Primary Source Publishers in a Googling World

2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjan van Dijk
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Internet Archive ◽  
The Public ◽  
New York Public Library ◽  
American Memory

In December 2004, Google Inc. announced its plans to digitize millions of books from prestigious libraries such as Harvard, Stanford, and the New York Public Library. Most of the books are in the public domain and will be available for free on the Internet. The Google initiative is one among many, including the American Memory Project of the Library of Congress, the San Francisco-based Internet Archive, and Gallica, the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. All of these programs offer free access to good-quality digital materials. Another common feature is that they are heavily funded.

scholarly journals Far from a Drag: How One Library Embraced Drag Queen Story Hour

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea Condren
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New Jersey ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Early Literacy ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Drag Queen ◽  
York Public Library ◽  
New York Public Library ◽  
The World

Children’s librarians and drag queens have more in common than our shared love of glitter.When Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) approached the Early Literacy Department at the New York Public Library (NYPL) to ask us about facilitating their programs in our branches, we were eager to get started. Conceived of by Michelle Tea and Radar Productions in San Francisco, DQSH now operates out of Los Angeles, New York, and New Jersey, inspires events around the world, and can be found at DragQueenStoryHour.org.

Sylvia Townsend Warner's Letters to Genevieve Taggard

PMLA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-220
Author(s):  
Sylvia Townsend Warner ◽  
Laurel Harris
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Library ◽  
The United States ◽  
Home Front ◽  
World War ◽  
New Yorker ◽  
The Public ◽  
New York Public Library ◽  
Sylvia Townsend Warner

In september 1941, shortly before the united states entered world war ii, the british writer sylvia townsend warner wrote a note to the American poet Genevieve Taggard, thanking her for sending a poem. An epistolary relationship developed between the two writers, though Taggard also sent material gifts of spices, tea, rice, and seeds to alleviate the deprivations that Warner and her partner, Valentine Ackland, faced in war-battered England. Eighteen letters, all from Warner to Taggard, remain of this correspondence, which ended with Taggard's death in 1948. They are housed in Taggard's papers at the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library. Although Taggard's letters to Warner have been lost, Warner's letters to Taggard reveal a literary friendship that is at once partisan and poetic. These private letters, like the public “Letter from London” columns by Warner's fellow New Yorker contributor Mollie Panter-Downes, vividly portray the English home front to an American audience.

Ad fontes! Books on shelves!

2014 ◽  
Vol 115 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 272-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
John van de Pas
Keyword(s):  
Public Library ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Physical Interaction ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Virtual Library ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Commons

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a signpost to the librarian that might be helpful in making strategic assessments for the future of the public library, and helping in the process of decision-making about the course to be followed. Thereby critical remarks about the Internet-based “virtual library lobby” are summed up as arguments against following that path blindly, and alternatives to a technology-centred approach are put forward by focusing on the cultural uses of the library as a public place. Design/methodology/approach – In this article a viewpoint is developed, based on an exploration of selected literature on the function of the library as an institution in society, and different viewpoints that are put forward in the debate on the future of libraries in the Internet era are analyzed. Some contend that going virtual is the only feasible course to take. Others emphasize that many functions of the library are unquantifiable because of their cultural nature, and rooted in physical interaction of citizens with a real space of bricks, mortar and books. These functions may never be fully virtualized, but are deemed essential to the community in which the library institution is rooted, and even society at large. Findings – If librarians choose the technological path of the virtual library, they are rapidly being made obsolete by the multinational commercial information aggregators, where free access to information is no longer provided. If the library takes the cultural path, defining its future as an institution instrumental to “the commons” providing freedom to citizens, the actual use citizens make of library as public places should be taken as central starting point for a feasible future, and technology should be used as a means to that end. Research limitations/implications – The article is a viewpoint, based on a limited selection of literature. Practical implications – The viewpoint offers a critical assessment relevant to those librarians responsible for creating a roadmap for the future of their public library. Social implications – This study underpins the importance of the public library as one of the last true public areas, open to all for the benefit of the community. Originality/value – This study offers a different point of view, possibly even a warning call, against embracing technological determinism that brings with it enclosure of The Commons, which the Public Library in its true meaning should offer. Internet-based services are often put forward (and welcomed by many) as the solution for the future for free access to information. In the article, the case is made that unfettered free access for information to citizens is at odds with actual developments on the Internet, that according to leading Internet critics is rapidly being turned into a commercial advertising platform or market place.

Using the Web for Social Studies Enrichment

2002 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Betsy McCoach
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Library Of Congress ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Source Materials

when I wanted to enrich the social studies curriculum, I needed additional materials to supplement the textbook. I made endless trips to the public library to find supplementary resources. When my students participated in National History Day® or conducted other historical research, they often struggled to locate primarysource materials. Some students traveled to the Library of Congress or to national and university libraries. With the advent of the Internet, finding enrichment materials and primary source materials in history and the social sciences has become much easier. Primary source material is much more accessible since the Library of Congress and other institutes, museums, and libraries have begun to digitalize their collections. In addition, historical accounts, economic reports, maps, political commentaries, and demographic information abound on the Internet. Now, instead of going to the library, I log onto to the Internet first.

scholarly journals Preliminary photographs and improved positives: discovering the New York Public Library’s Arctic Exploration album

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Basso ◽  
Federica Pozzi ◽  
Jessica Keister ◽  
Elizabeth Cronin
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Fiber Optics ◽  
Public Library ◽  
Extreme Environment ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Low Contrast ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Full Characterization ◽  
New York Public Library ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractIn the late 19th and early 20th centuries, original photographs were sent to publishers so that they could be reproduced in print. The photographs often needed to be reworked with overpainting and masking, and such modifications were especially necessary for low-contrast photographs to be reproduced as a letterpress halftone. As altered objects, many of these marked-up photographs were simply discarded after use. An album at The New York Public Library, however, contains 157 such photographs, all relating to the Jackson–Harmsworth expedition to Franz Josef Land, from 1894 to 1897. Received as gifts from publishers, the photographs are heavily retouched with overpainting and masking, as well as drawn and collaged elements. The intense level of overpainting on many of the photographs, but not on others, raised questions about their production and alteration. Jackson’s accounts attested to his practice of developing and printing photographs on site, testing different materials and techniques—including platino-bromide and silver-gelatin papers—to overcome the harsh environmental conditions. In this context, sixteen photographs from the album were analyzed through a combination of non-invasive and micro-invasive techniques, including X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), Raman and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies, and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). This analytical campaign aimed to evaluate the possible residual presence of silver halides in any of the preliminary and improved photographs. The detection of these compounds would be one of several factors supporting a hypothesis that some of the photographs in the album were indeed printed on site, in the Arctic, and, as a result, may have been impacted by the extreme environment. Additional goals of the study included the evaluation of the extent of retouching, providing a full characterization of the pigments and dyes used in overpainted prints, and comparing the results with contemporaneous photographic publications that indicate which coloring materials were available at the time. Further analyses shed light on the organic components present in the binders and photographic emulsions. This research has increased our knowledge of photographic processes undertaken in a hostile environment such as the Arctic, and shed light on the technical aspects of photographically illustrating books during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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