Library News

New Release: 2,200 18th-Century Texts

Through lots of hard work from the University of Michigan Libraries and support from the Gale publishing company, over 2,200 fully-searchable 18th-century texts have been made freely available through 18th Century Connect, an excellent collection of online, peer-reviewed resources in the 18th century. Why is this such a big deal? Isn’t everything on Google Books? In a word, no. These texts are hard-to-find and typically not available anywhere else. In addition, 18th-century spelling and typography are so different from ours, and so non-standard, that machines have a hard time automatically reading and understanding these texts. So every single text had to be re-typed and correctly coded to allow analysis by modern computers. Until now, these texts were only available through an expensive personal or institutional purchase. But this subset has now been released into the wild, which is very exciting news for humanists — see for yourself at 18th Century Connect. For more information, see the website of the Text Creation Partnership (the lovely people that do all the hard work of re-typing and coding these titles) or their official blog post.

Where can I study?! April 25

For all you students trying to hunker down and study in Snell today, you might be slightly thrown off if you can’t find your usual study spot or table on the second floor. Never fear! In preparation for the Snell Library 20th Anniversary Celebration, some of the tables and chairs that usually live on the second floor have been temporarily relocated to the back of the first floor. If you’re having trouble locating a space, please feel free to ask a librarian or staff member for assistance, and don’t forget to stop by and celebrate with us! The festivities begin at 2pm in the lobby on the first floor.

Before There Was Snell

In the spirit of celebrating our beloved Snell Library and its 20 years on campus, I thought it might be interesting to see just what our college did without this iconic study center. Believe it or not, all of the books and print resources Northeastern had prior to Snell’s creation (think late 1980’s) were stored in the basement of Dodge Hall! (and you thought things got crowded during finals week here…) Given the less than workable conditions in Dodge and the growing student body, the University contracted a design for a new library to be built through The Architect’s Collaborative. The building was opened in 1990, and cost $35 million dollars to create. The library was named after George and Lorraine Snell, for their philanthropic leadership and contributions to the Northeastern learning community. George Snell graduated from Northeastern in 1941 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and became a supporter of the University in 1970. He passed away in December of 1997, and his wife Lorraine continues to stay involved with the Northeastern University Libraries. On Monday we will gather to celebrate the birthday of Snell Library, and honor the two decades of its service to the students of Northeastern. I encourage you all to join us in celebration with birthday cake and refreshments!

SimplyMap currently down

SimplyMap is back as of Monday, 4/25 AM. SimplyMap is currently unavailable.  The vendor informs us their data servers have been down all day. SimplyMap is a web site that enables users to develop interactive thematic maps and reports using thousands of demographic, business, health, crime, and marketing data variables including Mediamark and Simmons Consumer Data. We’ll inform you when the SimplyMap site is back and functioning again.  We apologize to our users for the inconvenience.

You could have your own TED talk! Here’s how…

TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and is known for their fantastic talks by remarkable people, has announced its plans to audition speakers for the chance to have their own TED talk. On May 24th, TED will hold its first ever public audition for TED Talks in New York in front of a live audience. All you have to do is submit a one-minute video by April 25 at 11:59 p.m. indicating your idea and how you would present it. Some of the topic suggestions include  “a talk given in front of a custom-animated movie”,  “intense campfire-style storytelling”, and  “a rant delivered at blitzkrieg pace.”  Of course, other ideas are welcome. Once you upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo, complete the online submission form and see if you’re a winner. Check out the full details on the audition site.