The Iowa City Book Festival will begin to accept applications for book vendors at 1:00 PM on June 10th. Interested parties should register online at: http://www.iowacitybookfestival.org/bookvendors_terms.html
Live from Prairie Lights Recordings in Special Collections
On June 14, 1990 Mary Swander and Jane Anne Straw read from their book Parsnips in the Snow at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City. This was the first broadcast of “Live from Prairie Lights” on Iowa Public Radio. Today Swander is Iowa’s poet laureate, and this recording, and thousands of others like it, is now at the University of Iowa Libraries.
Iowa Public Radio has donated all of the original recordings of Live from Prairie Lights to the UI Libraries. Eighteen years and 1,800 programs were captured on CD, mini disc and reel-to-reel. Stewardship of these materials is part of the Libraries’ ongoing commitment to record and make accessible the intellectual output of the University.
“These recordings document an outstanding series of readings,” said Greg Prickman, Assistant Head of Special Collections. “We are grateful to Iowa Public Radio for ensuring their long-term preservation by making this donation.”
Special Collections is already home to the Julie Englander Collection of Contemporary Literature, which contains books inscribed by authors interviewed by the programs’ host, Julie Englander. “It’s wonderful that the series will be available for the public to enjoy in perpetuity,” Englander said.
“We are proud to partner with the University Libraries on this project,” said Joan Kjaer, Iowa Public Radio Director of Communications. “This partnership provides an exceptional opportunity for all kinds of people – scholars, writers, readers, fans of the show – to have permanent access to conversations with the world’s best authors.”
Currently 250 of these recordings, including the first reading with Mary Swander and Jane Anne Straw, are available online in the Iowa Digital Library (http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/vwu) and the Virtual Writing University (www.writinguniversity.org). Eventually the entire series will be digitized and freely available via the Iowa Digital Library.
Survey Results for Electronic Resources Usage
The University of Iowa Libraries, in consultation with the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), implemented MINES (Measuring the Impact of Networked Electronic Services) during the summer of 2007. MINES is an online transaction-based survey designed to collect data on the purpose and frequency of use of electronic resources. The survey asks three multimple choice questions during 2-hour random intervals once a month. The third and final implementation on MINES began on January 27, 2009 and will continue through December 1, 2009.
Highlights from the 2008 report:
- The majority of the users are from the graduate college, and the medical and liberal arts and sciences fields.
- The Libraries’ resources are mainly used from a non-library location on campus (36.6%), but accessing resources using the campus library (27.75%) and off campus locations (35.65%) follow closely.
- The primary purpose of use of the University of Iowa Libraries’ resources is for personal research (36.66%) with coursework representing an important second highest category of use (31.59%).
- The total number of respondents increased between 2007 (n=5,351) and 2008 (n=6,468).
- Graduate/professional students comprised over 40% of the Libraries’ electronic networked resources uses in 2007 (n=2,176, 40.7%) and 2008 (n=2,726, 42.2%).
Maps Department Asbestos Abatement
After prepping the Maps area last week, the actual abatement efforts began earlier today. Despite best intentions (and methods) a citrus-like smell can be detected in some areas of the building. We expect abatement to continue for much of this week.
If the smell causes a problem for you, please consider using one of the other libraries on campus:
- Lichtenberger Engineering Library is directly across the street in the Seamans Center for Engineering.
- Pomerantz Business Library located in the Pappajohn Business Building has seating on two levels.
- Biological Sciences Library on Iowa Avenue provides quiet corners for individual studying.
- Hardin Library for the Health Sciences located on the health sciences campus offers a 24-hour study room.
Map Collection Project Update
University Facilities staff are preparing the Map Collection for asbestos abatement, which should begin next Tuesday.
While the abatement project is underway, Map Collection’s entrance will be in the short hallway, to the east of the copy machines on third floor.
The Map Collection and staff are still available to people needing to use the resources. For more information, please contact the Map Collection (lib-maps@uiowa.edu).
Iowa s First Lady Donates Book to Special Collections
Iowa’s First Lady Mari Culver recently donated a signed copy of Entertaining at Terrace Hill to the Louis Szathmary II Culinary Arts Collection at the University of Iowa Libraries.
Culver made the donation on a visit to Iowa City in April for a Prairie Lights book-signing event. The cookbook features over 200 recipes from around the state and displays of food photographed at Terrace Hill. The latest in the series of Iowa First Lady cookbooks, it includes recollections by F.M. Hubbell family descendents who were part of the Terrace Hill legacy for many years before the home was presented to the state. For more information, visit http://www.governor.iowa.gov/news/2008/11/5_2.php.
This book joins one of the most wide-ranging culinary collections in the world, with some 12,000 volumes dating from 1499 to 2009, says David E. Schoonover, curator of rare books at the UI. See http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/scua/bai/szathmary.htm for more on the archives.
When the World Spoke Arabic Film Series – May 20
Join us for the final evening in the six-part series When the World Spoke Arabic: The Golden Age of Arab Civilization.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 7PM, ICPL, Meeting Rm. A
“From Arabic to Latin: The Assimilation of Arab Knowledge” (26 min.)
As dissension mounted between the rival Arab dynasties in Baghdad, Cordoba and Cairo, Christendom rallied to oppose the Muslims in Spain and Jerusalem. This program plots out the decline of the Empire of the Caliphate and the acquisition of Arab knowledge by Europeans starved for Islam’s intellectual riches.
“Forgetting the Arabs: Europe on the Cusp of the Renaissance” (27 min.)
Why was Islamic philosophy, once the epitome of Arab learning, eventually rejected by Muslims? And why, after assimilating it, did Europeans distance themselves from its formulators? This program seeks to understand the religious climate of the late Middle Ages, in which universities and madrassas became centers of power and models for evolving sociopolitical systems.
The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City Public Library, UI Middle East and Muslim World Studies Program, African Studies Program, and Medieval Studies Program are sponsors of this film series.
All films will be introduced by Edward Miner, International Studies Bibliographer, University of Iowa Libraries, with discussion to follow. This film series will be shown in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name in the north foyer of the University of Iowa Main Library. For more information, contact Edward Miner at (319)335-5883 or edward-miner@uiowa.edu.
Open House and Exhibit in Martin Rare Book Room – May 14
The open house and exhibit, “De Partu Hominis; Six Centuries of Obstetrics,” will feature rare books on childbirth from the 15th through the 20th centuries. Visitors can view and page through early atlases and manuals used by midwives and physicians featuring illustrations and descriptions of birthing chairs, forceps, caesarean section, the development of anesthesia, and complications of labor and delivery.
Among the dozens of works to be displayed include William Hunter’s striking 1774 atlas, The anatomy of the human gravid uterus, Oliver Wendell Holmes’ controversial 1842 treatise, The contagiousness of puerperal fever, and De formato foetu, a set of plates rendered in the Baroque style, published in 1626.
Thursday, May 14 from 4:30 to 7:30
John Martin Rare Book Room, Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
The exhibit is part of a series of public lectures and presentation sponsored by the University of Iowa History of Medicine Society. The John Martin Rare Book Room is located on the fourth floor of the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences. For additional information, please contact Ed Holtum, Curator at 335-9154.
Finals Stimulus Package @ your library
To help students prepare for finals, the UI Libraries has put together a Finals Stimulus Package: FREE POP!
Main Library, North Exhibition Hall
Sunday, May 10 – Tuesday, May 12 @ 11 p.m. (while supplies last)
Lichtenberger Engineering, Mathematical Sciences and Physics Libraries
Monday, May 11 (while supplies last)
Biological Sciences, Pomerantz Business, Geoscience and Psychology Libraries
Tuesday, May 12 (while supplies last)
Hardin Library for the Health Sciences
Thursday, May 14 (while supplies last)
The UI Libraries received the Diet Coke, Coke and Sprite from an anonymous donor.
When the World Spoke Arabic Film Series – May 6
Join us for the fifth evening of the six-part series When the World Spoke Arabic: The Golden Age of Arab Civilization.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 7PM, ICPL, Meeting Rm. A
“The Thousand and One Nights: A Historical Perspective” (27 min.)
Encompassing fairy tales, romances, legends, fables, parables, and anecdotes, The Thousand and One Nights is a composite of popular oral stories that developed over several centuries, mainly during the Empire of the Caliphate. This program scrutinizes the wonderfully audacious tale of Scheherazade and what it tells the attentive reader about the dreams of Arab men and women during the empire’s golden age.
“Ulema and Philosophers: Faith vs. Reason in Islamic Arabia” (26 min.)
By replacing paganism with monotheism and tribal life with empire-building, the Arabs of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties effected a complete paradigm shift in their worldview. This program studies the codification of Islamic law and assimilation of non-Arab texts—and the ensuing competition between the ulema, or doctors of the law, and the philosophers, who saw reason as an equal to divine enlightenment.
The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City Public Library, UI Middle East and Muslim World Studies Program, African Studies Program, and Medieval Studies Program are sponsors of this film series.
All films will be introduced by Edward Miner, International Studies Bibliographer, University of Iowa Libraries, with discussion to follow. This film series will be shown in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name in the north foyer of the University of Iowa Main Library. For more information, contact Edward Miner at (319)335-5883 or edward-miner@uiowa.edu.