http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/ en Copyright 2010 Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:00:30 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Northwestern Associate University Archivist Janet Olson has been appointed to the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board. She will begin serving a three-year term starting in October 2010—which happens to be American Archives Month. ISHRAB, as this organization is known, is an arm of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). ISHRAB serves as the state-level review body for records grant proposals from libraries and archives within the state of Illinois. It is also a coordinating body for facilitating cooperation between historical records depositories and other information agencies within the state. ISHRAB supports at the state level the mission of the NHPRC, "to ensure understanding of our nation's past by promoting, nationwide, the identification, preservation, and dissemination of essential historical documentation." Click here for more information on the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board. This is the second honor which Janet has received in recent months. In March, Janet was named the 2010 recipient of the Midwest Archives Conference’s Distinguished Service Award. Congratulations, Janet! http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2010/07/janet_olson_appointed_to_illin.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2010/07/janet_olson_appointed_to_illin.html Home Page Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:00:30 -0600 http://www.library.northwestern.edu/archives/exhibits/willard/willard.html. To create the virtual exhibit, the contents of each display case have been digitized as a separate online "chapter," including an image of each photograph, document, or artifact, along with the full captions. For ease of access, the virtual "chapters" are in PDF format, and each contains links to the previous and next chapters. A list of resources forms the final chapter. The exhibit looks at how Willard's reformist vision was shaped by her experiences in Evanston--the "Classic Town" she called home for forty years--, and with Northwestern University, where she served as the first Dean of Women. Materials in the exhibit came from the Northwestern University Archives and from the Frances Willard House Museum and Library/Archives in Evanston. The exhibit was curated by Janet Olson, and the virtual exhibit was created by Yvonne Spura. ]]> http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2010/05/frances_willard_rides_again_wi.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2010/05/frances_willard_rides_again_wi.html Home Page Tue, 04 May 2010 11:33:47 -0600 D.J. Hoek has been named the Alice Berline Kaplan Institute Library Fellow for 2010-11. A three-member jury composed of AUL Jeff Garrett, Assembly representative Karen Miller, and current library fellow John Russell selected D.J.'s proposal from a very strong field. The jury's recommendation has been accepted by University Librarian Sarah Pritchard. D.J. will begin his year-long fellowship in September 2010. The 2010-11 Kaplan Institute Library Fellow intends to research connections between jazz-oriented record companies and 20th-century experimental music, taking as his case study a pioneering series of 20th-century classical music recordings that, surprisingly, was produced and issued by a company remembered today mainly for revolutionary jazz releases. Entitled "From Bird to Cage: The Circumstances and Aesthetic Rationale behind the Dial Library of Contemporary Classics," this project builds upon D.J.'s long-cultivated interest in intersections between jazz and contemporary music. It will draw on primary and secondary sources at Northwestern as well as significant primary sources held elsewhere, especially the papers and correspondence of Ross Russell, founder and operator of Dial Records between 1946 and 1955, which reside at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Congratulations to D.J., thanks to the members of the jury, and special thanks to everyone who submitted proposals for this year's competition! We look forward to D.J.'s tenure as Library Fellow and to the fruits of his work and research, which will be presented to the Kaplan Institute and his library colleagues in spring of next year. http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2010/04/dj_hoek_selected_201011_kaplan.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2010/04/dj_hoek_selected_201011_kaplan.html Home Page Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:29:22 -0600 The prominent Israeli children's writer Uri Orlev (b. 1931), author of The Island on Bird Street and other famous works on the experience of Jewish children and young people in World War II and in the new state of Israel, has donated 150 editions of his books to Northwestern University Library. In addition to books in the original Hebrew and translations into English, the gift includes translations of his works into major world languages, such as French, German, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Japanese, but also into many other languages of the world, among them Albanian, Catalan, Korean, Vietnamese, and numerous languages of the Indian subcontinent: Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Oriya, and Telugu, among others. Almost all of these books are available for checkout and interlibrary loan via NUcat in the Curriculum Collection in 5North. Orlev has also given Northwestern hundreds of other documents relating to his career as a writer: newspaper articles, interviews, award citations, and fan letters from children all over the world. These have been integrated into our existing documentation on the writer, which includes the original dossier prepared in Israel in support of Orlev's successful candidacy for the 1996 Hans Christian Andersen Medal. Uri Orlev, originally Jerzy Henryk Orlowski, was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1931. He is a survivor both of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After the war he moved to Israel. He began writing children's literature in 1976 and has since published over 30 books, many of which have been translated, while he himself has also translated Polish literature into Hebrew. We will be celebrating his gift to Northwestern—and his 80th birthday!—with an exhibit in the New Books Alcove, Main Library, from January to March 2011. Jeffrey Garrett http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2010/03/uri_orlev_gives_books_and_docu.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2010/03/uri_orlev_gives_books_and_docu.html Home Page Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:07:58 -0600 http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/AntitrustdivASA-FINAL1.pdf), asking for ongoing judicial oversight of the Google Book Search settlement, if approved, and making other important points on behalf of the interests of libraries and academic authors. Membership on this high-profile task force is a great honor for Claire—and for Northwestern University Library—but it comes with a big workload and significant responsibility. Everyone in NUL's Special Libraries Division congratulates her and wishes her well on this new and important assignment. -Jeff Garrett, AUL for Special Libraries ]]> http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/12/claire_stewart_named_to_alas_g.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/12/claire_stewart_named_to_alas_g.html Home Page Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:40:21 -0600 here.]]> http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/12/special_collections_archives_p.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/12/special_collections_archives_p.html Home Page Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:02:56 -0600 Sound Design: The Rise and Demise of Album Art is a new exhibit that celebrates the glory days of the album cover, explores its dual identity as an art form and a marketing strategy, and mourns the loss of a consumer experience that has been gradually extinguished by the advent of downloadable music. Classic flower-power covers of the 60s and 70s--the original skull-and-roses cover on the Grateful Dead's eponymous 1972 release or the psychedelic, fish-eye portrait of Jimi Hendrix on his 1967 album, Are You Experienced—alternate with the dignified covers and distinctive crown-of-tulips logo of Deutsche Grammophon, the brainchild of advertising consultant Hans Domizlaff (1892–1971), now recognized internationally as one of the fathers of modern marketing. This fascinating exhibit, drawn from the vast collection of more than 25,000 LPs in the Northwestern Music Library, was curated by Music Library and Art Collection staffers Greg MacAyeal, Stephanie Hewson, Lindsay King, and Morris Levy. It runs through September 10, 2009. More information can be found here. Then, in the corridor to Deering Library, the exhibit Daniel Burnham at Northwestern marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of architect Daniel H. Burnham's Plan of Chicago by adding a very local touch to the current city-wide celebrations. This mastermind of big-city planning became a resident of suburban Evanston in 1887 and designed over twenty buildings in the area. Although Northwestern can claim just one Burnham building—Fisk Hall, built in 1898—Burnham's connection with Northwestern dates to 1895, when he received an honorary degree, and continued to 1905, when he submitted several potential "Plans of Northwestern" to the Board of Trustees. This exhibit, co-sponsored by the University Library and the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, and featuring materials from the University Archives, includes documents and photographs, blueprints from the construction of Fisk Hall, and sketches of Burnham's proposals for a redesigned Evanston campus—which make for an interesting comparison with the Plan of Chicago he produced a few years later. The exhibit, which will continue into the fall, was curated by Associate University Archivist Janet Olson. For more information, please click here. Finally, upstairs in Deering Library, we celebrate Northwestern University Library's extensive collection of international children's literature with the exhibit Best of Bologna: Edgiest Artists of the 2008 International Children's Book Fair. Produced in collaboration with the Bologna Book Fair and the Itabashi Art Museum in Tokyo, "Best of Bologna" features works by 23 talented children's illustrators from around the globe—Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Iran, Japan, and Russia, among other countries—a selection from an original pool of more than 3,000 artists who competed to be featured in Bologna at the world's largest and most important annual children's book event. The exhibit includes a movie about the Bologna Fair created by Ayami Moriizumi along with personal statements from each of the illustrators, offering intriguing glimpses into the ideas and experiences that inspire these artists. "Best of Bologna," curated by Special Libraries staff members Kim Specht and Jeff Garrett, will run through October 8, 2009. Click here for more information. All exhibits are free and open to the public during the Library's public hours (Monday–Friday, 8:30–5:00). "Burnham at Northwestern" is also viewable Saturdays 8:30-noon. ]]> http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/07/three_new_special_libraries_ex.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/07/three_new_special_libraries_ex.html Home Page Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:39:23 -0600 "> http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/07/roberto_sarmiento_wins_2009_pr.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/07/roberto_sarmiento_wins_2009_pr.html Home Page Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:13:15 -0600 more)]]> http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/04/report_on_the_state_of_special_libraries_at_northwestern.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/04/report_on_the_state_of_special_libraries_at_northwestern.html Home Page Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:06:08 -0600 more information]]> http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/02/repairing_the_bonawait_window_in_deering_library.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/02/repairing_the_bonawait_window_in_deering_library.html Home Page Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:05:13 -0600 On the afternoon of Saturday, March 14, a group of MLIS students from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be visiting special libraries at Northwestern. Among the highlights of the visit will be the Africana Library, Digital Collections, the Government and Geographic Information Department, Transportation Library, and University Archives. Roberto Sarmiento, head of the Transportation Library, will be hosting the group during their visit to Northwestern. http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/02/visit_by_u_of_illinois_mlis_st.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/02/visit_by_u_of_illinois_mlis_st.html Home Page Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:04:30 -0600 ]]> http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/02/art_collection_adds_space_for.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2009/02/art_collection_adds_space_for.html Home Page Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:46:57 -0600 Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University have begun a collection called “Africa’s Response to Barack Obama.” It is the first such collection spurred by the election of a United States president. “Obama’s election is an event of enormous significance in Africa,” explains David Easterbrook, head of the Herskovits Library, which houses the largest separate collection of Africana anywhere in the world. Even before Obama won the Democratic nomination, music CDs, performance DVDs, T-shirts, posters, books, bumper stickers, bookmarks, greeting cards and materials in other formats began proliferating across the African continent to honor his achievement. “These things document not just how Obama’s achievement is being celebrated in Africa but also how Africans are interpreting and applying it to their hopes for change in their own countries,” librarian Easterbrook says. Two exhibition cases at Northwestern’s University Library now display some of those materials. One is in the first floor exhibition area of the library at 1970 Campus Drive, Evanston. Another is in the entryway to the Herskovits Library on University Library’s fifth floor. A third case -- also in the Herskovits entryway -- will be complete by the end of the week. All are on view until Dec. 31. Among the collectibles are musical CDs (don’t miss musical group Kenge Kenge’s irresistible “Obama for Change”; a T-shirt bearing portraits of Kenya’s three Os (that’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga, football star Dennis Oliech and Obama); and tickets to “Obama: The Musical” (now at the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi). Then, of course, there’s the enormously popular bumper sticker “Obama is Unbwogable!” Unbwogable? Think unshakeable. Unbeatable. Unstoppable. Sometimes a word just sounds like what it is! For further information about the “Africa’s Response to Obama” collection, call (847) 467-5918. For library hours, call (847) 491-7658. ]]> http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2008/11/northwesterns_obama_in_africa.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2008/11/northwesterns_obama_in_africa.html Home Page Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:22:16 -0600 On October 14, University Librarian Sarah Pritchard announced a reorganization within Northwestern's Special Libraries Division, one that had already been suggested informally through discussions in the space planning process. University Archives and Special Collections will be merged into a single new department, to be called "Special Collections and Archives." The purpose of this reorganization, following the example of the University of Chicago, Duke, UIC, Washington University and other ARL members, is to pull together staff with expertise in the processing, organization, and promotion of primary materials into a single larger unit, facilitating the sharing of curatorial skills and the integration of research. This also creates a single department of a size comparable to the larger departments of the division, e.g. Music and Digital Collections, and of a size more like the special collections departments of our peer institutions. As the integration of Special Collections with Archives proceeds administratively, a national search for the head of this new combined department will be undertaken, based on a revised job description. This search will probably get underway in early 2009. The new department head will of course work closely with users and with the actual special collections, archives, or both; but will be heavily and primarily engaged in external affairs, donor relations, consortial projects, publications, grants, long-range planning and policy formulation. Within this new framework, Scott Krafft will be promoted to Curator, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections and Assistant Director of Special Collections and Archives. Kevin Leonard becomes University Archivist and Assistant Director of Special Collections and Archives. The two assistant directors will be more focused on user services, content development, digital project planning and execution, and the supervision of reading room operations. These new titles and redefined responsibilities will become effective as of November 1. Several other enhancements are planned for this new department. A new professional position as manuscripts librarian will be created, to work on processing and related services in both special collections and archives. The current special collections assistant position will become permanent--it has been a one-year renewable term position. There will be a new part-time exhibits and publications assistant, supported through endowed funds, which will report directly to the AUL for Special Libraries and will help all the departments in the division. Finally, a one-year renewable term LA2 position has been approved for University Archives. For the time being there will not be any physical relocations. Tentative space planning for eventual renovations to Deering Library has already shown us several options for collocating the services, staff and collections of these units. This reorganization is intended to help both Library and Archives work more effectively and mobilize a larger pool of expertise as we confront new challenges involving primary, analog, and digital resource management. This new larger department will also, it is hoped, give these collections a more visible presence at Northwestern as well as regionally and nationally. http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2008/10/special_collections_and_univer.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2008/10/special_collections_and_univer.html Home Page Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:12:45 -0600 here. The newsletter, sent electronically to patrons, donors, and friends, highlights recent acquisitions, newly-opened holdings, and departmental news. Its purpose is to draw attention to the Archives' collections and services. One recently-developed product mentioned in the first issue of the newsletter is "On This Day in NU History," a daily blog entry featuring a pertinent event from the annals of Northwestern. On This Day can also be found on the Archives' Web site or acquired through RSS feed subscription. Please take a look and see what's new from the past. ]]> http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2008/10/university_archives_publishes_first_of_new_monthly_newsletters.html http://www.library.northwestern.edu/sl/news/2008/10/university_archives_publishes_first_of_new_monthly_newsletters.html Home Page Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:41:43 -0600