Spring 2010 Number 169 Full Text the George Mason University Libraries
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Spring 2010 Number 169 Full Text The George Mason University Libraries IN THIS ISSUE -Letter from the 02 University Librarian -Abraham Lincoln: The President & the Man What’s New at the 03 University Libraries? Images Say More Than 04 Words Ever Could When Is Opening 05 Night? East German 06 Poster Collection -Remembering Kurt 08 -Are You Up for the “Challenge?” 09 Honor Roll http://library.gmu.edu/libinfo/fulltext.html Message from the University Librarian Welcome to another issue of Full Text — portals are designed to increase the transfer of knowledge across the University Libraries’ publication for the Mason academic community. The research portals strengthen the our benefactors and friends. As with past University Libraries collaboration with the academic departments by issues, it is our hope that the content permitting our librarians to move beyond the library walls to “virtually” of these pages will provide you with a share a common research space with their faculty counterparts, serving strong sense of the University Libraries’ the needs of advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and, of course, accomplishments and activities. Mason’s faculty across the schools and colleges of the university. The recent twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall A lively discussion of Abraham Lincoln took place between Susan was a celebration of humanity’s unceasing quest for freedom. For Swain, executive vice president of C-SPAN and Richard Norton Smith, a almost three decades, a generation of East Germans remained nationally recognized expert on the American presidency and a scholar- true to this quest by struggling to preserve their intellectual and in-residence at Mason. The University Libraries were honored to sponsor moral freedoms while living under totalitarian rule. By necessity, and host this successful event during the 2009 Fall for the Book festival. much of their creative struggle was sly, subtle, and shrewd. Two no- Finally, we want to recognize, celebrate, and express our deep ap- table recent acquisitions document both the oppression and the preciation to our donors. We are pleased to announce two new endow- creative spirit of the people living in East Germany at that time: ments: the Kurt Andrew Dodd American History Endowment; and the a significant collection of photographic images documenting the University Libraries Endowment for Excellence, a challenge endowment. Berlin Wall from its construction to its fall; and a large and rare I also want to direct your attention to the Honor Roll of Donors which East German collection of posters about art, film, dance, music, recognizes our benefactors during last fiscal year. As we enter into a theater and politics. new decade, the support of our friends will become increasingly more The East German posters collection, especially, has already critical in helping us realize Mason’s vision of academic excellence. On received national attention. Recently, the Council on Library and behalf of the University Libraries and George Mason University, I would Information Resources (CLIR) awarded the University Libraries’ like to thank you for your continued support. Special Collections & Archives with a grant to assist with the pro- cessing, cataloging, preserving, and making the posters accessible Best regards, to scholars. While structures such as the Berlin Wall are built to con- John G. Zenelis strain people and their ingenuity, others are created to promote the growth of knowledge and human potential. The University Libraries’ development of award-winning, discipline-based research Abraham Lincoln: The President & the Man hile interviewing historians on C-SPAN, and its n O September 22, show BookTV, Susan Swain realized that Abra- 2009, Swain and Richard Wham Lincoln was a more complex individual and Norton Smith, a lead- president than previous historical accounts had described. In ing Lincoln historian and an attempt to provide a fuller, more in-depth portrait of Lincoln scholar-in-residence at and his legacy, Swain, president and co-chief operating officer of Mason, spoke at a University Libraries–sponsored lecture as part of C-SPAN, and Brian Lamb, founder and CEO of C-SPAN, pub- the Fall for the Book festival. They discussed many of the essays and lished Abraham Lincoln: Great American Historians on Our Sixteenth interviews in the book that brought to light a more nuanced and President, a collection of stories, essays, and transcribed interviews multidimensional picture of Lincoln within the context of his times, his from leading historians who focus on Lincoln and his presidency. life, and his policies. 2 What’s New at the University Libraries? he University Libraries was selected as a 2009 Campus Technology Innovator for developing online research People Tportals that combine scholarly content, databases, blog • Sarah Sheehan, College of Health and Human Services postings, and web resources to support the research needs of stu- liaison librarian, achieved certification as a senior member of the dents and faculty. Campus Technology Innovator awards are given Medical Library Association’s Academy of Health Information each year to higher education institutions that deploy “extraor- Professionals. dinary campus technology solutions to campus challenges.” The University Libraries’ award is one of eleven from a field of 349 • Jordan Patty, Special Collections and Archives processing nominations. archivist and librarian, was awarded the Merl E. Reed Fellow- Wally Grotophorst, associate university librarian and head of ship in Southern Labor History by the Georgia State University Digital Programs and Systems office, was the lead developer of Library for his project, “Public Transit, Ownership, and Labor in the research portal system. Ten portals are open for research— the United States, 1935–1975.” bioinformatics, biodefense, bioengineering, neuroscience, global research and education, early American history, earth observing • Nathan Putnam, cataloging and metadata services librar- and space research, health and strategic communication, indus- ian, has been selected to participate in the American Library trial/organizational psychology, and nursing administration—with Association’s Emerging Leaders program for 2009-2010. more being developed. Portals foster closer cooperation and better integration • Jennifer Barnes Bowie, assistant professor of govern- of librarians with academic departments and programs through ment and politics, Department of Public and International Affairs, shared research space that is not confined within library walls. has been named the 2009–2010 Fenwick Fellow for her project, “Research portals embody a paradigm shift for librarians in “Explaining Decision Making on the United States Courts of Ap- academic and research settings,” John Zenelis, university librarian, peals: Do Circuit Courts of Appeals Judges Fear Reversal from says. “We are moving from helping with research to materially their Circuit En Banc?” improving researcher productivity.” In 2004, President Alan Merten appointed a Library Plan- ning Task Force to map out the University Libraries’ role and Grants functions in 2010 and beyond. The new portals directly respond • The Nippon Foundation has awarded the University to task force recommendations by providing librarians with the Libraries 100 monographic titles that explore various aspects of capabilities to serve students and faculty who are just as likely contemporary Japan. The University Libraries was among 150 to travel to a library virtually as they are to walk across any of libraries in the United States that received such an award. Mason’s campuses. • The GDR Poster Archive was awarded a $76,800 grant, For more information about this award visit: one of 14 proposals funded by the Council on Library and Infor- http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/07/22/campus- mation Resources (CLIR). technology-innovators-awards-2009.aspx?sc_lang=en To visit a research portal: http://library.gmu.edu/portals.html 3 Images Say More Than Words Ever Could Rebecca Forrest & Robert Vay he image on the cover of this issue is of 19-year-old Hans Conrad Schumann, a soldier in the East Ger- Tman Bereitschaftspolizei, and the barbed wire fence that was guarded as the first phase of the Berlin Wall. Con- rad was guarding the uncompleted Wall on the third day of construction, August 15, 1961. While on guard duty, Conrad was beckoned by people on the west side of Berlin shouting “Komm rüber!” Their cries to “come over” persuaded him to jump over the barbed wire fence. He was quickly driven away by a West Berlin police car that had been nearby. For more than 28 years, until November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall stood as an ugly symbol of human isolation and cruelty, as about 100 persons were killed by East German security forces while trying to cross the Wall into West Berlin. The photo of Con- rad’s defection was a symbol of resistance against the East German government and the Berlin Wall. To see more photos please visit SC&A on-line at http://sca.gmu.edu/ and click on the Facebook icon at the bottom or call 703-993-2220 to make an appointment to see some of the collection in person. The Berlin Wall did not just divide a country, it also divided families. A child, separated from his parents when the first phase of the Wall construction was carried out in the early morning hours of August 13, 1961, is helped over the barbed wire by a soldier. The soldier’s hesitant look is understandable as orders were to let no one in and no one out. History did not record this soldier’s name or his fate. Photo by Ziegfried Rischar that was submitted A West German girl looks through a large hole in By 1989 the Berlin Wall itself was crumbling. for a contest in 1984 called “Overcoming the the Berlin Wall at a guard in East Berlin. Despite its dilapidated state, the Wall still stood Wall by Painting the Wall,” hosted by the Haus as a physical and symbolic division of the German am Checkpoint Charlie (House at Checkpoint people until the citizens of both East and West Charlie) museum.