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Spring 2010 Vol. 5, no. 3, Spring 2010

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The Newsletter of Morris Library • Southern Illinois University Carbondale Morris Library’s Cuneiform Tablet

by Ann Myers, Special Cuneiform writing is the earliest known Collections Cataloger writing system in the world, emerging in the 34th century BC, and it was used he oldest item owned by Morris for over 3,000 years. Its characters could TLibrary is not a book by modern represent a number of different languag- definitions; it is a small clay tablet with es, but it was first developed from a form cuneiform writing. It would fit comfort- of hieroglyphics used by the Sumerians. ably in the palm of your hand, though These hieroglyphics had been carved it is in two pieces and cracked in other into stone, and used curved as well places, so we try to handle it as little as as straight lines. When the Sumerian possible. We believe the tablet dates from culture moved to Mesopotamia where 2400–2200 BC, and it was found in Senkereh, In This Issue also known as the biblical • Morris Library’s Cuneiform city of Larsa (modern Tablet day Tell as-Senkereh in Page 1 Iraq).

• Message from the Dean Morris Library acquired Page 2 the tablet from Edgar J. • Katherine Dunham’s Banks, an early twenti- Haitian Legacy eth-century archaeolo- Page 4 gist. He was also a dealer in antiquities, buying • Library Is Seeking many cuneiform tablets Morris’ cuneiform tablet lives in a custom-made box that is in need of repair. See page 5. Page 3 & 6 and importing as many as 11,000 to the United • Focus on Library Faculty: States, where he sold them to universi- stone was less common, clay became the Jonathan Nabe ties and museums. He excavated Bismya, dominant writing material. The tools Page 7 or the lost city of Adab in 1903, was the used to impress marks in the clay made first American to climb Mount Ararat wedge-shaped marks which did not lend in 1912, and may have been the first themselves to curved lines, so the hiero- www.lib.siu.edu archaeologist to search for the Ark of the glyphic characters became more stylized, Covenant. His many adventures have led and eventually came to represent sounds some to speculate that he inspired the rather than ideas. The cuneiform writing Indiana Jones character. on our clay tablet covers every surface

continued on page 5 . . . Cornerstone is published four times Message from the Dean a year. It is distributed free of charge to Friends of Morris Library, SIUC faculty and friends of the University. Taxpayer Access

Dean RPAA: It stands for Federal Research Public Access Act (pro- David Carlson 618/453-2522/[email protected] Fnounced fir-pa). Like many initialisms, it does not roll off the tongue but FRPAA is important legislation that was introduced Acting Associate Dean For into the U.S. House of Representatives in April as HR 5037. The Support Services bill was introduced on a bi-partisan basis by Representatives Doyle Howard Carter 618/453-2258/[email protected] (D-PA), Waxman (D-CA), Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), Harper (R-MS), Boucher (D-VA) and Rohrabacher (R-CA). Associate Dean For Information Services Susan Tulis Governmental agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science 618/453-1459/[email protected] Foundation give money—tens of billions of dollars annually—to universities and other groups in support of research. The results of the research are reported back to the agency through Special Collection Research technical documents, progress updates, and a final report. Further, in most cases researchers Center—Manuscript, Art & Photographic Donations report results in articles in peer-reviewed journals. Unfortunately, access to these articles, which Pam Hackbart-Dean represent the explication and documentation of the research findings, is limited and restricted. 618/453-2516/[email protected] Access is gained only by those who have access to the journal, in print or electronic format. Typically, researchers gain access through a subscription paid for by the library of the institu- Book and Monetary Donations & Bequests tion with which they are affiliated. Kristine McGuire 618/453-1633/[email protected] As a society, we support and value research because we wish to discover new knowledge and understand more fully the world around us. But discoveries and new knowledge, even the most Cornerstone important ones, are valueless unless they are shared and communicated. When shared, discov- eries can be applied, and others can learn and build upon the knowledge gained. Communica- Editor tion is not simply a by-product of research—it is essential to its purpose. Gordon Pruett 618/453-1660/[email protected] FRPAA requires the primary federal grant-funding agencies to provide online public access to Designer published manuscripts stemming from the research no later than six months after publication Sharon Granderson in a peer-reviewed journal. The argument for such a requirement is that since the research is 618/453-1011/[email protected] funded through public funds, the public has a right to the literature reporting the results. The Preservation six-month embargo period protects the business models of publishers which rely on the income Julie Mosbo from subscriptions. 618/453-2947/[email protected]

Photography A key objection by publishers to FRPAA is that it undermines their business model and that Greg Wendt libraries will cut subscriptions despite the six-month embargo. Regrettably, we have some 618/453-3860/[email protected] experience with journal cancellation projects at Morris, and I can report two key findings. First, we have never looked at the percentage of public access availability of articles in a journal as a criterion for cancellation. Our primary concern is and will always be the applicability and For a complete listing of the library staff, relevance of the journal to our curriculum and research interests. Second, I can report that the About The Library follow the link to primary reason we cancel journals is the inability to afford what I believe are the rapacious price the Staff Directory on our home page: http://www.lib.siu.edu/hp/ increases by publishers which year after year, decade after decade, exceed the average U.S. infla- © 2010 Board of Trustees, tion rate. Southern Illinois University I encourage you to support FRPAA. You paid for the research. You deserve access to it. If you want more information about FRPAA, I recommend the web site of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access at the following URL: www.taxpayeraccess.org

Portions of this essay were also used in a recent Op Ed piece in the Southern Illinoisan. David Carlson • 2 • The Library Is Seeking . . . Library Affairs thanks donors who have purchased items from the previous list— ith research library budgets $110 for Frank Auerbach by William Wstrained by the increasing costs Feaver. This is the most comprehensive Barry W. Birnbaum of electronic journals and databases, publication to date, and the only book in Chicago, IL more traditional reference/replacement print, on the work of Frank Auerbach, –•– volumes are sometimes left behind. The a painter who has become one of the David E. Christensen Library Is Seeking . . . looks for private pre-eminent artists of our age, widely ad- Carbondale, IL funding for those items that would not mired for his vivid, impulsive depictions –•– otherwise be purchased by the library. If of the world around him. His is, ostensi- Connie Corwin you are interested in underwriting one bly, a narrow world, a small area of north Centennial, CO of these items, please contact Kristine London where he has lived and worked –•– McGuire at [email protected] or for more than fifty years, but within it he Mary Houchin 618-453-1633. achieves images of marvelous poignancy Lebanon, IL and feel. “I’m hoping,” Auerbach has said, –•– R “to make a new thing for the world that Richard & Karin Jurek remains in the mind like a new species of Dyer, IN living thing.” Auerbach, who was born in $170 for Landscape As World Picture: –•– Berlin in 1931 and came to Britain when Bill & Gail McGraw Tracing Cultural Evolution in Images by he was eight, repeatedly paints people he Chicago, IL Jacob Wamberg. This book presents knows well and places he is familiar with. a new and comprehensive bid concern- –•– ing the manner in which landscapes in Walter C. Rodgers Vienna, VA Western pictorial art may be interpreted The Adopt-a-Book Program in relation to the cultures that created –•– them. “Unusual for its ambitious scope, encourages donors to purchase Roger & Valerie Soals Cox Wamberg undertakes a survey of the needed titles within which Carbondale, IL appearance of landscape in western art a personalized bookplate The Adopt-a-Book Program from cave painting to the Renaissance, appreciates your support. utilizing concepts from philosophy and is placed. psychology to explain the artist’s, and by extension, that civilization’s notion of the For more information, $210 for Cambridge History of Eigh- world around them. Wamberg develops by David Wyn please call 618-453-1633. teenth-Century Music his argument chronologically and the- Jones. The eighteenth century argu- matically.” —BookNews ably boasts a more remarkable group of significant musical figures, and a $110 for New Perspectives on Adam more engaging combination of genres, R Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments styles and aesthetic orientations than by Geoff Cockfield. “While much any century before or since, yet huge $225 for Companion to Aelfric edited by attention has been given to The Wealth swathes of its musical activity remain Hugh Magennis. This collection pro- of Nations, Adam Smith’s companion under-appreciated. This history provides vides a new, authoritative and challenging book on The Theory of Moral Sentiments a comprehensive survey of eighteenth- study of the life and works of Aelfric, is often ignored or dismissed as incom- century music, examining little-known Abbot of Eynsham, the most important patible with the central message of the repertories, works and musical trends vernacular religious writer in the history more famous work. While a number of alongside more familiar ones. Rather of Anglo-Saxon England. The contribu- economists and other social scientists than relying on temporal, periodic and tors include almost all of the key Aelfric have criticized such stances, this collec- composer-related phenomena to struc- scholars working today and some impor- tion of essays brings together a number ture the volume, it is organized by genre; tant newer voices. Each of the chapters of fresh and important perspectives on chapters are grouped according to the is a cutting-edge piece of work which Smith’s relatively neglected volume.”— traditional distinctions of music for the addresses one aspect of Aelfric works or Geoffrey M. Hodgson, University of church, music for the theatre and music career. Hertfordshire, UK for the concert room that conditioned so much thinking, activity and output in the eighteenth century. • 3 • continued on page 6 . . . Katherine Dunham’s Haitian Legacy by Aaron Lisec, Special Collections “As soon as I set foot on Leclerc I felt its evil. I knew none of its Research Specialist history then, or, I should say, only the bright side: its gracious amed dancer, choreographer, and alleyways and staircases, the figures in baroque style around the pool graced by a bas-relief of Pauline Bonaparte Leclerc on Fteacher Katherine Dunham (1909– 2006) was born in Illinois, attended Canova’s sofa calmly regarding two awkward slaves offering the ” —Katherine Dunham, Island Possessed the University of Chicago, lived in New fruit of the country. . . . York City and Dakar, Senegal, and spent parade and much of her last years wax cylinder in East St. Louis. But recordings of for many who know ceremonial little else about her, music, recently Dunham will always converted to be associated with compact disc Haiti: a country she under SCRC first knew as an eager auspices. student of anthropol- Dunham’s ogy; where she under- immersion went a spiritual ordeal in Voodoo that transformed her traditions had life and shaped her a profound career; where she effect on her returned as a dance decision to be- diva to reign as come a dancer, mistress over one and the path of the island’s most “Here lived Pauline Bonaparte in 1802” graces the property later owned by Katherine Dunham. her dance ca- historic properties; reer took. She and whose political incorporated turmoil inspired ethnography of Carib- ceremonial rhythms and movements her well-publicized bean dance forms, into her choreography, and infused her hunger strike in Dunham immersed routines with a Caribbean mystique that 1992, at the age of herself in Haitian linked her indelibly to the region and 82. life, befriended thrilled audiences around the world. In Scholars can trace political leaders, and 1949 she returned to Haiti to accept an Dunham’s long was initiated into the award from President Dumarsais Estimé, fascination with indigenous Vaudun a friend from her first visit, and shortly Haiti through the (Voodoo) religion in afterward she bought Habitation Leclerc, Katherine Dunham an elaborate, three- a large villa with a sacred spring sur- Papers, part of the day ceremony that she rounded by a tropical forest in the sub- University Archives described in intimate urbs of Port-au-Prince. The property was detail in her Haitian once owned by Napoleon’s sister Pauline, in the Special Col- Katherine Dunham on steps of Haiti’s lections Research National Palace in 1950. memoir, Island Pos- the wife of General Leclerc, sent by Center (SCRC) at sessed, published by France to crush Haiti’s nascent rebellion. Morris Library. Dunham’s papers yield Doubleday in 1969. Her manuscript for Famous for her extramarital exploits, a wealth of material on Haiti, beginning Island Possessed remains with SCRC. Pauline Leclerc hosted legendary parties with her anthropological field trip to the Other mementoes of her Haitian field- in her villa. Under her husband’s succes- island in 1935–36. While studying the work include film she took of a Carnival sor, General Rochambeau, the plantation • 4 • continued from page 4 clinic, and little respect for the small St. Louis home to protest U.S. policy ruling elite, with whom she was expected against the refugees. Her efforts drew achieved a more sinister notoriety, with to mingle. President Estimé was driven attention from national and worldwide stories of rebellious slaves buried alive or into exile soon after she bought her villa, media, and she was only persuaded to fed to ravenous dogs. and she reached an uneasy truce with stop after 47 days, amid serious concern To exorcise the spiritual remnants of this his successors, including the notorious for her health. Dunham was later named “evil” legacy, Dunham enlisted the help Duvaliers, “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc.” “Spiritual Mother of Haiti” by President of a Voodoo priestess, who spent months In the 1970s, Dunham leased most of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. To honor her on the property. Still, as she suggests in Habitation Leclerc to a French developer, memory, her home in Haiti has been her memoir, Dunham never quite felt who built a luxury resort catering to transformed into a cultural center and at home in her tropical paradise, where wealthy celebrities. But she kept a house botanical garden; its condition after the she lived on and off for more than two there, and maintained her ties to the devastating January 12th earthquake is decades. Her relationship with the island country. In 1992, after a coup in Haiti unknown. itself was similarly mixed. She had a led to the mass migration of so-called deep sympathy for the long-suffering Haitian boat-people to Florida, Dunham poor, for whom she ran a free medical embarked on a hunger strike in her East continued from page 1 reused later. Many such tablets were ac- sick would appeal to him for relief from Cuneiform Tablet cidentally preserved for later generations unjust suffering at the hands of demons. when the buildings housing them were Seeks New Home razed by invading armies. Much more remains to be discovered about the nature and origins of our he custom-made box in which The city-state of Larsa, where our clay cuneiform tablet. The fact that this 4,000 Tthe cuneiform tablet resides tablet was found, dates to Babylonian year-old relic has survived to the present has served its purpose well for the times, 2800 or 2700 BC, and was the site day is astonishing and is a reminder of past several decades. But the library’s of worship of a sun-god named Utu in the impermanence of many other media. conservators feel that more durable Sumerian, and Shamash in Akkadian. It provides a tangible glimpse into a time material would benefit the tablet’s The name Senkereh appears to refer preservation. We are seeking $275 in so far removed from our own that it is underwriting for this purpose. Please to an ancient mound that may have almost alien to us. We hope to continue contact Kristine McGuire at 618- been the site of the to preserve this piece 453-1633 to conserve this ancient sun-god’s temple. of the past for many treasure. Senkereh was first more generations to excavated in 1850, come. and efforts to of the tablet, and the lines even curve recover the ancient to fit the contour of the clay. This was a city continued characteristic of later cuneiform writing into the twentieth in which the signs are crowded together, century. The little making the text particularly difficult to Banks’ note for Morris’ documentation we decipher. tablet states, “It is a have regarding the tab- tablet from the temple let indicates that it was archives, relating to the If a scribe wanted to preserve the writing found in the temple sacrifices. It is unusual on a clay tablet, he would either lay it because it bears writing archives, and that it out in the sun to dry, or fire it in a kiln in every possible spot, relates to sacrifices. We to harden the clay. However, not all clay and the lines on one don’t know the nature end are curved to fit tablets surviving today were deliberately of these sacrifices, but the contour of the fired. If the information on the tablet was tablet. Date—about Shamash was also the not considered important, the clay would 2200 B.C. Guaranteed god of justice, and the genuine, Edgar J. be left damp, and the tablet might be Courtesy Eustis Historical Museum Banks” Edgar J. Banks was the basis for the film character of Indiana Jones. • 5 • The Library Is Seeking . . . continued from page 3 $210 for Socioeconomic and Legal Impli- cations of Electronic Intrusion edited by $285 for Handbook of the Birds of the $160 for The World of Child Labor: an Dionysios Politis. In the information World. Volume 12: Picathartes to Tits Historical and Regional Survey, edited society, electronic intrusion has become and Chickadees.This series is the first by Hugh D. Hindman. “This ency- a new form of trespassing often causing ever to illustrate all the species of birds clopedia surveys child labor in a global significant problems and posing great in the world, in addition to providing and historical context. Editor Hindman risks for individuals and businesses. This access to all the essential information observes that child labor always has been book focuses on abusive and illegal prac- about each one of them. This volume a chronic problem, but for the first time, tices of penetration in the sphere of pri- includes coverage of the Passeriformes: a global effort is emerging to end the vate communications. A leading interna- Picathartes, Babblers, Parrotbills, Aus- practice. Comprehensive in scope, the tional reference source within the field, it tralasian Babblers, Logrunners, Jewel- volume contains 222 original essays by provides legal and political practitioners, babblers and allies, Whistlers, Austral- 190 contributors.” —Choice academicians, and intrusion researchers asian Robins, Fairywrens, Bristlebirds, with expert knowledge into global theft Thornbills, Australian Chats, Sittellas, and spam perspectives, identity theft and Australasian Treecreepers, Tits and fraud, and electronic crime issues. Chickadees. 52 color plates, more than 400 color photographs, distribution maps. Morris Library currently holds the previous eleven volumes of this ac- To underwrite any of these items claimed series. contact Kristine McGuire at R [email protected] or 618-453-1633 $100 for Arthritis Sourcebook, Third ______Edition edited by Amy L. Sutton. This title provides updated information SUPPORT AN about diagnosing, treating, and managing degenerative, inflammatory, and other $210 for Cambridge History of Nine- specific forms of arthritis. It also explains OBELISK teenth-Century Music by Jim Samson the symptoms and treatments of related “After more than three decades of discov- n 1914 the became the cam- diseases that affect the joints, tendons, Obelisk ery and controversy about Western art pus yearbook for Southern Illinois ligaments, bones, and muscles. Details I music of the 19th century, Samson has University, and Special Collections put together a collection that articulates about currently used medical, surgical, has embarked on a project to digitize contemporary understanding of that and self-care management strategies are Obelisks from 1914 to 1960. A gift included along with tips for reducing of $100 will underwrite the insertion era’s major issues. Both a reference work joint pain and inflammation and manag- of an electronic bookplate, containing and a springboard for further research, ing arthritis-related disability. your name, an inscription, and a photo- this volume comprises 21 self-contained graph. These volumes will be full-text essays that range from historiography searchable. Contact Kristine McGuire and intellectual and social context to R at 618-453-1633 or [email protected]. repertory studies. Samson divides the $480 for Encyclopedia of Human Rights edu for more information about becom- contributions into two sections (1800– edited by David P. Forsythe. “Recent ing a supporter of this project. 50, 1850–1900), each dealing with the years have witnessed a proliferation of particular problems of the time—e.g., reference books on human rights. In- $295 for Encyclopedia of American periodization, standard concert fare, ge- spired by Encyclopedia of Human Rights, Disability History edited by Susan nius, nationalism. The editor instructed compiled by Edward Lawson (2nd ed., Burch. “Editor Burch has produced the writers to take a stand, to present an 1996), this one is sui generis. In edit- an excellent resource on the history of ‘angle’ rather than a survey. Since most ing this five-volume work of exceptional disability in the US. Over the past four of the writers are English and American, scope and depth, Forsythe has produced decades, increasing attention has been the essays and the choice of music and a magnum opus sure to take its place as focused on the disabled population. This institutions represent the views of mostly a major contribution to the literature. set, the first to incorporate such a wide the English-speaking scholarly world. All previous encyclopedic works on the variety of information into one resource, The cogent writing is organized and little subject pale in comparison. The sheer is currently the premier encyclopedia on troubled by footnotes (a current bibliog- massiveness of this undertaking makes it disability. ”—Choice raphy ends each essay) . . . ”—Choice a remarkable achievement.” — Choice • 6 • Focus on Library FacultyJonathan Nabe hen Jonathan Nabe returned to SIU in July 2007 it and even occasionally, handling books. I have the luxury of Wwas like the closing of a circle that included service at choosing my work agenda on a daily basis. The flip side of SUNY Stony Brook, Brandeis University, and the University that is that there is always too much to do, a common aspect of Connecticut. Previously, he completed his BS in zoology of academic librarianship, which is a direct result of declining at SIU in 1989, and he earned his Master’s in library science staffing, something that is happening everywhere. Do more at the University of Illinois in 1994. with less is the mantra, but the day When he was hired as the Collection only holds so many hours. Development Librarian in the sciences, Nabe commented it was Can you elaborate on your research Morris’ excellent national reputation and publications? that was a factor in attracting him Last year I completed a book on back here. starting and managing institutional repositories, something the profession What are the requirements of your sorely needed. It was an immense position? effort, but gratifying. You never I have two roles in Morris Library, know if you can do it until you try. one (for which I was hired) as My research interests mirror my job Collection Development Librarian responsibilities: exploring new ways to for the sciences, one as Coordinator optimize our resources and meeting of OpenSIUC, the institutional users’ needs, and using technology repository of SIUC. In my first role, to expand the reach of faculty and there are many important skills, but student research and publications, analytical skills are the essential and not just locally, but around the common denominator for all of my world. What I would really like to responsibilities. Not just analyzing One of three collection development librarians, do, though, is write a history of the resources for purchase, which I do, Nabe’s goal is “providing to the university and management of the Shawnee National but increasingly analyzing the use of surrounding communities access to the best and Forest. There have been some most useful collections possible.” resources which we already have, in interesting conflicts there that are order to ensure that the Library’s users’ largely untold . . . . needs are optimally met, in an environment of increasing costs and decreasing ability to afford everything. As OpenSIUC Why did you become a librarian? Coordinator, outreach is the essential quality for success, and Again, the variety of responsibilities. Also, being part of the this requires patience, persistence, knowledge, flexibility, and a world of academia, with its aims of spreading knowledge, whole lot else—in fact, I wrote a book about it. improving the lives of citizens, and managing the earth, its people and its resources more intelligently. Not for the money. What are the challenges of your position? Making painful decisions about what we have to give up in What’s the future of libraries? order to keep what we most need, and communicating those In terms of our collections, we will have a completely different decisions to faculty and students. For OpenSIUC, the biggest role. Instead of paying for resources produced by publishers, challenge is overcoming the inertia of overworked faculty and we will collect, preserve, and disseminate the research securing their participation. produced locally—the goal of an institutional repository. That is the only way others will be able to access that valuable What do you like best/least about your position? research, because all libraries have been, for over twenty years, The variety. On any given day I might be ordering books, cutting subscriptions and reducing the number of books analyzing use statistics in spreadsheets, persuading faculty they buy. And the SIUC community will increasingly access to contribute to OpenSIUC, composing public relations others’ research that way, as other institutions also implement materials, researching citation use in SIUC theses and repositories like OpenSIUC. dissertations, writing articles or preparing presentations, • 7 • Library Affairs Morris Library, Mail Code 6632 Southern Illinois University Carbondale 605 Agriculture Drive Carbondale, IL 62901-4310

roundbreaking Gfor the Morris patio is soon to occur. But time remains to underwrite bricks, tables, and Old Main remnants. Contact Kristine McGuire at [email protected] or 618- 453-1633.

Library Friends Yes! I want to help ensure the Library’s excellence with a gift to Library Excellence Fund. inancial gifts from library friends F empower Morris Library and ensure Enclosed is my gift of: o$50 o$100 o$150 oOther $______its position as one of the top research Name______libraries in the country. We appreciate this tradition of private support, which Address______is critical to the quality of the library’s City, State, Zip______collections, programs, and services. In E-mail Address______furtherance of the goals of Southern at 150, SIUC and the SIU Foundation retain oEnclosed is my check payable to Southern Illinois University Foundation. six percent of all gifts to strengthen the oI wish to pay by credit card: advancement program. oVisa oDiscover/Novus oMasterCard Please mail this coupon with your gift to: Card number______Exp. Date ______Southern Illinois University Foundation Signature______Phone______Colyer Hall, Mail Code 6805 oMy company will match my gift: Southern Illinois University Carbondale 1235 Douglas Drive Company name______Carbondale, IL 62901 oYes, I would like to receive information about planned giving options. 10PSVN1 110231911100001 DM 10PSVN1 110231911100001 • 8 •