The most primary of sources

Napkin designs on display. Source: eNEWS 11-20-2012

Thanks to Gregory Street, one of our Library Student Supervisors, the Alexander Architectural Archive has begun collecting records of the UT chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS).

As he was busy packing up for his six-month residency at the firm Overland Partners, Gregory — the outgoing President of NOMAS — took time to make a special donation to the Archive. NOMAS was incredibly active this year, building their membership, conducting a service project for Mendez Middle School and holding a “napkin sketch” competition.  Such sketches often represent the seeds of designs that are later manifested in great buildings. This competition was NOMAS’ way of bringing together all programs and communities in the School while raising awareness of their organization.  The result is a unique representation of student, faculty and staff work.

During one of our morning breaks, I asked Gregory what NOMAS planned to do with the sketches.  We also discussed the importance of student organizations, and how it is difficult for members to ensure continuity and sustained knowledge for their leadership.  That’s where the archive comes in.  Especially during this era of centennial celebrations, we have seen a rise in scholars asking for information about the early days of programs and student life.  Student organization records reflect what students deem most valuable at a particular time in their education and their professions.  They reflect the work of future leaders.

Gregory recognizes the value of his organization’s work, and his effort in donating the NOMAS napkin sketch competition documentation is very fitting, serving as the seed of the NOMAS chapter archive and future collaborations with the University of Texas Libraries.  We look forward to supporting our student organizations and see a great future for NOMAS.

Beth Dodd is Head Librarian at the Architecture & Planning Library

Cross-posted at Battle Hall Highlights.

In Memoriam: Dr. James E. Boggs

Dr. James E. Boggs. Photo from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

James E. Boggs, longtime chemistry professor and library benefactor, passed away on June 2, 2013, at the age of 91.

Dr. Boggs came to The University of Texas at Austin in 1953, after working in the Manhattan Project as an Oberlin College undergraduate and then getting his PhD at the University of Michigan.  In 1948 he married Ruth Ann Rogers, a librarian.  They had originally planned to stay only a few years in Texas, but ended up spending the rest of their lives in Austin.

A physical chemist specializing in molecular structure and dynamics with over 400 scientific publications, Boggs established the long-running Austin Symposium on Molecular Structure, which convened here starting in 1966.  As a popular teacher he pioneered a course on science in society and taught freshman chemistry for many years.

Boggs was an avid traveler and internationalist, and worked for years with the Overseas Study Program to seek out talented chemists in far-flung places around the world, providing them with professional opportunities to publish, travel, and work as post-docs in his lab.  While he retired officially in his seventies, as professor emeritus he maintained an active work schedule and a funded laboratory up until the time of his death.

In 1998 he and his wife established the James E. and Ruth Ann Boggs Endowment Fund, which has benefited the Mallet Chemistry Library as it strives to remain one of the best chemistry collections in the country.  The endowment has enabled the purchase of many expensive monographs and reference sets over the years, and along with the Skinner Endowment provides the margin of excellence that a top research library needs.  Memorial donations may be made to the Boggs Fund via the UT giving site.

David Flaxbart is the head librarian of the Mallet Chemistry Library. 

Everything old is new again

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In a harried world where you can hardly escape the din of constant communication and the proliferation of electronic gadgets, there’s a nascent desire to slow down and take in the mad rush of life. You can find this peaceful revolt against modernity in the community of vinyl music enthusiasts or the slow food movement or in DIY communities that encourage personal creativity and self-sufficiency. And now there’s a community of like-minded folks who have found a similar passion in a device that is an almost perfect antithesis to modern concepts of technology.

The rediscovery of the typewriter by retro fetishists prompted filmmakers Christopher Lockett and Gary Nicholson to embark on making a documentary about the machine’s importance to both our past and our future.

The result of their work — “The Typewriter in the 21st Century” — will receive its Texas premiere in a screening at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 19, in the Fine Arts Library at the Doty Fine Arts building.

The documentary features 30+ interviews with authors, collectors, journalists, professors, bloggers, students, artists, inventors and repairmen (and women) who meet for “Type-In” gatherings to both celebrate and use their decidedly low-tech typewriters in a plugged-in world. Authors Robert Caro and David McCullough, combined winners of 4 Pulitzer Prizes, 3 National Book Awards and a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and both avid typewriter users, provide fundamental commentary about process and the value of slowing down, writing actual drafts and revising in a world of instant, draft-less editing.

The film was inspired by a May 2010 article in Wired magazine called “Meet The Last Generation of Typewriter Repairman.” Director Lockett and producer Nicholson discussed the importance of the typewriter in 20th century literature, their conclusion being that every great novel of the 20th century was written on one, and if typewriters are in their final days, they deserved to be celebrated one last time.

Funded largely through a Kickstarter campaign, the film eventually featured not only typewriter people — the aforementioned technicians, collectors, bloggers, users and fans — but famous typewriters as well. The film features machines once owned by Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Tennessee Williams, John Steinbeck, Jack London, Sylvia Plath, George Bernard Shaw, John Lennon, Joe DiMaggio, Helen Keller, the Unabomber, John Updike, Ray Bradbury and Ernie Pyle.

The screening of “The Typewriter in the 21st Century” will be followed by a Q&A featuring producer Gary Nicholson and John Payton, owner of a typewriter “museum” in Taylor, Texas.

The event will be preceded by a small public reception at 5 p.m.

Five years old

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Five years after it first launched an all-branches presence during Research Week at UT, the Libraries is again returning its Libraries Fair to the PCL plaza.

Ten campus branches of the Libraries will converge at the PCL from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. to provide a one-stop shop for students to drop by and learn about resources and services available to them across the campus. Staff from the branch libraries, and from Libraries service divisions (InterLibrary Services, UT Digital Repository and Ask A Librarian, to name a few) will be on hand to answer questions and raise awareness of various library resources, and booths will feature contests for prizes, along with treats provided by Cloud 9 Cotton Candy and Cornucopia Popcorn.

Also, for the first year, the Libraries will be joined by campus partners, including the Harry Ransom Center, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports, as well as by typewriter poet Jena Kirkpatrick, who will be on hand to help promote the April 19 screening of “The Typewriter (in the 21st Century)” at the Fine Arts Library.

Again this year, the Fair has been scheduled to coincide with the Longhorn Research Bazaar across the street at Gregory Gym, providing students the chance to get information about undergraduate research opportunities at the university, as well as the resources behind the research, all within the distance of a stone’s throw.

Research Week is a campus-wide celebration of undergraduate research and creative activity. It unites existing programs, events and activities that showcase undergraduate research and highlights the many research opportunities available to students.

Science for Lovers

Ask Dr. Loving

Love is in the air for the spring’s entrée edition of Science Study Break.

Dr. Timothy Loving of the School of Ecology’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences observes the ups and downs of relationships in a special Valentine’s presentation of our ongoing series at the intersection of science and pop culture.

Loving will use scenes from (500) Days of Summer, Moonrise Kingdom, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Crazy, Stupid, Love, among others, to explore the dynamics of romance.

Loving’s research focuses on the relationship support process, with an emphasis on investigating the reasons for — and consequences of — romantically-involved individuals’ conversations with friends and family about the romantic relationship.

The free event takes place in the Student Activity Center Auditorium (SAC 1.402) at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, February 12, 2013. Free pizza (while it lasts) for attendees.

Science Study Break is hosted by the University of Texas Libraries and supported by the University Federal Credit Union.

New Life for Misfit Books

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An offbeat bookstore has conceived an equally offbeat way to sell underappreciated titles.

Meet Biblio-Mat, a peculiar book vending machine created by designer Craig Small (of The Juggernaut) for The Monkey’s Paw in Toronto as an alternative to discount bins at the bookstore.

For $2, the rudimentary mechanics creak to life to provide both a random bit of reading material and unique shopping experience.

(via bOING bOING)

Stay Safe Out There

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If you’ve recently been in or around PCL (and you’re a college-age student at UT), you’ve probably noticed the increased activity, especially in the hours between midnight and 4 a.m. Those late-night denizens of the central branch library at the university are a result of the expanded 24/5 service — 24-hour, 5 day-a-week — that went into effect in mid-October as the result of work by Student Government to raise the necessary funding.

While those late hours are a good thing for the students who need a place to put in dedicated study time (or for those who waited until the eleventh hour to get started), it also means that individuals will need to traverse the campus to get to and from the library in the middle of the night, a less than optimal prospect.

Student Government, however, was also able to improve this situation.

The organization developed SURE Walk, a student-run volunteer group that provides walks to and from campus to students, faculty and staff of the university, with the help of both male and female student volunteers selected from university sanctioned organizations across the campus. You can read more about it here.

The program has existed for a few years now, but SG recognized that the bulk of increases in requests would likely come from the space they fought to keep open, so they’ve decided to move the operation to the place that makes the most sense, and will be working out of the PCL, providing an extra measure of safety (and relief) to students (and parents).

SG representatives will have a small kick-off party tonight (11/14/12) at 8 p.m. in the UFCU room at the PCL, so come out and support them for making life a little safer on campus.

Escape to Book Mountain

Book Mountain in the Netherlands.

Though we often focus our thoughts and attention on the changing nature of libraries, it’s good to occasionally be reminded that our “storied” past is also part of the present.

Nearly ten years in the making, a new library recently opened outside of Rotterdam that is a monument to the book.

A pyramidal structure of wood, glass, stone and steel contains what may be the world’s largest bookcase, “Book Mountain” – a structure of staircases, pathways and terraces surrounded by some 50,000 books that spirals upward to a reading room and café at its peak.

And despite its remarkable design by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV, the building is more function than form, as it is set amongst a community of government housing complexes where the population has a 10% illiteracy rate.

See more photos here, and a report by the BBC, here.

UT Libraries