Library News

Welcome New Library Staff

Welcome new and returning students, faculty and staff!  The library is pleased to announce new staff members to support your research, teaching, and scholarship.   Bopp, MelanieMelanie Bopp – Access Services Librarian Melanie Bopp comes to Northeastern from the University of New Orleans where she worked as the Head of Circulation Services.  At Northeastern Melanie oversees evening/weekend services at the Help and Information Desk, coordinates building security services, and contributes to a variety of projects and initiatives that improve your experience in Snell Library.  Melanie has a BA in English from Mount Holyoke College and an MA in Library and Information Science from Louisiana State University.  Prior to working in libraries Melanie taught English in Japan. Reach Melanie at m.bopp@northeastern.edu.     Sarah ConnellSarah Connell – Sarah Connell has joined the Women Writers Project (WWP) in a new staff role as Assistant Director, where she served previously as Project Manager.  Currently Sarah is also Assistant Director of NULab.  For the WWP, Sarah brings a wealth of experience in women’s writing, digital humanities pedagogy, text encoding, and project management.  In her new role she will focus on a recently funded “Intertextual Networks” grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Sarah completed her PhD in English at Northeastern in 2014, with a specialization in early modern Irish and British literature and digital humanities.  Reach Sarah at sa.connell@northeastern.edu.   Lindley HomolLindley Homol – Research and Instruction Librarian Lindley Homol comes to Northeastern from the University of Maryland where she provided teaching and research support to online and distance users.  Lindley’s work has included creating and assessing online learning objects and collaborating with faculty and university administration to identify and replace traditional textbooks with open education resources.  At Northeastern Lindley supports students and faculty in Education. Lindley has been very active in the library profession.  She presented at recent national conferences including last spring’s Computers in Libraries conference and Catholic University’s Annual Symposium on Scholarship and Practice, and has published articles relevant to the profession for the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Keeping Up With series and the Journal of Academic Librarianship.  Lindley has a BA in English from Pennsylvania State University and an MA in Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh.   Reach Lindley at l.homol@northeastern.edu.   Jon ReedJon Reed – Communications and Outreach Specialist Jon Reed comes to Northeastern from James Madison University where he worked as Communications Coordinator for the James Madison University Libraries.  Jon draws on solid experience working with stakeholders on a variety of communications initiatives to help promote library services and collections.  Jon has a BA in History from James Madison University.  Reach Jon at jo.reed@northeastern.edu.     ThomasNicoleSquareNicole Thomas – Access Services Librarian Nicole Thomas comes to Northeastern from Boston University’s Pardee Management Library where she worked as the Circulation Supervisor.   At NU Nicole oversees daytime services at the Help and Information Desk, and plays a key role on a variety of fronts including managing systems that help students and faculty reserve and utilize study spaces in Snell Library.  Originally from San Francisco, CA, Nicole has a BA in English from the College of Wooster and an MA in Library Science from Simmons College.  Prior to libraries, Nicole worked in administration at the University of San Francisco School of Law.  Reach Nicole at ni.thomas@northeastern.edu.   WilliamsBSquareBrooke Williams – Research and Instruction Librarian Brooke Williams comes to Northeastern from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she worked closely with undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty to support teaching and learning.  Brooke brings expertise in designing and implementing online library instruction modules, experience teaching in credit-bearing information literacy courses, and experience mentoring students immersed in capstone projects. Brooke has a BA in American Studies/English from Skidmore College and an MA in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  At Northeastern Brooke supports students and faculty in Communications Studies and Journalism.  Reach Brooke at b.williams@northeastern.edu.  

Time for a new Husky Card!

Are you a new student, and you’d like to explore the library, maybe read some magazines or check out the study spaces, before classes begin? Are you a returning student or staff member, but you’re still swiping instead of tapping? Do you wish you could just lay your wallet on the gate sensors instead of digging around inside it and pulling out your card every single time? If so, now is the time for a new Husky Card!  Usually you have to walk over to Speare Hall to get a card, but from now until the first day of classes, Husky Card Services has set up shop and is issuing cards from the convenience of the Curry Student Center.  They will be there every day, including Saturday and Sunday, from now until Monday, September 5. So go to Curry 242 (Dance Studios) and get your new card today! husky cards

Deadline for course reserves extended to August 24

Faculty and TAs, this is the perfect time of year to submit your requests for Fall 2016 course reserves. We will continue to accept and process requests throughout the semester but to ensure your items will be available to students the first week of classes, please have your forms submitted by Wednesday, August 24!

Submitting a request is easy; just follow the course reserves link under the “Library” tab on myNEU and fill out the form.  We also have paper forms available at the Help and Information Desk on the first floor.

For a list of the types of materials that you can put on reserve, check out the reserves page on our website.

Any questions? Feel free to send me an email at LibraryReserves@northeastern.edu or call 617-373-3397.

Snell Library staff adopt Open Access Policy

On June 22, 2016, the staff of Snell Library adopted an Open Access Policy. By establishing this policy, Snell Library joins a growing group of academic libraries in the United States with similar policies, designed to ensure the greatest possible access to the research and scholarship produced by their staff members. It also joins a much larger community of research institutions and subunits of institutions (e.g. schools, colleges, departments) who have adopted Open Access policies—over 600 worldwide. Snell Library’s policy is particularly timely, as the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has just issued its own Policy Statement on Open Access to Scholarship by Academic Librarians. While ACRL’s statement is limited specifically to librarians, the Snell Library policy applies to all full-time library staff. Snell’s staff includes a number of academic professionals who are non-librarians, as well as its support staff, who are active in creating output that should be shared with a wide audience. The Open Access Policy requires library staff members to deposit into the Digital Repository Service (DRS) copies of their published articles as well as posters and presentation materials delivered at conferences, where they are not prohibited from doing so through prior agreements with publishers. Staff members may receive a waiver of the policy for any individual work; this ensures that staff retain the freedom to publish where they choose, regardless of publishers’ willingness to accept the policy. (Given the huge increase in faculty-driven open access policies across the U.S. and worldwide, though, many publishers are already very familiar with the requirements of these policies and have built accommodations for them into their own practices.)

Q & A

What is open access?

Open access literature is freely available online for anyone to read. Open access is provided to scholarly articles in a variety of ways. The most common models are:
  • Open access journals: all articles published in these publications are openly accessible. May or may not involve a fee for authors
  • “Hybrid” journals: subscription-based (“closed”) journals in which at the author’s request, and usually for an additional fee, individual articles are made openly accessible.
  • Article archiving: authors deposit a copy of their article (manuscript or final formatted version) in a repository, typically an institutional or discipline-based repository.
This policy is primarily aimed at facilitating the “article archiving” form of open access.

Why an open access policy?

The goals of this policy are to expand access to Snell Library staff research and scholarship, and to lead by example both at Northeastern University and in the profession. Like many libraries, Snell Library actively supports open access to research output and advocates for Northeastern faculty to make their work available open-access where possible, in order to provide greater access to research for those who are not able to pay subscription costs or charges for article access.

What are the public benefits of open access?

The most obvious public benefit of open access is that research results will be more accessible to more people in more locations. Currently, most individuals have very limited access to research publications—open access makes published results available to researchers and scholars affiliated with smaller institutions or non-profit organizations, and researchers and scholars in developing countries. This may spur additional scholarly progress or entrepreneurial innovation. Even individuals who do currently have access to publications via subscription services may find benefits from open access, such as easier collaboration with colleagues at other institutions, more accessible and affordable course readings for students, or by enabling new forms of scholarship such as computational analysis.

How does this policy benefit authors?

A number of studies have shown that articles that are freely available online often have increased citation rates and impact, though these benefits seem to vary across disciplines. Open access articles are also more easily discovered by researchers using online tools such as Google Scholar, and are more easily linked to and discussed in public forums. (Note: Q&A excerpted from an FAQ for library staff about the policy, which was adapted with permission from a similar document created at the University of Minnesota.)

Celebrate Pride Month!

In case you haven’t heard, June is LGBT Pride Month! Celebrate by reading one of these LGBT books: rubyfruit jungle Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown Rubyfruit Jungle, first published in 1973 and still painfully relevant today, follows protagonist Molly Bolt, comfortable as lesbian though everyone around her isn’t. While the slang the characters use won’t let you forget this book is from the ‘70s, Molly’s life as a queer individual is not so different than some people’s today, and it’s refreshing to follow a character whose sexual identity does not result in ultimate unhappiness, but drives her to succeed.     aristotle and danteAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz No, this book is not about a philosopher and a poet traversing through space and time (but wouldn’t that be great?!). In Sáenz’s novel, two Mexican-American boys grapple with car crashes, romance, and hate crime in the 1980s. As they grow older, they seek the definition of love and acceptance for who they are.       the night wastchThe Night Watch by Sarah Waters Starting in 1947 and working its way back to 1941, The Night Watch follows the lives of four twenty-something year olds trying to piece their lives together in WWII London. Each character’s story is told separately, often with guest appearances from some of the others. The narrative moves backwards in time, so as you go you’ll learn more about events that were only hinted at previously and discover what made these people who they are.     liquorLiquor by Poppy Z. Brite First in its series by trans writer Poppy Z. Brite, Liquor stars Rickey and G-Man, best friends, boyfriends, and line cooks in New Orleans. When Rickey is unexpectedly fired, the two decide to open a restaurant where every dish is cooked with some sort of liquor. The protagonists of this novel are gay, but the plot has nothing to do with their sexuality, offering a welcome change from the typical coming-out story.     Sorrsorry, treey, Tree by Eileen Myles This collection by punk poet Eileen Myles combines love with politics to take a definitive stance on what it means to be a lesbian. With her signature style of haphazard rhythm and unmetered stanzas, Myles’ work feels raw and powerful. It’s only 83 pages—bring it for your T ride to Boston Pride Festival this Saturday!