October is Open Access Month!

Open Access Month header

 

In October the Library celebrates Open Access Month—a time to highlight the importance of making research and information more accessible without cost. Events throughout the month will showcase many ways in which people here at Northeastern and around the world are working to make Open Access a reality, including projects in which you can participate! 

Open Access Month: Schedule of Events

Download a PDF schedule!   Zotero in 30 Minutes Tuesday, October 4, 2:00-2:30 DSC Media Lounge Learn about using Zotero, one of the most well-known free, open source citation management tools, to organize your research. Track and gather all of your research in one place and automatically format citations and bibliographies—bring your laptop to get started right away. DH Open Office Hours Wednesday, October 5, 12:30-1:30 DSC Media Lounge Understanding copyright and fair use in the Digital Humanities will be the focus of this week’s regularly scheduled DH Open Office Hours. Citizen Science in Action with Zooniverse Thursday, October 6, 4:00-7:00 DSC Media Lounge Want to see how easy it is to contribute to citizen science research?  Drop in for a hack-a-thon style session and work with us on a Zooniverse project!  No prior experience is necessary. We’ll provide guidance (and pizza!), just bring a laptop or tablet to participate. More info available here! Refreshments will be served. Wikipedia Edit-a-thon Wednesday, October 12, 4:00-7:00 DSC Media Lounge Join us to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of under-represented groups in Massachusetts and U.S. history. This hack-a-thon style session will focus on editing and updating Wikipedia pages in a group setting. You do not need any prior experience with Wikipedia to participate. We’ll provide guidance, just bring a laptop or tablet to participate. Refreshments will be served. Managing Your Research Output for STEM Graduate Students Thursday, October 13, 11:00-12:00 422 SL Learn how and why to share your conference posters, presentation slides, codebase, and other products of your graduate research. Bring your questions about author rights, copyright, theses/dissertations, and anything else relevant to managing your output! We’ll provide info on resources available for you at the Library and elsewhere on campus. DSG/NULab Fall Welcome Event Monday, October 17, 3:00-6:30 90 SL Join the DSG and NULab at 3:00 for a keynote by Dan Cohen, Founding Executive Director of the Digital Public Library of America. This event will also feature lightning talks by Northeastern students, staff, and faculty about their recent work in digital scholarship, from 4:00-5:15. It will end with an informal reception where you can continue the conversation with area colleagues. Because space is limited, please register at bit.ly/DSGNULab2016 by October 10. Refreshments will be served. Decoding the Dragon Wednesday, October 19, 12:00-2:00 DSC Seminar Space Learn to read Northeastern University’s only medieval manuscript with faculty member Erika Boeckeler. Write Gothic letters with quills, tweet using medieval texting (aka abbreviationes), get a parchment souvenir and a Gothic henna tattoo. Level up through activities to become a “scribe” and contribute original research that will integrate into the manuscript’s website. We’ll provide guidance (and pizza!), just bring a laptop or tablet to participate. Refreshments will be served. Sourcing Multimedia for Your Course Thursday, October 20, 10:30-12:00 140 SL The Internet offers a variety of public domain and Creative Commons images, movies, and documents that may be used to support teaching and learning. Learn strategies for finding relevant media and crediting the media appropriately. Hosted by Academic Technology Services Creating Interactive Open Educational Resources Friday, October 21, 1:00-3:00 140 SL This course will show you the basics of using Storyline to create interactive educational resources. You’ll learn how to incorporate open source multimedia, create your own text, audio, and image content, and create interactive features. Finally, we’ll discuss options for publishing on the web and posting to open educational resource aggregator sites. Hosted by Academic Technology Services Storing and Sharing Files Using the Digital Repository Service Monday, October 24, 2:00-3:00 DSC Media Lounge Did you know the library can help you preserve your project and research materials, while also making those materials accessible on the web? This session will introduce faculty, staff, and students to the Digital Repository Service, the library’s trusted resource for storing digital materials created or acquired by the Northeastern community. Data Management Plans and the DRS Tuesday, October 25, 12:30-1:30 DSC Media Lounge How can you effectively share and preserve research data while fulfilling grant requirements?  This session will describe the library’s support for research data management, including the DMPTool as an option to generate data management plans, and the Digital Repository Service as an option for preserving and sharing research data. Refreshments will be served. Film Screening & Discussion: The Internet’s Own Boy Tuesday, October 25, 4:00-6:00 90 SL Join us for a screening of a special one-hour edit of this documentary about programmer and Internet activist Aaron Swartz. An audience-guided discussion will follow the film. Refreshments will be served. Archival Collections Transcribe-a-thon Wednesday, October 26, 4:00-7:00 DSC Media Lounge Digitized collections of manuscripts and ephemera need help from human eyes to be more useful to readers and researchers. We’ll highlight several major archives where anyone can participate in transcribing digitized materials online and get you started on some of these fascinating projects, which range from historical restaurant menus to explorers’ logbooks to anthropologists’ field notes. Drop in at any point during the session and bring a laptop or tablet to participate. More info available here! Refreshments will be served. Hypothes.is in 30 Minutes Friday, October 28, 11:00-11:30 DSC Media Lounge We’ll go over the basics of how to use this open-source annotation tool in your research and teaching! For more information and to sign up for an account in advance, visit hypothes.is.

Welcome New Library Staff

Welcome new and returning students, faculty and staff!  The library is pleased to announce new staff members to support your research, teaching, and scholarship.   Bopp, MelanieMelanie Bopp – Access Services Librarian Melanie Bopp comes to Northeastern from the University of New Orleans where she worked as the Head of Circulation Services.  At Northeastern Melanie oversees evening/weekend services at the Help and Information Desk, coordinates building security services, and contributes to a variety of projects and initiatives that improve your experience in Snell Library.  Melanie has a BA in English from Mount Holyoke College and an MA in Library and Information Science from Louisiana State University.  Prior to working in libraries Melanie taught English in Japan. Reach Melanie at m.bopp@northeastern.edu.     Sarah ConnellSarah Connell – Sarah Connell has joined the Women Writers Project (WWP) in a new staff role as Assistant Director, where she served previously as Project Manager.  Currently Sarah is also Assistant Director of NULab.  For the WWP, Sarah brings a wealth of experience in women’s writing, digital humanities pedagogy, text encoding, and project management.  In her new role she will focus on a recently funded “Intertextual Networks” grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Sarah completed her PhD in English at Northeastern in 2014, with a specialization in early modern Irish and British literature and digital humanities.  Reach Sarah at sa.connell@northeastern.edu.   Lindley HomolLindley Homol – Research and Instruction Librarian Lindley Homol comes to Northeastern from the University of Maryland where she provided teaching and research support to online and distance users.  Lindley’s work has included creating and assessing online learning objects and collaborating with faculty and university administration to identify and replace traditional textbooks with open education resources.  At Northeastern Lindley supports students and faculty in Education. Lindley has been very active in the library profession.  She presented at recent national conferences including last spring’s Computers in Libraries conference and Catholic University’s Annual Symposium on Scholarship and Practice, and has published articles relevant to the profession for the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Keeping Up With series and the Journal of Academic Librarianship.  Lindley has a BA in English from Pennsylvania State University and an MA in Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh.   Reach Lindley at l.homol@northeastern.edu.   Jon ReedJon Reed – Communications and Outreach Specialist Jon Reed comes to Northeastern from James Madison University where he worked as Communications Coordinator for the James Madison University Libraries.  Jon draws on solid experience working with stakeholders on a variety of communications initiatives to help promote library services and collections.  Jon has a BA in History from James Madison University.  Reach Jon at jo.reed@northeastern.edu.     ThomasNicoleSquareNicole Thomas – Access Services Librarian Nicole Thomas comes to Northeastern from Boston University’s Pardee Management Library where she worked as the Circulation Supervisor.   At NU Nicole oversees daytime services at the Help and Information Desk, and plays a key role on a variety of fronts including managing systems that help students and faculty reserve and utilize study spaces in Snell Library.  Originally from San Francisco, CA, Nicole has a BA in English from the College of Wooster and an MA in Library Science from Simmons College.  Prior to libraries, Nicole worked in administration at the University of San Francisco School of Law.  Reach Nicole at ni.thomas@northeastern.edu.   WilliamsBSquareBrooke Williams – Research and Instruction Librarian Brooke Williams comes to Northeastern from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she worked closely with undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty to support teaching and learning.  Brooke brings expertise in designing and implementing online library instruction modules, experience teaching in credit-bearing information literacy courses, and experience mentoring students immersed in capstone projects. Brooke has a BA in American Studies/English from Skidmore College and an MA in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  At Northeastern Brooke supports students and faculty in Communications Studies and Journalism.  Reach Brooke at b.williams@northeastern.edu.  

The Media and Boston Public Schools Desegregation

The following is a series written by archivists, academics, activists, and educators making available primary source material, providing pedagogical support, and furthering the understanding of Boston Public School’s Desegregation history. View all posts
Unpublished photograph by Clif Garboden September 1974

Unpublished photograph by Clif Garboden
September 1974

When the court-ordered desegregation of the Boston Public School system led to controversial practice of busing in the 1970s, the local and national media covered it prolifically. Pictures of protests and school buses flanked by police officers made for eye-catching footage. But as Phase II of Busing approached in September of 1975, some residents felt they were being unfairly represented.  Citizens of Charlestown complained that “the national media is always throwing up that we’re a violent people” as Newsweek reporters camped out to see “the second act of Boston’s national spectacle.” To some extent, the Boston Phoenix, did the same.[1] However, very few pictures of anti-busing protests appear in the paper. Those that do create an impact; one chilling example however shows a group of young white men standing around a burning effigy captioned with a racial slur published on September 16th.
The Boston Phoenix, September 16, 1975

The Boston Phoenix, September 16, 1975

The Boston Phoenix instead chose to focus on individuals, a piece on Judge Wendell Garrity, the federal judge who ordered the desegregation, ran on September 9, 1975 and an article written by Tom Sheehan, ran on September 16, 1975, titled “Three Families in the Midst of Busing” which profiled three families dealing with busing in different ways. The Hollis family, an African-American family being bused from Jamaica Plain to Charlestown, the McDonoughs, a white family being bused who supported the endeavor, and the Wrenns, a white family who opposed the decision. Even the articles regarding the protests focused on police officers and how they dealt with the protester’s attitudes towards them rather than the protesters themselves. Alongside these articles Boston Phoenix readers looked into the faces of those taking part in the drama; school committee members, police officers, parents, and most all, the children. One of the most prolific of these photographers, capturing the faces of these players was Clif Garboden.
The Boston Phoenix, September 16, 1975

The Boston Phoenix, September 16, 1975

Clif Garboden began working for the Boston Phoenix as a freelancer in the late 1960s, eventually coming on the staff full-time. Garboden rose  to the position of Senior Editor by the time he left the Boston Phoenix in 2009. During the turbulent years of the sixties and seventies, Garboden took his share of photographs of events but many times he focused on the individuals involved. While he was still a college student at Boston University, his photographs captured speakers, musicians, and professors for BU News. Even at that early point in his career, his photographs show the events occurring without losing the individuality of the people in the crowd. His work during Busing is no different. The September 9th article on Judge Garrity includes not only a photograph by Garboden of the school committee in session which gives a sense of their work environment but the next page also provides close-ups of the members, their large name plagues dominating the foreground and their expressions betraying their thoughts and emotions of the subject matter. In the article “Three Families in the Midst of Busing”, Garboden photographed the pro-busing family the McDonoughs. While the photographers of the other two families chose to portray their subjects in the midst of action, Garboden’s shots are portraits, leaving it up to the reader to make their own judgement. This is not simply an editing choice, the Garboden Negative Collection, now available at Northeastern University’s Archives, shows that every shot he took was framed in this manner.
Anti-Busing Rally, Charlestown, August 1975 Unpublished Photo by Clif Garboden

Anti-Busing Rally, Charlestown, August 1975
Unpublished Photo by Clif Garboden

The Garboden Negative Collection offers a peak into the editorial practices of the Boston Phoenix.  Garboden did take photographs of an anti-busing rally in Charleston but none of them ever made it to the paper. He took pictures of the reporting being done by the television news stations, possibly for an article regarding how the rest of the media was portraying the events. Instead, one of the most beautiful pictures he contributed to the Busing articles shows a lines of children, mostly Asian-American lined up at a bus stop in Chinatown accompanying an article by Nancy Pomerene. Although only one was published, the negatives show the amount of time Garboden took trying to preserve the sweet smiles of children who just wanted to go to school. In the midst of the hullabaloo Garboden and the Boston Phoenix tried to highlight the stories of those overshadowed by the rest of the media and their collections allow those narratives to remain for future generations.      
 

[1] Dumanoski, Dianne. “Charlestown – ‘My Town” – Braces for Busing.” The Boston Phoenix, September 02, 1975.

Recently digitized video collection shares highlights from Northeastern’s history

One of the Library’s Digital Publishing program’s main goals is to digitize and disseminate high-interest, Northeastern-produced materials in the Archives and elsewhere on campus. The Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections collects, preserves, and provides access to significant moments from the University’s history as well as the history of underrepresented communities in the Boston area. Preserving some of the prized video assets from both the social justice and Northeastern collections has been a particular focus lately, and some recently digitized hidden gems from the University Photography and Media Collection happens to showcase both vital Northeastern history and social issues affecting the community around it.

One particular highlight is a video of a speech which Jesse Jackson gave on campus in 1987. In it, Jackson, well-known as an advocate for the African-American community, speaks mainly about the AIDS crisis; specifically addressing the unwillingness of the Reagan administration to combat the epidemic (16,908 people died that year). Jackson highlights the economic, racial, and social disparities that were so deeply embedded in the AIDS epidemic, and calls on local and national leaders to do what they can. You can view this video and others like it in the University Photography and Media Collection.

Jesse Jackson speaking at Northeastern, 1987

Jesse Jackson speaking at Northeastern, 1987

Time for a new Husky Card!

Are you a new student, and you’d like to explore the library, maybe read some magazines or check out the study spaces, before classes begin? Are you a returning student or staff member, but you’re still swiping instead of tapping? Do you wish you could just lay your wallet on the gate sensors instead of digging around inside it and pulling out your card every single time? If so, now is the time for a new Husky Card!  Usually you have to walk over to Speare Hall to get a card, but from now until the first day of classes, Husky Card Services has set up shop and is issuing cards from the convenience of the Curry Student Center.  They will be there every day, including Saturday and Sunday, from now until Monday, September 5. So go to Curry 242 (Dance Studios) and get your new card today! husky cards