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.
Linnea 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.
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.”
Of all the technological contributions to Bowdoin’s library that the senior has made over the past three years, it is his digital map showing the library’s global reach that tends to elicit the most praise.
Read the entire article at Bowdoin News.
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.
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!).
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.
In honor of Constitution Day, September 17, 2023, the anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution, explore constitutional questions related to abortion rights from a variety of perspectives.
Download a copy of The Constitution of the United States with Index and The Declaration of Independence or pick up a free pocket Constitution at the display at the Circulation Desk in HL Library.
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!
The 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.
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:
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.
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.