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THE SWARTHMORE COLLEGE LIBRARY NEWSLETTER

SPRING 2005 Vol. 7, no. 2

Something for everyone - libraries at Swat

by Melanie Maksin, Annette Newman, and Terry Heinrichs

They might not have realized it, but sometime during their first few weeks at Swarthmore, students made a pivotal decision that would shape the rest of their college career.

They tucked themselves away in an especially cozy nook in McCabe.

They claimed a listening station in Underhill.

They added a few pieces to a jigsaw puzzle in Cornell.

They gravitated toward one of Swarthmore’s libraries, and by making this choice, even if only in a reckless fit of first-semester impulsiveness, they charted their course for the next four years.

Hello, eyeball-abrading orange carpet.

Hello, earphone-muffled solitude.

Hello, efficient-yet-vaguely-sinister compact shelving.

Of course, this decision is usually influenced by a few factors – it’s not just that bizarre tugging sensation that occurred when walking too close to one of the libraries. It’s not surprising that denizens of McCabe are typically social sciences and humanities students, or that Underhill appeals to the musicallyinclined, or that Cornell is the refuge of engineers and scientists—for the sake of convenience, most students will work wherever the resources are, whether they need course reserves, reference materials, or moral support.

But moving beyond the realm of the practical and darting into the territory of the highly subjective, it could be said that each of Swarthmore’s libraries has its own character, its own set of idiosyncrasies that are possibly maddening to some but endearing to others.

Fortress McCabe It’s not McCabe’s fault that its name rhymes with “McCage” or “McCave,” but its severe, boxy exterior, its inadequate lighting, and its extremes of temperature don’t exactly help the humanities and social sciences library in the court of public opinion.

Nevertheless, McCabe is considered the “intellectual center of

campus” by students polled by Andrea Wong ’02 in her Sociology/Anthropology thesis, “Swat in a Nut-Shelf: A Study of the Relationship between Libraries and their Communities.”

Katia Lom ’06 likes McCabe because “I have a balance of being able to study quietly in my cubicle and socializing with my friends on the first floor when I need a study break. I like the sofa chairs and the red carpet too.” For studying, Jacob Wallace ’05, Yoshi Johnson ’07, and Ana Chiu ’06 like to use the carrels.

Wallace likes the ones on the main floor “because of the ambience and the nice office chairs.” Chiu studies “on the first floor because it is the right mix of noise and quiet, and enough people are here so that I always bump into somebody I know.”

Kristen Lee ’05 prefers to study at the big table next to the globe or in the window corners.

Anjali Bhat ’07 prefers McCabe over the others because it’s “not as depressing as Cornell” and “people come to McCabe to talk as well as study.”

Wallace thinks the common perception is that Cornell is “way more intense” than McCabe and “people who are in Cornell are much more focused.”

Besides studying, these students use McCabe for reading newspapers and magazines, taking naps, talking and hanging out with friends, scanning pictures, making copies, and meeting with study groups.

Underhill: Sotto voce The Daniel Underhill Music Library is like a really great band with a cult following—its fans appreciate that it won’t sell out, become too trendy, or begin to attract the McCabe-and-Cornellfleeing rabble. For Underhill users like Matthew Woodbury ’06, continued on page 2

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Vol. 7, no. 2 Spring 2005

Something for everyone

Nothing compares to Cornell

continued from page 1

by an anonymous Bio major of the class of 2004

there are perks offered by a library that’s “quiet and relatively unpopular.” While students in McCabe or Cornell occasionally have skirmishes over prime study spaces, computers, or comfortable chairs, Underhill still feels largely, in the words of Micaela Baranello ’07, like a “personal realm [that] most of the campus doesn’t know about.” She finds “Cornell is frighteningly silent and clinical, and McCabe is functional but lacks style.”

Not only is the music library the perfect size for its population, it’s also respected for its aesthetic charms. Tamara Ryan ’06 offers a glowing endorsement of Underhill’s quirky beauty: “I like the decorations upstairs. I also like the angular feeling of the space, great view of the woods, and positive energy.” If Underhill detractors exist, they could not be reached for comment.

it’s been twelve hours and 100 days since I earned my B.A.

Synapses sizzle at Cornell While McCabe was the subject of a thesis, Cornell Science Library has been celebrated in song. An anonymous biology major in the class of 2004 rewrote the lyrics to Sinead

i go out every night and pipette all day since I earned my B.A. since i’ve been gone i can graph whatever i want i can learn whatever i choose i can study neuro in a cutesy coffee shop but nothing… i said nothing can take away these blues cause nothing compares nothing compares to you it’s been so lonely without you here. like a puzzle without one piece. nothing can stop these yearnings for cornell tell me baby, where did i go wrong??

I could print pdfs from every printer i see But they’d only remind me of you(r free printing).

I went to Columbia; guess what they told me guess what they told me they said girl you go to lab all day no matter what you do but they are fools… cause nothing compares… noTHING compares to you…

All the carpet that is purple, Cornell on the main floor all faded when I went away I know that working at the desk was sometimes hard the reserves made me want to cry…

O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” to express the depth of her devotion to her favorite library. (For example: “Since I’ve been gone I can graph wherever I want/ I can learn whatever I choose/ I can study Neuro in a cutesy coffee shop/ but nothing, I said nothing can take away these blues.”) What is it about Cornell that lends itself to rhapsodizing?

Meg Spencer, science librarian, suggests that students are very “possessive” of this space, which she attributes to the fact that Cornell “has historically been very much a student-run library, so much so that if I walk into Cornell in the evenings or weekends, they’re like, ‘what are YOU doing here?’.” (Her continued on page 3

College library: 610-328-8477 Current library hours available at: http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/index.html

but nothing compares nothing compares to you

@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: Margaret Brink, Veronika Dubajova, Liz Leininger, Ken Long, Tafadzwa Muguwe, Diane Skorina, Meg Spencer E-mail: libnews@swarthmore.edu Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081

Vol. 7, no. 2 Spring 2005

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Something for everyone continued from page 2 suspicion is confirmed by one of Cornell’s student employees, who agrees that the atmosphere in Cornell changes when the “grown-up staff” is around.)

Pro-Cornell students tended to discuss the architecture and overall feel of the building, and, in particular, the “openness” of the space, in ways that suggest that the science library is a pleasant contrast to McCabe. Matthew Smith ’06 says, “It has a good mix of areas: upstairs for quiet study, the middle level for pretty social interactions, and the downstairs level for social studying. The upstairs being specifically designated for quiet study is nice – unique among the libraries.” Many students at Cornell take a break to work on a jigsaw puzzle or play chess.

Maria (Piper) Hy ’05 likes to “eat, socialize, and sleep” at Cornell. Nicole Oberfoell ’07 enjoys “looking out the window to watch the birds and the sunset.” Tiffany Pao ’06 likes to “hang out in between classes” there.

There are common perceptions about each library: “McCabe people think only nerds work at the Science Center and the Science Center people think McCabe is a cage or dungeon-like,” said Chelain Goodman ’05. On the other hand, Cornell avoiders spoke of feeling intimidated or “frightened” by the library. “I definitely think of Cornell as a crazy-studier place,” said Yoshi Johnson.

A trio of choices For some students, the library is not a spot for lingering or loitering. Get in, grab a book, get out, and go somewhere with better lighting and ambience. For others, however, the library—whether it’s clunky McCabe, cozy Underhill, or sleek Cornell—becomes a place to socialize

as well as work, practically a second dorm room (albeit with more roommates). Just like the diversity of Swarthmore students, the libraries offer a mix of environments for students to be comfortable.

Student interviewers: Veronika Dubajova (McCabe), Ken Long (Underhill), and Tafadzwa Muguwe (Cornell)

Curators wanted: a new vision for library exhibits Are you interested in sponsoring a class or a student exhibit? Are you a student interested in doing an independent project for credit that involves an exhibit? McCabe Library would like to extend curatorial opportunities to interested members of the college community, especially to students.

Allowing students to create educational library exhibits around their academic and personal interests is not a new idea. Other college libraries have long-standing traditions with academic departments that regularly use prime library exhibit space for showcasing intellectual pursuits. The Library, in keeping with the college’s goal of offering creative learning opportunities, is rededicating the exhibit space for this purpose.

This approach already has succeeded here: three students curated the “Cultural Imports: From Pokemon to Hello Kitty” manga/anime exhibit two years ago. The exhibit featured towering shoots of bamboo arched over the front display

cases filled with items the students had collected. Visitors included the president of a Japanese university, internationally renowned scholars, and children from local schools. This show generated more interest than any in recent memory.

Anyone who has curated an exhibit knows it requires a tremendous amount of detail. Choosing materials for the cases requires a time-consuming selection process, often involving visits to local collectors, libraries, and archives.

Researching and writing labels is very exacting, since only the most essential and interesting information can fit on a label. However, the final experience is, by far, more rewarding than the typical research assignment. It is a visual feast enjoyed by all.

Please contact Pam Harris (pharris1) if you are interested in sponsoring a class or a student exhibit, or if you are a student interested in a project with an exhibit.

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Vol. 7, no. 2 Spring 2005

Volunteer helps a library grow in South Africa

by Diane Skorina, library intern

In the summer of 2003, I quit my job and went to South Africa to start a library at a school in a tiny village called Makuhva, hours on a rutted dirt road from the nearest town.

People thought I was crazy. “Isn’t Africa incredibly dangerous?” they asked in shock. “And aren’t there more basic needs than libraries there, like running water or drugs for AIDS?” There was a sense that I was unnecessarily, insanely, putting myself in dire peril – and for a library?

I think my friends and family overreacted. In South Africa, apartheid had been abolished for more than ten years, and the transition to a majority government had been peaceful. Not that the country is without its many problems – AIDS, racism, and crime among them – but for the region it is relatively stable. For a little over a month I would be there with other volunteers through the World Library Partnership (WLP, http:// www.worldlibraries.org), a nonprofit organization with the expressed mission of “building global understanding by promoting literacy, learning and access to information,” who had sent volunteers there since 1996.

Still, it was hard to justify the creation of a library, even to myself. I knew that the village I’d be sent to had no running water, and I knew that a library wouldn’t directly change that or any of the major problems afflicting the country. But – what if I could help this community get the information that would help it to take on its problems and find sustainable solutions? To me, this has always been the most exciting potential of the library. I wanted to test my faith in libraries, to see if I could make one work in rural South Africa. I met my match in Makhuva: nobody in the school where I worked really knew what a library was; in the context of their lives, there was no reason they should have. We had not only to make them a library from scratch, but we had to make them understand why we were doing it.

During our time in Makuhva, my fellow volunteer Karen and I introduced the students, teachers, and parents of Albert Mabe elementary school to a new kind of learning. The curriculum they use is based on a British model that depends on transmission of knowledge through books – books in English that the students in rural South Africa, where English is rarely used, are ill-equipped to handle. The library was meant to be a place where children could develop their skills outside of this standard curriculum and more in accord with the African way of life, more sensitive to their cultural needs and interests.

We converted the vice principal’s office (while he was still in it) into a rudimentary library. We got a few shelves from the community center, decorated with the materials the WLP gave us, and gathered the few books, pamphlets, and learning games we had. We swept and cleaned. We brought the kids in and read

them stories, colored with them, played games with them.

Students wrote stories in Tsonga, the local language, that we included in the collection to give them a stake in their new library. Karen made an immensely popular Tsonga Scrabble board. We held workshops for the teachers and members of the local school board to teach them, too, what the library was all about. At the end of the program, we used the money we had fundraised before arriving in South Africa to purchase books in Tsonga and a set of encyclopedias for the school. Mainly, we tried to show everybody that the library was not just some irrelevant imposition that would hold unusable materials, but a place to keep useful information of all kinds.

There were many difficulties. There was the time that over 50 kids converged on the library during the break (signaled at noon by a child hitting a gong in the courtyard where chickens roamed), huddling around us, touching my hair, staring uncomprehending while I tried to quiet them down as they chattered in Tsonga – it was utter chaos to me. Language was a major barrier, and this, coupled with the foreignness of the concept of the library, made it impossible to communicate what I had hoped to about the library’s potential in my short time there. But we did make a library, and we generated a lot of genuine interest and excitement.

Volunteers went back last summer.

Information surrounds us so completely in the more “developed” places that we take it for granted– we hardly realize how much of it we have, how much we depend on it, how many places we can turn to for it. And how easy it is to consume the information we need – it’s almost like breathing air or drinking water.

Indeed, we don’t even use most of it around us. In a place like Makuhva, the utter lack of it makes stunningly clear that information today really is a basic need. Information about AIDS, for one, is desperately necessary. The father of my host family was one of the many in the town who had died from tuberculosis, most likely exacerbated by AIDS. I came away convinced that Makuhva and villages like it do need something like libraries. They need that essential quality of the library-as-information-holder, as a point of access to knowledge and a place to use it. But a truly African library could look quite different than anything that exists now. In addition to more traditional information-bearers like books and the Internet, perhaps professional storytellers and even health experts would be a part of the library staff; the librarians themselves could actively walk around the community gathering materials and recording stories. Information does exist in every community, after all – just not always in the packages we have come to rely on. A library in Makuhva could truly be the center of the community: a place for people of all ages to gather, to preserve, to share and to use the information – in all of its forms – so fundamental to the culture and so vital to life.

Vol. 7, no. 2 Spring 2005

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Rewriting the stereotype: what’s what’s new new at Swat student recruitment Librarians have long been depicted with buns and thick glasses, despite real-life examples that defy the cliché. From the leather librarian to the anarchist librarian, renegade, rogue, and belly dancing librarian, diversity in librarianship is celebrated in many ways and can readily be found in the profession. In an initiative to find a new wave of librarians that will bring an even greater diversity to the profession, the Mellon Librarian Recruitment Grant and Swarthmore College are sponsoring a variety of opportunities.

Currently in the second year of the three year grant, six Swarthmore students will participate in the spring internship: Tutuwa Ahwoi, Katina Cardenas, Evelyn Khoo, Sehnaz Kiymaz, Elisabeth Oppenheimer, and Roxanne Yaghoubi. For these students, the semester-long program will provide a behind-the-scenes experience in the library plus a chance to develop independent projects, visit special libraries, and avail themselves of other Mellon funded internships and scholarships.

For more information, contact Pam Harris, x2056, or visit the library homepage.

Things they don’t teach you in library school!

by Meg Spencer, science librarian

This past fall, the Drexel American Libraries Association Student Chapter invited me to give an informal talk. The invitation was initiated by the Drexel Library School student I am currently mentoring after she and other library school students expressed frustration at not learning more practical information in their classes. My complete talk may be found online at http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/cornell/ libraryschooltalk.htm What follows are just a few of the tips I discussed with a group of 20 or so library students in November. * Contrary to popular belief, you do NOT get to “read all the time.” In fact, you are fortunate if you EVER get to read anything at all on the job. Using Table of Contents current awareness services is one way to keep track of what is being published in library journals. * Know how many books/journals are in “your” library. I don’t know why, but people ALWAYS ask that question! * Learn how to say “NO” early on. It’s really hard at first, especially if you are the new kid on the block and feel like you have to do everything anyone tells you, but once you get some practice, it’s really quite empowering! * Find a mentor. Find lots of mentors. And when you are starting to feel confident in what you are doing, find someone YOU can mentor. * You will probably have to go to LOTS of meetings. Get used to it. If you are fortunate enough to be in the position to head up meetings, learn a few tricks early on. Try to keep any meeting to one hour. Anything not accomplished in that hour will be held over until the next meeting (so prioritizing is important!). * Get out and attend non-library events. Take a faculty member out for coffee, attend student presentations and faculty talks. It will give you insight to what your patrons are working on and they will appreciate your interest in them. * Keep a log or journal when you start a new job. Try to write in it everyday – record names of new people met, brilliant ideas, first impressions, anything that you might use later on. It is quite cathartic and cleansing to write it all down at the end of the day, and also serves as a useful reference later on, providing anecdotal information when you have to do those fun tasks like writing annual reports. * Allow yourself to make mistakes, that’s part of the learning process. If you are fortunate, you will have a supervisor who realizes this and will count mistakes as part of the learning process and move on.

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staff notes Jon Mark Bolthouse, former tricollege libraries system administrator, is now the automation librarian for the University of Wisconsin Colleges in the library support services department on the UW-Fond du Lac campus.

Adam Brin, new tri-college libraries system administrator, recently worked at Luna Imaging in California and the Art Museum Image Consortium in Pittsburgh. A graduate of Brown University, Adam managed the production of the 2002 Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) Library, a digital library of over 100,000 data records.

Susan Dreher, visual resources digitization coordinator, and her husband became new parents on August 26 when their son Henry was born. Susan is back on campus this semester.

Anne Garrison, humanities librarian and head of the reference department, has returned to work after her maternity leave last semester. Her baby Eleanor was born on July 25.

Peggy Seiden, library director, is on sabbatical for the spring semester. She plans to look at the changes in scholarly communication of three disciplines in the humanities with particular focus on the monograph. She will also continue working on a chapter on Gender Studies for the next Guide to Reference Sources.

Barbara Weir, assistant director for technical services, will serve as acting library director for the spring semester.

Co-Motion and Cookies at the coffee bar Two student groups, Co-Motion and Cookies for Charities, have stepped in to help fill the void left by the end of Library financial support for the coffee bar. They can be found selling coffee and assorted goodies in the Library and using the money raised to support worthy causes. If you have a student group interested in doing the same please contact Annette Newman (anewman2 or ext 8489) to find out what times are available and what’s involved.

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Mondays @ McCabe

Calendar of Events Book Artist as Witness: The Work Of Maureen Cummins Exhibit: January 10 – February 28 Lecture, gallery walk & opening reception: Thursday, February 3, 4:30–6:00 Ancient Symbols of Culture & Religion: Monotypes by Josy Wright Sponsored by the Art Department and the Library Exhibit: March 10 – April 15 Gallery walk & opening reception: Wednesday, April 6, 4:30–6:00 Irish Emigrant: Poetry by Eamonn Wall The Michael J. Durkan Irish Poetry Reading Sponsored by the English department and the Library Tuesday, March 29, 6:00–7:00 Scheuer Room, Kohlberg Hall Reception to follow at a local residence Family Weekend Booksale Friday, April 15, & Saturday, April 16, 1:00–5:00 A. Edward Newton Award Exhibit: April 8 - May 1 Talk, award presentation, and reception date TBA Micah Horwith ’06 - “The Evolution of the Epic” Benjamin Kabak ’05 - “Baseball Literature”

Vol. 7, no. 2 Spring 2005

Workshops for students, faculty, and staff held in McCabe Library Computer Classroom, Level 4, on Mondays, 11:30-12:30 (unless noted).

For more information, contact Diane Skorina, 610-957-6113 or dskorin1

Feb. 7: Newspapers and Full-Text articles Online Newspapers from the 1700s, New York Times from the 70s, The Washington Post, Civil War, Science. You name it, and we probably have it FULL TEXT with illustrations online.

Feb. 21 (11:00 to 12:30): Endnote (1.5 hours) Revolutionize your ability to format bibliographies–and save yourself hours– with this useful tool. Recommended for anyone writing papers.

Feb. 28: Untangling the Web of Science Learn how to use this powerful research tool for Natural and Social Sciences.

March 14: Using Ingenta A powerful resource for faculty and staff: have articles delivered directly to your desktop electronically or by fax.

March 28: New Databases Come see what’s new at McCabe – we’ll take a look at some of the great new databases available to you!

April 11: RSS - What’s All the Fuss About?

Learn to use a free web service, called a news aggregator, to subscribe to and collect content delivered through RSS (Really Simple Syndication) in your own personal web space.

April 25: Tour of Treasure Room and Special Collections An introduction to the Friends Historical Library, the Peace Collection, and McCabe’s Treasure Room.

@library.edu THE SWARTHMORE COLLEGE LIBRARY NEWSLETTER 500 COLLEGE AVENUE, SWARTHMORE PA 19081

Events at the Swarthmore College Library Volume 7, Number 2

Spring 2005

Maureen Cummins: book artist as witness In her books and works-on-paper, Maureen Cummins does not shy away from what she calls “dark history” and “very intense moments.” From the brutal economies of the slave trade (Stocks and Bonds; The Business is Suffering) to the sinking of the Titanic (Current Events II), from the lives of women in mental institutions (Crazy Quilt, pictured at right) to the displacement of Native Americans by white settlers (Deeds), Cummins delves into a past marked by cruelty, subjugation, and unnatural disasters. If we can figure out “where all this [violence] came from,” Cummins suggests, perhaps we can begin to work toward taming it.

Much of her art is grounded in the tradition of témoignage, the literature of the witness. Cummins uses found materials and images, first-person accounts, and, in some cases, classical or literary texts to create works that explore or interrogate history and human experience. Artifacts such as cancelled checks, correspondence, and entire sections of the New York Times are layered with new meanings that meld the personal, the political, the private, and the communal in startling, subversive ways. In this interplay of immediacy (the voices that speak from the text) and distance (the objects and relics that supply the temporal or social context), Cummins’ art has the capacity to challenge the reader-viewer’s cultural and historical assumptions.

Cummins has made works-on-paper and artist’s books for over 15 years and received more than a dozen major grants, awards, and fellowships. She spent a recent summer as a resident artist at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and she was also a William Randolph Hearst fellow at the American Antiquarian Society. Her work is held in over 100 public and private collections in the United States, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and South America; and institutional collectors include the Brooklyn Museum, the Fogg Art Museum, the National Gallery, Walker Art Center, and the British Library.

The art of Maureen Cummins will be exhibited in the McCabe Library lobby from January 10 through February 28. She will give a lecture and gallery walk on Thursday, February 3, at 4:30 p.m., which will be followed by a reception. For more information or library hours, call 610-328-8489 or visit http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/about/exhibits.

The Michael J. Durkan Irish Poetry Reading

Irish Emigrant: Poetry by Eamonn Wall Migration, memories of Road (1997), The home, and the search for Crosses (2000) and Red-doored, white-trimmed, geraniums thriving in old carts: material and emotional Refuge at DeSoto Bend A solid station on a summer afternoon between the old brick shelter in unfamiliar loca(2004). From the Sin-é Of the beer merchant and ol’ man river Slaney. Nine swans tions: these are recurring Café to the Black Hills On the water, two crows on a wire, one distant island pony. themes in Eamonn Wall’s (2000), a volume of - from “Emergency” acclaimed work. Wall, essays on the Irish himself an emigrant, is a Diaspora, received the poet in tune with origins, dislocations, and the clear-eyed Michael J. Durkan Prize from the American Conference for Irish perceptions of those who’ve been uprooted. At once an insider Studies for excellence in scholarship. and an outsider, he observes with a doubled vision, exploring Eamonn Wall will read his poetry on Tuesday, March 29, at such topics as nature, family, memory, and hunger to anatomize 6:00 p.m. in the Scheuer Room, Kohlberg Hall. In memory of public and private life in contemporary Ireland and America.

Michael J. Durkan, college librarian 1976-1996, the reading is Born and raised in County Wexford, Eamonn Wall has lived in sponsored by the department of English Literature and the the U. S. since 1982 and is currently an associate professor of Swarthmore College Library. The public is invited to the English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. His poetry reading. A reception will follow at a local residence. For more collections are: Dyckman-200th Street (1992), Iron Mountain information, call 610-328-8489.

Ancient symbols of culture and religion: monotypes

by Josy Wright

The New York Times seems an unlikely source for artistic inspiration; however printmaker Josy Wright would disagree. In the fall of 2000, when the paper began to be delivered to her home early each morning, the terrible news of the Second Intifada and conflict in the Middle East seemed overwhelming. With the desire to better understand the roots of the conflict, she concentrated her attention on the history of the Jews and Muslims. She says, “As I did the research I became intrigued by similar symbols in the two religions and I wanted to show, with contrasting prints, the beauty of their ancient cultures.”

Mosaic (pictured above), the large-scale piece that resulted, is “a composite of cultures, religion and anguish, a symmetry of all three.” Her prints show the beauty of religious art and how the symbolism each portrays is often similar and often derived from the same cultural origins. Mosaic is a combination of monotypes, litho transfers, and woodcuts. The monoprints are made out of a matrix of inked and printed woodcuts, layered with transparencies of ink, and printed on a paper usually used for woodcuts called Sekishu.

Josy Wright graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her latest show was held at the Deblois Gallery in Newport, RI. Ancient Symbols of Culture and Religion is sponsored by the Art department and the College Library. The exhibit runs from Thursday, March 10, to Friday, April 15. The gallery walk with Josy Wright and opening reception are in McCabe Library on Wednesday, April 6, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. For more information, call 610-328-8489.

Calling all bibliophiles: Annual student library competition The A. Edward Newton Student Library prize, established by noted bibliophile 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 only contest sponsored by the Swarthmore College Library, it is open to all undergraduates.

The competition has undergone a few changes since its inception, even as it maintains its core concepts. For example, it used to be that the members of the award committee would visit the students’ dorm rooms to view the collections before making their decisions, a practice that was discontinued only in recent years. In another departure from tradition, the 2005 Newton competition seeks to encourage potential collectors to follow their book-related passions, so the committee is now soliciting “dream bibliographies.”

Students interested in exploring book collecting should submit an annotated bibliography of at least 25 titles and a one-page essay about their dream collection’s theme and the student’s evolving interest in the listed titles. It is not required that the students own all of the titles included in their collections, but they should be intimately familiar with them. Each collection will be judged by a panel of librarians, faculty, and students on its originality, the strength of its unifying theme, and its potential for growth Entries must be submitted to Melanie Maksin at McCabe Library (mmaksin1) by Monday, March 21.

In April, Micah Horwith ’06, who received first prize in the 2004 Newton contest, and Benjamin Kabak ’05, the third-place winner, will give an informal talk about book collecting and their own collections. Winners of this year’s contest will be announced then.

Support the Swarthmore College Library 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.

Corporate Matching Gift Forms may be included with your check or mailed directly to the College’s Gift Records Office.

CIRCLE: $25 $50 $100 $250 $1000 Other $ ______________ Enclosed is check # _________ to support the programs of the Swarthmore College Library.

Please charge my/our contribution 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: Swarthmore College Libraries, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081 Thank you!