THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SWARTHMORE COLLEGE LIBRARIES
FALL 2004 Vol. 7, no. 1
Open Access – Free research for all? At Swarthmore and in the tri-college consortium, the Open Access issue affects faculty who publish their research, as well as the colleagues and students whose own work could be enriched or challenged by these publications. It is also an issue that affects librarians as they assess the skyrocketing costs of information and balance these costs against the imperative to provide the best, most current resources to the academic community. In the past few months Swarthmore College has joined in support of the Open Access journal movement by becoming a member of the Public Library of Science (PLoS) and of BioMed Central. The Open Access journal movement is a response on the part of scholars and librarians to the serials crisis of the past decade. That crisis has resulted in significant increases in the costs of journals, particularly in the Science, Technical and Medical (STM) literature. With costs escalating, and no university able to subscribe to all the scientific literature, timely access to research is threatened. Researchers need to share their work with their colleagues, but it is clear that there should be alternative ways to accomplish that goal. The seminal idea behind Open Access is to develop a sustainable financial model that allows free, open access to scientific articles and data. The Internet and electronic
publishing allow the dissemination of this information more widely and more quickly than before. What is Open Access? There are many different definitions of Open Access. Most people refer to the Bethesda Principles which state that an Open Access Publication is one that meets the following two conditions: 1. The author(s) and copyright holder(s) grant(s) to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship, as well as the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal use. 2. A complete version of the work and all supplemental materials, including a copy of the permission as stated above, in a suitable standard electronic format is deposited immediately upon initial publication in at least one online repository that is supported by an academic institution, scholarly society, government agency, or other well-established organization that seeks to enable open access, unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term continued on page 4
www.
Everybody uses it. Can’t live without it. We asked staff and faculty to tell us their favorite and most useful websites. Tell us your favorite site and we’ll print a list in the next issue. Send it to: libnews@swarthmore.edu.
Philip Bloomquist Scott Arboretum (Intern) Favorite: http://www. google.com/imghp?hl= en&tab=wi&q= (images) Most useful: http:// www.terranovanurseries.com/ (plant information)
Gene Klotz Math Favorite: http:// mathforum.org/mathtools Most useful: http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Main_Page (free encyclopedia)
Robin Shores Institutional Research Favorite: amazon.com (for their book reviews) Most useful: http:// nces.ed.gov/ (National Center for Education Statistics) continued on page 3
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Vol. 7, no. 1
Fall 2004
Librarian recruitment: because “librarian conscription” would be a bad idea In It’s a Wonderful Life, during one of the crazy life-withoutGeorge-Bailey scenes, George learns that if he had never been born, his wife Mary would have become—oh, cruel fate!—a spinster librarian. George’s expression of complete terror when Mary emerges from the library is fantastic: he sees her glasses, her frumpy clothes, her sensible shoes, and he seems to feel guilty for condemning such a lively, interesting woman to a drab life filled with dusty books and unflattering hairstyles. Strangely enough, most librarians probably didn’t choose their careers because their childhood sweethearts failed to “rescue” them. Some librarians end up where they are because of a love of books or a passion for learning. Others are enticed to the profession by its largely progressive, democratic values and its recognition of the importance of intellectual freedom. Some like to impose order on chaos, and are soothed by mile-long Library of Congress call numbers. There are second- or thirdgeneration librarians who would argue that the call to librarianship resembles a genetic imperative. Some librarians are even recruited. The Mellon Librarian Recruitment Program is an initiative to address some of librarianship’s pressing issues: to find a new wave of librarians to replace the vast cohort approaching retirement, to counter the stereotypes that plague librarians and devalue their work, and to bring greater diversity to the
McCabe coffee bar grinds to a close Due to budgetary concerns, the Daily Grind, McCabe’s coffee bar, will not open this fall. Students will have to venture out to Kolhberg or the Science Center for a warm drink while studying or do without late at night when they are closed. The Library would welcome a student organized and run coffee bar to fill the caffeine void and would make the space and equipment available to such a group. Until such a group comes forward, McCabe will be a much sleepier place! Peggy Seiden, library director, comments on the closing: “We regret that we’ve had to close the coffee bar. We had hoped to make this venture at least a break-even proposition. However, we’ve continued to lose money on it every year. From its planning stages, the College had let us know that they did not want another coffee bar on campus and that it could not be a part of dining services like the other two coffee bars on campus. Therefore, we could not take points, but only cash. We do believe being part of the points system would have allowed us to be financially sound. “Most colleges and universities have opened coffee bars to draw students into their libraries. We didn’t feel that was necessary at Swarthmore where the libraries are already the center of much of the intellectual and social activity on campus. Rather, we hoped that by creating a coffee bar in the library, we would help make the library a less stressful environment. For those who are looking for food or drink to make the studying go down a little easier, the Library has installed two vending machines on the lower level.”
Spring 2004 library interns Top row: Rachel Burstein ’04 (working in NYC), Robbie Hart ’04 (summer internship at the North Olympic Public Library in Port Angeles, WA, with plans to attend library school). Bottom row: Melanie Maksin ’04 (summer intern and PostBaccalaureate Library Associate at Swarthmore), Meika Hashimoto ’05, Laurel Beesemyer ’04 (summer internship at the Huntington Library in CA before leaving for graduate school at Oxford.) Not pictured: Casey Lee ’05
profession. For those who participate, it’s a chance to learn more about the field and to gain behind-the-scenes experience in an academic library. The five schools involved in the program— Swarthmore, Oberlin, Occidental, Wellesley, and Mt. Holyoke— offer semester-long internships, summer internships, scholarships for graduate school in library science, and one-year postbaccalaureate positions. The program also sponsors information and discussion sessions, such as last fall’s Patriot Act awareness workshops and the “Secret Lives of Librarians” career panel in the spring. This fall, the Mellon Foundation and McCabe Library will sponsor a program on Open Access and the ways in which the cost of information affects scholarly communication, student research, and faculty publication. For more information about this event or about the Mellon Librarian Recruitment Program’s spring 2005 internships, please contact Pam Harris, x2056. - Melanie Maksin
@library.edu is the newsletter of the Swarthmore College Libraries, published once a semester. Editors: Pam Harris Terry Heinrichs Annette Newman Intern: Melanie Maksin Thank you to all who contributed to this issue, especially: Alison Masterpasqua, Kelly Mueller, Meg Spencer E-mail: libnews@swarthmore.edu Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081
Vol. 7, no. 1 Fall 2004
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What’s your favorite website?
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Linda Weindel Bursar’s office Favorite: http:// candystand.com (games) Most useful: http:// melissadata.com (area codes)
Cheryl Robinson Office Services Favorite: nbc10.com Most useful: comcast.net
Kiana Nesbitt Library Favorite: cnn.com Most useful: http:// accounting.smartpros.com/
Justin Clarke Library Favorite: ebay.com Most useful: weather.com
Michael Brown Physics Favorite: http:// vestige.lmsal.com/ TRACE/ (pictures of the sun) Most useful: google.com
Jenny Gifford Programs Office Favorite: kraft.com (for recipes) Most useful: freedict.com/onldict/ spa.html (Spanish-English dictionary)
Bernadette Dunning Music & Dance Favorite: merriamwebster.com (dictionary) Most useful: http:// yahooligans.yahoo.com/ (for kids)
David Cohen Astronomy Favorite: rachelpastan.com Most useful: http:// antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/ apod/astropix.html (astronomy picture of the day)
“I bet, with my net, I can get those Things yet!” Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat, Random House, 1957, p. 50)
What’s your favorite website? Tell us your favorite site and we’ll print a list in the next issue. Send it to: libnews@swarthmore.edu
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Vol. 7, no. 1 Fall 2004
Open Access - Free research for all? continued from page 1 archiving (for the biomedical sciences, PubMed Central is such a repository). (1) The High Cost of Information These conditions say nothing about how Open Access can be an economically viable model. Many of the costs associated with subscription-based print and e-journals do not magically disappear because one is publishing on the Internet. Research on journal costs estimates that for a peer-reviewed journal, the direct cost to publish a scientific article is $1700 on average. 26% of these costs are administrative costs related directly to the peer review process; 39% of these costs are for subject editing, copy editing, processing author approval, indexing and redaction; 35% of these costs are for preparing master images and special graphics. Some say that the cost per article could be reduced to as low as $500, but that is still not an insubstantial amount. (2) If access is free, then how will publishers (be they non-profit societies, research institutions, or universities) recoup the costs? The most popular model being adopted is the “author pays” model. This is being used by BioMed Central and the Public Library of Science (PLoS). This model is not completely new. Many authors publishing in STM journals pay “page charges.” In most cases, page charges are paid for by the same grants that funded the research. A rather unscientific survey of Swarthmore College science faculty who had published journal articles in the last two years found that faculty were charged anywhere from $55/ page to $125/page. If scholars can plead financial exigency, they do not have to pay all the costs, and journals do not deny publication based on an inability to pay. One faculty member said that the average cost is about $1000/article. Color graphics can increase the cost significantly, as much as $500/page. Both BioMed Central and Public Library of Science are also seeking to build endowments by offering memberships to institutions, resulting in the benefit to its scholars of paying discounted or no fees to publish in one of these journals. For example, Swarthmore recently joined BioMed Central. Typically, authors would have to pay $500 to $1000 to publish in one of their journals; as BioMed Central members, all “processing” fees are waived. This year we paid $750. But we joined not just to save our faculty and researchers the fees charged to publish in a BioMed Central journal, but also to show support for Open Access as a means to disseminate information. New Methods, New Responses PLoS and BioMed Central are examples of one type of Open Access model. These are publishers who offer a range of print and online journals. BioMed Central publishes over 50 journals, many of which compete directly with commercial journals. PLoS launched its first journal in 2004 and plans to launch more journals. Another model which is gaining in popularity is the “institutional repository.” The institutional repository asks faculty at a particular institution to deposit their articles in the repository so that they can be made available to other members of the institution or, if possible, beyond the institution. The University of California and MIT are early adopters of this technology. The costs for developing and maintaining an institutional repository are significant, even with the available open source software, system
administration and application support. There are also a number of discipline-specific repositories, some of which, like ArXiv, an online library of physics papers and articles, have been around a long time. Even individual faculty can selfarchive their work, as long as they have a way of making it public to the world at large. Over the last few years, a standard known as OAI (Open Archives Initiative) has been developed. OAI allows for the “harvesting” of information about documents in these repositories, and this harvested information is stored and made searchable. The best known of these metadata catalogs is OAIster (pronounced “oyster”) at the University of Michigan. Even commercial publishers are being affected by these Open Access initiatives. Elsevier announced that they will allow self-archiving so that authors can make their articles published in Elsevier journals available on their own or their institutions’ webstites. Likewise, Springer recently announced a program to allow authors to decide if they want their articles to be available freely. However, those electing Open Access instead of the traditional subscription model must pay $3000 and, even then, Springer still asks them to sign over rights. The Future of Open Access Clearly, Open Access is not free. The costs will be borne by funders, colleges and universities, through faculty support funds, or through the library. But in a world where the copyright noose gets tighter and tighter, and researchers regularly give away their rights to disseminate their work, the promise of Open Access looks a lot like freedom. Open Access has become a global movement, with major initiatives occurring all over the world. According to the Berlin Declaration, Open Access seeks “to promote the Internet as a functional instrument for a global scientific knowledge base and human reflection.” (3) This summer in England, Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee issued its final report entitled “Scientific Publications: Free for All,” which endorsed that all publicly-funded research in the UK be made freely available to all and that the government take the lead in making that happen. While the committee conceded that there are still unanswered questions about Open Access, they felt strongly that this is the direction STM publishing must take, and that the UK will be a leader in the movement. (4) This fall, as part of a program funded by the Mellon Foundation, the library will host a discussion for students on Open Access. This will also be a topic at a faculty lunch. For those interested in exploring these issues further, see http://www.biomedcentral.com/openaccess/ for an overview and updates. - Peggy Seiden, library director 1 The Bethesda Principles. http://www.biomedcentral.com/openaccess/ bethesda/ (April 11, 2003) 2 King, Don W. and Carol Tenopir. “An evidence based assessment of the ‘author pays’ model.” Nature 430 (6999). http://www.nature.com/nature/ focus/accessdebate/26.html. Accessed 5 August 2004. 3 Conference on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities 20 - 22 Oct 2003, Berlin http://www.zim.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/. Accessed 5 August 2004. 4 The full report was issued 20 July 2004: http://www.publications. parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmsctech/399/39902.htm.
Vol. 7, no. 1 Fall 2004
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Associate Librarian Amy Morrison retires
what’s what’snew new
Amy Morrison, associate college librarian, who combined a sense of creativity and leadership to usher the library through nearly three decades of significant change, retired this past spring. At the retirement party in April, College Librarian Peggy Seiden recognized Amy’s contributions to the library, noting that she was instrumental in the automation of the library’s card catalog and in the development of the consortium of Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore. She also brought a fresh sense of direction and prominence to the library’s exhibit and lecture series, while developing a premier book collection of avant-garde artists’ books and fine letter press books housed in the Treasure Room. Amy seemed to know everyone on campus and to understand everything of importance about the library. Through collaborations with the Library Associates, the University of the Arts, Villanova University, and nationally syndicated cartoonists, she extended the library’s boundaries and brought an impressive group of book artists, cartoonists, poets, and other creative people to campus. Her favorite guest was the Tibetan monk, Lobsang Samten. “We started every morning with a cup of tea and Lobsang’s chanting.” Lobsang built a sand mandela in the library lobby that was both beautiful and inspiring. Amy was far more than a gifted librarian. She was a leader and advisor during the library computer revolution that reshaped McCabe and set a new standard. She combined an appetite for the arts with a clarity of vision and intellectual rigor that defined the library’s presence. Amy McColl, Asst. Head of Technical Services, describes her as “knowledgeable and down-toearth, with the unique ability to inspire others with her love of artists’ books.” Barb Weir, Asst. Director for Acquisitions, Systems and Data Management, agreed and calls her a “great guide” to the library. A friend and mentor to those who knew her well, Amy could be relied upon for sound and uncensored advice. On a recent visit to her home in Media, overlooking the Crum Creek, it was apparent that Amy is enjoying this opportunity to explore her love of books, community service, and travel. A dedicated volunteer in the Scott Arboretum, she recently completed a book-making course at the Barbarian Press in Seattle, Washington, and is planning a three month sojourn in Bologna, Italy, as a volunteer in a reading/literacy center. - Pam Harris
Knitting in the science library Come into Cornell Science Library around noon on any given Wednesday and you’ll find a group of library staff members happily eating their lunch (often sushi from the new Science Center coffee bar) in preparation for their weekly “stitch ‘n bitch”(1) knitting session. Started last September by Meg Spencer, science librarian, the gathering usually attracts about ten staff members each week. Trading chop sticks for knitting needles, lunch is packed away and the knitting begins in earnest. Some days it is mellow and quietly reflective, while other days it is raucous enough to have students asking the group to tone it down a bit. With a mix of experienced knitters and novices, sharing of advice, bulk yarn purchases, opinions, knitting blogs, and web sites, the knitting group is a true nod to staff cooperation at its finest. The time passes quickly and at the end of the hour, there are always a few dawdling knitters trying to finish just one more row before returning to work. 1 This group’s informal name came from Debbie Stoller’s book Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook, which came out last fall just as the knitting group began. It quickly became the “text” for the group.
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staff notes Anne Cary joins the McCabe staff as a parttime temporary reference librarian. Anne is a graduate of Brown University with a BA in Religious Studies. She is currently completing the Master of Science in Library and Information Science at Drexel University and works at Moore College of Art and Design. Susan Dreher, new visual resources digitization coordinator, is currently on maternity leave until January. Susan received the MLS degree from Drexel University in 2001, specializing in digital information, and worked as project manager at Temple University Libraries for a grant-funded digitization project to create an archival image database. Anne Garrison, head of reference and humanities librarian, and her husband Michael Magoolaghan welcomed their new daughter Eleanor Kathryn on July 25, at 7:38 a.m. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces, and has reddish hair. Congratulations and best wishes to Anne and Michael! Anna Headley ‘03 started working as the McCabe late-night supervisor during the spring semester. Her familiarity with the library goes back to her days as a student worker in technical services. She has a strong interest in film (her minor while attending Swarthmore). She recently married Dan Consiglio, also of the class of 2003, and a former library student employee. Sounds like a match made in library heaven! Melanie Maksin ’04 was selected as a Mellon Post-Baccalaureate Library Associate. As part of the Mellon Librarian Recruitment initiative, this one-year internship provides experience in academic libraries and an introduction to librarianship as a profession. Five liberal arts colleges are participating in this program. Melanie will work at the reference desk, assist with freshmen orientation, and work on exhibits and events, along with other projects. Diane Skorina is working here as a reference and instruction intern for 18 months. She received the MLS degree from Drexel University in June. Her experience includes a six-month internship at the Paley Library reference department at Temple University and work as a writer and curriculum manager for Strategic Management Group. Last summer, she volunteered with the World Library Partnership in a South African village. This summer, Diane became a first-time mother with the birth of daughter Maya on June 18.
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Vol. 7, no. 1 Fall 2004
what’s new
Tripod gets a new look Tripod, the shared library catalog of Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr Colleges, has a new interface. Library staff from the three colleges conducted focus groups and user testing with faculty, staff, and students last semester to determine the strengths and shortcomings of the old interface. Based on these studies, we designed the new interface to provide: • Special tabs for finding journals, videos, online resources, and music. • Search results that are easier to browse and interpret. • Concise and helpful instructions. • More features for patrons who login, including access to Interlibrary Loan, your library record, and the ability to save and re-run your favorite searches. • Convenient access to related library services such as EZBorrow, LiveHelp, Reserves, and Databases. This semester we will conduct more focus groups and user tests to assess the effectiveness of these changes and plan for continued improvements. Please let us know what you think. - Kelly Mueller
calendar of events Exhibits are in McCabe Lobby. See Associates page for details. Ben Katchor - a date in architectural history and other stories Performance and exhibition of works by graphic artist and master storyteller. Opening: September 28, 4:00 pm Lecture: September 28, 8:00 pm, Science Center #199 Drawing and writing master class: September 29, 1:15-2:30 pm, Beardsley Exhibit: August 26 - October 12 Banned Books Week Fahrenheit 451 film screening: September 29, 8:00 pm, Science Center #199 Exhibit: September 22 - October 6 Open Access Video and discussion: October (tba) Carol Saylor, Richard Lieberman, and Leonard Reisman Signs and Voices: Language, culture, and identity from deaf to hearing Exhibit of sculpture by local artists Carol Saylor and Richard Lieberman, with wood carvings by Leonard Reisman of Florida. Curated by Celia Reisman, Assistant Professor of Studio Art Exhibit: October 25 - November 30 Maureen Cummins New York based book artist Maureen Cummins will give a lecture and gallery walk. Come and learn about the book arts. Opening reception: Thursday, February 3 Exhibit: December 15 – February
New website for Triptych Triptych, the digital library collections of the tri-colleges, has a new website with improved search features. Library staff scanned and uploaded original documents such as letters, photographs, receipts, posters, buttons, and stamps using Content DM software. Swarthmore compiled five of these collections: Astronomy department records (1923 eclipse), Friends Historical Library documents, Soviet posters, and two collections with images from the Peace movement. Bryn Mawr offers a collection of Suffragist photographs. Haverford presents the Rufus Jones Diary and the papers of the CopeEvans family. To view the nine individual collections, see http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/collections/index.html. Passwords required All public computers in the libraries, Beardsley, and other public areas now require your network user name and password. As a result, work saved will go directly into your user folder. Please remember to log out, for the security of your documents. Environmentally friendly printing Public printers in the libraries, Beardsley, and other campus locations use recycled paper and print double-sided (unless standard is selected for single-sided). Carbs at McCabe – Vending machines installed In order to help fill the void left by the closing of the coffee bar, vending machines have been installed in the southeast corner of the lower level of McCabe. They are conveniently located for both participants and observers of the McCabe Mile! There are two machines featuring a standard offering of snacks, candy and soft drinks. So far the machines have been well utilized by all. Register to vote Beginning during freshman orientation, McCabe Library will have a supply of voter registration forms, both the Pennsylvania form and the generic national form. Information about requesting absentee ballots, residency requirements, and polling locations for the upcoming presidential election, and other resources that facilitate voter participation will also be available. All eligible members of the college community who have not registered to vote are encouraged to do so.
EZProxy for off-campus access Swarthmore’s IT Services now provides a new method for accessing licensed databases when you are off-campus: EZProxy. This new service requires no configuration on your computer, works with all browsers, and is available from any Internet connection. You simply log into a webpage to access our licensed databases or e-journals. Faculty members and students tested the service this summer. Our testers logged in from their homes as well as from such faraway places as Panama and Tokyo with great results. We expect this to be a popular service during breaks, sabbaticals, and vacations. The login page is at http://www.swarthmore.edu/proxy/
Associates of the Swarthmore College Libraries Volume 7, Number 1
Fall 2004
A date in architectural history and other stories The New York Times has called Ben Katchor “the most poetic, deeply layered artist ever to draw a comic strip.” He earned a “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation in 2000, with a citation stating that “Katchor has distilled through the medium of the comic strip an art rich with history, sociology, fiction and poetry.” Katchor is an internationally-celebrated artist and author of four novels, most notably The Jew of New York and Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer. In recent years, Katchor’s creativity has exploded to embrace other expressive forms. He designed for the musical theater; his first effort, a 1999 original work in collaboration with acclaimed “Bang on the Can” composers, won an Obie award. His latest project, “The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island,” finds him as both the author of the libretto and the set designer for a musical tragicomedy produced with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation that opened in last March in New York City. Katchor is also a performer of his own work. He has created a series of engaging lectures that he gives at colleges, universities and cultural institutions around the world. Katchor’s art is fueled by a desire to break down the barrier between what is read and what is heard, what is written and what is drawn. His magnificent pen-and-ink renderings depict the hazily familiar, yet subtly alien cityscapes of his imagination, and exist in parallel with the text – deceptively unassuming little tales from a master storyteller. He is acknowledged as one of the leading graphic novelists of our time. His prints will be on exhibit in McCabe Library from August 26 – October 12. The opening reception and gallery walk with the artist is Tuesday, September 28, at 4:00 p.m. Katchor’s “A Date in Architectural History and other stories” lecture/performance is Tuesday, September 28, in the Science Center, Room 199 at 8:00 p.m. For more information or to reserve a space in the drawing and writing master class on September 29, 1:15 p.m., please call 610-328-8489. This event is sponsored by the Cooper Foundation, Departments of English and of Art, and Associates of the Swarthmore College Library.
Signs and voices: language, culture, and identity from deaf to hearing Deaf culture and the many forms of expression found within that culture form the basis for this art exhibit, part of a series of events in a tri-college conference taking place November 11-14. One of the primary exhibitors, local artist Carol Saylor, challenges our stereotypes by continuing to produce a visually sophisticated body of work despite progressive deafness and blindness. Originally a painter, she has been legally blind for over twenty years and currently channels her art through sculpture. Ms. Saylor now works with clay, papier-mache, plaster, bronze, and wood. “I am very happy to be able to do sculpture forever!” She has exhibited in many shows including the National Exhibits by Blind Artists and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her work as a sculptor has won awards from the Women’s Committee of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Sculptor Richard Lieberman, who has taught at Allens Lane Art Center for over forty years, is also exhibiting his works. The recipient of numerous awards, he has exhibited nationally and has worked with leading sculptors here and abroad. Beautiful woodcarvings by Leonard Reisman of Florida will also be on display. The Signs and Voices: Language, Culture, and Identity from Deaf to Hearing conference “seeks to inform the public and disabuse people of common misconceptions about the abilities of people with hearing loss or deafness. Since expression is at the heart of language, one goal of the conference is to demonstrate that human beings express themselves in a range of ways and that people with hearing loss or deafness participate in all of them.” Opening reception is November 12, 4:00 p.m. For a schedule of conference events, please contact the Department of Linguistics, Swarthmore College.
An “epic” passion receives Newton prize From Homer and Dante to Tolstoy and Melville, Micah Horwith’s collection of “The Evolution of the Epic” traces the epic form in prose and poetry across several continents and over four millennia. On the strength of this assortment of works that explores the classical, the modern, and even the postmodern, Horwith ‘06 won first prize in this year’s Newton contest for book collecting. Sarah St. Vincent ’04 received second prize for her collection of books on Asian arts, history, literature, and religion. Third prize was awarded to Benjamin Kabak ’05 for his collection of works relating to baseball. The Newton prize, established by A. Edward Newton in 1930 and administered through McCabe Library, is awarded annually to students who have formed the most coherent and thoughtful book collections that exhibit potential for growth and expansion. The winner receives $500, while second- and third-place winners receive $250 and $100, respectively. The Newton competition is the only contest sponsored by the Swarthmore College Library, and it is open to all undergraduates. This year’s Newton committee consisted of librarians, professors, and students who judged each entry—an annotated bibliography of 25-50 titles and an accompanying essay—on the strength of its unifying theme and on the collection’s potential for expansion. There were an unprecedented number of entries this year, and all of the entrants deserve congratulations for their hard work and their fascinating collections. Participating in the competition The 2005 Newton competition will be a little different. The idea behind the Newton award remains the same; the committee is still seeking the most thoughtful, coherent, and promising undergraduate book collection. But in order to encourage potential collectors to follow their book-related passions, the Newton committee is soliciting “dream bibliographies.” How would you use the Newton prize money, what sort of collection would you create, and how would you go about building it? Students interested in exploring what Nicholas Basbanes has called the “gentle madness” of book collecting should submit an annotated bibliography of at least 25 titles and a one-page essay about the dream collection. Each collection will be judged on its originality, the strength of its unifying theme, and its potential for growth. Examples of previous award-winning collections are available upon request. The deadline for next year’s Newton competition is Monday, March 21; please submit entries and questions to Pamela Harris, pharris1@swarthmore.edu. - Melanie Maksin
Book sale attracts many buyers Family Weekend in April was marked by a flurry of fluttering pages in McCabe Library’s lobby as eager bibliophiles rummaged through boxes of classics, bestsellers, textbooks, cookbooks, and an assortment of obscure oddities at the fourth annual book sale. Over the course of three days, students, faculty, staff, visiting families, members of the community, and book dealers spent $1545 on sought-after tomes and gently-used treasures. This year’s book sale was the first time the sale was run by students, as well as the first time faculty and staff were solicited for donations. While students were not approached directly for contributions, Meika Hashimoto ‘05, one of the event’s coordinators, distributed donation drop-boxes around campus for those looking to clear some space on their shelves. The annual book sale is sponsored by McCabe Library and the Associates of the Swarthmore College Libraries. Proceeds from this sale are used to sponsor events, exhibits, lectures, and receptions throughout the year. - Melanie Maksin
McCabe Library (610) 328-8477 M-Th: 8:15 a.m. - 1:00 a.m. F: 8:15 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. Sat: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Sun: 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m. Cornell Library (610) 328-8262 M-F: 8:15 a.m.– midnight Sat: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. Sun: 11:30 a.m. – midnight Underhill Library (610) 328-8232 M-Th.: 8:30 a.m.– 5:15 p.m. 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. F: 8:30 a.m .– 5:15 p.m. Sat: 10:00 a.m. - 5:15 p.m. Sun: 1:00 p.m.– 5:15 p.m. 7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. During breaks and summer: M-F: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Closed weekends
Associates of the Libraries - Annual Membership Registration - 2004 The excellent quality of our library can be attributed both to the strong support from the College and to the generosity of our many friends. The Associates provide a link between the campus and the community of book-lovers. Members receive: • invitations to events, exhibits, tours, & lectures • subscription to @library.edu • discounts on workshops and tours Annual memberships run from January to January. Corporate Matching Gift Forms may be included with your check or mailed directly to the College’s Gift Records Office.
CIRCLE: Individual $30 Family $50 Sustaining $100 Benefactor $250 Life $1000 Student $5 Other $ ____ Enclosed is $ _________ for my/our annual membership payable to Associates of the Swarthmore College Libraries. Please charge my/our membership to: VISA ___ MASTERCARD ___ DISCOVER ___ Account Number: ______________________________________ Expiration Date: _________________ Or CALL Swarthmore College Credit Card Hotline: 1-800-660-9714 Fund: Associates of College Library NAME: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS: ________________________________________________________________________________________ EMAIL: ________________________________________________ TELEPHONE: ___________________________ Mail to: Associates of the Swarthmore College Libraries, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081