Library News

NU Athletics: If you can play, you can play.

In partnership with the organization You Can Play, Northeastern University Athletics has recently recorded a PSA supporting equality in sports. Northeastern student- athletes, coaches, administrators,and fans came together to express their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes, promoting their message that sexual orientation has no bearing in sport: if you can play, you can play. In their partnership with You Can Play, NU Athletics is been committed to creating an open, inclusive and supporting culture at Northeastern for LGBT athletes and students.

The cast of Triangle Theater Company’s “A Night Out with the Boys,” 1983. Archives Photo.

Supporting the LGBT community at Northeastern more broadly,the Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department highlights LGBT groups as part of the social justice collection strategy. Community members can view collections from organizations such as: Archives collections include materials such as documents, newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, and articles allow the Northeastern community to learn and gain an understanding of the history of the LGBT community and support for it in Massachusetts. These collections and others and be viewed in the library’s Archives and Special Collections Department located at 92 Snell Library.  

We asked, and you spoke up. Thanks!

Over the past few weeks we have been administering a survey in order to collect information on what Library users need and want more of in terms of study space. The survey asked users questions about where they like to study and what type of spaces should the Library have more of, allowing the Library to learn what users really want for their library that will enable them to have their ideal study space. Users were able to take the survey online or on paper, which was handed out during different times of the day at the Library and other areas on campus, such as the Curry Student Center. We’ve had a great response, reaching about 1,000 completed surveys, with respondents from all colleges and divisions of the University. A big Thank You to everyone who took the survey, in print or online! With all of your helpful responses, we have generated important information that will help shape the Library’s planning now, as well as its long term development.    

Policy Making Begins at Home

Update: Stephen Flynn, founding co-director of Northeastern’s George J. Costas Research Institute for Homeland Security, testified before Congress on Tuesday this week about cyber security concerns. Policy making isn’t always an “inside the beltway phenomenon” or the exclusive preserve of Washington insiders. Northeastern faculty and staff are frequent visitors to Congressional hearing rooms, providing expert testimony on topics as diverse as hate crimes, tobacco regulation, airline mergers, autism, the economic downturn, and human trafficking. In 2008, President Joseph Aoun welcomed Senator Ted Kennedy, invited witnesses, and members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to NU for a hearing on access to higher education. Ensuring Access to College in a Turbulent Economy provides a verbatim record of these proceedings. Other recent hearings with a local connection include: Mitchell Report: Illegal Use of Steroids in Major League Baseball – Includes testimony of former Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens and his colleague, New York Yankees player Andy Pettitte. Digging Up the Facts: Inspecting the Big Dig – More on the project Bostonians love to hate: water leaks, shoddy building materials, and cost overruns. Learning from the States: Individual State Experiences with Healthcare Reform Coverage Initiatives – The Commonwealth’s flagship program for universal healthcare coverage, now much in the spotlight in the 2012 Presidential election. Ten Years after 9/11: Assessing Airport Security and Preventing a Future Terrorist Attack – This hearing was held in Boston since two of the affected flights originated at Logan International Airport. The NU Library provides access to historic and contemporary U.S. Government documents in online and print formats. Key collections include:
  • Proquest Digital Hearings: Congressional hearings from 1824 to present
  • FDsys: The government site for authenticated, permanent access to important document series, including the Congressional Record (1994 to present), Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, Compilation of Presidential Documents, federal budget, Statutes at Large, United States Code, etc.
  • HeinOnline: Historical and contemporary government documents, including Foreign Relations of the United States, treaties, Presidential Papers, and the Congressional Record and its predecessors.
  • U.S. Congressional Serial Set and American State Papers: Rich collection of primary source materials from Congress and other government agencies.  The set includes an historical map collection.
Consult the Federal Government Subject Guide for information about additional government publications.

History Through Biography

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn  The award winning American National Biography Online and Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (for British history) are now available through NU Libraries. Within these resources, you are able to search by person, subject, date, or location. For example, you can find major artists who lived in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Results include lengthy biographical entries and links to related people and themes. The American National Biography Online includes the Oxford Companion to United States History so that you can quickly link from a noted figure to article on topics related to that figure. For more on the Library’s resources in History, please see the Subject Guide.

Playing in the Sun with ‘Tag, Toss & Run’

Author Paul Tukey

Author Paul Tukey presents his book "Tag, Toss & Run"

We all enjoyed a great afternoon playing lawn games from organic lawn care advocate Paul Tukey’s book, Tag, Toss & Run: 40 Classic Lawn Games. Thank you to everyone who participated in our final Meet the Author Series talk of the semester and Field Day on Tuesday! Starting the afternoon off with his presentation on organic lawn care and Tag, Toss, & Run, Paul enlightened us on the dangers of society’s use of regular lawn care and the much better benefits of using organic lawn care techniques. He reminded us that before people needed their lawns to be perfect, with no weeds and completely green grass, families and their children were playing outside on their lawns without any problems. It wasn’t until a need for the “perfect” lawn that parents began to stop their children from playing outside due to all of the dangerous chemicals from the weed sprays and fertilizers that were being used to grow the “perfect” lawn. Fewer children are now going outside to play, missing out on fun and the exercise that comes with playing outside. Paul challenged and encouraged us to know what is being sprayed on our own lawns, and also to get outside to play more.
Field day lawn games on Centennial Commons

Student groups lead lawn games following Tukey's presentation

Emphasizing this challenge, Paul invited us to join him for an afternoon of play out in Centennial Commons where student groups, including NUHOC, Tri Sigma, BGE and the Vietnamese Student Association, as well as those from NU Sport in Society, were hosting lawn games from Tukey’s book. Enjoying the sun, students were able to play games such as Volley Ball, Ladder Toss, Badminton, Molkky, Sepak Takraw and more. Hitting the ball over the net, scoring points in Molkky and tossing a Frisbee around, students and faculty met Paul’s challenge and for an afternoon, got outside to have a fun game-filled day under the sun.