Library Student Assistants Honor Cinema’s “Golden Year”

1939 was a monumental year for cinema. Some historians have minted it as the greatest year in film history. Indeed, some of the 20th Century’s most memorable titles, including Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, came out during that year. The selections for 1939’s Oscars were so great that instead of the normal five nominations for Best Picture, ten films were nominated in this category.

Throughout November, student assistants from Burling Library’s Listening Room are honoring the seventieth anniversary of this memorable year in cinema by creating posters, presentations, and displays about films released in 1939. Be sure to check out the display of books on the first floor of Burling about the political, social, and cultural landscape that inspired the explosion of excellent cinema during this historic year. Related projects by Listening Room student assistants are also on display in the Listening Room and on the library’s first floor. The topics, ranging from censorship in 1939 films to film directors, are listed in more detail below.

The Libraries will co-sponsor an evening of “Pizza and a Movie” with SGA Films and the Student Government Association on Thursday, November 19th, at 7:00 pm in the Forum South Lounge. The featured film is one of 1939’s finest, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Appetizers, pizza, and beverages will be provided, and the event is free and open to the public. (Organized by Madeleine Allen ’10 and Rachel Smith ’11)

Other presentations are:

“Then & Now” (Katie Jones ’10) – Series of posters that compare how musicals, westerns and gangster movies have changed from 1939 to more recent releases. Highlights continuity and changes in those genres over the years. Location: Listening Room near the public computer terminal.

“The Good, The Bad, and the Censored” (Molly Kennedy ’11) -- An examination of films that either broke, cleverly bent or followed the “Hays Code” production guidelines that had been implemented just five years earlier. Presents a wide range of examples and what, if any, consequences resulted from those code violations. Location: Center of first floor book display.

“1939 Movie Posters” (Susan Kikuchi ’11) -- Examines advertisements from the three top grossing films of that year, with reproductions of each poster and a short analysis of the advertising schemes used. Specifically, it addresses target audience and strategic visual cues used to convey information about the films. Location: Window near the first floor entry to Burling.

“1939: The Arrival of Color to Movie Mainstream” (Michele Moore ’10) -- Presentation discussing the history of the use of color in films, obstacles to its use, its presence in the feature films, The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, and why mainstream films continued to be produced in black & white for decades after the process proved to be technically and commercially successful. URL: http://www.lib.grinnell.edu/collections/1939a.pdf.

“The Hays Code and the Films of 1939” (Thanh Nguyen ’12) – Explains what the Hays Production Code was and why it was created. Lists guidelines of the code. Locations: First floor display area and Listening Room.

“The Golden Year of Hollywood: An Analysis of Socio-Political Factors Contributing to the Success of the 1939 Motion Pictures” (Musa Rahman ’10) – Poster addresses some of the reasons why 1939 was such a successful year for film and explores the political and social backdrop of the time. Location: First floor book display.

“Victor Fleming: Hollywood’s Golden Director” (Andrew Stephenson ’10) -- Director Victor Fleming's steady hand oversaw the completion of both The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind. Poster discusses why Fleming replaced directors who had proceeded him and includes some interesting anecdotes about the director’s interactions with actor Judy Garland and his role in the development of the screenplay for Gone with the Wind. Location: Listening Room near the public computer terminal.

Project brochure (Caitlin Vaughan ’10) – Description of the 1939 Project including the purpose of the project and short descriptions of the 1939 films the Listening Room has in its collection. Includes a list of the other Listening Room student assistants and summary of their project presentations. Locations: First floor display area and Listening Room.

Grinnell College Libraries Annual Report, 2008-2009

Link to the Grinnell College Libraries Annual Report, 2008-2009 [PDF]

What's New at the Libraries Fall 2009

Library Resources in Pioneer Web

Library resources are now better integrated into P-Web course pages. When you log into a course page, you will find:

• the e-reserve password for that course


• contact information for your consulting librarian


• a message box for instant messaging with a librarian


• a link to any course-specific web pages that your consulting librarian has created, with links to recommended databases, Web sites, and other important resources, or


• a link to a subject Web page, which will have a broader array of library resources in the course's discipline.

We hope this gives you more convenient access to the library resources you will need for learning and teaching.

Changes in Burling Reference

We will experiment this fall with a new reference schedule in Burling Library and a new approach to reference service. Beginning about mid-semester, we will expand desk coverage to midnight Sunday through Wednesday, but we have dropped it for Saturday afternoon (a very slow period, according to our statistics). On Fridays (another slow period at the reference desk) a librarian will be on call but not at the reference desk.

We will also be involving students in providing reference and information services—partly to give librarians more time for individual consultations and for liaison work with their departments, and partly because research suggests that student-to-student advising can be an effective complement to professional reference service. Students at the circulation desk are receiving intensified training in basic assistance with the catalog, databases, etc., and, as the fall progresses, you'll find students working at the reference desk during certain afternoon and evening hours. We'll be working very closely with these students and monitoring the service carefully. Please let us know what you think.

You'll find our complete Reference schedule at http://www.lib.grinnell.edu/general/libhours.html.
And remember that students and faculty can always contact http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/librarylab/ or query@grinnell.edu to schedule an individual or group reference consultation with a librarian!

New Face in the Libraries!

Amy Roberson has joined us as a one-year term Reference & Instruction Librarian, filling in for Gail Bonath, who is on sabbatical leave this year. Amy is a recent graduate of the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her professional interests include reference services, information literacy, and Web usability. When not at work, Amy enjoys cooking, playing music, knitting, and hiking.

Middle East Studies: New Videos

With funding from the Mellon Foundation through the Mellon 23 Consortium, we have purchased 24 documentary and feature films on the Middle East and North Africa. The films are available for loan to any of the Mellon 23 member institutions. The borrowing period is 4 weeks. For a list of films, please see http://www.barnard.edu/provost/mellon23/GrinnellCollege08.pdf. For a description of the Mellon 23 Faculty Development program, please see http://www.barnard.edu/provost/mellon23.html.

New Video Players in Burling

New video players have been installed in Burling Library’s Listening Room. Six high-definition players allow patrons to directly control their DVD and VHS playing experience. Four of those are combination VCR/DVD devices for United States/Canadian region videos, and two players are set to play multi-region (international) DVDs.

Two other stations are directly connected to the Listening Room bus control system to allow small group viewing and to provide access to video formats not available on the free-standing players.

All of the video stations are also equipped with 22-inch high-definition monitors.

Visitors are welcome to use this equipment during the Listening Room’s regular hours. For more information, please call x3365.

Selected New Library Resources

(Print, Digital, Video, and Audio)

AP Images provides access to the photo archives of the Associated Press with over 4.9 million primary-source photographs and other images from 1825 to the present documenting significant moments in history, news, sports and entertainment.

Early English Books Online contains digital facsimile page images of 100,000 works printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America, as well as works in English printed elsewhere, between 1473 and 1700. It complements Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO).

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture (6 vols).

James Bond Collection (the entire series of 21 films).

Oxford Reference Online provides online access to 200 specialized encyclopedias and dictionaries useful to both student and faculty research.

Play Along Jazz Recordings series. Music scores with accompanying CDs by noted jazz musicians.

Russian language encyclopedias: The new edition of The Great Russian Encyclopedia and The New Russian Encyclopedia.

Roper Center Public Opinion Data: Grinnell’s subscription to the Roper Archives provides access to over 60 years of polling data from surveys conducted around the world. Roper’s iPoll Database allows users to search for results for over 400,000 questions asked in the United States; RoperExpress allows users to download over 15,000 full datasets, including over 6,000 datasets from outside the United States, for analysis.

Times Digital Archive: Access to the complete backfile of the London Times, 1785-1985, including text, images, editorials and advertisements.

Trade Analysis and Information System (TRAINS), produced by the UN Conference on Trade and Development, provides comprehensive tariff and trade information for over 140 countries. Grinnell users have access to TRAINS through the WITS (World Integrated Trade Solutions) software client.

Viva Pedro: the collected works (on video) of Pedro Almodóvar.

Darwin's rEvolution Exhibit in Burling

Few works have been as influential or controversial as Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection. To commemorate the 150th anniversary of its publication, and the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth, this exhibition of materials from the Libraries’ Department of Special Collections showcases our first edition of The Origin of the Species, and works which influenced or were influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution. The exhibition will be on display through August on Burling Library first floor and Burling Gallery (basement).

MAP Presentation in Burling, May 5

Hannah Zurko will be presenting her final art installation of her MAP, "Drawing through Space", in Burling Library on Tuesday, May 5th. She will be discussing a semester long project exploring the possibilities of drawing in a three-dimensional space and the process of this installation. The talk and reception will begin at 4:15 on the first floor; all are welcome to attend.

Galileo's New Sciences: Origins and Aftermath: An Exhibition of Books from the Grinnell College Libraries' Special Collections

On view March 5 through May 19, Burling Library 1st floor and basement. A dozen volumes printed between 1561 and 1776 illuminate various aspects of the Scientific Revolution, including developments in mathematics, astronomy, politics, and theory of knowledge. This exhibition coincides with the Department of Theatre and Dance's production of Bertolt Brecht's Galileo, March 6, 7, and 8.

Re-Discovering Roots

“Re-Discovering Roots,” a series of programs related to the history-making miniseries, Roots, will be presented on the Grinnell College campus between September 19th and 28th. The presentations are designed to examine the miniseries both from its impact when it premiered in 1977 and its relevance today.

“Remembering Race, Turning to Television,” presented by Grinnell College English Department professor Theresa L. Geller, will open the programs on Friday, September 19, at 4:15 p.m. in the Forum South Lounge. Professor Geller will explore how televisual culture has represented Black America and the continuing challenge of understanding these representations as well as discuss the continuing affects and impact of Roots on television today and what led up to its historical intervention.

Roots will be shown in six episodes from Sunday, September 21, through Friday, September 26, at 6:30 p.m. in the Forum South Lounge. Immediately following each showing, a presenter will lead a 20-30 minute discussion of the miniseries from a perspective related to his/her area of specialization. The presenters are:

Sun., Sept. 21 (Episode 1) –Roger Vetter, Grinnell College Music Dept.
Mon., Sept. 22 (Episode 2) –Khanh Ho, Grinnell College English Dept.
Tue., Sept. 23 (Episode 3) –Al Lacson, Grinnell College History Dept.
Wed., Sept. 24 (Episode 4) –Todd Crites, Grinnell High School Social Sciences Dept.
Thu., Sept. 25 (Episode 5) –George Barlow, Grinnell College English Dept.
Fri., Sept. 26 (Episode 6) –Shanna Benjamin, Grinnell College English Dept.

Episodes 1-3 will be repeated on Saturday, September 27, beginning at 1:00 p.m, and Episodes 4-6 will be repeated on Sunday, September 28, beginning at 3:00 p.m. All showings will be held in the Forum South Lounge.

Because Episode One contains brief nudity and there is intense violence in several scenes throughout the miniseries, parental discretion is advised for the showings.

The closing program, “Roots Reactions, 1977 and Today” will feature panelists Lisa Adkins, Jon Andelson, Waldo Walker of the Grinnell College community who will discuss their recollections of Roots when it premiered in 1977. There will also be an “open-mike” discussion of reactions from today’s point-of-view, with perspective from licensed master social worker Chelyne Cunningham. This program will be held on Sunday, September 28th, at 2:00 p.m. in Burling Library.

In addition to the scheduled programs, the Grinnell College Libraries are organizing a variety of displays related to Roots. There is a selection of books on the economics of slavery now on display on the first floor of Burling Library. A list of a few recordings from the Libraries’ video and compact disc collections has been compiled under, “African-American Influences in Music,” which is available in Burling Library’s Listening Room and online at http://www.lib.grinnell.edu/collections/RootsRelatedFilm-CDList.pdf. Special Collections will soon place a display of materials on life in the Grinnell community at the time of the 1977 miniseries premiere. Their display cases are located on the basement level of Burling Library.

The programs, sponsored by the Grinnell College Libraries, Student Government Association Films Committee, and Cultural Films Committee, are all free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served at each event. For more information, please call Randye Jones 641-269-3365 or email jonesran@grinnell.edu.

Exhibits at Burling Library

The Grinnell College Libraries invite you to browse a number of exhibits currently on display on the first floor and basement level of Burling Library: Portugal in the Context of History, Culture, and Art complements of the Faulconer Gallery exhibit Where are You From? Contemporary Art from Portugal. It features a selection of books that highlight different aspects of Portuguese culture, including its language, politics, art, architecture, and image in popular culture.

The Research Continuum represents the evolution in scholarly thought as represented in books published over half a century in the areas of the presidency and human rights.

Look for exhibits going up right now on visiting authors Ana Castillo (Thursday, April 10: Rosenfield Center, Room 101, 8:00 p.m) and Manning Marable (Thursday, March 13: Rosenfield Center, Room 101, 11:00 a.m.)

Sculptural Paper Held Over by Popular Demand

The Art 295 “Sculptural Paper” installation will continue on view through the Spring semester. A few pieces have been moved to new locations in Burling. See our original posting about this installation below.

Burling Library is privileged to host this installation of paper-based sculptures created by the students in ART295. As digital forms of communication become more pervasive, our relationship to physical place and tangible objects becomes more complex and, some would say, more precious. We invite the Grinnell community to enjoy the surprise of unexpected encounters with these works, and we encourage respect for them. A listing of the artists and the locations of their works is also available at the Circulation Desk.

— Richard Fyffe, Rosenthal Librarian of the College

Artists’ Statement:

Handmade paper has a deep relationship with interior spaces. From Japanese shoji screens to fine Italian wallpaper we all have ideas about the relationship between paper and architecture. Paper is also, historically, the substrate that carries our culture. The library, the gallery, and the archive are all places that house this paper.

The Sculptural Paper class this fall has been given the gift of an invitation to create site-specific works of art that use handmade paper as their primary material for locations throughout Burling Library. The diversity of the work they have created is remarkable. Each of these works uses plant fiber: Cotton, Flax, Hemp, Abaca, or Kozo, as the primary material for form and structure in these objects.

Some of these works will be immediately apparent when one walks in the front door of Burling Library. Meredith Grove's cast human forms will cover a section of the large brick wall on the West side of Burling. Rebecca Johnston has cast scores of round shapes that hang overhead from the second floor mezzanine. Other works are hidden away. Veronica Erb's abaca domes nestle into a tree house, Trevor Austin's quiet alphabet book rests on a shelf below a dictionary. These are only a few examples of the wide range of student responses to this project.

Everyone is welcome to join a public discussion about the development, materials, and process of this project with the artists on November 13th from 1 to 4 pm.

We would like to thank the staff of Burling Library for their generous support of this project.

—Professor Lee Running and the Students of ART295, Fall 2007

Sculptural Paper: Site-Specific Installations in Burling Library

1. Alex Schechter: “Burqa”
Kozo and fabric dye
Location: Front (north) Windows, 1 st Floor.

2. Hugh Redford: Untitled
Abaca and Kozo
Location: Treehouse, 1 st Floor

3. Indrani Singh: “Making Sense of Place”
Kozo and Abaca
Location: Map and Atlas Cases, 1 st Floor

4. Kirsten Aho: Untitled
Abaca and Flax
Location: Central Staircase, 4 th Floor

5. Lindsey Walter: Untitled
Kozo
Location: Reference Collection, 1 st Floor

6. Meredith Groves: “Sense of Self”
Flax and Abaca
Location: Brick Wall, Southwest Corner, 1 st Floor

7. Paula Matallana: “Macondo Lives Only In The Mind”
Abaca, Cotton and Kozo
Location: Latino Collection, 1 st Floor

8. Rebecca Johnston: “The Collective”
Flax and Cotton
Location: Northeast Alcove, 1 st Floor

9. Sabrina Bardonille: “Quilt”
Kozo
Location: Print and Drawing Study Room, Basement Level

10. Trevor Austin: “Letters”
Cotton
Location: Dictionary Stand, 4 th Floor

11. Veronica Erb: “Hemispheres”
Abaca
Location: Treehouse, 1 st Floor

12. Camille Lindsey-Larrabee: “Tie Dye Kite”
Kozo
Location: South Windows, 1 st floor

Library Exhibit of 18th Century Works

"A Glimpse into the World of the Eighteenth Century" highlights some of the 18th-century editions in the Libraries¹ Special Collections Department, showing the wide range of information available to 18th-century readers ­ and to 21st-century Grinnell students and teachers. The exhibit features books on the exploration of North America, tracts proclaiming the danger of attending the theater, and works that chronicle the experiences of travelers to China, Surinam, and Patagonia. The exhibit is currently on view in Burling Gallery.