Library Exam Week Hours

We are offering extended hours this week for your studying pleasure!

Friday, December 68:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday, December 79:00 am – midnight
Sunday, December 89:00 am – 2:00 am
Monday, December 98:00 am – 2:00 am
Tuesday, December 108:00 am – 2:00 am
Wednesday, December 118:00 am – midnight
Thursday, December 128:00 am – midnight
Friday, December 138:00 am – 5:00 pm
Saturday, December 14closed
Sunday, December 15closed

National Hispanic Heritage Month

To help celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) we enlisted help from a few campus partners!

English professors Dr. Jesus Montaño and Dr. Regan Postma-Montaño made a list of the “25 books by Latinx and Latin American Authors That Every College Student Should Know!” All the books have been gathered at the display on the 2nd floor near the stairwell. The list includes this year’s Big Read title In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez!

Sylvia Rodriguez from Hope’s Latino Student Organization made a great poster (left) promoting our display (right).

We hope you get a chance to read at least one of these books before October 15. It’s important to read books from a variety of voices to help understand the human experience more fully! Thank you to our campus partners for helping to curate this display!

Rare Books Enrich Library’s Collection

The Hope College Van Wylen Library has received a gift of four very rare Dutch books, printed between 1669 and 1738, and all are related to exploration and travel. A gift from Keith Miller, grandson of Herman Miller, the books represent a particular place and period in the history of printing when European readers had a voracious appetite for books about other peoples, places and religions.

Kelly Jacobsma and the gift of rare books

The titles (approximate translations into English) of the four books are:

Atlas Japannensis or Memorable Embassies of the Dutch East India Company to the Emperors of Japan by Arnoldus Montanus. Published by Jacob van Meurs, Amsterdam, 1669.  This is the first major non-Jesuit work about Japan after the closing of Japan to non-Dutch Europeans in 1640.

An Embassy from the East India Company of the United Provinces to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperor of China by Jan Nieuhoff, published by Jacob van Meurs, Amsterdam, 3rd edition,1670. This was the first extensively illustrated book describing China. First published in 1665. The accounts were based on the journals of Johan Nieuhf, who had embarked on a quasi-official embassy to the imperial court in Beijing nearly a decade earlier; the book is comprised of several texts, many of them derived from earlier Jesuit sources.

A Voyage to the Levant: or, Travels in the Principal Parts of Asia Minor by M. Corneille le Bruyn. Published by H. van Krooneveld, Deft, 1698. Dutch painter and traveller Cornelious de Bruyn travelled to Constantinople and throughout the Levant and the Ottoman empire between 1677 and 1685. This region today would be Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. 

The Ceremonies and Religious Customes of the Various Nations of the Known World; together with historical annotations and several curious discourses by Jean Frederic Bernard, Bernard Picart and Abraham Moubach. Published in Gravenhage, Amsterdam and Rotterdam by Van der Kloot, Uytwerf, and Beman; 1727-1738  in 7 volumes). Considered the most famous encyclopedic work on religion of the 18th century, it was later called the first global vision of religion. The seven volumes include extensive engravings by Bernard Picart, one of the most famous engravers of the 18th century. Vol. 1 Jews/Catholics Vol 2 Catholics Vol 3 Americas, Vol 4 India, Asia, Africa, Vol 5 Greek Orthodox, Protestants, Vol 6 Anglicans, Quakers, Deists, Vol 7 Islam. 

The fact that all four books were owned by Herman Miller, the President of the Herman Miller Furniture Company,  raises a number of interesting questions. It is unknown how he acquired them, but I like to think that they were owned originally by a single individual.

So significant are each of these books that they have themselves been the subject of a number of books and articles. In The Book that Changed Europe (Hunt, Jacob and Mijnhardt, Harvard University Press,2010), the authors describe Religious Ceremonies of the World as “marking a major turning point in European attitudes toward religious belief and hence the sacred. It sowed the radical idea that religions could be compared on equal terms, and therefore that all religions were equally worthy of respect — and criticism.” The books offer incredible insight into eighteenth century views of religion and especially of religious tolerance. 

The author and illustrator of A Voyage to the Levant, Corneille le Bruyn, is the subject of a book chapter theorizing that he was likely a spy, and possibly involved in a politically motivated murder of a Dutch statesman. 

Hope student Aine O’Conner will be using the Bernard and Picart book on Ceremonies and Religious Customes in her research for an independent study this fall.

When published, The Ceremonies and Religious Customes of the Various Nations of the Known World was sold primarily by subscription for 150 florins, probably about $9,000 in today’s money.

The fact that all four books were owned by Herman Miller, the President of the Herman Miller Furniture Company,  raises a number of interesting questions. It is unknown how he acquired them, but I like to think that they were owned originally by a single individual. Such a person would have likely had an extensive library and was probably quite wealthy. When published, The Ceremonies and Religious Customes of the Various Nations of the Known World was sold primarily by subscription for 150 florins, probably about $9,000 in today’s money.

Welcome to the New School Year! Part 1

We are so happy to have new and returning students on campus! This will be a great year.

The library can assist you in many ways. Though we have thousands of books you can check out, we also have a number of services and spaces to help you excel this year.

Research Help

Stop in at the Research Help Desk for assistance on finding sources for your paper or project topic. You can also make an appointment with a Research and Instruction Librarian.

Media Services

Color printing and office supplies for sale; cameras, headphones and laptops to check out! This is just the tip of the iceberg! Chances are, Media Services has what you need to get going on your project. Check here for an up-to-date list of available equipment.

Spaces

Studying alone or with a group? We have many different kinds of spaces on all floors for you to use. We love to see the library full of students as well as faculty and staff!

Your group can connect their laptops to the MediaScapes on the first floor!
Our Brody chairs, also on the first floor, provide a distraction-free enviroment.

Stay tuned for more library services highlights in Part 2!

Senior Library Student Worker Purchases for the Collection 2019

Last week, we celebrated our senior student workers with a luncheon at Alpen Rose. Many have worked at the library all four years. We enjoy getting to know these students and appreciate everything they do to help keep the Library running!

In appreciation for all they do for the Library, every spring, graduating senior student workers are able to choose an item (book, CD, or DVD) to add to our collection. That item might be in the student’s discipline of study or from a different area of interest.

The class of 2019’s choices:

TEch lab

Audrey McDonald

Deborah Kang

 

technical services

Kendra Grulke

 

 

 

 

 

circulation

Dahlia Marquez

Alexandra Perry

Kaila Robertson

Sarah Stroop

Emily Veldman

media desk

Stephanie Prentis

Meredith Predum

Sarah Schaefer

Jennifer Lussenhop

Matthew Orr

 research and instruction

Emily Salazar

 

Exam Week Activities Around Campus

Sunday, April 28

9 am *  Coffee and Donuts  * Van Wylen Library

7 pm * Rope of Hope * Dimnent Chapel

9 pm * Study Snack * Van Wylen Library

9 pm * Aromatherapy Hand Relaxation * Library Room 201 (sign up outside 201 starting Friday!)

All Day * Relaxation Station * Van Wylen Library

Monday, April 29

9 pm * Study Breakfast * Phelps Dining Hall

All Day * Relaxation Station * Van Wylen Library

Tuesday, April 30

noon- 2 pm * Therapy Dogs * Bultman Student Center Great Room & Living Room

9 pm * Study Snack * Van Wylen Library

All Day * Relaxation Station * Van Wylen Library

Wednesday, May 1

All Day * Relaxation Station * Van Wylen Library

Thursday, May 2

All Day * Relaxation Station * Van Wylen Library

 

Exam Week Hours at the Library

We redistributed our exam week hours a bit to meet demand.  We close at midnight Wednesday and open an hour earlier (9 am) on both Saturday and Sunday! Best of luck with exams and have a great summer!

Friday, April 26 8 am – 6 pm
Saturday, April 27 9 am – midnight
Sunday, April 28 9 am – 2 am
Monday, April 29 8 am – 2 am
Tuesday, April 30 8 am – 2 am
Wednesday, May 1 8 am – midnight
Thursday, May 2 8 am – midnight
Friday, May 3 8 am – 5 pm
Saturday, May 4 closed
Sunday, May 5 closed