Van Wylen Library will be open for limited hours over Spring Break:
For Music Library Hours, please see here.
If you have 35 mm slides or negatives that you use for teaching or viewing, you can now more easily turn these treasures into digital images with new HP scanners that were recently updated in the TechLab (2nd floor of Van Wylen). These digitized images can then easily be used in a Power Point, used for printing, or shared electronically.
The scanners have all the capabilities of the previous HP scanners, with an additional adapter that allows a strip of negatives or (5) 35mm slides to be scanned at a time. There are multiple settings and profiles that allow manipulation of resolution, color, exposure and noise. You can never create a better image than the original, but you can make adjustments to enhance your digitized image.
The scanning software also has OCR (Optical Character Recognition) capability, so that paper text documents can be scanned and opened in MS WORD for editing or saving. Depending on the formatting and condition of the original, the OCR document may require further editing, but the results with the text have been very good thus far.
The TechLab is located on the Second Floor of Van Wylen next to the Media Services desk, under the skylights near the entrance to Van Zoeren. It is run by library staff and student tutors who are available to help with scanning, and other technology resources, during library hours.
— Daphne Fairbanks, TechLab Coordinator
Rohan Dandavati is running an eye glasses drive for his Eagle Scout project, in collaboration with the Holland Lion’s Club. If you have any old prescription glasses, reading glasses, sunglasses, or frames that you no longer use, you can drop them off in the collection box located near the Cup & Chaucer in Van Wylen Library. These glasses will be cleaned, sorted, and distributed to people who can’t afford them, particularly in developing countries. Children’s glasses are especially needed. For more information on the impact of this “Recycle for Sight” program, you can visit Lion’s Club International.
Are you researching a topic that would benefit from public opinion or national statistical data? Reference and Instruction librarian Todd Wiebe has compiled a great list of online Statistical Sources and Public Opinion Polls on the library’s subject guide for Political Science. This includes links to organizations like the Gallup Poll and various newspaper polls, as well as national and global statistics tools like American Factfinder and Eurostat.
Having trouble finding the data you need? Don’t forget that you can always email askalibrarian@hope.edu with your question or set up a research appointment with a librarian to talk about your research project.
— Jessica Hronchek, Reference and Instruction Librarian
Ever wish you could be a fly on the wall in the Oval Office? Now you can through the work of the Presidential Recordings Program at the University Of Virginia. They are making digitally available the secret White House recordings of six US presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. The collection currently includes almost 5,000 hours of sound.
Researchers are able to download finding aids and large files of the complete audio. For the curious browser, the most interesting section is probably the Transcript+Audio pages, where you can browse through short clips of some of the more interesting sound bites of the collection. There are online exhibits where you can hear presidential audio centered around important historical events, like Martin Luther King’s assassination or Watergate, and there is also a section of resources for teachers.
— Jessica Hronchek, Reference Librarian
Circo Aereo will come to Hope on Feb. 25 and 26 for a two-night engagement as part of the Great Performance Series. This Finnish circus troupe combines elements of circus, theatre, dance and music to put together a unique production. Since 1996, the group has performed in over 20 countries, making them one of the most active Finnish performing groups.
Circo Aereo has 12 performances in their repertoire. At Hope, they will perform one of their most popular: Espresso. This performance, premiered in 2006, uses parts of traditional, contemporary and sidewalk circus including juggling, dance and aerial performance to create a one-of-a-kind show.
Interested in learning more about circus history? Check out these titles in Van Wylen’s collection or the journal article citations in America: History and Life or Historical Abstracts.
— Bethany Stripp, Library Student Blogger
Interested in seeing ways to take your reading materials to a whole new level? The main display case in the library is currently displaying the creations of Stephanie Milanowski’s Design II class. For one of their assignments they were required to create a work of art out of a used book, which comes from a genre of art commonly called Altered Books, Book Art or Artists’ Books. These are works that involve creating a work of art in a book form or modifying book material to create a work of art. In the words of Justin Korver ’13 “Artists’ books can be all words, all images or a combination of both, while exploring alternative forms, materials and production techniques.” This first exhibition also marks the beginning of a new collection at Hope Libraries. Each class, a jury from Hope Libraries will choose one student’s work to be added to the newly created Hope College Van Wylen Library Artist Book Collection.
Interested in learning more about books arts? Check out titles on Altered Books and Artists’ Books in Van Wylen’s collection. Another nice visual display are these videos from the Herron Art Library.
— Jessica Hronchek, Reference Librarian
The library will be open for limited hours over Winter Break:
— Jessica Hronchek, reference librarian
This semester’s first installment of the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series will feature poets Elizabeth Bradfield and Sean Hill. Both will give readings of their work on Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. in the Knickerbocker Theatre.
Bradfield has released two books of her poetry: Interpretive Work, which received the Audre Lorde Award, and Approaching Ice. Her poems have also appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, Orion, among other journals. Reviews of her work are available through Literature Online and OneFile PowerSearch. Hill’s work has been published in Callaloo, Ploughshares, and The Oxford American in addition to other literary journals and anthologies. His book, Blood Ties & Brown Liquor, came out in 2008. Two of his poems, Hands 1921 and Elegy for an Older Brother 1922 can be found through Literature Online.
Bradfield and Hill also work on a project called Broadsided. Bradfield came up with the idea for Broadsided in 2005. Each month, Bradfield, Hill, and the other editors chose one short literary work from a field of submissions. They then ask an artist to create artwork based on the piece. The two works are then put together on a letter-sized document and posted online. Anyone interested in the project is encouraged to download the document from Broadsided’s website and post it in a public place. According to the project’s website, broadsides have been posted locally in Saugatuck and Grand Rapids.
— Bethany Stripp, Library Student Blogger
Many of you have likely noticed the lovely orange cones that have graced the foot of the main staircase in Van Wylen for the last few months. These were placed after library staff became aware of the long-term problem of frequent trips, stumbles and outright falls on this staircase. Part of the problem cames from the lack of appropriate railings in this area. Given that this staircase is a well trafficked path for the whole “Van” complex (used constantly by students, faculty and prospective student tours), the cones were clearly not the end solution. After working with the administration and the physical plant we are happy to have a long term solution in place; new brass railings were installed last week.
Happy climbing!
— Jessica Hronchek, reference librarian
