News & Notes

Miami University Librarians pass Open Access Policy On Monday, the librarians at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio affirmed their commitment to the principles of Open Access by voting in favor of an Open Access policy. The policy, based on Harvard University's Model Policy, will increase access tolibrarians' scholarly articles. Librarians will begin depositing their scholarly output in the Scholarly Commons, Miami's institutional repository. Miami University Libraries is the first department on Miami's campus to successfully pass an open access policy. "I am so proud to work at Miami today," said Jen Waller, Interdisciplinary Research Librarian and Chair of the Libraries’ Scholarly Communication Working Group. "My colleagues’ vote in favor of an open access policy allows the Miami University Libraries to be a leader in Open Access on the Miami campus. Additionally, the adoption of this policy will allow librarians here to gain first hand knowledge of howfacets of open access work, which will greatly improve our outreach efforts to faculty on campus."

Miami’s Dean and University Librarian, Judith Sessions, was pleased with the vote, noting that it represented an historic step forward in the services librarians at Miami can provide. “Librarians at Miami have always done an outstanding job of pushing boundaries. In this case, they understand how the culture on Miami’s campus differs from cultures on other campuses. Their ability to move forward in ways that best serve the mission of the university speaks volumes.”

The policy will take effect immediately.

For more information contact:

Judith Sessions

Dean and University Librarian

sessioja@muohio.edu

513-529-2800

Children’s book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak died today, May 8, at age 83. A New York Times obituary detailing his life and characterizing his books as “essential ingredients of childhood” can be found here: Maurice Sendak, Author of Splendid Nightmares, Dies at 83

Sendak is most famous for “Where the Wild Things Are.” For those wishing to revisit Sendak’s works, the library owns this and two other titles that complete a trilogy, “In the Night Kitchen” and “Outside Over There.”

Where The Wild Things Are King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Juv Easy | PZ7.S47 Wh 1988

In The Night Kitchen King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Juv Easy | PZ7.S47 In

Outside Over There King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Juv Easy | PZ7.S47 Ou

Listed below are a few other titles in the library written and illustrated by Sendak:

Bumble-ardy King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Juv Easy | PZ8.3.S4684 Bu 2011

Chicken Soup With Rice King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Juv Easy | PZ8.3.S4684 Ch 1990

Higglety Pigglety Pop!
King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Juv Easy | PZ10.3.S356 Hi

Nutshell Library
King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Juv Easy | PS3569.E6 N88 1962 v.1-4

Pierre; A Cautionary Tale in Five Chapters and A Prologue King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Readers | PZ7.S47 Pi 1962

We Are All In The Dumps With Jack And Guy: Two Nursery Rhymes With Pictures King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Juv Easy | PZ8.3.S4684 We 1993

Here are some books written by other authors, containing Sendak’s iconic illustrations:

A Very Special House King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Juv Easy | PZ7.K875 Ve

The Happy Rain King Library, Ground Floor, IMC, Juv Easy | PZ7.S467 Hap 1984

The Miami University Libraries have an extensive collection of books of Sendack’s writings and/or illustrations available for Library Use Only in the Havighurst Special Collections Library. Here are a few of those titles:

Some Swell Pup: Or, Are You Sure You Want A Dog? Spec King Collection | PS3569.E6 S65 1976

Dear Mili: An Old Tale Spec King Collection | PT2281.G29 D43 1988

In February 2013, readers of all ages can look forward to savoring a new work of Sendak’s illustrations and writing once more, with the posthumous publication of “My Brother’s Book,” a picture book containing a poem inspired by Sendak’s late brother.

It’s that time of year again – Finals Week. If you’re anything like me, you are rushing to put finishing touches on your final papers and fretting about the formatting of your bibliographies. After all, who wants to miss out on that A because you forgot your hanging indentation, or the comma in your in-text citation? We can help. The library now has access to The Chicago Manual of Style Online. This is the 16th Edition of the publication and is part of the first simultaneous publication of the print and online editions of the manual. Just in time, right?

The manual is as easy to use online as it is in print. Browse the Table of Contents or Index to find answers to your questions. The content of this edition is fully searchable and includes a number of new features, such as expanded coverage of electronic publications and tips for citing blogs, podcasts, and more. Significant changes to previous rules are listed here. Other features include proofreaders’ marks, sample correspondence, and the popular Chicago Style Q&A (also fully searchable). If you have a question not included in the Q&A, you can submit a question here. Don’t have time to wait for an answer? IM the Miami University Libraries!

You can access the Chicago Manual of Style from the libraries A-Z Databases list or from this link: http://www.lib.muohio.edu/indexes/redirect/962

Good luck with your finals this week!

The new B.E.S.T. library in Laws hall is searching for a name for their technology and data visualization center, and you can help! This new service point aims to provide assistance to patrons with software applications available on library public computers, particularly multi media and statistical/analytical packages. Though business, engineering, science and technology programs will be the focus, basic computer questions and general technology help will be available to all Miami students and personnel. Got a great idea for a name? Click here! http://goo.gl/HWufF

Legal Stuff

Your technology center name must be suitable for presentation in a public forum, in the sole determination of Sponsor. The proposed name must be original and the entry may not contain material that violates or infringes any third party’s rights, including but not limited to privacy, publicity, or intellectual property. The entry must not contain or be confusingly similar to any third party’s product names, brand names, or trademarks. The entry must not contain material that is inappropriate, indecent, obscene, hateful, tortuous, defamatory, or libelous. The entry must not contain material that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred, or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age. The entry must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of the laws or regulations in any state where the entry is created.

We now have access to Cities in American Political History, an easy to use database offering a number of unique resources. This database highlights ten eras of political development in America and spans the Revolution and Founding era (1776-1790) to the post-Cold War present (1989-2011). The ten most populous cities in the United States during each of these eras are detailed. Information includes city government and politics; industry, commerce, and labor; and race, ethnicity and immigration.

To use the database, you can browse by era or city, read Overviews of cities in each time period, access population statistics, or scan Quick Facts (including info such as city mayors, industries and employers, newspapers, and events). One of my favorite features was included photos and images of cities throughout history. Check out the image below of the shoreline of Cincinnati in the early nineteenth century, and explore more images here.

"Cincinnati Shoreline." In Cities in American Political History, edited by Richard Dilworth, 179. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2011. http://library.cqpress.com/cities/capf-1285-71982-2387679.

Connect to this database from either of these links:
http://library.cqpress.com/cities/
http://www.lib.muohio.edu/indexes/redirect/981

We now have access to the Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels database. This primary source database focuses on North American and European adult comic books and graphic novels. The collection includes original material from the 1960s to today along with interviews, commentary, theory, and criticism from journals, books, and magazines.

You can browse characters, genres, people, publishers, series, and subjects. You can also search categories like art credits, story credits, story nationality, coloring, material type, etc. The search options will allow you to narrow your searches down to specific artists and kinds of artwork.

Since there are so many full color images, some of the material can be slow to load, so be a little patient when looking at materials.

Your patience will be well rewarded though. There are so many cool comics included in this resource, like Cerebus the Aardvark, Wimmen's Comix, Dynamite Damsels, Alien Fire, Addicted to War, American Splendor, etc.

Check this resource out today!

The Miami University Libraries Civil War Programming Committee and Diversity Cluster are co-sponsoring a film showing and discussion of the award winning film Glory on Thursday, April 19th between 6 and 8:30 in King Library 320. There will be refreshments and door prizes, including DVDs of several popular Civil War documentaries and films! Free and open to the public. It's the last program in our Let's Talk About It: Civil War series. You can see more information about our programs this year on our website: http://libguides.lib.muohio.edu/civilwar

Glory won three Academy Awards in 1989 (best supporting actor, best cinematography, and best sound). It tells the story of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first formal unit of the US Army to be made up of African American men, during the Civil War. It stars Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick (the guy from Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Please join us for this moving and educational film. Hope to see you there!

The 2012 Pulitzer Prizes were awarded yesterday. Here's a look at some of the winning work:

Pulitzer Prize for History

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

This biography of Malcolm X draws on new research to trace his life from his troubled youth through his involvement in the Nation of Islam, his activism in the world of Black Nationalism, and his assassination. Years in the making, it is a definitive biography of the legendary black activist.

Pulitzer Prize for Biography

George F. Kennan: An American Life by John Lewis Gaddis

A remarkably revealing view of how this greatest of Cold War strategists came to doubt his strategy and always doubted himself.

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

Life on Mars by Tracy: Poems by Tracy K. Smith

Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt

In this book the author transports readers to the dawn of the Renaissance and chronicles the life of an intrepid book lover who rescued the Roman philosophical text On the Nature of Things from certain oblivion. In this work he has crafted both a work of history and a story of discovery, in which one manuscript, plucked from a thousand years of neglect, changed the course of human thought and made possible the world as we know it. 

Are you a poet aspiring to get published, but not sure where to start? The library can help! Check out this recently added database, The Directory of Poetry Publishers.

The directory contains a Publisher Index, Regional Index, Subject Index, and eBooks Menu. You can navigate to these features from any page in the directory, as they are included at the bottom of each page.

The Publisher Index contains listings of both magazines and book publishers. Magazines are listed in the directory in italics and all caps. Presses are listed in normal type. Publisher names preceded by a bullet were recently added to the directory. Clicking on the name of the magazine or press takes you to an entry of information about the press. Have questions about the contents of entries? Every entry has a link to the Key to Directory Listings. The Key provides detailed information about the contents and navigational features of listings.

The Regional Index lists publishers by state and country. The main page of the Regional Index offers a quick glance at publishers in each region, listing number of publishers beside specific states and countries in brackets.

Similarly, the Subject Index compiles periodicals and presses publishing specific subjects. Subjects are listed in alphabetical order. Number of publishers listing subjects is displayed next to subject description, in brackets, on the main page.

Clicking on the eBooks Menu button directs you to the main page for Dustbooks eDirectories. Once on the main page, you can click on The Directory of Poetry Publishers to return to the directory... or, you can explore some of our other, newly acquired Dustbooks products! These other products (The International Directory of Little Magazines & Small Presses, The Directory of Small Press/Magazine Editors & Publishers, and The Small Press Record of Books in Print) will be discussed in later blog posts.

King Library will have a display up this month in the foyer of the first floor in honor of National Poetry Month. This year's display honors Philip Levine, the 18th Poet Laureate of the United States, and Adrienne Rich, who passed away recently.

Special Collections also has a blog post about our Louise Bogan Collection called The Working Library of Louise Bogan (1897-1970), Poet and Critic

There are several organizations and companies celebrating National Poetry Month with various programs and activities. Here are some links you might want to check out to learn more:

30 Ways to Celebrate

Poem-a-Day

Voices on the Verge: 14 New Poets for National Poetry Month

MPL and National Poetry Month - April 2012

Poetry Foundation Celebrates National Poetry Month

You might also be interested in a new resource we have at the library called Dustbooks eDirectories. It includes Directory of poetry publishers, Directory of small press/magazine editors and publishers, International directory of little magazines and small presses, and Small press records of books in print.

Finally check out our GoodReads shelf for some poetry recommendations: