Bowdoin College Library

Library News and Events

Carr Ross

Faculty New Book Launch Series, 2021 – 2022

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Our Book Launch Series is Back!  Please mark your calendars and celebrate Bowdoin authors!
Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, 3rd Floor, Nixon Lounge
Thursdays at 4:30 p.m.

Barbara EliasSeptember 23, 2021
Barbara Elias, Associate Professor of Government
Why Allies Rebel: Defiant Local Partners in Counterinsurgency Wars
Margaret BoyleNovember 4, 2021
Margaret Boyle, Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures; she will be joined by her co-editor Sarah Owens, Professor of Hispanic Studies at The College of Charleston
Health and Healing in the Early Modern Iberian World: A Gendered Perspective
Thomas BaumgarteFebruary 3, 2022
Thomas Baumgarte, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics
Numerical Relativity: Starting from Scratch
Angel Daniel MatosApril 7, 2022
Angel Daniel Matos, Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
The Reparative Possibilities of Queer Young Adult Literature and Culture

Open to faculty, staff, and students who have card access to H-L Library.

Citation Management Workshops – Fall 2021

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Workshops Offered This Fall for Endnote
and Zotero!

Attend a citation management workshop and learn how to…

  • Automatically create citations in a variety of styles
  • Manage collections of research materials
  • Import citations directly from online resources

EndNote for Mac:
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 2, 3:00 p.m.

EndNote for PC:
Thursday, Oct. 14, 12:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 3, 10:00 a.m.

Zotero:
Friday, Oct. 15, 10:00 a.m.
Thursday, Nov. 4, 2:00 p.m.

All sessions are held in the Electronic Classroom, Basement Level, H-L Library

For questions about EndNote, Zotero, and citation managers or to arrange an individual session, please contact: Karen Jung.

For citation management tools, please go to https://bowdoin.libguides.com/citationmanagement.

Judy Montgomery (1952-2021)

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The Bowdoin College Library lost a beloved member of its family with the death of Judy Montgomery, who was killed in a tragic car accident along with her husband Paul D’Alessandro and their cherished dog Sparrow, on May 26th in Lewiston.

Judy had retired from the college library in January 2017 after a remarkable 38-year career.  Her affiliation with Bowdoin began in the summer of 1978, when she was hired by then College Librarian Arthur Monke as a government documents assistant (the job category was Typist).  She and Paul had moved to Brunswick after both completed their library master’s degrees at Kent State University.  They had been inseparable since meeting during their first week as undergraduate students at Valparaiso University, where, I have come to learn, Paul patiently edited Judy’s papers and introduced her to his favorite poetry.  While Judy’s professional life was centered in the world of academic libraries, Paul’s career flourished at the Portland Public Library, where he served as a reference librarian specializing in government documents.  Playing to his considerable strengths, he was also the book selector for the poetry collection, a task he particularly relished.  In his work, Paul set a standard for professional excellence and camaraderie that made everyone feel part of the library family—patrons and colleagues alike.  He was both respected and loved throughout his tenure, and his rich sense of humor and boundless intellectual and natural curiosity were sorely missed when he departed after many years of service to the Portland community.

At Bowdoin, Judy’s abilities and talents were soon recognized, and it wasn’t long before she was moved from government documents into the professional position of Catalog Librarian.  In 1985 she was promoted to Assistant Librarian and then in 1994 promoted once again, this time by my immediate predecessor, Sherrie Bergman, to Associate Librarian.  With each new role, Judy’s engagement with the library both deepened and broadened.  Over the years she played a major part in shaping programs and services in reference, instruction, collections, and technology—including managing the project to implement the library’s first online catalog and coordinating the introduction of electronic databases to the campus.  She was also instrumental to library building projects, including the renovation of Hawthorne-Longfellow Library and the planning of the Hatch Science Library.  The annual Children’s Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr., which she created and stewarded for 17 years, was a significant contribution to the community and brought her great joy.

There was little at the library that escaped Judy’s participation.  She twice served as Acting College Librarian and she was a key player in a number of collaborative Maine library initiatives, including the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin partnership (CBB) and the Maine Shared Collections Cooperative.  Over the course of her long tenure, she served the college as a member of multiple project teams, search committees, working groups, and task forces.  In recognition of her service, she was honored with the 2012 McKeen Center Staff Award for Commitment to Community, the 2013 Polar Award for Leadership, and, upon her retirement, the title of Associate Librarian Emerita.  Judy’s service was not limited to the library and the college, however.  She worked in many capacities on behalf of the broader Brunswick Community, most notably through her commitment to Tedford Housing, including serving on its board of directors.

As a leader, a colleague, and a member of the Bowdoin community, Judy consistently focused on furthering the library’s mission, with the college’s faculty and students at the forefront.  She strove for excellence and always had the best interest of the library and its users at heart.  She brought her intelligence, creativity, generous spirit, sound judgement, and resourcefulness to bear on everything she approached.  I can say without fear of exaggeration that her impact was felt in every nook and cranny of Hawthorne-Longfellow and the branch libraries.  Upon my arrival at Bowdoin in 2013, I immediately took note that the most-uttered phrase among the library’s staff was “ask Judy.”  And for months following her retirement, I was not alone in thinking “what would Judy do?” when a thorny issue presented itself.  This was due not only to the institutional knowledge Judy had developed over decades, but to the expectation that when turning to her, one could be assured of a reasoned, thoughtful response to a question or concern, as well as the offer of a helping hand.

Judy will be remembered for so many things—her passion, integrity, generosity, and sense of humor, and her dedication to Bowdoin, her deep respect for its faculty and love of its students.  Above all, she will be remembered for her humanity and compassion, and the many kindnesses she bestowed on others.

Judy’s extended community of friends and colleagues is left with a profound feeling of loss, particularly given the tragic, senseless accident that led to her and Paul’s deaths.  Each of us can derive solace from having had the privilege of knowing, working with, and learning from her, and can honor her memory by striving to model the way in which she lived her life.

–Marjorie Hassen, Director of the College Library, on behalf of the entire Bowdoin Library staff

 

 

Read To Me

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Would you like to hear a story?

 Polar Bear with Read to Me text

The Bowdoin College Library would like to delight, intrigue, comfort, and cheer you with “Read to Me,” a series of readings by Bowdoin College staff.  Each week, we will record and share a brief reading—poems, stories, artist’s books, and more.

The readings started in December 2020 and will continue through spring semester 2021.  Please enjoy listening on Instagram (@bowdoinlibrary), Facebook (Bowdoin College Library), or Twitter (@bowdoinlibrary).

Anna Bastidas, Associate Director of the Outing Club, reads some of her favorite poems by Mary Oliver.
Read a transcript of the video.
Karen Jung, Music Librarian and Coordinator of Research & Instruction Services, reads “Kopis’taya (A Gathering of Spirits),” by Paula Gunn Allen.
Read a transcript of the video.
Along with his reading from “The Book of Delights” by Ross Gay, Matt O’Donnell shares the story of the sweet little writing cabin in which he is reading, and which has, in Matt’s words, “a fun Bowdoin history and connection.”
Read a transcript of the video.
On this lovely April day, Katie Byrnes, Director of the Baldwin Center for Learning and Teaching, takes us on a wonderful, reflective journey into Parker Palmer’s “The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life.”
Read a transcript of the video.
Sherri Braxton, Senior Director for Digital Innovation, reads Amy Ludwig Vanderwater’s poem, “My Horse and I,” and then brings it to life with a trip to the barn to meet her horse Indigo!
Read a transcript of the video.
Stephen Houser, Senior Director of Academic Technology & Consulting, in a walk through the woods, reads from “The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate ― Discoveries from A Secret World,” by Peter Wohlleben
Read a transcript of the video.
Eduardo Pazos, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs for Inclusion and Diversity & Director of the Rachel Lord Center of Religious and Spiritual Life, shares his reading of “Skywoman Falling,” a story adapted from the oral traditions of the Haudenosaunee
Read a transcript of the video.
Marieke Van Der Steenhoven, Special Collections Education & Outreach Librarian, reads selections from “Chasing the Grass,” a collection by Maine poet Jacqueline Moore published by Littoral Books, a small press based in Portland
Read a transcript of the video.
Lisa Flanagan, Associate Director of the Baldwin Center, with her dog Kipper, reads “Thank You for Waiting” by British poet Simon Armitage
Read a transcript of the video.
Rachel Reinke, Associate Director of the Sexuality, Women, and Gender Center (SWAG), reads from “The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love” by Sonya Renee Taylor
Read a transcript of the video.
Andrew Lardie, Associate Director for Service and Leadership in the McKeen Center, reads from “Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living” by Krista Tippett
Read a transcript of the video.
Jessica is standing in snow-filled woods with a copy of the book
Jessica Perez, Director of THRIVE, has chosen a fitting backdrop for her reading of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” by Robert Frost
Read a transcript of the video.
Whitney Hogan, Director of Residential Education and Associate Director of Student Life, reads “The Lost Words: A Spell Book,” by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
Read a transcript of the video.
Meagan Doyle, Bowdoin College’s Digital Archivist, reads a letter from Rowland Bailey Howard (Bowdoin Class of 1856) to his mother, Eliza Gilmore.
Read a transcript of the video.
Erin Valentino, Associate Librarian, reads “Feed,” a poem by Tommy Pico
Read a transcript of the video.
Sue O’Dell, Science Librarian, reads “The Creation,” a poem by James Weldon Johnson
Read a transcript of the video.
Marieke Van Der Steenhoven, Special Collections Education & Outreach Librarian, displays and reads an artist’s book, “Tattoo,” by Martha Hall, a Maine-based book artist
Read a transcript of the video.
Carmen Greenlee, Humanities and Media Librarian, reads the poem “My Grandfather Walks in the Woods,” by Marilyn Nelson
Read a transcript of the video.

Pop-up Poetry 2021

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National Poetry Month
April 2021

For five consecutive days in April, while the college was enduring the COVID-19 crisis, Bowdoin students helped us celebrate National Poetry Month by reading a favorite poem live on Facebook.  We invite you to have a listen. Let these voices lighten your day.

Anna Constantine ’23 reads “Body Encounters Barrier, or Stairs (Not a Metaphor)” by Tara Hardy
Amari Polk ’24 reads “When Maze and Frankie Beverly Come On In My House” by Clint Smith
Nora Jackson ’21 reads “Diving Into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich
Vincent Han ’24 reads  “Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Sylvia Bosco ’21 and Nicole Yip ’22 read two poems by Eavan Boland: “That the Science of Cartography is Limited” and “The Pomegranate”

Poetic License

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A person floating above a city street whimsically kicking an orange ball
April is National Poetry Month, and what better way to celebrate than to hear poets reading their own poems. Each day in April, the Bowdoin Library will share one reading at a display in H-L and on this web site. May you find comfort, resilience, enchantment, and connection through our offerings.

As we celebrate poets and poetry, we also express our esteem and gratitude for the organizations who have made recordings of poetry readings freely available for us to listen to, including the On Being Project, the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Foundation, lyrikline, From the Fishouse, Poetry Out Loud, Open Culture, the Library of Congress, Internet Archive, iBiblio, BBC, and more.

National Poetry Month is sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, and 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of the event.

Questions? Please contact Erin Valentino.

April 30

“Breaking Free,” written and read by Stuart Kestenbaum (1953- ), the Poet Laureate of Maine. From House of Thanksgiving (Deerbrook Editions, 2003). Video courtesy of the Academy of American Poets.

 Watch
April 29

“Spinster,” written and read by Sylvia Plath (1932-1963). From The Collected Poems (Harper & Row, 1981). Audio courtesy of BBC.

 Listen
April 28

“The New Decade,” written and read by Hieu Minh Nguyen. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on January 4, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets. Audio courtesy of Poedtry Foundation.

 Listen
April 27

“The Naming of Cats,” writted and read by T S. Eliot (1888-1965). From Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (Harcourt, Brace, 1939). Audio courtesy of Poets Reading Poetry.

 Listen
April 26

“Quarantine,” written and read by Eavan Boland (1944-2020). Boland taught at Bowdoin as a Visiting Professor; the College also awarded the poet an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 2004. Originally published in Code (Carcanet, 2001). Video courtesy of PBS Newshour.

 Watch
April 25

“How to Triumph Like a Girl,” written and read by Ada Limón (1976- ). From Bright Dead Things (Milkweed Editions, 2015).
April 24

“Design in America,” written and read by Betsy Scholl (1945- ). From Late Psalm (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004). Audio courtesy of From the Fishouse: an Audio Archive of Emerging Poets.
April 23

“Maine Coast,” written and read by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram. Featured in PoetryNow, 2016. Audio couertesy of Poetry Foundation.
April 22

“Eagle Poem,” written and read by U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo (1951- ). From In Mad Love and War. (Wesleyan, 1990). Audio courtesy of Poetry Foundation.
April 21

“Personal Helicon,” written and read by Seamus Heaney (1939-2013 ). First published in Death of a Naturalist in 1966. Audio courtesy of iBiblio.
April 20

“Double Dutch,” written and read by Gregory Pardlo (1968- ). First published in the Cave Canem Anthology, 2001. Audio courtesy of From the Fishouse: an Audio Archive of Emerging Poets.
April 19

“The Song of the Old Mother,” written and read by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). Originally published in The Wind Among the Reeds (E. Mathews, 1899). Audio courtesy of lyrikline.
April 18

“Kindness,” written and read by Naomi Shihab Nye (1952- ). From Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Eight Mountain Press, 1995). Audio courtesy of The On Being Project.
April 17

“How to Continue,” written and read by John Ashbery (1927-2017). From Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems (Ecco, 2007). Audio courtesy of Poetry Foundation.
April 16

“Flamingo Watching,” written and read by Kay Ryan (1945- ). From Flamingo Watching: Poems (Copper Beech Press, 1994). Audio courtesy of Poetry Foundation.
April 15

“Elegy for My Sadness,” written ands read by Chen Chen (1989- ). From When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017). Audio courtesy of From the Fishouse: an Audio Archive of Emerging Poets.
April 14

“To Elsie,” written and read by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963). From The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, Volume I, 1909-1939 (New Directions, 1939). Audio courtesy of Poetry Foundation.
April 13

“Queerodactyl,” written and read by Roy G. Guzmán. Originally published in Poetry Magazine (November 2017). Audio courtesy of Poetry Foundation.
April 12

“The Peace of Wild Things,” written and ready by Wendell Berry (1934- ). From The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry (Counterpoint, 2009). Audio courtesy of The On Being Project.
April 11

“Stardate Number 18628.190,” written and read by Nikki Giovanni (1943- ). From The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni (William Morrow, 1996). Audio courtesy of The On Being Project.
April 10

“Como Tú / Like You / Like Me,” written and read by Richard Blanco (1968- ). From How to Love a Country. (Beacon Press, 2019). Audio courtesy of The On Being Project.
April 9

“Aimless Love,” written and read by Billy Collins (1941- ). From Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems (Random House, 2013). Audio courtesy of lyrikline.
April 8

“[as freedom is a breakfastfood],” written and read by e.e. cummings (1894-1962). From Complete poems, 1904-1962 (Liveright, 1994). Audio courtesy of Poetry Foundation.
April 7

“We Real Cool,” written and read by Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000). From The Bean Eaters (Harpers, 1960). Audio courtesy of Poets.org.

 Listen
April 6

“At Popham Beach,” written by Thorpe Moeckel (1971- ) and read by him at Bowdoin College in September of 2008. Originally published in Poetry Magazine, May 2002. Audio courtesy of From the Fishhouse: an Audio Archive of Emerging Poets.
April 5

“Wild Geese,” written and read by Mary Oliver (1935-2019). From Dreamwork (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986). Audio courtesy of The On Being Project.
April 4

“Freedom,” written by Tyehimba Jess (1965- ) and read by him at Bowdoin College in April of 2005. Originally published in Ploughshares in 2002. Audio courtesy of From the Fishouse: an Audio Archive of Emerging Poets.
April 3

“spring song,” written and read by Lucille Clifton (1936-2010). From Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir (BOA Editions Ltd., 1980). Audio courtesy of The Poetry Foundation.
April 2

“Wade in the Water,” written and read by Tracy K. Smith (1972- ). From Wade in the Water: Poems (Graywolf Press, 2018). Smith was named U.S. Poet Laureate in 2017. Audio courtesy of The On Being Project.
April 1
“Headfirst,” written and read by Ocean Vuong (1988- ). From Night Sky with Exit Wounds (Copper Canyon Press, 2016). Audio courtesy of The On Being Project.

Thando Khumalo ’23 on her curation of a new BIPOC collection

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Thando Kumalo and Carmen Greenlee in conversation April 22, 2021.

The BIPOC collection display highlights materials held at the Bowdoin Library and represents an opportunity to increase the inclusivity of Library collections from a student perspective. Thando has curated this inaugural display, which focuses on themes of motherhood and speaks to her childhood disappointment in not finding someone like herself among the literary characters she most admired.

Through conceiving of and curating the display, Thando hopes to “increase representation and show children of color everywhere that they can see themselves slaying dragons and saving the world in a way I never could have dreamed.” In conversation with Carmen Greenlee, Humanities and Media Librarian, Thando will speak about the theme of the display and her selection of books included in it and read selected passages.

For questions, please contact Erin Valentino.