Library Hours for Summer 2

Summer 2 is fast approaching (the first classes start on June 29th!) Snell will maintain the following hours for the rest of the summer (please note that Snell will be completely closed on Monday, July 4): Circulation Desk: Sunday: 10am – 11pm Monday through Thursday: 8am – 11pm Friday: 8am – 8pm Saturday: 9am – 5pm InfoCommons: Sunday through Friday: 7:30am – 11pm Saturday: 7:30am – 5pm Library Study: Open 24 Hours, but will close at 11pm on Sunday, July 3rd and will be closed all day Monday, July 4th. As always, you must show a current NU Student/Faculty/Staff ID after the Circulation Desk closes. Enjoy summer time at Snell!

Massachusetts Summer Fun!

As the summer weather starts to creep over Boston, students everywhere have started looking for creative new ways to relax and enjoy themselves, both inside and outside. Here are some local (and one not-quite-so-local) events to keep in mind for the upcoming weeks! NOW: Flash Forward Festival, Boston The Flash Forward Festival comes to Boston to showcase the best contemporary photography from all over the world, including Canada and the UK. The festival lasts for four days (June 2nd to June 5th) and runs from 12pm to 7pm, leaving ample time to explore the other activities going on around the showcase. You have your choice of public art installations, lectures, panel discussions, gallerists, and countless artists from around the city and the world. This four-day festival is free to the public. http://www.flashforwardfestival.com THIS SATURDAY, June 4, 2011: The Cambridge River Festival This one-day celebration brings the Charles River to life with countless musical performances and more than 200,000 attendees flanking the river’s edges. Come on Saturday, June 4th between noon and 6pm to experience the magic and culture of this celebration. The festival is free for everyone! http://www.cambridgema.gov/CAC/ July 4: 38th Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular Every year on the Fourth of July, the Boston Pops play an amazing free concert at the Hatch Shell on Boston’s Esplanade along the Charles River. There are usually several exciting guest performers, and the fireworks that follow the concert are truly not to be missed. The crowds can get intense, and people camp out for space early in the morning. Tip from the locals: you can see the fireworks just as well, sometimes better, from the Cambridge side of the river, and they usually broadcast the concert to that side as well. Another tip to beat the crowds — see and hear the same concert the night before, July 3, at the dress rehearsal. (No fireworks that night, though.) http://www.july4th.org/ Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid with Live Score by Marc Ribot This event at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art on Saturday, July 9th at 9:00pm revamps a classic Charlie Chaplin film with modern guitar solos and soundtracks. Marc Ribot’s transformation of the film brings a whole new meaning to the timeless piece. Ticket prices vary, but if you are a student (at NEU or any other college) you get a flat rate ticket for $10. Note: This museum is in North Adams, Massachusetts, about a 2.5-hour drive from Boston. http://www.massmoca.org Around the World in Watercolor, 1860-1920 This exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts from July 16th to March 4th features works by American watercolorists such as John La Farge, Thomas Moran, Henry Roderick Newman, and Joseph Lindon Smith. These painters all travelled the world for inspiration, and their pieces are sure to transport you to the beautiful hills of Greece or the deserts of Egypt. The best part about this showing? Admission to the museum is free when you show your NEU student ID. http://www.mfa.org

Northeastern Researchers Study Gossip

Northeastern researchers recently published a study on the impact that negative gossip has on the brain’s ability to remember a person or face. According to their research, test subjects were more likely to remember a person if they heard a piece of negative gossip about them when they were shown a picture of that person’s face. If volunteers spent more time hearing positive connotations about a person they were more likely to forget their face. Interestingly, Dr. Lisa Barrett, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, believes that the result of this study directly helps people remember and avoid people who may cause them harm. Snell Library also contains some resources on the subject like the online report, The Relative Effect of Positive and Negative Humorous Gossip on Perceptions of the Gossiper and the Target of the Gossip, which discusses a study on the perceptions and effects of gossip and gossipers. Other related articles can be found by doing a Discovery or NuCat search on the library’s homepage (www.lib.neu.edu) for subjects like “gossip”, “psychology of the brain”, “memory”, etc. You can also view Northeastern’s recent interview with Lisa Feldman Barrett discussing her study on YouTube. In addition, you can find more of her work in IRis, Northeastern’s Institutional Repository.

Full-Color Nostradamus, Galileo, Kepler, and More

Google Books, in partnership with many of the great libraries in Europe, has just released full-color scans of important texts from the 16th and 17th centuries. They include Nostradamus’ prophecies, Kepler’s textbook on astronomy, and several works by Galileo including his Systema cosmicum, arguing that the Earth revolves around the Sun. The full-color scans are particularly important for illustrations, diagrams, maps, and distinguishing handwriting. Some of the books ages’ lead to bleedthrough (where the type on the other side of the page is visible), but even in those cases the full-color images give a sense of how the physical material has changed over time. There is not a separate interface through which you can access these books, but using the date limiters in the Google Books Advanced Search will help you find them. More detail is available at the Inside Google Books blog post.