Bibliocycle

The OWHL is proud to announce our participation in a literacy initiative of South Africa Partners. We have purchased and are displaying a collection of 25 children’s books written and illustrated by South Africans, which “exhibit literary excellence, and incorporate themes of justice, hope, and renewal.” For each book purchased in the United States, SA Partners donates a book in the purchaser’s name to a school in South Africa. The OWHL’s participation means that a set of the books will be given to the library in a rural school.  The  colorful and engaging books are written in English, and will appeal to young readers both here and in South Africa.

The goals of the Masifunde Sonke book project are to:

• Increase literacy and a joy of reading among students in rural and township public schools in South Africa
• Foster an appreciation of South African children’s books in the United States
• Facilitate contact and exchanges between South African and U.S. schools, educators, and learners
• Stimulate economic development in South Africa through purchasing books directly from South African publishers

Stop by the OWHL to see our display of the books.  Check one out to read with your own children.  And when you are choosing holiday gifts, consider a purchase of one or more of these books. 

It is the end of the term at the Academy, and students are having assessments all week. They are tired, anxious, and generally stressed. Sometimes the smallest of gestures can go a long way towards lifting their spirits. I observed such a gesture this morning. For the third year in a row, there was a little exam magic. When I arrived at the library at 7:00am, there was a bathtub in front of the door, filled with a selection of soda. Despite the fact that we don’t allow soda in the library, it made me smile.

Endurance Sports Nutrition

Are you an athlete who is looking for an edge when competing? Are you a coach who is looking for ways to guide your team in eating well? Even if you are not a competitive athlete, the consumption of high-quality food is inextricably linked to success in athletic (and academic) endeavors. Eating to optimize performance is the subject of OWHL’s current book display on Sports Nutrition. Stop by and check it out!

Interim Academy Archivist Tim Sprattler recently traveled to the Pike School to participate in Pike’s Annual Celebration of Reading.  He chose a couple of cautionary tales to read to the fourth grade students, including Struwwelpeter,  which was translated from the German into English by Mark Twain.   All of the children enjoyed The Gashlycrumb Tinies, an alphabet book by Edward Gorey.    Tim also delighted the children with three examples of books featuring fore-edge paintings from Special Collections.

While I believe that it is important to be mindful every day, the reality of a busy life is that it is easy to forget how much has been given to us.  Thanksgiving provides an excellent opportunity to pause and reflect.  Our Thanksgiving celebration is always large and boisterous.  Our “nuclear family” includes seven children, four of whom have spouses,  and two grandchildren.  Our slightly-extended family has too many siblings and nieces and nephews to count.  My side of the family lives in the south, and celebrates in various configurations.  We traditionally host my husband’s side of the family.  He  is the eldest son and his parents are deceased.   We typically open the doors to more than 20 people.

Here is my list.

I am grateful to live in a country where so many people can travel to be with loved ones, and can gather together without fear.

I am grateful that both of my parents are still living.

I am grateful that my children are all healthy, and are leading productive and interesting lives.

I am grateful to have a terrific job at a time when many talented and industrious people are looking for work.  The fact that my employer granted me a sabbatical for part of this past year is just icing on the cake.

I am grateful that after the chaos of the last few days the house is all cleaned up, the turkey soup is simmering on the stove, and there is nothing that has to get done today.

I have always been an “early adopter” of new technology.  I very much enjoy the fact that my job  requires that I keep up with trends and anticipate where information resources and delivery are heading.   I actively use new applications on two Macs, a PC Netbook, an iPhone, and various peripheral digital devices.  I have presided over a gradual move from print-based journals to electronic access and from an exclusively print-based reference collection to one in which many commonly used titles are available in full-text electronic versions.  The one area in which I have steadfastly resisted the digital experience is news. (Caveat – I read The Daily Beast online but I don’t count that.)

One of the great pleasures of my life is the act of reading a physical copy of the New York Times each day.  I spend easily an hour on the first section alone.  Usually, because of my work schedule, that hour happens when I go to bed at night.  This week, however, I am on vacation, and because we get home delivery, I can read the paper first thing in the morning.  Today is Tuesday, the day for Science Times, my favorite section.  I eagerly picked the paper up off the driveway this morning only to discover that we had accidentally received the Wall Street Journal instead of the Times.

Having no alternative, I fired up the Times Reader, a nifty little piece of software that makes the online reading experience somewhat resemble the physical experience.  Using my laptop, I explored the navigation, noting with appreciation all of the color images that are possible with pixels.  The Reader is intuitive to use, and “breaking news” articles are included in addition to those in the physical paper.  All in all, it was not a bad experience.  I strongly suspect that electronic delivery is the most optimistic scenario for the future of newspapers.  I would be willing to pay for the content should home delivery go the way of the dinosaurs.  (Currently, electronic access via the Reader is free with my home delivery subscription.)  But still, I hope that the delivery man gets it right tomorrow.

What happens when a student doing a research project needs to use fragile, rare, and valuable materials from our special collections?  Thanks to the magic of digitization, we can provide them with access to these materials without harm to the originals.   Sometimes we need to scan the item ourselves, but frequently Google Books or the Internet Archive has already digitized the book.  In this case, all we need to do is add a link from our online library catalog to the full-text version of the book.   For example, a senior recently requested the use of James Pike’s “The Prostrate State: South Carolina under Negro Government”. When the book was retrieved from the special collections, we noticed that the first twenty or so pages had broken off from the text block. The student looked through the book very carefully, but it became apparent that the book was too fragile for use.  Fortunately, Tim Sprattler, who is in charge of the special collections, was able to find a link at Internet Archive and has added it to the library catalog record.  The result was a happy student, and a book that did not sustain further damage. Here is what the record looks like:

Some of the smallest items in the Archive are currently on display in the lobby of the library.  One of these is a clay tablet with miniature writing dating from 2000 BCE, which was donated in 1930 by Benjamin F. Schlesinger, P. A. Class of 1892.   Also on display is the smallest book printed using moveable type.  The book reproduces a letter from Galileo to a lady friend, and was by C. W. Cannon, P. A. Class of 1904 .  Photos displayed with the book reveal the text inside, because the book is very fragile and cannot be shown open.    Also on display is our copy of one of five in a series of “the world’s smallest book.”  An accompanying photo reveals the text of the book, which is The Lord’s Prayer. The book was donated by Dudley L. Vaill, P. A. Class of 1927.  Another version of the Lord’s Prayer was found in the cubby holes of Bertha Bailey’s desk.  The prayer is inscribed within a small circle, in this case a three-cent piece, with the prayer repeated to fill the circle.   Finally, the display features a sermon book belonging to the eldest of the five Samuel Phillips which came to the Archive with the Phillips family papers. He wrote all his sermons in very small handwriting to save paper, and must have had excellent eyesight to be able to read them in the dim light of his church.

What better way to wrap up an extensive orientation to the culture and expectations of the Phillips Academy Community than with a party! The Instructional Librarians at the OWHL recently welcomed new faculty to the campus with a dessert reception and tour of the Archives.

Each librarian is affiliated with one or more academic departments, and they gave personalized tours to new faculty members from “their” departments. Displays of new materials were available for perusing by the guests, and the circulation desk was busy as the new teachers discovered the OWHL’s DVD collection. Elisabeth Tully, library director, spoke briefly about copyright issues, and each teacher was given a copy of the brochure “Know Your Copy Rights.”

Tim Sprattler, Interim Archivist, entertained the group with a presentation on “Student Life at Andover through the Ages.”

It can be difficult to start a new school year when your school is located half a world away from your family.  It helps to have a “welcoming committee.”  Sixty-two new international students arrived on campus on recently, and were greeted by Andover student “World Partners” and the coordinator of international students, Ms. Suzanne Torabi.  They represent 43 countries by residence and 38 different citizenships outside the United States.

To ease their transition, the new students participated in an extensive, multi-day orientation held in the Freeman Room of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library.   The students played games, received important information, and had an opportunity to talk about their hopes and their fears in fishbowl exercises with Andover faculty.

Program “graduates” are now fully integrated members of the community.  We enjoyed having them with us during their first days at Andover, and hope that they will come back to the OWHL soon.