University Libraries

Monday, May 20, 2013

Reporting from Oxbow School of the Arts in Saugatuck, Michigan, Giselle Simon, here, attending Paper and Book Intensive, 2013. We got off to rousing start with a fantastic line up: Jeff Altepeter, binder and instructor from North Bennett St. School taught a technical leather paring class. Bernie Vinzani, Papermaking faculty from the University of Machias, Maine covered papermaking techniques involving watermarks and sheet formation. Sarah Bryant, printer from the UK covered pressure printing on the letterpress. Paula Jull, book artist and instructor from Idaho presented a page design class. Adam Larsson, Conservator from Sweden, shared with us 14th C. limp vellum structures from the National Library in Uppsala.

Larsson’s class was of particular interest to me, as we saw a version of historical long and link stitches originating from Northern Europe. We recreated two particular bindings from the Uppsala collection, these being manuscripts. The structures featured a stiff spine piece sewn with the text, which was usually carved horn, leather or parchment. The spine piece protected the cover and allowed for bookmarks of thread or tawed skin to be tied to the linking stitches at the head of the book. Decorative elements such as colored tawed skin or silver sheets (like foil) were placed behind cut outs in the spine. The long stitching was woven with additional thread after sewing to add protection to the stitches, but also added a beautiful aesthetic touch. There was a close connection with Italian paper case structures, but clearly these bindings have a look and feel all their own, each being relatively the same size (approximately 9 inches in height), a stiff spine piece, and some type of horn or parchment “button” closure and all link or long stitch.

During the final day, Larsson encouraged the class to experiment with other materials for the spine piece, with some participants finding drift wood from the nearby Oxbow lagoon. The sewing holes, which were drilled into the wood and text attached to it by the sewing (linking and long stitches), created a modern twist to the Medieval structure.

After a brief “day-off” to prepare the studios for the next session (plus a canoe trip!), we look forward to another week of paper, book and print…intensive!

The Hardin Library for the Health Sciences has shorter hours during the summer.

Summer Session May 18 – August 2
Monday	7:30 am – 9:00 pm
Tuesday	7:30 am – 9:00 pm
Wednesday	7:30 am – 9:00 pm
Thursday	7:30 am – 9:00 pm
Friday	7:30 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday	10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday	noon – 9:00 pm

 

May Summer Session Hours, May 18, 2013 – June 10, 2013:

Monday – Friday	9:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday – Sunday	CLOSED

 

 

All Libraries will be closed on Monday, May 27th for Memorial Day.

The Sciences Library will provide Librarian Office Hours this summer at the Chemistry Building (CB) in W223. A librarian will be available to assist you during the following hours:

• Mondays – 9:30am-12:00pm
• Tuesdays – 9:30am-12:00pm
• Wednesdays – 9:30-12:00pm
• Thursdays – 9:30am-12:00pm

During office hours, we can assist you with:

• Questions about your library account
• Searching the library catalog and specialized databases
• Finding books and full-text articles
• Getting materials from other libraries (interlibrary loan)
• Using citation managers like RefWorks and EndNote
• And much, much more!

A selection of chemistry reference books are also available. If you have questions or if you would like to make an appointment outside office hours, please contact the Sciences Library at lib-sciences@uiowa.edu or (319) 335-3083.

Today is the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in the Brown v Board of Education, making separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The Daily Iowan story is in the May 18, 1954 issue.

The ruling did not affect Iowa because segregation of schools had been illegal since 1868.

“Our first public schools were for “white” students only. But in 1868, eighty-six years before Brown versus State Board of Education, Topeka—which struck down separate schools for blacks and whites in 1954—Alexander Clark Sr. successfully sued the City of Muscatine so his daughter, Susan, could attend the white elementary school. This was the same year that Iowa became the first northern state to guarantee black men’s right to vote.”

—Letters to a young Iowan [excerpt], Hal S. Chase

Just one year after the landmark Supreme Court ruling, Iowa students elected an African American woman, Dora Lee Martin, as homecoming queen. This election was touted in state papers as demonstrating tolerance at the University, such as this excerpt from the Sioux City Tribune-Journal.

You can read more about Dora Lee Martin in a previous blog post, Queen of the campus.

ADDISON (1793-1860). On the constitutional and local effects of disease of the supra-renal capsules. London: S. Highley, 1855.

Possessed of rather rude demeanor, Addison nevertheless had a large practice. He was a brilliant lecturer and diagnostician and one of the most respected physicians at Guy’s Hospital, devoting himself almost wholly to his students and patients.

The present work is one of the truly remarkable medical books of the nineteenth century and has long been among the principal desiderata for medical book collectors. Addison describes here for the first time two chronic diseases of the adrenal gland: Addison’s disease and pernicious anemia (Addison’s anemia), the most important primary disease of the blood.

The work is supplemented by several fine hand-colored lithographs. Addison’s discoveries were never widely recognized by his contemporaries, yet today they are regarded as fundamentally significant in the study of the endocrine glands and the treatment of pleuriglandular diseases.

I had no idea what this object could possibly be, but I think I just figured it out.

It’s obviously an early prototype for the external iPod speaker.

I had no idea what this object could possibly be, but I think I just figured it out.

It’s obviously an early prototype for the external iPod speaker.

“Android and iPhone users can now use their mobile devices as digital topo maps, leveraging USGS maps together with the power of GPS to zoom in on their precise location while hiking, biking, running, or any other activity that benefits from precision navigation. The type of data that are available includes USGS imagery and topographic maps from The National Map, as well as road and contour layers.”

More information from the USGS: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3580&from=rss_home