john hay staff web@brownuniversitylibrary | ||
Jean Rainwater
Coordinator of Reader Services
- Increases: Paging of books (45%); e-mail reference (20%); online paging request (13%); storage retrievals (33%); Cataloged and uncataloged materials processed (89%, 81%); Archives readers (13%); Archives paging (23%)
- Decreases: Overall readers (-4%); Overall paging (-41%) including decreases in paging of manuscripts (129,331 to 55,670), sheet music (23,497 to 957) and comic books (19,654 to 13,901); photo-reproduction (-21%); interlibrary loan (-13%)
- User Breakdown: Brown, 74%; Rhode Island, 15%, other, 11%
- Selected list of 'Subject of Research' as indicated on Visitor's Register:
- 19th and early 20th century technology predictions
- Women in utopias
- Architectural illumination
- History of Fox Point
- Medieval Iberian cuisine
- History of tarot card images
- Black voting restrictions
- 18th century philosophy of medicine
- History of pharmaceutical advertising
- Wordsworth and Coleridge in America
- Brown textbooks, 1800-1815
- Women’s associations in the American revolution
- Role of music in World War II
- William Blake and religion
- 18th century chimney sweeps
- French revolutionary caricatures
- Non-Manuscript Collections most in demand: Comic books, Lincoln, Harris, A.S.K. Brown, Kirk Alcoholism, Star, Broadsides, Annmary Brown Memorial, Smith Magic,
- Manuscript Collections most in demand: T.F. Green, Yatman, Migueis, Minassian, John Birch Society, Lovecraft, Hall-Hoag, Bianchi, Gorham, St. Martin’s Press, Redding, Act-up Rhode Island
- Digital Imaging. - In response to user requests for digital images rather than photocopies or photographs I created a new Request for Digital Imaging form <http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/libs/hay/forms.htm>, developed guidelines for digital imaging <http://library.brown.edu/intranet/haystaff/digimg.html>, and conducted several staff training sessions on new Reader Services equipment.
- Hay E-Reserves:
We used the recently available OPAC imaging capacity (GUICAT) to create pilot digital course reserves for two 19th century works for English 259:Henson, Josiah, 1789-1883 The life of Josiah Henson, formerly a slave, now an inhabitant of Canada, as narrated by himself, Boston, A. D. Phelps, 1849
See: http://library.brown.edu/search/l?SEARCH=Vol.1754 (choose #7)Phillips, Wendell, 1811-1884 The philosophy of the abolition movement, New York : American Anti-Slavery Society, 1860
See: http://library.brown.edu/search/l?SEARCH=vol.1341 (choose #2)
The following 6 classes met regularly in the Library:
EL 6 |
Fiction Writing II (M. Gaitskill) |
EL 100 |
Advanced Fiction Writing (M. Steinbach) |
EL 101 |
Advanced Poetry Writing (C. Wright) |
EL 124 |
The Short Story (M. Steinbach) |
HI 105 |
Renaissance Italy (A. Molho) |
HI 197 |
Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Scotland and Ireland (Harris) |
The following 48 classes met to examine special collections material with the assistance of Reader Services or curatorial staff:
Brown Summer High School | Critical Reading and Writing (L. Stanley) |
College Focus | Creative Writing (G. Nelson) |
College Focus | Creative Writing (C. Imbroglio) |
College Focus | Latin (J. Pucci) |
Brown Learning Community | Summer Science Experience |
AC 125 | Houses and their Furnishings in Early America (R. Emlen) |
AC 190 | Literary Natural History (B. St. Armand) |
AE 3 | Foundations of Western Art in Antiquity (R. Holloway) |
EL 7 | Poetry Writing (E. Grinnell) |
EL 11 | Introduction to Critical Reading and Writing (S. Maynard) |
EL 18 | Creative Nonfiction (E. Taylor) |
EL 132 | Seminar in Middle English Literature (J. Coleman) |
EL 136 | Senior Seminar in Shakespeare (C. Kahn) |
EL 180 | Gender and Subjectivity in Early Twentieth-Century England (E. Katz) |
EL 237 | Studies in Middle English Literature (J. Coleman) |
EL 243 | Introduction to Renaissance Studies (C. Kahn) |
EL 259 | Liberty, Slavery, and American Culture (P. Gould) |
EL 269 | Theoretical Approaches to the Victorian Novel (K. McLaughlin) |
EL 285 | Modernist Fiction (E. Katz) |
EM 100 | Renaissance France (V. Krause, P. Benedict) |
HA 275 | Fashioning the Hero/Tyrant: Visual Culture in the Age of Napolean (D. Kriz) |
HI 92 | Selected Topics in the Writing and Interpretation of History (K. Sacks) |
HI 118 | The Rise of the Scientific Worldview (J. Richards) |
IT 102 | Boccaccio's 'Decameron' (M. Riva) |
UC 62 | Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Medieval Iberia (S. Bonde) |
VA 124 | Art of the Book (W. Feldman) |
VA 125 | Art of the Book (W. Feldman) |
VA 180 | Honors Seminar (W. Edwards) |
Medical School | Medical Students (H. Rakatansky) |
Medical School | First Year Anatomy Students (A. Blitz) |
Providence College | Literature and Landscape (B. Graver) |
RISD | Print Making (S. Doyle) |
RISD | Print Making (B. Shure) |
RISD | Architecture in the Time of the Enlightenment (Grossman) |
RISD | Typography (5 classes/5 instructors) |
RISD | Blake & Hogarth (A. Gourlay) |
RISD | [Book Arts] (Slick) |
RISD | [Gorham Silver] (S. Hough) |
RISD | Writing Historical Fiction (E. Schaffzin) |
Roger Williams | History of Mathematics (B. Burdick) |
U Mass Dartmouth | Book Arts (Wong) |
Victorian Studies Association | Annual Conference (R. Flaxman) - 2 sessions |
In addition, tours and presentations were offered during Parents Weekend and Undergraduate and Graduate Student Orientation.
The Library served as venue for the following groups and events:
- American Philological Society Financial Committee (Michael Putnam)
- American Printing History Association (APHA) New England Annual Program
- English Department Job Placement Workshops
- English Department External Review
- English Department Dissertation Defense
- History Department Candidate presentations
- Lincoln in Rhode Island Program
- Political Science Chair Search Committee
- Shakespeare Society
- Building on Strength: Developing an ARL Agenda for Special Collections:Working Symposium on the Future of Special Collections in Research Libraries, Brown University, June 27-29, 2001
The following items were loaned for exhibit or digitization projects:
- I mounted an exhibition from the Shaw collection, which had originally been curated by Jennifer B. Lee in 1995. The exhibit was remounted, with some changes and additions, from September 25 to October 6, 2000, in conjunction with a talk by Christopher Newton, Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival, jointly sponsored by the Department of Theatre Arts and the Friends of the Brown University Library. I mounted an online version of the exhibit at: http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/exhibits/shaw/index.html
- I mounted a web version of the 1997 exhibit of Daniel Leab’s George Orwell collection and developed a page for the Orwell manuscript of Nineteen eighty-four. See: http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/libs/hay/collections/orwell/
- I mounted the first two Special Collections Monthly Focus issues, "The Library’s First Book, William Williams and the Williams Table" (by SAS), and "Yank Magazine" (by PH):
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/libs/hay/focus/index.html
- I developed a web page to showcase the collection of Stow Wengenroth lithographs given to the Library by Lyman G. Bloomingdale:
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/libs/hay/collections/wengenroth/
- La Rèvolution Surrèaliste
, No. 1 (1924) & No. 7 (1926) Starred Books Collection
Loaned to The RISD Museum for the exhibition: Art of the Unconscious: Surrealism from the Museum’s Collection, June 22 - September 16, 2001:
- Jeter, Henry N. Pastor Henry N. Jeter’s twenty-five years experience with the Shiloh Baptist Church…, Providence, 1901 Hay Transfer
See: http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jeter/menu.html- Thatcher, B.B. Memoir of Phillis Wheatley, a native African and a slave, Boston, 1834 [microfilm] Harris Collection
See: http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/thatcher/menu.html
Both loaned to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the digitization project, "North American Slave narratives, Beginnings to 1920"
- Sachs, Hans. Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden…, Frankfurt am Mayn, [1568] Lownes Science Collection.
Loaned to the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Saint Louis Art Museum for the exhibition, Painting on Light: Drawings and Stained Glass in the Age of Dürer and Holbein, July 4, 2000 – January 7, 2001.
See Josiah record for exhibit catalog:
http://library.brown.edu/search/c?SEARCH=N7433.5+.B88+2000+
- Joseph Moxon. Mechanic exercises, London, 1677-1683 [i.e. 1684?] Lownes Science Collection
Loaned to The University of Pennsylvania for digitization
- "St. Dorothy with the Christ Child," 15th century, AB151, Annmary Brown Memorial.
Loaned to the International Print Center New York for the exhibition, Hard Pressed: 600 Years of Prints and Processes, October 17, 2001 – January 9, 2002
See: http://www.ipcny.org/hardpressed.html
4. Collections:
- Collection Development:
- See Appendix A for a listing of materials acquired in support of British and Continental literature and history and the special collections reference collection.
- Working with a sub-group of the Discipline Groups, I developed and mounted a collection development web site at:
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/collections/colldev/index.html
as well as a template for collection development policy statements, which is available on the staff web at: http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/staff/
- I continue to select Slavic material for the general collections. The collection development policy for Slavic is available at:
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/collections/colldev/subjects/slavlang.html
and a Slavic Studies pathfinder is available at:
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/subguides/slavic.html
5. Building and Security:
- Damage to the Lincoln and Napoleon Rooms reported last year –
"On December 22 water seepage into the smoke detector in the Lincoln Room (#312) set off a fire alarm. In sweeping the building Security discovered that, before reaching the smoke detector, the leak, caused by a broken vacuum breaker, had first saturated the ceiling and walls of the Lincoln and Napoleon Rooms causing major damage to plaster, paint, and most destructively, to the Scalamandré ‘Napoleonic Bee’ wall fabric."
was finally repaired in the Spring of 2001.
- We continue to be plagued with humidity problems in the summer. The situation reported last year is unchanged:
"Major humidity problems during the summer of 1999 caused a mold infestation on stack 1 south, condensation on the floors of stack 1 north and south, and doors (many in alarmed areas) which swelled so considerably that they could not be closed and locked. We met with Jim Coen who indicated that a multi-million dollar, multi-building solution to our inadequate chilling equipment was in the works. Negotiations are continuing with Narragansett Electric for rebates and engineering designs are still in process."
- The mold problem referred to above has worsened this year. Ann Dodge and Whitney Pape consulted with Risk Management staff who took samples from stack 1 South and the Lownes Room for analysis by Aerotech Laboratories in Phoenix. More dehumidifiers and more frequent cleaning are some short-term measures but until the humidity levels in the building are under control this problem will remain.
- The badly flaking wall outside the Lownes Room was repainted but other areas on the third floor, the Reader Services area, and the sub-basement identified for repainting or touch-ups have not been done yet.
- A broken pane of glass and debris in the ASKB skylight was reported and an initial assessment was undertaken by Facilities Management.
- A large amount of surplus equipment and trash was removed from sub-basement in the summer of 2000 and the remainder was removed in time to receive the boxes of Feminist Press materials.
- All materials were removed from the Print Room (#306) to make room for a new collection. Materials were sent to off-site storage or re-organized and housed elsewhere in the building.
- I worked with Brown Security on the transfer of monitoring responsibility for the security system from the vendor, Electronic Alarm Systems, to Brown Security.
6. Library-Wide Activities:
- I serve on the Library Transition Management Group (LTMG). Main activities were:
- Led the Process Mapping group for the Learning and Curricular Resources Collaborative and mounted all process mapping materials on the LTMG web site: http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/MODEL/LTMG/maps/intro.html
- Participated in development of FAQ and Strategic Priorities documents and mounted all on web site:
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/MODEL/LTMG/faq.html
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/MODEL/LTMG/Priorities2.html- I serve on the Web Interest Group (WIG). Main activities were:
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/atoz.html),
- Participated in the development and implementation of a new library web including new features:
- quick links on home page,
- a to z list (
- exhibits (http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/exhibits/index.html) and
- events (http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/new/events.html) pages.
- Developed web log for WIG members and Library staff to track requests of changes and additions to the web:
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/MODEL/wig/log/index.htmlhttp://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/services/illoptions.html
- I worked with Bonnie Buzzell and Bart Hollingsworth to bring up new pages on the Virtual Catalog and Document Delivery:
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/help/options.html
- I chaired the search committee for a Digital Initiatives Librarian and served on an informal Digital Initiatives Group set up to lay the groundwork for the digital initiatives effort. I serve on the Professional Program Committee and the Storage Committee.
- Both Patricia Sirois and I participated in the Library Contact Initiative program to link library staff with first-year students. Patricia Sirois serves as a mentor for new library employees.I volunteer at the Rockefeller Reference desk one hour a week.
7. Staff : Alison Bundy’s hours were increased to 75% time in conjunction with a reduction of hours for another staff member and a new Reading Room staffing plan
Volunteers: Ann Dodge and Ellen Moreau continue to volunteer at the Reader Services desk and Bill Monroe has joined Eric Shoaf in volunteering in the Reading Room.
Courses and Workshops (JMR):
- Using FileMaker to Publish Online Forms and Surveys (CIT)
- Tables and Charts in PowerPoint (CIT)
- Animations and Navigation in PowerPoint (CIT)
- Building Dynamic Web Sites with Perl and CGI (Brown Learning Community)
- NERCOMP: "So you say you want a full-text journal locator!
- NERCOMP (2 days): "What does Open Source have to do with libraries"; Hands-on training: Installing Apache, MySQL, Perl on a Unix/Linux machine; Installing MyLibrary and Prospero applications
- Encoded Archival Description: New Applications and Collaborations (RBMS Preconference Workshop)
- RBMS Preconference, "The Twentieth Century", and ALA Annual Conference
Pat Sirois compiled most of the statistics for this report.
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Last Updated: Monday, 07-Apr-2014 17:57:59 EDT
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