News from @umnlib

In her role as Music Librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries, Jessica Abbazio benefits from all of her training in music history, teaching, and librarianship. She brings a deep understanding of the discipline and its various materials.

Daniel McCarthy Clifford — an artist in residence at Weisman Art Museum’s Target Studio for Creative Collaboration — is raising awareness about the seemingly arbitrary method employed by prisons to keep books out of the hands of inmates. He's doing so by way of an exhibit at the Weisman, called "The Section of Disapproved Books." The University Libraries was a key contributor to the exhibit, which is curated by Weisman’s Boris Oicherman.

Recently, the University Libraries acquired the entire 21st Editions collection — consisting of 63 volumes. The company has published beautiful and unique handmade books that combine photography with literature and poetry. The acquisition also includes the firm’s archives — process prints with notes from the artist or the publisher, sketches, correspondence, and production notes.

It's not too late to reserve your spot for next week's Friends Forum event: #MeToo: Monumental or Momentary, which includes a panel discussion led by University of Minnesota Professor Emerita Sara Evans. On December 5 at Coffman Memorial Union Theater, Evans and a powerful panel of woman — a cross-section of ages, ethnicities, and experiences — will reconsider the movement today. How do we ensure that the momentary media interest of today becomes a lasting, culture-shifting norm of tomorrow? 

Machines and people have been working together for decades, perhaps more than you had thought, to keep University information technology systems running. The people operating punch card and tabulating machines, the majority of whom were women, most likely did not see their role as one of managing information technology.

You might have seen a prank going around about cooking a 25-pound turkey in a microwave. It seems like a bad idea but we’re a group of curious, food-motivated librarians and we thought… can it be done? Here's what we found.

The Libraries’ vast collection of World War I materials was featured recently in several local media outlets, as the world commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Armistice on November 11.

Check out his photo mash-up showing people looking at posters on the kiosk in front of Walter Library. The image on the left was taken this year — fall semester 2018 — and the image on the right was taken 48 years ago, during fall semester 1970.

The program series People Worth Hearing About originated with The Minnesota School of the Air director, Betty Girling. The series first aired in 1969. In this episode, a feature on Maria Sanford is highlighted along with the behind-the-scenes decisions on how to produce the script.

Human anatomy texts typically default to the male standard – with males represented in case studies and anatomical drawings. Our University Libraries provide balanced information to support students and educators. But what happens when the information simply does not exist? For a start, we can buy a female skeleton model for our students. We can also use the limitations of available information as an opportunity to start a conversation.

If your day brings you across the Washington Avenue Bridge, be sure to check out the hundreds of original art panels that line the pedestrian walkway. These panels change each fall as student groups and University departments are invited to participate in the Paint the Bridge tradition. Learn how the Libraries painted their panel with a little help from our very own Makerspace.

Claire Stewart, Associate University Librarian for Research & Learning at the University Libraries, talks about the technology and tools that she uses in her daily life. Her favorite: Wunderlist. And she is on the verge of dumping her laptop entirely for a desktop in the office and an iPad 6th generation when she's mobile.

Chef Sean Sherman presented at the 2018-2019 kickoff of the Friends Forum on October 16 at the Bell Museum. His topic: Reclaiming the Culture of Indigenous American Cuisine.

Ryan Mattke, Head of the Borchert Map Library, accepted the Governor's Award on October 4 for the Minnesota Historical Aerial Photographs Online website, which includes thousands of digital copies of historical aerial photographs, mostly from between the 1920s and the 1990s, covering all 87 counties in Minnesota.

Bridget McKenna participated in the College of Liberal Arts Dean’s Freshman Research & Creative Scholars Program. Through this program, McKenna learned the present-day value of libraries, while she was matched with the curators of the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine.