February 2014 Archives

February 5, 2014

Snowy weather conditions on Wednesday February 5th

The Yale University Library is open today. However, due to the poor road conditions and staff shortages, the following services will not be available:

The Sterling Memorial Library Microform Reading Room will be closed.

The Geology Library will be closed.

Library delivery services are cancelled this morning. We will reassess travel conditions at noon and make a determination about afternoon deliveries at that time.

Please check http://emergency.yale.edu/ for updates on university services. Information on the university’s hazardous weather policy may be found at: http://working.yale.edu/in-the-know/important-workplace-policy-reminders

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 5, 2014 9:03 AM

The Bladder Matters

Tuesday, March 4, 2014 1:00pm
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall

Although one in three women report urinary incontinence, fewer than than 50% of women with incontinence seek care. Urinary tract problems significantly detract from quality of life, and many women discontinue activities they enjoy due to leakage issues. Men can also suffer from urinary incontinence, and both women and men can develop bladder symptoms such as urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia (getting up at night to urinate), which increases in both genders with aging. Drs. Chai and Rickey will discuss the most common types of urinary incontinence; causes and risk factors; and prevention strategies and treatments, including behavioral modification, exercise, and minimally invasive surgical options.

This event is co-sponsored by Yale University Library, Yale Health and the Yale New Haven Hospital.

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 5, 2014 5:52 PM

February 7, 2014

New and Improved Interlibrary Loan

Yale University Library has updated the request forms and associated web pages for its Interlibrary Loan and Scan and Deliver service. Users can check out the redesign at: http://illiadrouting.library.yale.edu/default.aspx?service=http%3a%2f%2fill.library.yale.edu%2fILLiad%2flogin.ashx%3fReturnUrl%3d%2filliad%2f

The redesign of the Interlibrary Loan and Scan and Deliver pages incorporates current design standards and the range of request fulfilment services offered by YUL, while delivering a consistent user experience throughout the YUL website. The updated pages will serve as a new foundation for additional automation in request placement and processing.

Interlibrary Loan is part of the evolving Get It @Yale service designed to assist users in obtaining material from Yale University Library’s print and electronic collections and from libraries around the world. The newly revised forms present a streamlined navigation and selection process to users when placing requests for scanned or print copies of materials. Users can now easily cancel, modify and monitor the status of their pending requests and view all available and historical requests.

Users should anticipate no impact on their existing accounts and filled/pending requests. All data has been preserved during the redesign. If you would like to provide any feedback on the redesign please use the Feedback link within the Interlibrary Loan site.

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 7, 2014 9:35 AM

Yale’s Beinecke Library acquires rare English translations of the Bible

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University has acquired two “Tyndale Bibles” — the first printed English translations of biblical texts — which are among the rarest and most influential works in the English language.

The acquisition consists of two volumes: William Tyndale’s translation of the Pentateuch — the first five books of the Old Testament — published in 1534, and his translation of the New Testament published in 1536. Fewer than a dozen of each is known to exist worldwide. There are only two copies of the Pentateuch on record in North America.

William Tyndale, an English scholar and a key figure in the Protestant Reformation, was the first to translate the Bible into English from the original Hebrew and Greek texts. His were the first English biblical translations to be published via the printing press. Later English versions of the Bible, including the King James Bible, drew heavily from Tyndale’s translations. In rendering the Greek and Hebrew scripture into English, Tyndale established the basis for early modern English, which William Shakespeare and others carried forward.

“The importance of Tyndale’s biblical translations cannot be overstated,” says Kathryn James, curator of early modern books and manuscripts at the Beinecke. “He is a crucial figure in the Protestant Reformation and in the development of the modern English language — imparting a sense of clarity and rhythm missing in Middle-English prose. We are excited to share his work with scholars, students, and the public.”

According to Bruce Gordon, the Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School, Tyndale’s goal was to provide common people access to the Bible, a conviction that put him sharply at odds with Henry VIII and the Pope.

Tyndale was arrested in 1535 in Antwerp and accused of heresy. He was executed in 1536 — first strangled and then burned at the stake. Thousands of Tyndale Bibles were burned in England during the reign of Queen Mary, although Tyndale’s influence endured.

Gordon says that up to 70% of the New Testament in the King James Bible is drawn directly from Tyndale’s work.

“These are absolute landmarks of the English language, religious history, and the history of the printed book,” Gordon says. “Tyndale’s translations reformed the English language and profoundly affected the Reformation of the Church. With this acquisition, we now have access to some of his earliest translations.”

Four of the five books that comprise the Beinecke’s copy of the Pentateuch are Tyndale’s original translations, which he completed in 1530. Only the first book, Genesis, was revised, which is apparent through a variation in the type, says Gordon. Each book includes a prologue likely written by Tyndale. Tyndale only translated the Pentateuch, not the rest of the Old Testament. Miles Coverdale translated the remainder of the Old Testament into English.

The Beinecke’s copy of the New Testament was bound with a liturgical primer, or daily prayer book, from 1535. The primer’s first page features the royal coat of arms with the first initials of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. The New Testament contains some marginal annotations and prologues likely written by Tyndale.

The Beinecke Library purchased the Tyndale Bibles at auction. They are available to researchers in the library’s reading room.

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 7, 2014 9:48 AM

Exhibit Tour of "A Cure for What Ails You: Songs from the Medical Library’s Sheet Music Collection"

Thursday, February 13, 2014 11:30 AM
Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library
333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06511

There will be a curatorial tour of the newest exhibit from the Medical Library on Thursday 13th, which is free and open to the public. Please meet at the entrance to the Medical Library a few minutes before the tour is due to begin.

The exhibit celebrates a new collection of medically themed sheet music recently donated to the Medical Historical Library by William Helfand, retired pharmaceutical company executive, historian of medicine, and collector extraordinaire. There are over a thousand items in the collection on medical providers, purveyors of remedies, ailments both real and imagined, cures for all purposes (especially for lovesickness), health songs for children, and music advertising patent medicines. Most of the music was written for public entertainment, whether in London music halls, Parisian theaters, or American vaudeville and early musicals. Later songs in the collection were aired on the radio, featured in movies, recorded on record labels, or served as themes for TV shows on doctors and hospitals. Songs range from “The Cork Leg,” a traditional Irish song about a self-propelling prosthetic cork leg, to Loretta Lynn singing about the advantages of “The Pill.” The engraved and lithographed covers of the music provide striking images of medicine and popular culture. Discover the entire collection through the finding aid: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/med.pam.0005

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 7, 2014 9:50 AM

A Conversation on the Black Panthers and the FBI

Wednesday, February 26, 2014 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Sterling Memorial Library (SML), Lecture Hall, 120 High St., New Haven, CT 06511

Beverly Gage ’94 B.A., Professor of History at Yale University, will moderate a conversation on the topic of the Black Panthers and the FBI in this panel that includes the following participants:

Kathleen Cleaver ’84 B.A., ’89 J.D. is a Senior Lecturer in the African American Studies Department at Yale University and a scholar of citizenship and race. She served as the Communications Secretary for the Black Panther Party.

Ann Froines is a retired Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She was the founding member of the United Front for Panther Defense, and an organizer of the New Haven May Day rally.

John R. Williams is a New Haven attorney and legal activist who represented several New Haven Nine defendants. He also successfully prosecuted the New Haven Wiretap Litigation class action suit against local police and the FBI for illegally wiretapping nearly 1,000 people for over a decade in the late 1960s and 1970s.

A reception will follow in the adjacent Memorabilia Room. This will also be an opportunity to see the exhibit "Bulldog and Panther: The 1970 May Day Rally and Yale" which will be on view in the Memorabilia Room from February 10-May 16.

In addition, there will be a Master's Tea from 4:00-5:30pm on the 26th with Kathleen Cleaver. This will take place in the Pierson College Master's House.

These events are sponsored by Yale University Library and Pierson College and are free and open to the public.

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 7, 2014 9:55 AM

Bulldog and Panther: The 1970 May Day Rally and Yale, opening Monday, February 10th

Monday, February 10, 2014 - Friday, May 16, 2014
Sterling Memorial Library (SML), Memorabilia Room, 120 High St., New Haven, CT 06511

1969 and 1970 were politically tumultuous years in the United States and indeed around the world. Unrest in U.S. urban areas and on college and university campuses focused on racial and gender inequalities, the ongoing U.S. war in Vietnam, and demands by students for more responsive and inclusive campus decision making. On 19 May 1969 Black Panther Party (BPP) member Alex Rackley was kidnapped and killed in New Haven by other BPP members who believed he was an FBI informant. In a time of intense FBI counter-intelligence focus on neutralizing the BPP’s influence in U.S. cities, the broad swath of indictments for the murder seemed an overreach to many. The defendants were referred to as the New Haven Nine, an allusion to the famous Chicago Seven, and included Bobby Seale, national BPP Chairman, who had spoken at Yale the day of the murder. Seale was extradited to Connecticut on the approval of California Governor Ronald Reagan, and the trial was set to begin in May 1970. A large protest rally was organized on the New Haven Green, scheduled for 1-3 May 1970. This exhibit explores the events leading up to the New Haven May Day rally, and its impact on Yale, the New Haven community, and beyond.

The exhibit is curated by Sarah Schmidt, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and Bill Landis, Manuscripts and Archives. For more information contact mssa.reference@yale.edu or (203) 432-1744.

The exhibit is free and open to the public Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4:45pm.

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 7, 2014 9:58 AM

February 10, 2014

Forgotten Melodies: The Music of Nikolai Medtner

Wednesday, February 26, 2014 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
William L Harkness Hall (WLH), Sudler Hall, 100 Wall Street
100 Wall St., New Haven, CT 06511

Join us for a recital of the music of Nikolai Medtner by pianist, Cahill Smith.
Sponsored by the Historical Sound Recordings Collection at Yale and the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, the event is free and open to the public.

Often called "the Russian Brahms" and singled out by Rachmaninoff as the greatest composer of their generation, Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) sought to preserve classical ideals in music during the radical experiments of the 20th century. Pianist Cahill Smith of the Eastman school of Music will present an informed performer's perspective on the compositional innovations of Medtner's music, including performance and analysis of several solo piano works. The original complete recordings of Medtner performing his own works, as well as many performances by other artists, are housed at Yale's collection of Historical Sound Recordings. Many of these will be highlighted and discussed in this presentation.

For more information about Cahill Smith: http://www.cahillsmith.com/

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 10, 2014 12:49 PM

The Baseline Effect: After the Backlog

Thursday, February 27, 2014 2:00 PM
Sterling Memorial Library (SML), International Room
120 High St., New Haven, CT 06511

Speakers: Ellen Doon (Head of the Manuscript Unit, Beinecke) and Lisa Conathan (Head of Processing, Beinecke)

The Baseline Project (2010-2014) is an innovative approach to archival processing that radically improves researcher access to Beinecke manuscript collections. Faced with the imperative to improve intellectual access and control, and to shelve collections at the Library Shelving Facility, the Manuscript Unit developed new standards and workflows to eliminate a backlog of over 13,000 linear feet of unprocessed manuscript collections. As part of this project, every collection receives a MARC record, a finding aid with at least a container-level listing (for collections over 4 containers), and a record of major preservation concerns. In this SCOPA forum, we describe the Baseline approach to manuscript processing and assess its impact on circulation, research use, and reference services.

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 10, 2014 1:11 PM

Jazz and the Book Arts now on view in the Arts Library

Monday, February 24, 2014 - Monday, June 16, 2014
Robert B. Haas Family Library, 180 York St., New Haven, CT 06511

Improvisation is the word that first comes to mind for many when they think of jazz. Imagine musicians playing together, being inspired by each other’s performance, and collaborating to make something new. Many visual artists take a similar approach, especially those working in the highly collaborative field of the book arts. This exhibition showcases artists who have been inspired by jazz music and musicians to create bookworks. Additionally, it presents examples of bookworks that have been inspired by other types of music and sound.

This exhibition is a companion to the student-curated exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery: Jazz Lives: The Photographs of Lee Friedlander and Milt Hinton, on view at 1111 Chapel Street from April 4- September 7. The Haas Family Arts Library actively supports the research of the Yale University Art Gallery in addition to research by members of the Yale, national, and international arts communities.

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 10, 2014 1:16 PM

February 11, 2014

Reflections on Bindings: Using New Imaging Technology to Study Historical Bindings

This new exhibit is now on view at the Yale Law Library.

Rare book bindings are fascinating objects, which are often beautifully decorated with intricate images. Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) offers exciting new possibilities for safely capturing a book's surface decorations, revealing details that cannot be seen using traditional methods or the naked eye. A new exhibit of books treated to these innovative techniques is now on display at the Lillian Goldman Law Library.

"Reflections on Bindings: Using New Imaging Technology to Study Historical Bindings," features books from the Rare Book Collection of the Law Library, which have been analyzed using RTI to show exquisite details from early modern blind-stamped bindings. These details can help us to identify the book's early owners and understand attitudes about the books within the bindings.

The analysis was expertly undertaken by members of Yale University Library's Conservation & Exhibition Services team, who curated the exhibit. The curators are Chief Conservator Christine McCarthy and Conservation Assistants Fionnuala Gerrity, Ansley Joe, and Karen Jutzi.

The exhibit is open to the public, 9am-10pm daily, February 3 - May 24, 2014, on Level L2 in the Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

For more information, contact Mike Widener, Rare Book Librarian, at (203) 432-4494 mike.widener@yale.edu

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 11, 2014 11:42 AM

February 26, 2014

Announcement of the 2014 Winners of the Windham Campbell Literature Prizes

Yale President Peter Salovey will announce the 2014 winners of the Windham Campbell Literature Prizes on Friday, March 7th at 10am. Please join us at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, 121 Wall St., or watch via live stream at windhamccampbell.org.

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 26, 2014 11:45 AM

Selected Arabic & Persian medical books & manuscripts now accessible online

Yale University Library's Information Technology group has made another digital collection accessible via the Blacklight interface in the Hydra/Fedora repository. The collection includes some unique Arabic and Persian medical materials, housed in the Medical Historical Library. Created by scholars from the past who adopted, translated and augmented Greek and Roman medical knowledge, this corpus of materials was transmitted to Western societies during the Renaissance. It was developed in the thirteenth century and used through the twentieth century. This selection was digitized thanks to support from the Arcadia Fund. Read about this and more in this month's issue of Library Digital Initiatives & Technology News: http://enews.library.yale.edu/digital/february2014.html

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 26, 2014 2:15 PM

Page-turning technology available in Blacklight

The Blacklight interface in the Hydra/Fedora repository allows patrons to view books and manuscripts by using a page-turner. The viewing options include a one-page, two-page, or light box display and allow for the page to be turned in different directions. For example, for materials which are typically read from right to left, such as in Arabic or Persian, the patron can choose to turn the pages in that direction. To try it, click on the image to start the page-turner.

Read about this and more in this month's issue of Library Digital Initiatives & Technology News: http://enews.library.yale.edu/digital/february2014.html

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 26, 2014 2:20 PM

February 27, 2014

Graduate students invited to apply for summer fellowships at the Lewis Walpole Library

The Lewis Walpole Library offers one and two-month summer fellowships to students enrolled in a doctoral program at Yale University who are engaged in or preparing for dissertation research and whose topic of study is supported by the Lewis Walpole Library collections.

The program affords students the opportunity to spend four or eight weeks during the months of June, July, and August in residence at the Library to delve into
its collections of eighteenth-century British books, manuscripts, and graphic materials. Fellowship awards include accommodations on-site in Farmington and a stipend of either $1,950 or $3,900, depending upon the duration of the fellowship. Students are expected to be in residence and focus their research on the Library collections.

There is no application form. Applicants should submit the following materials to the Librarian of the Lewis Walpole Library:

A résumé; A brief research proposal (not to exceed three double-spaced pages), explaining the relationship between the Lewis Walpole Library's collections and the applicant's dissertation research; An approved dissertation prospectus or equivalent statement outlining the scope of the doctoral thesis; two confidential letters of recommendation sent to the Librarian, one of which should come from the applicant's dissertation advisor.

Applications for the 2014 Summer Fellowships will be accepted beginning in March, and the deadline is April 30, 2014.

For more information, please contact Margaret Powell, W.S. Lewis Librarian and Executive Director, 860-677-2140, or margaret.powell@yale.edu.

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 27, 2014 1:15 PM

Reflections on Bindings: Using New Technology to Study Historical Bindings

A new exhibit, now on view in the Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, demonstrates the use of an innovative technology called Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), which offers scholars a new way to examine tooled bookbindings.

Reflections on Bindings: Using New Technology to Study Historical Bindings is curated by Christine McCarthy, Ansley Joe, Fionnuala Gerrity, and Karen Jutzi.

RTI is a computational photographic method that allows the capture of surface details that may not be readily discernible through direct examination of an object. The RTI image is built up through numerous photographs of an object, taken with a stationary digital camera and lit from different angles. The process is enhancing scholars’ understanding of materials as diverse as papyrus fragments and marble steles and within the library world it is aiding the study of illuminated manuscripts and bookbindings.

To demonstrate what RTI is able to reveal, four blind-stamped or tooled alum-tawed bindings were chosen from the Lillian Goldman Law Library’s Rare Book collection. These volumes date from the 16th to the early 18th century. Read more at http://library.law.yale.edu/news/new-exhibit-reflections-bindings

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 27, 2014 2:05 PM

New “emulation as a service” technology opens up new opportunities for engagement with historic digital content

Emulation technology is designed to recreate the experience of interacting with digital content in its original context. It does this by recreating old computer hardware within modern software. This enables original software to be run on modern computers, where it can then be used to interact with old computer files.

Yale University Library recently hosted a visiting emulation researcher from the University of Freiburg in Germany who gave a talk at the Library: http://www.library.yale.edu/librarynews/2013/12/making_the_old_new_again_pract.html Dr. von Suchdoletz has been working as part of a set of European Union funded projects to develop a software suite that enables emulation to be provided as a service via a web browser. This exciting development opens up new opportunities for enabling users to access historic early digital content in its original context without leaving home and without having any specialist expertise.

Previously, institutions wanting to provide access to their historic digital content using emulation technology have been hesitant to do so due to the daunting technical challenges. By taking care of the (often complicated) installation, configuration and other technical issues, and providing the final environment seamlessly as a web service, this new tool provides a great solution.

Yale University is currently deploying a pilot installation of this service in order to understand how it can be offered in the future. One exciting possibility would be the ability to provide a seamless access experience in which users could browse or search the online catalog, find an old digital object, click on it, and have the object open in the original environment right within the user’s web browser.

To learn more about the service software, and to experience an example environment provided by the service, visit: http://bw-fla.uni-freiburg.de/

Posted by Amanda Patrick on February 27, 2014 2:26 PM