Bowdoin College Library

Library News and Events

General

Now Live! Bowdoin Digital Collections

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The Bowdoin College Library is pleased to announce the launch of a new platform, Bowdoin Digital Collections. This is the first step in bringing all of the Library’s Digital Collections & Projects into one system for access and preservation, including the contents of our previous system, Bowdoin Digital Commons, which was retired on February 17, 2025. Bowdoin Digital Collections provides improved searching of content, streamlined access to Library digital collections and projects, and a more responsive interface for use on mobile devices. Please contact Digital Archivist Meagan Doyle (mdoyle@bowdoin.edu) with any questions, including how to submit new materials.

Please bear with us this summer!

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A polar bear in a hard hat resting on the book drop, with the text, 'Site Under Construction'Hawthorne-Longfellow and Hubbard are undergoing some improvements this summer, including an improved circulation desk and some shifting of collections, and there will occasionally be noise and commotion as that work happens.

If you’re looking for quiet space during our construction work, consider the third floor of H-L or, after June 21, Hatch Science Library (which has air conditioning!).

Independent but not Alone

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Your work may be independent, but you don’t need to work alone. Come together Friday mornings from 9-12 in the Research Lab in H-L. You bring your work and we’ll provide snacks, beverages, and camaraderie. Librarians and BCLT staff are ready to help if needed. Starts Friday, October 13 and goes until December 15. Please contact Beth Hoppe with any questions.

The Research Lab in H-L Library: Compass Support and More!

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The Research Lab sign, which has a decorative bunch of words in various colors on it.As of the fall semester, Research Librarians are moving their research support operations from the Research Desk to the adjacent Research Lab. We are excited about the greater potential for interactive research support for faculty and students provided by the space! In the Research Lab, Research Librarians will continue to provide expert in-person or remote research assistance.

We do welcome you to stop by, and what better opportunity than providing answers to your questions about Compass, our new Integrated Library Catalog? Research Librarians are ready and available to help with your questions about Compass or anything else as you prepare for the start of the fall semester! Please join us at the Research Lab 11am-4pm Monday-Friday. If those times aren’t convenient, your Library liaison is always ready and willing to help!

Please contact Erin Valentino with any questions!

New Database: The HistoryMakers Digital Archive

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The HistoryMakers: THE Digital Repository of the Black ExperienceThe HistoryMakers Digital Archive is the largest African American oral video history archive in the world, and is committed to preserving, developing, and providing access to an internationally recognized archival collection of thousands of African American video oral histories. The HistoryMakers provides access to 150,000 stories from oral history interviews with over 2,700 historically significant African Americans from across the United States with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Their collective memories stretch as far back as the 1890s. However, these interviews do not focus on any particular event; they span the interviewee’s life and their family’s collective oral histories.

Find this and other exciting resources on the Bowdoin College Library’s Databases page.

New Library Catalog Coming Soon

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New Library Search Experience coming June 2023

The Compass integrated catalog is a central component of the new library management system Bowdoin, Colby, and Bates have adopted and replaces both CBBcat and OneSearch.

Features include:

  • A more intuitive and responsive search and browse user experience, with integrated access to the library’s print, electronic, and digital materials, and to CBB and ILL borrowing.
  • Additional search features, filters, and browsing options, including an integrated search to identify new materials.
  • A mobile-friendly interface.
  • Single sign-on through Okta to manage your loans and requests, and to create favorite lists and searches.

Staff are available to provide support in person and virtually. Contact your Research Librarian or send us an email if you have a question or would like to schedule a demo of the new interface.

A Work in Progress

Staff have been working throughout the summer and fall semester to fine-tune the catalog’s search functionality; complete the integration of external tools, including links to e-resources; and perform necessary data cleanup projects related to the migration. The direct link to MaineCat search and requesting is expected to be live in Compass in November. Please use Interlibrary Loan during this transition period.

The library appreciates your understanding and flexibility. If you have questions, please contact Karen Jung.

BIPOC Book Display: Latinidad, Identity, and Queer Love

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The Library’s 2022-23 BIPOC Collection, curated by Karla Lainez, ‘24, opened with a discussion with Karla on November 17. The video is on Facebook.

The display remained in place through the 2022-23 academic year.

Karla’s curator’s statement:

Hi! I am so happy you are here, browsing through the 2022 Fall BIPOC Collection focused on Latinidad, identity, and queer love at the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library.

My name is Karla Lainez, and I am a junior at Bowdoin College. When beginning to think about this collection and what to include within it, I knew I wanted it to have a variety of stories, experiences, and voices that celebrate and show our strength and humanity: the love, the struggles, the family, the humor, the joy, the care, and the empowerment. Often, the narrative is one of lack of power and autonomy, but we are strong, le echamos ganas, continually show up, and are here. Our experiences matter, and finding a character or person to relate to is so crucial. I also wanted to have books in the collection I wished I had growing up, as seeing parts of my identity, and that of my friends represented and honored in school didn’t occur. My identities as a queer Mexcian and Salvadoran American daughter of immigrants have had an impact on how connected I’ve been able to feel. Books on queer love and joy were never on the shelves, much less by Latine/a/o authors, which is why I can’t wait to read these. The younger version of me would have loved seeing these books in the library or recommended by a professor. I probably would have read more. So, I am so glad they can be added here, and I hope you can enjoy them too.

I’ve tried to include an author from each part of Latin America, recognizing that while we have many shared experiences that unite us as a community, our cultures and countries are unique. Additionally, these works will increase the number of books Bowdoin has by Latine/a/o authors within the library, which must continue and expand even after the display of this collection ends. This collection contains a variety of formats, from essays, poems, children’s books, fiction, and anthologies, to even films. It includes stories that aren’t highlighted enough, and experiences that deserve to be shared and heard. Finding a space where you feel seen, welcomed, and understood at a predominantly white institution like Bowdoin is hard. So, I hope that within these works, you find a piece that resonates with you, even if just a line.

Thank you 🙂

The book list:

Title Author
La Señora Varsovia Abend van Dalen, Raquel
The Poet X Acevedo, Elizabeth
Inheritance: A Visual Poem Acevedo, Elizabeth
Performing the US Latina and Latino borderlands Aldama, Artuo .
Violeta: A novel Allende, Isabel
The Woman I kept to myself Alvarez, Julia
In the time of the butterflies Alvarez, Julia
mala mala Antonio Santini, Dan Sickles
Borderlands: the new mestiza = la frontera Anzaldúa, Gloria
This bridge called my back: writings by radical women of color Anzaldúa, Gloria and Moraga, Cherrie
Tía Fortuna’s New Home: A Jewish Cuban Journey Behar, Ruth
Fire from the Andes: Short Fiction by Women from Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru Benner, Susan and Leonard, Kathy
We Are Owed Brown, Ariana
Tengo una tía que no es monjita Cardoza, Melissa
13 Colors of the Honduran Resitance Cardoza, Melissa
So Far From God Castillo, Ana
The House on Mango Street Cisneros, Sandra
Caramelo Cisneros, Sandra
Reclaim the stars: 17 tales across realms & space Córdova, Zoraida
Latina Lesbian Writers and Authors Costa, María Colores
Halsey Street Coster, Naima
Homecoming queers : desire and difference in Chicana Latina cultural production Danielson, Marivel
Mango Moon de Anda, Diane
Kiwi de Posadas, Carmen
Cantoras De Robertis, Carolina
Vindictas: Cuentistas Latinoamericanas Delgado, Susy
Here Comes the Sun Dennis-Benn, Nicole
Ordinary Girls: A memoir Díaz, Jaquira
Islandborn Diaz, Junot
Boogie, Boogie, Yall Esperanza, C. G.
“Sabrina & Corina” Fajardo-Anstine, Kali
Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer Figueroa, Jamie
Empanada: A Lesbiana Story en Probaditas Flores, Anel
Antonio’s card Gonzalaez, rigoberto
Calling the doves gonzales, grace cornell
All Around Us Gonzalez, Xelena
Olga Dies Dreaming Gonzalez, Xochitl
Catrachos Guzmán, Roy
The book of Unknown Americans Henriquez, Cristina
Mucha Muchacha, Too Much Girl Hernández Linares, Leticia
A Cup of Water Under My Bed Hernandez, Daisy
A Child Grows Up and Wonders Hernandez, Felicia O
American Dreamer Herrera, Adriana
Cafe con Lychee Lee, Emery
Fiebre Tropical Lopera, Julián Delgado
Cuentamelo Lopera, Julián Delgado
Peluda Lozada-Olivia, Melissa
Killing Marías: A Poem for Multiple Voices Luna, Claudia Catro
No Filter and Oher Lies Maldonado, Crystal
Our Shadows Have Claws Many
Wild Tounges Can’t Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora many
Ophelia After All Marie, Racquel
Alma and How She Got Her Name Martinez-Neal, Juana
Here the Whole Time Martins, Vitor
One of a kind like me Mayeno, Laurin
Lake Lore McLemore, Anna-Marie
Furia Mendez, Yamile
Mexican Gothic Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
Alicia and the Hurricane Newman, Leslea
What’s Coming To Me Padilla, Francesca
500 years Pamela Yates
Funeral for Flaca Prado, Emily
The Five Wounds Quade, Kirstin Valdez
Beauty Woke Ramos, NoNieqa
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School Reyes, Sonora
A Girl’s Guide to Love & Magic Rigaud, Debbie
They Call Me Mix/Me Llaman Maestre Rivas, Lourdes
Juliet Takes a Breath Rivera, Gabby
America Vol. 1: The Life And Times Of America Chavez Rivera, Gabby
For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color Rodríguez, Prisca Dorcas Mojica
Aristotle and Dante Discover the secrets of the Universe Sáenz, Benjamin Alire
Hermosa Salgado, Yesika
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Sanchez, Erika
With Lots of Love Sanchez, Jenny Toress
Una Mujer Fantastica Sebastián Lelio
Nameless Woman: An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color Selenite, Venus
Cemetery Boys Thomas, Aiden
Lotería Valenti, Karla
Lulu and Milagro’s Search for Clarity Velez, Angela
Fifteen Hunded Miles From The Sun Villa, Jonny Garza
Las Malas Villada, Camila Sosa
The Grief Keeper Villasante, Alexandra
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina Zoraida Córdova

Pathways to Open: CBB Libraries and Open Access

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The Bowdoin Library is joining with colleagues at Bates and Colby to host a presentation on the ways in which we are supporting Open Access Publishing. Please join us on Tuesday, October 25th at noon for a discussion of Read and Publish agreements, models for open access across academic journals, and opportunities for making your work open access at no cost. This collaborative Zoom event will be held in the Nixon Lounge (3rd floor H-L Library) at noon, with lunch to follow. If you would like to join us in Nixon for the presentation and lunch, please RSVP by Tuesday, October 18 to Helen Hill, hhill@bowdoin.edu. If you would like to register for the Zoom presentation individually or have us send you a recording of it, please sign up here. If you have any questions, please contact Erin Valentino, evalenti@bowdoin.edu.