MIT Libraries News

Rotch Library IAP Film Series continues:

When: 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM, Friday, January 22, 2009

Where: Rotch Library Conference Room, 7-238

Aboriginal architecture, living architecture (2005)

This film offers a fascinating in-depth look into the diversity of North American Native architecture. Featuring expert commentary and stunning imagery, this program provides a virtual tour of seven aboriginal communities– Pueblo, Mohawk, Inuit, Crow, Navajo, Coast Salish, and Haida. (93 minutes)
This film is a part of the Rotch Library DVD collection.

Contact: Heather McCann, 7-238, x3-7098, <hmccann_at_mit.edu>

Sponsor: MIT Libraries hosted by Heather McCann, Allison Benedetti, Omar Khalidi, Jonah Jenkins

Enrollment: Seating is limited; first come, first served, limited to 20 participants.

Rotch Library IAP Film Series continues:

When: 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM, Friday, January 16, 2009

Where: Rotch Library Conference Room, 7-238

Choropampa: The Price Of Gold (2002)

In June, 2000, 151 kilograms of liquid mercury spilled from a truck hauling it from a goldmine in the Andes. The spill covered a 25-mile long area, contaminating the mountain village of Choropampa. The owners of the mine, the World Bank, and others claim that the problem was quickly resolved, but hundreds of people still suffer the ill effects. This video details the legal battles of the people of Choropampa. (75 mins.)

This film is a part of the Rotch Library DVD collection.

Contact: Heather McCann, 7-238, x3-7098, <hmccann_at_mit.edu>

Sponsor: MIT Libraries hosted by Heather McCann, Allison Benedetti, Omar Khalidi, Jonah Jenkins

Enrollment: Seating is limited; first come, first served, limited to 20 participants.

Rotch Library IAP Film Series:

When: 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 15, 2009

Where: Rotch Library Conference Room, 7-238

The Future Of Mud (2007)

The Future of Mud is a tale of houses and lives in Djenne (2007) – Through the story of a mason in Djenne, this documentary examines an African tradition of mud architecture in Mali.

Canton, China and Calcutta, India (2005) – Explores the effects of international trade on the urban landscape of Canton, China, as it opens up to international trade and advances in Calcutta despite overpopulation and social inequalities

These films are a part of the Rotch Library DVD collection.

Contact: Heather McCann, 7-238, x3-7098, <hmccann_at_mit.edu>

Sponsor: MIT Libraries hosted by Heather McCann, Allison Benedetti, Omar Khalidi, Jonah Jenkins

Enrollment: Seating is limited; first come, first served, limited to 20 participants.

Rotch Library IAP Film Series:

When: 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, Friday, January 9, 2009

Where: Rotch Library Conference Room, 7-238

Click the image above to view a trailer for the film.

The Greening of Southie (2008)

Set in South Boston, The Greening of Southie is a documentary about Boston’s first
residential green building, and the workers asked to build it.(72 mins.)

This film is a part of the Rotch Library DVD collection.

Contact: Heather McCann, 7-238, x3-7098, <hmccann_at_mit.edu>

Sponsor: MIT Libraries hosted by Heather McCann, Allison Benedetti, Omar Khalidi, Jonah Jenkins

Enrollment: Seating is limited; first come, first served, limited to 20 participants.

Rotch Library IAP Film Series:

When: 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM, Thursday, January 8, 2009

Where: Rotch Library Conference Room, 7-238

Click the image above to view a trailer for the film.

King Corn: a film (2006)
Two college graduates plant and grow a bumper crop of America’s most productive, most subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil, with the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, nitrogen fertilizers, and powerful herbicides. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat– and how we farm. (92 minutes)

This film is a part of the Rotch Library DVD collection.

Contact: Heather McCann, 7-238, x3-7098, <hmccann_at_mit.edu>

Sponsor: MIT Libraries hosted by Heather McCann, Allison Benedetti, Omar Khalidi, Jonah Jenkins

Enrollment: Seating is limited; first come, first served, limited to 20 participants.

Rotch Library IAP Film Series:

When: Thursday and Fridays during IAP; Thursday, January 8, 2009 – Friday, January 30, 2009

Where: Rotch Library Conference Room, 7-238

Did you know that the Rotch Library of Architecture and Planning maintains an impressive DVD collection, with new titles added regularly?

Join us as we explore the scope of the collection, from from how we eat and farm (King Corn) to African mud architecture (Future of Mud) to the way type affects our lives (Helvetica). We’ll be showing a different film or two each day. Bring your lunch, we’ll provide the entertainment!

More information about each showing will be posted on this blog, and on the Rotch Library website.

Contact: Heather McCann, 7-238, x3-7098, <hmccann_at_mit.edu>

Sponsor: MIT Libraries hosted by Heather McCann, Allison Benedetti, Omar Khalidi, Jonah Jenkins

Enrollment: Seating is limited; first come, first served, limited to 20 participants.

Are you wondering what an RSS feed is and how it can help your research?

Want to learn more about using GIS, EndNote or RefWorks?

Need to find chemical information, social science data, or patents?

Want to learn Japanese book-binding, improve your photography, or how to compost with worms?

Look no further! Take a peek at all of the MIT Libraries IAP Activities offered in 2009.

A new exhibit in Rotch Library:

Riverscapes: and exhibition of photographs of historical water landscapes, by Adriana de Miranda.

An opening reception will take place from 5:30 PM until 7:00 PM on November 25, 2008.

The “hydraulic noria” represents the most elegant of hydraulic devices. It is a water-wheel which, using the power of the river, raises water to irrigate fields which are at a higher level than the level of the water. The system is composed of a vertical wheel and an aqueduct. The base of the wheel is submerged in the river and turns because of the current. Water is carried to the top of the wheel and is poured into the channel on the top of the aqueduct, and is directed to irrigate the surrounding fields. Hydraulic norias provide environmental and economic advantages, as well as those of safety. As a clean technology they allow irrigation requiring no petrol or oil, but fully exploiting the power of the river, as an economical device they are built using materials found in the area and have a simple assembly; they are also efficient and have low operational and maintenance costs.

The hydraulic noria, whose earliest evidence dates back to at least the Ist century B.C., is widespread in Syria on the Orontes river, but it still exists today in other parts of the Mediterranean basin, in East Asia and Central America where its technology has not changed. Particularly the Syrian and Chinese devices successfully combine the functional with the aesthetic and display sophisticated forms of construction.

They are visually impressive, present shapes which are the results of an accurate and detailed design and are of great historical, environmental and iconographical importance. These installations were devised as architectural constructions whose design is not only intended to be functional, but also aesthetic. They also show an architecture which has been able to combine essentiality and simplicity, necessary for integration into the landscape, and an architectural shape whose geometric construction is based on schemes of symmetry, modularity and harmony.

This exhibit will be on display from November 25, 2008 until December 16, 2008.

Rotch Library will host an exhibition of paintings by Roberto Marrone from November 14 until November 25, 2008. There will be an opening reception starting at 5:30PM, ending at 7 PM on November 14.

Disintegration (Paintings)

The exhibition displays some of Roberto Marrone’s works. Many of them are the results of the reaction between colour and chemical material. Looking at the painting, the observer reads subjective figures which are the results of how the materials used interfere with each other.

These works are realized in two phases: Firstly the material is distributed on the canvas; layers of colour, oxide, acid and other reactive substances, are superimposed one upon another. Secondly there is the phase of the “reaction”, which involves a “disintegration” of the material with the consequent formation of bright-coloured forms. These abstract forms can be perceived subjectively by the observer.
In addition to these paintings, the exhibition also displays several abstract-figurative drawings by the artist.

Roberto Marrone is an Italian painter who lives and works in Milan.

Return to Ooze, a show of new artworks by AJ Liberto, opened Friday, October 3, 2008, at the Rotch Library of Art & Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. AJ Liberto received his Master’s degree in sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2007 and currently lives and works in Somerville, MA.

The exhibition `Return to Ooze’ will showcase new works revolving around mythical, mystical, and scientific transformations involving liquids. From alchemists to wildcatters to the Cylons of Battlestar Gallactica, ooze plays an integral role in birth, the search for means and meaning and ultimately, death. Return to Ooze acknowledge this idea not only in the liquid-turned-solid materials (plaster, polymers, epoxy) of their makeup, but also in the surfaces, the represented objects, and mythology. In some instances the work will be installed traditionally, in others more surprising spaces will be utilized, such as on support beams, display cabinets, and assorted nooks and walls. The orbits of Return to Ooze circle the unintentional beauty of the architecture of industry and the raw products and by-products of manufacturing. These noisy and occasionally messy aspects of commerce are often expressed in my work alongside careful juxtapositions; fragile vases, tailored menswear or napping animals.

The following classes will be taught by the Harvard-MIT Data Center (HMDC) Statistical Consultant in fall 2008.

1. Introduction to Stata
Get an introduction to Stata, the statistical analysis software package commonly used at MIT. With hands-on exercises, learn how to import and manage datasets. Novices welcome!

When: two repeat sessions, attend either of the following:

• Tuesday, October 7th, 12-2pm or
• Wednesday, October 22nd, 12-2pm

2. Introduction to Regression Using Stata
This hands-on class will provide a comprehensive introduction to estimating the linear regression model using ordinary least squares in Stata. Prerequisites: General familiarity with Stata (such as taking the above Intro. workshop) and the linear regression model.

When: Friday, October 31st, 12-2pm

3. Introduction to R
Get an introduction to R, the open-source system for statistical computation and graphics available on Athena. With hands-on exercises, learn how to import and manage datasets, create R objects, and generate figures. Novices welcome!

When: Friday, October 10th, 12-2pm

Note: All Workshops Held In: E53-220

Space is limited. To register, contact: Katherine McNeill, mcneillh@mit.edu.

See also: Consulting: Interested in one-on-one help with statistical analysis and software? The Harvard-MIT Data Center (HMDC) Statistical Consultant can help you via email or an in-person consultation. Contact her via our email form.

Tenure-track, visiting and emeriti faculty can now take advantage of a new service.

Find a book you want in Barton, click on “Request item,” log into “Your Account” and select “office delivery” from the drop-down menu.

The book you requested will arrive at your office mailroom in 2-3 business days via campus mail.

For more information, please see our FAQ.

Vera Multi-Search – Vera had a makeover!
The new Vera Multi-Search will still help you find electronic journals, databases, and e-books, and now it will also help you search for articles within journals, conference proceedings, etc.  See the FAQ page for more information.

New LibGuides
We’ve adopted a new system of creating guides to help you find information related to your research.

PDF delivery from the Library Storage Annex
Looking for a journal article, conference proceeding, technical report or book chapter that’s in the Library Storage Annex?  Use the “Request PDF” button in the Barton catalog record to get PDF delivery to your desktop.  This service is free to members of the MIT community with an Illiad account.

Manage Your Research Data More Effectively
The Libraries have a new resource to help you in managing research data that you produce. Check out the guide to Data Management and Publishing.

Printing, Copying and Scanning Improvements
Hayden, Barker, Dewey and Rotch Libraries are moving to TechCASH with new copiers and scanners. You’ll now be able to use TechCASH (MIT ID) to pay at copiers, print for free (MIT community only) through Athena printers, and make color scans that you can email or save to your USB drive. See the Printing FAQ and the TechCASH FAQ for more information.

And coming soon…
Look for an expanded Libraries presence in Stellar including a link to the MIT Libraries Quick Start!

WHERE: 14N-132 (Digital Instruction Resource Center – DIRC)

WHEN: Friday, August 1, 12:30 – 1:30pm

While you won’t come out of this session qualified to be a patent attorney, you will be able to successfully find patent references from all over the world and know how to obtain patent text and diagrams. The session will be a hands-on practicum that will help de-mystify the patent literature and expose attendees to key resources for finding patents through free resources available on the web.

Feel free to bring your lunch! Drinks and dessert will be provided.

Sponsored by the MIT Libraries.

See http://libraries.mit.edu/patents for more information. Contact Darcy Duke with any questions.

Full schedule of JulyAP 2008 information workshops

Due to the ongoing demolition of the plaza in front of E53, an alternate entrance into the building and Dewey Library is in effect.

To enter the building:

• Take the temporary ramp from Wadsworth Street (to the right of the plaza) down to the garage level.
• Follow the signs which point you to the left towards the basement door to enter E53.
• From there, take either the elevator or the stairs to the 1st floor lobby of E53, where you can enter Dewey Library.

This detour will be in effect until sometime in the fall.

WHERE: 14N-132 (Digital Instruction Resource Center – DIRC)

WHEN: Friday, July 25, noon – 1pm

Geared for graduate students, this workshop addresses what copyright means to you as an author, how you can assess a publisher’s copyright policies, and how you can use web-based tools that assess journal quality. Open access publishing models and the use of the MIT amendment to alter standard publisher agreements will also be discussed.

Feel free to bring your lunch! Drinks and dessert will be provided.

Sponsored by the MIT Libraries.

Contact copyright-lib@mit.edu for more information.

Full schedule of JulyAP 2008 information workshops

For the safety of the MIT community, the Dewey Library will be closed on Saturday, July 19th. The temporary entrance to E53 will be closed due to demolition work on the Sloan Plaza.

Dewey will be open as usual on Sunday the 20th from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The latest in the series of podcasts on scholarly publication and copyright is an interview with George Stiny, Professor of Computation in the Department of Architecture at MIT.

Professor Stiny explains the significance of copying in the design process from his unusual perspective – a perspective that blends art and design with calculating. Professor Stiny invented shape grammars – the idea of identifying and quantifying a set of rules that can generate an infinite range of designs, much the way rules of grammar in language can generate an infinite range of sentences. His work uses mathematics to capture the creative, generative language of shapes and design.

Download the audio file. (14:42 minutes; 13.5 MB)

The other episodes in the podcast series are available on the scholarly publication website. To subscribe to the MIT Libraries’ Podcasts on Scholarly Publishing, paste this link into iTunes or another podcast reader: http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/6772/

We encourage and welcome your feedback, which you may direct to copyright-lib@mit.edu.

Exhibit in Rotch Library – Urban Studies/Random Views

Urban Studies/Random Views, on view from May 5th to July 18th, is a collection of recent oil paintings by Carol Schweigert of Dewey Library.

The paintings were initially inspired by the dynamic views of the ongoing construction surrounding the Library. The focus expanded to include other views in Cambridge and Charlestown, reflecting the coexistence of the natural and the architectural.

These are traditional plein air paintings with an underlying graphic composition of more modern sensibilities.

A reception is planned for 4:00PM – 6:30PM, Friday, May 9, 2008 in Rotch Library, 7-238.

Were you unable to attend a Libraries’ sponsored IAP session this January? Wish you could have attended the March workshops on Building an EndNote Library, or the recent class on Google Maps?

The Libraries are pleased to unveil recordings of our popular workshops. The sessions were recorded in cooperation with Academic Media Production Services (AMPS) and are viewable both on and off campus with your MIT Certificates.

To see a list of recordings, go to the MIT Libraries Video Tutorials page and scroll down to Videos of Recent Workshops.

Contact Angie Locknar with any questions.