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:

• 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.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 12
H-L LIBRARY

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 25^th 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 (3^rd 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.

46 new Spanish language children’s books were added to the Bowdoin Library collection to support the work of students enrolled in Professor Margaret Boyle’s Teaching and Learning Languages and Cultures class and an honors project by Katharine Barrett, Class of 2023, Multilingualism and Community Engagement. 

The titles were purchased from La Librería, Los Angeles, CA, and support the work of Bowdoin-led Multilingual Mainers.

Title list

A new seminar room is coming to Hawthorne-Longfellow Library this summer!  To support Special Collections & Archives’ active instruction program, a 16-person seminar room will be constructed adjacent to the department, on the north side of the 3^rd floor.  This dedicated space will significantly augment the ability of SC&A to meet the growing demands of its program, which reaches students and faculty across disciplines.

The room will provide

• secure, dedicated space for class sessions in which special collections materials can be used safely in a classroom setting.
• flexible, modular furniture to support a variety of instruction modes.
• technology to support working with objects, including a large LCD panel and laptop connection, and a document camera to project and magnify materials.
• a videoconferencing camera to support hybrid events and outside presentations.
• an adjacent anteroom with cubbies, where students can leave their belongings before entering the seminar room.
• an adjacent office/consultation space for the Special Collections Education and Engagement Librarian.

This project is the most recent of the library’s ongoing efforts to think creatively about how to mitigate the limitations of the current building.  We are continually balancing the competing needs of students, faculty, and staff, along with space for collections.  While the project will require the removal of a portion of shelving from the north side of the 3^rd floor, we are extremely fortunate to have the library Annex at our disposal.  Librarians have reviewed the collections shelved on the floor and have identified approximately 7000 volumes for relocation.  As is the case for all materials shelved at the Annex, these volumes will be requestable through the catalog and typically available for pick up on campus within 24 hours.

Over the course of the summer, the 3^rd floor will be shifted to rationalize the collections in call number order.  We do not anticipate any disruption in services while this work is underway.  The entire project—construction and collections shift—will be completed before the start of the coming academic year.

Any questions about the project can be directed to Marjorie Hassen, Director of the College Library.
mhassen@bowdoin.edu | (207) 725-3281

A Mindful Way to Prepare for Finals

Friday, May 13
Baldwin Center for Learning & Teaching, H-L Library 112

• Students are invited to come to the Baldwin CLT / H-L Library for a motivating space and time in preparation for finals. Sign up in CampusGroups or just drop in!
• Peer Academic Mentors, Q-Tutors and Writing Assistants will be available as resources throughout the 6-hour day in the BCLT (H-L Library 112).
• A Cave Day-dedicated research librarian will be available.
• BCLT professional staff Tina Chong and Lisa Flanagan will meet with students on a drop-in basis.
• H-L Library Fishbowl and Pierce Reading Room will be Quiet Cave spaces for uninterrupted work.
• Kick off your Cave Day with Kate Nicholson: yoga stretches at 10:15 a.m. and a motivation and focus meditation at 10:30 a.m.
• You are welcome to come and go anytime during this day. Giving yourself significant time to be productive is advisable.
• Snacks will be provided and raffles to win Bowdoin gift cards will occur throughout the day.
• Participating students may choose from giveaway gifts including Muji pens, stress putty and other fidget toys!

FMI: Tina Chong, Baldwin Center for Learning and Teaching, t.chong@bowdoin.edu

For National Poetry Week 2022, H-L Library invited Bowdoin faculty, staff, and students who are focused on STEM in their study and research to read a poem each day under the Calder mobile.

Monday, April 25
Sue O’Dell, Science Librarian, read Projection by Anna M. Evans.

Tuesday, April 26
Bhadra Mishra, ’24 read an Untitled poem about body hair, by Naina Kataria.

Wednesday, April 27
Dharni Vasudevan, Stanley F. Druckenmiller Professor of Chemistry and Environmental Studies and Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Inclusion, read 3 poems by Hafiz: And for No Reason , It Felt Love , and The Sun Never Says.

Thursday, April 28
Espoir Byishimo, ’22, read A Poem on Benjamin Franklin, author Unknown.

Friday, April 29
Eric Gaze, Director of Quantitative Reasoning Program and Senior Lecturer in Mathematics read Mysteries, Yes! by Mary Oliver.