Footnotes SPRING 2015 VOLUME 40 NUMBER 1
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY footnotes SPRING 2015 VOLUME 40 NUMBER 1 INSIDE 4 The scholar-merchant of Kano 6 A new dawn for Deering 13 Farm to Table exhibit footnotes SPRING 2015, VOLUME 40, NUMBER 1 1 From the dean of libraries 2 News and events 4 The scholar-merchant of Kano Arabic manuscript collection spurs research 6 A new dawn for Deering Building a bridge between preservation and modernization 10 Hidden treasures 12 The John Cage Collection Three scholars, three approaches 13 Farm to Table Exhibit explores government information and food Footnotes is published three times a year On the cover Locked for more than 40 years beginning in 1970, the doors by Northwestern University Library. of Deering Library opened to the public again in 2012 after a renovation www.library.northwestern.edu aimed at making the building easier to access. Photo by Peter Kiar. Above Detail of Deering’s steel-frame windows. A UV-resistant coating Dean of Libraries and Charles Deering applied many years ago has clouded their appearance. Photo by McCormick University Librarian: Earl Richardson. Sarah M. Pritchard [email protected] Director of Development: Carlos D. Terrazas [email protected] Our apologies Director of Library Public Relations: In the fall issue of Footnotes, we inadvertently mislabeled an entry Clare Roccaforte in our 2014 Honor Roll of Donors. We regret the error. [email protected] $1,000–2,499 Editor and Writer: Ana C. Borgersen Drew Scott Also, many of our readers noted their copies arrived with an [email protected] incorrect name above the mailing address. We apologize for this Northwestern University is an equal opportunity, one-time processing error. Rest assured all names and addresses affirmative action educator and employer. remain correctly paired in our database. © 2015 Northwestern University. Produced by University Relations. 3-15/13.2M/NL-MM/1851-1 b footnotes SPRING 2015 from the dean of libraries NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY What is the best way for a library to serve its com mu- LIBRARY nity? What does “library” even mean these days? BOARD OF GOVERNORS These seem like simple questions, but as the needs of Andrew Campbell Andrew Stephen M. Strachan, chair our users evolve and the nature of information itself Robert D. Avery changes, the answers also change every few years. Suzanne S. Bettman Paul A. Bodine As you’ll see in this issue of Footnotes, we are planning Frederick L. Brown a major renovation of Deering Library as part of John S. Burcher We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern. Like Jane A. Burke many of the older buildings on campus, Deering has Jennifer D. Cain had to adapt to serve students and faculty differently Anne T. Coughlan Gerald E. Egan over time, even if the solutions weren’t always a natural Harve A. Ferrill fit for its facilities and capabilities. John S. Gates Jr. Byron L. Gregory Since University Library opened in 1970, Deering has primarily been home to some of Kenneth R. Herlin our prestigious and distinctive collections: the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Peter Hong Special Collections, University Archives, the Music Library, Government Information, Daniel S. Jones and the Art Collection. But the design of Deering, as ideal as it was 80 years ago, has never James A. Kaduk been a match for the modern needs of these important collections, including adequate Victoria Mitchell Kohn technology, classrooms, exhibition space, curatorial work areas, proper storage, and security. Stephen C. Mack Judith Paine McBrien The renovation of Deering will address these needs and will put us on a par with the best Nancy McCormick Howard M. McCue III of our peer research libraries. Plans call for a secured zone for our rarest materials, with Deirdre McKechnie a centralized (and elegant) point of service that makes their use more efficient and the Peter B. McKee scholarly environment more consistent. With these standards addressed, students, faculty, M. Julie McKinley and researchers will have a more welcoming and efficient way to engage with the collections Rosemary Powell McLean we are so diligently building. We will improve our ability to keep items secure and cared William C. Mitchell* for even as we make other parts of the building more open for general use. One additional Yelda Basar Moers benefit: with access consolidated and security improved, our librarians will be able to Sandi3 L. Riggs Marcia A. Ryles spend more time focusing on services and collections, developing subject expertise for Gordon I. Segal Northwestern’s academic programs, and adding to the distinctiveness that makes us one Alan H. Silberman of the leading libraries in the country. Eric B. Sloan John H. Stassen* I hope you’ll support our vision by contributing to We Will. The Campaign for Jane Urban Taylor* Northwestern. With your help we can ensure University Library remains the stalwart John C. Ver Steeg supporter of scholarship that Northwestern deserves. Sarah M. Pritchard, ex officio Carlos D. Terrazas, ex officio * emeritus Sarah M. Pritchard Dean of Libraries and Charles Deering McCormick University Librarian 6 SPRING 2015 footnotes 1 news and events Librarian Gary Strawn receives Ex Libris award Influential library software vendor Ex Libris had to invent a new award last September to properly acknowledge the work of a Northwestern librarian whose dozens of freelance software applications have made life easier for librarians worldwide. Gary Strawn (pictured below), an authorities librarian and systems program- To see more recently published mer, received the first Azriel Morag Lifetime books like these, which drew on Achievement Award for Innovation from the Library’s special collections, Ex Libris, which develops automated soft- visit tinyurl.com/NULibraryblog. ware products for searching, managing, and circulating library holdings. The usefulness of his creations earned Librarians the world over use Strawn’s Strawn a hero’s welcome at the international free customized applications to augment conference where he received his award. Ex Libris products and execute tasks more “I don’t know if everyone at North- Hunter Davies, editor of The Beatles efficiently. Over the last 15 years Strawn western truly understands how much Gary Lyrics, made use of the Music Library’s prized developed more than 25 useful programs is appreciated and how large his reputation John Cage Collection. The book contains that fine-tune the backbone software that is,” says Michael North, a Northwestern color repro ductions of more than 100 many libraries use for common service tasks. Library systems analyst in attendance. Beatles manuscripts that reveal the group’s He offered his applications free to the creative process, including seven original library community, which eagerly made Books researched in Library handwritten pieces that came to Cage dur- use of such improvements. hit shelves ing his collaborations with other musicians. Authors of two books published last The set includes “Eleanor Rigby” lyrics autumn—Topless Cellist: The Improbable Life scrawled on a torn-out notebook page. of Charlotte Moorman and The Beatles Lyrics— “These books are examples of research acknowledged in print the contribution of that couldn’t have happened without the University Library and its collections. Library’s commitment to culturally significant In Topless Cellist, Joan Rothfuss made collections,” says D. J. Hoek, acting associate extensive use of the experimental musician’s University librarian for special libraries. papers in the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections. Moorman Early 1970s football films now online was an eclectic performer (sometimes per- Fourteen hours of footage—the existing forming in the nude) and an avid collector visual record of the 1970 and 1971 North- of ephemera relating to her own life and western football seasons—are now available influence on avant-garde art and music. The for public viewing as part of the Library’s book has a foreword by Yoko Ono. ongoing Game Savers initiative to digitize endangered football films. 2 footnotes SPRING 2015 Now viewable at the Library’s new Audio + Video Repository (www.media .northwestern.edu) are games, scrimmages, The papers of the late Chicago artist and Northwestern professor Ed Paschke contain practices, and highlight reels for two success- eclectic decorative items found in his study. Paschke found inspiration in commercial ful seasons under head coach Alex Agase. designs as diverse as sunglasses, matchbooks, and magic tricks. The ’Cats, led by Northwestern football legends Mike Adamle and Rick Telander, Kaplan fellow to study Paschke collection finished second in the Big Ten in both 1970 Jason Nargis, manuscript librarian in the Depart ment and 1971, with final records of 6-4 and 7-4. of Special Collections and Archives, began his The ongoing Game Savers initiative tenure last fall as the 2014–15 Library Fellow in the aims to digitize 2,400 film reels of Wildcat Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities. In his football games dating back to 1929. The research proposal, “Signal and Noise in the Art footage of the 1970 and 1971 seasons joins and Teaching of Ed Paschke,” Nargis said he intends 26 hours of digitized films already in the to study and interpret University Archives’ papers Audio + Video Repository. of the late Chicago-based painter and Northwestern faculty member. Examining how the role of teacher and mentor informed Paschke’s Events draw eager historians, artistic sensibility and professional output, Nargis is studying how sports fans the artist’s “gregarious and affable” interpersonal style helped him form Fall-quarter lectures continued the Library’s relationships that inspired his production and artistic vision. Nargis is efforts to reach broad audiences with a interviewing some former students of the painter, who died in 2004. diverse array of programming. “The fusing of ‘highbrow’ elements with the worlds of marginalized For the third year in a row, a sellout groups is fascinating to me,” he says.