALL DUKE STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE to get a free Durham County Library Card*. Even if you’re not a permanent North Carolina resident, you can still use your local public library, and you don’t even have to leave your dorm room once you sign up.
Not to mention popular streaming services like Hoopla (Kids TV, popular movies, comics, e-books, and more) and IndieFlix (classic films, award-winning shorts, documentaries).
The Durham County Library consists of six branches spread throughout Durham County including the brand-new Main Library in downtown. It’s one of the Bull City’s newest architectural points of pride. If you need a break from studying in our campus libraries, check out their quiet study spots with inspiring views of downtown Durham. You can thank us later when you ace those exams.
* If you only have a Duke ID when you sign up, you’ll get a Student Card, which lets you check out 10 items at a time, plus access all electronic resources. If you also can show some proof of NC address (can be electronic, photo of a utility bill, piece of mail, etc.), you’ll get a full Library Card, which lets you check out up to 50 items.
Post by Michael Edwards, Resource Sharing Librarian; Alex Konecky, Access and Library Services Assistant; and Sarah Park, Librarian for Engineering and Computer Science
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is Duke University Libraries’ system for obtaining materials that are not available at Duke. This service is available to current Duke University faculty, staff, and students. Eligible users can submit an ILL request on the library homepage.
Go to the library homepage and click “Interlibrary Request” on the quick links menu. Then, click the “Request a Title” button to login, and fill out the form. If you haven’t used the service before, you may need to register for an account.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to fill out the form yourself, you can request an article through Google Scholar and avoid filling out the form. To do so, go to Scholar.Google.Com and search for the article you need.
Before you search, make sure that Google knows that you are affiliated with Duke. If you are on campus, Google already knows that you are affiliated with Duke. But if you are off campus, go to the settings under the three bars, clicking “Library Links,” and searching for Duke in the search box. Select Duke and press the “Save” button. A shortcut to the “Library Links” is https://scholar.google.com/scholar_settings?#2.
Once you have set up the library links, you will notice that search results show a “Get it at Duke” link next to the title whether you are on or off campus.
If you come across an article that doesn’t have the “Get it at Duke” link, like “Closed-loop insulin delivery: current status of diabetes technologies and future prospects,” don’t worry. You can still access it by clicking the double arrow at the bottom of the article. This will reveal the “Get it @ Duke” link. Click on it to proceed.
Next, click on “Request – University users” and make sure all the information is correctly filled out before submitting the request. You will receive a link via email, so you can access a PDF of the article.
If you have any questions about this or any other interlibrary loan services, please contact ILL department at Interlibraryrequests@duke.edu.
For the last several years, the Duke University Libraries has purchased copies of the assigned texts for a wide range of Duke courses and made them available to check out for free. It’s one of our most popular services, and students regularly tell us how much they appreciate it. And no wonder, when the cost of a single textbook can often exceed $300.
Now there’s a way you can help us make the program even better and do something about the ridiculous cost of textbooks at the same time. At the end of this semester, donate your textbooks to the library. We’ll make them available for other students to check out for free.
Don’t you wish someone had done that for you? Be that someone.
Look for the textbook donation bins in Perkins, Bostock, Lilly, and Divinity libraries starting this week. When you’ve finished with your classes, simply drop your books in the bin and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you’ve made some future Duke student’s day.
So if you passed your classes, pass it on. Donate your textbooks to us and make a Duke education more affordable for all.
(And if you didn’t pass, we’ll understand if you need to hang on to those books a little longer.)
The Duke University Libraries are undertaking a strategic planning process in order to define a clear sense of direction and identify priorities for the next five years. Griffin Reames and Ashley Garcia from Guideline Consulting are helping to support us in this important work.
We would very much appreciate your participation in a 1-hour focus group with Guideline Consulting to share your feedback and reflections on the biggest strategic issues impacting the library’s future. Focus groups will be conducted virtually via Zoom.
Please indicate your availability here no later than Friday, April 14 and someone from Guideline will reach out to confirm a final date and time. Discussion prompts will be shared by Guideline prior to the focus group, though no advance preparation is required.
Attendees will receive a $20 gift card via email. We hope to hear from you!
Post by Hannah Rozear, Librarian for Biological Sciences and Global Health, and Sarah Park, Librarian for Engineering and Computer Science
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard the buzz about ChatGPT. It can write papers! Debug code! Do your laundry! Create websites from thin air! While it is an exciting tech development with enormous possibilities for applications, understanding what’s under the hood and what it does well/not-so-well is critically important.
ChatGPT is an Artificial Intelligence Chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched for public use in November 2022. While other AI chatbots are also in development by tech giants such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft, OpenAI’s early rollout has eclipsed the others for now – with the site reaching more than 100 million users in 2 months. For some perspective, this is faster widespread adoption than TikTok, Instagram, and many other popular apps.
What you may not know about ChatGPT is that it has significant limitations as a reliable research assistant. One such limitation is that it has been known to fabricate or “hallucinate” (in machine learning terms) citations. These citations may sound legitimate and scholarly, but they are not real. It is important to note that AI can confidently generate responses without backing data much like a person under the influence of hallucinations can speak confidently without proper reasoning. If you try to find these sources through Google or the library—you will turn up NOTHING.
Why does it do this? ChatGPT is built on a Large Language Model and has been trained on a huge dataset of internet sources. It can quickly and simply generate easy-to-understand responses to any question you throw at it. But the responses are only as good as the quality of input data it has been trained on. Its core strength lies in recognizing language patterns—not in reading and analyzing lengthy scholarly texts. Given that, it may not be the most reliable source for in-depth research. The following is a shortlist of what we’ve observed ChatGPT is good for and not good for.
What It’s Good For
Generating ideas for related concepts, terms, and words about a particular topic. I asked ChatGPT, what are some keywords for the topic of AI literacy? It replied with: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning, Neural Networks, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Robotics, Data Science, Big Data, Predictive Analytics, Ethics of AI, Bias in AI, Explainable AI, Human-AI Interaction, Cognitive Computing… These are all great leads for terms I might use to look for articles and books on this topic.
Suggestions for databases where I could find literature on the topic. I asked ChatGPT, What are some good library databases I could search to find more information about the topic of AI literacy? ChatGPT replied with: IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, ScienceDirect, JSTOR, Proquest, arXiv, and Web of Science. It also suggested checking with my library to see what’s available. A more direct route to this type of question would be consulting the Duke Libraries Research Guides and/or connecting with the Subject Specialist at Duke who is familiar with the resources we have available on any given topic.
Suggestions for improving writing. As ChatGPT has been trained on a large corpus of text, it has accumulated a range of dictions and writing variations within context. I have found it particularly useful for checking grammar and sentence structure in American English, as well as for suggesting alternative phrasing, synonyms, or quick translations of my writing into another language. Additionally, I have experimented with asking ChatGPT to rewrite my paragraph, but if it produced an unexpected response, it may indicate that my writing contains parts that do not make sense in that particular language. Nonetheless, it is important to thoroughly review the text and ensure that it meets your criteria before taking it.
What It’s NOT Good For
DO NOT ask ChatGPT for a list of sources on a particular topic! ChatGPT is based on a Large Language Model and does not have the ability to match relevant sources to any given topic. It may do OK with some topics or sources, but it may also fabricate sources that don’t exist.
Be wary of asking ChatGPT to summarize a particular source, or write your literature review. It may be tempting to ask ChatGPT to summarize the main points of the dense and technical 10-page article you have to read for class, or to write a literature review synthesizing a field of research. Depending on the topic and availability of data it has on that topic, it may summarize the wrong source or provide inaccurate summaries of specific articles—sometimes making up details and conclusions.
Do not expect ChatGPT to know current events or predict the future. ChatGPT’s “knowledge” is based on the dataset that was available before September 2021, and therefore, it may not be able to provide up-to-date information on current events or predict the future. For instance, when I asked about the latest book published by Haruki Murakami in the US, ChatGPT responded with First Person Singular, which was published in April 2021. However, the correct answer is Novelist as a Vocation, which was released in November 2022. Additionally, ChatGPT did not seem aware of any recent developments beyond September 2021. It’s worth noting that Murakami’s new novel is expected to be released in April 2023.
AI chat technology is rapidly evolving and it’s exciting to see where this will go. Much like Google and Wikipedia helped accelerate our access to information in their heyday, the existence of these new AI-based tools requires their users to think about how to carefully and ethically incorporate them into their own research and writing. If you have any doubts or questions, ask real human experts, such as the library’s Ask a Librarian chat, or schedule a one-on-one consultation with a librarian for help.
Resources
Alkaissi, H., & McFarlane, S. I. (2023). Artificial Hallucinations in ChatGPT: Implications in Scientific Writing. Cureus, 15(2), e35179. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.35179
Are you stuck in a reading rut? Has that stack of books you’ve been meaning to read suddenly lost all appeal?
Oh, honey. You need to check out our Mystery Date with a Book display next to the Perkins Library Service Desk, now through February 15.
Our librarians have hand-picked some of their all-time favorite literary crushes. Trust us. Librarians are the professional matchmakers of the book world. They’ve picked out some titles guaranteed to improve your circulation, if you know what we mean.
Each book comes wrapped in paper with a come-hither teaser to pique your interest. Will you get fiction or nonfiction? Short stories or travelogue? Memoir or thriller? You won’t know until you “get between the covers,” nudge, nudge. Aw, yeah.
So go ahead, take home a one-night stand for your nightstand. Who knows? Your pretty little self might just fall in love with a new favorite writer!
Don’t forget to “Rate Your Date” and let us know what you thought of your match. Look for the rating card included with your book, and return it for a chance to win a library swag bag!
Your feedback matters! We use data from this survey to make service enhancements, expenditures, and other library improvements. See the list of examples below for changes we’ve made in response to previous user surveys.
Here in the Libraries, we’re always trying to up our game. That’s why every two (or three) years we invite Duke students to take part in a brief user survey to help us better understand their experiences and thoughts on library spaces, collections, and services.
The survey takes about 5 minutes to complete and will remain open between now and February 15, 2023.
As a special thank you for participating, all student respondents will be entered into a raffle for a $150 Amazon gift card.
When libraries and students work together, everybody wins. Take a look at some of the improvements we’ve made in the past as a direct result of our user surveys.
Changes We Made in Response to Past User Surveys
Artwork that reflects diverse backgrounds: You asked for improvements to the artwork in our spaces to better reflect the diversity of the Duke community. We formed a visual diversity committee and completed several projects to feature new artwork in our spaces.
Inclusive spaces statement and signage: You asked for visible confirmation that Duke Libraries are open to everyone. We worked with students to develop an Inclusive Spaces Statement, used welcoming “Libraries are for everyone” artwork for buttons and wall art in Lower Level 2, and also posted wall-mounted “Welcome to the Library” signage near library building entrances.
Increased textbook lending: You asked for more textbooks to be available from the library. We purchased textbooks for the 100 highest enrollment classes at Duke and made them available for three-hour checkout at the library.
Easier access to online articles and research materials: You asked for help getting access to library resources while off campus. We collected helpful tools and instructions into a single, clear page.
All-gender restrooms: You asked for more publicity around the all-gender restrooms in the libraries. We created new signage in Perkins and Bostock libraries to direct people to the all-gender restrooms.
Hot/cold water dispensers: You asked for access to hot filtered water 24/7. We added two hot/cold water dispensers to Bostock (floor 3) and Perkins (floor 4).
Better incident reporting: You asked for easier ways to report problematic incidents in the library. We created a new library incident reporting form that can be submitted anonymously.
Library space design: You asked for our study spaces to work better for a range of needs. We formed a team to review how library spaces can be designed to support student needs, and we also worked directly with patrons with disabilities to learn more about their experiences with library spaces.
Help finding books: You asked for help navigating the book stacks on floors with dense shelving. We added signage near stairwells and entrances to point people in the right direction for different book ranges.
Lower Level 2 improvements: You asked for a better vibe in Perkins Lower Level 2. We replaced the carpet, changed the paint color, and added brighter lighting.
Feedback is what helps the Libraries grow, and the more input we get, the better we’ll be able to renovate, rethink, and improve.
So please, take a couple minutes of your time to complete the 2023 survey—and thank you for your help in making the Duke University Libraries a better place.
The Duke University Libraries are proud to present the 2023 Andrew T. Nadell Prize for Book Collecting. The contest is open to all students enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate/professional degree program at Duke, and the winners will receive cash prizes.
Winners of the contest will receive any in-print Grolier Club book of their choice, as well as a three-year membership in the Bibliographical Society of America.
You don’t have to be a “book collector” to enter the contest. Past collections have varied in interest areas and included a number of different types of materials. Collections are judged on adherence to a clearly defined unifying theme, not rarity or monetary value.
Visit our websitefor more information and read winning entries from past years. Contact Kurt Cumiskey at kurt.cumiskey@duke.edu with any questions.
Are you stuck in a reading rut? Has that stack of books you’ve been meaning to read suddenly lost all appeal?
This Valentine’s Day, check out our Mystery Date with a Book display next to the Perkins Library Service Desk, now through February 16.
Our librarians have hand-picked some of their all-time favorite literary crushes. Trust us. Librarians are the professional matchmakers of the book world. They’ve picked out some titles guaranteed to improve your circulation, if you know what we mean.
Each book comes wrapped in paper with a come-hither teaser to pique your interest. Will you get fiction or nonfiction? Short stories or travelogue? Memoir or thriller? You won’t know until you “get between the covers,” nudge, nudge. Aw, yeah.
So go ahead, take home a one-night stand for your nightstand. Who knows? You might just fall in love with a new favorite writer!
We’re interested in feedback about your experience using Perkins & Bostock, Rubenstein Library study spaces, von der Heyden study spaces, and Lilly Library this fall. Please complete this SHORT (2-min!) survey, and be entered in a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card.
Your responses are confidential and will help us improve library services and spaces. Thanks in advance for your valuable input!
Twemoji12_1f914 by Twitter is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Post contributed by field experience student Sydney Adams.
Sometimes it may seem like librarians are speaking another language. That’s normal, especially for undergraduate students new to academic research. Librarians use a lot of jargon! Here are some quick definitions for the next time you wonder “What is my librarian talking about?”
Call number – The unique combination of letters and numbers that you can use to find a book in Duke’s collection (ex: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is PR6068.O93 H375 2007). Duke uses the Library of Congress Classification Scheme which works well for large research libraries. This blog from the Divinity Library explains how to read Library of Congress call numbers. Ask at the front desk if you have trouble locating a book!
Database—An online collection organized by topic of articles, data, or citations that you can search for information related to class projects and more.Search for databases by title or subject on the Duke Libraries website. We have more than 1000!
Interlibrary Loan—A service that allows you toborrow materials from another library if we do not have them at Duke. You should never pay for an article while you’re here!
Scholarly Source—A source that elevates the quality of your research paper or project. Scholarly sources are written and reviewed by experts in your field of study and are usually published in academic journals, but they can also include published books, conference proceedings, and reports.
Special Collections—Collections of items, digital or physical, that are especially rare or unique. At Duke, our special collections are housed inRubenstein Library. Learn more about Rubenstein’scollections andexhibits online.
Stacks—The area where the library’s books and other materials are stored. At Lilly and Perkins & Bostock, we have “open stacks” where you can search for materials yourself. The stacks are labeled in yellow on ourfloor maps.
Subject Specialists—Librarians who serve specific schools, departments, and programs. Have a research question? Reach out to thesubject specialist for your area of study!
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 three 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 the advisory board website, where you will also find links to the online applications forms.
For more information or questions about these opportunities, please contact:
Okay, that headline was total clickbait. We admit it. We’ll stoop pretty low in order to seize a teachable moment. But now that we have your attention, we really do want to convey some important info about using the library this semester. Things are getting back to nearly normal, and the more you know ahead of time, the smarter you’ll look in front of all your friends. (Depending on your friends.) So here we go.
1. No more Library Takeout. Book stacks are open!
Despite the funkalicious earworm it inspired, Library Takeout is history. You no longer need to request books online and schedule a time to pick them up. That’s so 2020. Library stacks are open again, so help yourself and browse all you like. Duke faculty and grad students can still have books delivered to the library of their choice by clicking the green “Request” button in the catalog.
2. Our hours have changed.
In pre-COVID times, certain Duke libraries used to be open 24 hours during the week. This semester we’ve had to scale back, due to pandemic-related budget cuts. Our busiest libraries (Perkins, Bostock, and Lilly) will still be open until midnight most days. And if you really want to keep burning the midnight oil, we’ll have study spaces available in the von der Heyden Pavilion and Rubenstein Library. See our posted hours online for the most up-to-date info.
3. You can still reserve a seat (but you don’t have to).
Last year, if you wanted to study in the library, you had to book a seat in advance. Not any more. Study areas are available again on a first-come, first-served basis. However, one thing this past year taught us was that some students actually liked booking a seat, because they didn’t have to wander around to find a place to work. So we’ve kept a limited number of reservable study seats available. They’re in the Ahmadieh Family Commons on the second floor of Rubenstein Library, just outside of the Gothic Reading Room.
4. We have textbooks!
Every semester, we purchase the textbooks for the 100 largest classes at Duke, so that you can check them out for free. Left your textbook in your dorm room? Or want to try before you buy? Borrow our copy for up to three hours at a time, then return it for someone else to use. How great is that?
5. In a hurry? Dislike personal interactions? Check yourself out.
Several libraries across Duke’s campus have self-checkout stations, where you can quickly and easily check out your own books without having to wait in line or deal with an actual human being. (We get it―ew.)
6. There is no number 6.
Gotcha.
7. We’re actually very friendly people who just want you to be happy.
People who work in libraries are some of the most approachable and service-oriented individuals you’ll ever meet. We genuinely want to help you. We also have a bunch of different ways you can get the help you need, whether by chat, email, phone, in-person, or Zoom. So don’t be afraid to ask us any question. We’re smiling at you under these masks.
All submissions must be received by June 15, 2021.
Aptman Prizes
The Aptman Prizes recognize undergraduates’ excellence in research, including their analysis, evaluation and synthesis of sources.
Any undergraduate student who uses library resources to complete a paper and project as part of his or her undergraduate coursework at Duke may be considered for an Aptman Prize.
The Middlesworth Awards recognize excellence of analysis, research, and writing by Duke University students in the use of primary sources held by the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
All papers or projects from Duke undergraduate or graduate students that are based largely or wholly on sources in the Rubenstein Library are eligible.
The Holsti Prize recognizes excellence in undergraduate research using primary sources for political science or public policy.
Undergraduate papers that use primary sources and were written for a course, independent study, or thesis in the Political Science or Public Policy departments are eligible.
The Duke University Libraries are proud to present the 2021 Andrew T. Nadell Prize for Book Collecting. The contest is open to all students enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate/professional degree program at Duke, and the winners will receive cash prizes.
Winners of the contest will receive any in-print Grolier Club book of their choice, as well as a three-year membership in the Bibliographical Society of America.
You don’t have to be a “book collector” to enter the contest. Past collections have varied in interest areas and included a number of different types of materials. Collections are judged on adherence to a clearly defined unifying theme, not rarity or monetary value.
Visit our websitefor more information and read winning entries from past years. Contact Kurt Cumiskey at kurt.cumiskey@duke.edu with any questions.
Seat yourself! This semester, Duke University Libraries has made over 200 individual study spots available for reservation in Lilly, Perkins, Bostock and Rubenstein Libraries so you can still have the library experience you’ve come to know and love.
Want to (virtually) explore? Check out some of the different spaces below. We know you’ll find something you love!
Get your brightest ideas in the brightest spot in the library! Enjoy single tables and plenty of power in The Perk. With all of the library’s office plants keeping you company, it will be like your very own greenhouse. (PERK 001-014)
Are you a wild child at heart? Live it up in the evening and nights with a seat in first floor of Bostock with bright lights and colors and plenty of seating options.
The Edge Booths and Meet-ups
The booths and meet-ups give you a little privacy–not to mention comfy padded seats–as you power through your work. (Booths 101-107, Meet-ups 22 & 123)
Map to booths and meet-ups
Booths in The Edge
Meet-up in The Edge
The Edge Open Seating
To see and be seen, pick some of the some of the open seating options throughout the floor (Seats 108-121, 131-32, 145-54)
Map to open seating in The Edge
Jones Open Lab (Seats 108-121)
Hallway seating (Seats 131-132)
Lounge seating (Seats 145-154)
The Edge Rooms
Want the classroom or study room experience with (bonus!) windows as you work? Find your study spot in the Murthy Digital Studio (Murthy/Bostock 121 Seats 125-130), Project Room 7 or 8 (Seats 133-137) or Bostock 127 (Seats 155-172)
Map to rooms in The Edge
Murthy Digital Studio
Project Room
Bostock 127
The Edge Counter Stools
For the coffee shop experience, check out the counter stools. We provide everything but the latte! (Counter Stool 140-144)
The third floor of Rubenstein Library is great for anyone looking for a sort of garret/co-working vibe – glass-walled rooms tucked along hallways with soft colors and minimal traffic.
Project Rooms
Three project rooms line a windowed wall, giving the perfect balance of privacy and openness. (Rooms 353-357, Seats 301-306)
Map to project rooms, Rubenstein Floor 3
Project room, Rubenstein Floor 3
Conference Rooms
For a distraction-free zone, check out a seat in one of the conference rooms along the hallway. (Rooms 350-351, Seats 307-317)
Map to conference rooms, Rubenstein Floor 3
Conference room, Rubenstein Floor 3
Rubenstein 349
With tall windows and individual tables, the Breedlove Meeting Room (Rubenstein 349) has an open feel with plenty of privacy. (Seats 318-326)
Live it up at Lilly! Get the East Campus experience at these lovely literary locales.
Few Reading Room (1st floor)
Natural light and plenty of power; what else do you need? How about private study carrels (F01-F07) and long tables for safely studying with your peers. (F08-F19)
Map of Few Reading Room
Few Reading Room
Few Reading Room
Carpenter Reference Room (1st floor)
Want that old-school library experience? Surround yourself with books in the reference study area with socially-distanced seating at long tables. (C20-C41)
Map of Carpenter Reference Room
Carpenter Reference Room
Carpenter Reference Room
North Mezzanine (2nd floor)
Talk about a room with a view! Grab a soft seat or table and enjoy one of the most beautiful overlooks on campus. (M42-45)
With plenty of natural light, these seats are music to our ears! Enjoy your choice of carrels (Carrels 1, 3, 5) or personal tables (Study Table Seat 6-7). Whatever you choose sounds great!
All submissions must be received by June 30, 2020.
Aptman Prizes
The Aptman Prizes recognize undergraduates’ excellence in research, including their analysis, evaluation and synthesis of sources.
Any undergraduate student who uses library resources to complete a paper and project as part of his or her undergraduate coursework at Duke may be considered for an Aptman Prize.
The Middlesworth Awards recognize excellence of analysis, research, and writing by Duke University students in the use of primary sources held by the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
All papers or projects from Duke undergraduate or graduate students that are based largely or wholly on sources in the Rubenstein Library are eligible.
The Holsti Prize recognizes excellence in undergraduate research using primary sources for political science or public policy.
Undergraduate papers that use primary sources and were written for a course, independent study, or thesis in the Political Science or Public Policy departments are eligible.
What do business, criminal justice, political science, company dossiers, and patents all have in common?
All of these can all be found on!
Nexis Uni is a database containing over 15,000 credible news, legal and business sources. Need US Treaties? They have it. Need company profiles? They have it. Need news in general? They have it.
NexisUni is a great resource and it’s relatively easy to use so let’s get started!
Of course, you’ll want to sign up/sign in.
This allows you to:
Create, share, & have folders shared with you
Create alerts
Customize display & document settings and search filters
View search history, document history, Shepard’s history, & a Research map
You’re signed in, you’re set up, so let’s get searching!
Enter terms, phrases, companies, questions, whatever you like and it’ll bring you to the results page.
The Results Page
Above the results, you’ll find options to save the results to a folder, print, email, download the list or individual docs, send to google drive or dropbox, export citations, and sort.
On the left is the category (news, law reviews, cases, etc) you’re currently viewing.
Document Page
The document page has different sections depending on the document type, but each page has an “About” and “Notes” section.
The about section will have the source information, related content, and the Shepard’s Signal if it’s a legal document.
The notes section allows you to annotate, copy, highlight, add to a search or folder your selected text.
Other Helpful Tips
If you need help reading the style of their documents:
Go to advanced search from the home page
Choose the tab that applies (All, Legal, Business, or News) and the content you’re looking for under the specific tab
On the right you’ll see a section called, “Search Field Examples,” select to enlarge, and it is a helpful guide on how to read the document in that category.
If you see glasses , you’ve viewed the item before.
NOTE: Due to changes in the university’s operations in light of COVID-19, the Nadelle Prize for Book Collecting has been postponed.
Attention, student bibliophiles!
The Duke University Libraries are proud to present the 2020 Andrew T. Nadell Prize for Book Collecting. The contest is open to all students enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate/professional degree program at Duke, and the winners will receive cash prizes!
Winners of the contest will receive any in-print Grolier Club book of their choice, as well as a three-year membership in the Bibliographical Society of America.
Winners 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.
You don’t have to be a “book collector” to enter the contest. Past collections have varied in interest areas and included a number of different types of materials. Collections are judged on adherence to a clearly defined unifying theme, not rarity or monetary value.
Interested in entering? Visit our websitefor more information and read winning entries from past years. Contact Kurt Cumiskey at kurt.cumiskey@duke.edu with any questions.
Nominations are now open for a new undergraduate invited speaker event featuring students who have shown excellence in using the Libraries’ materials as part of their coursework, honors thesis, or other capstone project. Nominated students may be invited to present about the process of conducting their research at the event “Research as Process: An Undergraduate Research Showcase.”
Participants will be selected from a variety of disciplines, featuring research conducted on varied topics and with different methods (from data visualization to papers to websites), all of which have unique processes for research.
Nominees must have conducted their research between the Spring 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters for consideration.
To nominate a student, faculty must submit a letter of support on the student’s behalf.
Your feedback matters! We use data from this survey to make service enhancements, expenditures, and other library improvements. See the list of examples below for changes we’ve made in response to previous user surveys.
Here in the Libraries, we’re always trying to up our game. That’s why every two years we invite Duke students to take part in a brief user survey to help us better understand their experiences and thoughts on library spaces, collections, and services.
The survey takes no more than 5 minutes to complete and will remain open between now and February 12, 2020.
As a special thank you for participating, all student respondents will be entered into a raffle for a $150 Amazon gift card.
When libraries and students work together, everybody wins. Take a look at some of the improvements we’ve made over the last four years as a direct result of our user surveys.
Changes We Made in Response to Our 2016 and 2018 User Surveys
Oasis Perkins: You asked for a space to relax and de-stress. We worked with DuWell to develop Oasis Perkins on the fourth floor of the library.
Prayer & Meditation Room: You asked for a private place to pray and meditate while in the library. We converted a study room into a space for quiet reflection.
Hot/cold water dispensers: You asked for access to hot filtered water 24/7. We added two hot/cold water dispensers to Bostock (floor 3) and Perkins (floor 4).
Increased textbook lending: You asked for more textbooks to be available from the library. We purchased textbooks for the 100 highest enrollment classes at Duke and made them available for three-hour checkout at the library.
Coffee vending machine: You asked for access to coffee 24/7. We added a coffee and hot beverage vending machine to the lounge in The Edge.
Office supplies vending machine: You asked for easy access to important supplies like whiteboard markers and charging cables. We stocked a vending machine in The Edge with school supplies.
Better signage for reservable study rooms: You asked for clearer policies so you know when to reserve a room and when you can drop in without advance planning. We revamped our room reservation policy and added eye-catching signage to study rooms.
Clearer policies for study spaces: You asked for noise norms so you know where to go when you need to get work done. We added colorful signage to indicate which floors are for gabbing and which are for stuff done.
E-newsletter: You asked for more info about library events and research tools. We developed a regular e-newsletter, chock full of handy tips and interesting tidbits about library exhibits, programs, collections.
Inclusive spaces statement and signage: You asked for visible confirmation that Duke Libraries are open to everyone. We worked with students to develop an Inclusive Spaces Statement and created “Libraries are for everyone” buttons for staff to wear and posted signs in Lower Level 2.
Lower Level 2 improvements: You asked for a better vibe in Perkins Lower Level 2. We replaced the carpet, changed the paint color, and added brighter lighting.
Better WiFi access on the patio: You asked for more study spaces with natural light. We enhanced WiFi access on the patio outside Perkins & Bostock so you can study in the sunshine.
Feedback is what helps the Libraries grow, and the more input we get, the better we’ll be able to renovate, rethink, and improve.
So please, take a couple minutes of your time to complete the 2020 survey—and thank you for your help in making the Duke University Libraries a better place.
And your professor said you could use any sources within biomedical or life sciences, as long as the sources are peer-reviewed.
Well we have the database for you!
PubMed is a database full of peer-reviewed articles focused around biomedical and life sciences and here’s how you get to it: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.
So first let’s and that can be found at the top right.
After selecting Log in, choose Duke as your university and then it’ll prompt you to either create an account with your Duke email or sign into an account you already have, choose whichever is appropriate.
Some benefits of logging in:
View Recent Activity
Create/Manage Bibliographies
Create/Manage Collections
Create Custom Filters
Results Page
And after you’ve logged in and started searching, the results page gives you a helpful bar that look like:
More options for each sections looks like:
But it should be noted that the when choosing “Save” or “Email” you’re saving/emailing citations and not the search or its results.
Helpful hints:
Clipboard expires 8 hours after being added
You can save all the search results to your Collection
On the left is a column containing your filters and if you’re looking to get more specific in your search use this!
Article Page
On this page you’ll find some of the same features listed from the results page, but you’ll also be able to:
Download citations to RIS file
Add articles to favorites
A link to the full text (but beware, some of the links don’t always work)
The bottom of this page also gives you similar articles, a list of articles that cited the one you’re viewing, and a list of MeSH terms to aid you in your search.
And congratulations, you now have the tools you need to start or finish your paper!
Looking for an easy way to help people this holiday season?
From November 15 – December 15, you can exchange “Food for Fines” at the Duke library nearest you.
For every unopened, unexpired, non-perishable food item you donate, we will waive $1 of your library fines (up to $50 max).
All libraries on East and West Campus are participating except for the Duke Law Library, and it doesn’t matter which library you owe fines to. You can drop off your donation at the library of your choice, and we’ll apply it to any library fines at any Duke library.
Donations will be collected and distributed by the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC. The Food Bank serves a network of more than 800 agencies across 34 counties in Central and Eastern North Carolina, including soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and programs for children and adults.
You can also donate non-food essentials for infants, kids, and seniors, such as diapers, wipes, cleaning products, and paper towels. The chart below lists the items currently needed most.
No library fines? No problem! You can still donate and help North Carolinians in need.
The fine print
Limit $50 in forgiven fines per person.
Any fines already paid or transferred to the bursar cannot be waived.
No expired food items or glass containers, please.
Waived fines only apply to late fees. Charges for damaged or lost books cannot be waived.
All Duke libraries will waive fines for other Duke libraries (except the Duke Law Library). For example, if you owe $5 to the Divinity Library, you are not required to drop off your donation at the Divinity Library. You can visit any library on East or West Campus and your Divinity Library fines will be waived.
Boyang Zhang, who is from a small city in Northern China, is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Pratt School of Engineering. His research interests are in the safe guidance and control of multiple agents, such as autonomous ground vehicles and unmanned quadrotor aerial vehicles, in dynamic and uncertain environments.
How has the library impacted your Duke experience?
I have found that Duke University Libraries offer many useful resources and tools to assist me in my research. They also provide a friendly and welcoming environment, and I thoroughly enjoy studying and researching there.
Boyang stands in front of the writings of one of his favorite authors, Jin Yong (金庸)
What’s something you’ve discovered in the library or library’s collections?
Zhuoyu Li is a first year master’s student in the Electrical & Computer Engineering program at Pratt. She came from Taiyuan, China a month ago to study at Duke. She instantly connected to the Duke University Libraries because of her love of libraries and books.
Zhuoyu enjoys a jigsaw puzzle at the Oasis on the fourth floor of Perkins Library.
How has the library impacted your Duke experience?
I’ve been at Duke for only a few weeks, but I’ve already found that the Perkins and Bostock Libraries are amazing places to study and get help with research. I am glad that I came to Duke.
What’s something you’ve discovered in the library?
I’ve realized that the library isn’t limited to self-study space. The Libraries provide so much more than just study space and books. I’ve found exhibitgalleries, the OIT service desk, multimedia project studio, group study rooms, and meditation rooms, places where I can meet, study, and take a break from studying.
What’s a favorite space or service? Why?
It is challenging to pick only one. I love Oasis! It is a space on the fourth floor of the Perkins Library where I can relax from studying and enjoy puzzles.
Zhuoyu’s Pro Tip
Enjoy the sunshine and warmth in a comfy chair on the bridge between the Perkins and Bostock Libraries.
My Duke Library is a project of the Research and Instructional Services department.
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 three 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 the advisory board website, where you will also find links to the online applications forms.
For more information or questions about these opportunities, please contact:
“Working with the Library” is an occasional series of stories highlighting collaborations between librarians and the people around campus whose teaching and research we support.
Joanna Murdoch is a Ph.D. Candidate in the English Department. She taught a Thompson Writing Program first-year writing seminar called “The Art of Writing Letters” in the spring of 2018. Arianne Hartsell-Gundy, Head of the Humanities Section and Librarian for Literature and Theater Studies, served as the course librarian for this class. She had the pleasure of asking Joanna a couple of questions about how the library has supported her teaching and research.
What were your primary goals for your students in working with letter writing in this course?
Teaching for theThompson Writing Program’s first-year writing seminar, I wanted to foreground the tangible longevity of academic writing. The claims we make and the words we use in essays, exhibits, or online forums can last a long time. Against the odds, a lot of written material survives! The assignments in my course ask students to think about their writing and research as taking part in conversations with long histories and long futures, too.
Letter writing, it turns out, is a good tool for cultivating the blend of voice, personhood, and responsibility that is crucial for compelling academic work but isn’t always explicitly handled in writing instruction. In almost any century, letters open with an address to a named person and close with the writer’s signoff. Between those extremities, letters and their composers do everything they can to try to reach their readers. For their part, the letter’s recipients face literal response-ability: they have to decide whether and how they are able to respond. Writing and reading in this view are intimate, implicating activities: words can’t convey ideas unless two human beings have already agreed to connect.
It’s easy to forget this interpersonal grounding when composing a college essay. But even the strictest cautions surrounding intellectual property and the respect and defense of human rights require us to acknowledge the voices of others. That’s why my students have been practicing discerning and responding to the historically situated human voice in other people’s writing over three major assignments—a close-reading analysis of a single letter, a research project on a letter exchange held at the Rubenstein or in Perkins’ collections or databases, and a letter to a public figure, exhibited on the Campus Club Wall for three weeks in April of 2018.
How has the library supported your teaching?
In so many ways! Duke’s subscription to databases like North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Historiesprovided rich exploratory ground for my students in all stages of their writing projects. The library’s collections of World War I letters available in book form in the stacks gave students who stumbled across them the foundation they needed for their research on soldiers’ letters in the Rubenstein’s holdings. Then, in April, the Campus Club Wall in Perkins became a live part of our writing and learning space when students received permission to exhibit some visually enhanced selections from their letters to public figures.
But it was the library’s gifted specialists who really brought Perkins and Rubenstein to life for my class. Our designated Perkins librarian Arianne Hartsell-Gundy very graciously showed us how to use the library guide she had designed especially for our course, and she supported students with exercises for crafting a focused research question and building an annotated bibliography with reputable sources. I’ll always remember Perkins 118 as the place where Arianne showed us the lines from Alexander Hamilton’s letter-esque The Farmer Refuted (1775) that live on in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton (2015).
A major highlight of the semester was when Rubenstein’s Elizabeth Dunn and Mandy Cooper introduced us to the historical letters and letter-writing guides they had hand-picked to match the students’ research interests. The hours these librarians spent selecting, transcribing, arranging, and expertly talking us through the materials were a huge gift to the class. Thank you, Perkins and Rubenstein!
How about your research?
For my research on medieval religious lyric poems, I lean heavily on Duke Libraries and their Borrow Direct and Interlibrary Loan relationships. My carrel is overflowing with Perkins, Divinity, and Lilly titles, plus others shipped in from Yale, the University of Chicago, or even our basketball competitor down the road. Thanks to the bases covered by Duke and these other library collections, this spring I was free to buy only the works I knew I would return to, rather than every single title on my comprehensive exams’ reading lists. The best part was when Perkins bought a collection of essays on Chaucer’s poetics at my request! I’d better go check it out, now that it’s on the shelves . . .
Another enormously helpful tool has been the library’s subscription toOxford Bibliographies Online. Since I’m still in an early stage of dissertation research, I need all the overviews I can get of major contours in scholarly publishing. OBO is a great place to start.
What are three things you think that undergraduates should know about using information and the library?
I) You’re responsible for sniffing out the stories and scholarly drama behind the materials you see. If you do a lot of reading around for a project, you’ll start to see the same names and references to the same group of 10–30 major academic works. Then it’s like you’re pulling a necklace up out of the sand, revealing the links of a single, if complicated, structure. It’s one of the best feelings early on in graduate school, being not-at-the-mercy of the infinite-seeming database search results.
II) I said above that written material lasts longer than we think it will. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to actually use it once you’ve consigned it to your files. You may have terabytes of notes and essays on your computer or in the cloud, but you’ll never find any of it again unless you’ve tagged it all thoroughly or you like to spend your free time randomly clicking through old files. Some people love reference management software like RefWorks or Zotero. I can’t stand the way those services look, so I build massive searchable folders in an awesome writing program called Scrivener. Whatever you decide, leave yourself a lot of breadcrumbs. Don’t be like me and spend years searching for a half-remembered, haunting line that turned out to be from Leonard Cohen’s song “Anthem“: “There is a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in”—I spent so long searching for the note I had made about it back before I learned to cite cite cite even passing references in journal-type notes. The best breadcrumb of all is a full bibliographic citation, including the date you found and read/listened to the material, plus a quick personal note on what you thought about it. The “find” function on your computer will do the rest.
III) If you need part-time work during a heavy course-load year, reshelving books for the library is a fantastic way to find a meditative groove while filling your muscle memory with clues about the way information is structured and accessed in a major university library—which boils down to the shape of academic discourse itself. That’s how it went for me, at least, in the basement stacks of the Yale music library. Maybe Duke will even let you listen to Hamilton or Leonard Cohen while you set some Perkins shelves to rights!
Victoria Nneji is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science.
Guest post by Sarah Park, Librarian for Engineering and Computer Science, and Ciara Healy, Librarian for Psychology & Neuroscience, Mathematics, and Physics.
This spring, the Duke Libraries’ Natural Science and Engineering Group worked with the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering to invite Ruth Wolfish to give a presentation for Duke students. Wolfish is a trainer from IEEE, the world’s largest professional association in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, and Computer Engineering. Her presentation was titled, “How to Write a Technical Paper for Publication with IEEE.” The event aimed to answer questions such as:
How to select an appropriate IEEE periodical or conference, organize your manuscript, and work through peer review
How to structure quality work to improve their chances of being accepted
How to avoid common mistakes and ethical lapse that will prevent your manuscript from being accepted
The information was eye-opening for many of the students in attendance. Ms. Wolfish offered tips on how to scope a research paper submission, as well as emphasizing how to demonstrate “significant difference” between posters, conference papers, and journal articles. Students and faculty engaged in lively discussions and shared their own research publishing experiences.
Following the events, we visited workshop attendee Victoria Nneji, a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. Victoria is a Durham native and was a member of the Duke Libraries Graduate Student Advisory Board. She graduated from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham and finished her undergraduate work at Columbia University in New York City before earning her masters degrees and joining Duke’s Ph.D. program. During our tour of the Duke Robotics Lab, Victoria talked about her life-long love of libraries. Libraries have also been instrumental to her research accomplishments.
Speaking of her own publishing experience, Victoria explained that her first manuscript to an IEEE journal took over a year from the submission to acceptance. Victoria emphasizes the need for reaching out and proactively communicating with the journal and incorporating reviewer comments.
We asked if she had advice for incoming engineering graduate students, and she did. Here’s what Victoria advised: work with a team to publish; connect with your research advisor, a postdoc or a professor and learn to collaborate by writing drafts; and receive feedback and take ownership of your work. Given that faculty and postdocs are often busy and have little time for carrying the paper forward, students should expect to take the initiative, even following up with your contact at the journal.
In addition, Victoria suggests:
Learn how to receive feedback (maybe come back to it in a day or two) and integrate the reviewer’s comments to improve revisions.
Communicate in a way that is accessible to those who are not as close to your research as you are — this grows your potential audience of people from different fields around the world.
Publish early and often — this gives you a sense of how your research fits into the broader, ever-developing science community. It also helps others develop their research.
Victoria successfully defended her dissertation and is graduating this May. She will stay connected to Duke Libraries as an alum and is looking forward to the Durham Public Library’s downtown branch, where she began volunteering in 2002, reopening in the summer of 2020.
Christine Wei is majoring in Public Policy with a minor in Education. About her Duke experience she says, “Duke’s been a big part of my life since 2013; I was originally in the Class of 2017 and had to take two years off because I went through a mid-college-career crisis. Since then, I’ve shifted my priorities to put health first ahead of everything else and found myself happier and healthier than before. The only project I’ve been working on is a kindness and happiness-based one. I try to look for one to three positive moments in each day and document those to focus more on the positive rather than the negative, particularly in a world dominated by tragic news.”
How has the library impacted your Duke experience?
What’s something you’ve discovered in the library?
I’ve rediscovered my innate curiosity for the way things work and why things are the way they are. For instance, I haven’t taken many natural science courses since high school, so learning more about popular science can be eye-opening.
What’s a favorite space or service? And why?
I love talking to librarians by the Perkins Service Desk. Doing so reminds me I’m always a part of something more and that collaboration trumps competition every time.
Hello! My name is Elizabeth Smithwick and I’m from Jacksonville, Florida. I am a senior at Duke studying chemistry. My undergraduate thesis focuses on calculating the redox potentials of iron-sulfur proteins. After graduation, I will be pursuing my Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Minnesota. Outside of school I enjoy hiking, painting, and reading science fiction. My favorite book currently is The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin.
How has the library impacted your Duke experience?
For me, the libraries have always been a place to connect with other people while also tackling my courses at Duke. In contrast to being in my room studying all the time, I feel a sense of camaraderie with my peers in the library that I don’t always feel in other spaces at Duke. I am reminded that everyone here at Duke is working hard to do their very best.
Duke senior Elizabeth Smithwick
What’s something you’ve discovered in the library?
My sophomore year I was enrolled in an Italian Renaissance art history class and as a research project, we were assigned to investigate an obscure Italian painter. For the painter I received, Marco Basaiti, the amount of information online was sparse, and I was unsure where to go next. Thankfully I was able to find a few physical books on art in the Renaissance that made brief mention to Marco Basaiti in the collection at Lilly library which opened a few more avenues of investigation. Specifically it was a book of drawings by old masters that led me to a few of his more well-known contemporaries that allowed me to find more material on Basaiti himself. Most of the research I had done in the past had mainly been in the form of online journal articles so exploring the stacks in Lilly was a novel experience and gave me a much greater appreciation for the large collection Duke already possesses.
What’s a favorite space or service? And why?
My favorite service of the library is the Document Delivery Service. The ability to access almost any scientific article reasonably quickly and easily is an extremely powerful tool and one I wouldn’t know what to do without.
Elizabeth’s library pro tip:
Reach out to the librarians for research help with class projects and independent studies. Odds are they know of something that will help make research easier or more efficient. I know my life was forever changed as soon as I learned about EndNote which is a way to manage references for papers.
My Duke Library is a project of the Research and Instructional Services department.
Tyler Chery is a junior studying Mechanical Engineering and Religion.
How has the library impacted your Duke experience?
Ironically, I have never thought of myself as a “library person.” I always appreciated the “college feel” that university libraries provide, but I never truly believed that I would identify with such a stressful and business-oriented establishment. This all changed when I first discovered the wonders of The Link during the second semester of my freshman year.
Duke student Tyler Chery
Every Monday and Wednesday after my 8:30 am EGR 121 lecture I would commandeer group study room 11, grab a huge bean bag, and sleep like a baby until my next class. I still remember the awkward looks I would get as people walked into the study room only to find me sprawled on the floor knocked out. On Fridays I would return and crank out hours of homework before the weekend began. The Link became my productivity secret.
As sophomore year rolled around I challenged myself to find all the nooks and crannies of Perkins and Rubenstein. Now, as a junior I consider myself to be an expert at finding study (and sleep) spaces in Perkins, Rubenstein, Bostock, and even Lilly on East Campus. In addition, I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of the library staff now that I have a work-study job in the collections department of Perkins. I practically spend half of my time in the library these days.
What’s something you’ve discovered in the library?
RESERVE TEXTBOOKS!I literally checked out a reserve textbook 20 minutes before taking one of the rare open-book examinations in all of my time here at Duke. I still remember reading off a few exam answers word for word in the text.
Also, I highly recommend going on the Duke Libraries website and taking the time to search for online resources and databases before wasting your time on Google when writing essays. I have found some serious gems for my religious studies papers just by searching the online catalog.
What’s a favorite space or service? And why?
The Link! Naps, vending machines, technology support; it has everything you need to complete an abundance of work over the course of one day. I have spent hundreds of hours in there.
Tyler’s library pro tip:
If you are someone who supposedly can only study in your room, or where no one else is watching, I challenge you to try any of the above locations that I have mentioned. You may feel uncomfortable for the first 30 minutes but eventually you will realize that you cannot afford to watch an hour of YouTube videos if everyone else around you is doing actual work.
My Duke Library is a project of the Research and Instructional Services department.
When it comes to college, sleep schedules can be a real nightmare. It’s no surprise to see Duke students catching some extra z’s whenever and wherever they can, especially here in the library.
We get it. We respect “the grind” and understand that sometimes a mid-morning nap can help you restart your day with a fresh “Good morning, let’s get this bread!” attitude.
That’s why we’ve teamed up with Duke Wellness to make one of our “absolute quiet zones” even quieter. We’re happy to announce our newest makeover of library space: The ZZZone.
Sleep masks will be available for your catatonic convenience.
We’re transforming the 4th floor of Perkins Library into a cozy, peaceful sleep space guaranteed to make every Duke student’s dreams come true. Renovations are scheduled to begin in June 2019.
The ZZZone will build on the popularity of the Oasis, a dedicated meditation and mindfulness space in Perkins Library that is also a collaboration with Duke Wellness. Approximately 10,000 square feet of book shelving throughout the floor will be converted into bunk-beds. Additional enhancements will include ergonomic recliners, drool-proof pillows, and a vending machine for sleep essentials: eye masks, ear plugs, lavender essential oil spray, sleepy-time teas, and more! Blankets and a selection of stuffed animals will be available at the Perkins Library Service Desk and can be checked out for up to three hours at a time.
Snoozers won’t be losers in The ZZZone!
The ZZZone will be staffed by librarians available to quietly read excerpts from your textbooks until you drop off to slumberland, as well as to gently shush any snorers or sleep-talkers. Special arrangements are being made to convert group study rooms into solo sleeping quarters for somnambulists, who can rest assured they won’t wander far.
All you need to enter The ZZZone is your Duke ID and a spare hour or two.
Floorplan of the 4th floor of Perkins and Bostock Libraries, showing the location of The ZZZone.
“Our hope is that The ZZZone will be a place where students can hit the hay in between hitting the books,” said University Librarian Deborah Jakubs, stifling a yawn. “We will be assessing usage statistics carefully, and if this new service proves popular with our users, we may consider expanding it to other floors, perhaps even the entire building.”
The ZZZone is set to open for students at the start of the fall 2019 semester, said Jakubs. “Until then, we’re counting the sheep—I mean days!”
Prepare yourself–naps are coming.
Like these photos? They’re courtesy of @devilswhonap. Check them out on Instagram for all kinds of dormant Blue Devils across campus (more than a few in the library).
Like this post? Sadly, it’s all been just a dream. For now, you’ll just have to settle for our regular yawn-inducing tables and chairs. Happy April Fools’ Day!
Tyler Goldberger is a senior studying History, Spanish, and Jewish Studies. He’s writing his double honors thesis on Spain’s difficulty in commemorating all of the victims of the Spanish Civil War and Francoism dictatorship and the work of the Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica to actively confront this history. Tyler recently authored the Duke Chronicle editorial Confronting Being a Low SES Student At Duke.
How has the library impacted your Duke experience?
The Duke Libraries have provided me with incredible opportunities to perform well in my classes and conduct research. As a low SES (socioeconomic status) student, I thought I would struggle with purchasing the necessary books to excel in my coursework. However, through the help of the librarian staff and search queries, I have never had to pay for a textbook, reducing my financial burden and allowing me to concentrate fully on my classes. Through the library system, especially through the ILL opportunity, I have also been able to retrieve necessary primary and secondary sources for various research projects over my four years. Duke Library System has greatly enhanced my academic journey, and I am so thankful for all of the resources it has provided me.
What’s something you’ve discovered in the library?
The library has allowed me to really learn what research is all about. Before entering the library, my vision of research was limited to high school experiences that really just made me synthesize secondary sources. Once coming to Duke, I have realized that research is alive, especially with the incredible resources provided by Rubenstein. I have had the opportunity to engage with local election results in Durham, abolitionist pamphlets from the 19th century, human rights policy in Spain, and so much more!
What’s a favorite space or service? And why?
TheChat a Librarian function on library.duke.eduhas been extremely helpful. There have been many times when I am stuck somewhere but need to know the various resources that exist at the library. This service has saved me time and has helped me locate great sources for a project or personal research.
Tyler’s library pro tip
Utilize the specialist librarians. They will help you formulate questions and find resources for your next great research project!
My Duke Library is a project of the Research and Instructional Services department
Thank you to everyone who enjoyed going out on a Mystery Date With a Book this month! If you didn’t get a chance to check out our display, or if you’re just curious to know what books we selected, here’s a complete list of our mystery picks, along with the library staff member who recommended them. Add them to your Goodreads list. Happy reading!
Selected by Arianne Hartsell-Gundy, Head, Humanities Section and Librarian for Literature and Theater Studies:
Selected by Aaron Welborn, Director of Communications
Gabriel Garcia Maquez, The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor: “What it’s like to be lost at sea, fending off sharks, thirst, and insanity.”
Helene Hanff, 84, Charing Cross Road: “Heart-warming long-distance friendship develops over books and the lost art of letter-writing.”
J. L. Carr, A Month in the Country: “A gem of a book: a quaint English village, a WWI vet, and a shimmering summer of youth.”
Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time to Keep Silence:“History, travel, and the pleasures of the quiet life. Best savored slowly and antisocially.”
Andrea Barrett, Ship Fever: Stories:“Beautifully written stories about the love of science, and the science of love, set in the 19th century.”
Lawrence Weschler, Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder: “The strangest museum you’ve never heard of is a real place, and you’re going to be obsessed with it.”
Ian Frazier, Travels in Siberia: “Despite what you read in the news, Russia is actually a pretty funny place.”
Sarah Vowell, Assassination Vacation: “Hilarious, irreverent road trip that brings American history to life (and death).”
Lynne Kutsukake, The Translation of Love: a novel:“A portrait of post-war Japan, where a newly repatriated Japanese Canadian girl must help a classmate find her missing sister.”
Ann Waswo, Damaged Goods: A higher education mystery: “An art fraud investigator based in Tokyo, responds to a request from an old friend and soon arrives at Thaddeus Hall, England.”
Min Jin Lee, Pachinko: “Follows one Korean family through the generations.”
Selected by Megan Crain, Annual Giving Coordinator
Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time:“A childhood classic about family, bravery, and finding light through the darkness.”
Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies: “The true story of three brave sisters who revolt against their nation’s dictator.
Selected by Sarah Park, Librarian for Engineering and Computer Science
Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo vadis: “Where are you going?”
Nikos Kazantzakis,Zorba the Greek: “A recipe for happiness: ‘a glass of wine, a roast chesnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.'”
Selected by Keegan Trofatter, Communications & Development Student Assistant
Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend, “Being a smart (like really smart) girl in a rough Italian neighborhood is easier with a friend by your side—or is it?”
Neil Gaiman,American Gods, “My favorite part of a cross country road-trip? A bunch of gods fighting one another.
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:
The Duke University Libraries will be offering a suite of RCR workshops for graduate students over Fall Break, October 8-9, 2018, including:
Monday, October 8
Ethics and Visualization 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. This session introduces participants to core ideas in the ethics of visualization—designing to avoid distortion, designing ethically for broad user communities, developing empathy for people represented within the data, and using reproducibility to increase the transparency of design. Learn more and register
Digital Publishing: Multimodal Storytelling 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. This session will provide an overview of common options for publishing sound and video on the web, focusing on the benefits of various platforms, licensing and rights issues, accessibility issues to consider, and methods of integrating multiple media into research publications. Learn more and register
Research Impact Concepts and Tools 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. This workshop is designed to help you, as a graduate student, better understand how research impact is currently measured and outline Duke’s resources for assessing impact, from Web of Science to Altmetric Explorer. The workshop will include hands-on exploration of research impact tools, so please bring your laptop to participate. Learn more and register
Digital Publishing: Reaching and Engaging Audiences 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Who are the intended users of your digital publication? How can you reach new audiences and keep your existing audiences actively engaged? We’ll learn about some of the ways successful projects connect with their users and promote their work to potential audiences. Participants will leave this session with a solid grounding in the ethical and logistical dimensions of engaging audiences and incorporating audience involvement into their own publication practices. Learn more and register
Image Copyright and Acquisition for Scholars 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Visual literacy standards and the law are necessary for nearly every humanities and social-sciences project. This workshop addresses two aspects of image use in scholarship: 1) techniques in obtaining scholarly images (what a scholarly image is, determining original resolution, searching free- and free-to-use images for scholarly research, and when you should pay), and 2) a brief course on image copyright and intellectual property—both the scholar’s and the user’s rights and how each can be asserted. Relevant case history examples will be cited to back up a scholar’s use of images. Learn more and register
Tuesday, October 9
Retractions in Science and Social Science Literature 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. This workshop will discuss the burgeoning phenomena of retractions in the scientific and social scientific literature. No one plans to have an article retracted, so we will cover what to do to avoid or address a retraction or expression of concern and what the existing editorial literature can offer if you do find yourself dealing with a retraction as an author or one of a group of authors. Learn more and register
Text/Data: Acquiring and Preparing a Corpus of Texts 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. This session focuses on the technical dimensions of corpus development. Using an array of printed matter—from digital facsimiles of incunabula to modern letterpress/offset books—we will explore the risks and benefits of optical character recognition (OCR); file formatting and naming issues; organization strategies for large corpora; and problems of data cleaning and preparation. While this session will not examine legal issues in detail, we will discuss some common legal concerns around the use of textual corpora. Learn more and register
Text/Data: Topic Modeling and Document Classification With MALLET 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Participants in this session will acquire a general understanding of topic modeling, the automated analysis technique often referred to as “text mining.” In addition to topic modeling, this session introduces the concepts of sequence labeling and automated document classification, both of which are also possible with MALLET. Learn more and register
Shaping Your Professional Identity Online 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. This workshop is designed to help you consider the best ways to navigate how you want to present yourself online. We will discuss topics such as what to share and how to share, the ethical issues involved, and how to maintain the right balance of privacy. We will also examine some steps you can take, such as creating a profile on Google Scholar, creating a Google alert for your name, creating an ORCID ID, interacting professionally on Twitter, and creating an online portfolio. Learn more and register
Here in the library, we’re taking the summer months to evaluate some of our communications efforts.
In particular, we’re asking for your feedback on our email newsletter, which goes out every other week during the academic year. (What’s that? You don’t subscribe to our email newsletter? We can fix that right now!)
Your responses will help us make sure we’re sending you the most interesting and relevant library news from Duke.
At the end of the survey, you’ll have the option to enter a drawing for this handsome Duke University Libraries tote bag and journal. Guaranteed to make you look even smarter!
Classes are ending, food points are running out, and the school year is officially coming to a close. You might be saying, “I’m so over this semester.” Well, we’re here to tell you we’ve got one last treat for you before you dig into finals week.
Did someone say “treat”?
Do you hear that? It’s the sound of collars jingling, tails wagging, and all of your stresses melting away.
I heard it’s going to be pawesome!
That’s right. It’s doggo time. Puppies in Perkins is back!
Come join us in Perkins 217 on Monday, April 30 for some quality time with Student’s Best Friend. From 1:00-3:00 pm, therapy dogs will be visiting the library to provide you with the study break —and snuggles— you need to finish this semester strong. There will also be fun, finals-themed button-making! Because who doesn’t love buttons?
Guest post by Cady Bailey, a student in Dr. Marion Quirici’s Writing 101 course Neurodiversity, Narrative, and Activism.
It’s Disability Pride Week at Duke! Two years ago, the name of this week changed from Disability Awareness Week to its current name. This represents an important shift from simply taking a week to say, “Hey, people with disabilities are here,” to sending a message of acceptance and celebration. We certainly know that a significant portion of the people that surround us have a disability, whether visible or not, but there is strikingly little representation of disability in literature, and even less in the way of positive representation. It is vital that conversations about diversity in literature and other forms of media include disability. Seeing positive representations of disability is a major way to encourage disability pride and acceptance just as Duke is doing this week.
Below is a list of recommended books with positive representations of disability. There are a wide range of genres to choose from: personal narratives, fiction, scholarship and history, poetry, and anthologies. While it is impossible for one work to encompass the experience of disability as a whole, these books are notable examples of positive representations of disability.
Many of the books below are available here in the Duke University Libraries. Any titles not available at Duke or currently checked out can be requested through Interlibrary Requests.
* Denotes author with a disability
Personal Narratives
Personal narratives, including memoir and autobiography, are one of the most powerful forms of disability representation. While it is not impossible for non-disabled authors to write well-done characters with disabilities, personal narratives come from a place of experience. They are real, raw stories that tell truths about life with disability and the societal constructs surrounding them. There are a wealth of personal narratives out there written by people with disabilities, so this is certainly not a comprehensive list, but here are some suggestions to get started.
Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure by Eli Clare*:
Drawing on the variety of experiences at the intersection of disability, race, and gender, Eli Clare explores his relationship with the societal need to cure bodies and minds that are labeled as other. A combination of personal narrative, history, and theory, there is much to be learned about the intersectional nature of disability and the impacts of societal views from this book.
While fiction isn’t always the best place to look for deep societal messages about disability, it is vital that people with disabilities are represented in fiction. On one end, disabled readers can find inspiration and comfort in reading stories with characters they identify with. On another end, representing disability in fiction can help to dismantle stigma surrounding disability by showing non-disabled readers that disability doesn’t define a person.
The problem with fiction that it often follows negative stereotypes and tropes about people with disabilities. These include but are not limited to: using disabled characters purely as inspiration for the growth of a non-disabled character, villainizing disabled and mentally ill characters, and implying the only two possible ends for the story arc of a disabled character are death or cure. While there is no perfect fictional representation, avoiding the aforementioned tropes can help readers to identify the better ones. Here are a few of the standout fictional novels featuring characters with disabilities:
Dregs Duology by Leigh Bardugo*: Consisting of the novels Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom,this young-adult fantasy series has been described as Game of Thrones meets Oceans 11. The diverse casts of this series is lead by a morally-grey crime boss with a cane, characters with PTSD, and one who is implied to have dyslexia. This is not a story is not about disability or mental illness, but author Leigh Bardugo weaves it into aspects of the stories so that it is never erased or ignored.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident follows Christopher Boone, a fifteen-year-old with autism spectrum disorder, as he embarks on a mission to solve the mystery of the death of his neighbor’s dog. Despite adhering to some stereotypes of autism, this book presents an interesting first-person portrayal of autism. This book has also been adapted into a widely acclaimed stage production.
Carrythe Ocean by Heidi Cullinan, Handbook for Dragon Slayers by Merrie Haskell, El Deafo by Cece Bell*, and Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling by Lucy Frank. Additional recommendations and reviews in the young adult genre can be found at Disability in Kidlit.
Disability Studies Scholarship/History
The field of disability studies has made important strides in understanding the societal constructs surrounding disability over the past several years. If you are interested in learning more about the scholarly field of disability studies, check out some of these books on the history of disability and theory surrounding disability.
The Disabilities StudiesReader,edited by Lennard J. Davis: A collection of the most important articles from the field of disability studies. For anyone looking to get started in the field, this collection serves as an excellent introduction.
Claiming Disability by Simi Linton: Linton examines the field of disability studies and critiques the stance that academic fields tend to take on disability: that it is a tragedy that must be avoided or fixed. Linton points out how the perspectives of people with disabilities often go ignored, and the only voices heard on the topic of disability are non disabled people. Through her analysis of the field, Linton sends a strong message of taking pride in disability.
The books in this category are all personal narratives, but they take the forms of poetry, short essays, and short fiction. Each of the works listed below also represent intersectional accounts of disability. It is extremely important to remember that a disability doesn’t define a person or their identity. Other aspects of identity, including race, gender, sexuality, class, and religion, can also affect a person’s experience in society.
All the Weight of Our Dreams by multiple authors (Autism Women’s Network)*: This collection features stories by people of color with autism. In a world where most disabled characters in the media are white males, the works in this anthology send important messages about what it is like to live at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities.
QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology by Raymond Luczak and others*: Much like All the Weight of Our Dreams, QDA features stories focused around identifying as both queer and disabled. These stories are all the more important given that a study from 2015 found that none of the top 100 movies featured disabled LGBT characters.
When the Chant Comesby Kay Ulanday Barrett*: In this collection, Barrett uses poetry to explore political and social constructs surrounding disability, race, and gender.
By choosing to read literature that positively represents disability, one can learn about the perspectives of people with different experiences and about social and political constructs that exist in the world that one might not otherwise know about. Additionally, choosing to support books featuring disabled characters and/or books written by disabled authors works to show the disabled community that their voices are heard and their voices matter. The next time you are looking for a read, consider choosing one from this list and support disability pride.
Thank you to everyone who enjoyed going out on a Mystery Date With a Book last week! If you didn’t get a chance to check out our display, or if you’re just curious to know what books we selected, here’s a complete list of our mystery picks, along with the library staff member who recommended them. Add them to your Goodreads list. Happy reading!
Selected by Arianne Hartsell-Gundy, Head, Humanities Section and Librarian for Literature and Theater Studies:
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre: “A coming of age story featuring psychic connections, walks on the moors, and a house with a mystery.”
Naomi Novik, Uprooted: “The fairy tale you always wanted as a child…and finally got as an adult.”
Selected by Kim Duckett, Head of Research and Instructional Services:
Anthony Mara, The Tsar of Love and Techno: Stories: “A collection of beautiful interlocking short stories dipping back and forth through 20th century Russia.”
Matthew Kneale, English Passengers: “Twenty narrators tell a fascinating story of Manx smugglers, seekers of the Garden of Eden, and the plight of Tasmanian Aborigines.”
Bruno Schulz, The Street of Crocodiles: “In this little town the real and the imagined blend together in a way you’ve never quite experienced.”
Selected by Brittany Wofford, Coordinator for The Edge and Librarian for the Nicholas School for the Environment:
P. G. Wodehouse, How Right You Are, Jeeves: “For everyone who thought that Carson was the real hero of Downton Abbey.”
Naomi Alderman, The Power: “An electrifying read about gender and power.“
Selected by Elena Feinstein, Head, Natural Sciences and Engineering Section and Librarian for Biological Sciences:
Monique Truong, The Book of Salt: “Flavors, seas, sweat, tears – weaves historical figures into a witty, original tale spanning 1930s Paris and French-colonized Vietnam.”
Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife: “According to the author, the themes of the novel are ‘mutants, love, death, amputation, sex, and time.’ Many readers would include loss, romance, and free will.”
Selected by Jodi Psoter, Librarian for Chemistry and Statistical Science:
Amy Butler Greenfield, A Perfect Red: “Empire, espionage, and the quest for the color of desire.”
Stefan Fatsis, Word Freak: “Wonderful word weirdos. Glimpse inside the world of competitive Scrabble.”
Selected by Sarah Park, Librarian for Engineering and Computer Science:
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince: “It is a love story for the ages.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese: “44 different ways to say ‘I love you’ for your valentines.”
Thomas F. Moser with Brad Lemley, Moser: Artistry in Wood: “A story of an extraordinary woodworker who built the furniture in Perkins and Bostock libraries.”
Jeffrey Brown, Darth Vader and son: “We need to take care of our family before conquering the universe. Short and comical.”
Selected by Aaron Welborn, Director of Communications:
Richard Hughes, The Innocent Voyage: “One of the best novels you’ve never heard of. A combination of Peter Pan, Heart of Darkness, and Lord of the Flies, all rolled into one.”
Ryszard Kapuściński, Travels with Herodotus: “ ‘Within every great book there are several others.’ One of those great books, by one of the great world travelers.”
Last week, the staff of the Duke University Libraries were treated to a fascinating presentation by Durham County Library Director Tammy Baggett-Best, who offered an update on the renovation of Durham’s Main Library on N. Roxboro Street.
With our own major library renovation here at Duke just a few years behind us, it was exciting to see what our colleagues down the street have planned. As downtown Durham continues to grow more vibrant, the renovated Main Library promises to be yet another point of pride for those who live and work in the area.
The Main Library renovation started in early 2017 and is scheduled to be complete in late 2019. With over $44.3 million in funding and a planned addition of 19,804 square feet to the existing 65,000 square feet of library space, Baggett-Best explained that Main Library is undergoing some serious transformations.
“Pretty much the only thing that will be left is the foundation and the frames,” she said—joking that the library outreach program “Downtown Library Without Walls” was being taken rather literally by the renovation crew.
Simplified cross-section of Main Library before (left) and after renovations (right), showing the greater vertical openness, connectivity, and natural light in the new building.
And it’s true: with the goals of creating greater openness and visibility throughout the building site, Main Library may be almost unrecognizable to many Durham residents by the time renovations are complete. New roof terraces, glass walls, and horizontally integrated staircases are all designed to create a heightened sense of freedom and connectivity, while new meeting spaces, public spaces, and a comprehensive literacy and technology center are intended to improve community outreach.
A rendering of how the library will look once complete when viewed from the side facing Liberty Street.
Some areas of particular interest include a career development workspace, a MakerLab / S.T.E.A.M. space, a cultural/arts exhibition gallery space, and an expanded and more accessible space for the popular North Carolina Collection. The newly renovated library will also provide more social space for children, teenagers, and adults, along with multiple event venues.
Outside the building, meanwhile, the library grounds will feature numerous open areas for library and community use, including an art garden, an amphitheater, a public plaza, covered seating, an urban agriculture section, and an interactive play and gathering space. Baggett-Best hopes these and other programs will contribute to a sense of community and connectivity across social groups.
Indeed, the renovations are just one part of the Durham County Library’s mission to help Durham grow and thrive. Improved access and technological services feature heavily in their plans. Baggett-Best said they are currently working on a program that will allow all Durham County public school students’ ID cards to do double-duty as their library cards. They’re also working on a way to clear all outstanding overdue fees by public school students at the end of each school year.
Rendering of a community event at Main Library, post-renovation.
It was heartening to learn that Durhamites are big library users, even before the renovation got started. Approximately 71% of all Durham County residents have a library card, compared with 44% statewide. In a recent city/county survey, the only local government agency or service that gets higher satisfaction marks from residents is EMS. In 2017, Durham libraries circulated nearly three million physical items—a number that has been decreasing slightly in recent years in tandem with increased use of online resources.
This seems like a good time for a public service announcement to our Duke students: All Duke students are eligible to get a free library card at any Durham County Library location. Even if you’re not a North Carolina resident, you can still use the public library, and you don’t even have to leave your dorm room. If you love the hundreds of popular e-books and audiobooks you can get online through the Duke Libraries’ OverDrive app, consider the thousands and thousands more you have access to through the Durham County Library!
Overall, it’s clear that the renovations at Main Library represent one more sign of the ongoing revitalization of downtown Durham. The “library without walls” will have some pretty spectacular walls once again before long, and we can’t wait to help them celebrate its re-opening in 2019!
Does your reading life feel like it’s lost that special spark? Do you find yourself staring at your bookshelves at night, brooding over old flames?
Don’t worry—our love experts here at the Libraries are here to help. This Valentine’s Day, they’ve hand-picked some choice selections guaranteed to improve your circulation, if you know what we mean.
From now through the end of February, sidle up to our Mystery Date with a Book display next to the Perkins Library Service Desk and get a peek at some of our secret suitors.
Now, watch yourself—these books are a bit of a tease. They come wrapped in pink and red paper with “come-hither” teasers to lure you in. Will you get fiction or nonfiction? Poetry or short stories? Travelogue or fantasy? No peeking until until you’re ready to “get between the covers,” nudge, nudge.
Give your date a chance, but if it doesn’t work out, no hard feelings. After the two of you have gotten acquainted, don’t forget to let our matchmakers know how it went. Each book comes with a card you can use to rate your date. Use it is a bookmark, then drop it in our Mystery Date with a Book box when you return your book to Perkins and pick up a little Valentine button from us.
This February, don’t leave our literary lovelies all lonely by themselves. Take one home with you—you might find a perfect match!
Rate your mystery date, and take one of our fashionable buttons! You know you want one of these.
Take our survey and you could win a $150 Amazon Gift Card (students), or a $75 gift card to your favorite restaurant (faculty)!
Here in the Libraries, we’re always looking for ways to make your life easier. That’s why every two years we invite library users to take part in a brief user survey to help us better understand their experiences and thoughts on library spaces, collections, and services.
The survey takes no more than 5 minutes to complete and will remain open between now and February 13.
Student Survey: As a special thank you for participating, all student respondents will be entered into a raffle for a $150 Amazon gift card.
Faculty Survey: All faculty members who respond will be entered to win a $75 gift card to their favorite restaurant.
When libraries, students, and faculty work together, everybody wins. Take a look at some of the improvements we’ve made in the last two years as a direct result of our last user survey.
Added color and icon-based signage to make navigating Perkins and Bostock easier
Increased frequency with which we clean computers and study tables
Developed a workflow for checking broken power outlets
Ensured keyboard and computer equipment is cleaned regularly and replaced as need
Made improvements to public computers
Improved our Room Reservation page and made it easier for students to reserve group study rooms and access specialized spaces in the library
Added an Interview Room and made enhancements to both spaces
Evaluated and made improvements to ePrint
Worked with DSG to develop OASIS:Perkins
Developed clear signage to help students select study spaces based on their needs and preferences
Worked with security guards to enforce Quiet Zone guidelines
Feedback is what helps the Libraries grow, and the more input we get, the better we’ll be able to renovate, rethink, and improve.
So please, take a couple minutes of your time to complete the 2018 survey—and thank you for your help in making the Duke University Libraries a better place.
Duke Self-Checkout is a fast, easy way to check out books from the Duke University Libraries.
Starting this week, you can now use your smartphone to check out library books in Perkins and Bostock Libraries, without having to bring them to the desk on the main floor.
Make sure to let Duke Self-Checkout access your camera, send you notifications, and use your location.
Open the app and log in with your Duke NetID and password. Click the ‘+’ sign in the top right corner to activate your camera.
When you find a book you want to check out, use the app on your phone to scan the library barcode. The app will blink green when it recognizes the barcode and check the item out to you right there. That’s it!
Remember to demagnetize your book before you leave the building!
If you want leave the building with your book, make sure you stop at one of the Duke Self-Checkout stations to demagnetize your book so it doesn’t set off an alarm.
Don’t have a phone or don’t want to download the app? Use the iPad at the Duke Self-Checkout stations, located in Perkins near the Perkins / Bostock Lobby, and in Bostock at the Edge Service Desk.
Duke Self-Checkout is also available at the Marine Lab Library.
Forget about finals, forget about stress, you deserve a break. More importantly, you deserve a break involving snuggles, barks and happy wagging tails, because seriously, what’s better than puppies?
Don’t get like this poor pooch. Take a puppy study bark… er, we mean break.
Please don’t miss it! The puppies will miss you!
Sad puppy. Why wouldn’t they take a break to come see me?
We like happy puppies, and also happy students. Everyone will be happy! The puppies will be adorable! Come see them! We’ll make buttons! We’re full of exclamation marks just thinking about it!
The newly-renovated Perkins B09, ready for your big interview. Go get em, tiger.
Got a big phone or Skype interview coming up you just have to nail? Worried about noise, bad cell service, or nosy roommates jeopardizing that all-important first impression? The Libraries have felt your pain, and we’re here to help.
We now have not one but two beautifully renovated interview rooms in Perkins Library, designed especially for phone and remote video interviews and available to all Duke students, faculty, and staff.
To reserve one of the Interview Rooms, visit the online registration page, check the schedule for an available day and time, enter your name and Duke email address, and respond to the confirmation email within 1 hour (otherwise your reservation could be canceled). That’s it! The room is all yours.
The two rooms have similar but slightly different features. Perkins B09 (located on Lower Level 2) features a brand new all-in-one telephone/videoconferencing system, whereas Perkins 130 (located on the library’s main floor) features a landline system only. Each room has its own dedicated phone number, in case the person conducting the interview prefers to call you.
Also, in response to popular demand, we have increased the 60-minute time limit on the rooms to 90 minutes.
Questions? Comments? Fan mail for helping you land that dream internship? Let us know at asklib@duke.edu.
Starting on Constitution Day, September 17, the Durham County Library is hosting a month-long series of free programs focused on a community reading of the U.S. Constitution. Events include:
film showings, Hamilton sing-a-longs, book clubs, storytime for kids, and more.
You can pick up a free copy of the U.S. Constitution at any Durham County Library location, while supplies last. And check out their Durham Speaks videos, short interviews with Durham residents sharing their thoughts on the Constitution and what it means to them.
A reminder to Duke students: As residents of Durham County, you’re eligible to get a free library card at any Durham County Library location. You’re not required to have one to participate in Durham Reads Together, but it’s another resource at your fingertips.
Post contributed by Kim Duckett, Head of Research and Instructional Services
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:
Have you ever gone to the library motivated and ready to work, but you just can’t get settled in? Instead, you’ve found yourself having a complete “Goldilocks” moment. Either the person next to you is distracting with their chit chat and loud snacking or you just can’t “bear” the thought of sitting silently in a desk after a long day of cramped classrooms and long lectures.
Well, worry no more! The Libraries has solutions to all of your study space problems. With a diverse mix of study rooms for any occasion and fun desk-alternatives, Duke Libraries has just what you need to make your studying fit “just right.”
Who needs Wilson Gym?
Fit-Desks are located on the first floor of Perkins. They have space to position your laptop and reading material and are attached to an exercise bike. Peddling away, you can add some extra energize your studying and even burn some calories!
“Stand-Up” to mundane tables and chairs!
Standing Desks travel their way around Perkins and Bostock, but can usually be spotted in the Edge. They are perfect for days when you want to work, but you just can’t “stand” the thought of sitting.
Shhhhhh…I’m finally being productive!
Quiet and Food Free-Space can be found throughout the Libraries. From the Gothic Reading Room in Rubenstein to the Carpenter Reading Room on 3rd-floor Bostock, there is plenty of space available for you to get in the zone without distraction, and with a great view too!
Neutral background? Perfect for skype interview
Interview Rooms on first-floor Perkins are available for reservation online. They are equipped with a desk and a land-line interview so nothing (not a noisy roommate or bad connection) can come between you and your dream internship!
Want to get a study room? Answer: always yes!
Reservable Study Rooms make up a huge part of our available study space and are scattered around the halls of the Libraries. From simple desks to full whiteboard and projectors, make sure to reserve online ahead of time and secure you and your group the exact space you need.
A dedicated space just for our hard-working grad students.
The Graduate Student Reading Room is located on the 2nd floor of Perkins, next to the Staff Lounge. With seating for 14 people, it is set aside for the use of any graduate and professional school students at Duke. Stop by the Perkins Library Service Desk to the get the code for the keypad.
To help Duke University students, staff, and faculty protect their personal property such as laptops, iPhones, and iPads, the Duke University Police Department will be offering free engraving services in Perkins Library on Thursday, November 17.
Items are engraved with the owner’s name and other ID information to deter theft and help track owners when stolen items are recovered. Pawn shops will not accept items that are engraved with the owner’s information.
The engraving takes only 5 minutes and is free of charge.
What to bring:
Duke ID
Driver’s license
Laptops, smart phones, personal electronics
Anything else you want engraved!
For more information, contact Officer Kelly George with the Duke Police Department: 919-684-2444.
Entries for the contest will be due February 14, 2017.
The Friends of the Duke University Libraries are proud to present the 2017 Andrew T. Nadell Prize for Book Collecting. The contest is open to all students enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate/professional degree program at Duke and the winners will receive cash prizes!
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. Past collections have varied in interest areas and included a number of different types of materials. The collections will be judged based on adherence to a clearly defined unifying theme, and rarity and monetary value will not be considered during judging.
Students who are interested in entering can visit the Prize for Book Collecting homepage for more information and read winning entries from past years. Students may also contact Megan Crain at megan.crain@duke.edu with any questions.
Inspired by the heroic efforts of Duke EMS students to successfully save a professor who underwent cardiac arrest in the Link last year, four new automated external defibrillators (AEDs) have been installed throughout Perkins and Rubenstein Libraries.
The AEDs are now active and ready to be deployed in case of emergency. Instructions on how to operate the devices are available at each location. The locations are as follows:
1st Floor, Rubenstein Library: Between the women’s restroom and the elevator
3rd Floor, Rubenstein Library: Between the women’s restroom and the elevator
Lower Level 1, Perkins Library: The Link, next to Fish Staircase
3rd Floor, Perkins Library: Next to Fish Staircase
Upon opening the AED wall box, an audible alarm will sound alerting personnel in the area that the AED was removed.
Through these installations, we hope to improve safety and emergency response time for everyone who works and studies in the Duke University Libraries.
Detail from Latin MS No. 8, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
As bookbagging classes for the Spring semester commences, we are excited to announce the next wave of Archives Alive courses offered for Duke undergraduates. These courses are aimed at enabling students to develop innovative and significant projects based on original materials held in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
As opposed to traditional offerings, Archives Alive courses provide students with weekly opportunities to conduct “hands-on” explorations into the rich and varied collections of rare print, manuscript, photographic, and audio materials. Students gain first-hand exposure to advanced research techniques in the new classroom space of the Rubenstein Library.
This upcoming semester, the Rubenstein Library will host two engaging courses that debuted last year. “History of the Book,” a phenomenally successful course on written text in its earliest forms through the 21st century, has been described by students as “thrilling,” “awesome,” and “engaging.” Another course dealing with recording technology, music, local history, and digital tools, “NC Jukebox,” has students raving about the hands-on explorations into century-old correspondence and audio recordings.
These classes for Spring 2017 are listed as follows:
Topics in Digital History & Humanities: NC Jukebox
HISTORY 390S-1/ISS 390S/MUSIC 290S-1
Curriculum Codes: ALP, CZ, R
Thursday 10:05-12:30
Instructors: Trudi Abel/Victoria Szabo
History of the Book
CLST 360/MEDREN 346/ISS 360/HISTORY 367
Curriculum Code: ALP
MW 3:05-4:20. Rubenstein Library 150
Instructor: Clare Woods
Never let this sight ruin your study session again! Phone and laptop chargers available in Perkins and Lilly Libraries
With the semester halfway over, the library has become practically your second home. You’ve loaded up your textbooks, grabbed a coffee, and settled into “the perfect study spot.”
You’re halfway through writing an essay, when you realize your laptop only has 5% battery left. You scramble through your backpack, but no luck. You forgot your charger… again.
No worries! Perkins and Lilly Library now have a variety of chargers that students can check out to get you right back into your study zone.
Chargers are available at the Link Help Desk in Perkins or at the service desk in Lilly. Each charger can be checked out for three hours, plenty of time to recharge your battery and finish that paper. Below is the list of chargers that are now available:
Dell 90W AC Adapter
OB46994 Lenovo 90W AC Adapter (Slim Tip) for T440 series and current Lenovo laptops
Apple 80W MagSafe for earlier model laptops
Apple 80W MagSafe2 for current model laptops
Multiuse phone charger compatible with new and older model iPhones, along with a micro USB, compatible with most Android phones
So if you are need of a quick recharge, be sure to swing by the Link Help Desk in Perkins or the service desk at Lilly, and never let a forgotten charger ruin your perfect study session again!
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:
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.
Learn to “swim” – and to keep swimming – in the Libraries!
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 theIncredibles 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
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.
… 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 Servicesportal page.
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, Lillyand 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:
If studying for finals has you feeling a little overwhelmed…
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!
Your friendly neighborhood puppies are ready to help you study! Or at the very least chew on you pen.
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
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.
Duke University Libraries will host a reading and discussion with Roxana Robinson, critically acclaimed fiction writer and author most recently of the novelSparta.
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.
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.
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:
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 Servicesportal 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:
Quick 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.
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 theIncredibles and the Libraries’ super powers. This year, the Class of 2019 will experience the power of discovery because …
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!
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
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!
Look for these posters around campus. And come to EdgeFest, April 2!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!One final gratuitous puppy pic, for your viewing pleasure.
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.
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.
First floor of Perkins Library, across from the ePrint stations near the Circulation Desk.Lower Level 1 of Perkins Library, along the hallway connecting the central Perkins stair/elevator with the Link.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.
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:
How do you “library”? Let the Libraries Save the day!
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:
Meet your Duke University Residence Hall Librarians: each East Campus dorm is matched with subject librarians who work with students throughout their first year at Duke.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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:
Graduate and Professional Student Advisory Board: September 8, 2013
Undergraduate Advisory Board: September 8, 2013
First-Year Advisory Board: September 10, 2013
Members will be selected and notified by mid-September, and the 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:
The Richard and Nancy Riess Graduate Student Reading Room is located on the second floor of Perkins Library in Room 211, next to the Staff Lounge.
In order to make the lives of our hard-working graduate students easier, we’re setting aside 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 second 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 Perkins Library Service Desk on the main floor, 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 Perkins Service Desk for the reading room code.
Students with questions about access to the space should contact Michael Finigan, Head of Access and Delivery Services (michael.finigan@duke.edu), or Emily Daly, Head of the User Experience Department (emily.daly@duke.edu).
Map of Perkins Library, Second Floor, showing the location of the graduate student reading room.
Enter your research paper and you could win $1,000 cash!
The Lowell Aptman Prizes and Chester P. Middlesworth Awards 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!
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 deadline for both awards is May 15, 2013.
All winners will be recognized at a reception held the Friday afternoon of Duke Family Weekend (October 25, 2013), where they will receive certificates and $1,000.
The Duke University Libraries are now accepting applications for membership on the 2012-2013 Undergraduate Advisory Board, First-Year Advisory Board, and Graduate and Professional Advisory Board. Members of these student 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.
All three boards are now taking applications or nominations. Deadlines for applying are:
Graduate and Professional Advisory Board: September 7
Undergraduate Board: September 9
First-Year Board: September 10
Members will be selected and notified by late September, and the groups will begin to meet by early October. More information is available on the Libraries’ website, where you will also find links to the applications and nomination forms.
For more information for any questions about these opportunities, contact:
Graduate and Professional Advisory Board
Robert Byrd
Associate University Librarian for Collections and User Services robert.byrd@duke.edu
919-660-5821
“I read an article about that a while ago. No – wait. I cited it in a paper… What was the title again? The author’s name started with a J, I think.”
Perkins-Bostock Library offers a series of workshops for Zotero, RefWorks and EndNote. If you’d like to sign up, please do so here. Some of the benefits of these citation managers include storage of .pdfs or links to .pdfs, organization of citations and exporting bibliographies according to a variety of styles. Each of these programs also allows you to cite your references while you compose your research papers.
If you are trying to decide which workshop to take, ask your favorite professor what she or he uses to manage their citations. (In general, Zotero is used by researchers in the humanities, and EndNote is preferred by scientists and social scientists.) Keeping your research organized is smart and will be beneficial to you when it comes time to write your senior thesis, study abroad or write your graduate school applications.
This post is brought to you by Alerts! – a special section of Library Hacks. Weekly, you can look forward to new database announcements, updates, and (rare) outage notices. Stay tuned!
– Audiobooks from Recorded Books Incorporated via NC Live
Duke Libraries will be offering a great selection of downloadable audiobooks later this month, according to NC Live:
“On Monday, September 19th, NC LIVE will disable the MyiLibrary Audio Books platform from use. Beginning September 19th, you will no longer be able to access or download audio books via the MyiLibrary service.” Instead, a new audio book provider and platform – Recorded Books One Click service – will be available later this fall. The new Recorded Books platform will be an improvement with regard to download and searching capabilities.
– Information set free!
JSTOR announced today it is making journal content published prior to 1923 in the United States and prior to 1870 elsewhere freely available to anyone, anywhere in the world. This Early Journal Content includes discourse and scholarship in the arts and humanities, economics and politics, and in mathematics and other sciences. It includes nearly 500,000 articles from more than 200 journals. To learn more and to watch a video tutorial on how to access Early Journal Content, click here.
NEW databases:
– DRAM – Database of Recorded American Music
From the DRAM website : “DRAM is a not-for-profit resource providing educational communities with on-demand streaming access to CD-quality audio (192kbps Mp4), complete original liner notes and essays from independent record labels and sound archives. Continuing in the tradition of DRAM’s sister company New World Records, one of DRAM’s primary focuses is the preservation and dissemination of important recordings that have been neglected by the commercial marketplace, recordings that may otherwise become lost or forgotten.
Currently DRAM’s collection contains more than 3,000 albums worth of recordings from a distinctive set of 26 independent labels, and we are continually working to add more content. The basis for the current collection is the diverse catalogue of American music recordings by New World Records. From folk to opera, Native American to jazz, 19th century classical to early rock, musical theater, contemporary, electronic and beyond, New World has served composers, artists, students and the general public since its inception in 1975 with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.” (Quote source and more information from DRAM.)
Contact librarian: Laura Williams
Subject Categories: Arts & Humanities – Music
– Naxos Video Library
From the Naxos Video Library: “more than 250 full-length videos of concerts, operas, ballets, and documentaries from prestigious performing arts labels such as Arthaus Musik, Dacapo, Dynamic, EuroArts, H‰nssler Classic, Medici Arts, Naxos, Opus Arte and TDK. Featuring performances from legendary artists including Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Martha Argerich, Gerald Finley, and celebrated conductors such as Arturo Toscanini, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev and many more, videos are available to stream at 700 Kbps (standard quality) and 2 Mbps(high quality) and the service is compatible with both PC and Mac computers.”
Functions and features:
Conductor Simon Rattle
Ability to stream videos at 700 Kbps (standard quality) and 2 Mbps (high quality) resolutions
Create custom clips, which can be edited and added to individual playlists
Access to pre-defined video chapters, as well as individual arias and scene breaks of operas
Subtitles in up to 5 languages
The ability to follow along with scrolling libretto text
View video as Full Screen, 2/3 Screen or 1/4 Screen
Advanced search functionality, including the ability to search by category, role, composer, artist, production, personnel, work venue or festival (Quote source and more information)
Contact librarian: Laura Williams
Subject Categories: Arts and Humanities, Music, Film/Video; Area Studies and Cultures – Film/Video
– Political Science Complete (PSC)
From EBSCO: “PSC contains full text for more than 530 journals, and indexing and abstracts for over 2,900 titles, (including top-ranked scholarly journals), many of which are unique to the product. PSC has a worldwide focus, reflecting the globalization of contemporary political discourse.” Topical coverage includes : Comparative politics,Humanitarian issues, International relations, Law and legislation, Non-governmental organizations, Political theory” ( Quote source, title list and more.)
What do librarians think? This database received a “Highly Recommended” rating in a 2010 issue of Choice, the American Library Association’s review magazine.
Contact librarian: Catherine Shreve
Subject Categories: Social Sciences – Political Science
– IPA Source (Transcriptions and Literal Translations of Songs and Arias)
From the IPA site: “Online since 2003, IPA Source is the web’s largest library of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions and literal translations of opera arias and art song texts. Now with over 5598 texts including 955 aria texts! Using the dropdown menus, search for titles by composer, poet, title, opera aria, or Latin text.” Tip: This resource requires the Aodbe Acrobat reader. (Quote source)
Subject Categories: Arts and Humanities – Music
Electronic resources such as e-journals and databases are generally accessible only to Duke community members such as faculty, staff and students.
This in just yesterday from Zotero’s blog: “A new third-party plugin called Zotpress is now available. It runs on WordPress, the open source platform widely used for personal, professional and course websites and blogs. Zotpress was created by community member Katie Seaborn, and it allows you to pull and organize items from your or another Zotero library into your WordPress site. The plugin harnesses the power of Zotero’s server API by grabbing library data dynamically and presenting it outside Zotero.
So why would you use it? Zotpress is great for scholars or job hunters who want to easily organize their CVs or resumes on their personal websites. Teachers can use it as well to present bibliographies to students. Or, if you just want to share some stuff you’ve been reading or studying, you can use Zotpress for that, too. In short, Zotpress is useful because it expands on Zotero’s mission by offering a new and easy interface to share your data freely with the world.”
This is great timing for Duke, because Duke WordPress was just updated to version 3.1.2 earlier this week. For members of the Duke community using WordPress for classes, group projects or multimedia presentations, you can now easily show your scholarly side, using Zotpress. For more information about Duke WordPress, contact the OIT Help Desk, and for more information about Zotpress, ask Ciara Healy, support librarian for Zotero.
The HathiTrust* partnership with Summon is about finding materials in new ways by taking advantage of technology. HathiTrust is a group formed by the 25 libraries participating in the Google Book Search and book digitization project. The HathiTrust/Summon partnership asks: How can we get more information to more people to enable conversations and solve information problems? The short answer is through digitization and full text searching. Getting more information to more people is rooted in two aspects of the the new norm: If it isn’t online it isn’t accessible and library content access expectations have changed from days to hours to right now. With Summon, currently used at Duke, library patrons will be able to easily search the HathiTrust collection.
HathiTrust –
“Preservation with access” is their tag line and with the Trust, they wish to create a collective space to meet a collective need. Its goal is to be, in essence, a comprehensive repository of published literature, plus access and preservation, primarily thru digitization. HathiTrust emphasizes long term preservation but not without access and sustainability. The scope of their holdings include 12 million digitized volumes in 2011 alone. Of all of the digitized volumes in the HathiTrust, only 26% are in copyright and the rest is in the public domain. Almost 50% of the copyrighted content is material published since 1960. According to the Trust, most major research libraries will be able to find 45% of their content in HathiTrust’s collection by December 2011.
Summon –
In partnership with HathiTrust, Summon increases user access to works in the public domain. Summon is what is called a “discovery layer” that is in front of many different kinds of databases. Summon indexes the contents of databases and other resources so it can quickly return results from multiple collections at once. Though you may not realize it, Summon is the Articles search tab found on the Duke Library front page. Summon is currently ingesting (yes, this is the technical term) HathiTrust’s index. Through Summon, a user’s query will be searched in databases, a local library’s catalog and HathiTrust content, all at the same time.
The partnership hopes to launch this summer coinciding with the American Library Association’s annual meeting in New Orleans, June 2011. However, not every library that has a Summon-powered discovery layer will necessarily search HathiTrust content. A library can choose the following options with regard to HathiTrust’s content: Opt to include all of the information HathiTrust offers, or opt to include just the public domain content on not include HathiTrust content in the results. When searching using the Articles tab, patrons will be able to click a “Search beyond your library” link to access HathiTrust and other content.
Duke libraries would like to know what you think of the increased access to HathiTrust’s content that will be offered this summer. Specifically, how much of Hathi’s content should appear in the Articles tab search results – all of it, just the public domain documents or just the ability to click through to the HathiTrust content?
*Hathi is pronounced either “hottie” or “hah-tee”. Also, Hathi or Haathi means Elephant in Hindi.
Are you taking a distance ed course this semester? Do you need to find a proctor for your exam? Check out these resources that may help.
There is a great interactive map of proctoring sites approved by the UNC system. Check it out. Included on the map is the location, what is provided, and the cost at each site.
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