Library News

Take our Mobile Survey… Please!

Do you use a mobile device for more than just phone calls and texting? If so, we’re interested in knowing if you would like to be able to use it for better access to library services. A very brief survey (4 questions) goes live on the Library home page, so here’s your chance to help us decide what would be useful and helpful for your research needs. Please take a minute to let us know what library information you want to access on your phone or handheld device. The survey is on our home page, or here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L957V2G

Carmen Pola records now available for research

The Carmen A. Pola papers are open for research in the Archives and Special Collections Department, 92 Snell Library.  A guide to the collection is available online.  Carmen Pola is a community activist who settled in Mission Hill, Boston, in 1972. The materials date from 1970-2006 and document Pola’s work with the Puerto Rican Festival, the Boston Public Schools, the Project to Monitor the Code of Discipline, Mayor Raymond Flynn’s Administration, and Roxbury Unites for Families and Children. The collection includes photographs, correspondence, grant proposals and reports, surveys, charts, organizational records, legal materials, political campaign literature, catalogs, booklets, and meeting minutes. Read the full press release here. If you’re interested in this topic, in addtion to perusing the records in Archives, you might be interested in checking out Latina Politics, Latino Politics: Gender, Culture, and Political Participation in Boston by Carol Hardy-Fanta. Below is a picture of Carmen Pola and Mayor Ray Flynn viewing a report in the Mayor’s office, ca. 1986.

Carmen Pola and Mayor Ray Flynn view a report in the Mayor's office, ca. 1986

Harvard Educational Review now available

The NU community now has access to the Harvard Educational Review online through the NU Libraries.  It’s a scholarly journal of opinion and research in education, self-described as “one of the most prestigious journals in education, with circulation to policymakers, researchers, administrators, and teachers.” When I first heard we were getting this journal, I figured it was for education geeks and not for me, but I found a really interesting and accessible article by Houman Harouni in the latest issue, on something really relevant to our work here at the NU Libraries. The article is about the pedagogical problems and opportunities presented by Wikipedia, and how a high-school teacher worked with students to address them.  Should he disparage Wikipedia?  Allow it to be cited?  Vandalize it? Assign students to contribute to it?  Well, a little of all of the above…which led his class to some very interesting understandings of the issue of authorship and scholarly discourse. I signed up for the rss feed so I get notified when new issues of the journal are published.  Enjoy the Harvard Educational Review…you may be surprised at how relevant it is to your work, too!

Spring Author Series Announced

Each semester at the Library we host a diverse group of writers as part of our Meet the Author series. For me, it’s always an interesting opportunity to learn more about a subject I’m interested in, or sometimes one I know very little about. (For our Fall Football event in 2008,  I read Mark Bavaro’s Rough and Tumble, and came closer to learning what the life of an NFL player is like, adding another layer to watching professional football games).  This semester is no exception, and there are some great authors who are coming to Northeastern: Sisters in War: A Story of Love, Family, and Survival in the New Iraq Christina Asquith Thursday, January 28 @ 2:30 pm Alumni Center, 716 Columbus Avenue Asquith’s book is the story of four women—two Iraqi sisters, one U.S. soldier, and a U.S. aid worker—whose narratives explain the choices and challenges women face in the new Iraq. Asquith spent from 2003 to 2005 reporting from Baghdad. As a journalist whose living situation grew more imperiled, she moved in with an Iraqi family and gained an intimate look at how the war affected their lives. The Death and Life of American Journalism Bob McChesney and John Nichols Tuesday, February 2 @ Noon 90 Snell Library In their new book, communications scholar Bob McChesney and award-winning journalist John Nichols explore the current crisis of journalism. They claim that journalism today can easily be overrun by commercialism and special interests and in many ways has strayed far from its earlier purpose as a tool for public service, made possible by government subsidies. McChesney and Nichols founded the nonprofit Free Press in 2003 with the intention to create a strong, public outlet for journalism. The Death and Life of American Journalism makes for riveting reading on public discourse and the informed citizen. Anna In-Between Elizabeth Nunez Friday, February 5 @ Noon 421 Snell Library Nunez’s colorful work of fiction focuses on Anna, a successful New York City editor who hails from an upper-class Caribbean family. When Anna returns home, she finds her mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has no intentions of traveling to the United States for medical assistance.  Her mother believes that, as a black woman, she will receive inferior medical care.  Throughout the book, Nunez beautifully illustrates the bond between family members and a community.  Nunez is Provost at CUNY’s Medgar Evers College and has written seven novels.  A Tiger’s Heart: A Memoir Aisling Shen Tuesday, February 23 @ 6 pm 405 Ell Hall Born in China’s Yangtze River Delta into a community of impoverished rice farmers, Shen was the first person from her village to attend college. Deeply dissatisfied with her government-issued teaching job, she left for the special economic zones of southern China in search of happiness and success in the business world. In 2000 Shen immigrated to the U.S. and graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College in 2005. She currently works as an equity research associate in an investment management firm in Boston.  In her unflinching memoir, Shen’s personal story also reflects the early days of China’s economic boom and illustrates the massive economic and social changes that have taken place in the country over the past several decades. Click here to see the full press release.