Yale University Library News
October 2008 Archives
October 7, 2008
Twofortyfive: A Web Usability and Assessment Blog
Twofortyfive is a new blog brought to you by the Library's Usability and Assessment department.
Traditionally, librarians have been dedicated to making their collections easier to discover, access, and use. Readers once had to physically come into the library and it was easy to get to know them and understand how they worked and what they needed. In the digital world, however, there is less opportunity for patron and librarian to talk to each other, because it is less common for them to interact in real time or in the same physical space. More and more collections are online, scholars are online, librarians are online too, but meaningful interactions are less frequent.
The Usability and Assessment team spend alot of time examining and evaluating the reader experience on the web and this blog is designed to improve two way communication between library staff and its users.
Posted by Yale University Library on October 7, 2008 4:47 PM
October 9, 2008
Fill Out a Survey, Win an iPod Touch
Spend twenty minutes filling out an online survey on the Library's beta Yufind catalog interface and you could win an iPod Touch. A valid Yale University e-mail account is required and Library staff are not eligible to participate. The lucky winner's name will be drawn on October 17, 2008 and readers can access the survey here.
Yufind has been available since August 22 as an alternate interface for Orbis, the Library's current catalog. In order to improve and enchance Yufind and to measure reader satisfaction, the Library welcomes feedback and comments.
Posted by Yale University Library on October 9, 2008 10:01 AM
October 13, 2008
Richard Wright, Native Son, and the Beinecke Library: Being Brought to My Senses
Jonathan Holloway, Yale Professor of History, African American Studies, and American Studies recounts visiting the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in his first month of graduate school and the transformative experience that grew out of his surprise encounter with Richard Wright's landmark text, Native Son.
You can listen to and download the podcast free via the Beinecke’s Blogs & Podcasts page and through Yale's iTunesU web site.
Posted by Rebekah Irwin on October 13, 2008 1:41 PM
October 14, 2008
Noah Webster at 250
Yale University will mark the 250th birthday of alumnus Noah Webster with a series of events on October 16-17 that range from special exhibits, lectures, and tour to birthday cupcakes inscribed with words that first appeared in Webster’s landmark 1828 dictionary. The Library's department of Manuscripts and Archives is a major sponsor of Noah Webster 250 and many of the lectures and events will take place in the Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall (128 Wall Street). A detailed schedule of events can found here.
Posted by Yale University Library on October 14, 2008 11:29 AM
October 16, 2008
Bass Library Birthday Party and Open House
Please stop by an Open House in the Thain Family Café on Friday, October 17 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. to celebrate the Bass Library's first birthday. Just one year ago, the Library opened at midnight to an estimated crowd of 1,500 who gathered on the Cross Campus. To mark the success of the Bass Library and the way in which it has become a center for collaboration between students, faculty, and library staff, coffee, cookies, and cider will be served in the Thain Family Café. Take a break from studying (or Facebook) and stop by this Friday afternoon.
A gentle reminder that beyond the Café in the Bass Library, food cannot be consumed and liquids are only allowed in approved spill-proof containers.
Posted by Yale University Library on October 16, 2008 9:51 AM
October 20, 2008
Long Road to Freedom: A 90th Birthday Tribute to Nelson Mandela
Long Road to Freedom: A 90th Birthday Tribute to Nelson Mandela
Sterling Memorial Library
October-December 2008
This exhibition traces important events in Mandela's life including his early years and schooling, his increasing militancy, political activities, arrests, and imprisonment, as well as his release and election as the first post-Apartheid president of South Africa. The exhibit also features fascinating Mandela-related ephemera, such as a pillow, a placemat, an apron, tee-shirts, a handbag, and a puzzle. Materials on display are drawn from Sterling Memorial Library, the African Collection in Manuscripts and Archives, and the collection of Dorothy Woodson, African Collection curator.
The exhibit is free and open to the public Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:45; Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.; Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.; and Sunday 12 noon to 5:45 p.m. Sterling Memorial Library is located at 120 High Street, New Haven. “Long Road to Freedom” runs until December, 2008.
Posted by Yale University Library on October 20, 2008 9:52 AM
Portraits of Painters
Portraits of Painters: Drawings by George Vertue and Horace Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting in England
Lewis Walpole Library
Farmington, Connecticut
On view until February 25, 2009
Gallery Hours: Wednesday 2:00-4:00 p.m.
The exhibition includes drawings by George Vertue (1684-1756) as well as the related prints published in volumes of Horace Walpole’s Anecdotes of Painting, published between 1762 and 1771.
The Lewis Walpole Library is a research library for eighteenth-century studies and the prime source for the study of Horace Walpole and Strawberry Hill. Its collections include significant holdings of eighteenth-century British books, manuscripts, prints, drawings and paintings, as well as important examples of the decorative arts. Housed in an historic frame house in Farmington and given to Yale by Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis and Annie Burr Lewis, the Lewis Walpole Library is a department of Yale University Library.
Posted by Yale University Library on October 20, 2008 10:31 AM
October 21, 2008
October 25: Library Open House and Parents' Weekend
The Library's annual fall Open House is this Saturday, October 25 from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Sterling Memorial Library. The event coincides with Parents' Weekend and Yale parents and members public are warmly invited to take advantage of tours, displays of special collections, and other fun events. A full schedule follows below. For more information, contact Tam Rankin.
10:30–11:15 a.m.: Tour of the library's stained glass with Judy Schiff. Please meet opposite the Circulation Desk near the guard station.
10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.: Manuscripts and Archives Open House.
11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m.: Bass Library tour with Danuta Nitecki. Please meet in the Thain Family Café.
12:30–2:30 p.m.: Tours of the Sterling Memorial Library's public areas. A new tour leaves every 30 minutes; the first begins at 12:30 p.m. and the last at 2:30 p.m. Tours take approximately 40 minutes. Please meet opposite the Circulation Desk near the guard station.
The Library's Preservation Department will also have an information table in the Sterling nave and Yale University Library merchandise will be on sale. Start your Christmas shopping early!
Posted by Yale University Library on October 21, 2008 12:09 PM
October 26, 2008
Blood and Soil: Genocide in World History, October 29
Ben Kiernan
A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History & Director, Genocide Studies Program
Yale University
Wednesday, October 29, 4:00 p.m.
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, 128 Wall Street
Reception to follow | Free and open to the public
For thirty years Ben Kiernan has been deeply involved in the study of genocide and crimes against humanity. He has played a key role in unearthing confidential documentation of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge and his writings have transformed our understanding not only of twentieth-century Cambodia, but also of the historical phenomenon of genocide.
Kiernan examines outbreaks of mass violence from the classical era to the present, focusing on worldwide colonial exterminations and twentieth-century case studies including the Armenian genocide, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin’s mass murders, and the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides. He identifies connections, patterns, and features that in nearly every case gave early warning of the catastrophe to come: racism or religious prejudice, territorial expansionism, and cults of antiquity and agrarianism.
Posted by Yale University Library on October 26, 2008 9:36 AM
October 28, 2008
Future Social Science Library and StatLab Focus Groups
Graduate students in the social sciences are invited to attend focus groups to discuss future plans for the Social Science Library and StatLab in light of Yale's plans to build two new residential colleges in the Prospect-Sachem triangle. For more information and to register, click here.
Posted by Yale University Library on October 28, 2008 10:36 AM
October 31, 2008
Looking for Richard Wright
In this new Netcast from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Caryl Phillips, Professor of English at Yale University and the author of eight novels, two anthologies, and three works of non-fiction, describes his process of writing the introduction to the Vintage Books, British edition of Richard Wright’s landmark text, Native Son. The Richard Wright Papers are held at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
You can listen to and download the podcast free via the Beinecke’s Blogs & Podcasts page and through Yale's iTunesU web site.
Posted by Rebekah Irwin on October 31, 2008 10:18 AM
Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the OED
The Library and Oxford University Press sponsored a panel lecture on October 1, 2008 to celebrate the 80th birthday of the OED, the comprehensive dictionary of the English language. The speakers were Fred Shapiro, Simon Winchester, Jesse Sheidlower, and Ammon Shea, and each brought unique and engaging insights to this discussion of the history, function, and future of the dictionary.
The OED was formally launched June 6, 1928, and it took 70 years to compile the initial 10 volumes, which contained almost 415,000 words. Former British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin called the creation of the OED “the greatest enterprise of its kind in history.” Today, the OED fills 20 volumes and weighs 137 pounds. It has also been available on the Internet since 2000 as the OED Online.
You can listen to and download the netcast for free via Yale iTunes U web site.
Posted by Yale University Library on October 31, 2008 11:33 AM