I’ve had the refrain from David Bowie’s 1971 art-pop song stuck in my head lately. I think Bowie was singing about the nature of artistic reinvention. Critics at that time said he was distancing himself from the rock and roll mainstream and emphasizing the changes in his own musical style. For me, the song’s underlying and enduring meaning is to embrace the transformative power that change throws at us.
Manuscript highlights from the Library of Congress were on view during a recent back-of-house tour for Musselman Library student employees. Many of the library’s student assistants could not go home for spring break. Instead our staff organized a trip to Washington, D.C., (cherry blossoms included)…
The aroma of freshly made popcorn wafted throughout the library as the students serving on the Honor Commission enticed late-night studiers with a survey and a snack. “The popcorn event was held as an outreach event to build awareness about the Commission and also the Honor Code revision,” said Caroline Gill ‘24 and student advisor to the commission.
In our last issue we mentioned our ambitious plan to transform the fourth level of Musselman Library into a new Special Collections space with better collection storage, improved HVAC, and enhanced lighting. Step one in our expansion is building a new teaching and object study space across from the main Reading Room.
The library recently added another social media platform to its portfolio to connect with students with a TikTok account to share funny and engaging library stories. Student Success Librarian Hannah Krauss took on the coordinating role, brainstorming with colleagues for ideas and trends. In January, Krauss and Scholarly Communications Librarian Mary Elmquist recorded a video playing off a trend of stereotypes about librarians, while at the same time, sharing informative content about open textbooks.
This semester the Apse transitioned from a study hall to a concert hall, welcoming acclaimed blues guitarist Corey Harris. Harris was on campus as the first visiting artist in the College’s new Ann McIlhenny Haward Interdisciplinary Program for Culture and Music. While here, he visited Conservatory classes, lectured, and gave a performance in the Majestic Theatre.
Remember your college days when you pulled an all-nighter to study for an exam? When you waited too long to do your research and ended up turning in a paper that was not your best? College is a time for students to develop good habits and the librarians at Musselman are always ready to help.
By the time a book arrives in Special Collections, it can tell a much bigger story than what the author intended; many contain the history of their owners as well. Emma Wylam ’24 reveals some of these tales in her exhibit “Rare and Quiet: The Past Lives of Books,” a capstone of her work as the first Tricia Smelter ‘71 intern.
Pumpkins and ginger snaps. Pipe cleaner spiders. Silicone bookmarks. Bangladeshi woodblock printing. Holiday cards and hot chocolate. Paper heart garlands. What’s going on in the Browsing Room?
The Browsing Room got a makeover in January! The glass-walled room on the Main Level has long been the home of the recreational reading collection. It’s an attractive space, but was feeling a little dated.
On a February morning this spring, Kathryn Hopsicker ’24 worked her way around the library’s Main Level with a book cart, gradually building a green mound of freshly snipped pothos vines. Hopsicker, a student assistant for the Research and Instruction Department, would later select the most viable and slip them into jars of water to propagate.
Just in time for the eclipse, College Archivist Amy Lucadamo produced this copy of the Geography of the Heavens and Class Book of Astronomy: Accompanied by a Celestial Atlas by Elijah Burritt and Thomas Dick, written in 1833. The library’s copy dates from 1846. While this book is in need of conservation, we were able to open it to the relevant pages that explained the eclipse phenomena.
