Bowdoin College Library

Library News and Events

General

Welcome, New and Returning Students! Your Academic Home Awaits.

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The entrance to Hawthorne-Longfellow Library with the doors open and lit by warm lamplight

Headshot of Peter BaeHello and a very warm welcome to the Class of 2029 and all of our returning students!

On behalf of the entire Bowdoin Library staff, we are so excited to have you back on campus. The library is more than just a place with books; it is your academic home, a space for collaboration, and a quiet retreat for focused study. We’ve been getting everything ready for you all summer and can’t wait to see the energy you bring to our halls.

Our friendly and dedicated staff are here to help you with anything you need. Whether you’re looking for a specific book, need help with a research paper, or just have a quick question, please don’t hesitate to ask. As you settle in, remember that the only question you can’t get an answer to is the one you don’t ask!

As you begin your classes, I want to draw your attention to a couple of key resources.

Course Reserve Services

We know textbooks can be expensive, and our Course Reserve Services are designed to help. Your professors have selected essential materials for your courses, which are available to borrow for shorter periods to ensure everyone has a chance to use them. Find more information here, or search the Course Reserve catalog directly.

Library Services for Students

Beyond course reserves, we offer a wide range of services to support your success, from research assistance to technology support and more. We encourage you to explore all the ways we can help you thrive this semester by visiting our student services page.

We wish you all a successful and rewarding academic year. The library is here to help you learn, grow, and achieve your goals. Come say hello—we’re here for you.

Peter Bae, Director of the College Library

Cookbooks: A glimpse through thyme

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Whether it was food or knowledge you were craving, Friends of the Southport Historical Society served up a satisfying dish. Southport Town Hall was packed Aug. 4 for the group’s latest installment of the Donald and Joyce Duncan Lecture Series, “Cookbooks as Historical Evidence,” led by Marieke Van Der Steenhoven, Bowdoin College’s Special Collections Education and Engagement librarian.

Read the full article by the Boothbay Register here.

“Citation Needed”: Using WikiEdu to Demystify Information Sharing

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Linnea Minich smilingLinnea Minich, Research and Instruction Librarian at Bowdoin Library, delivered an interactive workshop titled “Citation Needed: Weaving Together Citation and Information Sharing with WikiEdu”, at LOEX, an annual conference on library instruction and information literacy in Pasadena, CA. Workshop participants used WikiEdu resources to determine which Wikipedia articles are most in need of improvement, then practiced adding a citation to those articles.

WikiEdu is a Wikipedia training and instruction platform offering training modules, customizable course pages, and classroom programs. While these resources are designed for semester-long courses, Minich demonstrated to workshop participants that these resources can be used in individual classes and other time-limited library settings to demystify the technically complex world of Wikipedia editing. As Wikipedia articles are subject to peer review by the community, this kind of participation can help students understand citation as a crucial part of the knowledge-sharing process, rather than as a formality.

Linnea Minich points at a slideshow during her presentation

The WikiEdu curriculum emphasizes the importance of improving representation on Wikipedia for under-represented groups. In Minich’s workshop, she showed participants how to find important articles that need to be improved by looking at WikiProjects like Indigenous peoples of North America and African diaspora. These WikiProjects are formed by groups of Wikipedia editors working to improve articles in a particular area.

Minich notes, “even though this workshop was during the last session block at the conference, I had some enthusiastic participation. The audience asked helpful questions about the practical side of these activities, and about Wikipedia and WikiEdu. I have used WikiEdu in three semester-long courses previously. It was great to have the opportunity to experiment with how this can be applied at Bowdoin to help students think about citations differently.”

 

 

 

 

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.