#brandeis library

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Brandeis Special Collections Spotlight: Zora Neale Hurston’s Jonah’s Gourd Vine

September’s Spotlight shines on a wonderful new acquisition: an inscribed, first edition of Jonah’s Gourd Vine by author, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. This copy of Hurston’s debut novel is a stunning artifact of the art, literature, and society of the Harlem Renaissance, and fits well with several other Special Collections holdings related to Hurston’s contemporaries (including Langston Hughes, Carl Van Vechten, and Fannie Hurst). See the Spotlight for details, written by Matthew Chernick, Masters Student in Comparative Humanities and Archives & Special Collections assistant. ---------Special Collections Spotlight provides a close online look at rare and fascinating items from the special collections of Brandeis Libraries, including unique manuscripts, rare books, and unusual ephemera. Click on the link from the Archives and Special Collections home page, or go directly to brandeisspecialcollections.blogspot.com.

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Take a page from Tucker - it’s study break time on Farber Mezz!

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Take a break and pet a pooch!

Therapy dogs will be on Farber Mezz starting at 1pm.

Please note: This event may be limited due to space constraints and dog comfort levels.

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Brandeis Archives and Special Collections September Spotlight

September's Spotlight showcases two new rare book acquisitions: first editions of Richard Wright's Native Son (1940) and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (1952). The powerful characterizations of African-American life in twentieth-century America offered by Wright and Ellison in these novels have had a lasting and significant impact on the discussion of racial tensions in this country. The acquisition of these books wonderfully enhance Brandeis's already strong American literature collection. See the Spotlight for details. -------- Special Collections Spotlight provides a close online look at rare and fascinating individual items from the special collections of Brandeis Libraries, including unique manuscripts, rare books, and unusual ephemera. Click on the link from the Archives and Special Collections home page, or go directly to http://brandeisspecialcollections.blogspot.com.

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As we move into summer blockbuster movie season it’s time to contemplate the...weirdness of sequels and remakes. I mean, yes, there is the money, but are the originals better? Why do we make so many remakes?

Lucky for you we have a good chunk of the originals here at Brandeis (search.library.brandeis.edu) so you can watch them and decide for yourself!

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Guys, did you know that it is Cephalopod Week? These are some particularly cute baby cephalopods courtesy of zooborns! We have the perfect resource here at Brandeis to fuel your cephalopod desires: search.library.brandeis.edu/BRAND:ALMA:BRAND_ALMA51265544540001921

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Celebrating Earth Day with GIS! Two photos of Yalik Glacier, in Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska, the first, USGS Photo Library Photograph – Grant 235, taken in 1909, and the second, USGS Photograph by Bruce F. Molnia, taken in 2004 demonstrate the retreat of the glacier over time]

We are big fans of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) project, Documenting Ice Glaciers on the Move, which is using old photographs compared with new photographs of the same glacier to document the glacier’s movement, adding an interactive map to make this story come alive through the magic of GIS.

GIS, or geographical information systems, is "an integrated collection of computer software and data used to view and manage information about geographic places, analyze spatial relationships, and model spatial processes. A GIS provides a framework for gathering and organizing spatial data and related information so that it can be displayed and analyzed" (Esri, n.d.)

Some amazing GIS work can be found at Esri - check out this blog post which celebrates the ways that seemingly static information can be pared with dynamic maps that educate and dazzle!

We are also big fans of our GIS resources here at Brandeis. Our GIS guide, compiled by our GIS librarian, highlights tools and resources you can use to learn more about GIS and how to use it in your research.