Welcome to 2014! The librarians and staff in the Literatures and Languages Library are ready for a new semester and year, we hope you’re refreshed and ready too. If you’re already back on campus, here’s when you can stop by and visit:
Winter Break hours (through 1/19):
M-F: 9am-5pm
January 21: CLOSED (MLK, Jr. Day)
Spring 2014 hours (1/22 – 5/16):
M-Th: 9am-7pm
F: 9am-5pm
Sa-Sun.: 1-5pm
For April, the Literatures and Languages Library has installed two new exhibits on display in the Periodicals area on the South end of the Main Library Reading Room.
Cyberpunk is the focus of the first exhibit. Cyberpunk, a postmodern brand of science fiction that flourished in the 1980s and 1990s, often focuses on detritus-strewn dystopian landscapes where corporate interests dominate, leaving rogue hackers and outsiders to find ways of infiltrating and upending these new, technologically oppressive establishments. The grungy underworld in which these fictions often take place are contrasted with the use of incredible technology in ways unanticipated by its creators, blurring the line between actual and virtual reality. These tropes are especially intriguing to think about today as the Internet increasingly influences the lives of humans. Elements of Cyberpunk continue to influence literature and media in the genre of science fiction and beyond.
Since April is when the Major League Baseball season begins each year, we focus on The Literature of Baseball for our second exhibit. Known as “America’s pastime” for over a century, the exhibit focuses on fictional and non-fictional renderings of the sport and how it has played an important part in the myth of America. Widely known texts such as Bernard Malamud’s 1953 novel The Natural and Roger Kahn’s non-fictional account of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, The Boys of Summer (1972), sit alongside a book about Toni Stone, the first female to play baseball in the Negro Leagues when she debuted with the San Francisco Sea Lions in 1949, and a lesser known Philip Roth book, with the tongue-in-cheek title The Great American Novel (1973), about a home-less team that must play all their games on the road.
Both exhibits will be on display until the end of the month.
The Literatures and Languages Library has two exciting new exhibits up in the Literatures and Languages Periodicals area, on the south end of Main Library Reading Room, for the month of February.
The first exhibit, Black Science Fiction Writers, celebrates Black History Month by examining the contributions of African American authors to the science fiction genre. Works by writers throughout the 20th and 21st century–including Octavia Butler, George Schuyler, Walter Mosley, and Nisi Shawl–are on display.
To celebrate Presidents Day, The Presidency and American Literature is the focus of our other exhibit. It focuses on texts by notable literary figures–such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Adams, and Carl Sandburg–who wrote about the American presidency in one form or another.
These exhibits will be on display until the end of the month.
Final exams have finally arrived, but never fear, the library is here to help! The Literatures and Languages Library will continue to be open for its usual hours during Finals, December 14-20:
Monday-Thursday: 9am – 7pm
Friday: 9am – 5pm
Saturday and Sunday: 1 – 5pm
Our Winter Break hours are as follows:
Friday, December 21: 9am – 5pm
December 22-January 1: CLOSED
(The Main Library will be open on Dec. 27, 28, and 31 from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.)
January 2-13: Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm
For detailed information on all libraries’ hours during Finals and Winter Break, visit http://www.library.illinois.edu/services/hours.php. Good luck with exams and happy holidays!
Digital Humanities Symposium
Library Scholarly Commons, 306 Library
October 4, 2012, 8:30 a.m. – noon
Please join us on October 4th for the Digital Humanities Symposium at the Scholarly Commons to learn more about digital humanities concepts, tools, and current research projects at UIUC!
This half-day morning symposium on October 4th will feature talks and break-out sessions by UIUC faculty pursuing digital humanities research, including Professors Ted Underwood, Dianne Harris, Donna Cox, and Mara Wade. The symposium will cover topics such as:
– BiblioTech: digital humanities at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library
– Visualization tools in digital humanities
– Graduate education and digital humanities
– Emblematica Online: a NEH-funded collaborative project in digital humanities
– Text mining tools and research
– Omeka in research and teaching
– Library services and tools for data research and data curation
– Working with I-CHASS and finding funding for your research projects
– Images and digital scholarship
Participants may be limited due to space constraints. Coffee and breakfast refreshments will be provided. If you have questions, please contact Harriett Green at green19@illinois.edu or Sarah Christensen at schrstn@illinois.edu. We look forward to seeing you on October 4th!
The Literatures and Languages Library will still be open for limited hours during the Winter Break, so no need to panic if you need to cram in research for your dissertation or need to grab a book for your thesis. Here are our hours (and here is the complete listing of all Library hours during Winter Break):
December 17-18: CLOSED
December 19-23: 9am-5pm
December 24-27: CLOSED
December 28-30: Literatures and Languages Library CLOSED; Main Library open 8:30am-5pm
December 31-January 2, 2012: CLOSED
January 3-15: open M-F 9am-5pm, closed Sat. and Sun.
January 16: CLOSED for MLK, Jr. Day
January 17: Regular semester hours resume
UIUC’s fall break begins on November 19th, and extends through November 26th. The Literatures and Languages Library will be open Monday the 21st – Wednesday the 23rd, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but will be closed all other times, and will reopen Sunday the 27th (1-5 p.m.).
For all other campus libraries’ hours during fall break, please see this page.
Enjoy your break!
Calling all lovers of typography! Tomorrow, October 12th, The No. 44 Society at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library will host a presentation by the LetterMPress Project. From the RBML:
“Local graphic artist and web designer John Bonadies will talk about his “LetterMPress” project. Check out the video!
LetterMpress™ will be a virtual letterpress environment—released first on the iPad—that will allow anyone to create authentic-looking letterpress designs and prints.
The design process is the same as the letterpress process—you place and arrange type and cuts on a press bed, lock the type, ink the type, and print. You will be able to create unlimited designs, with multiple colors, using authentic vintage wood type and art cuts. And you can print your design directly from LetterMpress or save it as an image for import it into other applications.
The Soybean Press is looking to collaborate with him on some digital projects.
Please join us for a fascinating look at how a digital tool can breathe new life into old wooden type.
All are welcome and refreshments will be served.”
The University Library has recently begun streamlining access to our electronic resources by phasing in the SFX list of resources. In the past, we’ve relied on Online Research Resources to list e-books and e-journals, but the SFX system is more robust, including more accurate listings (including information on embargoes, such as when recent years of a journal aren’t included in a database) as well as some titles that don’t currently appear in Online Research Resources. SFX also indicates journals’ title changes more effectively than the ORR.
Please note that SFX doesn’t currently list electronic books, but with an upcoming upgrade, SFX will include this functionality.
Try out the SFX search functionality here: http://openurl.library.uiuc.edu/sfxlcl3/az. You can also find this search tool through the Library website’s front page under the “Online Journals & Newspapers” link.
The Literatures and Languages Library is pleased to announce our latest addition: a set of brand-new comfortable chairs! In addition to our work tables and computer stations, you can either study or just relax with a favorite book in our cozy reading area. (right)
We have new eight chairs and two ottomans. Four of the chairs come equipped with a mini-desk that slides in and out, very helpful if you need to take notes.
If you’re looking for a quiet and comfy place to study and read, come join us in 225 Library!
