Are you at student at LSU?  If so, then you are eligible to offer LSU Libraries the feedback we need to find the best ways of providing access to the resources YOU need.

The survey, which should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete, is available via PAWS.  The following link will take you directly to the survey:

http://appl027.lsu.edu/comp/surveyapp.nsf/survey?OpenAgent&id=onlineparti

We thank you in advance for assisting LSU Libraries in determining the best methods for supporting the LSU community.

CELEBRATE YOUR FREEDOM TO READ
VISIT THE VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE BANNED BOOK EXHIBIT!

SEPTEMBER 26-NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Banned Books Week kicks off a month-long exhibition on intellectual freedom

LSU Libraries will commemorate Banned Books Week with an exhibit in Education Resources, 227 Middleton Library.  Banned Books Week, an annual celebration of the freedom to read, will be observed Sept. 26-October 3 by libraries, bookstores, schools, and others concerned with freedom of speech.

Banned Books Week commemorates one of the most basic freedoms in a democratic society — freedom from censorship.  Since its inception in 1982, it has reminded us that while not every book is intended for every reader, each of us has the right to decide for ourselves.  The theme for this year’s observance is “Speak  ~ Read  ~ Know.”   The LSU Libraries exhibit is a month-long celebration of intellectual freedom, so will be available for viewing through October 26..

Browse the exhibit to learn about the most challenged books of 2008 including award winners and books challenged in Louisiana.  See the censorship map that illustrates censorship efforts across the country.  Learn the difference between banned and challenged books.  See the number of challenges by year, reason, institution, and initiator for 1990-2008.  Find information on books that were considered controversial when Middleton Library was dedicated in 1959.  Pick up a bookmark and a list of banned or challenged books.  You will be surprised by some of the titles!

Speak Your Mind ~ Read Banned Books ~ Know the First Amendment

Education Resources/ Exhibit Hours

Monday – Thursday: 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Friday: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Sunday: 12:00 Noon – 10:00 p.m.

Please note: Library hours are subject to change. You can confirm hours by calling 578-8875 or  checking the web page at http://www.lib.lsu.edu/index.html

A new exhibit, “Inception to Renovation: The Music and Dramatic Arts Building” will be on display on the Middleton Library second floor from September 15 through October 20. Photos, drawings and artifacts from the opening of the LSU Music and Dramatic Arts Building in 1932 through its renovation will be available for visitors to view. The exhibit is made available in conjunction with the renovation and reopening of the Music Building on September 20. The exhibit is free and open to the public. The library is open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday (on non-football Saturdays), noon to midnight on Sundays.

The opening is this Sunday, September 21, with a celebration at the Music and Dramatic Arts building, and tours at Middleton Library to follow.

You can now stay up to date with LSU Libraries events and resources in ways  that Troy H. Middleton never dreamed possible!    Besides staying connected to the Libraries through the LSU Libraries blog, you can also keep up with the most current library information through the Facebook and Twitter.  LSU Libraries has gained over 200 fans on Facebook during the past year, and is quickly gaining followers on Twitter, the real-time short messaging service.   Building hours, event information, and general library help are offered on both Facebook and Twitter; check out LSU Libraries on Facebook and Twitter today!

LSU Libraries Facebook page

LSU Libraries Twitter account

Contact Rebecca Miller, the LSU Libraries Digital Technologies Librarian, with questions about or suggestions for these accounts.

Brand Names and Trademarks Presentation Flyer

Wednesday, August 5th, 6:30PM
Bluebonnet Regional Branch Library
9200 Bluebonnet Boulevard

Does your business have a unique name, brand or logo that you would like to protect? Attendees will learn about the application process and how to navigate the USPTO website and develop an effective trademark search strategy. Justin Ourso, trademark attorney at Jones Walker Law Firm will present to answer audience questions.

Please email Alexis Carrasquel at acarrasq@lsu.edu
or call 578-4680 to register for the workshop.

You can also register online at:
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/sci/ptdl/workshopregistration.htm

As of June 30, 2009, Special Collections completed cataloging of all the manuscript collections in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, which was previously only cataloged in the paper card catalog located at Hill Memorial Library. As a result, Special Collections’ manuscript holdings are now more accessible not only in our local catalog, iLink, but also through the union database WorldCat, which scholars around the world may access. Links to online finding aids are included in the records.

The Library stopped adding cards to the card catalog in the early 1990s, when collections began to be entered into the online catalog instead  . Manuscripts processing staff chipped away at the task of adding the information from the paper file to the OPAC, but no programmatic effort to recon the old card catalog was made until June of 2006, when Special Collections Cataloger Hans Rasmussen was hired. Rasmussen focused his efforts on the project; Cataloger Joseph Nicholson and Luana Henderson, Library Associate in Manuscripts Processing, also contributed. Together they added approximately 1,839 records, bringing the total number of historical manuscript collections described in the online catalog to 4,414, which represents all of Special Collections’ processed manuscript holdings.

Click here to access the catalog.

Louisiana Newspaper WebIndex

The LSU Libraries’ Special Collections division has been awarded a grant of $351,380 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to digitize 100,000 pages of Louisiana newspapers published from 1860 through 1922. The newspapers digitized during this two-year grant will be freely available via the Library of Congress’s “Chronicling America” website.

The project builds on more than 60 years of work done by LSU Libraries staff to preserve Louisiana history by microfilming the state’s newspapers of record. Today, Special Collections continues to produce archival-quality microfilm for 90 Louisiana newspapers that are not commercially filmed. As a result of the grant, microfilm will be digitized, and the images will be processed using optical character recognition software to create full-text searchable files that will be made available by the Library of Congress.

“People from every walk of life use our historical newspapers on microfilm,” said Elaine Smyth, head of Special Collections and co-director of the project with Gina Costello, Digital Services Librarian. “Having free, keyword-searchable access via the Internet will be a big step forward for our users. We’re excited to be able to begin adding Louisiana’s newspapers to the Chronicling America project.” An Advisory Board made up of twelve scholars, educators, archivists, and librarians known for their expertise in Louisiana history will help select which newspaper titles will be digitized in this initial project, which will end in June 2011.

As of June 2009, the Chronicling America website (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/) hosts more than 1 million pages of historic American newspapers. “Newspapers are the most important printed record of the history of our country at the local, state and national level. Now in a single search, users can dive into a million pages on the Chronicling America webpage and surface at the pages that contain the history of our past in real time,” said Henry Snyder, former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at LSU and now Project Director for the California Digital Newspaper Project, University of California at Riverside, during an event held in Washington on June 16 to celebrate passing the million-page mark.

LSU’s project co-director Gina Costello noted that collaboration is a key element of the project. “Fifteen states have already participated in the National Digital Newspaper Program, and they are all ready to help the seven new states that will be joining the program this year. We can pool our knowledge to make the project work better and more efficiently.” Carole Watson, Acting Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities, agrees, adding that the Chronicling America project also “builds on more than twenty years of collaboration between the NEH and LC to preserve and make accessible the content of millions of pages of historically important American newspapers, first by microfilming and now by digitization.”

NEH has designated LSU’s project as a “We the People” project. “The goal of the ‘We the People’ initiative is to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture,” said Watson. “I anticipate that [LSU's] project will contribute significantly to this effort.”

The library will have shorter hours for the fourth of July weekend.

Friday, July 3, Middleton Library will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  However, Hill Memorial Library will be closed.  Education Resources, Music Resources and Interlibrary Borrowing in Middleton Library will also be closed.

Saturday, July 4, Middleton Library will be open from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. However, Hill Memorial Library and Interlibrary Borrowing  in Middleton Library will be closed.

To see the full schedule of hours go to the Library Hours Page.

Louis Braille Bicentennial Exhibit

National Braille Press Celebrates Louis Braille’s 200th Birthday

National Braille Press, a non-profit braille publisher, has produced a 20-panel traveling exhibit to celebrate Louis Braille’s 200th birthday. The exhibit, in print and braille, takes a viewer through the highlights of Braille’s life, the braille production process, and why braille remains important today. It will be on display in the lobby of Middleton Library from June 18-July 12, 2009. This is one of only 20 appearances across the U.S.

Louis Braille, born in France on January 4, 1809, became blind in an accident when he was three years old. The bright, creative student earned a scholarship the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris. At age 15, he devised what is now known as braille, a tactile reading system using six raised dots to correspond to written language. Braille proved so flexible, that it has been adapted for virtually every language, as well as music, mathematics, and the sciences. Worldwide celebrations will be held all year to recognize his unparalleled contribution to literacy.

Several complementary exhibits will highlight resources from the LSU Libraries collections. Education Resources will focus on library services to patrons with disabilities through a variety of books, games, and equipment. Emphasis will be on services for the visually impaired, but resources for patrons with other disabilities will also be included. Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped at the State Library of Louisiana is a major purveyor of library services for the disabled, and will also contribute materials and equipment for this display.

Government documents issued in braille will be on display in the Government Documents Department. Publications include lists of books in braille as well as those on human resources and social security. Of related interest are patents issued for equipment for the visually or physically impaired.

Special Collections in Hill Memorial Library will display braille materials from several archival collections. This shows its importance in a historical context.

Middleton Library hours, beginning June 8, are Monday-Thursday, 7:15 a.m.-10:00 p.m.; Friday, 7:15 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 12:00 noon-10:00 p.m. Hill Memorial Library hours are: Monday ,8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Tuesday, 8:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.; Wednesday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. and Saturday, 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

For additional information, please contact Peggy Chalaron, pchalar@lsu.edu, 225-578-7068 or Mitchell Fontenot, mfonten@lsu.edu, 225-578-7374..