News from the Mudd

Meet the Staff, Student Worker Edition: Dakota Williams

As summer break winds to a close, all of us at the Seeley G. Mudd Library are readying ourselves for the upcoming academic year and are looking forward to welcoming our students back to campus. Of course, a few students have been hanging around the library all summer long–our incredible student workers! Dakota Williams has been working as a Circulation Assistant; his duties include circulating and shelving library items and assisting with the arduous task of cataloging CDs. He’s also facilitated some projects for the Archives. For a few weeks this summer, he worked tirelessly to convert  piles of commencement and convocation speeches from audio and video cassettes into newer formats. He’s cataloged scrapbooks, photocopied articles, done data entry, and created a comprehensive listing of Lawrence faculty. Dakota does all of this work while continuously sharing one of the biggest and brightest smiles on campus!

Dakota’s hard work and great attitude have landed him the Night Supervisor/Course Reserves Assistant position for the upcoming academic year. Once the term starts, his responsibilities will grow to include the supervision of circulation desk workers during the Mudd’s hectic evening hours, and the processing and maintaining of course reserves. We feel so lucky to have this dynamic student worker behind the circulation desk! Read on to learn more about Dakota:

What’s your major?

My major is BM Horn Performance.

When will you graduate?

I will be graduating in June 2014.

Where are you from?

I grew up in southwest Missouri, but my family lives in Milton, Wisconsin now.

How long have you been working at the Mudd Library?

I have been working at the Mudd library for 3 years, since my Freshman year.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

In my work in Archives, I enjoy finding concert programs collected by Milwaukee-Downer Alumnae in their scrapbooks.

Share something you’ve done at work that has made you especially proud.

Strange as it sounds, I am proudest of the signs that I created, advertising different aspects of the Mudd’s collection of which I believe patrons may be unaware.

What are your hobbies?

I enjoy reading (especially short stories and music literature), doing crosswords and other word puzzles, arranging music for chamber ensembles, and collecting and drinking tea.

What’s the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?

Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice.

What are your favorite bands or performers?

The Berliner Philharmoniker, Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, and  the American Horn Quartet.

List your favorite blogs and/or magazines.

The Horn Call (magazine), Horn Matters (blog), Broadway.com (blog).

What groups and/or organizations are you active in (on or off campus)?

Lawrence University Quizbowl, GLOW, and NAfME.

What are your post-graduation plans?

I plan to go to graduate school for a dual-masters in musicology and library science.

Meet the Staff, Student Worker Edition: Thomas Malm

001 (Small)For the summer editions of Meet the Staff, we thought it was high time we featured some of the most valuable employees that we have here at the library, our student workers! The Seeley G. Mudd employs about 50 students each year to help in Circulation, Technical Services,  Archives, and Media Services. Student workers are fundamental to the fulfillment of our mission, and their work provides invaluable support to library staff, and as a result, to the entire campus community. They also serve as unofficial liaisons between the library staff and the student body, helping us stay attuned and connected to the needs and interests of our student population, as well as making the library feel welcoming, friendly, and familiar to the students we serve. The Mudd library would not be the same without their input and presence. We love our student workers!

Thomas Malm had spent four years as a library student worker before graduating this past June. Currently, he’s happily awaiting his student-teaching stint by spending the summer as a Student Circulation Desk Assistant. Whether helping patrons with materials or taking photos for our flickr page, Thomas is a capable and industrious employee. And while it will be difficult for all of us to see this intelligent, hard-working, and outright hilarious employee move on at summer’s close, we are looking forward to hearing about his future success!  And now, without further ado, more about Thomas:

What’s your major?

Bassoon Performance and Music Education, emphasis in Conducting.

Where are you from?

Olympia, Washington

What’s your favorite part of your job?

Helping patrons and the occasional shelving project.

Share something you’ve done at work that has made you especially proud.

Check out the Interactive Seeley G. Mudd reference here!

What are your hobbies?

Being from the NW I love backpacking, hunting, mountain (especially volcano) climbing, but I also like watching Star Trek TNG, doing Lord of the Rings research (it’s a thing!), and I’m an avid video gamer.

What’s the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.

What are your favorite bands or performers?

Coldplay, The Beatles, Herbert von Karajan, M.T.T., and many other conductors. I’m also very partial to the music of David Maslanka.

List your favorite blogs and/or magazines.

The Double Reed (IDRS Journal), National Geographic, IGN.com, and CNN for my news.

What groups and/or organizations are you active in (on or off campus)?

The National Association for Music Education, International Double Reed Society, the National Band Association, the Conductor’s Guild, and even the International Practical Shooting Confederation.

What are your post-graduation plans?

I will be student teaching in Pulaski, WI through February and then going to graduate school to pursue master’s degrees in wind band conducting and bassoon performance.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

I am eternally grateful to all of the professors that I’ve had here at Lawrence for their guidance and for inspiring me to be better every day. Lawrence is a unique institution and I’m proud to call myself a Lawrence Alumnus!

Children’s and Young Adult Resources in the Mudd!

Walk Two Moons.jpg

Are you working with children or young adults this summer? Have your own children uttered the word ‘bored’ one time too many? Are you a kid at heart? You may be surprised to hear that the Mudd circulates a comprehensive collection of children’s and young-adult literature! From classics like Sounder, Heidi, and Charlotte’s Web, to contemporary award-winners such as The One and Only Ivan and Song and Dance Man, the Mudd’s collection of juvenile literature has something for even the pickiest of young readers. Fables, myths, and legends have stood the test of time and are sure to inspire hours of imaginative dreaming, while story and picture books like Frog and Toad Are Friends and Inch by Inch are perfect for downtime in the heat of the midday. Fantasy lovers can feast on the works of Ursula Le Guin and J.R.R. Tolkien, while toddlers and preschoolers will learn valuable skills through the gentle guidance of story books, including When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry and My Many Colored Days. If summer vacation has you or the children in your life longing for some academic rigor, check out a controversial and award-winning title like Speak or The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, or sink your teeth into All Shakespeare’s Tales, Gulliver’s Travels, or Johnny Tremain. Best-selling series are available, too, from Harry Potter to Twilight. Foreign-language enthusiasts will be pleased to find an abundance of youth literature in languages from German to Japanese, as well as books fostering cultural literacy such as the Story of the Chinese Zodiac and Great Swedish Fairy Tales. My Side of the Mountain, Caddie Woodlawn, or any of the books from the captivating Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder are perfect read-aloud choices to pack for your next camping trip, or to welcome some natural adventure into your home. Fiction and nonfiction titles are available in a variety of topics, too, from horses to music.

Front CoverYou’re sure to be amazed by the multitude of children’s and young adult titles available for check-out from the Mudd. All of the books from our juvenile literature collection have call numbers beginning with PZ, and are housed on the third floor of the library. So whether you’re babysitting preschoolers, hoping to encourage your reluctant teenage reader, or looking for some fun summer reading for yourself, make sure to visit the library’s third floor to take advantage of our extensive juvenile literature collection.  The youngsters in your life are sure to be pleased by what you found in the Mudd!

Summer 2013 Coffeehouse Series

Coffeehouse
Susan Goeden shares one of her favorites, The Good Earth by Pearl Buck at the 2012 summer reads coffeehouse session.

This Wednesday, July 10, marks the first of our summer 2013 coffeehouse sessions. Join us, and share your favorite summer read. Don’t have a suggestion you’d like share? Come to hear the Mudd Library staff share our favorites! Coffee and delicious refreshments, as well as fun bookmarks, will be available for all attendees. The session will begin at 10 a.m. and last until 10:45 a.m.

Take a look at the other exiting sessions that will be offered throughout the summer:

July 24: Lux!  More Lux!

Lux, a digital repository of scholarly and creative work produced by Lawrence students, staff, and faculty, is now one year old.  Join us as Erin Dix and Colette Lunday Brautigam tell us about recent additions to Lux, including Harrison Symposium papers, archives of The Lawrentian, and faculty publications.  Birthday cake is a distinct possibility.

August 7: Lawrence in the Civil War

At the start of the Civil War, Lawrence University was 14 years old.  Join university archivist Erin Dix to explore the ways in which Lawrence faculty and students participated on the front lines and coped with the effects of the war at home.   This will be a reprise of a presentation given in January – if you missed it then, join us this time around!

August 21: It’s A Visual, Audio, Video World

Your website, publication, blog, or course material would benefit from the addition of some media, but where to begin?  Come and discover sources for legally-acquired sound and images; Antoinette Powell and Colette Lunday Brautigam will lead us.

All coffeehouses will begin at 10 a.m. and last until 10:45 a.m. Coffee and some variety of yummy refreshment will be provided at each session. All Lawrence faculty and staff are welcome to attend.

Visit our coffeehouse guide for more details and to learn about past coffeehouses.

Start Your Summer Off with a Cozy Mystery

One of the great things about summer is all the reading a person gets to do! Going to exotic locales and using the heat as a means of escape are one of the things we enjoy! A great summer read includes The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. It takes place in a small town in Botswana and follows Precious Ramotswe as she opens an amateur detective agency and solves cases. This belongs to a genre called “cozy mysteries” because the story does not focus on sex, violence or nitty gritty details; just good, old-fashioned sleuthing. Pull up a chair and a cup of red bush tea and spend an afternoon with Precious Ramotswe. You can find her in the library along with many other great mysteries and summer reads!

Introducing: The Katie

Upon entering to the Mudd Library, you may notice a 50 foot long boat hanging above the reference collection. The boat (named Katie) was used by the Milwaukee-Downer College crew team. After it was discovered in a barn by Will Evans ’13, a group of Milwaukee-Downer alumnae raised funds to have it refinished to then be displayed somewhere on the Lawrence campus. The selected location, above the Mudd Library reference collection, is right outside the Milwaukee-Downer room. This special collections room contains a number of important artifacts from Milwaukee-Downer College.

To learn more about how the Katie came to be in the Mudd Library, take a look at our webpage. To see just how we got this boat into the library and hanging from the ceiling, see our photo set.

The Mudd Welcomes Martha Nussbaum to Campus

Lawrence University will recognize Martha Nussbaum, one of the world’s pre-eminent scholars, public intellectuals and an award-winning author, with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree Sunday, June 9 at the college’s 164th commencement.

Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, also will serve as the principal commencement speaker.

The full press release can be found here: Lawrence University to Honor Martha Nussbaum.

Interested in doing some preliminary research on Ms. Nussbaum before her arrival on campus? We’ve gathered a few links to help get you started:

For further research assistance regarding the life and work of Martha Nussbaum, or any other topic, please contact our friendly and knowledgeable reference librarians. The Seeley G. Mudd Library will be open during commencement from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm.

Canine Therapy 2013

Getting stressed out by end of term projects, papers, and pending final exams? To help you relax, we’ve scheduled our annual Canine Therapy event for Monday, June 3rd from 2-3 pm. For those of you who have not yet attended one of these events, Mudd Library and other Lawrence staff and faculty bring their beloved dogs to the library plaza to share some pets and snuggles with stressed-out students.

So, no matter how stressful you fear your finals week will be- remember that you’ll have the unconditional love of a sweet puppy to make things better.

National Library Week and More!

Beginning Sunday, April 14th and lasting through Saturday April 20th, the Mudd Library will be celebrating National Library Week! We have planned a variety of exciting events. Stop in to celebrate with us!

  • Library Student Worker Appreciation Day: Say ‘thanks’ to our library’s excellent student workers. Tuesday, April 16th
  • Make Your Voice Heard! Take part in a quick usability survey about the library’s new website. Pizza and beverages for all participants. Wednesday, April 17th, 6-8 pm.
  • Get a cookie for asking a question at the reference desk Thursday night from 6-10. Yes, may I have a cookie will suffice.

Take part in the following fun events all week long:

  • Enter in our annual Haiku contest for a chance to win an Amazon gift card.
  • Tell us why you love the Mudd Library.
  • Check out our display of staff favorites. We’ll be adding new favorites all week- so check back frequently.

As if Library Week wasn’t enough fun, members of the Mudd Library staff have also been helping to plan the following events around campus and in the community.

  • The Fox Cities Book Festival lasts from April 17th through April 24.  A variety of festival events are scheduled to take place on the Lawrence campus. Take a look at the festival website for more information.
  • Women and Identity in Gaming Symposium, hosted by the Lawrence University Gaming Club, will be held on April 20th on the Lawrence Campus. This day-long event will feature discussions, activities, and presentations from two fantastic guest speakers. See the Women and Identity in Gaming website or Facebook page for more information.