Take a look at our early design concepts and let us know what you think

The post Visual Mockups for Our New Website appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Hartman Center series features actual historical ads that relate to each episode

The post Mad Men Mondays: Episode 8 appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

A look at New York City and the striking visual effects of economic turmoil

The post A Conversation with Photographer Lynn Saville, May 23 appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Fanzines and vintage comics bring back the early days of the popular sci-fi series

The post Star Trek Lives Long and Prospers at Rubenstein Library appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Check out this farewell video of the Class of 2013

The post Congratulations, Duke Graduates! appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Bridge over Campus Drive to be demolished May 27 – June 14

The post West Main Street to Close Monday appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

New library unit will use new technologies to study the world’s oldest documents and artifacts

The post Announcing the Duke Collaboratory for Classics Computing appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Hartman Center series features actual historical ads that relate to each episode

The post Mad Men Mondays: Episode 6 appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Extensive collection documenting extremist groups comes to Human Rights Archive

The post SPLC Donates Extremist Literature Collection to Duke appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Award-winning photographer will discuss his 40 years of documenting man-altered landscapes

The post A Conversation with Photographer Edward Ranney, May 7 appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

The Designs

Our designs strive for a more modern look than our current site, and a closer resemblance to the main Duke website. While these versions use a common color palette, the main differences lie in the weight of the masthead, the way the pages are framed, and the fonts that are used within.

Design 1

Design 1: Click to Enlarge Image or See Interactive Version (Duke IPs only)

Design Two

Design 2: Click to Enlarge Image or See Interactive Version (Duke IPs only)

Design Three

Design 3: Click to Enlarge Image or See Interactive Version (Duke IPs only)

Megadropdown Navigation

In the interactive designs (Duke IPs only), you’ll see the submenus drop down when mousing over the global navigation options in the masthead. The images within are likely just temporary placeholders.

Responsive Design

Since we know an increasing percentage of our website traffic comes via mobile devices, we’re designing the site so its display is optimized in different ways depending on the size of the viewport. You can test out the responsiveness by dragging your browser window to make it narrower or wider.

Your Feedback

We’d love to hear your thoughts on these designs at this stage of the project. Fill out our brief survey to let us know what you think!

The post Visual Mockups for Our New Website appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Time: 8:00 PM

Location: Perkins Lobby

The Friends are firing up their ovens for our end-of-semester study break.  Tomorrow night the Perkins Lobby will be filled with treats of all kinds to give students a little boost during finals week.  Be sure to stop by for a snack and a quick hello from the Friends–it won’t last long!

Have a cookie on the Friends!

The Spring 2013 Study Break is brought to you by the Friends of the Duke University Libraries, in partnership with the Campus Club, Student Health Nutrition Services, the Annual Fund, Pepsi, and Saladelia Cafe. 

The post Spring Study Break appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Graduating library student workers and their supervisors gather outside the Gothic Reading Room.

Every year, about 50 library student workers graduate from Duke. Many of them have worked for the Libraries their entire four years at Duke, and have made indispensable contributions to our mission. So this past Monday, April 22, University Librarian Deborah Jakubs thanked them by hosting a reception in their honor outside the Gothic Reading Room on the second floor of Rubenstein Library.

The Duke University Libraries employ more than 200 student workers. (That’s nearly as many people as our full-time staff!) Alumni who return for Reunion and Homecoming Weekends often tell us they worked in the Libraries as undergraduates and remember the experience fondly. Many even show their gratitude by contributing to the Libraries Annual Fund. As a token of her appreciation for their contributions to the Libraries’ success, Jakubs gave each student at the reception a lapel pin and writing pen, both featuring the Reading Blue Devil (the official Duke University Libraries mascot), and a complimentary one-year membership in the Friends of the Duke University Libraries. As Friends of the Libraries, they’ll receive our magazine twice a year, so they can keep up with our activities and achievements and the Rubenstein Library renovation project.

The students were invited to write on the wall outside the Gothic Reading Room and bid farewell to the Libraries.

Because the Rubenstein Library will soon undergo a complete renovation, students were encouraged to write farewell messages on the wall outside the Gothic Reading Room. Many of them bid farewell to their department. Some wrote notes of appreciation for their supervisors. Throughout the end of the academic year, all interested students are welcome to contribute to this homage to their time at Duke by adding a comment on the wall outside the Gothic Reading Room. If the Libraries have left a mark on you during your time here at Duke, let us know by leaving your mark on the library!

The post Student Workers Leave Their Mark on the Library appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Moray, 1975. Toned gelatin silver print by Edward Ranney.

Who: Edward Ranney
When: Tuesday, May 7, 1:00 p.m.
Where: Perkins Library, Room 217 (Click for map)
Contact: Kirston Johnson, 919-681-7963, kirston.johnson@duke.edu

Edward Ranney is an internationally recognized photographer who has photographed the natural and man-altered landscape for over forty years. His work of the 1970s in the southern Andes of Peru resulted in the book Monuments of the Incas (1982), which was reprinted in an expanded edition in 2010.

Since 1985, Ranney has dedicated himself to a comprehensive photographic survey of pre-Columbian sites along the Andean Desert Coast. His recent work with Lucy R. Lippard in the Galisteo Basin, near Sante Fe, was published in Down Country in 2010.

Edward Ranney has received numerous awards, including two Fulbright fellowships for his work in Peru, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Photography Fellowship. His work has been presented in individual exhibitions at the Princeton University Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of New Mexico Art Museum, and the Centro Cultural of Miraflores in Lima, Peru. His other books include Stonework of the Maya, Prairie Passage, and Pablo Neruda’s Heights of Macchu Picchu.

This event is free and open to the public.

The post A Conversation with Photographer Edward Ranney, May 7 appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

David S. Ferriero, Tenth Archivist of the United States

Who: David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States
When: Friday, May 10, 3:00 p.m.
Where: Gothic Reading Room, Rubenstein Library (Click for map)
Contact: Aaron Welborn, 919-660-5816, aaron.welborn@duke.edu

In 2009, David S. Ferriero was appointed by President Obama as the tenth Archivist of the United States. A former director of the New York Public Libraries, the largest public library system in the country, he is the first librarian to lead the National Archives and Records Administration. From 1996 to 2004, Ferriero served as Duke’s university librarian. In that role, he helped raise more than $50 million to expand and renovate the West Campus libraries, developed initiatives for instructional technology, and worked to increase public access to libraries and museums throughout North Carolina.

Ferriero will receive an honorary degree at Duke’s commencement on May 12. Deborah Jakubs, the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke, will lead this Q&A public conversation with him.

Reception to follow. This event is free and open to the public.

Parking Information

Starting Friday, May 10, all parking lots on campus will be open and available for parking without charge throughout commencement weekend. Parking is on a first-come basis, so please allow time to find a space. For more information, see the announcement on DukeToday about 2013 commencement parking, or contact Duke Parking and Transportation Services at (919) 684-7275 or tranpark@duke.edu.

Find Out More

• Check out David Ferriero’s blog at the National Archives: AOTUS: Collector in Chief
• Read more about him on the National Archives website: Biography of David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States
• Read about other people receiving honorary degrees at this year’s commencement ceremonies: Duke University to Award Seven Honorary Degrees at 2013 Commencement (DukeToday) 

The post A Conversation with David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, May 10 appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

On exhibit April 10 – July 14, 2013
Perkins Library Gallery, Duke West Campus (Click for map)
Public Hours: Monday-Friday, 8am–7pm; Saturday, 9am–7pm; Sunday, 10am–7pm
Hours may vary during the summer months. Please check our posted library hours for more information.

About the Exhibit 

When you hear the word herbarium, you might think herb garden. Not so.

Instead, think of an herbarium as a kind of library of preserved plants. But instead of shelves upon shelves of books, an herbarium contains cabinets upon cabinets of dried and labeled plant specimens. Unlike most books in a library, which can be repurchased or duplicated, each herbarium specimen is truly unique. It is a representative of plant biodiversity at a particular place and time in the history of life on earth.

A new exhibit in Perkins Library explores the beauty and importance of herbaria in furthering our understanding of the natural world and highlights our own “hidden library” of plants right here on campus—the Duke Herbarium.

Detail: Herbarium sample of Rhynchospora, commonly known as beak-rush or beak-sedge.

The Duke Herbarium, located in the Biological Sciences Building next to the French Family Science Center, is one of the largest herbaria in the United States and the second largest at a private U.S. university (after Harvard). With more than 800,000 specimens of vascular plants, bryophytes, algae, lichens, and fungi, the Duke Herbarium is a unique and irreplaceable resource used by local, national, and international scientific communities.

The role of herbaria in housing and protecting plant specimens is invaluable. Herbaria are where biologists turn to identify plant species, check the validity of a newly described species, track how a species has changed over time, and even analyze how entire landscapes have been altered. Herbarium specimens can yield information to help us better protect our planet. This is especially important today, when humans have a greater impact on the environment and plants are exposed to conditions they never would have encountered just a century ago.

Botanical Treasures of Duke’s Hidden Library examines the work of the Duke Herbarium, explains how plant specimens are collected, and highlights some surprising stories from the field, like how Duke biologists recently named a newly discovered genus of ferns after Lady Gaga!

The exhibit was curated by Layne Huiet, Senior Research Scientist and Vascular Plants Collections Manager, Duke Herbarium; Tiff Shao, Trinity 2012 (Biology), Associate in Research, Duke Herbarium; Anne Johnson, Trinity 2013 (Biology); and Kathleen Pryer, Professor of Biology and Director of the Duke Herbarium.

For more information, visit the exhibit website, or check out the website of the Duke Herbarium.

Exhibit Reception and Lecture—Please Join Us!

Alfred Russel Wallace in the Amazon: The Making of a Naturalist
Speaker: Sandra Knapp, Research Botanist at the Natural History Museum in London (Click for bio)
Date: Monday, April 29
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Perkins Library, Room 217, Duke West Campus (Click for map)
Exhibit reception to follow in the Perkins Library Gallery. Light refreshments will be served.
Contact: Meg Brown, meg.brown@duke.edu, 919-681-2071

Alfred Russel Wallace: British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist

The post New Exhibit: Botanical Treasures from Duke’s Hidden Library; Reception 4/29 appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Enter your research paper and you could win $1,000 cash!

The Lowell Aptman Prizes and Chester P. Middlesworth Awards were established by Duke University Libraries to reward excellence in research and writing. If you’re a Duke student, consider submitting a paper for one of these prizes—you could win $1,000!

The Aptman Prizes recognize undergraduates’ excellence in research, including their analysis, evaluation and synthesis of sources, and encourages students to make use of the general library collections and services at Duke University. Prizes are awarded in three categories (first- and second-year students, third-and fourth-year students, and fourth-year students working on an honors thesis), and each one comes with a cash award of $1,000. Funding for the awards has been generously provided by Eileen and Lowell (T’89) Aptman.

The Middlesworth Awards recognize excellence of research, analysis, and writing by Duke University students in the use of primary sources and rare materials held by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Prizes are awarded in two categories (undergraduates and graduate students), and each one comes with a cash prize of $1,000. Funding for the awards has been generously provided by Chester P. Middlesworth (A.B., 1949) of Statesville, North Carolina.

The deadline for both awards is May 15, 2013. 

All winners will be recognized at a reception held the Friday afternoon of Duke Family Weekend (October 25, 2013), where they will receive certificates and $1,000.

For more information, including complete guidelines, application instructions, and selection criteria, visit our library research awards website.

Questions?

For questions about the Aptman Prizes, contact:
Ernest Zitser
919-660-5847
ernest.zitser@duke.edu

For questions about the Middlesworth Awards, contact:
David Pavelich
919-660-5825
david.pavelich@duke.edu

The post Student Writing Prizes: Win $1,000! appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

April 9-11: Please excuse our scaffolding here, and use the other staircase!

On April 9-11, the staircase on the right side of the 1928 tower entrance of Rubenstein Library will be closed while workers remove a tapestry above the steps. This will require some temporary scaffolding to be installed for a few days, during which time the staircase will be inaccessible.

The staircase on the left side of the entrance will remain open for use.

The tapestry is being removed in preparation for the upcoming Rubenstein Library renovation. For more information about the renovation, including architectural renderings and an estimated timeline, please visit our Rubenstein Library renovation website.

Say goodbye to the old tapestry! We’re removing it as part of the upcoming Rubenstein Library renovation. It has been on loan to us since 1986 from the Nasher Museum and will return to its proper home.

The post Scaffolding Installation in Library Stairway: April 9-11 appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Perkins and Bostock Libraries will close early at 10:45 p.m. on Friday, April 5, instead of the usual midnight closing.

The Duke Facilities Management Department will be replacing the high voltage switch for the library during this time, which will affect lighting and electrical power supply in several areas of the library building complex.

Notices will be posted about the early closing, and library patrons will be asked to leave by 10:45 p.m. so that the work may be completed. The Libraries will reopen at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 6, as normal.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

The post Library to Close Early for Electrical Work, April 5 appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.

Who: Ben Fino-Radin
When: Wednesday, April 24, 4:00 p.m.
Where: Perkins Library, Room 217 (Click for map)
Contact: Winston Atkins (winston.atkins@duke.edu)

In 1991, from a basement in lower Manhattan, contemporary artist Wolfgang Staehle founded The Thing, an electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS) that served as a cyber-utopian hub for NYC-based artists integrating computers and into their creative practice.

The Thing emerged at a moment when contemporary artists were coming to grips with personal computers and the role they played in visual art. The BBS, which began as a temporary experiment, grew to become an international network of artists and ideas. Then the World Wide Web emerged and in 1995 Staehle abandoned the BBS for a web-based iteration of The Thing. The cultural record of these crucial early years, inscribed on the platters of the hard drive that hosted the BBS, was left to sit in a dusty basement.

Fast forward to 2013. Digital conservator Ben Fino-Radin reached out to Staehle to investigate the state of the BBS. Did the machine that hosted The Thing still exist? Could the board be restored to working order?

For scholars interested in the intersection of art and technology, the ability to investigate the contents of the BBS and observe its original look and feel would help flesh out the history of the emergence of personal computers and visual art. Tragically, it was discovered that the computer that hosted The Thing BBS was at some point discarded.

Join Ben Fino-Radin on April 24 to discuss the process of digital forensics, investigation, and anthropology involved in the process of restoring The Thing BBS from the scattered bits and pieces of evidence that managed to survive, and how this story serves as a case-study in the need for a new model of digital preservation in archives.

This event is free and open to the public.

About the Speaker
Ben Fino-Radin is a New York based media archaeologist and conservator of born-digital and computer-based works of contemporary art. At Rhizome at the New Museum, he leads the preservation and curation of the ArtBase, one of the oldest and most comprehensive collections of born-digital works of art. He is also in practice in the conservation department of the Museum of Modern Art, managing the museum’s repository for digital assets in the collection, as well as contributing to media conservation projects. He is near completion of an MFA in digital arts and MS in Library and Information Science at Pratt Institute, with a BFA from Alfred University.

Find Out More

Ben Fino-Radin:

• Interview: ArtBase and the Conservation and Exhibition of Born Digital Art (from The Signal, a blog about preservation from the Library of Congress) 
  

The Thing:

• Wikipedia entry
• About: [The Thing]: (from post.thing.net)
  

Rhizome:

• “Rhizome is dedicated to the creation, presentation, preservation, and critique of emerging artistic practices that engage technology.” (from the Rhizome mission statement)

The post Digital Forensics, Emulation, and the Art of Restoration: April 24 appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.