No (dust) jacket required

The Betty and Edgar Sweren Student Book Collecting Contest recognizes the love of books and the delight in shaping a thoughtful and focused book collection. All undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a degree program at Johns Hopkins are invited to enter the contest. Entries will be judged according to the coherency of the items in the collection and the extent to which the collection reflects the student’s stated goals and interests.

Students should submit a 2-3 page essay, detailing the purpose of the collection, how it was started, and how it was assembled over time. This description should also highlight the items of greatest interest within the collection, as well as any plans for the collection’s future development. Along with this written description, students should include a bibliography of 20 or more items (maximum of 50) and a “wish list” of up to ten items that they would like to add to their collection.

The contest will feature separate divisions for undergraduate and graduate students. In each division, the first place contestant will be awarded $1,000, while the second and third place entries will receive $500 and $250, respectively. In addition, the winning entries will be displayed on M-Level of the Eisenhower Library and will be eligible to enter the 2010 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest.

Submissions must be received by February 12, 2010. See here for a more detailed description of the contest. Last year, sophomore undergraduate student Shrivats Iyer and fourth-year graduate student Sarah Richardson were awarded first place for their collections.

Nobel Winners and JHU Scientists Support Open Access

On November 10th the Alliance for Taxpayer Access released a letter from 41 Nobel laureates to the U.S. Congress. The letter was written by the scientists in support of the Federal Research Public Access Act. This act would require other Federal agencies to develop public access policies similar to the NIH Public Access Policy. The NIH policy requires that journal articles describing research supported by NIH funds be made freely available in PubMed Central within one year of their publication.

Four of the letter’s signers are associated with Johns Hopkins University. They are:

• Peter Agre, Chemistry, 2003
• Andrew Fire, Medicine, 2006
• Carol Greider, Medicine, 2009
• David Hubel, Medicine, 1981

Please see the Scholarly Communications website for more information about Open Access.

Have You Heard About Our Press?

The Johns Hopkins University Press is the oldest university press in the United States, founded in 1878. Within a few years, they were publishing the American Journal of Mathematics and the American Journal of Philology. These journals are still being published today.

Not content with print publicatons, the Johns Hopkins University Press is leading the charge into online publishing. Have you ever used journals that are part of Project Muse? You can thank our press for that. They also publish several online reference works including the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism.

Read about their upcoming events and newest publications in their newsletter, InPress.

Workshop: Spatial Intelligence for China and Global Studies

Workshop: Spatial Intelligence for China and Global Studies

Presented by Shuming Bao Ph.D. China Data Center/University of Michigan

Time: Thursday, October 29th, 12-1pm

Location: Electronic Resource Center, Eisenhower Library M-level

This invited lecture will give an introduction to Chinese government statistics, Census data, and GIS data, including methodologies, definitions, and data coverage. It will also present spatial intelligence technologies for spatial data integration, data selection, and data analysis. It will demonstrate how space-time data of different formats and sources can be integrated, visualized, and reported in a web-based system. Some applications in disaster assessment, environment, health, regional development, cultural and religious studies, and household surveys will be discussed for China and global studies. ALL ARE WELCOME!

Start the Weekend with a Renaissance Man

The Friends of the Johns Hopkins University Libraries present “Polymath: Leonardo da Vinci’s Life and Legacy.”

Join the Friends this Friday, October 23, at 6:15 pm in the Mason Hall Auditorium, for a talk by renowned Leonardo expert Jonathan Pevsner on the life, library, and legacy of Leonardo da Vinci.

Centuries after his death, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) continues to fascinate and inspire. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But he was also a brilliant scientist and engineer, with discoveries that advanced understanding of human anatomy and inventions that presaged the rise of the industrial age. Leonardo epitomized the ideal of a Renaissance Man, and his writings and sketches touch on areas ranging from music to metaphysics to mechanics. Leonardo expert Jonathan Pevsner will discuss the life and legacy of Vinci’s favorite son, including how his mind worked; what scientific, artistic, and engineering projects interested him and why; and what he read and collected over his lifetime.

Jonathan Pevsner, Ph.D. is a faculty member in the department of neurology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Haverford College and his doctorate in pharmacology and molecular sciences from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Pevsner specializes in childhood neurological disorders, including Down syndrome and autism, and holds a primary faculty appointment in the department of neuroscience at the School of Medicine. A longtime student of Leonardo’s work, Pevsner has delivered lectures around the world and is the expert adviser for the Discovery Channel’s Doing da Vinci, which chronicles the attempts of modern-day builders and technicians to create some of the machines Leonardo envisioned.

A 5:30 pm reception precedes the lecture. Please RSVP to Stacie Spence at libraryfriends@jhu.edu or 410.516.7943. The event is free and open to the public.

yrBLCspace: Help Design the Brody Learning Commons

What does your ideal group study room look like?

Submit your design, and you could win up to $250 and the chance to see your vision made real in the new building.

Group study space will be a key feature of the new Brody Learning Commons. But before we break ground next June, we want to make sure we’ve gotten your input. Whether your preferred medium is Google SketchUp or cocktail napkin, we want to hear from you.

Send us your design for a room between 150 and 300 square feet, and include what you think is needed (specific technologies, furniture types, etc.). The contest is open to all Johns Hopkins students, and entries will be judged on the basis of the design’s creativity, sustainability, effectiveness, and the flexibility of the space.

Visit www.library.jhu.edu/yrBLCspace for more information.

Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. December 7, 2009.

Seeking First-Year Undergraduates

Want to have a say in how the libraries work for you? The Sheridan Libraries are looking for first-year undergraduates to join the Libraries’ Student Advisory Committee.

You’ll meet periodically during the academic year to give input and advise the Dean of Libraries and JHU’s Library Advisory Council on library policies and services. Interested? Please tell us why at asklib@jhu.edu.

Welcome New and Returning Students

The staff of the Sheridan Libraries* are pleased to welcome all new and returning students and faculty to campus for a new academic year. We extend a warm invitation for you to visit your campus library, or see us online. Be sure to Ask a Librarian whenever you need assistance.

Want news and updates on your own terms? You can become a Fan of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library on Facebook, follow @mselibrary on Twitter, or subscribe to the Sheridan Libraries Blog via RSS or email.

Need more information? See one of the below links.

Information for Undergraduate Students

Information for Graduate Students

Information for Faculty

*What are the Sheridan Libraries? Read more after the jump. Continue reading Welcome New and Returning Students…

H. L. Mencken and American Magazines

Henry Louis Mencken, often called the “Sage of Baltimore,” had a long and distinguished career as a journalist with the Sunpapers. But throughout his lifetime in the newspaper industry, he also worked for magazines as a writer and editor. Indeed, Mencken’s ascendance on the national scene coincided with the increasing presence of magazines in American culture.

The Sheridan Libraries’ new exhibit, “A View of the Parade: H. L. Mencken and American Magazines,” opens today at the George Peabody Library in Mt. Vernon and explores the life of Mencken and the United States through magazines.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. It runs through November 30 at The Johns Hopkins University’s George Peabody Library Exhibition Gallery, 17 E. Mount Vernon Place, in Baltimore. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm; Saturday, 9 am to 3 pm; and Sunday, 12 to 5 pm.

Mr. Eisenhower: Tear down this wall!

OK, perhaps we’re being a bit dramatic.

On August 20, beginning at approximately 5:30 am, contractors will be doing some demolition work on the southeast side of M-level. The walls of the two offices in that area will be removed to provide more reading/work areas for library users. The demolition work should be complete by the time the library opens (8 am).

We apologize in advance for any noise and dust associated with this work and will do our best to mitigate both. As always, thanks for your patience.