The Essentials

Trying to visualize the places described in “The Grapes of Wrath”? A new map exhibit in Olin Library leads the reader through John Steinbeck’s classic, recreating the Joads’ itinerary. The exhibit includes images of Route 66, “The Mother Road,” which immigrants took to California; the severe wind erosion in the Dust Bowl area between 1935-1940; and the efforts of the federal authorities to create better living conditions for the migrants.

The maps in the exhibit come in different formats, including original creations using GIS software. The Maps and Media Unit in the Research & Learning Services Department of Olin and Uris Libraries created the exhibit, as well as an online map as part of the New Student Reading Project that focused on Steinbeck’s masterpiece this summer.

To see the exhibit, check out the cases in the lower-level lobby of Olin anytime the library is open.

-Gwen Glazer

People looking to return books at the John Henrik Clarke Africana Library can shave a few minutes off their trips: The library now has a convenient outside book drop on the parking lot side of the Africana Center.

And because materials from any campus library can be returned to any other campus library regardless of where they were checked out, the new drop box can save Africana Center visitors a trip to anywhere else on campus.

– Gwen Glazer

“What I have in mind rather is providing a way for a larger proportion of industrial workers, including part-time workers, to make comfortable homes for themselves in the country, where they may perhaps grow a portion of their own food supplies …”

This 1931 letter lays out Eleanor Roosevelt’s ideas for Depression-era workers, which she affirmed through her support for Cornell’s College of Home Economics.

Roosevelt, who died 47 years ago this month, played an integral role in the development of the college from the 1920s to the 1940s.

In celebration of the Home Economics centennial anniversary in 2001, Cornell Library digitized highlights from its collection of Roosevelt materials. Go online to view photographs, a telegram and personal correspondence, or visit the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections to see the items in person.

– Gwen Glazer

Image courtesy of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

RefWorks is one of the most popular citation management tools online, and Cornell Library has now made it available for alumni for the foreseeable future.

Through RefWorks’ new plan to allow alumni to use its service, members of the Cornell community now have access to their accounts as long as the library is a subscriber. Researchers at all levels, from undergraduates to post-doctorates, use RefWorks to gather sources, manage research information, create bibliographies and build personal databases. The newly expanded access allows them to keep those databases for all their research endeavors after they leave Cornell.

Check out the library’s RefWorks site, Ask a Librarian or e-mail for more information about alumni access.

- Gwen Glazer

Next time you sit down to a tasty meal of sushi spread out on fine china, followed up with a cup of java, think about how much Asia has integrated itself into your life.

Asia-originated themes are omnipresent, showing up in societies around the world for centuries thanks to the free flow of people, materials, images and ideas across physical and virtual boundaries. With that in mind, the Cornell Library created an exhibition, “Asia Plural,” that draws together materials from the library’s collections and beyond to demonstrate how widespread and circular that information flow can be.

The exhibition is on display in Kroch Library through mid-November. Stop by during regular library hours to check it out.

Delve deeper into Ithaca and Tompkins County with a new guide from the Hotel School’s Nestlé Library. Containing both library subscription sources and free Internet sites, the research site serves as a practical starting point for local research.

Categories include local demographics, government resources, facts about Cornell and Ithaca College, news and local commercial property data. With just a few clicks, researchers can find out the percentage of Cornell students from any region of the country, business patterns for the 14853 ZIP code, the location of free rabies clinics in Tompkins County and much more.

In addition to the new research guide, check out the Nestlé Library Web site for more industry guides for hospitality fields.

Photo by Carla DeMello/Cornell University Library

As subscription prices to commercially owned academic journals rise and university budgets tighten, libraries continue to develop creative ways to ensure that students and researchers have access to the literature they need.

Project Euclid, an electronic publishing initiative at Cornell University Library, supports independent publishers of mathematics and statistics literature by providing a not-for-profit, low-cost platform for the electronic dissemination of scholarship. The project started in August 2001, with 126 articles from six journals. This September, Project Euclid reached a milestone when its article count climbed over 100,000 and it added its 60th journal title.

Supported by a combination of subscriber and publisher fees, Project Euclid is able to make 70 percent of its journal articles available without any access restrictions.

- Gwen Glazer

Athanasius Kircher isn’t exactly a household name, but the 17th-century Jesuit scholar changed the course of dozens of fields of study. A new book, “Theatre of the World,” written by Joscelyn Godwin and recently published by Thames & Hudson, explores Kirchner’s ideas through detailed illustrations contributed by Cornell University Library.

Among the detailed illustrations are volcanoes, Egyptian sarcophagi and a hypothetical layout of Noah’s Ark. With a few exceptions, all of the book’s 410 illustrations were contributed by the library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections and digitized by the Digital Media Group within Digital Consulting and Production Services (DCAPS).

Log on to Luna Insight to see the images used in the book. Ordering information and a detailed description of the book is available on the publisher’s Web site. Also, visit the DCAPS Web site to check out other library projects.

- Gwen Glazer

Who said nothing good is free? Every library on campus now offers high-quality scanning at no charge.

The library is entering a new era in printing services, forming a partnership with Cornell Business Services to provide public copying, printing and scanning services. In addition to scanning, color and large-format printing are also available at every campus library. (Not all the machines will be networked, however, so remember to bring a thumb drive containing the files.)

The landscape has changed since 1999, when the Library installed its first copiers in Olin and Mann libraries. Now, digital scanning and multiple print formats are in far more demand than traditional photocopiers.

Printing changes also mean changes to the vendacard system, so keep an eye out for new machines and signs explaining how to make the transition – and feel free to ask library staff for help.

- Gwen Glazer

All over the English-speaking world, people are celebrating the 300th birthday of Samuel Johnson. The British man of letters made innumerable contributions to literature, creating an important dictionary and becoming a prolific poet, storyteller, critic, translator, political pamphleteer and letter writer.

Cornell’s library has a particularly strong collection of Johnson’s work, including first editions of all his major works and a rare series of 20 color etchings. Some of the most important and interesting items will be on display starting Sept. 9.

Featured in the exhibition will be first editions of books, including the “Dictionary of the English Language,” and portraits and anecdotes about Johnson’s friends.

Visit the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in Kroch Library, level 2B, to check out the exhibition.

- Gwen Glazer