Library News – Page 45

Lasers in the Library, Mar 25 at 7 p.m.

On May 16, 1960, working at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, Theodore Maiman and his co-workers C. K. Asawa and I. J. D’Haenens switched on a makeshift device that they had assembled, and hoped for the best. The device was revolutionary, yet deceptively simple and elegant–its essence was a powerful coiled flash lamp surrounding a synthetic, single-crystal ruby rod. The brilliant pulsed lamp excited chromium ions in the ruby, which then emitted a bright fluorescent pulse of red light. But the experimenters looked more closely and saw what they were hoping for, something much more unusual: a telltale burst of coherent radiation superimposed on the normal fluorescence. This team had just created the first working example of a laser. — Thomas M. Baer, LaserFest.org

At this extraordinary moment, the Hughes Researchers could not have known the myriad uses the laser would come to be employed. A new exhibit at the University Libraries Main Library, “50 Years of Laser Innovation,” explores the beginnings of the laser, it’s many uses today and takes a peek at the future of the laser.

The exhibit opens with a laser demostration by Dale Stille and graduate students in Physics and Astronomy department in the North Exhibition Hall of the Main Library.

Thursday, March 25
7 p.m.
North Exhibition Hall, Main Library

For questions, contact Science Librarian Kari Kozak at 335-3024.

Iowa City Book Festival seeks participants, vendors for July 16-18 event

The 2010 Iowa City Book Festival is set for July 16-18, expanding the event from a one-day event to a three-day festival, which organizers hope will attract an even larger crowd after a successful start in 2009.

To accomplish that goal, organizers are asking local businesses to participate with programming and activities in their places of business on Sunday, July 18, which will be “A Day in the City of Literature” in Iowa City. Among the various activities envisioned are: author events and signings in area bookstores; book-related crafts/projects/materials highlighted in local businesses; open studios hosted by book artists; a walking tour of bookstores; activities for all ages at the Iowa City Public Library; appearances by food writers in restaurants; and book festival specials in local shops and restaurants.

On Saturday, July 17, festival activities will be held once again in Gibson Square outside the UI Main Library’s south entrance on the university campus, and will be a mix of booksellers, a small music stage, children’s activities, food vendors, book arts demonstrations and readings and panel discussions. The University of Iowa Libraries will host a pre-festival author dinner on Friday, July 16, in the North Exhibition Hall of the Main Library.

The UI Libraries sponsors the event with support from the UI Press, Iowa City Public Library, UI Center for the Book and Prairie Lights Bookstore. With additional support from the UNESCO City of Literature and the Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, this year, festival organizers are working toward turning the Iowa City Book Festival into a major Midwest summer attraction, says Kristi Bontrager, festival co-director.

Businesses and organizations can submit their interest and/or proposal online at http://www.iowacitybookfestival.org/call.html.

Information about events and participating businesses will be included in an official program, which will be distributed before the festival throughout Eastern Iowa, will appear on the festival Web site, and will be available at the Gibson Square portion of the Iowa City Book Festival on Saturday, July 17.

What is the future of the print book? Mar 10 at 4 p.m.

What is the future of the print book in a context of its digital delivery? Wide redefinition is in progress in fields as diverse as neurology of reading, digital preservation, e-book marketing, and technology of print on demand.

Book Studies Forum
Wednesday, March 10 at 4-5:30 p.m.
Main Library Second Floor Conference Room (2032)

Discussion extends from standards and certification of print originals to blog rants on the death of the book, electronic format competitions and favorite reading devices. Over arching this dynamic is the canonic role of the physical book and its imprint on the future of cultural transmission.

A short introduction will be offered by Gary Frost which will include an outline of a proposed fall seminar on the future of the print book. Forum participants will be invited to survey issues and experience reading devices.

“Comrades in the Labor Room,” Women’s History Month Lecture

In celebration of Women’s History Month, the University’s Council on the Status of Women, History of Medicine Society and Iowa Women’s Archives will sponsor a reception and a public lecture by University of Iowa History Professor Paula Michaels.

Wednesday, March 10
4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Iowa Women’s Archives on the third floor of the Main Library.

The festivities will begin at 4:30 p.m. with a reception featuring light refreshments. At 5:15 p.m., Theatre Arts graduate student Janet Schlapkohl will entertain with “There’s This Thing Called Lamaze,” a brief monologue and song about natural childbirth in the 1970s.

At 5:30 p.m., Professor Michaels will begin her lecture, “Comrades in the Labor Room: The International Story of the Lamaze Method, 1950-1980,” which reveals the origins of the Lamaze method in the Soviet Union, its promotion by the French Communist Party, and the deliberate efforts to obscure these leftist ties that made Lamaze palatable to U.S. women during the Cold War era.

Please join us for any or all of these activities.

For more information, contact Sharon Lake, Chair of Herstory Committee; Kären Mason, Iowa Women’s Archives, at 319-335-5068; or Ed Holtum, History of Medicine Society, at 319-335-9154.

Women’s History Month reception, Mar 3

To celebrate women’s history month and to unveil a new digital collection of UI alumna Eve Drewelowe, the UI Libraries will host a reception from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, in the North Exhibition Hall of the Main Library.

Joni Kinsey, Curator of the Drewelowe art collection, will speak briefly on the artist’s work and the significance of the collection.

Esther Bierbaum 1928-2010

Former faculty member Esther Bierbaum has died at her home in St. Petersburg, Florida. Esther taught at the University of Iowa School of Library and Information Science from 1983-1995 and was beloved by students and faculty. We remember her rigorous and imaginative teaching and research. Most of all, though, we remember Esther as a wonderful person — caring, giving, funny, fiercely independent and wise. We are grateful for the dozen years she shared with the Iowa library community.

Here is a link to her obituary:
http://www.tributes.com/show/Esther-Bierbaum-87874641

Reading the Fine Print in Special Collections

In the latest issue of fyi: Faculty & Staff News at the University of Iowa, the Charlotte M. Smith Miniature Book Collection is featured in a photo spread.

A tiny collection of books held in Special Collections is dwarfed by the library’s other five million volumes. These 4,500 itsy-bitsy books are “miniatures.” From pocket-size to micro-miniature, most books in the collection were donated by one person, Charlotte M. Smith. The gift inspired others to add to the collection. Visitors may get an up-close look at the miniatures in Special Collections on the third floor of UI Main Library.

You can find more information about this unique book collection or Charlotte M. Smith, the woman who collected these miniatures in the UI Libraries’ Special Collections.

Defectives in the Land: Disability and American Immigration Policy, 1882-1924

The chief goal of early immigration law in the late-nineteenth-century United States was the exclusion of “defective” persons and races. Douglas C. Baynton, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Iowa will share his research on the topic of disability and immigration policy at the turn of the 20th century.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
5:30-6:30 p.m.
Main Library, Second Floor Conference (rm 2032)

The advent of immigration law can be best understood in the context of the institutionalization of disabled people, sterilization of the “unfit,” euthanasia campaigns, sign language proscription, “unsightly beggar” laws, and a growing desire to keep disabled people out of sight. The larger context, in turn, was a cultural transformation in the understanding of history, time, and progress.

This program is sponsored by The University of Iowa History of Medicine Society. Light refreshments will be served. For more information contact Ed Holtum at 319-335-9154.

National History Day Workshop: Feb 16

The UI Libraries welcome National History Day students from across Eastern Iowa to a research workshop. These students prepare projects around a theme and present them at an annual competition.

Reference, Special Collections and Iowa Women’s Archives library staff put together a special library guide webpage for these students: http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/nhd .

Students will be visiting the Main Library on Tuesday, February 16. If you have any questions, please contact Janalyn Moss, Reference & Instruction Librarian, 335-5698.

Wireside Chat with Lawrence Lessig, Feb 25

The University of Iowa Libraries will join libraries across the country for a “Wireside Chat with Lawrence Lessig” on Thursday, February 25 at 5 p.m. in the Main Library Second Floor Conference Room.

The lecture by Lawrence Lessig will last 45 minutes, and will be followed by a 30 minute interactive Q & A session. The event will be moderated by Elizabeth Stark of the Open Video Alliance. Questions can be submitted using the hashtag #wireside.

Lessig has been described as the “foundational voice of the free culture movement.” He will be speaking via online video from Harvard Law School.

This is a talk about copyright in a digital age, and the role (and importance) of a doctrine like “fair use.” Fair use allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, and is essential for commentary, criticism, news reporting, remix, research, teaching and scholarship with video.

As a medium, online video will be most powerful when it is fluid, like a conversation. Like the rest of the internet, online video must be designed to encourage participation, not just passive consumption.

The Wireside Chat is made possible with the support of iCommons and the Ford Foundation.