Library News

Finals. Everyone’s favorite time of year. We love it as much as you do. Your friends at Snell Library and the Curry Student Center want you to know you’re not alone and to take some time to take a step back from all the end of semester craziness to de-stress. To help you achieve that, we will have:

Thursday, December 6th to Wednesday, December 12th: Coloring table, Legos, madlibs, and bubble wrap to pop in Snell’s Lobby

Thursday, December 6 at 3pm: Zooniverse activity in Snell’s Lobby – count penguins and more!

Sunday, December 9 at 7pm: Movie night in Snell Library, Room 90

Tuesday, December 11th at 1PM: therapy dog at Snell Library

Tuesday, December 11th at 5PM: pop up “study break” with coffee and snacks in Snell Library

Throughout all of Finals Week, be on the lookout for giveaways, free coffee study breaks, and positive sentiments from library staff!

We love that you love to study in Snell but we understand that sometimes more space is needed. So, our friends at the Curry Student Center have reserved some rooms for you for finals week study.

From 7:30AM to 2AM, rooms 333, 334, 335, 336, and 342 will be open for quiet study. Room 340 will be open for collaborative study.

What’s Poppin’ will also be open for study 9AM to 9PM Monday through Thursday and 9Am to 5PM on Friday.

In addition to extra study space, our friends at Curry will be giving away chocolate covered coffee beans daily at Campus Crossroads as well as:

Thursday, December 6th/Reading Day: Starbucks Nitro at 9PM in the indoor quad until it runs out

Friday, December 7th: Hot Chocolate Bar at Campus Crossroads 11am until it runs out

Saturday, December 8th: Free Starbucks Nitro at 7PM in the indoor quad until it runs out

Monday, December 10th: chocolate covered coffee beans and stress relief activity: make your own buttons.

Tuesday, December 11th: chocolate covered coffee beans and stress relief activity: make your own buttons.

From all of us here at Snell Library and Curry Student Center, we wish you the best of luck on your finals!

We’re bringing Code Ocean to campus on Nov. 8th for a hands-on, interactive workshop.

This 2-hour session is a unique opportunity to bring order to your own data and/or code!  You’ll receive expert, step-by-step guidance on:

• Organizing your files
• Creating a codebook (so that others – not to mention your ‘future self’ – can understand how & why you’ve done things)
• Preparing your code & data for documentation and reuse
• Maximizing the potential reproducibility of your research outputs

Space is limited to about 20 attendees, so please register soon to reserve your place. More info and registration link is here.  Questions?  Contact Jen Ferguson or Tom Hohenstein.

In May, Snell Library welcomed our first-ever First Year Experience and Undergraduate Engagement Librarian, Evie Cordell. Evie works with the First Year Writing Program, General Studies Program, Explore Northeastern, and many other programs that support first year students at Northeastern. Over the course of the summer and these first weeks of fall, Evie has organized library tours, welcome sessions, and scavenger hunts. If you’re a new student in the College of Engineering, you’ve probably met Evie as part of your library research workshop. Evie is a graduate of the University of Virginia (BA, Religious Studies), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MA in Library and Information Science). She’s mom to five kids, author of the children’s book Two Girls Want a Puppy, and speaks German pretty fluently. Say hello to Evie at the Research Help desk in the lobby of Snell Library–if you haven’t already met her at a library orientation! You can follow Evie on Twitter at eviedc or email her at e.cordell@northeastern.edu. Why did you decide to become a librarian? I became a librarian because I like helping people find information. I believe that everyone has the right to access information reguardless of race, religion, or economic standing. I believe that libraries and librarians hold unique positions in our society to not only ensure that people have access to information but to also level the playing field. Plus librarians are the coolest. Seriously, I get to wear funky outfits and I get to teach students about the library and how to use its resources. Librarians don’t know everything but we can find almost everything. What’s been the most fun for you as you get to know Snell Library and Northeastern’s undergraduates? I have really enjoyed getting to work with not only the first years in the various programs I work with but also getting to know the professors, instructors, and TAs. I’ve also had many second years that have done the library orientation, whether they were in person or scavenger hunts, tell me that they didn’t know about half the services Snell Library offers. I’m glad that I get to teach them something new. What’s the most important thing new students need to know about the library? Come talk to the librarians. Visit us at the Research Help Desk. Make appointments with us. We’re here to help you. You’re probably already in the library why not use the services we have. Bonus if you come talk to me I always have candy at my desk also those elusive Snell Library Husky stickers.

Exciting news! We’ve been working with GWISE to bring the 3 Minute Thesis competition to Snell Library this year.

 

3MT challenges graduate students to distill their work for a non-technical audience, using just 3 minutes and a single PowerPoint slide. 

Check out this video of competitor Maria Gibbs from Notre Dame to see an example of a winning 3MT talk.

Prizes this year include gift cards, a guest appearance on the What’s New podcast, and credit in the 3D Printing Studio – not to mention bragging rights!

The deadline to present has passed, but you can still attend and cheer on the presenters.  More details in the graphic above and at the RSVP link.

Materials from the Northeastern University Libraries Archives and Special Collections are featured in an exhibit at the Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Druker Design Gallery that is a culmination of a four-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation: “Urban Intermedia: City, Archive, and Narrative.” The exhibit, entitled “Race and Space in Boston Archives” runs until October 14th and features items from the records of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción as well as materials from other Boston area archives and special collections.          The Northeastern University Libraries Archives and Special Collections approached contributing to the call of materials related to “race and space” by curating materials that provided evidence of successful community action against urban renewal in Boston. Our selections emphasized the work of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA, Puerto Rican Tenants in Action) of the South End. They created their own neighborhood renewal plan to avoid developments which would have would have displaced current residents. IBA’s records tell the long story of activism to shift the outcome of urban renewal from displacement to community-based development.   Visitors looking to view Boston archival material featured in the exhibit can find a long tabletop where the archival images are projected. The table is intended for both display and impromptu conversations and engagement. Stools surround the table for seated discussions, and visitors are invited to bring their own laptop to contribute their own material for projected display. For more information on the exhibit visit: https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/exhibition/urban-intermedia-city-archive-narrative/ To read more about the records of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción visit: https://latinohistory.library.northeastern.edu/