Friends is published twice annually by the
Friends of Tufts Library
We welcome letters and suggestions.
Correspondence should be sent to:
Jo-Ann Michalak, Editor
Director of Tisch Library
professors Row, Medford, Ma 02155
617-627-3345;
jo-ann.michalak@tufts.edu
Graphic Design:
Lynda Gutowski (J61) Publications, Arlington, MA
A message from the Chair....
We have two wonderfully entertaining Authors Talks planned for this spring. Mark your calendars now for Anita Shreve on April 1 at 3:30 p.m. at the Tisch Library on the Medford campus and Dr. Nicholas Dodman on April 30 at 3:30 p.m. at the Vet Library on the Grafton campus. Anita will read from her new book, entitled All He Ever Wanted, to be published April 9th (the Bookstore has promised to have advance copies for sale). Anita is one of Tufts' best known alumni authors so you won't want to miss this one. Dr. Dodman, who founded the animal behavior clinic at Tufts Veterinary School fifteen years ago, will read from his new book If Only They Could Speak: Stories About Pets and their People. Animal lovers will consider this a "must" to hear the "heir apparent" to James Herriot.
In order to plan for my upcoming reunion class gift, I recently asked Jo-Ann Michalak, Director of the Tisch Library, to share with me the fundraising priorities for Tisch. Jo-Ann indicated that there remains one still-unfinished section of the Library, known as "Level G," on the lower floor. Last January, due to overcrowding in the book stacks, the library began storing older journals in this non-public area. Faculty and students, however, are very eager to have access to this area. Fortunately, funds for half of the construction costs have already been secured but the remainder must be raised with the help of Tufts alumni, parents and friends. As a result, I have informed Jo-Ann that I will match dollar for dollar, up to $100,000, all gifts directed to the Level G project. I am hoping the Friends of Tufts Libraries will raise these much needed funds and maximize my challenge.
Many Friends contributed to the construction of Tisch Library; now we have the exciting opportunity to complete the last remaining unfinished section! Current plans are to begin the project in May, with the goal of completing it in September 2003.
I hope you can come to the Spring Authors Talks. I also hope you will be able to make a gift that qualifies for the match-more information on how you can participate will be coming to you soon.
As always, the Tufts Community and I are grateful for your interest and continued support of the libraries.
Photo credit: Mark Morelli
On September 13, 2002, the Uhrig Family Gardens and Terrace, between Tisch Library and Eaton Hall, were dedicated by the Uhrig children in honor of their parents, Miles and Judy Uhrig. The photo above shows the Uhrig granddaughters unveiling the plaque in the garden. Judy Johnson Uhrig, J55, is a former Eaton Library employee. Miles Uhrig, A51 was Tufts Director of Admissions for many years.
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The Boston Library Consortium (BLC) is providing a new service limited to current students, faculty and staff of Tufts and other participating universities. The ASK 24/7 Reference Service offers real-time assistance from reference librarians 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year via the Web. The BLC ASK 24/7 Reference Service is staffed by librarians of the BLC member libraries and by reference librarians elsewhere worldwide. Ten of the eighteen BLC institutions, including Tufts, are currently participating in a pilot.
This interactive service offers an educational alternative to the Web search engines used by researchers and students working at odd hours from their dormitories, homes, offices, and elsewhere. Now professional library research assistance is just a click away at any time of the day or night.
On October 30, 2002, Tisch Library dedicated the Komidar Garden Area in memory of Joseph S. Komidar, who served as University Librarian from 1956-1981. (L. to r.) Travis Komidar, Mrs. Mary Komidar, Kathryn Komidar and Jo-Ann Michalak, Director of Tisch Library, in front of Komidar Garden area. Photo credit: Connie Reik
It is a pleasure to announce that the Nominating Committee of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has nominated the Tufts Libraries for an Excellence in Academic Libraries Award for 2003. Nominations recognize academic libraries that are outstanding in furthering the educational missions of their institutions. Simply being nominated for this very competitive award is a great honor. Each year one library is selected in each of three library categories: university, college, and community college. If, in this fourth year of awards, Tufts should receive the $3,000 University Award, we would be the first university library selected that does not belong to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL).
Good news has been received about two new endowments for Tisch Library. Notification has just been received that income is now being brought forward from a bequest established by the Curtis and Eunice M. Campbell Book Fund to support library acquisitions, with a preference for the field of economics. Recently, Judith Lowenstein Feder, J75, has pledged to establish an endowed book fund for Jewish Studies in honor of Jonathan Tisch, A76.
Tufts Armenian Community Gift funds raised for the Tisch Library are being used to hire Ara Ghazarian F98 to prepare the Vahram Der Parseghian Collection of Armenian books for cataloging. Photo credit: Beverly Gobiel
The Tisch Library staff now numbers 65, dedicated to providing and improving services to the Tufts community. Photo credit: J.D. Sloan
The Health Sciences Library is updating its facilities to make it a more people-centered and welcoming space. Over the summer and fall we added eight group study rooms on the seventh floor that are also being used for Problem Based Learning sessions. These rooms have been a great hit with students and are very popular study spaces. They include three large rooms to seat up to twelve people, two rooms to seat up to eight people and three rooms to seat up to six people.
We have also added eight new public access computer search stations on the fourth floor as you enter the library. The fourth floor has become a meeting place where people work in small groups. We have reacted to that use pattern by adding these eight new machines in a large U shape to accommodate groups of two or three patrons gathering around the terminal.
Attending Chris Golden's Authors Talk on Parents Weekend were many of his family: Alison Sacco (cousin); Elaine (Golden) Sacco J63 (aunt); Terry Golden (uncle); Maurene Golden J59, G61 (aunt), current Trustee; Chris Golden; George Marcopoulos (Tufts history professor who was the model for the Medical Examiner in Chris' Body of Evidence series); Denis Golden A65 (uncle); and Dr. Brian Golden A61, M65 (uncle), current Trustee. Tufts Jumbos definitely run in the family! Photo credit: J.D. Sloan
In addition to the eight new terminals on the fourth floor, we are replacing twenty staff and public machines with newer machines to meet the current Tufts computing standards. As part of this process, many machines in the library have been moved or replaced. The fifth floor Macs have been replaced with reformatted PCs as they were no longer able to meet student computing needs. We hope to be able to add a couple of Macs to our computing mix next year.
We are currently talking to a furniture expert to see if we might be able to improve some of the seating in the library. This, too, is to help improve the atmosphere of the library and help make the library a more inviting place for students to meet and study. We even plan on painting the library walls by the time this goes to press! The library is already a popular study location, but we are committed to improving the space.
In other news, we have successfully launched SPIRAL: Selected Patient Information Resources in Asian Languages, which is a joint initiative of the South Cove Community Health Center and Tufts University Health Sciences Library, supported by a grant from the New England Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine under contract NLM-00-101/SMS.
The project aims to:
We are very proud of our staff's work on this project and invite you to view it at: http://www.library.tufts.edu/hsl/spiral/
The site has been favorably received, and we have been invited to make a presentation about it at a conference sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, called Eliminating Health Disparities by 2010-Tools, Skills and Networks for Action, in March 2003.
This fall our education team was hard at work offering tours and orientation to new students and staff in our schools and offering introductory Evidence Based Medicine training to the preceptors to help prepare them for the Spring EBM training for Second Year medical students. Our Dental students received training this fall in online research skills. We are also proud to announce that Elizabeth Richardson has been appointed to the Dental School Curriculum Committee.
The Fletcher School's Ginn Library, working with Tufts' Digital Collections and Archives (DCA), now provides access to a digital collection of the full-text of selected Fletcher School MALD (Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy) theses, beginning with the class of 2001. The collection is fully searchable and available at: http://nils.lib.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/perscoll?collection= perseus:collection:Fletcher
Initially seen as a pilot test for preserving and providing access to the intellectual capital of the Fletcher School and Tufts University, this digital collection is a selection of the MALD theses written each year as a requirement to graduate from the two-year Master's degree program. A few Ph.D. theses are also included, and others will be added in the future.
This is the first time in Fletcher's history that MALD theses are available in any format for the Fletcher community and the public to read. The theses cover a range of subjects represented in the Fletcher curriculum, including conflict resolution and negotiation, international trade, human rights, terrorism, diplomacy, globalization, and regional studies. The collection provides an opportunity to sample the quality and substance of the research and analysis carried out by the Fletcher School's students.
The project is a joint effort of Tufts Digital Collections and Archives and the Fletcher School's Edwin Ginn Library. The Ginn Library plans to adapt the procedures used in building this collection to build similar collections of Fletcher faculty working papers and a comprehensive digital collection of the abstracts of all Fletcher Ph.D. dissertations.
Joseph Hurka, lecturer in the English department, with his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Josef Hurka, by the Tisch Library exhibit case. Joseph gave an Authors Talk on November 7, 2002, on Fields of Light: A Son Remembers His Heroic Father, which details his father's fight against Communism in Czechoslovakia. Photo credit: Bob Sheehan
In collaboration with the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) at Oxford University, the Fletcher School's Edwin Ginn Library, Tufts University, announces the launch of the Forced Migration Online (FMO) Digital Library. The full FMO web portal was launched on November 21, 2002, at a ceremony at the Bodelian Library at Oxford. Content includes a digital library, thematic and country/population-specific guides, a searchable web catalog, a news feed, a directory of key organizations, visual materials, back runs of selected, relevant academic journals, and online teaching resources.
The site can be searched, read online and printed at: www.forcedmigration.org
The Ginn Library's collection focus for the project is on subject areas that support the curriculum of the Fletcher School and the work of the Feinstein International Famine Center. The first documents contributed by Tufts are mainly from the Famine Center on famine and nutritional issues. Ginn will continue to collect, organize and contribute documents on livelihoods, children in war, and public nutrition. To review documents from the Tufts collection search the site under "famine".
FMO aims to provide comprehensive, impartial information to promote increased international awareness of human displacement issues. It is designed for use by practitioners, researchers, policy makers, students and others interested in the field. With funding from the Mellon Foundation, the RSC is working with the Fletcher School's Ginn Library, Columbia University, the American University in Cairo, and the Czech Helsinki Committee in Prague to add content rapidly to the digital library and extend the available range of materials.
For further information on the Tufts project, or to provide feedback to project staff, please contact Jeff Gardner (jeff.gardner@tufts.edu), Rebecca Sholes (rebecca.sholes@tufts.edu) or Miriam Seltzer (Miriam.seltzer@tufts.edu).
divine, inc. announced in late November that they are reviewing their business operations and have withdrawn the product which Tufts was going to use for The Alumni and Friends Virtual Library. The good news is that the announcement was made before Tufts signed an agreement and paid. The bad news is that there is no similar product currently on the market that we know of, but the library will continue to monitor vendor products.
April 1, 2003
The award-winning author of such novels as The Weight of Water, Anita Shreve, J68, is perhaps best known for her book The Pilot's Wife, which was an early Oprah Selection. Anita will read from Sea Glass, which was published in spring 2002, as well as her latest book, entitled All He Ever Wanted, which is due to be published April 9th. An interview with Anita is in the most recent issue of Tufts Magazine. An exhibit on Anita containing the author's works is on display in the Tisch Library lobby January 10-April 5, 2003.
A book signing sponsored by Tufts University Bookstore will follow the talk. To order the author's books, call Tufts University Bookstore, General Book Dept., 617-627-2060. A reception will be held following the Authors Talk. Please RSVP by calling 1-800-326-4001. Suggestions for future Authors Talks are welcomed. Come with a Friend or bring a potential Friend. Hope to see you there!
About The pilot's Wife:
"Compulsively readable....To create both sympathetic characters and an enticing plot is no small feat, but Shreve does it seamlessly."
About The Last Time They Met:
"Compelling.... Shreve can render her characters' dark interiors with a tenderness void of judgment, thereby capturing the essential frailty of the human condition....Riveting."
Dr. Nicholas Dodman, who founded the animal behavior clinic at Tufts Veterinary School 15 years ago, will talk about the latest of his four best-selling books. Included in this volume are 13 true stories of distressed pets and their equally troubled owners, culled from Dodman's own practice, as well as an Animal Personality Assessment Guide. Because of his compelling style and obvious affection for animals, he has been referred to as the "heir apparent" to James Herriot.
"The countless joys and rewards as well as the frustrations and failures of pet ownership are explored by an author who examines the complexities of the human-animal relationship from both points of view."
"A truly landmark book....chock full of valuable lessons that will help every pet and pet parent."
A book signing sponsored by Tufts University Bookstore and light refreshments will follow the talk. To order the author's books, call Tufts University Bookstore, General Book Dept., 617-627-2060. Please RSVP by calling 1-800-326-4001. Suggestions for future Authors Talks are welcomed. Come with a Friend or bring a potential Friend. Hope to see you there!
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January 15 - August 31, 2003 Corridor to Dranetz Tower Tisch Library Medford campus |
"Leadership for a Lifetime," the fourth and final exhibit highlighting the history of the V-12/NROTC program at Tufts. Michael Lash, Jr. (class of 1950) and Robert McNicholas (class of 1946), both of whom served in Guam, will be featured in the exhibit. |
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February 21, 2003 Vet Library Grafton campus |
Mark your calendars now for the all day Veterinary Information Fair featuring animal health information and management tools. |
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March 15 - April 30, 2003 Tisch Library Medford campus |
An exhibit to celebrate National Library Week (April 6-12) of favorite books, quotations about libraries, and memories and uses of libraries contributed by Tufts students, faculty and staff. |
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April 1, 2003 3:30 - 4:30 pm Hirsh Reading Room Tisch Library Medford campus |
Friends Authors Talk by Anita Shreve, J68, who will read from the book she is currently writing and Sea Glass, A Novel, published in spring 2002. Book signing sponsored by Tufts University Bookstore follows talk. Exhibit in Tisch Library lobby Jan. 10-April 5, 2003. The second Gordon Prize, given annually to a mathematics major who has demonstrated a love of reading, literature and poetry, will be awarded before the Authors Talk. |
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April 11, 2003 10:30 - 11:30am Walk starts on patio in front of Tisch Library Medford campus |
The third Tufts Poetry Walk will celebrate the Tufts Poet tradition of teaching the craft of poetry and also being a poet. The tradition began with John Holmes, professor of English from 1930-1962, and has continued on to Deborah Digges, the current Tufts Poet. The Poetry Walk will tour sites around the Medford campus, where poems will be read aloud. Sponsored by Tisch Library and the English Department. Rain location: Hirsh Reading Room in Tisch Library. |
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April 30, 2003 3:30 - 4:30pm Vet Library Grafton campus |
Friends Authors Talk by Dr. Nicholas Dodman entitled If Only They Could Speak: Stories About Pets and Their People. Dr. Dodman, who founded the animal behavior clinic at Tufts Veterinary School fifteen years ago, is the author of four best-selling books. Because of his compelling style and obvious affection for animals, he has been referred to as the "heir apparent" to James Herriot. |
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May 17, 2003 10am - 5pm Tisch Library Medford campus |
Open House for Friends and Alumni provides the opportunity for self-guided tours of Tisch Library all day with guided tours only between 2-4 pm. Come and see what's new at the library. |
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May 17, 2003 Noon - 4pm Digital Collections and Archives Tisch Library Medford campus |
Open House from noon-4 pm provides an opportunity to view archival materials from Tufts' collections. |
Any of the books featured in the Authors Talk may be obtained in advance from the Tufts University Bookstore, General Book Dept., 617-627-2060.
Latest calendar information at http://www.library.tufts.edu/friends/events.html. Please bookmark this URL.
Complete list of Friends events with the latest information at http://www.library.tufts.edu/friends/past_events.html
Top of pageDid you miss an Authors Talk you really wanted to go to? The following are available in streaming video for your viewing pleasure. Real video plug-in can be downloaded with the video from each Authors Talk.
Strong Women Eat Well-Miriam Nelson
An Evening of Mystery-Katherine Hall Page and Michelle Blake
The Story Behind the Images in the photo history entitled Tufts University-Anne Sauer
Shadows on the Hill-Christopher Golden
Fields of Light: A Son Remembers His Heroic Father-Joseph Hurka
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