Visiting Writers Series

The Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series of Hope College begins this year with two Hope grads. Katherine Bode-Lang is the author of The Reformation, a recent winner of the 2014 American Review/Honickman First Book Prize. Laura Donnelly published her first book of poetry in 2013, entitled Watershed, which won the 2013 Cider Press Review Editors Prize. The library will have copies of their books available, along with the other visiting writers.

Both women will be available on Thursday, September 18 for a Q&A at 3:30 pm in the Fried-Hemenway Auditorium, Room 135 in Martha Miller. Later at 7:00p, the ninth annual Tom Andrews Memorial Reading will take place in Winants Auditorium, Graves Hall. Read more about them at http://jrvws.org/calendar/katherine-bode-lang-laura-donnelly/

 

Rare Books and Metadata, or, What I Learned on Summer Vacation

What makes a book rare or special? How do we, as librarians and archivists, create access to our often siloed rare book collections? These are some of the questions I had a chance to ponder while attending Rare Book School at the Alderman Library on the campus of the University of Virginia this summer.

Thanks to a Nyenhuis grant from Hope College, I had the opportunity to attend a rare book cataloging class, led by the inimitable Deborah J. Leslie of the Folger Shakespeare Library. This five day course was packed full of standards, principles, exercises, and excursions. I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s just say, it was a cataloger’s dream.

You may be wondering why we catalogers choose a more detailed level of metadata for our rare materials. When thinking about the content of a book, there really isn’t much difference between the description of something from 1600 to now. Most of the access points should be the same. For instance, we would always include an author, a title, and subject headings.

The differences come largely from the physical copy in hand. Often times, a book printed before the 19th century will be unique in some way from copy to copy. There may be differences in the publisher’s advertisements, printing irregularities, bindings, size, illustrative content, editions, issue, impression, or state. We need to know whether the book comes from the machine-press or the hand-press period. What kinds of notes are in the margins? The list of questions could go on.

An example of rare book cataloging from our own collection.

So, why would a researcher care about these minor, or major, differences? Sometimes, the way books are treated over the years can tell us a lot about the people who used them. Did the owner have the book rebound? Are pages torn or missing? This could also indicate errors from a printer. In a new edition, were there significant changes to the text, and if so, why? How many copies and re-issues are printed tells us a lot about the time period and what people valued. The actual, physical book-in-hand tells us a lot about our own history. All of this is important to researchers. As a cataloger, these are among the types of things to think about when trying to create access. The metadata I choose to add, or choose not to, may determine whether a researcher successfully finds the material for which they are searching. The extra details about our rare books may help them in their research quest, so it is extremely important that I add the right details in the right way.

We have a significant collection of materials in our rare book collection at Hope College, thanks to many generous gifts. The Thomas E. and Jennie W. Welmers Rare Book Reading Room is located on the lower level of Van Wylen Library. My job is to make sure that more than just the library staff know what we have. Thanks to the rare book cataloging class, I can do this with confidence.

As the rare book collection in Van Wylen becomes more accessible in our catalog, I urge you to take advantage of it. Ask for a tour. Ask to see the books, hold them, and learn about them. Use them – that’s what they’re here for!

Attention First Year Students! Take the HEDS Research Practices Survey

You can help improve the library by taking the HEDS Research Practices Survey. Check your email for the link. The survey is open until September 12.

For 15 minutes of your time you will be entered for a raffle of participating Hope students for an iPad Mini or one of six $50 Amazon gift cards!

If your FYS instructor is giving credit for taking the survey, make sure you print the final confirmation page after taking the survey.

Help us help you! Tell us about the way you research and use the library. What are you waiting for?

Info in the Arts: Digital Theatre Plus now more than plays!

digital theatre plus logoIf you haven’t stumbled across this yet, I wanted to make you aware of a newer resource that the library subscribes to, Digital Theatre Plus.  We subscribed to this last year to support the theatre department with a streaming drama resource.  It is a growing database of major plays, including contemporary British theatre productions and portions of the Broadway Theatre Archive, a collection of plays produced for television.  However, it has started to expand to support of other forms of performing arts.  It currently contains two musicals, Into the Woods, and Merrily We Roll Along.  This summer it added a collection from the Royal Opera House that now has six operas and three ballets.

If you have courses in which you want to engage with drama, music theatre, opera, or dance, consider this as a resource, particularly for easy out-of-class viewing of streaming performance.  Or just consider it an option if you are looking for some entertainment this weekend!

– Jessica Hronchek, Visual and Performing Arts Librarian

Update: If you are a Hope student or faculty member and need to use this resource off campus, please contact askalibrarian@hope.edu or x7904 and we will provide you with a username and password.

New York Times Digital Edition

The New York Times digital edition is available for all students and faculty at Hope College. To get access, Hope users will need to create individual logins at this NYTimes.com site  and must use their 1Hope credentials to create an account. Follow the instructions to claim your pass. A list of frequently asked questions is available at the bottom of this post.

NYT

The online version includes not only the same articles, text and images that appear in the print edition, but also an array of additional still images, videos, audio and data content. About the only thing not included in the digital version is the crossword puzzles. The content is enriched by inclusion of longitudinal data from syndicates and data sources such as Thomson Reuters. The subscription also includes free access through the NYTNow iPhone app.

The library is interested in how access to the New York Times might be used within the curriculum, something that the NYT has been interested in as well. Given our emphasis on becoming more globally engaged and increasing student gains in writing and critical thinking, how might the NYT be used creatively within the classroom? Ideas for incorporating the New York Times into nearly all disciplines can be found on the NYT Classroom Ideas website.

Our subscription to the NYT digital edition was brokered by the Center for Research Libraries. CRL and academic libraries have an interest in preservation of the NYT, which is currently only being archived by the New York Times itself. No other major news organization is investing in data journalism and data analytics to the same extent, suggesting that the online NYT will become an even greater resource for scholarly research in the future. The digital edition is highly searchable and allows users to search for content going back to 1851. In addition to keyword searching, users will have access to the TimesMachine, digital replicas of every issue of the Times published from 1851 to 1980. Users can browse page by page and see articles, photos and ads as they originally appeared in print.

Here are some answers to Frequently Asked Questions about access to content:

I already have a NYTimes.com digital subscription. What should I do?
NYTimes.com does not permit a double entitlement. If you have an existing paid NYTimes.com subscription, you are not eligible for an Academic Pass. You should continue to access the Times via your own subscription.

Should I cancel my existing digital subscription to make use of the site license access?
The New York Times Academic Site License has some restrictions that your personal subscription maynot have. Consider the options carefully before deciding one way or another.

What are the restrictions?
Site license access does not include the NYTimes.com tablet apps. At this time, access to articles from the date range 1923 to 1986 is limited is limited to 5 articles for the 364-day period.

Can I access the Times off-campus?
Yes, as long as you have registered using your campus domain .edu e-mail address and obtained your Academic Pass.

Can I access the Times from my mobile device?
There are mobile apps for iPhone/iPod Touch (IOS 5.0+), Android (OS 2.1+), and Windows (7.5 O.S.) phones; these are included as part of the Academic Pass. Mobile apps for tablets are not part of the  Academic Pass. However, you can access the NYTimes.com mobile site (mobile.nytimes.com) or Times Skimmer (nytimes.com/skimmer) using your smartphone or tablet running one of the above operating systems.

CANCELLATION AND REFUND POLICY FOR DIGITAL PRODUCTS
Cancellation and Refunds of Digital Subscriptions (For those who currently subscribe)
You can cancel your digital product at any time by calling Customer Care at (800) 591-9233. For international customers, please e-mail us at help@nytimes.com. Group Subscription billing cycles and terms of cancellations may differ and are governed by the terms set forth in the Group Subscription Purchase Order.

Monthly and 4-Week Subscription Billing (For those who currently subscribe)
When you cancel, you cancel only future charges associated with your subscription. You may notify us of your intent to cancel at any time, but the cancellation will become effective at the end of your current billing period.

Cancellations are effective the following billing cycle. You will not receive a refund for the current billing cycle. You will continue to have the same access and benefits of your product for the remainder of the current billing period.

Annual Subscription Billing (For those who currently subscribe)
If you cancel within the first 11 months, your access and other benefits will end immediately and you will receive a refund prorated to the day.

If you cancel in the final 30 days, the cancellation will not take effect until the end of your current billing period. Your access and privileges will continue to the end of the current billing period, and you will not receive a refund.

How can I solve a problem accessing an NYTimes.com Academic Pass?

Welcome to Digital Holland

DHM Banner

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Hope College student, Allyson Hoffman. You may reach her at  digitalholland@hope.edu. Start your experience with Digital Holland today.

Imagine yourself on a scavenger hunt, but the list of items to gather has been sliced and scattered around a city. By the time you gather the pieces of the list, you’ve spent days, months, maybe even years running back and forth, passing all of the items you were supposed to pick up, but didn’t know.

Although hyperbolic, this scenario mimics the struggles researchers face when trying to locate sources. Historians could travel across the world, gathering artifacts for their work, only to discover that there are dozens of other necessary pieces out there somewhere. The internet has helped expedite the research process, but traveling between websites can be time consuming and frustrating. Furthermore, if the artifacts aren’t digitized and hosted on a site, the researchers cannot access them.

The purpose of Digital Holland Michigan is to make the research about Holland, Michigan easier for everyone to locate—from the scholar to the amateur historian to the curious individual. The public-accessible website hosts digitized artifacts such as images, audio and video files, as well as text summaries written by several contributors. In two months, the Digital Holland Michigan team has created over 100 pages about the people, places, and events in Holland, as well as pages about Hope College, the liberal arts college in Holland, and historical maps of the city.

But the work is just beginning.

The goal for Digital Holland Michigan is continue adding artifacts from the Joint Archives of Holland, the Holland Museum, and items donated by community members. As long as life in Holland continues, so will history—and so there will always be something to add to the website.

Welcome, Chris McKinnon!

Chris McKinnon

Van Wylen Library would like to extend a warm welcome to our new Evening Circulation Supervisor, Chris McKinnon. Chris comes to us from the Kent District Library, where he was a circulation assistant. In addition to his duties as a Circulation Supervisor, Chris is the go-to person during the evening hours at the library.

When asked what his favorite thing about libraries is, he responded, “There’s always something different every day. And that’s a good thing.” Chris’s favorite book series is the Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan. In his spare time, Chris helps his family with their maple syrup operation. We’re glad to have you join the library, Chris!

1Search Gets a New Look

You may have noticed a slight change in the way search results are displayed in 1Search, Van Wylen Library’s 1-stop search stop. This 2.0-upgraded version is designed with the user in mind, making searches easier and more intuitive.

Like before, the facets on the left allow you to refine your results by content type, discipline, publication date, and much more (see image below). The search results are displayed in the middle, with clear indications as to whether something is available online or in print. News results are aggregated together, instead of interspersed throughout the search. Images are now clustered, as well, making them easier than ever to identify.

A search for "circus performers" yields results in 1Search
1Search 2.0

Hovering over a search result displays summary and publication information on the right. You may choose to cite the result or email the citation from the right-hand search display. Advanced searching is still available by choosing the drop-down arrow from the search box.

There are many ways to make your search experience fruitful using 1Search. As always, contact a librarian for any research-related help.

Image Collections @ Hope College Available via 1Search

Hope College digital image collections are now accessible through 1Search. Keywords can be used to find your topic related to Hope College history. You can choose “Image Collections @ Hope College” under the “Library Location” facet to limit your results to only the images from our digital repository. Here’s an example of a search using the Myron Van Ark postcard collection.

Van Ark_Location

Image Collections @ Hope College features rare and historic materials from the Hope College Libraries and Archives. These unique collections document the rich history of Hope College, which was chartered in 1866. Items cover a broad range of topics, including school traditions, historic buildings, programs, and more.