@library.edu the newsletter of the Swarthmore College Library
Fall 2007 Vol. 10, no. 1
The library as place: a new perspective by Peggy Seiden, College Librarian Charles Miller ’59 reflected in a recent letter about the Old Tarble library, “It was as much a home to me as any of the four dormitories where I lived during my college years… Under the clock tower was a room… for me it was a caucus room, a place where my friends and I discussed the issues of the day…” Will students who attend Swarthmore 10 or 20 years from now have similar memories of their library? Will there even be a physical building called a library then? Not everyone thinks that academic libraries have a future. They envision that traditional library functions will no longer require a physical location. Space will not be needed to store books; technology will allow library access from anywhere. Access to journal articles will be via the internet; access to books will be by e-book reader; reserve readings will all be on Blackboard; videos and music will be available on personal
devices. More study space, like those beautiful seminar rooms in the Science Center, will extend across campus. Why plan a new library building or expansion? What could Williams be thinking of by investing $128 million in a new library/classroom complex? Why not just a virtual library? I would argue that the academic library, and particularly the library at Swarthmore College, is much more than its collections or services. It is not just a space, but a place, “a unique gathering of things, meanings and values” (Thomas F. Giergyn, “A Space for Place in Sociology,” Annual Review of Sociology, 2000). The Swarthmore College Library is iconic because it is the embodiment of the most important values of the college - the pursuit of knowledge and the life of the mind. Try to imagine Swarthmore without McCabe, Cornell, or Underhill Libraries. continued on page 4
FHL curator helps the History Detectives by Terry Heinrichs The History Detectives tracked down Chris Densmore, curator of the Friends Historical Library, for his help in solving a mystery for their show that aired in late August on PBS. The mystery they hoped to solve was whether a manuscript map, ca. 1810, was an Underground Railroad map since it showed routes between Quaker meetinghouses in western Pennsylvania and southeastern Ohio. Densmore explained his conclusion in an email: “We have similar maps - at least one probably drawn by the same person of the same locality within a couple of years of the History Detectives map. Quakers were anti-slavery, a number of those moving to Ohio at this time were coming from North Carolina to get away from slavery, and there was a fair amount of early abolitionist activity in the area of the map. Was the map specifically for the Underground Railroad? No, it was a map of Quaker meetings. That being said, if someone were escaping, it would have been a useful indicator of the location of communities that were anti-slavery and sympathetic to the plight of the slave.”
Photo by Anna Headley
Gwen Wright and Chris Densmore examine the manuscript map of Quaker meetinghouses.
Gwen Wright and the crew from the History Detectives spent about 12 hours filming the interview with Densmore and a scene where they knocked on the door of a local house (actually the home of FHL Archivist Patricia O’Donnell). In its fifth season, the show investigates and tries to solve historical mysteries.
Section of a manuscript map showing meetinghouses in southwestern Pennsylvania. This map is in the FHL collection.
Competence vs. confidence: measuring the gap by Pam Harris
Photo by Annette Newman
Laila Muller ’07 presented the library with her wire sculpture interpretation of the library logo she designed with Lisa Nelson ’06; they received first prize for their logo in a contest last year. The wire sculpture includes small origami cranes in the tree, and it receives many compliments from patrons in McCabe.
Institutional repository under development by Kate Carter An institutional repository (IR) is in the early stages of development here. At its core, an IR is a database to gather, store, index, preserve, and provide access to the intellectual output of an institution. All IRs have a central set of functions and services. Primarily, it must support a number of file formats, limit access to certain users or communities, allow users to apply metadata, and provide an interface for users to search and browse content. Yet within these primary functions there are a significant number of issues and complexities that must be addressed in developing Swarthmore’s IR. Such issues include copyright, digital rights management, intellectual property, the traditional scholarly communications process, and open access. With the oldest IR having existed only a few years, only a small number of baccalaureate institutions have focused on IR development despite the considerable amount of scholarship their communities may produce. Because of the cultural variations among institutions, purposes of the IR vary greatly. They include: making research available to a global audience, preserving materials (rather than providing access), providing students access to extra materials, giving students a place to contribute content, and capturing all scholarly and creative output of the institution (or only what is selected). As we embark on this project, we are focused upon how our community would ideally like to use this resource and are looking forward to its evolution. If you have questions and ideas, please contact Kate Carter (kcarter2). 2
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Students are highly confident in their information literacy skills; but student attitudes and beliefs do not always match their abilities. Last fall, close to 50% of the incoming freshman class completed the Research Practices Survey, developed to provide baseline information about the information literacy experiences, attitudes, approaches, and skills of incoming firstyear students in 20 liberal arts institutions. Results from this survey powerfully reinforce existing findings on young adult information literacy skills: using a computer and using a computer to search effectively for relevant information are two distinct skill sets. Though comfortable engaging an electronic interface, an overwhelming majority of incoming students in the participating liberal arts institutions are not proficient in several areas of library research. The disparity between confidence and ability is apparent when comparing the data for three separate abilities: determining whether or not a source is appropriate; knowing when to cite; and knowing how to cite. An overwhelming majority of Swarthmore students, 70%, reported that determining whether or not a source is appropriate is an easy task; but 30% of those were actually not able to do so. The most disconcerting imbalance was in knowing when and how to cite. Again, 70% of the students surveyed think that knowing when to cite is very easy; yet their abilities indicate otherwise, with close to 30% of those not able to demonstrate mastery. With regards to knowing how to cite, 70% of our students indicated that it is very easy, yet 58% of all surveyed students need assistance with this task. While Swarthmore students overall seem to have a more realistic understanding of their abilities regarding library research than their peers, the results clearly indicate an over confidence in research skills, particularly in the areas of developing a list of sources, evaluating sources, and knowing when and how to cite, often considered higher level tasks in information literacy. Although Swarthmore students performed above average in most of the measured tasks, it is clear that many incoming students would benefit from reinforcement of basic citation skills and an introduction to college level research.
@library.edu Editors: Pam Harris, Terry Heinrichs, Annette Newman, Amanda Watson Thank you to Barbara Addison, Chris Densmore, Susan Dreher, Anna Headley, Alison Masterpasqua, Amy McColl, Barbara Weir, and Mary Ann Wood Email: libnews@swarthmore.edu Swarthmore College Library 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081
Reference questions: Bizarre or mundane, go ahead and ask! by Amanda Watson We sometimes hear from students who wonder what kinds of questions are appropriate to ask at library reference desks. Some people worry that their questions are too basic, too non-academic, or too weird to ask a librarian. If you’re one of them, don’t worry - we’ve heard it all, and we take all kinds of questions. To give you an idea of the range of questions we’ve answered, we took a quick poll of Swarthmore reference librarians about the strangest and most memorable questions they’ve answered. Here are a few of the results: How can I find a legitimate tattoo parlor to get a tattoo? Where can I buy good crystal glassware in Philadelphia? I’m looking for information on Chinese vampire mythology. How many rivets are in the Eiffel Tower? Where are the Bagel Factories in Philadelphia? And here are a few questions that aren’t necessarily academic, but we’re happy to answer them: I lost my cell phone / iPod / student ID / textbook / glasses / shoe! Have you seen it? [We can direct you to the Lost and Found.] Is there a stapler anywhere? [Yes - several, in fact.] Help! The compact shelving is stuck / the printer is jammed! [Never fear; we’ll unstick it.]
Photo by Annette Newman
Librarian Ed Fuller welcomes your questions.
Do you guys have headphones / laptops / DVD players I can borrow? [We do! Just ask at the circulation desk.] Where’s the bathroom? [This is probably the most popular reference question of all time. We don’t mind giving directions!] Ed Fuller, general reference librarian at McCabe, has even fielded reference questions (What are the Seven Deadly Sins? was one of them) while having lunch at Essie Mae’s Snack Bar. You’re welcome to ask us a question if you see us around campus - though you’ll undoubtedly have better luck if you talk to us when we have computers and reference books at hand.
New books for foodies 24/7 service Got a reference question but the library’s closed, or you’re off campus? Swarthmore will soon be participating in AskHerePA, a statewide online reference chat service. AskHerePA is staffed by reference librarians 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and it’s completely free. You’ll be able to reach AskHerePA by clicking on the link from our “Ask A Librarian” page, or by going to www.askherepa.org. The next time you’re desperate to find Bagel Factories in Philadelphia at three in the morning, try it out!
by Amanda Watson Whether they’re studying “Food and Literature” in the English department, “Food, Bodies, and Power” in Sociology and Anthropology, “Religion and Food” in Religion, or “History of Food in America” in History, Swarthmore students can sample an increasing number of courses with a focus on food. For those students and others, the library offers food-related books, DVDs, and journals. Humanities Librarian Anne Garrison and Mellon Intern Kristin Shonborn have also put together a research guide to food studies on the library web site: http://trilogy.brynmawr.edu/guides/History/425/. To whet your appetite, here are a few new titles at the library: Books Warren Belasco, Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food Elizabeth Collingham, Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors Nichola Fletcher, Charlemagne’s Tablecloth: A Piquant History of Feasting Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals Hervé This, Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor DVDs Good Food. “A collection of short films on food and sustainability.” Henry Jaglom’s Eating: A Very Serious Comedy About Women & Food. Women talk about their lives and food they cook. The Meaning of Food. A three-part PBS series on food and culture in America. Journals and magazines Alimentum: The Literature of Food. “The only literary review all about food.” - http://www.alimentumjournal.com/ Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. “Gastronomica uses food as an important source of knowledge about different cultures and societies...” - Darra Goldstein, Editor in Chief - http://www.gastronomica.org/about.html @library.edu Fall 2007
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The library as place: a new perspective continued from page 1
There is plenty of evidence that libraries throughout academe have a symbolic function and an importance that goes beyond their support for research and teaching. This past spring, the Chronicle of Higher Education highlighted some of the graduation traditions at colleges and universities across the country. A number of these official and unofficial rites of passage take place in and around the library. Some of these recognize the library’s symbolic role in the education of the graduate; at Reed, seniors celebrate the completion of their theses by marching from the steps of the library to the registrar’s office. Other traditions play with the serious nature of the library; at Swarthmore, the most notable example of this type of ritual is the McCabe mile, a race around the stacks on the lower level. The library is a place where the pieces of our lives – living, working, playing, learning - intersect. The experiences that people recall in libraries have most to do with the social, rather than the purely intellectual, according to Jeffrey Scherer, of Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd, an architectural firm which specializes in academic, public and special libraries. Justin Pope wrote about a growing interest in what college architects call “the third space,” places where communities “naturally gather and interact” (“College Libraries Not Just Books,’’ Washington Post, July 25, 2007). While this is not necessarily a new role for libraries, the focus on more collaborative learning, as well as trends in design of libraries that put people at the center, recognizes how the library naturally facilitates intellectual community. Since most people brand libraries as “book places,” they tend to overlook that libraries are at the junction of students’ scholarly and social lives. Scherer reported that at Carleton College, 40% of graduates marry each other and 40% of those fell in love in the library. He said that perhaps libraries place people in a more receptive state, that they foster an awareness of commonality and a safe place for the exchange of ideas. Of course, many come to the library to find quiet. An alumna who used to haunt the smoking lounge on the second floor of McCabe recalled with fondness how she could study in utter peace and quiet in a “cozy, thickening (with smoke) atmosphere.” But even for the solitary scholar, the library is a public space. Andrea Wong, ’02, studied the library for her senior thesis in Sociology/Anthropology. One student who she interviewed noted that “libraries feel like a community space… I find solace in the fact that I can … adopt a social decorum appropriate for an informal environment populated by my friends and colleagues.” One alum wrote about the “astonishing number of people who seemed to LIVE there, for the duration of finals. We’re talking sleeping bags back in the stacks… Next to each one would be piles and piles of books.” While the library may be some students’ second home, not all memories are happy. They are colored by the angst and tension engendered by the rigor of the Swarthmore curriculum. While at many colleges, students pretend to study, at Swarthmore, one alumnus wrote about the tradition of “turking,” a slang term for studying while pretending to never study. For some, it seems the library may be something out of a gothic novel. It is no wonder 4
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that alumni remember the “dark and gloomy stacks” – “it was all very austere, quiet and serious…” As one alumna wrote, “My memories of the library – the old one, dark and musty, with narrow stacks – have become blurred with time… as a result of deliberate blockage. I hated every moment I spent there… I spent four years running scared at Swarthmore, never sure how much work I really needed to do to ‘do well’.” Many a student has what can only be called a love/hate relationship with the library. Witness the more popular nicknames – McCage, McCave, the Fortress, the Dungeon. A picture begins to emerge of the library as the embodiment of much that is Swarthmore. It’s inextricably bound up with unique aspects of the Swarthmore culture – the Honors program, “formidable lists… of readings” on reserve, the academic intensity. Andrea Wong wrote that “It is in McCabe where the values of a Swattie are displayed in its purest form.” While I continue to argue that the College needs a library, it is much more difficult to say what that place should look like. As library collections, policies, and staff evolve to accommodate new forms of information and new patterns of learning, library design has come into conflict with people’s images of libraries. We haven’t reconciled our ideas about traditional libraries with this new library. There is a tension between the past and the present that keeps us from rethinking the library as place. People say they want the “grand” reading room with beamed or coffered ceilings, but they also want the cozy living room complete with fireplace. They may say they want solidity, solemnity, a sacred quality, quiet, but they also want spaces that are flexible, playful, communal, and innovative. The grand architecture and sacred quality reflect the romantic ideal of the library where pursuit of knowledge is a solitary activity. But there are indicators that that model is changing. David Weinberger, in Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder, suggests that knowing and knowledge are moving towards becoming a group process where knowledge generation will occur primarily in conversations among individuals. (Tom Peters, “The End of the Romantic Library” ALA TechSource 27:7, July 2007). Rather than diminishing, the role of the library may become even more important in the future. At ACRL’s (Association of College and Research Libraries) recent summit on the future of academic libraries, an attendee observed, “Don’t assume that people care about libraries. People care about streamlining the processes that support research and learning.” On the contrary! The risk for academic libraries is that they begin to believe that they are only in the “information services business,” not the “library business.” In fact as the OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) Perspectives Report demonstrates, libraries don’t compare well to other information providers when it comes to streamlined, efficient, and convenient support. If this were the only measure of a library’s value, then we would indeed be in trouble. People do care about libraries, because they care about libraries not merely as information services, but because they are more than the sum of their parts. They care about libraries because they are a combination of cultural, social, and intellectual places.
Video equipment upgraded by Anna Headley The video viewing areas on the top floor of McCabe received some much-needed updates over the summer. Thanks again to those of you who filled out our video facilities survey last spring.
Photos by Annette Newman
Underhill Library renovated by Donna Fournier Lots of work was done in the upper levels of Underhill Library this past summer. The librarian’s old office is now a beautiful new seminar room; the old seminar room is a group computing/viewing/listening lab; and the circulation area has been reconfigured to include a new office and special shelving for reserve materials and the compact disc collection. The entranceway, ceiling, lighting, carpeting, and many of the furnishings are new, and the ventilation has been improved. Planning began in spring 2006, and the renovation was approved by the Board of Managers in winter 2007. Many thanks go to the College, Jan Semler, our project manager, Cicada Architecture, Inc., and the students, faculty, and staff members who helped brainstorm and gave advice throughout the planning process. We hope you like the results.
New equipment The Video Classroom (320) boasts a whole new setup: large screen, high-quality projector, multi-region/multi-format DVD and VHS players, and touch-screen controls. This room will now be kept unlocked for casual use, although reservations will still be accepted and upheld. Please be careful with the volume on the new surround sound! It’s still a library... The newly-dubbed Screening Room (311) features a wallmounted plasma TV for VHS tapes and DVDs. Both of these rooms accept PC inputs for those of you who’d like to practice presentations or do group work on a shared screen from your laptop. Please ask to borrow a packet of cables at the circulation desk. New headphones are available at the circulation desk. Borrow full-size Behringer headphones or purchase earbuds for $1. New look All five viewing areas have been freshly painted. Movie posters adorn many areas for an appropriate mood. Coming soon: new lounge furniture in the Family Room (336) and Screening Room. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any help.
New in Tripod: E-books from ebrary by Anna Headley Many Swarthmore students have told us they want more and better e-books. We have obliged! The Swarthmore College Library now subscribes to ebrary’s Academic Complete collection of about 30,000 titles. These e-books are designed for onscreen reading with unique features like highlighting, note-taking, and networked reference tools. They allow you to: . Create a Personal Bookshelf, which tracks all of your highlights, notes, and bookmarks. . Select any word or phrase to get additional online information: Define, translate, search OED, search Tripod, search document, and more. . Receive automatic citations every time you paste or print
Photo by Annette Newman
ebrary content. . Copy and paste a title’s URL to share what you’ve found or
New current periodicals reading room
assign a reading; ebrary links are stable and integrate with Blackboard. These ebooks are all in Tripod; expect to encounter them in the course of your normal research. If you’d like to search ebrary directly, follow the link in the Subject Portal under “E.” Let us know what you think! Your input will help shape the future of our digital collections.
The second floor lounge above the Circulation desk in McCabe has been transformed into a reading room for current periodicals. This space complements the popular periodicals reading room on the main level. The new reading room is home to over 1,000 scholarly journals, excluding music and science titles that are housed in Underhill and Cornell respectively. Watch for new furniture in this room soon.
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staff news Barbara Addison, technical services librarian for the Peace Collection and Friends Historical Library, has published “Cold War Pacifist: Devere Allen and the Postwar Peace Movement” in the July issue of Peace and Change. It is a continuation of an earlier article published in the same journal in January 2004 about a prominent Quaker American journalist and publisher, socialist and pacifist. Barbara writes, “As the archivist of Allen’s papers, I soon realized that this was a fascinating and important story. Allen fought militarism, racism, and totalitarianism from the 1920s until his death in 1955. As early as January 1946, he warned of nuclear terrorism and what would later be called nuclear ‘winter.’ Foreshadowing the Vietnam War, he had predicted in 1954 that United States policies in Indochina could lead it to become embroiled in a situation ‘that would make the Korean War look like child’s play’.” Glassblowing, puppet design, bookbinding, and printing are some of the skills that Bronwen Densmore, newest reference and instruction intern, brings to the library. Bronwen has a BA in English and Interdisciplinary Studies from Oberlin, an MFA in Creative Writing from NYU, and is currently completing the MLS at Drexel University. She’ll be working at the reference desk, teaching workshops, and designing library exhibits. Daisy Larios, 2007 graduate of Occidental College, is this year’s recipient of the selective Andrew W. Mellon Foundation library fellowship. As a Swarthmore College Library Fellow through next summer, she will have a variety of library responsibilities while exploring the potential of librarianship as a career, making good use of her background in history and women’s studies. This internship is part of a broader grant involving six academic libraries (Oberlin, Occidental, Swarthmore, and the historically black institutions of Atlanta University Center, St. Augustine’s College, and Johnson C. Smith University) with the intention of addressing librarian
recruiting and diversity issues at the undergraduate level. Daisy plans to tackle plagiarism issues, answer questions at the reference desk, and work with the new group of library interns in the spring. Spencer Lamm is the new digital initiatives programmer/ analyst, providing support for the library’s digitization initiatives including archiving, data migration, data mining and assessment, and web development. He recently completed the Masters in Library and Information Science at the University of Washington and has worked on projects for Getty Images, the Ethnomusicology Archives at UW, and the 911 Media Arts Center. Prior to entering the library field, Spencer was a drummer for the band RadioNationals. He’s a big baseball fan and plans to continue to root for the Seattle Mariners. Mary Marissen, technical services specialist, attended the Music Cataloging Workshop, a special one-week, intensive class for cataloging sound recordings and music, held in July at Indiana University in Bloomington. Limited to ten participants, the class has been taught for about ten years by Ralph Papakhian and Sue Stancu, head catalogers for music and sound recordings at the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at IU. Marianne Sanville became the weekend supervisor in McCabe’s access and lending department last March. She works during the day on Saturdays and evenings on Sundays. During the week, she works as a technical services assistant (serials) in the library at Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, Philadelphia.
Recent conferences attended
Netta Shinbaum retired in May after working 28 years in the technical services department. Her specialties included video cataloging and special collections/fine press cataloging. “She was always a dedicated employee who sincerely enjoyed her work and learning new technologies,” said Amy McColl, assistant head of technical services.
ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries): Anne Garrison and Amanda Watson. Mid-Atlantic Library Futures Conference “Imagination to Transformation”: Pam Harris, Peggy Seiden, and Meg Spencer. University of Pennsylvania Libraries “Library Education Extravanga”: Pam Harris, Peggy Seiden, Meg Spencer, and Amanda Watson. ALA (American Library Association): Anne Garrison, Pam Harris, Amy McColl, Peggy Seiden, and Meg Spencer.
Meg Spencer, science librarian, attended the Mellon Librarian Recruitment Program’s 1st Summer Institute, at Occidental College in Los Angeles. Also attending were Sarah Burford ‘08, a Mellon Library Intern and Daisy Larios, the new Mellon Library Fellow. With students and program coordinators from the other five participating colleges, the week-long institute was a mix of leadership activities and field trips to special libraries, including The Huntington Library, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Library, and the Getty Research Institute.
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Melissa Meyer: Sketchbooks, Artist’s Books and Works on Paper rian and curator, Robert Storr, and equally noted critic and curator David Cohen. The traveling exhibition Melissa Meyer: Paintings and Works on Paper will be on display in the List Gallery September 5–30; the library exhibit will be on display August 27-October 5. The artist will give a public lecture about her work on Thursday, September 6, at 4:30 p.m. in the Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema. The List Gallery reception will follow from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. All events are free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Swarthmore College Art Department and Library. by Pam Harris Melissa Meyer, the 2007 Donald Jay Gordon Visiting Artist, is best known for her large abstract paintings characterized by riotous blossoms of color reminiscent of a field of wildflowers. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. In collaboration with the List Gallery display of major paintings from different periods, McCabe Library will exhibit sketchbooks and works on paper, further elaborating the connection between her paintings and works on paper. This small selection of works makes clear Melissa Meyer’s 30-year artistic journey. There will be an exhibition catalog with texts by noted art histo-
Exhibits in McCabe Library Melissa Meyer: Sketchbooks, Artist’s Books and Works on Paper August 27 - October 5 Treasures from the Lieberman Collection October 24 - December 23
Treasures from the Lieberman Collection by Amanda Watson In the last issue of @library.edu, we reported that William Lieberman (’42), a Swarthmore alumnus and prominent museum curator, had left the College libraries an immense collection of books on art and other topics (see “A Legacy of Books on Art,” Spring 2007). Lieberman was Chairman of the Department of Twentieth Century Art and then the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Chair of Modern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until his death in 2005. Before he joined the Metropolitan Museum, he spent more than 30 years at the Museum of Modern Art as Curator of the Department of Drawings and Prints, Curator of the Department of Painting and Sculpture, and then Director of the Department of Drawings. His collection includes works signed by some of the most important artists of the 20th century: books on Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp signed by the artists, a book of drawings by Joan Miró inscribed “Pour Bill Lieberman avec toute mon amitié” (For Bill Lieberman, with all my friendship), and a signed etching by Pablo Picasso. This fall, visitors to McCabe Library will have a chance to view some of our favorite items from the Lieberman collection. An exhibit highlighting Lieberman’s legacy as a book collector, curator, and friend of artists will open on October 24 and run through December. Curated by Mellon Intern Sarah Burford ’08 and Reference and Instruction Intern Amanda Watson, this exhibit, with related events, promises to be a fascinating look at the life’s work of an extraordinary Swarthmore alum. Swarthmore College Library welcomes your financial support for programs like these. Contributions can be mailed to: Swarthmore College Library, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081. Thank you! @library.edu Fall 2007
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Library workshops EndNote Pam Harris and Meg Spencer Wednesday, September 26 12:30-1:15 pm Super Searching Google instructor TBA Tuesday, October 2 1:00-1:45 pm Tracking News, Blogs, and More with RSS Amanda Watson Wednesday, October 17 12:30-1:15 pm Halloween in the Rare Book Room Pam Harris and Amanda Watson Tuesday, October 30 1:00-1:45 pm Finding Book, Movie, and Theater Reviews Anne Garrison Tuesday, November 13 1:00-1:45 pm
The oldest student book collection competition in the U.S. wants you! by Pam Harris Three dozen colleges and universities host annual book-collecting contests, inspired, no doubt, by Swarthmore’s original book collection contest first held in the 1920s. You can be part of this ongoing tradition that encourages reading and collecting in an age of declining readership by sending your submission to the A. Edward Newton Student Book Collection Competition. $500, $250, and $150 cash prizes are awarded annually for the three best student book collections at Swarthmore. Each collection is judged according to its unifying theme (an author, an illustrator, a genre, etc.). Winners will be invited to exhibit their collections in McCabe Library and to be eligible for the Grolier Club Book Collection Competition (please contact Pamela Harris for more details). Write an annotated bibliography of your book collection (no fewer than 25 titles, no textbooks). Attach a one-page commentary describing the theme of your collection and how, when, where, and why the books were acquired. Examples are available upon request and online: http://www.swarthmore.edu/x9417.xml. Send entries by November 30 to Pamela Harris - pharris1.
RSVP to Amanda Watson - awatson1.
the newsletter of the Swarthmore College Library 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore PA 19081
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