February 2015 Archives

February 27, 2015

Join over 50 library staff in the SML nave on March 10, 1-4pm, for a showcase of some of the fascinating work going on behind the scenes at the Library. 

Over the last few years, the staff of the Yale University Library has been showcasing their work at an annual event sponsored by the Library Staff Appreciation and Recognition Committee (L-SARC). Because of the growing enthusiasm and positive feedback, the event is now being opened to the full Yale community and to the wider public.

Just a few examples of the work that will be on display include the cataloging of Ajami texts from West Africa; reducing stress and promoting mental health through the use of therapy dogs in the library; treasures from the South Asian and Southeast Asian collections; a variety of digital collections available through the Divinity Library; and several projects showing how technology, research and data are impacting the work of the library. All in all, there will be about 50 presenters from all across the Yale Library system.

The event will take place in the beautifully renovated nave of Sterling Memorial Library. Staff will be on hand to give demonstrations and to talk about their work – this is something you don’t want to miss!

Feel free to stop by and help us spread the word about this wonderful opportunity to see some of the behind-the-scenes work going on in the Yale Library.

Post on February 27, 2015 - 3:20pm |

February 27, 2015

We are delighted to announce that, a new exhibit “Henry C. Fenn: American Chinese Language Authority & Early Western Traveler to China” has just been installed in the East Asian Reading Room (2nd floor on the Sterling Memorial Library). Henry C. Fenn (1894-1978) was a noted American authority on the Chinese spoken language who taught at the Yale Institute of Far Eastern Languages from the late 1940s to early 1960s and was also the Director of the Institute from 1952 to 1962. Born in Peiping (present Beijing), he was son of the Reverend Dr. Courtenay Hughes Fenn, a Presbyterian missionary to China and compiler of The Five Thousand Dictionary. While working at the Yale Institute of Far Eastern Languages, he developed the "Yale system" of Chinese grammar and became widely known as one of the originators of the so-called “blitz” method of teaching students to speak Chinese. Growing up in Beijing, Fenn travelled extensively to northern and southern China during the 1920s and 1930s and took a great number of photos to record natural scenery, cultural relics, and various social aspects of Chinese culture. Most of his photos are well kept by his grandson Thomas Fenn who is the Director of the Center for the Study of Ancient Pyro-Technology at Yale. This exhibit features selected publications authored or edited by H.C. Fenn on the study and teaching of Chinese language, as well as his travel photos on social events and religious practices in northern China from T. Fenn’s collections.

Post on February 26, 2015 - 7:00pm |

February 24, 2015

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library has announced the winners of the 2015 Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes at Yale. The writers, who hail from the United States, United Kingdom, Nigeria, and South Africa, were chosen confidentially in three categories — fiction, non-fiction, and drama. Honored for their literary achievements as well as their potential, the winners will each receive $150,000 to support their work.

The 2015 winners are: in fiction, Teju Cole, Helon Habila, and Ivan Vladislavić; in non-fiction, Edmund de Waal, Geoff Dyer, and John Jeremiah Sullivan; and in drama, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Helen Edmundson, and Debbie Tucker Green.

The Windham-Campbell Prizes were established in 2013 by novelist Donald Windham and Sandy M. Campbell to call attention to literary achievement and provide writers with the opportunity to focus on their work independent of financial concerns. There is no submission process, and winners are determined by a global group of invited nominators, a jury in each category, and a selection committee.

“The Windham-Campbell Prizes were created by a writer to support other writers,” said Michael Kelleher, director of the program. “Donald Windham recognized that the most significant gift he could give to another writer was time to write. In addition to the prestige it confers, the prize gives them just that — with no strings attached."

De Waal, a British artist and author, said that winning the prize was an “extraordinary and life-changing experience.”

“I still cannot believe the news,” he said. “Writing is slow and solitary, a passage through places and ideas, that can and has taken me years. I am moved that this award was created out a love of books and to be associated with this alone, is a tremendous honor.”

South African writer Vladislavić has been “in a bit of a daze” since receiving the news that he was a recipient of prize. “It is astonishingly generous and will make a decisive difference to my writing life. Thank you for recognizing the work I’ve already done and for supporting the work I still want to do.”

“I'm shocked. And grateful. And shocked,” said U.S. playwright Drury upon hearing the news of the award. “To say this prize is life changing is an understatement. It reorders the basic realities of my personal and professional existence. It’s alchemical. It’s radically generous. I am simultaneously honored, humbled, and dumbfounded.”

In September, the winners will gather from around the world at Yale to receive their awards. The ceremony will be followed by an international literary festival celebrating their work.

For biographies and photos of the nine prizewinners, visit the Windham Campbell website.

Post on February 24, 2015 - 12:07pm |

February 20, 2015

Friday February 27
3:00-4:00 pm
Room 218, Sterling Memorial Library

Thomas Fenn, Director of the Center for the Study of Ancient Pyro-Technology

Chinese Language and Culture: Remembering Henry C. Fenn

An opening talk for a new exhibit “Henry C. Fenn: American Chinese Language Authority & Early Western Traveler to China” (East Asian Reading Room, Sterling Memorial Library)

Sponsored by the East Asia Library and Council on East Asian Studies. Desserts and drinks will be provided.

Post on February 19, 2015 - 7:00pm |

February 16, 2015

Thursday, February 26, 2015 1:30-3:30pm
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall

In the latest Day of Data series of events, Dr. Harlan Krumholz will discuss Big Data @ Yale and other initiatives of the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation. Big Data @ Yale aims to develop and deliver methodological approaches and tools that will advance the ability to generate meaningful knowledge from large, complex health care data collections. There will be time for audience Q&A.

Harlan Krumholz is a cardiologist, health care scientist and health care improvement expert at Yale University where he is the Harold H. Hines, Jr. Professor of Medicine. He is Director of the Yale-New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) and of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at Yale.

Ronald R. Coifman is Phillips professor of mathematics at Yale University. Professor Coifman is leading a research program to develop new mathematical tools for efficient transcription and organization of data, with applications to feature extraction, learning classification and denoising. In particular over the last few years he is focusing on the integration of heterogeneous medical and economic data streams, into networks for risk assessment and regime definition.

Post on February 16, 2015 - 1:35pm |

Join the community of research libraries in celebrating Fair Use Week from February 23-27! Fair use is a limitation on a copyright holder’s exclusive rights providing that others may use the creator’s work without seeking permission. Determining fair use is guided by a 4-factor test. Yale Library has created a guide for information about fair use and Yale’s Office of General Counsel, a fair use analysis tool and copyright web site. Read about fair use now and find out how this doctrine can help you with your research and studies!

Post on February 16, 2015 - 10:43am |

The Lewis Walpole Library is delighted to announce the recipients of this year’s Charles A. Ryskamp Travel Grants.

Yale seniors Tiraana Bains, History, and Mikko Salovaara, East Asian Studies and Economics, have each been awarded a Charles A. Ryskamp Travel Grant to support research at the Lewis Walpole Library in connection with their senior essays. Ms. Bains's project is entitled "Inter-racial Intimacies: The Evolution of British Attitudes towards Mixed Relationships in the Bengal Presidency, 1764-1793." She expects to focus on why inter-racial relationships in India were increasingly regarded as problematic by British authorities, as demonstrated by the restrictions imposed on the offspring of such relationships in the last decade of the eighteenth century, and through this she will shed light on the origins and development of racial stratification within the British Empire. Mr. Salovaara's research focuses on the unintended effects of the deliberate adoption of garden design styles in England and China, and he will seek to explain how well each culture's styles succeeded in their adopted societies.

The grant funds travel for the students between New Haven and Farmington, occasional accommodation at the Timothy Root House, an eighteenth-century residence on the Farmington campus, and Library staff are available to provide research consultation guidance throughout the period of study.

Charles A. Ryskamp, director of the Pierpont Morgan Library (1969-1986) and of the Frick Collection (1987-1997), was a long-time member of the Lewis Walpole Library Board of Managers from 1980 until his death in 2010. Mr. Ryskamp was a keen supporter of young scholars in the humanities, and the Charles A. Ryskamp Travel Grant was established to carry on his legacy by providing support to Yale undergraduates for work on their senior essays.

Applications are accepted during the period prior to or during the research phase of the senior essay project. All students whose senior essay projects would benefit from research conducted in the Lewis Walpole Library’s rich collections of materials from the British world of the long eighteenth-century are encouraged to apply.

For more information about the Charles A. Ryskamp Travel Grant, click here.

Post on February 10, 2015 - 1:44pm |

February 11, 2015

Yale University Library has been offered trials for the following three Chinese studies databases from East View:

1. China Statistical Yearbooks Database 中国经济社会发展统计数据库 (CSYD) is a leading database of statistical data in China, which collects some most important statistical yearbooks published by Mainland China presses, covering various kinds of census and survey data. CSYD serves the functions of full-text browsing and downloading of statistical yearbooks, statistical research, and personalized data mining and analysis. Access is provided through Chinese and English interfaces:

Chinese interface: http://tongji.oversea.cnki.net/chn/navi/NaviDefault.aspx (用户指南:http://tongji.oversea.cnki.net/chn/help/manual/introduce/introduce-1.htm)
English interface: http://tongji.oversea.cnki.net/oversea/engnavi/navidefault.aspx (User Guide:http://tongji.oversea.cnki.net/oversea/CSYD_Userguide.pdf)

2. Chinese Yearbook Full-text Database 中国年鉴全文数据库 http://oversea.cnki.net/Kns55/brief/result.aspx?dbPrefix=CYFD provides detailed, timely, comprehensive and systematic access to authoritative facts, statistics, activities and events of national and regional significance. Researchers can examine a region, industry or population segment from key data indicators of politics, the economy, science, technology, culture and education. In addition to the (J) Economics & Management Yale currently subscribes, three more series, (F) Literature/ History/ Philosophy, (G) Politics/ Military Affairs/ Law, and (H) Education & Social Sciences, are included in this trial.

3. China Economy, Public Policy, and Security Database 皮书数据库 http://dlib.eastview.com/browse/udb/1610
Pishu, which literally means "cover-books," are high-value analytical reports intended to guide policymaking in the People's Republic of China. Pishu are published by the prestigious Social Sciences Academic Press, a branch of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. These reports feature exclusive research and analysis by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and authors from similar institutions, and present objective analysis versus official government messaging on strategic issues. They may be considered somewhat analogous to the United States Congressional Research Service reports and analysis reports published by the RAND Corporation.

Post on February 10, 2015 - 7:00pm |

February 11, 2015

Thanks to all of you who supported the purchase of the database. We are happy to announce the new available databaseGunsho ruijū (群書類従) to Yale University community.

URLhttp://japanknowledge.com/lib/shelf/gunshoruiju/?5

PLEASE NOTE: 
If you have an issue to connect other JapanKnowlege contents like 日本国語大辞典, 新編 日本古典文学全集 and 日本歴史地名大系, please log out once and log in back to the databases using the separate url (http://japanknowledge.com/library/).

About Gunsho Ruijū 群書類従 online
This set consists of important collections relating to Japanese literary classics and historical records in a variety of areas such as history, literature & language, religion, customs, art, performing art, education, politics, economics, law and geography, etc. The database provides full-text search function of this very authoritative reference sources.

For more information on the database please go to the link below:
https://japanknowledge.com/contents/gunshoruiju/index.html (Japanese)
http://japanknowledge.com/library/en/jkbooks.html/ (English)

Post on February 10, 2015 - 7:00pm |

February 10, 2015

OntheBoardsArtists

On the Boards, a company founded in 1978 and based in Seattle, focuses on contemporary theater, dance, and performance. OntheBoards.tv is a database that brings together high-definition streaming videos of full-length performances by an international range of artists, including Young Jean Lee, Jan Fabre, and Teatro Línea de Sombra, professionally filmed and edited in collaboration with the artists in order to reach audiences around the world.

More suggestions about how to find videos of performances are on the Drama LibGuide.

Post on February 10, 2015 - 9:12am |