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500th post! Social Media Now and Then

In honor of our 500th blog post, we thought we’d take this opportunity to share some of the fun stuff we’ve been doing with social media here at the Mudd Library.  Want to be the first to know about what’s happening at the Mudd?  Follow us on Facebook to learn about our events, view photos, and read comments from other library users.  We love to use this space to interact with our patrons and learn about what they want to see in the library.  Most recently, we were able to make many patrons happy by fulfilling a Facebook request for a subscription to The Onion.  If it’s Twitter you follow, we’re there too!  We think the short posts make it a great place to share interesting library acquisitions, pertinent local and library-related news, event announcements, and of course, our newest blog posts.

Students studying in the library, 2009. Image from the Mudd Library's Flickr account.

More interested in seeing what’s happening at the Mudd rather than reading about it?  Our photostream on Flickr is where we post the bulk of our library event photos.  Here, you can see pictures from our annual Welcome Week Open House, Cindy Appreciation Day, Canine Therapy, and more!  You can also find images of some of the library’s advertisements, such as our National Library Week posters and ways we use QR codes.

Next time you come to the library, make sure to check in with Foursquare.  Check in three times and claim a mini Mudd Library notebook and pen!  Keep checking in, as more specials are in the works.

For your convenience, we’ve compiled our social media activities in an easy-to-follow webpage.

Students reading in the Ormsby reading room.
Students reading in the Ormsby reading room, ca. 1920. Image from the LU Archives Digital Collection.

Even before Facebook and Twitter, cell phones and computers, even 100 years ago, Lawrentians took photographs to capture and share information about the campus and community. So what did that look like? Well, the short answer is: it looked a lot different. You can visit our new digital collection of glass slides from the Archives to check it out!

Spotlight Collection: Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston is one of the great writers to come out of the Harlem Renaissance. She wrote novels, short stories and traveled extensively in the Southern United States and Haiti collecting oral histories and folk tales. She once said, “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” She saw talent all around her community and believed her heritage was worthy of preservation. Please check out our collection of Zora Neale Hurston’s work. May we suggest starting with Mules and Men and Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Star-Spangled Banner

Today is the eightieth anniversary of the designation of The Star-Spangled Banner as the United States national anthem. Read 46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301, “Conduct during playing” while listening to what we think is the definitive VOCAL rendering of the tune from SCTV. Then, of course, there’s also Jimi Hendrix.

IPA, With a Twist

musicYou say “IPA” to most people around here and they think “India Pale Ale.” Mmmmm. Beer. But singers are different. Their IPA is the International Phonetic Alphabet, that mysterious combination of other-worldly symbols that only singers can decipher. It’s their secret handshake. Now the Mudd has access to IPA Source, a database of phonetic translations of songs and arias. And with 24/7 access on and off campus, sopranos in their kerchiefs and tenors in their jammies can just settle down to O! ne finis jamais.

Founders Day at the Library!

There’s been a library at Lawrence since its founding lo, these many years ago. The first Lawrence catalog from 1850-51 says this:

“A commencement for a good Library and Cabinet has been made, and 250 volumes or more secured for the former. Additions will continue to be made and the friends of the institution are hereby requested to make donations to the Library and Cabinet that they may speedily take rank with those which grace and benefit similar institutions in the East.”

Sam AppletonIn 1854, Amos Lawrence’s uncle-in-law, Samuel Appleton died and left $10,000 in his will for the “the increase of the Library” at Lawrence. In Uncle Sam’s honor, the library was called the “Appleton Library of Lawrence University.”

Before 1906, the library was in Main Hall. MH interior According to the 1855 catalog, access to the library was limited to one visit and one book per week, but by 1859, the Faculty Library Committee voted that “no students except those of the Senior Class shall be allowed to go into the Library to consult books.”

Catalog The library catalog was handwritten and listed books as they were added to the collection. To check out a book,
“On a slip of paper write the title of the book desired, the letters and number, according to the Catalogue, together with the name of the person drawing, and hand it to the Librarian, or his assistant. It would be well to put down several, in the same way, so that if the 1st be not in, the 2nd, or if the second be not there, the third may be drawn, and so on.”

Zelia Zelia Anne Smith, class of 1882, was Lawrence’s first full-time librarian and she served in that role from 1883 to 1924. This painting of her (to the right), commissioned by alumni on her death, hangs in the University Librarian’s office.

The Carnegie In 1905, Lawrence received a donation from Andrew Carnegie for the construction of a new library building. That building, located on the site of the current library, was torn down in 1974 to make way for the Mudd.

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Did you know that you can get a student office in the library? The library accepts applications for the nine offices we have available during the first week of class. Click here for more information and a link to the online form.

Need a good way to manage your bibliography? You can use . It’s a web-based citation manager provided by the library. You can draft your bibliography using the entries in your RefWorks account in AAA, ACS, APA, Chicago, and MLA style, plus dozens of formats for publication in specific journals.