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Have you visited Duke Libraries to see the great new spaces that were created during the past few years?  Are you curious about new areas that are planned as part of the Rubenstein Library renovation?  Have you ever considered making a gift to the Libraries and having a space named in your honor, or for a colleague, friend, family member or favorite professor?  Now you can view these great new spaces online. 

The Libraries developed this interactive webpage for you to use as you explore the new spots in Perkins and Bostock, and the proposed renovations to Rubenstein Library.  When you visit the webpage, just click on the part of the building you want to view and roll your mouse over the spaces on the floor maps.  Rooms will light up and reveal an image and additional information about the space. 

If you have questions or to request additional information, please contact Tom Hadzor, Duke University Libraries Director of Development, t.hadzor@duke.edu or 919.660.5940.

 

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Getting to know Doris Duke

On May 9, a record crowd gathered in Perkins to celebrate the Libraries, and to learn more about the "unknown" Doris Duke.  A reception held in the Perkins lobby and Biddle Rare Book Room allowed guests to explore some of the material in the Doris Duke Archives and view rare footage of Doris' life.  After dinner, Mary Samouelian, Doris Duke Archivist, and Bridge Booher, Associate Editor of Duke Magazine, who have both worked extensively with the collection, shared their insights about the often misunderstood Doris Duke.  You could have heard a pin drop in the von der Heyden Pavilion as Mary queued up an original, never-before-heard recording of Doris Duke singing "It Had To Be You" -just one of the treasures held in the Doris Duke Archives. 

As work on the Doris Duke Archives has progressed, a new interactive website has been unveiled.  It contains a timeline of Doris's life with documents, photos and artifacts.  All of the documents featured are in the Libraries' archival collections, so if you are interested you will be able to trace everything to the primary resource to gain more information.  If you are feeling really smart, you can even take a quiz and test your Doris Duke knowledge.  We guarantee you will be intrigued. 

 

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Do you know how to use a college library?

Thanks to a joint effort among the Friends of the Libraries, librarians and subject specialists in the Rubenstein Library and the Pepsico Technology Mentoring Program, the Libraries recently hosted a group of 20 graduating seniors from four Durham High Schools.  During their visit, students learned about the resources they can expect to have available to them when they get to college in August.  Librarians taught students how to search databases and interact with primary source materials, both skills that college students use on a daily basis.  For many who use large academic libraries, these skills are second nature.  But if you have never done these things before, a few pointers can make all the difference.  It is nice to know the Libraries have helped some local students get a head start in their college careers. 

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Duke sells out the National Archives

On June 6, Duke Libraries and the Duke Alumni Association hosted more than 280 Duke alumni and friends for a special evening at the National Archives.  The event was held to raise visibility of the Libraries among alumni and friends in the Washington, D.C. area.  After Sterly Wilder T'83, Associate VP, Duke Alumni Affairs welcomed the group, Harsha Murthy T'81, Chair of the Library Advisory Board, and Deborah Jakubs P'05, Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs, shared information about current Libraries programs and future plans.  David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States and former Duke University Librarian, gave an update on activities of the National Archives.  As a special treat, David Rubenstein T'70, P'14, Vice-Chair, Duke Board of Trustees and Co-founder and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group, shared some of his collecting experiences with the group. 

Attendees were reminded that everyone has access to a variety of Libraries resources online including:  the Alumni Portal, Ask us Now reference assistance, digital collections, online components of Libraries events and exhibits , and the Duke Libraries magazine. 

Once the formal program concluded, a reception was held in the magnificent Rotunda, where guests were surrounded by the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights.  It was a magical night for the Libraries, one that would not have been possible without the support of David Ferriero and the National Archives staff.  Thank you! 

 

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Libraries Fall Events, Exhibits and Programs

 

Most of the students are gone, but the Libraries are very busy this summer.  As we plan for the upcoming academic year, we are putting together some outstanding programs and exhibits.  Be sure to bookmark our news, events and exhibits website and check it often so you won't miss a thing!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Welcome Megan Lawson

 

On July 11, Megan Lawson joined the Duke Libraries staff as Development Assistant.  In this position Megan will provide staff support for the Friends of the Duke University Libraries.  She will also coordinate special events, meetings and programs hosted by the Development Office. 

While a graduate student at NCCU SLIS program, Megan gained experience working in Duke University Libraries' Cataloging and Metadata Services Department and the Digital Collections Department.  Most recently, she worked for the Durham Library Foundation at Durham County Library where she was responsible for donor record management, and she assist in the creation of donor materials.  Megan also worked for Research Support and Sponsored Programs at the University of Arkansas.  She has a BA in English from the University of Arkansas and an MLS from NCCU.

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Construction update: Getting ready

In just a few months, construction work will begin in the Rubenstein Library, which occupies the 1928 and 1948 sections of the main West Campus library complex.   The work is expected to begin in 2013 and continue through summer 2015.  While this major renovation is taking place, the Libraries are relocating special collection materials, services and personnel to the 3^rd floor of Perkins Library.  This area will become the temporary headquarters of the Rubenstein Library throughout the renovation.  The move will be implemented in phases so that library operations and services can be maintained throughout the project, and so that classes and researchers can continue to work with special collections materials without interruption.

On July 5^th, the 3^rd floor of Perkins Library closed to the public and books from this area were moved to Perkins Lower Level 2.  Now, construction workers are upfitting the 3^rd floor for staff and collections from the Rubenstein Library. Careful planning has allowed access to all study carrels on the 3^rd floor of Perkins to continue through this process.

Because of space limitations, some special collections materials and general circulating collections that were previously housed on-site in the library are being moved to the off-site Library Service Center.  These materials will still be available to faculty, students and researchers throughout the course of the renovation.  Items from the Library Service Center are delivered to campus twice each day.  Items may be requested by using the online catalog.  This video will show you how to make a request. 

Researchers planning to visit the Rubenstein Library, are asked to contact staff in advance of visiting, so that materials can be retrieved.  The Rubenstein Library Renovation FAQ also provides helpful information.  The Rubenstein Library's reading room and current space is scheduled to close on December 17, 2012 and reopen after winter break on the 3^rd floor of Perkins Library on January 6, 2013. 

Additional updates will be posted to the Rubenstein Library's blog, The Devil's Tale.  You can also like the Duke University Libraries and Rubenstein Library on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.  Photos of the renovation will be posted to the Rubenstein Library Flickr photostream.

This tremendous project will result in a greatly improved experience for all who visit Rubenstein Library. 

 

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Multimedia lab moves to Bostock Library

This spring, while students were away on spring break, construction work began on a new feature in Bostock Library.  The Multimedia Project Studio is located near the Link. One of two such spaces on campus, the studio will build on successful collaborations between Duke Libraries and the Office of Information Technology, which will manage the facility. 

This studio will be a welcome addition to the Perkins/Bostock library complex, making it some of the most technology-rich space on campus.  A second Multimedia Project Studio on East Campus is currently housed in Lilly Library.

The new space, which is officially slated to open in the fall, features a sound booth, video conferencing and recording space, and 15 computer workstations, some equipped with additional displays and specialized peripherals such as drawing tablets, scanners and video digitizers.  Both MPS labs feature high-end, integrated hardware and software for creation and editing of graphics, web pages, audio and video.

The new location should see increased foot traffic, a plus given the increased demand for graphic and video application resources as more instructors incorporate multimedia projects into their courses. In the past academic year, usage of the current media lab grew by 16 percent to more than 10,000 hours per semester.

Having librarians and the Center for Instructional Technology close by will be a great help to those working in this new space.  The next time you visit Bostock Library, take a minute to check out the new Multimedia Project Studio downstairs beside the Link.

 

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Recommended by a Friend

Skios

Michael Frayn

Metropolitan Books (Henry Holt and Company), 2012

There's no more entertaining reading, for my money, than the kind of novel I think of as academic comedy: an author, usually British, furnished with impressive intellectual resources, an exuberant sense of the absurd, and a somewhat sardonic view of the environment -- campus, think tank, government agency -- that shaped him (or her, though no female examples come immediately to mind).  They offer the double pleasure of weighty ideas rendered digestible as souffles and weighty institutions rendered at their most ridiculous, warts and all. Nothing's too imposing to mock. Think David Lodge, Malcolm Bradbury, Kingsley Amis. And Michael Frayn.

In Frayn's new novel, Skios, the pretentious Fred Toppler Foundation is holding its annual Houseparty on a private Greek Island for a guest list of international glitterati. The keynote speaker is the aging (and apparently only) authority on "scientometrics," the scientific management of science.  There's also the impulsive young seducer addicted to high-risk impersonations; the Foundation's lovely but obsessively efficient managing director; the confused, jilted girlfriend; the shady Russians on their gigantic yachts; and a whole host of others, tossed in a swirl of mistaken identities, switched luggage and cell phones, and general mayhem. The rapid-fire farce, which Frayn managed so brilliantly in "Noises Off," is less successful here, and the plot devolves into a sort of frenetic blur toward the end. But in the process Frayn floats some provocative notions about causality. And, overall, it's a lot of fun to read. 

Florence Nash G '94, Friends Executive Committee member

 

A Land More Kind Than Home

Wiley Cash

William Morrow, 2012

This story of good and evil and faith gone awry is set in a small town in Madison County, NC. There a mute boy dies in a church where the windows are covered with newspaper and the congregation practices snake-handling and healing through the laying on of hands.  Central to the story is the church's charismatic pastor, a man with a hidden past who bends people to his will in the name of God.

Three narrators tell the story:  the dead boy's little brother, who saw what happened but is afraid to tell; an elderly midwife who knows more about the church than she is willing to admit but tries to protect the children of the community in her own way; and the sheriff, who follows the facts wherever they lead while reliving his own heartache from years ago.  In typical small-town fashion, family histories are intertwined and come to bear on present-day events.

The characters tell their stories straight on, the sounds of their mountain speech falling deceptively soft on the ear.  Occasional moments of peace and normalcy cannot reduce the sadness and intensity that mount steadily from the first chapter to the last.

Barbara Branson, former Friends Executive Committee chair

 

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