2017

Interlibrary Loan: Getting Materials You Need From Across The Globe

  Have you ever found the absolutely perfect resource for your research, only to discover that it somehow falls outside of Snell Library’s collection of over half a million print- and e-books (each!) and hundred thousand e-journals? Found a title that Snell owns, but a classmate got to it first? Need a scanned chapter quickly, but not the whole book? Don’t worry, Interlibrary Loan has you covered! Currently enrolled students, faculty, and staff are able to borrow items free of charge from participating libraries across the country, including physical books, DVDs, music, and electronic copies of articles and book chapters. It’s as easy as identifying the item you need, either through the Snell’s own Scholar OneSearch, through WorldCat (the world’s largest online library catalog), or by manually entering your request through ILLiad, Interlibrary Loan’s management system. First time users will need to register an account, but the process only takes a few minutes. After submission, we’ll get to work finding the item, and patrons can track the status of their requests via their ILLiad account. Articles and book chapters generally arrive within 1-2 days, and while physical loan delivery times can vary (depending on availability and the lending institution’s location), titles typically arrive within 2-10 business days. Loan periods are generally 4-8 weeks. Check out our FAQ here, but do not hesitate to contact us at ill@northeastern.edu, or 617-373-8276. We look forward to helping you fulfill your research needs!

Back to School and Back to Club Snell

We know you had a busy summer and so did we. Check out what’s new in the library this fall semester.   gif of husky playing in leaves 1. We’re working to keep your library clean.  24/7 study can be a messy business, that’s why we worked with our partners at ABM to establish a nightly cleaning schedule for Club Snell.  Tuesday through Friday, each floor gets a whole night dedicated to cleaning. 2. You can now find textbooks easier than ever. Your professor can put your textbooks on reserve in the library. To find out if they did search on the library homepage or ask your professor. 3. Did you ever ask yourself, why are the Club Snell elevators were so dark?  No? Well we did! That’s why over the summer we replaced the drab old lights with high efficiency LED lights. 4. Ever forget you husky card but still want to get into the Library?  Too busy to commit your HuskyID to memory?  Well we installed a hand scanner just for you!  Register with Student Services to take advantage of this exciting pilot program. 5. Club Snell is the latest building to install an All-Gender Restroom and Lactation Room.  Both rooms were built on the 4th floor. 6. Get a jump start on your coursework by talking to your subject specialist. We have a specialist for everything you could need help with, from architecture to engineering, even 3D printing and video production. If you can’t stop into the library you can always search our FAQ or reach us 24/7. 7. Booking a room has never been easier. Northeastern’s space booking system got an update this Summer and it’s so easy you can book a room waiting in line at Rebecca’s.   As always, keep an eye on our calendar for workshops, film screenings, and fun activities (did someone say therapy dogs?)

Select Archives and Special Collections materials are now available in the Digital Public Library of America

NAACP pickets School CommitteeNearly 9,000 primary source documents and images curated and digitized by Northeastern University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections are now available in the Digital Public Library of America. The DPLA is a national resource that brings together digital materials held by American libraries, archives, and museums. Northeastern University Libraries’ contribution to DPLA was made possible through our membership in Digital Commonwealth (our local DPLA Hub), who harvest the metadata and thumbnails from the DRS and make them available in the DPLA. The full set of contributed materials include videos from Northeastern’s Holocaust Awareness Week programming, records from the Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción community development program, and many more. More than a third of the contributed materials document the desegregation of Boston Public Schools and busing of students in the 1970’s and 1980’s. With assistance from the library’s Digital Metadata & Ingest group, Archives staff organized, selected, and digitized approximately 3,300 photographs, documents, and other printed ephemera created in the years before and after the busing proclamation was issued by Judge Garrity in 1974. The Archives chose to focus on Boston’s history of desegregation as part of a coordinated effort with other institutions in the Boston Library Consortium to collect and digitize materials that “illuminate the complexity of state- and city-wide politics, community activism, and advocacy.” As Northeastern, UMass Boston, Suffolk University, and other Boston-area institutions make their primary source materials available to the public, the DPLA’s collection of artifacts documenting the desegregation of Boston Public Schools will grow. The end result will be a robust shared archive that will aid in national teaching and learning activities focused on the history and legacy of segregation and racism in the Unites States. The Boston Public Schools, for example, are already integrating these primary sources into the curriculum in an effort to “ensure that every Boston Public Schools student learns about this important and troubling chapter in our city’s history.” These 9,000 files are just the beginning of Northeastern University Libraries’ contribution to the DPLA; we will continue to contribute to Digital Commonwealth and DPLA as more materials become available in our local repository.

An Update on Our Wikipedia Visiting Scholar

In March, we welcomed Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight as our first Wikipedia Visiting Scholar, working to improve the presence of Wikipedia articles on women and writing before 1900. Her work is supported by scholars in the Women Writers Project and Northeastern reference librarians. Rosie will be with us, working remotely, through December of this year and has already made remarkable progress on bolstering the canon of women writers and their works on Wikipedia. She has created new pages for over 86 women and/or works by women, and has improved many others with additional information, context and citations. Through Rosie’s work, you can now learn about Birdie Blye, a descendant of John Hancock who was a child prodigy at the piano and gave concert tours in Europe at just 11 years old, before writing articles about her travels and music criticism. You can get to know Lilian Bell, a novelist who made waves with her first fiction book, The Love Affairs of an Old Maid. Bell’s mother was such a careful editor, and tough critic, that Bell found no reason to dread her books being reviewed: “What have I to fear from the public?” she asked. “Mamma has read it.”  

Birdie Blye

You can also learn about Mittie Frances Clarke Point, a turn-of-the-century novelist who wrote 80 dime store novels under the pseudonym Mrs. Alex McVeigh Miller; Emily Thornton Charles, a journalist who founded the Washington, D.C. newspaper National Veteran; and Mary Catherine Chase, a 19th-century Catholic nun who wrote essays and literature under pen names. You can keep up with Rosie’s work on her Wikipedia page. We look forward to seeing more of Rosie’s work throughout her time with us this year.  

Welcome Back Faculty!

  Whether you are new to Northeastern University community or returning from summer, the Northeastern University Libraries can help you prepare for the semester ahead. During new faculty orientation on August 29th, visit the University Libraries to meet with librarians and subject specialists to hear about the wide range of services and resources available in support of your research, teaching and publishing. A listing of library services is online under Information for Faculty and Staff. Check the Librarians-by Subject Directory for your librarian. Please feel free to contact us.