2015

Professor of History Gerry Herman Retires After 50 Years at Northeastern

Just try to name a University committee that Gerry Herman hasn’t been involved with over the past half-century. Handbooks and contracts? He reviewed them. Strategic Plans? He helped plan them. Technology and distance learning initiatives? He championed them. Herman first called Northeastern home as a graduate student in 1965. Since then, he has been on the cutting edge of  incorporating media into the  study and teaching of history. He taught courses on topics ranging from Western and World History to the History of Flight and Space Travel. Herman has given new meaning to the term “University Service,” serving as University Copyright Officer (1988-2012), Special Assistant to the Provost (1979-1987), and Special Assistant to University Counsel (1987-2012) in addition to chairing a host of committees and task forces. Herman has also been integral to the success of Holocaust Remembrance Week, serving on the Holocaust Awareness Committee from 1983-2013. Professor Herman retired from the University on July 1, 2015, but his impact will surely be felt for many years to come. Herman’s professional papers and records (the Gerald H. Herman Papers) are preserved in the Archives and Special Collections Department in Snell Library.  

Herman teaching an honors seminar in 1984.

Professor Herman in 1975.

Herman and President Richard Freeland at the inaugural NUTV broadcast, April 1997.

The Theater Offensive: 25 Years of Gay Theater, Bold Pride, Conscious Intersectionality, and #BlackLivesMatter

Northeastern’s Special Collections and Archives preserves The Theater Offensive Records, a prominent gay theater troupe that has long been a defining presence with the Boston gay community. Founded by Abe Rybeck in 1989, the Theater Offensive boasts that they are “Twenty-Five Years BOLD” this year. From  the OUT on the Edge festival, to championing AIDS Awareness in the Fenway in the early 1990’s, to the queer cabaret band, Adult Children of Heterosexuals, the Theater Offensive celebrates their fearlessness and has never shied from political activism and social justice, making this collection wholly unique and incredibly modern – even with its quarter century time stamp.

                   Political stickers from the late 1980’s, from the United Fruit Company Series.

This collection offers a backstage look at what it takes to run a gay theater troupe in Boston. This includes not only the fights for funding, but the overwhelming social justice obligation of being a member of such a massive and vocal community. For over twenty years, the Theater Offensive has taken that responsibility in stride, which is showcased in this collection’s festival posters, photographs, strategic planning for outreach, and demand for community presence.

           Posters for plays depicting black gay life, from the Other Festivals and Production Series

People of color, especially people of color within the LGBTQA community, deserve and need to have their stories told. The Theater Offensive collection showcases how they have been boldly telling these stories for years and makes one realize how we are only just now starting to listen. As this collection reflects, the Theater Offensive will continue with the message they have chanted, sung, and marched for since 1989: #BlackLivesMatter, #BlackGayLivesMatter, #BlackTransLivesMatter as they did proudly at Boston’s Annual Gay Pride Parade in June, 2015.

Snell Stacks are the Tip of the Iceberg

Have you seen these new signs in the stacks?                         We want to remind the Northeastern community that the most recent material on a topic is likely to be found in the Library’s online collections and not on the shelves. Scan the QR codes on the signs or go directly to Scholar OneSearch to be connected with an extensive online collection. Thousands of electronic books and journals are available to faculty, students and staff. As more and more print information resources move online, Snell Library is able to offer to the Northeastern community a rich array of electronic resources including books, journals, primary source materials, multimedia works, and digitized archival collections. All of these are available on a 24/7 basis from any location, including a growing number of mobile devices, and most offer powerful search functionality and immediate access to the full text. The Library’s focused transition from print to electronic collections supports the Northeastern University Global Network and is discussed in the Collection Development Policy (March 2013), which was approved by the Faculty Senate Committee on Library Policies and Operations. And, speaking of online collections, the Library continues to expand the richness of primary source and other materials available to the Northeastern community. We are pleased to announce the recent availability of the following digital Gale Cengage newspaper collections:
  • 17th – 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers gathered by the Reverend Charles Burney (1757 – 1817) represent the largest single collection of 17th and 18th century English news media.
  • 19th Century British Newspapers contains full runs of influential national and regional newspapers representing different political and cultural segments of British society.
  • 19th Century U.S. Newspapers provides access to primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, featuring full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S.
  • Artemis Primary Sources is an integrated research tool that unifies extensive digital archives (including the collections above, the Illustrated London News Historical Archive [1842-2003], and the Times Digital Archive [1785- 2009]) and enables scholars to make new research connections.
Stay tuned to this blog for more announcements of new digital collections and primary source materials.

Boston Library Consortium signs letter to President Obama about Open Educational Resources

In June, the White House called for suggestions from the public for its third Open Government National Action Plan, to be released later this year. The purpose of this plan is to increase transparency in government as well as support open research and learning tools, which were identified as areas for development in the first two National Action Plans. The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), an international group of academic research libraries, has responded to this call with a letter advocating for increased support for the development of open educational resources. The Boston Library Consortium, of which Northeastern University is a member, has added its name as a signatory of this letter. We are proud to voice our support for open educational resources! Open educational resources (OERs) are freely accessible learning objects that support teaching and learning at all levels – from kindergarten through higher education. Because they are openly licensed, educators can customize OERs or create mashups of different resources to provide their students with the material that best meets their teaching objectives. OERs include textbooks, audio and video materials, tests, software, interactive modules, and much more. Many are peer-reviewed either before or after being publicly released, so teachers can be assured of their quality. OERs benefit students as well as educators—they serve as free alternatives to costly traditional textbooks. A recent NBC News story about the astronomical increase in textbook prices (more than triple the cost of inflation since 1977) quotes an incoming Northeastern first-year student on the struggle to afford college textbooks. OERs would help him and thousands of others get a high-quality education at a more affordable price. The Open Education Group, which conducts an ongoing review of empirical research on the use of OERs, reports that studies show students and educators using OERs are satisfied with the quality of these resources and that learning outcomes are equivalent to or better than those in classrooms using traditional resources. Instructors and students, are you interested in learning more about open educational resources? Check out my guide to OERs and textbook alternatives, and please feel free to contact me if you have further questions.

Meet Snell’s New Co-ops

Erin Borst: Graphic Design Co-op Hello! My name is Erin Borst and I am the new Graphic Design Co-op at the Communications Office in Snell. While I was born and raised in New Jersey, I am now a proud resident of Boston and am going into my third, or “middler,” year here at Northeastern. I am pursuing a BFA in Design with a concentration in Graphic and Information Design. When I’m not designing, you can find me listening to music, reading a fashion magazine, or feeding my coffee addiction. I’m looking forward to becoming a member of the library community!         Pete Leger: Digital Media Commons Studios Co-op Hello! My name is Pete Leger, and I have just started my Co-op here at the Snell DMC Studios. I am going into my final year at NU, and my major is the Music Industry. I have been interested in music production for many years now, and I am super excited to finally get involved with a team of professionals. I was in a unique program at my high school- the FAA, or, Franklin Arts Academy- that blended arts, media, and design into our class curriculum and projects. I feel that this was a great experience to prepare me to enter this type of field. More recently here at NU, I have been working on Recording and Business Administration minors. I can’t wait to get to know some of you during my Co-op!     Zach Smith: 3D Printing Studio Co-op My name is Zachary Smith, and I am the new 3D Printing Studio Co-op. I am a business student with a marketing concentration here at Northeastern. I know 3D printing does not seem closely related to marketing but I have always been interested in engineering. Unfortunately, I am not “engineering level” strong at math so business will have to do. I am excited to learn more about the printers and technologies associated with 3D printing and see what designs my peers think up throughout the semester. Outside of school and work I will usually be tinkering with cars and boats or rock-climbing. Come by the studio sometime, I would love to show you around and tell you more about the 3D printing process.     Tom Petrini: Marketing and Events Co-op My name is Tom Petrini, and I am the new Marketing and Events Co-op here at Snell. That’s ironic because for my first two years here I spent as little time in the library as possible, but I’m now discovering everything it has to offer. I’m very excited to help plan our Meet the Author events, Neighborhood Matters series, and the library’s 25th birthday Snellebration. Outside of work you can find me at a concert, a sporting event, or Taco Bell. I would be an NFL quarterback if I were taller than 5’10¾” and/or athletic. My favorite poets are Tauheed Epps and Horst Simco. I’m currently living my dream of being paid to tweet.