Oliver Wendell Holmes Library Newsletter

Google has launched a free tutorial website, Search Education, aimed at both at teachers and individual users. The well-organized site provides individual training modules and lesson plans for teaching search techniques.   Separate “beginner” “intermediate” and “advanced” lessons are provided for topics ranging from  understanding search results to evaluating credibility of sources.

During his presentation to a rapt group of Grandparents during the Academy’s Grandparents’ Day celebration, OWHL Associate Director Jeffrey Marzluft outlined the importance of assessment to libraries and librarians.   He described the OWHL’s pilot project measuring the impact of the instructional program on recent graduates’ research readiness and general preparation.  In addition to presenting the rationale for the “Sign Our Yearbook” project and describing its results, Jeffrey explained the major goals of the instructional program, the importance of individual research consultations in skill-building and the identifiable gaps and challenges in equipping students with the information skills they will need for success in college and in lifelong learning.

Academy Archivist Paige Roberts also addressed the group.  Her presentation addressed trends of openness and collaboration within the archives field, and focused on the primary function of the archives: to collaborate with faculty to integrate use of primary sources in classes.   Showing photographs, documents, and rare books, she discussed some of the topics that students have researched in the Archives in the past several months and emphasized the importance of learning how to ask good questions of historical material.   Students’ questions have ranged from the Phillips Academy cemetery to campus history and the school during World Wars I and II.

At the OWHL, we pride ourselves on providing good “customer service.”  We know that the spaces, resources, services and instruction that we offer are essential to the academic success of our students, and we want to make sure that they can take full advantage of them.  Because we are committed to continuous improvement, most of the OWHL staff recently participated in a “Webinar” on “How to provide Great Customer Service” sponsored by the American Library Association.  Customer service isn’t rocket science, and we probably didn’t “learn” anything.  But the experience of taking the Webinar together prompted many good discussions on how to fine-tune some of our procedures to make sure they are meeting our goals.  Stop by to see us, and you are guaranteed to receive excellent service!

I was frankly surprised to learn recently that the three-year average circulation figures for the OWHL are in the top five of the 27 libraries in the NOBLE consortium.  This is actual circulation of real physical items.  Our partners in NOBLE include large public libraries from communities like Peabody and Danvers, and college and community college libraries like Gordon, Merrimack, Salem State and Bunker Hill.  While we certainly don’t measure our success by circulation numbers alone, it is an indication of how central our physical materials are to our relatively small, but highly engaged user group.

 I am absolutely convinced that 24/7 online access to the database of materials in our collection is superior to a physical search of a collection of printed cards.  But our students were born after most libraries were automated, and don’t know what a card catalog is.  Rather than being grateful that it is so easy to identify potentially valuable materials through an electronic search, they are often amazed (and displeased) to learn that a search of the library ILS is a search of descriptive information about the items, rather than a search of the full text of the items.

But those of us who remember card catalogs fondly might enjoy this brief whimsical video from Yale which features a dancing card catalog.

Museums around the world have digitized their treasures and put them on the “free web” for several years, but until recently users were hampered by the lack of a freely available portal to permit cross-collection searching and discovery.  Google is really good at indexing, and took up the challenge to make these museums and their collections accessible. When you arrive at the homepage of the Google Art Project you have the option to explore a museum or to view art.   The interface is clean and intuitive and permits touring, searching and browsing.  You can also produce slideshows of your own selected images, making this a natural support for learning across the disciplines.  We are monitoring the development of this project closely, as it is becoming a solid competitor for our subscription product ArtSTOR.  Read more about the GAP in this recent NYT article.

 However you define Asia, your own eclectic mix of cultural artifacts, people and stories will be a narrow understanding of the enormity of the world’s largest and most populous continent.  Your facts may be technically correct, but no one map, political body, language or culture that can adequately represent Asia.

But here’s a start.  Students from the Asian Society have partnered with the OWHL and CAMD to mount a great book display and slideshow currently on display at the OWHL to celebrate Asian Arts Week.   Stop in and take a look.   While you are at the OWHL, you might want to check out some recent additions to our Asian Studies collection:

Budrus (DVD, 2011) :  an internationally acclaimed feature-length documentary about a Palestinian community organizer who works on a local level to find common ground between Hamas, Fatah and Israelis.

Comparing Asian politics : India, China, and Japan by Sue Ellen M. Charlton, available in print and as an eBook.

 The Wandering Falcon (2011)  by Jamil Ahmad.  This novel is about a young refugee couple from the Afghan/Pakistani border region and their stunning journey through tribal communities.

Historical dictionary of Singapore (2011)  by Justin Corfield, available in print and as an eBook.

Where China meets India : Burma and the new crossroads of Asia (2011)  by Thant Myint-U. “An account of the Asian frontier’s long and rich history and its modern significance.”

Vietnam : rising dragon (2010)  by Bill Hayton. “Experienced journalist Bill Hayton looks at the costs of change in Vietnam and questions whether this rising Asian power really is heading towards full capitalism and democracy.”

Anyone who lives or works in Andover (including all of our students) is invited to participate in Andover Reads, 2012.  Andover’s Memorial Hall Library sponsors this annual community reading program.  This year’s selected book is The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak.  This description appears in our catalog.  “Set during World War II in Germany, this groundbreaking novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.”  Participants are invited to read the book and attend any of the sponsored events.  A complete list can be found at www.mhl.org/andoverreads2012.   The events include a program at the Addison Gallery on April 25^th at 5:30 p.m., called “Color in Art and Literature.”

It’s not too late to join in.  This excellent book is a quick read, and we have it in three formats in our catalog:  print, electronic, and downloadable audio.  Don’t have a device?  Borrow one of ours and we will load the book on it for you.

Each September the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom sponsors “Banned Books Week” in order to raise awareness of the commitment of libraries to offer a broad range of materials for readers of all ages.  This commitment to support the Freedom to Read is sometimes challenged by individuals whose specific views are different from those represented in some of the materials.  Libraries, especially school libraries, have faced material challenges from parents School Board members, and others.  Reasons for these challenges include depictions of gay and lesbian characters, controversial topics such as climate change, immigration, and evolution, depictions of witchcraft or sorcery, strong language or themes, etc.

The OIF has just published its annual list of the ten most frequently challenged books in 2011:

• ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
• The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
• The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins (All three books, in both print and audio versions)
• My Mom’s Having A Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
• Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Several of the titles in the series)
• Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley (in print and downloadable audio)
• What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones (in print and downloadable audio)
• Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar (books and DVDs available in NOBLE)
• To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

The OWHL is proud to be able to provide access to each of these books to members of our community, either directly in our collection or through our participation in the NOBLE consortium.  Like most libraries, the OWHL has published “Selection Policies” which describe the manner in which we select materials for the collection.  We are committed to protecting your right to read, and are pleased to receive recommendations for purchase from members of the PA community.

By Paige Roberts, Associate Director for Special Collections and Archives

PA alumni have been making extensive use of Archives and Special Collections in recent weeks. Jane Shattuck Mayer, class of 1980, is writing a dissertation on nineteenth-century girls’ education in New England, with Abbot Academy as a case study. Her study (for a Ph.D. in Childhood Studies at Rutgers University, Camden) focuses on Congregational academies and the development of girls’ culture. For her research during three full days in the Archives, she used files on missionaries as well as Abbot Academy founding documents, course catalogs, and trustee meeting minutes from 1829 on.  Abbot Academy records are, however, far from comprehensive in documenting its history.

Fred Jordan, class of 1973, is updating and expanding his dissertation on the history of the Protestant faith in American boarding schools. He is a teacher of history and government at Woodberry Forest School in Virginia, and his study examines religion at several schools in addition to PA including Exeter, Groton, and Mount Hermon.  Fortunately for Fred, the official records of Phillips Academy are remarkably thorough and intact. In addition to finding helpful information in issues of the alumni bulletin since 1930, he spent four days in the Archives using the records of Cochran Chapel, the Religion department, and several headmasters including Stearns, Fuess, Kemper, and Sizer.

Stop by the Archives if you would like help with PA history research projects.