Bowdoin College Library

Library News and Events

Carr Ross

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).

Karen Jung, Music Librarian and Coordinator of Research & Instruction Services, reads “Kopis’taya (A Gathering of Spirits),” by Paula Gunn Allen.
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.”
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.”
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!
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 Wolhleben
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
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
Along with her dog Kipper, Lisa Flanagan, Associate Director of the Baldwin Center, reads “Thank You for Waiting” by British poet Simon Armitage
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
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
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
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
Meagan Doyle, Bowdoin College’s Digital Archivist, reads a letter from Rowland Bailey Howard (Bowdoin Class of 1856) to his mother, Eliza Gilmore.
Erin Valentino, Associate Librarian, reads “Feed,” a poem by Tommy Pico
Sue O’Dell, Science Librarian, reads “The Creation,” a poem by James Weldon Johnson
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
Carmen Greenlee, Humanities and Media Librarian, reads the poem “My Grandfather Walks in the Woods,” by Marilyn Nelson

Pop-up Poetry 2021

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National Poetry Month
April 2021

Join the Library in celebrating National Poetry Month with a week of pop-up poetry readings! Tune in at 12 pm (noon) via Facebook Live, M-F April 26-30. Enjoy a delightful reading of a poem by a Bowdoin student. Feel the enchantment of a single poem!

Still to come…
FRIDAY          Anna Constantine ‘23

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.

Check back each day for a new poem!

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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Please join us via Facebook Live on Thursday, April 22 at 4:00 pm for a presentation by Thando Khumalo (’23) on a BIPOC collection display now on view in the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library.

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.

Pop-up Poetry 2020

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National Poetry Month
April 2020

Normally held under the Calder mobile in H-L Library, our annual Pop-Up Poetry event took a turn this year.  For five consecutive days in April, while the college was enduring the COVID-19 crisis, members of the Bowdoin community helped us celebrate National Poetry Month by reading a favorite poem live on Facebook from their homes or offices.  Let these voices lighten your day — have a listen…

Brooks Peters on Facebook Live
Brooks Peters ‘23 reads ‘Dreamwood’ by Adrienne Rich
Lily Poppen on Facebook Live
Lily Poppen ’22 reads ‘The Goddess Who Created This Passing World’ by Alice Notley
Abigail Killeen on Facebook Live
Abigail Killeen, Associate Professor of Theater, reads ‘Still Life with Lightbulb’ by Betsy Sholl
Nate Moranville on Facebook Live
Nate DeMoranville ’20 reads ‘Let America Be America Again’ by Langston Hughes
Guy Saldanha inside the Bowdoin College Library
Guy Saldanha, the Library’s Interlibrary Loan Supervisor, reads ‘The Time You Won Your Town the Race: To an Athlete Dying Young’ By A E Housman

Resources Related to COVID-19

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There is a lot of news coverage about COVID-19 out there, but what about the research?  Many academic publishers and platforms are compiling scholarship related to Novel Coronavirus Disease available and making it available to the public.  Check out the resources below to see what researchers are saying.

LitCovid from NCBI/NLM – LitCovid is a curated literature hub for tracking up-to-date scientific information about the 2019 novel Coronavirus. It is the most comprehensive resource on the subject, providing a central access peer-review articles. The articles are updated daily and are further categorized by different research topics and geographic locations for improved access.

Elsevier’s Novel Coronavirus Information Center – Elsevier’s Novel Coronavirus Information Center contains expert, curated information for the research and health community on Novel Coronavirus (also referred to as COVID-19 and its temporary title 2019-nCoV). All resources, including every article relevant article to Coronavirus, SARS, and MERS,  are free to access and include guidelines for clinicians and patients.

New England Journal of Medicine – New England Journal of Medicine’s collection of articles and other resources on the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, including clinical reports, management guidelines, and commentary.

The BMJ – Research, News, Editorials, and other resources from The BMJ about the coronavirus outbreak. All articles and resources are freely available.

American Society for Microbiology  – Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources – American Society for Microbiology is providing free access to nearly 50 research articles published over the last year in ASM’s 16 scholarly journals to support research efforts and communications about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Springer Nature – SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 – Springer Nature is providing direct access to related research articles from their journals, as well as additional commentary on this topic and relevant books. All content listed here is free to access.

Chongqing Weipu Information Co., Ltd – In order to facilitate the education, work and life of the general public, Chongqing Weipu Information Co., Ltd., (formerly known as the Database Research Center of the Chongqing Branch of the China Institute of Science and Technology Information)  is open to readers for free during the epidemic prevention and control period.

Oxford University Press – Oxford University Press has made content from online resources and leading journals freely accessible to assist researchers, medical professionals, policy makers, and others who are working to address this potential health crisis.

Taylor & Francis – Coronavirus Reading List – All coronavirus-related, peer-reviewed research published in Taylor & Francis journals is now free to access and available for anyone to read.

Wiley Online Library – Covid-19: Novel Coronavirus Outbreak – Wiley has made the relevant research articles, book chapters and entries in their major references freely available in support of the global efforts in diagnosis, treatment, prevention and further research in this disease and similar viral respiratory infections.

Elsevier Coronavirus Research Repository – Elsevier Coronavirus Research Repository, presenting scholarly articles on COVID-19, SARS, MERS and other coronaviruses research

The Lancet – COVID-19 Resource Centre – The Lancet has created a Coronavirus Resource Centre. This resource brings together new 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) content from across The Lancet journals as it is published. All content listed on this page is free to access.

SSRN – Coronavirus and Infectious Disease Research – SSRN’s Coronavirus and Infectious Disease Research page provides a curated view into the early-stage research to help researchers, public health authorities, clinicians and the public understand, contain and manage this disease. Research on SSRN is free to download. It is important to note that these papers have not benefited from the pivotal role of peer-review, which validates and improves the quality of final published journal articles.

Cell Press Coronavirus Resource Hub – Cell Press has compiled  a free-to-access and open archive research related to the biology and spread of coronaviruses. New research and commentaries will be added as papers appear online.

You can also keep up-to-date on the Coronavirus Disease situation with the Centers for Disease Control at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/summary.html

Information about  Bowdoin’s response can be found at https://www.bowdoin.edu/covid-19/index.html

Ramp Gallery Opening: Wanderlust

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collage of student travel

Please join us for the opening of The Ramp Gallery’s spring 2020 exhibit: Wanderlust.

Meet the artists and talk to them about their travels.

Thursday, February 27, 4:30 – 6:00 p.m.

The Ramp Gallery is located in Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, basement level, and features student art work.