Tag Archives: Perry-Castañeda Library

Ephemera

The Pains of Being Pure at Art

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Hopeful thinking in the face of finals?

Crushing despair and anxiety has once again produced the perfect conditions for spontaneous creativity at PCL as the Fall semester comes to a close.

Frank Meaker has been at work again this year cataloging the random acts of artistic expression on the whiteboards throughout our flagship branch at the university as students nest for extended hours amongst the stacks in preparation for end-of-semester finals and projects.

Note the increase this year in motivational statements and encouragement from authors/artists to their fellow students. Sometimes shared suffering brings out the best in people, though we prefer to think that this is just in line with the character of the Longhorn community.

For posterity and enjoyment, see the complete set at the Libraries Flickr page.

UPDATE – BONUS: Seems the whiteboards aren’t the only creative outlet for students during finals; they’ve found a medium in YouTube, as well.

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Events, Libraries, Outreach, Perry-Castañeda Library, Research

All’s Fair for Research Week

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Next week, anyone needing to see the value of research at the university need only to step foot on campus.

Beginning on Monday, April 11, and continuing through Friday, April 15, the hard work of students gets a bit more visibility as part of Research Week 2011, this year’s installment of the annual campus-wide celebration of undergraduate research and creative activity featuring a combination of existing programs plus events and activities, and highlighting the many research opportunities available to students.

As a part of our central role on campus to provide the informational foundation for research at the university, the Libraries will host our third annual All Libraries Fair on the Plaza at the Perry-Castañeda Library on Wednesday, April 13, from 11:30am-1:30pm. Representatives from each of the ten campus branch libraries will be on hand with games, activities and information related to the Libraries and their resources.

There will be juggling, contests, prizes and cotton candy, so come join the fun, learn a little and see the significance of research at your university.

(Special thanks to Mayank Aranke – Biochemistry, Social Work – who appears at 1:36 in the following video and makes a case for your libraries.)

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Ephemera, Exhibits, Perry-Castañeda Library, Staff

Back to the Drawing Board…

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We’re in the thick of it again with the looming end of the semester and the approaching zero-hour for projects and exams driving long nights and early mornings around the Libraries.

That also signals the return of whiteboard art, the spontaneous creative fits resulting from a combination of stress, anxiety, exhaustion and some small degree of relief that the end – be it affirmative or not – is nigh.

You can view a slide show of the finer examples of this phenomenon captured by our own Frank Meaker at the University’s Know website or at the Libraries Flickr page.

BONUS STACKS DISCOVERY:

A student “settles in for the long haul” on 5th floor of the PCL.

From the Director, In the News, Technology

Michigan says goodbye to an old friend

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card_catalogThis article on the departure of the legacy catalog at the University of Michigan recalls the renovations in Life Sciences Library here at the University of Texas, where card catalogs were removed to create space for new seminar rooms for the Undergraduate experience, as well as the removal of a large bank of card catalogs from the Perry-Castañeda Library almost three years ago.

The Michigan move also presages a similar development for those remaining catalog records at the PCL as the library responds to growing demands for student spaces.

Perhaps, though, we’ll follow our colleague Paul Courant’s lead and retain as an artifact a solitary catalog over which the students of tomorrow can ponder a more austere time.

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