Welcome Fall 2014 Snell Library Co-ops!

Snell is proud to welcome four new co-op students this semester. Manuel Simone, William Jackson, Michelle Espinosa, and Jennie Robbiano are already wonderful additions to the library staff.   Manuel Simone- DMC Studios Co-op Manuel (or Manny) is a Music Industry student going into his 4th year at NEU and originally from Montclair, New Jersey. He has been writing raps since he was 10, and learned how to produce/record since he was about 14. Recently, Manny released his first self-produced album after several albums with help from other producers. Other than music, Manny very much enjoys watching comedy and action TV shows and movies, reading a good fantasy novel or biography, and playing and watching sports.       Will Jackson-Co-op Web Applications Developer Will is a senior pursuing a dual major in Information Science and Business Management. This is his third and final co-op. Will is currently working on a NEH funded project to add Fedora Repository support to the Tapas Project. In his free time, Will enjoys writing and  playing video games. He also enjoys reading and listening to music. He says he is “okay” at both of those things.             Michelle Espinosa- Graphic Design Co-op Michelle is a fourth year aspiring Graphic Design major and a business management minor. She is from the small, but beautiful country of Honduras. Michelle has been a competitive horseback rider since she was nine, mainly show jumping and dressage. Her other hobbies include playing the flute, singing, and mountain biking.               Jennie Robbiano- Marketing and Events Co-op Jennie is a fourth year International Affairs and Religious Studies major. She is also the co-director of Strong Women, Strong Girls at Northeastern. In her spare time, (what little she has) Jennie enjoys sewing, vegan baking, and Sci-Fi TV shows.               Welcome to all of you, we are looking forward to a great semester!    

Recommended Reading from Staff at Snell

Nothing is better than kicking back with a good read over the summer, so some of our staff at Snell Library have compiled a list of summer reading recommendations that are sure to fit a wide range of tastes. Enjoy and happy reading!

The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis

“Extraordinary miniatures, very original, take your breath away at first reading (and the second, third…)”

Recommended by Will Wakeling, Dean of University Libraries

Find it at Snell Library

     

Southern Reach Trilogy, by Jeff Vandermeer

“These are nicely written in a creepy, weird fiction style, so they have overtones of science fiction and Southern Gothic. The unfolding mystery plot is fascinating so far, with very good, evocative writing.”

Recommended by Amanda Rust, Assistant Head of Research and Instruction

Find it at Snell Library: Annihilation & Authority    

Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson

“Clever author Atkinson proposes alternative lives (and deaths) for a child born during a snowstorm in 1910.”

Recommended by Julie Jersyk, Research and Instruction Librarian Find it at Snell Library    

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce

“Retiree Harold Fry embarks on a cross-country journey on foot to hand-deliver a letter to a dying acquaintance… ‘Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that this was the dilemma of being human.’”

Recommended by Ernesto Valencia, Systems Librarian

   

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

“A magical and inspiring story about navigating through life’s challenges, following your heart, and accomplishing your dreams.”

Recommended by Nina Shah, Library Development Officer

Find it at Snell Library

 
 

A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night, both by Deborah Harkness

“The first book is wonderful—so much fun—a mystery set in academia with witches and vampires and other creatures of the night! The story is fast-paced and well-executed and ends far too quickly. The second book is at least as good as the first!  Great books for the beach or a long flight to some place fun!”

Recommended by Janet Morrow, Head, Resource and Discovery Services

 

Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell

“This fascinating book is composed of long segments in the voices of six individual characters from different time periods, in totally different writing styles. Mitchell truly inhabits the main characters in each of the six segments, making them sound and feel authentic, and very different from one another. There are plenty of little overlaps and connections among the stories, too, which make for another level of enjoyment as you try to find those along the way.”

Recommended by Rebecca Bailey, Research and Instruction Librarian

Find it at Snell Library

What the Dog Saw, by Malcolm Gladwell

“Journalist Malcolm Gladwell has pieced together a collection of essays about human psychology and social behavior, many of them about sort of weird or unexpected phenomena.”

Recommended by Karen Merguerian, User Engagement and Assessment Librarian

Find it at Snell Library

   

Chain of Change: Struggles for Black Community Development, by Mel King

“Published in 1981, Chain of Change traces the story of the Black Community of Boston from the 1950s to the 1970s through the eyes of one of the South End’s most vocal residents, former Massachusetts State Representative Mel King. It also proposes a strategy for the future (the 1980s): a Community Development Plan that included decentralization, education, and coalition building.”

Recommended by Giordana Mecagni, Head of Archives and Special Collections

 Find it at Snell Library and other NU locations  

R&I Librarian Donna Kennedy Retires after 37 Years

Donna Kennedy, R&I Librarian, Snell Library I am both delighted and disappointed to announce that, after working 37 years with Northeastern University Libraries, Donna Kennedy has decided to retire from the University, effective July 1st, 2014. My delight is in knowing that, after years of a strong and productive commitment to her working career, Donna will now have the time to pursue a quite active engagement with her hobbies and, most important, numerous children and grandchildren. My disappointment is in knowing that the Library and University are losing a colleague who has always brought energy, a solid commitment, and a rare expertise to her work and, most especially, to the curricular and research needs of the student and faculty communities. Soon after arriving at the University in 1977, Donna was instrumental in developing services and collections at the former Burlington Campus Library to accommodate and enrich the experiences of a significant population of adult students enrolled in University College (later College of Professional Studies). When the Burlington Campus Library closed, Donna returned to Snell Library to, at first, lead the Access Services Department and, finally, as a Research and Instruction Services Librarian, to anchor the outreach and research support to the significant education program at the University. Donna’s achievements will long be valued and remembered by us and, I’m sure, by the many, many students and faculty to whom she has given expert assistance over the years. We hope to see some of these old friends at the event on June 24th. On behalf of all Library staff, I wish Donna a long and very well deserved retirement. —Will Wakeling, Dean, University Libraries

Research in the Archives: Ashley Brewer

The following is a guest post from Ashley Brewer ’18, a double major in History and English. Last semester [Fall, 2013], as the final paper for my history course on Dissent in Modern America, I drew up a research proposal on the historic impact of bisexuals on the Gay Rights Movement. I structured this paper around the Bisexual Resource Center collection in Snell Library’s Archives and Special Collections department, partly because of how exhaustive and thorough it was as a source, but also because finding research on the history of the bisexual community was almost impossible. I was surprised to discover that the concept of bisexual erasure extended to the academic community as well; many of the few existing sources were merely self-help guides or scientific studies, with barely a footnote on the subject of the community’s history. Without Northeastern’s Archives, I would not have been able to write my paper at all. The archive collection itself was received from the Bisexual Resource Center in 2005 and 2007, and consists of 11.5 cubic feet of conference minutes, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, articles, publications, survey results, and, my personal favorite, an extensive scrapbook of the 1993 March on Washington. The documents are not restricted to BRC records but rather cover a wide range of organizations and publications, and one pamphlet in particular details the history of the bisexual community more clearly and concisely than any of the other sources I was able to find. The Archives staff was enthusiastic and extremely helpful, and for future projects I will definitely check there first before venturing over to the Boston Public Library. I cannot begin to express how incredibly essential Snell Library’s Archives and Special Collections department was to my research, and I highly encourage others to take a look and see what they have to offer.

Scholar OneSearch: New Release

Update, 6/10/2014: The new version is up and running.  As of Monday June 9, you should see these changes in Scholar OneSearch. The latest version of Scholar OneSearch will be released in early June. We’ve made several enhancements to help make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for. Here’s a taste of what we’ve been working on. Permalinks. Each resource now includes a permalink under the ‘actions’ drop down menu. These are handy for adding persistent links to library resources in syllabi and course sites on Blackboard.

  A date slider has replaced the date facets.  The slider gives you more control when narrowing down the publication dates of materials you seek.

More visible call numbers and a ‘find it’ feature linking to Snell Library floor maps help simplify the task of locating items in the library.

Last but not least, check out our new virtual browse!  It’s the next best thing to browsing through the library stacks.

  Look for these features and more in next week’s release. What features would you like to see in future releases of Scholar OneSearch? Let us know!