If you are a popular culture scholar, with an interest in making use of our pop culture collections, you should be applying for a Horatio Alger Fellowship for the Study of Popular Culture.
The award is $1500 towards travel to DeKalb to use our collections. Details are at the link, and the deadline is May 31. Please Apply!
Ace edition of The Lord of the Rings, 1965
My eagle-eyed colleague, Rob Ridinger, spotted these paperback copies of The Lord of the Rings in our book sale, and dropped by to see whether I wanted them for the SFWA collection?
The answer would be YES, YES I DO, as these are the first paperback editions to appear in the United States, published by Donald A. Wollheim at Ace without Tolkien’s initial blessing. More info here.
That was a lovely way to start the day. Yay serendipity!
So this donation came in late last week, a generous gift from NIU alumnus Gregg Taylor.
It is a group of single issues from The Spectator (1712). Notice anything different about it?
That shiny thing next to the group of issues is a CD, containing TIFFs of the issues in question.
Gregg’s generous donation came with a condition: we had to commit to not only holding and making publicly available the original copies of The Spectator, but also the TIFFs need to be made available for public use (as scans of public domain titles) in our digital collections as well.
Now, our digital collections, such as they are, are going through a major overhaul and re-build with a more robust management system, so it will be a little bit of time before we can come through on all of Gregg’s request, but come through we shall.
Our perceptions and practices of adhering to copyright law have now reached the point where a donor felt the need to specify that he wanted these public domain materials in the public domain, out of concern that we might not default to public domain. This is also the first time that a donor has provided high-resolution scans along with the items being donated, as part of facilitating greater access to them.
This is the world we live in now. We don’t assume public domain for materials that are hundreds of years old and clearly in the public domain, because so many of them have been monetized in some manner, often to the detriment of less-well-resourced institutions. *cough* EEBO *cough*
I find this very interesting. Don’t you?
Tell me about it in the comments.
Hey! Tonight’s episode of History Detectives on PBS features a story about dime novel hero Kit Carson, and uses images of dime novels from our dime novel collections!
Don’t forget, tomorrow evening, SFWA Grand Master Gene Wolfe will be joining us!
There will be a Q&A/Book signing at 7:00 pm in the staff lounge of Founders’ Memorial Library, and a book discussion in conjunction with the DeKalb Public Library’s Destination Wonder Book Club of his novel The Shadow of the Torturer to follow.
There will also be free cupcakes.
So, really, why WOULDN’T you come?
Free, open to the public. Sponsored by the Friends of the NIU Libraries.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
7:30 pm
Founders Memorial Library, Staff Lounge (Lower Level)
Throughout the Midwest, Miss Keyes’ meticulously researched performances as Mary Todd Lincoln have received wonderful reviews. Actress Laura Keyes shares how she researches and prepares her portrayal of Mrs. Lincoln in an entertaining and educational program, describing how she started this hobby, where she conducts her research and purchases her supplies, and just how she deals with the elaborate period clothing.
Laura Keyes graduated from UW-Madison with a Master’s Degree in Library Studies, and is the Library Director of The Illinois Institute of Art – Schaumburg. She enjoys researching literary symbolism, and is contracted to write a book on that subject. In her non-existent spare time, Laura is a wonderful baker and accomplished vocalist. Laura’s past roles on stage include Mary Todd Lincoln in Mrs. Lincoln, Elizabeth in Frankenstein, Laura in The Glass Menagerie, Claire in Fuddy Meers, Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Even More Info:www.LauraFKeyes.com
This event is free and open to the public
Please, Join Us!
The semester is in full swing around here, and things are getting busy between teaching my online course at SJSU, the Digital POWRR grant, and, you know, the rest of the day job.
Here are some links to things that may amuse you.
Researchers use DNA for digital storage. Because our jobs are too easy right now. /snark
If you aren’t already reading Derangement and Description, WHY ON EARTH NOT? Fantastic archival humor and heartfelt commentary.
I suspect some of you are Downton Abbey enthusiasts. Perhaps. Here is a roundup of humorous Downton-related links. And Dowager-specific Tumblrs.
Also, Tumblr 101 for librarians and libraries.
The British Library brings you LOLCats of the Middle Ages. Bonus: knitting image!
Detail of a miniature of a nun spinning thread, as her pet cat plays with the spindle; from the Maastricht Hours, the Netherlands (Liège), 1st quarter of the 14th century, Stowe MS 17, f. 34r; for more on the Maastricht Hours, see our recent post on the manuscript.
There you go.
David D. Levine with turbine. photo by Janna Silverstein Sep 2012
We are very pleased to announce the gift of the first installment of award winning writer David D. Levine‘s papers to the SFWA Archives at Northern Illinois University. David has won the Hugo, the Endeavor Award, Writers of the Future, and numerous other awards, as well as being nominated for Nebulas, Sturgeons, and the John W. Campbell Award, to name a few. His most recent work is an Endeavor Award-winning e-collection of short fiction, Space Magic.
Welcome, David!
Colleagues,
It’s that wonderful time of year again! As you revamp, update, and generally tinker with your syllabi, please consider scheduling a visit to RBSC for your undergraduate and graduate level classes. Hands-on learning in the humanities means memorable classes, and we create syllabi to match your class!
We accept appointments for evening classes and classes from off-campus, too!
The best way to schedule is to email me. lmthomasATniuDOTedu. 
I’m in GroupWise for those on-campus faculty.
It’s that time of year again!
As part of the university’s administrative closure, Rare Books and Special Collections will be closing at 4:30 pm on Friday, December 21st. We reopen at 8:00 am, January 2, 2013.
Please accept our warmest wishes for a pleasant holiday season.
