News Announcements

Honoring Walter Netsch, 1920-2008

Walter Netsch, architect of the Main Library, as well as many other prominent and radically unconventional buildings around the country, died on June 15 at his home in Chicago. He was a lifetime member of the Board of Governors, and the Board had hoped to thank and honor him in person at the May 15 Deering Society Recognition Dinner by presenting him with its 2008 Deering Family Award. By then his health was too fragile to allow him to attend, however, and the award was accepted on his behalf by University President Henry Bienen.

Netsch was perhaps most well known, nationally, for leading the team at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill that designed the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs in the 1950s, including its dramatic Cadet Chapel. Now Colorado’s top man-made tourist attraction, the chapel earned Netsch the American Institute of Architects’ prestigious 25-Year Award in 1996. He designed the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois, and several buildings at the University of Chicago. His influence on the Northwestern campus was sweeping, beginning in 1962 with his involvement with the Lakefill project, which added about 70 acres to the university’s grounds. He went on to design the Lindheimer Astronomical Research Center (no longer standing), the Rebecca Crown Center, the O. T. Hogan Biological Sciences Building, the Frances Searle Building, the Regenstein Music Building, the Seeley G. Mudd Library for Science and Engineering, and of course, the University Library.

His innovative approach to the Library’s design was deeply influenced by the close relationship he formed with Clarence Ver Steeg, who chaired the library’s planning committee. “We were very good friends,” Netsch told the Library's Footnotes last July, at the time of Ver Steeg’s death, “and we made a very good team.” The curvilinear stack system Netsch created, with book stacks radiating out from a central core, and study carrels around the circumference of each tower, was revolutionary not only in its aesthetic design but in its philosophy. Most libraries at the time still operated closed-stack systems, but Ver Steeg believed intensely that scholars should have free access to their books and work in close physical proximity with them.

Northwestern University Press recently published Walter A. Netsch, FAIA: A Critical Appreciation and Sourcebook, edited by Art Collection head Russ Clement. The book includes a biography, chronology, building projects list, essays, statements by Netsch, and a comprehensive annotated bibliography of primary and secondary literature about the architect's life and work. "We're so glad that Walter was able to see and enjoy the book," Russ says. "The day the first copies arrived, I hurried down to give several to him and Dawn. We spent a memorable hour examining the book. This was a rare work project that developed into a warm personal friendship."

Russ, University Librarian Sarah Pritchard, and Art Collection Manager Lindsay King attended Netsch's memorial service in Chicago last week, and Lindsay provided Libstaff Links with the following account of the service:

A memorial service for Walter Netsch was held at the Arts Club of Chicago on July 7, 2008. The Lincoln Quartet played selections by Barber and Shostakovich, and several friends, relatives, and colleagues spoke about Mr. Netsch. The assembled crowd was large enough to overflow into a second room.

The speakers all mentioned Mr. Netsch's "larger than life" physical presence, his generosity of spirit, and the impression he made on everyone who knew him. Craig Hartman of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill talked about what it was like as a young architect to work for him. Mr. Netsch's sister's son, Andrew Kerr, remembered trying as a boy to match his uncle's long strides along Michigan Avenue. Edward Uhlir talked about the many ways Chicago is different because of Mr. Netsch—for example, Mayor Daley (who attended the service) was following Mr. Netsch's lead in planting green medians throughout the city. Architectural historian Robert Bruegmann discussed how Mr. Netsch's work, along with that of other postwar modernists, has recently been receiving renewed critical attention.

Duane Boyle, now the resident architect of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, recalled how he was initially intimidated by the legendary original architect, but said that Mr. Netsch surprised him by ending a phone call with the words, "Goodbye, my friend," early in what would become a decades-long friendship. Dawn Clark Netsch ended the memorial service by talking about the things other than architecture that defined their 44 years of marriage—modern art and music, political activism, Boston terriers, the White Sox, and above all the conviction, generosity, and love that Mr. Netsch brought to both work and life.

This past spring, Netsch had suggested that Russ and Lindsay meet with Duane Boyle for a tour of the USAFA campus while they were in Colorado for the Art Libraries Society conference in May. Lindsay wrote the following account of the visit:

The United States Air Force Academy campus sits in a beautiful mountain environment, and as we drove up, viewing it from a distance, light snow was falling. We were met by Duane and Bob Nauman, a professor of architecture at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who contributed an essay to the new book on Netsch.

Duane gave us an extensive tour of the campus, covering everything from the relationships between buildings and landscape to the details of the way walls meet floors in the main academic building. He told us how the cavernous dining hall allows feeding a community of 5000 cadets in 20 minutes, and explained the significance to the Air Force of the planes on the large central green. He also talked about issues of historic preservation (the USAFA is on the National Register of Historic Places), particularly within the Chapel.

Duane told us that he was fascinated by the Academy buildings long before he became an architect himself and had long admired Mr. Netsch—he had even named his son Andrew Walter after him. He also told us a story I particularly liked while we were inside the library: General Harmon, then the superintendent of the USAFA, had complained to Mr. Netsch that there was nothing round anywhere in the campus design, and that there should be more gold, rather than silver. Mr. Netsch responded by creating a dramatic cantilevered spiral staircase backed on one side by a gold mosaic glass wall. I can just imagine him saying, “The General wants round? I’ll give him round!” The staircase is bold and decisively modern—just like its architect.

(Air Force Academy Photos by Lindsay King and Brian Armknecht. Photo of Walter Netsch and Dawn Clark Netsch courtesy of University Archives).

Buy An Extra Can or Bag For the Food Drive!

As food and gas prices have soared, foreclosures have multiplied, and extreme weather has displaced families around the Midwest, more and more people have been turning to food pantries for help. That means the pantries need more help. From July 21 through July 25, NULSA will be collecting donations for the Greater Chicago Food Depository
as part of its One City, One Food Drive campaign.

Boxes for donations will be placed in the staff lounge and in Deering, and envelopes for cash donations will also be available.

High priority items are: rice, pasta, macaroni & cheese, whole grain cereal, jelly, fruit juice, canned fruit, canned vegetables, peanut butter, canned corned beef, dried or canned beans, canned chicken or tuna. No glass, please.

Architects Assessing Our Future Space Needs

As you may have heard, the Library has begun a long-range space planning project. Headed by architectural firm RMJM Hillier, the six-month process will anticipate the Library’s changing space needs for the next 20 years.

Initial meetings have been held, but consultants may be stopping by your department to get the lay of the land and your feedback on space use. Formal announcements and updates to the campus will be posted to the space planning web page http://www.library.northwestern.edu/spaceplanning/ on the Library site. Additional information and announcements will be circulated within the Library.

The project steering committee, which oversees the logistics of the planning, is comprised of the Administrative Committee; John Blosser; Suzette Radford; Lois Remeikis, Associate Dean for Information Services at NU School of Law; Jim Shedlock, head of Galter; and Elizabeth Hitchcock, from Facilities Management. If you have questions or comments on space planning, please speak with your AUL or email planning@northwestern.edu.

Clare Roccaforte,
Director of Library Public Relations

Reference Reaches Out

Over the past few years, the Reference Department has been involved in introducing suburban and CPS high school students to college-level library research. Early this spring, a total of over 150 students from different schools came through the library with their Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate English classes.

Some came to learn how to find literary criticism, book reviews, and biographical information on authors of works they had read in class. Others were preparing to write papers about life in the 1920s, and so reference librarians introduced them to research databases and reference tools to help them find interesting material about social issues, music, politics, and basic everyday life during that era in U.S. history.

There is a growing interest among high school teachers, high school librarians, and college academic librarians in introducing information literacy skills to students, even before they enter their freshman year in college. The students seem to gain a lot from this kind of experience as well. One teacher said that every year her students tell her that their visit to the NU Library is one of the most useful field trips of the whole year... "They were so in awe of the resources available, and they felt that this experience laid important groundwork for them to learn how to use some of the resources in a university library--just what we were hoping for!"

Jeannette Moss
Reference Librarian
(Photos by Jeannette Moss)

Coming Soon: The NUL Staff Podcast!

The Library will be launching a new NUL Staff Podcast on March 3, presenting bi-weekly audio and video programming delivered right to your desktop.

Episodes will include an eclectic mix of content, such as:

• A two-part history of NUL, recorded in the 1970s by the legendary Rolf Erickson, a NUL staff member from 1966 to 1992. Part I spans the birth of the library to the 1920s, and Part II proceeds from there, culminating in the Historic 1968 Shelf Collapse.

• Library presentations you may have missed, such as the recent talk on Gaming given by Beth Clausen and Patrick Murphy, exploring how gaming is being used in libraries.

• Sheer entertainment, such as an archival tape made around the time the Main Library opened in 1970 that features the frank and sometimes hilarious opinions students were airing about both the old and new libraries.

You can download and/or subscribe to the podcasts using your favorite podcatcher, such as iTunes or Juice. If you don’t have one installed on your computer, or want to learn more about how podcasting works, you should attend the podcast workshop in the Forum Room on Tuesday, February 26th from 1-2 p.m. The workshop will also cover how to submit your own audio for NUL podcasting.

Ish Harris-Wolff Nominated for Writing Award

Ish Harris-Wolff in Core Reserve has been nominated for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Intro Journals Project award in fiction, a national literary competition for the discovery and publication of the best new works by students currently enrolled in the writing programs. An excerpt from her novel-in-progress, “A Magpie’s Heart” was chosen from short stories and novel excerpts submitted by graduate students in Northwestern’s Masters in Creative Writing (MCW) Program.

“I was stunned when I got the news,” Ish says. “I’ll be even more stunned if I win the national competition. My novel is in the fantasy genre and academia’s a little ambivalent about works outside of mainstream literary writing.”

MCW used outside judges to decide which pieces would be sent to the national competition in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. The judge for the fiction category was book reviewer Donna Seaman, an associate editor for Booklist and host of the radio program “Open Books” on WLUW in Chicago and online at www.openbooksradio.org.

The prize is $100 and publication in the fall or winter issue of the AWP’s literary magazine. Winners will be announced in spring 2008.

Ish is in her second year of the graduate writing program and has a Certificate in Creative Writing: Short and Long Fiction from UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.

These Wildcats Want You to Try Podcasting!

Podcasting offers a new and fabulous way that you can promote the services and resources your department offers. Want to see how fabulous? Watch this podcast about the history of the Wildcats, produced by University Archives. If you like what you see, you'll want to attend the Podcast Workshop on Wednesday, September 12 at 10 am in the Forum Room to find out how your department can start producing fabulous promotional podcasts of your own!

View on YouTube (above: click on the left arrow twice and wait for loading), or download the mp4 version (below: may not work if you don't yet have the right software installed on your computer):

Download file(.mp4)

A Farewell to Clarence Ver Steeg

After joining the faculty in 1950, Clarence Ver Steeg played many influential roles in the Northwestern community. In addition to his distinguished career as a professor of American history, he chaired the planning committee that developed an ambitious strategic plan for the University in the 1960s, led the committee that planned the lakefill campus, and served as dean of the Graduate School from 1975 to 1986. And it was this breadth of experience that in turn shaped his profound influence over the creation of the Main Library, recalled University Archivist Patrick Quinn in the wake of Clarence’s death on July 2 at the age of 84.

"The Main Library wouldn’t exist without Clarence,” said Patrick, who knew him for almost 35 years. “He was a visionary, and it was his vision. He really believed that the library is the heart of the university, and that’s something he’d learned as a scholar, as an administrator, and as a faculty member.”

University Librarian Sarah Pritchard, who said Clarence made a point of coming to get acquainted with her not long after she arrived in September 2006, concurred. “He had a rare blend of erudition and sophistication combined with modesty and personableness,” she recalled. “His twinkling eyes belied the determination and perseverance he devoted to making the Main Library a reality.”

In his own words, from about the time the Library first opened in 1970: “The new Library was conceived, not as a structure, but as a living, growing, developing intellectual program to enrich and transform the quality of life for the entire academic community at Northwestern. In this sense, it embodies not only what the university presently is but what it aspires to become.”

“In today’s parlance, we would say he was ‘thinking outside the box,’” said Patrick, “and there was a synchronization between his vision and that of Walter Netsch,” the architect who was selected to design the building. Architecturally, Patrick pointed out, James Gamble Rogers’s plan for Deering Library had looked to the medieval past as its inspiration, while “Clarence and Walter were looking forward.”

In retrospect, it can be hard to appreciate how forward-thinking they really were. An early memo of Clarence’s, apparently from 1959 or 1960, notes that Deering’s successor will ideally need “climate conditioning,” noting that “it would be folly to build new library facilities without it,” but also that it will probably have to be “confined to the stack area.” Advances in information technology were anticipated, so that by the time the Main Library opened in 1970 Clarence noted that, “Space for a computer is presently set aside on the first level,” and, “If the form of the research material changes dramatically to magnetic tapes or to information retrieval, the New Library is equipped to adjust to the change.”

Reached by phone last week, Walter Netsch recalled that his striking curvilinear stack system was designed partly as a response to Clarence’s insistence on incorporating space for as many student and faculty carrels and study rooms as possible and locating them as near to their subject areas in the stacks as possible. Most university libraries of the time—including Deering, which had been the University’s central library to that point—operated with closed stacks requiring users to requisition materials with call slips. At the same time, the dividing up of the total floor space into three smaller “pods,” Walter said, was a way of respecting the scale of Deering and not overwhelming its architecture with the new building’s sheer bulk. “We liked that old building,” he said, “and I was determined not to spoil it.”

Once the new Library opened, recalled Archivist Kevin Leonard, Clarence “was very proud of the construction. It was such a breath of fresh air, and it allowed so many people access to the collection who’d only been able to go through the mediation of librarians before.”

For more than three subsequent decades, he made use of his prime study carrel—“the best in the building,” Kevin said—as well as the faculty lounge named in honor of him and his wife Dorothy, where, recalled Patrick, he ate his brown-bag lunch nearly every day.

He was a fierce proponent of what he saw as the integrity of the building’s original vision—fiercer even than the architect. “He saw the way we did it as perfect,” Walter recalled, “and he didn’t want to change it one bit. But I didn’t agree with him on that.”

While that led to tension in later years, Walter recalled that Clarence was deeply touched by the public recognition paid to him at the March, 2006 opening of the exhibit Walter Netsch and the Northwestern University Library. “He felt like he’d become an outsider there,” Walter said, “but then we brought him back in.”

“He was definitely someone who was driven,” Patrick said. “Look at the fact that he’d done those very dangerous bombing runs during World War II. Then as soon as he got his discharge, he went to Columbia University to do his graduate work. And when he came here, it was always clear that he was a bright, shining star who was going to make his mark."

"And that he did," Patrick said. "In many respects, this Library is a memorial to him. It was his baby.”

Top photo: University Librarian Thomas Buckman with Clarence and Dorothy Ver Steeg at the dedication of Ver Steeg Lounge in 1970. Courtesy of University Archives.

Color photos: Clarence and Dorothy Ver Steeg at Sarah Pritchard's investiture ceremony in November 2006. Photos by Jim Ziv.

Not Your Typical Reference Question

Late one morning last month, two patrons approached the reference desk and asked for the law section. Kathleen Bethel and I asked them what types of materials they were looking for so that we could direct them better, but they said they just wanted to browse the law books. We gave them the call number and they went off to explore. A little while later they returned to the desk, grinning ear-to-ear. The female half of the patron duo held out her left hand and told us that her companion had just proposed. �I wanted to make it legal,� he said, which is why he needed the law books. �She loves libraries and I thought this would be a great place to propose,� he added before they left.

Qiana Johnson
Reference and Instruction Librarian
Schaffner Library

Oliver Knussen Visits Music Library

Oliver Knussen, the latest winner of the School of Music's Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Musical Composition, recently visited the Music Library to view the current exhibit, "Modern English: Manuscripts by 20th- and 21st-Century British Composers." Featuring his sketches and manuscripts, the exhibit highlights Knussen's meticulous craftsmanship, which has garnered his place as one of today's most celebrated musicians. Along with works by Knussen, the music of other prominent British composers is represented in the exhibit, including Sir Malcolm Arnold, Benjamin Britten, Peter Maxwell Davies, and Michael Nyman.

Born in 1952, Knussen's career was launched when, at the age of 16, he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in the premiere of his Symphony No. 1. In the years since, Knussen has composed a wide range of works that have been performed by orchestras, chamber groups, and vocalists around the world. Among his most notable compositions are his Symphony No. 3 (1973-1981), the sketches for which are featured in the exhibit, and his collaborations with author Maurice Sendak in the operas Where the Wild Things Are (1979-1983) and Higglety Pigglety Pop! (1984-1985).

Knussen's visit to the Music Library on February 19 came at the beginning of the first in a series of Northwestern residencies that he will complete over the next two years. While touring the exhibit, he made comments and shared stories about the works on display, and he seemed especially struck by the presentation of his own manuscripts, which he said was "like seeing old friends."

D.J. Hoek
Head, Music Library

New York Times Features Iraq Library Director�s Diary

Amidst the numbing news reports of daily car bomb and military fatalities in Iraq, it�s easy to forget about the large number of Iraqi citizens who simply get up every day and try to go about their business. On February 7, the New York Times published a story about one of them: Saad Eskander, the director of Iraq�s National Library and Archive in Baghdad. Looted and set on fire during the ousting of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the badly damaged library stays�mostly�open, despite daily obstacles that include bombings, blockades, the lack of dependable electricity, and the mind-boggling toll that ongoing violence has taken on the library�s staff; according to the article, Eskander has tallied four assassinations of employees, two kidnappings, 66 murders of staff members� relatives, 58 death threats, and 51 displacements.

Since 2005, Eskander has been working with the British Library to try to rebuild his devastated collections, and was invited by them to post diary entries to their website about the challenges of his daily life and work. ��We thought it would be a good opportunity to highlight the conditions Dr. Eskander and his staff are really facing and that they are risking their lives to provide this service,�� a British Library spokeswoman told the Times.

Virtual Modernization Tool Cited in Journal of Electronic Publishing

An article by Shawn Martin of the University of Michigan in the new issue of the Journal of Electronic Publishing on the University of Michigan�s Text Creation Project (TCP) highlights Northwestern�s Virtual Modernization project, citing it as an example of �sophisticated functionality� that will give scholars �the ability to ask entirely new kinds of questions.� Still under development by a team led by Professor Martin Mueller and Academic Technologies in collaboration with Northwestern University Library, the Virtual Modernization tool allows scholars to word-search early printed texts using modern spellings and find nearly all occurrences of variant and archaic spellings in the results set.

Library�s New John Cage Manuscript Features Rare Clues to Composer's Creative Process

In one of its most significant rare manuscript acquisitions of recent years, the Library has just added an original musical score by influential American composer John Cage to its collection. The work, Daughters of the Lonesome Isle, is a piece composed by Cage in 1945 for dancer Jean Erdman, who was a leading figure in American modern dance, a collaborator with both Cage and Merce Cunningham, and a featured dancer in the Martha Graham Dance Company.

�This manuscript is an extraordinarily important addition to the materials we already have in our John Cage Collection,� says Music Library Head D.J. Hoek. The Library�s Cage Collection is the largest repository of Cage�s correspondence and ephemera anywhere in the world. It includes many of the original manuscripts by other composers that Cage collected, but only a handful of his own compositions.

News of the acquisition has traveled quickly. An Associated Press (AP) story based on an interview done with D.J. last week was picked up by newspapers around the state, including the Chicago Tribune�s web site, and TimeOut Chicago�s music editor immediately posted the story on the magazine�s blog.

�It�s significant to scholars for several reasons,� D.J. says. �There�s the fact that it�s one of his earliest pieces for prepared piano, which was one of his many musical innovations.� Cage invented the prepared piano by inserting screws, bolts, and pieces of weather stripping in between a piano�s strings. This leant the instrument a percussive sound, which Cage later enhanced by inserting other objects including wood, bamboo, plastic, rubber, and coins. Both the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Academy of Arts and Letters presented him with awards for his prepared piano work, crediting him with having �extended the boundaries of musical art.�

The manuscript is also significant, D.J. adds, because of its hand-written revisions, including its crossed-out original ending and the draft of the ending with which Cage replaced it. Music scholars tend to value revised original manuscripts over pristine ones because they reveal more about the composer�s creative process than the unrevised pieces. In Cage�s case, D.J. explains, revisions generally appear only on the earlier compositions, since �by the mid-1950s Cage was trying to eliminate the influence of personal taste from his compositional process and had developed rigorous systems to govern the way he composed.�

Charles Deering McCormick University Librarian Sarah Pritchard says the acquisition also highlights the Library�s commitment to enhancing its unique and distinctive collections in the electronic era. �The contemporary university library needs to offer access to an increasingly large spectrum of digital information, which is critical to scholars but tends to be similar from institution to institution,� she says. �What may be more important in differentiating research libraries are the rare and specialized primary source materials that we collect and preserve for current and future generations of scholars.�

Launch of Online African Maps Collection Makes Worldwide Splash

When word of the Library�s new online collection of antique African maps was released to the media on January 8th, public response was immediate�and worldwide. BBC radio, CNN, and Voice of America all taped interviews with Herskovits Library Curator David Easterbrook. �I am fascinated by the fact that not only was the response immediate but that it was from sources focused on delivering news worldwide, not merely within the US,� David says. �The CNN call, for example, came from CNN in London. So far as I am aware the only purely domestic interest to date came from The Daily Northwestern.�

�This is our most valuable map collection,� says Beth Clausen, head of Government and Geographic Information and Data Services, �and during the seven years we�ve had it all locked up in our drawers, maybe two or three people have asked to see them. That�s the beauty of digitization, because since this was announced, we�ve had hundreds of thousands of hits on the web site.�

For scholars, the value of the maps is as much in the cartographers� perceptions of Africa as in the quality of the information they preserved. �The cartographers had a rough idea of what these places were and where they were,� says David, �but at the same time they were often guessing, and some of the maps are quite fanciful. They�re often full of little flourishes, drawings of topographical features and people and animals.�

The maps digitization project, Beth says, was a collaborative effort by �many in the Library and a few from Academic Technologies,� including Stu Baker, Steve DiDomenico, Volodymyr Karpenko, Virginia Kerr, and�co-ordinating all of it, Claire Stewart.

The maps, which were scanned at 600 ppi resolution, are delivered through the Library�s new Fedora digital repository and the Aware JPEG2000 image server. Users can search the website by date or browse the collection by criteria such as title, date, or cartographer. The website supplies both a thumbnail view of the whole map and an adjustable high-resolution viewer that zooms in on smaller segments and details. �The quality of the scanning is so good that you can actually see the threads in the linen papers on these images, details you wouldn�t be able to see without a magnifying glass if they were actually out on a table in front of you,� Beth says.

High-resolution TIFFs can be downloaded from the site for free. �We�re especially excited that we can make this material freely available to scholars in Africa,� David says. �We see that as one of the major benefits of all the digitization projects we�re involved in.�

American Libraries Recalls Deering�s Past

�One of the finest of all libraries must surely be the Charles Deering Library at Northwestern University outside Chicago, combining as it does the beauty of age with absolute newness and every modern equipment, and possessing an excellent collection of books,� observed British tourist Catherine Marsh in 1933. Having come to the US to see the World�s Fair in Chicago, she also made a point of visiting several distinguished contemporary American libraries, and her notes about these visits, kept in longhand in two journals, are excerpted in the January 2007 issue of American Libraries.

�The students are well cared-for," Marsh observed, "but the rules are strict. A borrower who obtains permission to take a book out of the building for a night pays increasing fines for each hour it is retained overdue.�

Also, regarding the Library�s cutting-edge technology and cushy professional perks: �There is an ingenious contrivance for obtaining books from other departments. The usual �order� or �call� slip is filled in and given to an assistant, who puts it into a machine and rings a bell. Very quickly the book is shot forth from a kind of lift, where receptacles are constantly ascending and descending. The staff are fortunate in having a large room for meetings or meals, a luxuriously appointed kitchen, and even a bedroom.�

Registered ALA members can read the entire article online.

Search Committee Formed for East Asian Librarian

A search committee, chaired by Harriet Lightman, has been formed to find a new East Asian Studies Librarian. This is a new position, reflecting shifts in University priorities and the special needs and problems of identifying and processing materials in East Asian Studies, both in Asian and in Western European languages. The members of the search committee are:

Kathleen Bethel (Reference)
Russ Clement (Art)
Catherine Grove (MARC)
Harriet Lightman (Collection Management)
Prof. Brook Ziporyn (Religion Department)

Peter Devlin belongs to the search committee as an ex officio member.

A vacancy announcement will be distributed both internally and nationally once it has been finalized by the search committee and by Library Personnel.

Jeff Garrett

Library Featured in Cable TV Show

"It's Academic," an episode of the cable TV show What's New In Libraries that includes a segment on the Northwestern University Library, will air on Evanston Cable Channel 16 at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 21 and again on Thursday, December 28. Sarah Long, director of the North Suburban Library System and host of the show, taped the segment with University Librarian Sarah Pritchard in early November. Clips can be viewed at the show's website, and you can find viewing dates and times for other local cable stations on the website's "Choose Your Community" drop-down menu in the upper left corner of the homepage.

Meeting and Website Focus on Strategic Planning

University Librarian Sarah Pritchard initiated a new practice of holding regular Library-wide meetings with a session on December 11 that focused primarily on the strategic planning process. The open-forum format, she said, provides an opportunity to �develop a sense of ourselves as a group, and, most importantly, to ask questions.� She also announced the launching of a website at http://royko/sites/planning/default.aspx whose main purpose is to facilitate Library-wide communication about the strategic planning process, and an e-mail address�planning@northwestern.edu--for staffers who would like to submit comments and suggestions about the process.

Sarah distinguished strategic planning from program review by noting that, although they do overlap, strategic planning focuses on �how to move forward, not necessarily how to fix everything that comes up in the program review.� Management Council discussions to date have identified five main Library functions for which specific goals should be set:

� Supporting student learning
� Supporting faculty research
� Building and maintaining important, distinctive collections
� Incorporating campus themes of interdisciplinarity, collaboration, internationalization
� Optimizing internal operations, including technology, human resources, staff communications

Sarah defined three avenues for staff participation in the process. Department heads will be scheduling meetings in their units so that staff can help refine these goals and discuss possible strategies for their implementation. For input on issues that cut across department lines, Sarah will look to inter-departmental groups like NULSA and the Assembly, and informal, topic-based brown-bags. Staffers are also encouraged to share ideas and comments by posting to the website or by e-mailing their thoughts.

The open-forum, Library-wide meetings will be held once a quarter, Sarah said, focusing on general updates, reports, and various topics depending on the nature of the �big project of the quarter.�

Search Committee Formed for Maps and State Documents Librarian

A search committee has been formed for the position of Maps and State Documents Librarian. Beth Clausen will chair the committee. Other members are Tim Hagan, Karen Miller, Kathleen Murphy, and Peter Devlin (ex officio). There is a position announcement on the Library's website.

Search Committee Formed for New Head of Monographic Acquisitions and Rapid Cataloging

Roxanne Sellberg, AUL for Technical Services, has announced the formation of a search committee for the position of Head, Monographic Acquisitions and Rapid Cataloging Department. John Blosser will chair. Other members are Leslie Bjorncrantz, Pam David, Shoshanah Seidman, and Peter Devlin (ex officio). An internal recruitment is planned, and the committee will begin work immediately.

German publication notes Library�s anniversary

In its June 2006 issue, the German library monthly Bibliotheksdienst
featured a seven-page article commemorating the 150th anniversary of Northwestern University Library. The author, Gernot U. Gabel, is a prominent bibliographer as well as a library and cultural historian, author of Historic Libraries of Europe (2001) as well as bibliographies on major German and international figures such as Kant, Fichte, Wittgenstein, and Sartre. Gabel's article on Northwestern's library describes it as "one of America's most important collections" and chronicles its history from the modest beginnings in 1856 to the highly successful capital campaign and the completion of the Library Storage Facility in 2003. The final paragraph of the article reads (in translation): "Like the University itself, Northwestern's Library strives for excellence. For the future its goal must not only be to create collections (and corresponding services) appropriate to the needs of a research university: Its success will also be measured by its ability to innovate and to develop projects which can attract new sources of funding." The entire article is online in pdf format .

Jeff Garrett

University Archives in the news

On September 15, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on a Northwestern student who is attending the University on a perpetual scholarship, as the beneficiary of a $100 investment by a many-times-great-uncle who bought the scholarship in 1866.

University Archivist Patrick Quinn was interviewed by a Sun-Times reporter to get the historical facts for the story, and was quoted in the article. Perpetual scholarships were sold from 1853 to 1867 to raise money for Northwestern and entitled the purchaser and all descendents to free tuition at Northwestern.

University Archives staff also appeared in print in the acknowledgments of Richard Cahan�s new book Owen Coon and the American Dream. Cahan spent many days in the University Archives doing research on Coon, a Northwestern alumnus and donor who initiated the Hardy Scholarships and after whom Kellogg�s Owen L. Coon Auditorium is named.

Janet Olson
Assistant University Archivist

Information Commons featured in case study

Associate Director of NUIT Academic Technologies Bob Davis and Head of Reference Denise Shorey have published a case study about the Library�s Information Commons as a chapter in an e-book called Learning Spaces.

The e-book�s publisher is EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. The case study, Denise says, was designed to explore the question, �Where does learning take place, and how do you facilitate it?�

�The old idea,� she says, �was that learning was studying�something you did by yourself. Not any more. Today�s students have grown up in communities, with cell phones and instant messaging. They�re used to being in groups and learning in groups. They�re more visual, and more tactile. So the question is, how to design a space for learning that incorporates all of that.�

�If we want to improve learning,� Bob says, �we need to improve the entire student learning space, not just classrooms and labs. The furniture and technology in the Information Commons can catalyze new ideas, promote engagement, enable collaboration, and create exciting learning opportunities for our students.�

The chapter explores the features that make the Information Commons both a high-tech and a welcoming space; its success as a collaboration between the Library and Academic Technologies; and the evolutionary nature of its design, which will continue to change to reflect �digital resources, new programmatic needs and directions, and advances in learning theory.�

You can view the case study as a PDF file by going to LearningSpaces and scrolling down the list of chapters to Chapter 30.

Library to support �The Othello Project�

�One Book, One Northwestern: The Othello Project,� a program co-sponsored by the English Department, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, the Kaplan Humanities Institute, and the Alumnae of Northwestern, invites the Northwestern University community to read, discuss, and explore Shakespeare�s play Othello this fall. The play will be brought to life in many incarnations and forms, including seminars, lectures, performances, readings, dance workshops, and film screenings.

The Library is supporting this program by mounting a general exhibit, including a multimedia display, which will showcase many unique and original items from the collections. These include a facsimile of Verdi's complete manuscript for the opera Otello, several versions of film and stage productions, Folios, and other facsimiles. We hope that this exhibit will encourage users to view the Library not only as a place where they can study and do research, but also as a source of material and services that they might not have considered. The exhibit will begin during New Student Week and will continue during the fall quarter.

The Africana Library is also creating an exhibit of Othello/Shakespeare-related material from its collection. In addition, Africana will mount a special one-week exhibit of Wole Soyinka's works during Soyinka's visit to the campus. Soyinka will present a talk entitled �Othello�s Dominion, Immigrant Domain� on November 1.

�The Othello Project� builds on the success of last summer�s "Antigone Project," which required all incoming WCAS freshmen to read and discuss that play prior to their arrival on campus. This year, the program has been expanded to include all incoming Communications freshmen. All the freshmen have been sent a complimentary copy of Othello and are spending the month of August using BlackBoard to discuss the play.

Additional information on �The Othello Project� is available at www.english.northwestern.edu/onebook.pdf

Denise Shorey
Head of Reference

David Easterbrook discusses Africana Library on Chicago Public Radio

A story on Chicago Public Radio/WBEZ about Northwestern�s new PhD program in African American Studies, which aired on Friday, July 21, included an interview with Africana Library Curator David Easterbrook.

WBEZ reporter Jason DeRose taped David talking about different resources in the Library, including a cache of early tape recordings of the Gulla language, which DeRose noted could be �a treasure trove to someone in the new Ph.D program.� The story is now audio-archived and can be played from the WBEZ web site.

Library to co-sponsor the Teaching, Learning and Technology Program

Formalizing a collaboration that has already been in place for the last several years, the Library has become an official co-sponsor�along with the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence and the Academic Technologies unit of Northwestern University�s Information Technology (NUIT) division�of the Teaching, Learning and Technology (TLT) program. TLT offers five-day workshops that help faculty members integrate technology into their course design.

Digital Media Services Head Claire Stewart, who has been a member of TLT�s planning team and an instructor in the program for three of its four years, says the official co-sponsorship is an acknowledgment of the importance of integrating Library resources into the course-management system. �Many faculty members aren�t expert users of new technologies,� she says, �so this program allows us to expose them to tools like Blackboard and PowerPoint in a safe environment where they can experiment and ask questions until they are comfortable.�

At the same time, she says, because of the collaboration with the Searle Center, the workshops help faculty ensure that they implement these technologies in a �meaningful� way. �Because of their expertise in pedagogy, they can foster discussion about how moving from a lecture format to using PowerPoint or streaming media might affect students� learning, or what�s the best way to assign a group project in an online, interactive environment.�

Claire notes that Multimedia Services Specialist Dan Zellner will be joining the project this year, as both an instructor and member of the planning team. And because the workshops are being moved from their old location in the Tech lab to the PC/Mac lab in the Library�s basement, she adds, �it�s going to be a little more visible to people in the Library that this is happening.�

ALA Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) puts Harriet Lightman/Ruth Reingold article in the Top 20

The American Library Association�s Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) has selected an article co-written by Library Bibliographer Harriet Lightman and WCAS Assistant Dean for Computing Technology Ruth N. Reingold as one of its Top 20 Library Instruction Articles of 2005.

The article reported on the planning, execution, and future of Northwestern�s Introduction to Electronic Resources/Humanities Computing Training Day (since renamed the Electronic Resources Forum, or ERF), a mandatory one-day workshop for first-year doctoral students.

The article originally appeared in the January, 2005 issue of portal: Libraries and the Academy, a peer-written and peer-reviewed journal for librarians that examines issues of administration, information technology, and information policy. A LIRT committee chose the article from among �an extensive list of articles published during 2005,� as one of the 20 �that we felt contributed the most to the field of study.�

Titled �A Collaborative Model for Teaching E-Resources: Northwestern University�s Graduate Training Day,� the article can be found online at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/ .
(Enter �Volume 5� in the search box and select the January 2005 issue.) The Top 20 List will appear in an upcoming issue of LIRT News, with citations to this and other selected articles.

�Chicago Tonight� films composer John Adams and Library�s Beth Clausen

On May 17, a crew from WTTW-TV was in the Library filming an interview with composer John Adams and a tour of the Library�s �Nixon in China� exhibit, guided by exhibit curator and government information department head Beth Clausen. Adams wrote the music for the opera Nixon in China, which is currently making its Chicago debut at the Chicago Opera Theater. He has also composed such highly acclaimed works as The Death of Klinghoffer and On the Transmigration of Souls, a piece commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to commemorate the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. As the first recipient of the University�s Nemmer�s Prize in Music Composition, he is just completing a two-year residency at Northwestern.

After being interviewed for a taped �Chicago Tonight� segment in the Music Library, Adams was given a guided tour of the Library�s American composers exhibit (in the Deering lobby) by Music Library Head D.J. Hoek. �He seemed surprised and impressed by the collection, and by the Library�s commitment to contemporary music,� D.J. says. �He also had a lot of personal stories and impressions about the composers who are represented in the exhibit.� At one point, for example, Adams noted that the modernist composer Christian Wolff, whose displayed score comes from the Library�s John Cage Notations Collection, had been his ancient Greek language instructor at Harvard during freshman year.

The film crew then proceeded to the Main Library, where they taped Beth discussing the significance of the �Nixon in China� exhibit. "It was great fun, and very gratifying, to show off the Library's resources," Beth says. "The exhibit items were chosen to complement the storyline of the opera, as well as underscore the historical significance of the 1972 presidential visit to China, and from the interviewer's questions and comments, it was clear that they served their purpose well."

The segment is currently scheduled to run Monday, May 22 on �Chicago Tonight� (7 p.m., channel 11). For more info on the opera Nixon in China, go to http://www.chicagooperatheater.org/season/season6-opera3.shtml .

(Photos by Nina Barrett)

University Archives makes Wall Street Journal�s front page

The University Archives made the front page of the Wall Street Journal on May 12, 2006. An article on Kristin Bergfeld, a "professional declutterer," mentioned the 22 cartons of material Bergfeld found in a New York apartment last year and donated to the Archives.

Most of the boxes of notes, photos, letters, and random scraps of paper belonged to Katherine Flowers (1896-1982), a Northwestern University alumna with an interesting life: she started several African-American dance troupes, and later taught yoga at the United Nations. For the article, the Journal reporter interviewed both Allen Streicker and Carole Emberton, the graduate student who processed the Flowers papers last summer.

For those who aren't registered with the Wall Street Journal online, the article is available through Proquest at http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1035572921&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=30032&RQT=309&VName=PQD
For more on the Katherine Flowers Papers, see the finding-aid at www.library.northwestern.edu/archives/findingaids/katherine_flowers.pdf .

Archives welcomes alumnae

On Monday, March 20, the Board of the Alumnae of Northwestern University visited the University Archives.

This volunteer organization, which began in 1916, has raised several million dollars for fellowships and other Northwestern programs through such endeavors as its continuing education courses. The 30-plus Board members who descended on the Archives on Monday were happy to see the archival boxes that hold the records of their organization, and took a tour through the Archives labyrinth. All the Archives staff members led tours, which culminated in a small �Best of the Archives� exhibit of photographs, records, and artifacts that brought back many a fond memory. One alumna, looking at Rose Bowl memorabilia, recalled that on the day in 1948 when it was announced that we were headed for Pasadena, she and some other NU students took the train downtown to Marshall Field's and did a snake dance through the aisles.

Janet Olson
Assistant University Archivist

Carolyn Caizzi joins Digital Media Services

Digital Media Services (DMS) has hired a new part-time multimedia services assistant, Carolyn Caizzi.

Carolyn has a BA in Art-Semiotics from Brown University and an MFA in Studio Art/Video from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is currently enrolled in the "LEEP" MLS program at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

Carolyn is very artistic and has many creative interests. She is a videomaker and enjoys painting. Most of her work deals with gender and sexuality.

As multimedia services assistant, Carolyn helps DMS with scanning, video and other digital media projects. She also assists with DMS digital projects and processing. Carolyn works Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and can be reached at 7-4760 or via e-mail at c-caizzi@northwestern.edu.

Photo and article by Mary Bradley
Department Assistant
Library Administration

Need pizza?

Tired of the constant banging and buzzing? Ready to escape the mess of construction? The Library is offering pizza therapy on Wednesday, August 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the VerSteeg Faculty Lounge.

Take a break from the dust and noise and join us for a little comfort food. We hope to relieve renovation stress with cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, tomatoes, green peppers...

The Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center circulates its collection

The Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center�s collection of more than 18,000 titles began circulating on a one-year trial basis on Monday, June 20, after 15 years as a non-circulating collection.

All VHS and DVD titles and bound guides circulate. Laser discs and CDs do not circulate. Patrons with a valid NU borrower�s card may check out material for up to a three-day loan period.

A maximum of four items may be checked out to a user during any given loan period. There are no recalls or renewals.

The Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center's circulation policy will be reevaluated at the end of the 2005-2006 academic year. For an extensive look at the circulation policies, please see our departmental web site at Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center

Gary Strawn (pictured above) was the very first patron to check out a title from the Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center on opening day, June 20.

Carol Anthony
Multimedia Services Specialist
Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center

(Photo by Carol Anthony)

A note of thanks

The Deering Society Recognition Dinner on June 15 brought together many of the Library's major donors and board members. Guests were delighted to visit Deering Library, to view the wonderful exhibits set up for the event, and to share their stories and memories of Northwestern. Marie A. Quinlan received this year's Deering Family Award for her generous support of Library conservation and preservation. While Marie was unable to attend the event due to illness, her good friend Steve Pardy accepted the award on her behalf.

The event went very nicely and was important in establishing new connections between donors, board members, and Library staff. I'd like to thank the many people who helped make the evening a success.

Tom Mann, Jeeyuhn Kang, and Collection Management for the wonderful exhibit of materials acquired through the endowed funds of donors who attended the dinner. Selectors provided a wide range of materials to show how donor gifts are benefiting the Library.

Russell Maylone and Scott Krafft for their exhibit of theater materials from the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections. Please be sure to visit Deering's third-floor exhibit space to view this exceptional exhibit.

Bob Taylor, Stefani Foster, and Chris Ostertag in Academic Technologies for arranging -- at the very last minute -- to videotape the presentation for Marie Quinlan. I am extremely grateful to AT for their quick and efficient response to my plea for help. The video has allowed Marie to experience the evening even though she couldn't be there.

Dan Zellner in Digital Media Services for streaming the video and making it available on the web. Staff can access the video at http://door.it.northwestern.edu/sheridan/dms/library/boardofgov/board_01_quinla.rm.

Dave Strain for working with the engraver on the Deering Family Award plaque, constructing a smaller desktop plaque, directing the moving company in setting up the room, renting an extra wheelchair, helping to place directional signs, and handling many other small yet significant tasks.

Russ Clement for once again generously sharing his space. The Art Collection is an elegant and special place for the dinner and many Library donors have fond memories of studying at the long library tables.

Sherri Stein for her help mailing invitations.

Suzette Radford and Justin Homer for coordinating event security.

Students Alex Albertini, Charles Rosentel, Erica Nsoedo-Heady, Rick Lowe, and Sara Mountjoy-Pepka for helping donors into and out of the building, providing name tags, handling coat check, etc.

And Mary Bradley, who handled the mailing of invitations, RSVPs for the dinner, supervision of student workers, security for the evening, placement of directional signs, and many other details that came up in the course of planning the event. I am grateful for Mary's consistent support and initiative in helping to stage the Library's special events.

Patti Strait
Director of Library Public Relations

New in print (and online)

The work of writers throughout the Library is featured in the spring issues of Footnotes and Library Briefings. Thanks to all who contributed ideas and articles to these publications.

Footnotes

The spring issue of Footnotes introduces a board-sponsored pilot program focused on raising new funding for the Library's theater collection. In addition, the issue contains an article by Scott Krafft on the shadow theater of Montmartre and a tribute to M. James O�Brien, an alumnus and board member who passed away in January. The spring issue also traditionally includes the Library's donor honor roll.

Thanks to Lori Arp, Alice Blegen, Jeffrey Garrett, Tim Hagan, Harrie Hughes, Scott Krafft, Lucy Lyons, Steve Marek, Russell Maylone, Jeannette Moss, and Tom O�Connell for their time and assistance in producing this issue.

Library Briefings

Library Briefings, also published in May, contains articles on topics including renovations to the first floor of the Library and new electronic sources in fields including African American studies, science, marketing, international trade, Jewish studies, and more. To read the issue, go to http://www.library.northwestern.edu/librarybriefings/.

Thanks to Lori Arp, John Blosser, Leslie Bjorncrantz, Steve DiDomenico, Rochelle Elstein, Jeff Garrett, Tim Hagan, Esmeralda Kale, Scott Krafft, Vivian Lo, Lucy Lyons, Steve Marek, Bob Michaelson, Catherine Morse, Jeannette Moss, and Claire Stewart for their contributions to this faculty e-mail newsletter.

Patti Strait
Director of Library Public Relations

Browse and buy on April 7

Library staff will have first crack at the book sale on Thursday, April 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The sale will be held in the Ver Steeg Faculty Lounge and offer more than 7,000 new and used books in areas ranging from journalism and media to art and literature.

All books � including 1,000 volumes of overstock from NU Press � will be sold at discounted prices. Hardcover books will be available for $3, regular paperbacks for $2, and mass-market paperbacks for $.50 each. Select books and special items such as multivolume sets, CDs, VHS tapes, serial runs, and records will be priced selectively.

Sale hours:

Thursday, April 7
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Northwestern University Library Staff Day

Friday, April 8
10 a.m. � 4 p.m.
Northwestern Community Day
For all Northwestern students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Northwestern University. A valid WildCard or Alumni ID is necessary for entry.

Monday, April 11
10 a.m. � 7 p.m.
Open to the general public.

Tuesday, April 12
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Open to the general public. All books 50 percent off.

Wednesday, April 13,
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Open to the general public. All inventory deeply discounted.

More information on the book sale is available at:
www.library.northwestern.edu/booksale

New search committee formed

A search committee for the position of social science data services librarian has been formed. Its members are Jiuping Chen, Beth Clausen (Chair), Peter Devlin (ex officio), Qiana Johnson, Lucy Lyons, and Catherine Morse.

Beth Clausen
Head, Government Publications & Maps Department

Northwestern architecture online

University Archives introduces an authoritative web site with information on Northwestern's extensive architectural history.

Throughout Northwestern University�s 154-year history, its campuses have held more than 125 buildings designed by architects of local and national reputation. Some of these buildings are no longer in existence, many have undergone renovations or serve a new function, and others continue to be added. To provide information on Northwestern�s extensive architectural history, the University Archives now offers an authoritative web site at www.library.northwestern.edu/archives/exhibits/architecture.

Drawing on resources from the University Archives, �Northwestern Architecture� provides descriptive historical text and digitized images and documents relating to 27 structures�including landmarks like the Rock and the campuses themselves. Pages within the site provide detailed histories of the buildings and are illustrated with historic photographs and relevant documents.

In addition to improving access to archival materials and images, the site helps to preserve the original historical documents and photographs by reducing the number of times they are handled. The new site can be searched in several ways: �Quick Facts� displays the date and architect for each building; a basic search can be conducted by keyword (including architect or building name); and the advanced search limits by campus, interior/exterior view, or building use.

�Northwestern Architecture� represents a successful collaboration between Northwestern University Library and University Relations. The Digital Library Committee sponsored the project and a number of Library departments contributed to site development. The University Archives holds the photographs and documents used on the site, and Archives staff wrote the historical narratives. The Digital Technology Department coordinated the digitization of images and documents. Library Management Systems created the interfaces and search functions, and worked with the Web Communications Group (University Relations) to create the site�s structure and sleek style.

The University Archives plans to continue adding to the �Northwestern Architecture� site, documenting more of the buildings and landmarks that serve, or once served, Northwestern�s students, staff, and faculty.

Janet Olson
Assistant University Archivist

Top left: Old College (the first NU building) in the 1890s. Top right: Orrington Lunt, NU founder and donor, after whom Lunt Library (now Lunt Hall) was named. Bottom: Deering Library, Aerial View 1944.

What are you doing New Year�s Eve?

Come dance, jam, laugh and �LIGHT UP THE NIGHT� at First Night Evanston 2005. Now in its twelfth year, First Night Evanston is Illinois� largest New Year�s Eve festival of the arts.

17 indoor stages in downtown Evanston are alive with performances ranging from crafts for children to magicians, jazz to salsa, comedy, classical guitars, Irish dancing and more. Among the groups performing are Banjo Buddies Dixieland Show Band, Ellen and John Wright, folk singers, Opera Moda, Chip Ratliff�s Electric Chittlin� Stew, Rob Russ, Magician and 250 other extraordinary artists. At midnight the crowd will gather to watch fireworks over the lake. Check out the complete schedule at www.firstnightevanston.org.

Volunteers make First Night happen. For helping at one of the indoor venues for 2-3 hours, you will receive a FREE button (worth $12.00) which admits you to all the events before or after your volunteer shift. There are brief volunteer training sessions at the Evanston Public Library on December 27 (4:00-5:00) and December. 28 (8:00-9:00 p.m.). Susan Lewis (s-lewis@northwestern.edu) and Susan Black (seb510127@sbcglobal.net) are co-chairs of the Volunteer Committee, and we need about 300 volunteers between now and December 27. This is a great way to have fun while providing wonderful entertainment for over 5000 people from Evanston and the surrounding communities.

If you can�t volunteer, but just want to buy an admissions button ($12/adults, $8/children ages 6-12, children under 5 free), Susan Lewis in Special Collections is selling them. I�m at 491-3635 or s-lewis@northwestern.edu. Come and enjoy this magical evening in Evanston.

Susan Lewis
Department Assistant
Special Collections

Take a look at us now!

As you will note, the Library�s staff newsletter has had a little face-lift (defined by Merriam-Webster�s as an �alteration, restoration, or restyling intended especially to modernize�). The much-needed face work was completed by Steve DiDomenico, Mary Bradley, and members of the IT staff, who created a new blog and a fresh look for the newsletter. Mary Bradley is the winner of the newsletter-naming contest and will soon be sipping cappuccino in the Plaza Caf�. Mary won $25 in Plaza Caf� coupons for submitting the winning name for the newsletter, Libstaff Links.

Continue reading for more on the staff newsletter and the Library's new graphic identity program.

The new graphic identity

The redesign of the staff newsletter is part of a much larger effort to create a graphic identity for the Library. Over the past nine months, the Library has worked with Ken Pagni and Tom Fredrickson of University Relations to develop a set of standard graphic elements that can be incorporated into all Library communications. These graphic elements include:

� A color palette that combines dark brown with bright colors such as green, red, purple, and blue. The brown is necessary for quality reproduction of photographs and illustrations, which are featured prominently in our communications.

� Use of a layered design to communicate the depth and multidimensionality of the Library and its collections.

� Creation of a new �NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY� logotype. Words appear on one line and �LIBRARY� is boldface. This is the secondary typeface in the Northwestern University identity program.

� Title of each communication appears in a color block and is all lower case. The typeface is consistent across communications.

� The University logo plays a secondary or tertiary role, allowing us to create an identity that is clearly distinct, yet closely related to that of the University. This means the University logo will usually appear on the back of publications. This is fairly standard throughout the University.

� University Relations also felt strongly about using a magazine approach to the cover of Footnotes. They felt a magazine-type cover would be more distinctive and allow us to showcase outstanding items in the Library�s collections.

The next step in the process is to develop a style guide with specific information on fonts, colors, and other graphic elements. This style guide will help provide direction to staff working to incorporate these graphic elements into the Library's print and electronic communications. More to come on this in the near future...

Patti Strait, Director of Library Public Relations

Putting our publications together

Thanks to staff throughout the Library, our fall publications are now in the hands of students, faculty, and donors.

Footnotes

The first issue of Footnotes to incorporate the Library�s new graphic identity was published in mid-October. The 16-page issue includes articles on the Information Commons, the Deering Society Recognition Dinner, the spring Board of Governors event, and various Library exhibits. In addition, a new feature called �endnotes� was created to spotlight library collections, technology, trends, people, and grants.

Many thanks to Lori Arp, Kathleen Bethel, Leslie Bjorncrantz, Mary Bradley, Frank Cervone, Russ Clement, Jeff Garrett, Tyra Grant, Harrie Hughes, Scott Krafft, Tom O�Connell, and Catherine Wirth for their help with content, artwork, and photography for this first magazine-style issue.

Bookmark and Resources

Many thanks to the Public Services Department, and especially to Laurel Minott and Sherie Stein, for their assistance with Bookmark and Resources. Sherie devotes considerable time every year to working with various units and departments to update the guide. She also proofreads the publication from cover to cover (with exceptional attention to detail) and helps to distribute it to various Library and University locations throughout the year. This publication would simply not come together without her.

Library Briefings

The Library�s faculty e-newsletter was also published in late October, presenting information on topics ranging from SFX to ARTstor. My thanks to the Public Relations Advisory Committee for helping to plan and develop content for the newsletter, which I believe is really beginning to gather steam. Members of the Public Relations Advisory Committee include Lori Arp, Tim Hagan, Harrie Hughes, Scott Krafft, Lucy Lyons, Steve Marek, Catherine Morse, and Jeannette Moss. I�d also like to thank Jeff Garrett, Harriet Lightman, and Bob Michaelson for their valuable contributions to this issue.

Putting these publications together is a massive undertaking and I am very appreciative of the support that comes from all parts of the Library.

Patti Strait
Director of Library Public Relations

University Library and WCAS co-sponsor training event

Northwestern University Library and the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences have, for the past several years, co-sponsored a program to train all incoming doctoral students in humanities disciplines; in 2004, the program was expanded to include both the humanities and the social sciences.

This year�s event, loosely called Humanities & Social Sciences Computing/Introduction to Electronic Resources Event, was held on September 20 and 21. On the 20th, Julie Borden and Jeff Garrett presented a lecture on EndNote to close to 120 graduate students. This was followed by a Faculty Forum, in which faculty presented digitally-driven works of original scholarship to the group. On the 21st, the students spent a full day in University Library, where they had the opportunity to choose from 15 interdisciplinary training sessions, each taught by a librarian (or, in one case, a representative from AT) and a faculty partner. During the lunch break, a panel of upper-level graduate students presented their own original work with digital resources, as a testament to the enormous power of technology for changing the nature of the intellectual inquiry.

The training event was, by all accounts, a great success. This success would have been impossible without the teamwork, commitment, and enthusiasm of many people throughout the University community. The Library staff played a major role, and they are to be thanked warmly for their enormous show of support for this endeavor. Library instructors were Kathleen Bethel, Leslie Bjorncrantz, Julie Borden, Beth Clausen, Russ Clement, Charlotte Cubbage, Shelli Elstein, Jeff Garrett, Ann Janda, Bill McHugh, Tom Mann, Denise Shorey, and Claire Stewart. Bruce Foster, from AT, instructed a session. Dave Strain worked wonders with the Ver Steeg Lounge set-up, and helped throughout the day on September 21. Carol Anthony and Bridget Canavan provided on-call computer support all day on the 21st. Patti Strait and Catherine Wirth took pictures on both the 20th and the 21st. Suzette Radford and Ken Brown made sure that access was easily available to those students who came for the morning activities on the 21st. Russell Maylone provided the image that was used on the training-day web site. David Bishop is to be warmly thanked, not only for his opening remarks on the 20th, but for his continued support of and enthusiasm for this innovative program. Finally, without Jeeyuhn Yoon Kang, the program would not have taken place. She is the project�s webmaster, among many, many other things, too innumerable to be named in a short article.

The events overall were orchestrated by Harriet Lightman representing the Library and Ruth Reingold, Assistant Dean for Computing Technology, representing WCAS. Ruth is owed a special note of thanks, because she is the guiding spirit behind the program. Stacia Kozlowski, WCAS Special Events Coordinator, is indispensable to the Training Event. Kavitha Sivashanker, the project's student assistant, provided invaluable assistance throughout the summer and fall.

We look forward to the Fourth Annual Training Event, scheduled for 2005. More information on the 2004 event can be found at: http://www.library.northwestern.edu/collections/sept2004/index.html.

Harriet Lightman
Bibliographer for History, Economics, French & Italian Literatures, and Philosophy

Photos above; top right: Julia Borden, reference librarian; middle left: Bill McHugh, reference collection management librarian; bottom left: Ann Janda, data services consultant, and Professor Christopher Taber, Department of Economics; bottom right: Christopher Hayden, graduate student; . Photos by Catherine Wirth.

Herskovits Library receives ICCMP grant

The Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program (ICCMP) has funded in full a proposal submitted by a group of Illinois academic libraries--prominently including Northwestern's Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies--to improve state holdings of monographs in non-Western Philosophy and Religion.

The proposal, co-drafted by Esmeralda Kale, Africana bibliographer, provides for a $30,000 grant to be disbursed during the 2005 fiscal year.

The Herskovits Library will be receiving $5,000 earmarked for its part of the project, "Africa; African Philosophy and Thought; Islamic Thought in Africa." According to David Easterbrook, we will be using these funds mainly to acquire materials from Africa. The other participants in this grant and their areas of focus are DePaul (for the Middle East), Illinois Wesleyan (Japan and Korea), Northern Illinois (Southeast Asia) and Southern Illinois University (China).

Congratulations to Esmeralda and to everyone in Africana for this award! Successes like this at the state level show that we remain rooted in the Illinois library landscape, a good balance to our activities in the CIC and at the national and international levels.

Jeffrey Garrett
Assistant University Librarian for Collection Management

Humphrey Winterton visits Northwestern

British collector Humphrey Winterton visited Northwestern University Library on October 1 to view the collection of East African photographs he recently sold to the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies.

Mr. Winterton was visiting his daughter in Washington, D.C. when he decided to make a quick trip to Northwestern. He spent about 3 hours talking with David Easterbrook and David Bishop and touring the conservation lab. He viewed the collection in the Africana library, learned about conservation work on the photographs, and spoke with David Bishop about how researchers are using the collection. He also reviewed the web site created for the photographs and learned of plans for its expansion.

Mr. Winterton was impressed with University Library's handling and care of the collection. He was pleased to hear that the photographs have been made available to both scholars and faculty for innovative undergraduate teaching. Many of Mr. Winterton's books and manuscripts were sold at auction by Sotheby's shortly after Northwestern acquired the Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African Photographs. While these materials were sold to different buyers, the photograph collection remains intact at University Library.

The Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African Photographs provides a remarkable view of cultural and social life throughout East Africa between 1860 and 1960. Assembled over a 40-year period, the photographs record the dramatic changes in East Africa brought about by British and German colonization. There are 77 albums (6,500 photographs) in the collection.

Indiens D�Am�rique

The September 2004 issue of National Geographic France features a six-page story on Edward S. Curtis and his photographs recording traditional American Indian culture and customs. The article, titled �Il �tait une fois l�Am�rique�,� is illustrated with four Curtis photographs provided by the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections.

The article is one of several in this special issue celebrating the American Indian. French readers can visit Special Collections to take a look at the article and the Curtis photographs selected.

Lloyd Davidson to speak to American College of Toxicology

Lloyd Davidson, from SEL, will be opening the conference and delivering the Plenary Address at the American College of Toxicology meetings in Palm Springs, California, on November 8. The title of his presentation will be "Digitization and its Consequence: Revolutionary Changes in Scholarly and Social Communication and in Scientific Research." A preview of this talk was presented on October 8 to the BMBCB faculty.

Students learn Library "ins" and "outs" on new student tours

The class of 2008 was welcomed in style this year at the Library orientation tours, with over 270 freshmen in attendance. This year's tour groups were especially interested and involved in their orientations, and we hope to see many of them in the Library over the next 4 years!

Special thanks go out to this year's enthusiastic tour guides: David Bishop, Peter Burtch, Janalee Croegaert, Charlotte Cubbage, Caroline De Vane, Deb Fenwick, Kay Geary, Scott Garton, Jeannette Moss, Denise Shorey, Erika Simpson, Sherie Stein, Patti Strait, Jamie Watts, Paul Wolf, Jami Xu.

Rebecca Jenks
Information Commons Administrative Assistant
Core/Reserve

Give NUL News a new name and win $25 in Plaza Cafe coupons

NUL News needs a new name (say that five times fast!).

The Public Relations Department, with efficient assistance from Steve DiDomenico and staff in Library Management Systems, is in the process of redesigning the staff newsletter. So please start your creative engines and begin thinking about a new name to go with the new look. Submissions should be sent to Patti Strait at p-strait@northwestern.edu no later than September 15. There is no limit to the number of entries each staff member can submit. The winner will be chosen by the Public Relations Advisory Committee at a meeting scheduled on September 17.

Questions concerning the contest should be directed to:
Patti Strait
Director of Library Public Relations
p-strait@northwestern.edu
7-5918

Give it your best shot. You could be the (highly caffeinated) winner of $25 in Plaza Cafe coupons.

2004-05 schedule for New Employee Orientation Departmental Tours

The 2004-05 schedule for New Employee Orientation Departmental Tours is now available on staffweb. Tours will begin on Wednesday, September 1 and continue for different departments throughout the year. Tours will run from 3:30 p.m. through 4:15 p.m. This is a wonderful opportunity for new employees as well as long-time staff to get an insider's view into the many departments at Northwestern University Library. We encourage all staff to take the tours offered throughout the year. Access the new schedule, mark the tours in your calendar, and learn what's new! This year we have added Schaffner Library to the schedule of tours: The Joseph Schaffner Library is located on the second floor of Wieboldt Hall, 339 East Chicago Avenue, on Northwestern University's Chicago Campus. Schaffner Library provides library and information services for the Kellogg School of Management, the School of Continuing Studies, and the Institute for Learning in Retirement. The Library's services and programs, which are designed for adult part-time students, aim to make library research as efficient and convenient as possible. Mary Bradley Department Assistant Administration Photos (from top): Stained glass window at entrance to Schaffner Library; exterior of Weiboldt Hall. Photos by Mary Bradley

Showcase your talents, share your stories

Are you a closet poet or unshown artist? Are you sitting on a story that is begging to be told? Would you just like an opportunity to use your writing skills? Consider contributing to The Lantern, Northwestern University Library’s staff newsletter.

Whether you have work of your own that you would like to submit, or if you would like to be assigned an article, please let us know. You can contact The Lantern’s Editorial Committee at: lantern@northwestern.edu. Let The Lantern shine on you this forthcoming year.

Mary Kathleen Geary
Public Services Librarian
Transportation Library

Hear Jeff Garrett’s August 19 talk on international children’s illustrators and writers

Jeff Garrett, Assistant University Librarian for Collection Management, will repeat his lecture, “Of Date Palms, the Kalahari, and Love and Death in Quebec: Great Children’s Books You’ve Never Seen” on Thursday, August 19, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Forum Room. Call 7-5918 to reserve your place.

Here is a taste of what you will see and hear:

In his talk, Garrett provides an insightful, in-depth look at eight children's book writers and illustrators and what makes them stand out from their peers. He presents information on works from Egypt, Japan, China, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada, and Argentina. Most of these authors and illustrators are unknown in the United States, though their books are available at Northwestern University Library. Garrett focuses on a variety of topics: the influences of history, culture, and education on these works; the artists' creative adaptations of popular children's themes; and the impact of less-sophisticated print technology (in some countries) on an artist's work. In addition, Garrett explores the motivation behind the work of different artists and illustrators, from the desire to comment on social and life issues to the wish to create purely for fun and enjoyment.

The lecture is being presented in conjunction with the exhibit of international children's literature and Hans Christian Andersen Award winners now on display in the Main Library. The exhibit and lecture were planned by curator Leslie Bjorncrantz, bibliographer for education, management, psychology, and linguistics.

Mary Bradley
Department Assistant
Administration Department

Illustrations above (from left): Amanuma, Haruki, Amerfurashi, illustrated by Iku Dekune (Tokyo: Parorusha, 2001); Feel Abraha (Abraha's Elephant: A Story from the Quaran), illustrated by Helmi Abdel-Hamid El-Touni (Cairo: Dar El Shorouk Publishers, 2001).

New bookbinding company improves binding process

On July 1, General Bookbinding Company began binding the Library's books. Based in Chesterland, Ohio, General Bookbinding is one of eight binderies across the U.S. that is run by Information Conservation Inc., the nation's largest. Among the many advantages offered by General are the web-based online system for preparing binding information that facilitates tracking materials, communications and information exchange. Most noteworthy is the fact that SEL can, for the first time, prepare their binding by computer---before July 1, they had used a typewriter to prepare forms in triplicate for each title.

Tyra Grant
Head, Preservation Department