Shortly after her arrival at The University of Scranton in late summer 2013, Christine Jerome of Union, New Jersey made her way to the Weinberg Memorial Library seeking a Work Study position. After spending all four years of high school volunteering as the librarian’s assistant, she was anxious to work in a setting where she felt at home and familiar with the job. It’s hard to believe that now she’s been with us for almost four years.
Chris is a Biology major who minors in French. In addition to speaking French, she can speak some Creole too. She is an active member of the United Color Organization (UCO), the Asia Club, the Fencing Club and the Liva Arts Company. Of course she enjoys reading – her favorite genres are history, fantasy and mysteries. A few other pastimes she enjoys are art, music, fitness & health and baking.
At the Circulation Desk, Chris enjoys interacting with the patrons and has gained great customer service skills. She is a pleasant co-worker who is always willing to learn something new and help out wherever needed. She often advises other students to take advantage of the Palci EZBorrow & Interlibrary Loan services. Note: her green thumb is responsible for the thriving plants all over the library. They will miss her too!
After graduation, Chris’s career goal is to work in the healthcare field. She would particularly like to provide healthcare to medically underserved areas, domestic or international. We wish her all the best.
A selection of rare materials from McHugh Special Collections is currently on view in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room. This week we are highlighting the Book of Hours from the exhibit “From Medieval to Modern”.
The Book of Hours was a Christian devotional book that became popular in northern Europe during the 14th century and has been called the Medieval best seller as many educated men and women owned them. The Book of Hours was a distillation, for laypeople, of the series of prayers said by priests, monks, nuns, etc. during the course of the day divided into sections from morning through the night. Although containing a similar collection of texts, prayers, and psalms, there is a high variation in quality depending on the budget of the purchaser. As result, each manuscript was unique with its illumination and binding. Most examples are small books with little illumination, often restricted to decorated capital letters at the start of psalms and prayers. However, the books made for the wealthy can be extremely lavish and heavily illuminated with full-page decorations and have extravagantly decorated bindings.
On display in the Heritage Room are several examples of the Book of Hours from Special Collections: two medieval leafs, a simple book, and a fine art facsimile. The first leaf is from a fine Book of Hours with inhabited borders (ca. 1440). The second leaf is from an undistinguished Book of Hours (ca. 1450-75), but has significance because it records information in French on the Dumesnil family from Loire.
Leaf from a fine Book of Hours with inhabited borders, France, ca. 1440.Book of Hours, French Flanders, Circa 1450-75.
There is a Book of Hours (1685) bound in a simple blind ruled black Morocco. This binding has an unfortunately added shelfmark in addition to damaging adhesive tape. Finally, there is a fine art facsimile of a miniature, illuminated Book of Hours from the Vatican Library in brown leather with raised bands and gilt decoration.
Officium Beatæ Mariæ Virginis, Nuper Reformatum … Cum Indulgentius & Orationibus A Pio V. Ordinatis, & Hymnis Ab Vrbano Viii. Correctis. Accedunt Psalmi Vesperarum & Completorij, Etc. Antuerpiæ: ex Officina Plantiniana, 1685.Fine Art Facsimile: Thomas, Marcel. Livre D’heures Vat. Ross. 94: Fin Du Xvème Siècle. Fribourg: Éditions d’art Ebory, 1984.
To read more about the Weinberg Library’s Rare Book Collection visit our collection page here. “From Medieval to Modern” will be on display during normal library hours through Tuesday, April 25. On Tuesday, April 11th, Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies will discuss the exhibit at 6 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Library. A reception will immediately follow the talk. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please email michael.knies@scranton.edu or call 570- 941-6341.
Kate Reilly, a senior from Wayne, Pennsylvania, has been an asset to the Weinberg Library’s Digital Services department for the past three years. She has always been dependable, and has accomplished many projects with eagerness and skill.
She will graduate in May with a double major in History and Philosophy, with the hope of using this knowledge towards doing advocacy work for women in the future. On campus, Kate has served as secretary for the Philosophy Society and has also been a volunteer at the Leahy Clinic. Her hobbies include reading, painting and baking.
Through her work in Digital Services, she has enjoyed learning about the University’s history, and would urge her fellow students to take advantage of all the incredible resources that are offered on campus – especially the library’s online collections and databases.
As an interesting side note, Kate has a twin sister who also goes to the University of Scranton.
We are grateful to Kate for all the time and valuable, hard work she has given to the Weinberg Library, and we congratulate her on her upcoming graduation!
A selection of rare materials from McHugh Special Collections is currently on view in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room. This week we are highlighting two fine art facsimiles from the exhibit “From Medieval to Modern”: The Book of Kells and The Lindisfarne Gospels.
In 1997, Special Collections acquired a fine art facsimile of the Book of Kells, donated by the estate of Charles J. Buckley, a dean emeritus who served the University in a variety of academic and administrative positions for 46 years.
Folio 34r contains the Chi Rho monogram, which serves as the incipit for the narrative of the life of Christ. Chi and rho are the first two letters of the word Christ in Greek.
The original Book of Kells is believed to have been created around 800AD on the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland. Since the 17th century, it has been stored in the Library of Trinity College in Dublin. It is one of the world’s most famous illuminated manuscripts and is considered one of the greatest artistic productions of the Medieval period. The Book of Kells is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as Ireland’s finest national treasure. The illustrations and ornamentation of the Book of Kells surpass that of other Insular Gospel books in extravagance and complexity. The decoration combines traditional Christian iconography with the ornate swirling motifs typical of Insular art. Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knots and interlacing patterns in vibrant colors, enliven the manuscript’s pages. Many of these minor decorative elements are imbued with Christian symbolism and so further emphasize the themes of the major illustrations.
Only 1,480 copies of the facsimile of the Book of Kells were produced by the Fine Art Facsimile Publishers of Switzerland. The facsimile is owned by some of the most prestigious institutions in the United States, including New York’s Morgan Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The facsimile edition took 10 years to produce and is considered to be indistinguishable from the original under museum viewing conditions. This accuracy extends to duplicating any damage and holes that appear in the original. The pages of the facsimile are identical in size and shape to the original manuscript pages. Of most importance to the viewer, however, is the impeccable color reproduction of the photographs. A special photographic book cradle was manufactured to hold the original safely. Kodak Ektachrome color transparencies were color corrected electronically, then passed to a lithographer who made additional color corrections by hand using as many as 10 printing inks per page. As the lithographer perfected the color balance, examples of the pages were compared with the original to fine-tune the color. After the pages were duplicated, they were sewn into gatherings hand-bound in a white skin, a book construction similar to the original.
On display in the Heritage Room: Folio 129v, the Evangelist symbols for the Gospel of Mark.On display in the Heritage room: Folio 130r, the celebratory opening of the Gospel of Mark.
The Weinberg Memorial Library Special Collections recently received an extraordinary gift in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Library. Dr. Midori Yamanouchi, Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library Board Member, provided funding for the acquisition of a fine art facsimile of the Lindisfarne Gospels. The original Lindisfarne Gospels is at the British Library in London and it is one of the most important and one of the best-preserved early medieval manuscripts.
The Lindisfarne Gospels is an Illuminated manuscript gospel book created approximately 715-720 AD in a monastery at Lindisfarne off the coast of England. It is considered one of the best early versions of St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate. The Lindisfarne Gospels also includes an interlinear Old English translation of the Gospels. This word-for-word English gloss was added to the Gospels around 950-970 AD. It is the oldest known translation of the Gospels into English.
The fine art facsimile of the Lindisfarne Gospels was produced in 2002 by Faksimile Verlag of Luzern Switzerland, a company that specializes in the highest quality reproductions of liturgical medieval manuscripts. The facsimile was produced in cooperation with the British Library using state of the art digital photographic technology.
On display in the Heritage Room: Folio 138v, the Carpet Page of the Gospel of Saint Luke.On display in the Heritage Room: Folio 139r, the opening of the Gospel of Saint Luke.
To read more about the Weinberg Library’s Rare Book Collection visit our collection page here. “From Medieval to Modern” will be on display during normal library hours through Tuesday, April 25. On Tuesday, April 11th, Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies will discuss the exhibit at 6 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Library. A reception will immediately follow the talk. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please email michael.knies@scranton.edu or call 570- 941-6341.
Nazia Nowshin of Moosic, Pennsylvania began working in Media Resources/EdLab in June of 2014. The Library would like to recognize her dedication and hard work as her graduation approaches.
Nazia is resourceful, friendly and has a positive attitude. Since she lives locally, she has been able to work year-round and has helped with numerous projects. She’s also witnessed the expansion of the streaming media databases. Nazia enjoys working in the library because it’s a peaceful place and a great environment for a work-study student. Her advice to other students is to use all the resources available. The library has countless books and DVDs as well as streaming media and print databases that can help students with their classes or research.
Nazia is a Biochemistry major whose favorite class is Microbiology taught by Dr. Sulzinski. Her favorite books and movies are the Harry Potter series and her hobbies include hiking and reading. Along with taking classes and working in Media, Nazia is a Microbiology Teaching Assistant, a member of the Health Professions Organization and a volunteer at the Edward R. Leahy Jr. Center Clinic for the Uninsured. A fun fact about Nazia is that she’s quadrilingual! She speaks Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and English. Her plans for the future include earning a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Sciences or Microbiology and attending medical school.
Thank you Nazia for your hard work and enthusiasm. Your future is bright and we wish you all the best!
A selection of rare materials from McHugh Special Collections is currently on view in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room. This week we are highlighting two recent special acquisitions from the exhibit “From Medieval to Modern”: a facsimile of La Divina Commedia Di Dante Alighieri: Manoscritto Pal 313 and the fifth volume of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible.
La Divina Commedia Di Dante Alighieri: Manoscritto Pal 313 Inferno, Canon XXII The Pilgrim, Dante’s alter ego, and the spirit of Roman poet Virgil are escorted by demons in the first realm of Hell, the Inferno.
Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of Weinberg Library, McHugh Special Collections was able to purchase a fine art facsimile of the 14th-century manuscript of Dante’s Divine Comedy. The original manuscript is preserved at the Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence.
The Divine Comedy (written c. 1308-1320) is widely considered one of the greatest works of both Italian literature and world literature. The poem describes Dante’s (c. 1265 – 1321) travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven in its three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, but on a deeper level is an allegorical representation of the soul’s journey towards God.
Written in littera textualis (also known as “book hand” or Gothic script), the original manuscript dates between 1333 and 1345 and is known as the Dante Poggiali, after Gaetano Poggiali, the scholar who discovered it in 1800. It is considered the first illustrated Divine Comedy ever produced and is the only surviving manuscript of its kind before 1350. This illuminated version contains 37 precious miniatures for the Inferno by the Florentine workshop of Pacino di Buonaguida. A lesser-known artist in the 14th century, Pacino took inspiration from fellow Florentine artist Giotto in his compositions for the Inferno scenes. In addition to altarpieces, Pacino painted miniatures and decorations for illuminated manuscripts. He is now considered the inventor of miniaturism, a style distinguished by a clear organization of the painting surface into multiple small-scale scenes. The Getty Museum has described Pacino’s work as having “a strong sense of expressiveness and drama.” The miniatures for the Inferno were created using tempera, gold leaf, and ink on parchment. The book also features textual glosses by Dante’s son Jacopo Alighieri whose Commento is a commentary of the text of the Inferno.
La Divina Commedia Di Dante Alighieri: Manoscritto Pal 313 Inferno, Canon XXIV The Pilgrim and Virgil journeying through the mountains of Hell.La Divina Commedia Di Dante Alighieri: Manoscritto Pal 313 Inferno, Canon XXV Witnessing the punishments of Hell along their journey, the Pilgrim and Virgil come upon serpents coiling around the body of a sinner.
McHugh Special Collections received an important rare book donation from Paul Swift ’75 who donated the fifth volume (containing the New Testament) of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible printed in 1514 at Complutense University in Madrid for Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (also known as Ximenes de Cisneros).
This New Testament is from a landmark six volume Bible printed in multiple languages. The Complutensian Polyglot was the first multi-lingual Bible printed in Europe and portions contain Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Aramaic. Work on the polyglot commenced around 1502 but it took until 1517 for printing to be completed. It then took until 1520 to gain papal approval. The donated volume is the first Greek language New Testament printed in Western Europe (also printed in Latin). Mr. Swift donated it in memory of his great aunt Nellie Brown, who purchased the bible in 1931. She was the first woman to take an evening course at St. Thomas College in 1938 and went on to become a medical doctor. He also donated it in memory of his cousin Frank Brown who taught in the history department.
Cover: The Fifth Volume of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, 1514.Incipit: The opening page of the Fifth Volume of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, 1514.
To read more about the Weinberg Library’s Rare Book Collection visit our collection page here. “From Medieval to Modern” will be on display during normal library hours through Tuesday, April 25. On Tuesday, April 11th, Special Collections Librarian Michael Knies will discuss the exhibit at 6 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Library. A reception will immediately follow the talk. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please email michael.knies@scranton.edu or call 570- 941-6341.
The PALCI E-ZBorrow system is experiencing issues. You are able to login, be authenticated, search for a book, and view that book; however, you are not able to place a request. Instead, you get the following message:
“We’re sorry. You are not eligible to place EZBorrow requests. Please consult your institution’s library for assistance.”
We are working on resolving this issue. In the meantime, please use the ILLiad system to place your request.
With the spring 2017 semester moving along swiftly, Digital Services would like to recognize one of its graduating seniors, Meghan Miller.
Meghan began working in our department in 2016, and since that time has been always reliable, friendly and very diligent in her responsibilities – especially in the detail-oriented work of image processing and description.
She is a History major from East Brunswick, New Jersey with aspirations to become a professor of U.S. History. On campus, she has been active with the University Singers and also enjoys art and dancing. She would include the entire Harry Potter series as her favorite book, and her favorite movie is Monuments Men. One surprising and fun fact about Meghan is that she is a black belt in mixed martial arts.
She has enjoyed her time working in the library, and has been especially impressed with how nice and helpful everyone is. For this reason, she would encourage other students to never be afraid to ask staff members for assistance finding whatever they need.
The Weinberg Library thanks Meghan for her good work, and wishes her the best in all her future endeavors!
Shortly after her arrival at The University of Scranton in late summer 2013, Christine Jerome of Union, New Jersey made her way to the Weinberg Memorial Library seeking a Work Study position. After spending all four years of high school volunteering as the librarian’s assistant, she was anxious to work in a setting where she felt at home and familiar with the job. It’s hard to believe that now she’s been with us for almost four years.
