MIT Libraries News

24/7 study rooms in Hayden and Dewey libraries will remain open

All MIT Libraries’ locations, with the exception of the 24-hour study facilities in Hayden and Dewey Libraries, will be closed Friday, July 2 through Saturday, July 10, as a cost saving measure to meet Institute budget reductions.

During this period the Libraries’ website, Barton, Vera, and access to electronic licensed resources will be available. However, most library staff will be on furlough and will not be available to offer assistance. A small number of staff will be on-call to address any reported system outages; reasonable attempts will be made to bring systems back online as soon as possible.

While it will continue to be possible to make online requests for some MIT Libraries’ services or materials, these requests will not be acted upon until the Libraries reopen.  Due dates for materials on loan have been adjusted to reflect this closure – no items will be due during this period and fines will not accrue.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

See: http://libraries.mit.edu/hours for a complete list of individual library hours.  Please send questions, comments or concerns to budgetfeedback-lib@mit.edu.

The Hayden Reading Room is undergoing renovation work this summer. Construction is scheduled to begin after closing on Friday, May 21, at 7pm.

The construction work will be rolled out in two phases. Phase I begins Monday, May 24 and continues until Thursday, July 1. Phase II will begin shortly thereafter and continue through August.

During the project portions of the collections on the first floor will not be browsable. Use Barton’s Request button to have them retrieved for you. We will also retrieve materials on-demand if you’re already in the library.

If you have further questions regarding access to materials, do so online or see the Hayden desk staff.

Hayden Library — home to the Humanities & Science Libraries — is open till 2am daily during Finals

from Thursday, May 13 to Friday, May 21:

weekdays, 8am-2pm and Saturday & Sunday, May 15 & 16, 10am-2pm.

Extended hours are for the MIT community only.

Hayden will close Friday, May 21 at 7pm.  Summer hours begin May 22.

Speaker: Kristel Smentek, Assistant Professor of Art History

Date & Time: Wednesday, May 12, Noon-1pm

Location: Maihaugen Gallery (14N-130)

Kristel Smentek, Assistant Professor of Art History and co-curator of the exhibition Technology and Enlightenment, leads an informal tour and discussion of how work is pictured in Diderot’s Encyclopédie.

This event is part of a series of events associated with Technology and Enlightenment, an exhibition in the Libraries’ Maihaugen Gallery (14N-130) that explores one of the most important and controversial publications of the eighteenth century, Diderot’s Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.

All spring exhibit events

Photo by Christopher Harting

The MIT Libraries’ Summer Hours will begin on Saturday, May 22, 2010.

Barker, Dewey, and Hayden (Humanities & Science) Libraries:
Monday-Friday 10am – 6pm,
Saturday closed, Sunday 1 – 6pm

Rotch Library:
Same hours as above except Sunday closed

Lewis Music Library:
Monday-Friday 11am – 5pm,
Saturday-Sunday closed

For a complete list of locations and hours see the Libraries’ website.

Please note all libraries will be closed Memorial Day weekend (May 29-31) and for a week during the Independence Day holiday (July 2-9).

“Deep in the heart of the MIT campus lies a hidden treasure…the Rosalind Denny Lewis Music Library.” Follow along as the narrator takes you on a video tour of “an oasis filled with books, scores, recordings, quiet study spaces” and much more.

The brief tour highlights the collections, facilities, and services of the Lewis Music Library. Filmed by Gregory Perkins ’10.

WHEN: Friday, April 30, 12 – 1pm

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

Zotero is a free, open-source program for Firefox that helps you to collect, manage, cite, and share your citations and files. With one click, you can save PDFs and citations for most articles, then cite them in Word or OpenOffice. Make a searchable PDF library, and find out how to publish dynamic bibliographies and collaborate by using group collections. In this hands-on session, learn tips and tricks on how to use Zotero more efficiently to save you time and energy. Bring a laptop or use one of our computers.

Please pre-register for this session.

Contact Remlee Green with any questions.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 21, 12 – 1pm

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

EndNote web is a web-based product available to MIT users as part of the Libraries’ subscription to Web of Knowledge. Come learn how to use Endnote Web to manage your citations, create bibliographies and more.

Contact Peter Cohn with any questions.

WHEN: Friday, April 16, 12 – 1pm

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

EndNote is a “personal bibliographic software” package which allows you to create and manage a database of bibliographic references. Learn how to find and use information more effectively in our hands-on workshop.

Please pre-register for this session.

Contact Howard Silver with any questions.

The Lewis Music Library (14E-109) will host a performance and discussion of music related to the current Libraries’ exhibition, Technology and Enlightenment, on Wednesday, April 14th at 2pm.  The event will feature Teresa Neff, Lecturer in Music.

This event is part of a series of events associated with the exhibit in the Maihaugen Gallery (14N-130) that explores one of the most important and controversial publications of the eighteenth century, Diderot’s Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.

All spring exhibit events

Building on an existing collaboration between the MIT Libraries and Harvard College Library (HCL), undergraduate students at Harvard and MIT may participate in a pilot program which, for the first time, enables reciprocal borrowing privileges for undergraduates at the two institutions.

As of April 5, 2010 Harvard undergraduates will have borrowing privileges at MIT Libraries and MIT students will enjoy similar privileges at participating Harvard libraries.  The program, which will be evaluated after 14 months, offers undergraduates from both institutions access to the complementary circulating collections of each institution’s libraries.

MIT undergraduate students may apply online for an HCL Special Borrower card.  Once confirmed, students may obtain a photo ID from the Widener Library Privileges Desk.  The card gives the bearer borrowing privileges at participating HCL libraries including:

• Cabot, Chemistry, Fine Arts, Harvard-Yenching, Loeb Music, Physics, Tozzer and Widener.

MIT graduate students and faculty have existing borrowing privileges at HCL libraries and may also apply for cards online.

More information about Harvard borrowing privileges.

WHEN: Friday, April 9, 1 – 2pm

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

Learn how to use the Libraries’ resources and databases to research your own articles or find past articles written about MIT. This workshop will show you how to connect from your desktop to a wealth of online resources licensed to MIT, such as LexisNexis, Factiva, Proquest, historic newspaper databases and more. The experts at the Libraries will show you best techniques. This workshop is tailored to MIT communications professionals, or those with an interest in journalism and science writing.

Contact Anita Perkins with any questions.

WHEN: Friday, April 9, 12 – 1pm

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

Take the popular search engine to a new level. Learn basic searching as well as tips and tricks that will make you truly love Google.

Contact Georgiana McReynolds with any questions.

WHEN: Thursday, April 8, 5 – 6pm

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

Using citation management software to create and maintain a collection of references is becoming more common and important in today’s academic world. These software packages allow users to search databases, retrieve relevant citations, and build a bibliography to be added to a paper or thesis or stored for future reference. But which software package should you use, and how do you get started?

Please pre-register for this session.

Contact Mat Willmott with any questions.

WHEN: Thursday, April 8, 12 – 1pm

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

For researchers struggling to manage their data, basic strategies will be provided for:

• best practices for retention and archiving
• effective directory structures and naming conventions
• good file formats for long-term access
• data security and backup options
• metadata, tagging, and citation
• other relevant issues

Contact Amy Stout with any questions.

The Libraries are pleased to announce that wireless access is now available in the Maps Area of the Hayden Basement.

With comfortable seating and plenty of flat table space, users can find geological maps, topographic maps of their hometown, or browse world maps and atlases to take them away, all while connected to the internet that serves up GIS, Google Earth and so much more.

Grab a map, bring a laptop, and check it out.

Check out the MIT Libraries Maps Research Guide or email us with any map-related questions.

WHEN: Friday, April 2, 1 – 2pm

WHERE: Institute Archives, 14N-118

Ever wonder how to find out more about the history of MIT, locate the thesis of a famous MIT alum, or get historic background information on an MIT department, lab or program?

Many answers can be found in MIT’s Institute Archives, keepers of MIT’s administrative records, faculty papers, theses, and MIT publications dating back to the 1800s. With MIT’s 150th anniversary approaching, this is a particularly timely workshop for MIT communicators.

Contact Nora Murphy with any questions.

Browse books, CDs, DVDs and audiobooks from the collections of the Humanities and Music Libraries.

Enjoy some leisure reading, watching, and listening during your spring break.

Come check us out!

All sessions take place in the Digital Instruction Resource Center (DIRC), 14N-132, with the exception of the Institute Archives session on April 9, which will take place in 14N-118.

Pre-registration is required for some, but not all sessions. See below for details.

Using the Institute Archives to Research MIT History
Friday, April 2, 1 – 2pm
14N-118, Institute Archives

Ever wonder how to find out more about the history of MIT, locate the thesis of a famous MIT alum, or get historic background information on an MIT department, lab or program? Many answers can be found in MIT’s Institute Archives, keepers of MIT’s administrative records, faculty papers, theses, and MIT publications dating back to the 1800s. With MIT’s 150th anniversary approaching, this is a particularly timely workshop for MIT communicators.

Managing Research Data 101
Thursday, April 8, 12 – 1pm

For researchers struggling to manage their data, basic strategies will be provided for:

• best practices for retention and archiving
• effective directory structures and naming conventions
• good file formats for long-term access
• data security and backup options
• metadata, tagging, and citation
• other relevant issues

Managing Your References: Overview of Endnote, RefWorks and Zotero
Thursday, April 8, 5 – 6pm

Using citation management software to create and maintain a collection of references is becoming more common and important in today’s academic world. These software packages (EndNote, RefWorks & Zotero) allow users to search databases, retrieve relevant citations, and build a bibliography to be added to a paper or thesis or stored for future reference. But which software package should you use, and how do you get started?

Please pre-register for this session.

Ga-Ga for Google
Friday, April 9, 12 – 1pm

Take the popular search engine to a new level. Learn basic searching as well as tips and tricks that will make you truly love Google.

Research Techniques for Writers and Editors
Friday, April 9, 1 – 2pm

Learn how to use the Libraries’ resources and databases to research your own articles or find past articles written about MIT. This workshop will show you how to connect from your desktop to a wealth of online resources licensed to MIT, such as LexisNexis, Factiva, Proquest, historic newspaper databases and more. The experts at the Libraries will show you best techniques. This workshop is tailored to MIT communications professionals, or those with an interest in journalism and science writing.

EndNote Basics
Friday, April 16, 12 – 1pm

EndNote is a “personal bibliographic software” package which allows you to create and manage a database of bibliographic references. Learn how to find and use information more effectively in our hands-on workshop.

Please pre-register for this session.

EndNote Web
Wednesday, April 21, 12 – 1pm

EndNote web is a web-based product available to MIT users as part of the Libraries’ subscription to Web of Knowledge. Come learn how to use Endnote Web to manage your citations, create bibliographies and more.

Zotero Basics
Friday, April 30, 12 – 1pm

Zotero is a free, open-source program for Firefox that helps you to collect, manage, cite, and share your citations and files. With one click, you can save PDFs and citations for most articles, then cite them in Word or OpenOffice. Make a searchable PDF library, and find out how to publish dynamic bibliographies and collaborate by using group collections. In this hands-on session, learn tips and tricks on how to use Zotero more efficiently to save you time and energy. Bring a laptop or use one of our computers.

Please pre-register for this session.

Please contact Anita Perkins with questions about any of the IAPril 2010 sessions.

The MIT Libraries have purchased over 19,000 Springer eBooks published from 2005 through 2010 with coverage of every scientific discipline, as well as some coverage of architecture, humanities and many of the social sciences. Several heavily-used book series and reference works are included; among them are: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Lecture Notes in Mathematics, Lecture Notes in Physics, NATO Science for Peace and Security, Studies in Computational Intelligence, Topics of Current Chemistry, Springer Handbook of Robotics, Handbook of Materials Modeling, and Springer Handbook of Nanotechnology.

The Libraries selected Springer eBooks for its first major system-wide electronic book service because of Springer’s favorable licensing and business terms that will directly benefit MIT users, including broad academic use rights, perpetual ownership, unlimited concurrent users, and participation in Portico, a third party archive. In addition, each book chapter is available as a PDF file without digital rights management (DRM). This means they can be downloaded, printed, and transferred to a PDA or Kindle.

Springer also offers “MyCopy”, a service where the members of the MIT community can order their own personal copy of many of these books by using the print-on-demand option at a significantly discounted price of $24.95 for books up to 800 pages.

Links to these ebooks are beginning to appear in Barton, our library catalog. You can also search or browse them directly or from off-campus.

Speaker: Nancy Schrock, Conservator for Special Collections

Date & Time: Friday, March 19 1:00–2:00pm

Location: 14N-118, Institute Archives Reading Room

MIT Libraries’ book conservator, Nancy Schrock, discusses Diderot’s Encyclopédie as an example 18th century French papermaking and bookbinding.

This event is part of a series of events associated with Technology and Enlightenment, an exhibition in the Libraries’ Maihaugen Gallery (14N-130) that explores one of the most important and controversial publications of the eighteenth century, Diderot’s Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.

All spring exhibit events

Saša Stanišic will read from his new book

How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone

Tuesday, March 9th, 6:30pm in Room 32-141

Saša Stanišic is the 2010 Max Kade Writer in Residence in Foreign Languages and Literatures at MIT, co-sponsored by the DAAD and the MIT European Club.

The authors@mit lecture series is co-sponsored by the MIT Libraries and the MIT Press Bookstore. Additional support for this event is provided by Schoenhof’s Books.

Open to the public &  wheelchair accessible.

Event info: call (617) 253-5249 or visit web.mit.edu/bookstore/www/events/

Download: event flyer

CONTEST RULES:

The contest will run for 3 weeks. Each week a new clue in the form of puzzle pieces will be added. Entries may be submitted at any time and you may enter once per week.
If there is more than one correct entry, the winner will be selected by a drawing.
The answer to the puzzle can be found by searching the visual collections at Rotch Library: http://info-libraries.mit.edu/rotch/collections/visual-collections/.
The correct answer must include the artist’s name, title of the work, and where you located the image.
Entries may be made using this form submitted to the box in Rotch Library or in an email to rvc-all@mit.edu.

If you enter between:
FEB 22, 5pm — MARCH 1, 5pm = your CORRECT answer will be worth 3 entries
MARCH 1, 5:01pm–MARCH 8, 5pm = your CORRECT answer will be worth 2 entries
MARCH 8, 5:01pm — MARCH 15th, 5pm = your CORRECT answer will be worth 1 entry

Note: This contest is open to MIT undergraduate and graduate students only. All entries must be submitted by March 15 at 5 pm.

Have a favorite database and want to avoid searching Vera for it every time? Use the Get URL! Do a search in Vera by title and then just right click to add the link to your bookmarks. Now Proquest, Avery, PubMed and others are just a click away, whether you’re on campus or off!

A new exhibit opens in the Libraries’ Maihaugen Gallery on Wednesday, February 3. Technology and Enlightenment: The Mechanical Arts in Diderot’s Encyclopédie explores one of the most important and controversial publications of the eighteenth century, Diderot’s Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.

This massive work became infamous in its day as an enlightened attack on French and European religious dogmatism and monarchical inefficiency and injustice. Containing over 2,500 elaborately engraved plates, it documented the mechanical arts and technology, placing equal importance on the manual trades as the arts and sciences.

Curated by Jeffrey S. Ravel, MIT Associate Professor of History, and Kristel Smentek, MIT Assistant Professor of Art History, the exhibit features fascinating images chosen from the 32 original folio volumes owned by the MIT Libraries, as well as multimedia components illustrating the Encylopedie’s significance.  The exhibit is open to the public Mon.-Thurs. during gallery hours, and runs through July 2010.

Whether for research or for fun, reading historical newspapers gives us a fascinating view of the past. This hands-on workshop will show you how to find and use newspapers (online and otherwise) going back as far as the 17th century. Focus will be on U.S. papers, though international papers will also be covered.

If you need to gather facts and primary sources for papers and reports, want background information for a creative writing project, or are just curious how much the critics liked your favorite classic book or movie, this session is for you! Bring your Boston Public Library card number, if you have one.

WHEN: Tuesday, January 26, 4 – 5pm

WHERE: DIRC, 14N-132

Contact Michelle Baildon with any questions.

Check out the MIT Libraries’ full schedule of IAP sessions.

Check out all of the MIT Libraries IAP events for the week covering Monday, January 18 through Friday, January 22. Also check out the complete listing for all of our sessions.

Introduction to R

Practically Genomic

Rotch Library Film Series

Using Elevation Data and Hydrographic Tools in a GIS

EndNote Basics

Managing Research Data 101

LabLife Tutorial

Middle East Blogsphere: Who Are They? Where Are They Archived?

GIS Model Builder for Programmers

Regression Using Stata

Demystifying Fair Use – An Interactive Workshop for Users of Copyrighted Content

Linked Data

Cool Tools for Science & Engineering Research

Going Beyond Google Scholar: Using the Web of Science and Other Citation Searching Resources to Discover Articles

Introduction to SAS

Making Your Own Videos for the Web & MIT TechTV

Managing Your References: Overview of EndNote, RefWorks and Zotero

Graphics in Stata

NOTE: Some sessions have limited availability or may require advance sign-up requirements. If you have further questions, please see individual listings for appropriate contact information.

Check out all of the MIT Libraries IAP events for the week covering Monday, January 18 through Friday, January 22. Also check out the complete listing for all of our sessions.

Using NCBI’s BLAST

Going Beyond Google Scholar: Using the Web of Science and Other Citation Searching Resources to Discover Articles

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

EndNote Basics

Introduction to Stata

Bookbinding in the Japanese Tradition

ModelBuilder for beginners

Career Research: Targeting and Researching Employers

A Sampling of Interesting Images from Rotch Visual Collections

Introduction to Spatial Statistics using GIS

Patent Searching Fundamentals

Rotch Library Film Series

Patent Searching Fundamentals

Mapping and Using US Census Data

Cool Tools for Science and Engineering Research: Meet the Developers!

RefWorks Basics

Data Management in Stata

Making Your Own Videos for the Web & MIT TechTV

Introduction to Company and Industry Research for Engineers and Scientists

Site Selection – Making Spatial Decisions Using a GIS

The International Music Score Library Project and the future of digital repositories

NOTE: Some sessions have limited availability or may require advance sign-up requirements. If you have further questions, please see individual listings for appropriate contact information.

Check out all of the MIT Libraries IAP events for the week covering Monday, January 11 through Friday, January 15. Also check out the complete listing for all of our sessions.

Rotch Library Film Series

Power Up!: Strategies for Getting Energy Information

Power Up with Maps! GIS and Energy Resources

Bioinformatics Software Tool: BIOBASE

Managing Your References: Overview of EndNote, RefWorks and Zotero

Managing Research Data 101

Course Reserves Overview

Publishing Smart: A Hands-on Workshop on Journal Quality Measures and Publisher Copyright Policies

Basics of Obtaining a Patent

Bioinformatics for Beginners

Protocols and Methods: Recipes for Successful Research

Bookbinding in the Japanese Tradition

Using Wikipedia to Create Meaningful Learning Experiences

EndNote Basics

Power-up!: Energy Industry Resources

BrainNavigator Demo: Interactive Atlas & 3D Brain Imaging Software

Writing and Formatting Your Thesis: Don’t Let WORD Get You Down

Making Your Own Videos for the Web & MIT TechTV

Finding Research Datasets: ICPSR and the Harvard-MIT Data Center

Tips & Techniques for Searching for Images Online

Keeping Current: Using RSS Feeds to Stay Ahead in Your Research

NOTE: Some sessions have limited availability or may require advance sign-up requirements. If you have further questions, please see individual listings for appropriate contact information.

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 kick back and enjoy a film festival, improve your bioinformatics search skills, or learn how to make your own videos for the Web?

Look no further! Take a peek at all of the MIT Libraries IAP Activities offered in 2010.