Library Letterpress Christmas card, a set on Flickr.
Photos and video from our trip to Hand Deliver Press for the printing of our Library Christmas card, from one of our Zaner-Bloser Collection printing blocks.
Author: Kristen A. Yarmey
Letterpress Library Christmas Card
It may be 90 degrees outside today, but we’re too excited to wait until December to share our latest project – letterpress printing our Library Christmas card!
Back in 2010, the Zaner-Bloser Company donated a rich collection of 19th and early 20th century penmanship materials to the University of Scranton Weinberg Memorial Library’s Special Collections. In addition to original artwork by the masters of the Golden Age of Penmanship, the collection also includes some of the printing blocks used to publish their work.
We’ve partnered with Samantha Urbanick of Clarks Summit-based letterpress studio Hand Deliver Press to put some of those printing blocks back in action.
Our first project, the Library’s 2012 Christmas card, uses a Zaner-Bloser printing block from Christmas 1912. The block is based on a pen and ink drawing by master penman E. L. Brown and was used in the publication of the December 1912 issue of the professional penmanship journal The Business Educator.
Check out our photo set and video to see Hand Deliver Press and our Zaner-Bloser block in action!
Public Services Librarian to speak at Pages & Places Café
You might know him as our evening Public Services Librarian, but George Aulisio is also a philosopher. On top of his master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Drexel University, he holds a Master of Liberal Arts degree in Philosophy and Metaphysics from the University of Pennsylvania.
On July 12, he’ll share some of his research on technological determinism, or how technology affects and drives society in different directions, at the Pages & Places Café in the Radisson Hotel’s Platform Lounge.
The Café program begins at 7pm, but you can also come early for a 6pm happy hour. Admission is free. We’ll see you there!
Digital Collections, New and Improved
We’ve just put a shiny, new interface on our digital collections, and we’d love for you to take a look! Some of the new features we’re excited about:
- A new homepage for Digital Collections
- A new University History page where you can cross-search all of our University-related collections
- Improved browsing, searching, and viewing
- Easier ways to download and print photos and documents from our collections
- Tagging, commenting, and sharing
Take our new collections for a test drive, and then let us know what you think! There are still a few quirks we’re working out, so if you run into any problems, just let us know at digitalcollections@scranton.edu.
Seniors: Vote for Teacher of the Year
Our colleagues over in the Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence asked us to share this announcement:
VOTE FOR:
TEACHER OF THE YEAR
ATTENTION: GRADUATING SENIORS
2012 University of Scranton
Teacher of the Year Award
Each year the Graduating Senior Class selects its “Teacher of the Year.” Beginning Monday, April 16th, please vote for the faculty member who you believe best exhibits the following characteristics:
- Maintains the highest standards of academic excellence and fairness.
- Inspires interest in the discipline through personal enthusiasm and dedication.
- Is consistently effective in communication.
- Is available outside of the classroom.
The award will be presented during Class Night on Friday, May 25th, 2012.
HOW TO VOTE: To cast your electronic ballot, access www.scranton.edu/toy
WHEN TO VOTE: Monday, April 16th, 9:00 a.m. – Friday, April 20th 5:00 p.m.
Remember a Faculty Member Whose Teaching Has Inspired You! Your Vote Counts!
Preserving Your Family Memories – Workshop
There’s still time to register for our last Technology on Your Own Terms workshop of the semester! All faculty and staff members are welcome, but please let us know you’re coming by signing up at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration (under Technology On Your Own Terms).
Preserving Your Family Memories: Part II (Digital)
Thursday, April 5 from 12:00pm – 1:00pm in WML305Increasingly, we capture moments to remember in digital rather than physical format: we document our lives in digital photographs, videos, social media, email, and websites. In this workshop, Digital Services Librarian Kristen Yarmey will introduce you to the concept of digital preservation. We’ll talk about common misconceptions (for example, why digitizing your photos is not the same as preserving them), some of the major challenges involved in maintaining digital files over time, and some basic strategies you can take to help make your digital memories last. A light lunch will be provided. (Taught by Kristen Yarmey, Weinberg Memorial Library)
(Image courtesy of Flickr user ehpien, under a Creative Commons license)
Mobile access to Library resources
University of Scranton students, faculty, and staff now have two ways to access the Weinberg Memorial Library’s resources from their mobile devices:
- Owners of Android and iOS devices can download the University app (from the Android Market or from the Apple App Store) to find the Library module
- Owners of any internet-capable smartphone can visit the Library’s mobile website at m.scranton.edu/library
Whichever way you go, you’ll find a mobile-friendly version of our Library catalog and quick links to Ask a Librarian, as well as the Library’s hours, location, and latest news.
Try it out and let us know what you think! And let us know what other mobile features you’d like to see – we’re working right now on providing mobile-friendly access to our databases, and we’re daydreaming about a Java City webcam.
Spring Break Hours
Photo by Scranton iphoneographer timbenedict
It’s hard to tell which event our students are more excited about today – spring break or Parade Day! Here at the Library, we’re heading home for the weekend but will be back on Monday to take care of any students, faculty, and staff who are staying on campus for the week. We’ll be on reduced hours, though.
Here’s when you’ll our doors open:
Friday, March 9: 8:00am – 4:30pm
Saturday, March 10: CLOSED (including our 24-hour Room and Pro Deo Room)
Sunday, March 11: CLOSED (with the 24-hour Room and Pro Deo Room opening at noon)
Monday, March 12 – Thursday, March 15: 8:00am – 10:00pm
Friday, March 16: 8:00am – 4:30pm
Saturday, March 17: CLOSED (with the 24-hour Room and Pro Deo Room open)
Sunday, March 18: 12:00pm – 11:30pm
Happy spring break, and happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Preserving Your Family Memories – Workshop
Next week is our spring break, and even though our students will be gone, the rest of the University will still be open and working. This year, we decided to take advantage of the break as a good time to host one of our Technology on Your Own Terms series workshops. While we usually focus on forward-looking emerging technologies and how we can create and explore new information, we thought it would be interesting to take a different view this time and learn about how we can preserve existing information. In a two-part workshop, we’ll examine how to preserve physical records (Part I) and digital records (Part II) of your personal and family history.
Preserving Your Family Memories: Part I (Physical)
Tuesday, March 13 from 12:00pm – 1:00pm in WML305Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies will discuss the basic preservation problems relating to personal collections of books, photographs, negatives, personal papers, audio/visual recordings, and other paper-based collectibles. Limited attention will be paid to three dimensional objects. Proper storage and handling will be emphasized. A light lunch will be provided. (Taught by Michael Knies, Weinberg Memorial Library)
All faculty and staff members are welcome, but seats are limited, so please register for sessions you plan to attend at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration (under Technology On Your Own Terms).
Welcome Back! Spring Hours and Excitement
Source: Uploaded by user via Kay on Pinterest
It’s been quite a while since we last saw all our students and faculty. While we hope everyone had a relaxing and calm intersession, ours was anything but! We’ve been working hard all month long to update, improve, maintain, and increase our Library resources and services, both in person and virtual. We’ll be posting more detailed announcements throughout the month, but here’s a sneak peek at what’s coming your way in Spring 2012:
- Thousands of new streaming media titles
- Mobile access to Library resources
- Combined book and database search in our catalog
- Better social features in our catalog (so you can like or share our resources)
- A major facelift for our digital collections
- Thin client computing in our computer labs
- Lots of unique events for our students and faculty – from our Earth Week Environmental Art Show to our Technology on Your Own Terms workshops to the Schemel Forum’s courses, luncheons, and trip
- A new home, a new look, and a new name for this blog (can you believe it’s almost 4 years old?)
We’re excited to have everyone back on campus (even if it means we have to fight for parking spaces again), so stop by anytime to say hi! We’re back on our regular hours for the Spring semester:
Monday-Thursday: 8:00 a.m. – 11:30 p.m.
Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Saturday: Noon – 8:00 p.m.
Sunday: Noon – 11:30 p.m.