Meet Diana Gates

Today, we have what Mr. Rogers might call a "very special" librarian profile. Today, you'll meet Diana Gates, our Deaf Collection Librarian. On a daily basis, she pulls off the Herculean task of managing the Deaf Collection here at Gallaudet.

The Deaf Collection works on a very simple principle: if it's by a deaf person, has a deaf person in it, or is about deaf people, deafness, sign language, or audiology, we try to get it. What few people realize is that the Deaf Collection that lives on the first floor is only the tip of the iceberg. The stuff you see on the first floor always has a second copy downstairs, so not only is the entire Deaf Collection on the first floor duplicated in the basement, but it is also accompanied by the one-of-a-kind stuff that doesn't circulate. We do not allow the rarer items to circulate in order to preserve them for future researchers.

So who gets to feed the beast? Diana Gates, that's who. She's the lady you always see kind of running up and down the stairs in the Library, and this is her story.

1) Where are you from, anyway?
I am from Mattoon, Illinois, which is in central Illinois. But I have been living in Maryland for a good while.

2) How did you get here?
I have to laugh at this question. If you only knew how many crazy family trips we made to Washington, D.C. before I became a student. My godmother and uncle lived here before I was a student at Gallaudet. My uncle was stationed in the Army at Fort Belvoir; we started coming shortly after the 1968 riots. About that time, I heard about Gallaudet College, as it was called in those days, and we visited the campus, which had fewer buildings then.

3) How long have you worked here, and can you give me an idea of some of the more interesting things you've seen in your tenure at Gallaudet?
I started working right after President Nixon resigned as President, August 1974. The Library was in the Edward Miner Gallaudet building and was known as the Edward Miner Gallaudet Library. You can see this stamped on some of the Library’s older books. In 1981, the Library moved into Learning Center, which was renamed the Merrill Learning Center after President Merrill.

In 1973, I started working here as a student assistant doing practically everything: circulation, cataloging, shelving, the Deaf Collection, and Archives. Library Science was available as a major at Gallaudet at that time. I majored in English and Library Science; I guess I must have been a terrible student because I was in the last class to graduate with a major in Library Science. I started full time work in my last semester and graduated in 1975. I started as a Circulation & Reference Librarian, and then became the Northwest Campus Librarian, followed by Reference & Instruction Librarian and currently, the Deaf Collection Librarian.

As for interesting things happening here at Gallaudet, there’s been more emphasis on ASL, Deaf culture, Deaf space, Deaf history, emphasis on the Deaf rather than the deaf, more interpreters, congressional legislation, such as ADA, and an explosion of publications and films related to deaf people and deafness. Finally, as everyone knows, technology--computers, pagers, and software programs--which benefit the deaf. Some academic offerings reflect those changes. From 1970, the campus has gone from a “little Southern college” into a competitive high-tech university.

4) What have you specialized in?
After 34 years, I have done a variety of things: circulation, interlibrary loan, and reference. In 1983, I established the Northwest Campus Library for the School of Preparatory Studies; I also tutored students with learning disabilities in reading. Later I supervised the Computer Lab and Tutoring Center. I remained there until the Prep Program closed in 1995. Then I returned to the Kendall Green campus to do more circulation and reference library work. I had the pleasure of working with the English, Foreign Language, and Physical Education Departments.

Currently as the Deaf Collection Librarian, I track down and purchase deaf related books, periodicals, and films and also do deaf reference work. In addition, I am learning the ropes in the Archives, which is a totally different kind of black hole filled with fascinating information about the campus and anything deaf related.

5) What's in the Deaf Collection?
The Deaf Collection is full of interesting little gems of knowledge and of course big research findings, too. The Collection has materials on the early days of deaf education around the time of the establishment of the American School for the Deaf. There are also audiology and speech materials and theories from Alexander Graham Bell’s promotion of oralism. Sign languages and fingerspelling materials from many countries are acquired for the Collection. Deaf school yearbooks and our own Tower Clock are among the popular items. Areas where Deaf people are involved in sports, linguistics, sociology, culture, psychology and the arts, to name a few, are also represented. Literature, with deaf characters or fiction written by deaf authors, is also included. Basically, most areas of knowledge that have something related to the deaf or deafness. It is the largest collection on deafness in the world and there things there that you won’t find by Googling! Google is great but it doesn’t have all the information and at times its accuracy can be questionable.

6) What can you do for students or faculty doing deaf-related research?
As librarians, we work with the faculty to support the curriculum and information literacy objectives. Class presentations, workshops, email, IM, and one-on-one sessions by appointment are different ways the librarians work with students.

7) Can you list some of the resources that you use the most in working with students and faculty? Why are they good resources to use?
There are many wonderful resources in the Deaf Collection. In your last blog, Jane Rutherford mentioned some of the basic deaf reference resources, which are a good place to start. The Deaf Research Guide is THE place to begin any deaf research. There are research guides that help guide you to finding materials in the ALADIN Catalog and online article databases. The guides were developed based on frequency of questions we receive, such as biographies of deaf people or deaf culture. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section includes answers to sign language, statistics, and much more.

Let’s not forget many resources are becoming available online through the ALADIN Catalog.

And finally, Librarians are also excellent resources if you need help with your research, a curious question, or simply something fun and light to read.

8) What do you like the most about working here?
I grew up wanting to be a librarian because I love books, but it involves working with people too. Each day is different. Most of our patrons are from on campus but researchers from around the country and the world come to use our resources. Often the researchers return and it’s like meeting old friends again. It’s rewarding to assist people with their research. Their research questions may be a simple question, such as, "Who is Laurent Clerc?" or something more complex.

The work may seem routine sometimes, but the duties do change and the technology constantly changes. It’s exciting to do research and obtain new materials about a deaf artist or author from a hundred years ago. There’s a sense of ownership in your work, which contributes to the collection that reflects Deaf history and our heritage. It’s rewarding and an honor also. Finally, there are always projects waiting, such as digitizing, updating a webpage, searching for more deaf materials to acquire, and accepting donations.

9) There's been some talk about a new library building in the works over the next few years. What's the one thing you'd most like to see change from the old building to the new one?
I visualize a new large, functional building that is “inviting” to everyone with natural and artificial light, packed with student-focused features, and temperature- and climate-controlled rooms for preserving our old deaf materials, some of which date back to the 1500s. This would be a perfect place for Gallaudet’s museum. This new facility would have “older” architectural features that reflect the campus’s heritage like many of the older universities. There’s something mystical about buildings which hold scholarly knowledge about mankind and the universe. It makes you think of the library in the Harry Potter films!

10) Last question, I promise: What's your favorite color?
That’s such a difficult question. It’s like taking one color out of an artist’s canvas and I don’t think a color or a particular hue can stand alone; they work together and complement each other. Imagine if everything in the world was one color! If you are really curious about a few favorite colors, stop by and ask me in person!

That does it for this week. Next week: Graphic novels. What's so great about them anyway? Why do we have them? Tune in next week and find out!

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Question of the Week
I just tried to find a book in the Deaf Stacks with the call number 268.433 D4w 19--, "We are the Church," which is a lesson plan for religious education for deaf kids. I tried and tried to find it, but it was nowhere! The numbers just went from 268.4 to 268.6. Then I asked a librarian and he found it right away. How do call numbers work, anyway?
Here at the Gallaudet University Library, we use a system that you might recognize from your hometown's public library: The Dewey Decimal Classification. It's just right for a library of our size. Dewey splits up all books into 10 major subjects like Literature, Religion, or History (000, 100, 200, etc.), which are then split up into ten more subjects that fit under the larger heading, like American History, Christianity, or British Literature (110, 120, 130, etc.). Then those subjects are split into ten each (111, 112, 113, etc.) and so on down the line.

How is this reflected in the call numbers? Let's look at 268.433 as an example. Let's break it down; look at how the number changes as you get more and more specific:

200: Religion
260: Christian Social and Ecclesiastical Theology (a heading used for church services, schools, observances, etc.)
268: Religious Education
268.433: Religious Education -- Young People

D4w: A code for the book's author and title information in order to make the call number even more specific

19--: Year the book was published. It's incomplete because we're not sure what year this book was published, a rare exception.

We do not use the call numbers to distinguish between the Deaf Stacks and General Stacks, so you will need to pay attention when you look at the ALADIN Catalog record for the book you want in order to find out whether it's in the Deaf or General Stacks.

Here, you can see how call numbers don't work like actual mathematical figures -- we don't divide Religion by Young Deaf People and get 268.433 in the result. They're more like serial numbers, like the ones on your cell phone or computer. Finding the above call number works in this process:

1. Go to the Deaf Stacks shelf labeled with the range containing your call number; in your case, it's the one with a sign that says "155.4 TO 304.2"
   
2. Scan the call numbers on the shelf until you reach the books whose call numbers begin with "268"
3. Scan those books until you reach the books that start with "268.4"
4. From this point on, each new number counts upward. Thus, 268.4 comes first (because there's no extra number), then 268.40, 268.41, 268.42, 268.43
5. Then start counting up again with a new number: 268.430, 268.431, 268.432, 268.433
6. Then we have the letters, which can look a little weird, but they're also in order, alphabetically
7. Then the numbers again
8. Then the letters again
9. Then, if until this point, you still have three books with the same call number, look at the year at the very end -- if the call number you found in ALADIN is 268.433 D4w 1999, and you see the exact same year on one of those three books, that's the one you're looking for.

Call numbers seem to develop their own mystique for some people, especially those who aren't strong in math. Fortunately, math isn't necessary to navigate the shelves, just careful attention and a willingness to spend a little time among the books.

What's behind the Service Desk

As the end of the semester creeps closer and students and faculty alike grow crazier, I've begun to notice something: People rarely know what's available for them behind the Service Desk. Let's change that today.

The first thing I have to say is that the majority of stuff behind the Service Desk is for the librarians, little things that we all need to do our jobs -- forms, DDC 20 (basically an outline of the entire Dewey Decimal Classification system to, like, 12 decimal points), the phone, videophone, and TTY we use for general inquiries, stuff like that.

However, there is still plenty for students and staff, some of which might be fairly surprising. The thing is, the shape of the Service Desk is both a blessing and a curse. Because it has little aisles that are bent at odd angles, we have more shelf space available back there than if it were just a straight row of shelves, which makes the Service Desk pretty versatile with plenty of space. On the other hand, it's pretty hard to see very much of what actually is back there without approaching the Desk with your head at just the right angle, which makes it difficult for anyone (even new librarians) to know what's available.

So let's take a look at what's available behind the Service Desk, whether it's perfectly visible or tucked away in a hinky corner. To proceed in a rational order, I'll start with the west side of the Service Desk, the end closest to Peet Hall and the brand-new pile of smoking rubble.

First, we come to the Lost & Found shelf right behind the west staff computer. It's a good shelf, quite possibly seen as beautiful by those who may have forgotten something important -- like USB drives containing the all-important final papers that open the last door to graduation, student IDs that were just about to be used to buy lunch, binders full of student portfolios, DVDs, and mysterious shoeboxes. If you think you may have lost something among the stacks, in rooms 1404 or 1225, at the public computers, or in a carrel, the Lost & Found shelf should be the first place you check, especially if it's been a day or two since the missing item may have been mislaid. Items left on the shelf for more than a few days get sent to DPS, so don't delay.

Around the corner from the Lost & Found are some reserve shelves. First are the personal copies -- sometimes, when we don't have the item a professor wants to reserve for a class, they'll bring in their own personal copies, which are kept separate from the books and films we do own on reserve. Below that are local atlases of northern Virginia, eastern Maryland, and DC itself, which I've found come in handy when plotting out weekend trips (I'm old-school; Google Maps is nice but you get tired of trading off between the right zoom level and the amount of clicking and dragging).

Next to the personal faculty reserve copies and atlases are the book reserves. All Library books placed on reserve for the semester are located here, as well as books placed on permanent reserve, of which there are plenty; those books also have copies in the stacks, available for checkout, but a copy is kept on permanent reserve so there's always one available. Here's a listing of the books available on a permanent basis, with links to the ALADIN Catalog record and a brief description if the title isn't very self-explanatory.

Gallaudet Encyclopedia of Deaf People and Deafness
Dictionary of Worldwide Gestures - A compilation of gestures commonly used around the world to express emotion
Deaf Heritage: A Narrative History of Deaf America
Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood
New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy - A collection of cultural references, their origins, and their meanings
The Eagle Soars to Enlightenment - An illustrated history of the California School for the Deaf, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Fremont
Encyclopedia of Deafness and Hearing Disorders
Gallaudet Almanac
World Almanac and Book of Facts 2008
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association - The complete guide to publication in APA format
Concise Rules of APA Style - Essentially a more user-friendly cheat-sheet version of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary

To check out any of the above, just ask at the Service Desk. Bear in mind that you may only check them out for up to 2 hours at a time, and they must be used in the Library, though an item on reserve may be renewed for another 2 hours if nobody else needs it. We do not allow these items to leave the building in order to ensure that they're always close to hand when needed.

Next to the reserve books, there's a pile of puzzles, ranging in complexity from 300 to 1,000 pieces, and thematically from Star Wars to the usual pastoral scenes, as well as a big box of Legos. You can request them if you're in the mood to spend an afternoon locking bits of cardboard or plastic together to relieve some stress. They're fixtures at our Study Nights, which happen at the end of every semester; on those nights, we're open for 24 hours straight and sometimes serve doughnuts and coffee. Students sometimes come in their pajamas and spend the night alternately napping, eating, playing, and cramming their brains out for the upcoming final exams.

Then we have stuff I've already discussed on this blog: the CLS shelves, Library-owned films on reserve, a swatch of headphones, remote controls, and magnifiers available for checkout, and the Hold shelf.

That about covers it for the Service Desk. Next week, we'll meet another librarian and discuss the subject areas she's responsible for.

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Question of the Week
I've been looking and looking for a book by a popular comedian, and I can't find it anywhere! ALADIN says the Library doesn't have it, but I think it would be a good book to get and would like to request that the Library get it. Who's responsible for buying books? And how does that person decide what to buy?
The short answer is: all the librarians. But as with everything else, the truth is a little more complicated than that.

Five librarians are responsible for buying new materials (books, films, and other materials) for the Library; because the collection is so large, those five people split it up into specific subject areas, based on Gallaudet's academic departments, and only select ("select" is Librarianese for "buy") materials for their subject areas. If your book falls into any one of those areas, you can contact the librarian who's responsible for that subject and ask them directly. This works pretty well because it lets each of us focus more tightly on what the Library needs to get and what people want the Library to get on a subject-by-subject basis.

Here's a list of the five librarians and the academic departments they select for:
Diana Gates: ASL & Deaf Studies; Hearing, Speech & Language Sciences; Interpretation. Essentially, all deaf-related requests should go to her.
Laura Jacobi: Applied Literacy; Communication Studies; Counseling; Psychology; Social Work
James McCarthy (that's me!): Art; English; Theatre Arts; Popular
Patrick Oberholtzer: Biology; Business; Chemistry & Physics; Foreign Languages, Literatures & Cultures; Government & History; Math; Philosophy & Religion; Physical Education & Recreation
Jane Rutherford: Administration & Supervision; Education; Educational Foundations & Research; Family & Child Studies; First Year Experience; Honors; Computer Science

The question of "how" is a bit more nebulous. The criteria used to select resources vary from librarian to librarian; as a general rule, we try to look at what the collection needs, whether it's an updated edition of an old book or coverage of new theories that may have emerged in the field recently, which happens a lot in the sciences in particular. We also work with our academic departments to keep track of new course offerings and adjust our selection based on what kind of information those courses might need. It's also fairly common to get requests from both faculty and students and we do our best to fulfill those requests, given time and budgetary constraints.

And, of course, we help each other out! If I see a particularly interesting book that the Library doesn't have about why God didn't create the universe out of spaghetti (as He obviously should have) and it's a serious effort to explain the universe rather than a work of humor (which would be my specialty, Popular), I would give Patrick the book's information in case he's interested. If Patrick happens to see a particularly good manga adaptation of Twelfth Night, he would let me know about it (incidentally, we do have some manga adaptations of Shakespeare! That's another post, though ... ).

With all these different ways of deciding what to buy, we're pretty successful in covering almost everything the academic departments throw at us. If we still don't have it, request it! The easiest way to do that is to send an e-mail to library.help@gallaudet.edu. We'll make sure your request gets to the right person.

Library equipment

One of the nicest things about working at the Gallaudet University Library is that it's full of much more stuff than most people realize. Rooms of stuff, in fact.

For example, I sometimes see students coming in, taking a look at the public computers by the Service Desk, seeing that every single computer is taken, and walking right back out -- until I let them know about the Deaf Library Study Center and room 1404. Both rooms have additional computers for public use, but many students are not aware of them because they're tucked into a couple of the first floor's quieter corners.

1404, for instance, is out by the reference materials, near the windows facing the Peet side of the building. There are several computers in there, including one equipped with ZoomText, which magnifies the computer screen for those with visual disabilities, and a few TVs, DVD players, and VCRs. The interesting thing is that the room also contains an international VCR (which plays PAL format in addition to NTSC, which is used here in the United States) and a region-free DVD player (which means it can play any commercial DVD produced anywhere in the world, instead of just Region 1 DVDs for the United States). This means that we are not limited to US-only tapes and DVDs, which enhances the accessibility of our collection.

The Deaf Library Study Center, located down the hall opposite the women's restroom on the east side of the first floor (the side facing JSAC), is a bit less utilitarian. In addition to the computers and TV/VCR/DVD players, there is a 55-inch LCD HDTV hooked up to cable! That thing is beautiful.

The room also has some comfortable chairs and small tables that are ideal for curling up and studying in relative peace and quiet, and the TV/VCR/DVD players are set up in semi-private booths. I've seen more than one couple watching sob-stories with snacks in one of those booths -- and have been drawn by the hooting of college students cheering on their favorite team on the 55-incher. Both are totally fine; we welcome all Gallaudet students, faculty and staff, and encourage the respectful use of our facilities.

Outside of those two rooms, much of the equipment we have is focused on providing access for people with visual disabilities and making the academic experience more comfortable. One of the public computers in the open area of the first floor is also equipped with the ZoomText magnification software. In addition, there is a print magnifier available on the first floor, by the window just past 1404.

We also have headphones, remotes, and a small electronic handheld magnifier, all of which are available to borrow on reserve for two hours maximum. Study tables and carrels (like tables, but with little walls for more privacy and less distraction) are distributed around both the first floor and the basement. Those are freely available, first come, first served, to anyone who needs them. We also have even more TV/DVD/VCRs scattered around the first floor by the windows.

Ah, and the couches. There are several on both the first floor and basement, although those in the basement are less visible and better for relaxing with a good book (or stressing out with a textbook), although I have certainly found the odd catnapper from time to time.

Then there's the photocopy center. We have two copiers and a scanner, which is hooked up to its own computer, contained by a low counter right next to the Service Desk. You'll notice it by the bright red sign hanging over it. The interesting thing is that although making copies costs money -- 10 cents per page -- scanning is totally free. This way, you can scan whatever you need reproduced, save the image to your thumbdrive or e-mail it to yourself, and print it out from your computer at home for free.

The last thing -- and this is to make sure you keep reading to the end -- is the vending. We have a snack machine downstairs, along with a Coke vending machine. We do allow people to eat and drink in the Library, although we do ask that you avoid Coke showers and Chee-To confetti (in other words, don't make a mess and try to avoid damaging Library materials).

In general, we try to have a little something to meet everyone's needs, varied though those needs may be. Above all else, if you're just plain not sure, ask. There's always someone at the Service Desk who can either answer your question or help you find the person who can.

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Question of the Week
Last week, I tried to find information on deafness and how Deaf people see better than hearing people, but the Library didn't have anything on that topic! Why did that happen?
The Library tries to be as comprehensive as possible when it comes to collecting deaf-related materials, in addition to meeting the needs of the student population with the general collection. That said, there are three possible reasons why you couldn't find anything:

1) Something may have gone awry with the search process -- maybe there was a synonym (a word that means the same thing as what you're looking for, like "eyesight" and "visual acuity" are synonyms) you didn't know could be used or you typed a little too quickly and misspelled a word without realizing it. The librarians here can help you with that and will usually be able to find what you're looking for. If not, it may be for the next two reasons.

2) Nobody's written about your topic. There hasn't been a study that focuses on whether the percentage of deaf people with 20/15 vision is higher than the percentage of hearing people with 20/15 vision. There may be some studies that come close, such as recent research by the University of Rochester that found slight differences in visual perception among deaf people, hearing people, and CODAs. Even though the idea that deaf people see better sounds as if it could be true, and is accepted as true by the deaf community, it isn't necessarily supported by research -- yet.

3) The conclusion you're looking for isn't stated explicitly. Frequently when doing research, you won't find anything that's clear-cut on one side or another. You'll need to read the article and make sure you understand the conclusion before you can say definitively that this article concludes something one way or another. For example, the University of Rochester study mentioned above concluded that deaf people process what they see a little differently from hearing people, but found little evidence that this difference is "better" or "worse" than how hearing people use their eyes.

If you can't find anything related to your topic, the reason is most likely one of these three. Also, don't forget, the Library tries to collect as many deaf-related materials as possible, but there is a lot out there. The ALADIN Catalog will tell you when an item has been ordered, but we buy materials from tiny, hard-to-find publishers from all over the world. Because of that, things need time to work their way through the system, especially materials from places as far-flung as Norway, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh.

Again, if all else fails, ask a librarian!

More new books

Thanks to the Big Read, I am now famous. Check out the first item in this calendar from the Humanities Council of Washington, DC!

As Gallaudet's newest celebrity, my first endorsement is next week's panel discussion on The Heart is a Lonely Hunter for the Big Read. It's in the G-area in JSAC (where the Starbucks is) at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7. Come take part in some good old-fashioned book talk! We'll discuss everything from the characters to deafness and society and explore the layers of meaning in the book. It'll be fun and hopefully enlightening.

Now on to today's subject: books. New ones. Lots of them. Recently arrived with the aroma of fresh binding glue, mixed with newly-crinkled mylar sheaths on the dust jackets.

There's a neat one on spiders, for instance, with lots of lovely color photos. Personally, they give me the heebie-jeebies, but this book managed to make them look fairly friendly and even, I daresay, attractive. A bunch of books on drugs also came through the Service Desk recently, focusing mostly on heroin, cocaine, and marijuana, which are always fun subjects!

But I'm not the best person to go over all the various subjects we cover here in the Library, so today, we're going to bring in the other librarians and their recommendations out of our recent acquisitions along with my own. We'll also be doing a display at the East entrance (by JSAC) with a few of the books listed below; swing on by and check them out!

That was a pun, wasn't it? "Check them out." I'm very sorry. Let's move on. In the following list, all titles are linked to their ALADIN Catalog information.


Diana Gates
Hands of My Father
If you missed Myron Uhlberg’s visit this spring, read his heart-tugging and hilarious memoir about his life as the hearing son of deaf parents--in a world that he found unaccountably beautiful, even as he longed to escape it.

Mysteries of Beethoven’s Hair
Two scientists try to explain Beethoven’s many health problems and his deafness by testing samples of his hair that survived into the 20th century.

Visiom: The Deaf Planet
A children’s story on CD-ROM about a hearing boy who taunts a deaf mainstreamed student; he falls asleep after being sent to the resource room to think about his behavior and wakes up on Visiom, a deaf planet, where he is the special education student.

James Castle: a retrospective
Castle, a deaf artist with almost no communication skills or formal schooling, created his work by using soot and spit. (All items related to James Castle can be found in the Deaf Stacks at 709.2 C378)

Terp on the Line: a novel
In this novel, a CODA interpreter must confront the typical challenges of interpreting--and solve a murder at the same time.


Laura Jacobi
Becoming a woman: a biography of Christine Jorgensen
The first famous, and very glamorous, transsexual person.

Decline of men: how the American male is tuning out, giving up, and flipping off his future
Women are catching up to -- and surpassing -- men in many respects, and it seems as though men are giving up. Is this really the case, and, if so, why?

Finish your dissertation once and for all!: how to overcome psychological barriers, get results, and move on with your life
Fired up! Ready to go!

Guyland: the perilous world where boys become men
The lives of American men between 16 and 26 years of age are studied in an effort to understand how the male gender has been affected by various factors of modern-day society.

Hooking up: sex, dating, and relationships on campus
This book studies the proliferation of one-night-stands and booty calls and how traditional dating seems to be increasingly rare among college students.


Jim McCarthy
Maus I & II
A graphic-novel adaptation of World War II mentioned in some circles with The Diary of Anne Frank and Night; the Jews are depicted as mice, the Nazis as cats.

Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes
A collection of essays about suburbia and its role in American culture, history, art, and architecture.

At the Mountains of Madness: The Definitive Edition
The spooky story of an ill-fated expedition to the South Pole and the horrors they found there; one of H.P. Lovecraft's seminal works and the intellectual foundation of much of Stephen King's work.

Blonde Roots
An alternate-history tale in which white people were enslaved by black people.

Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul
A gorgeous exhibition catalog of historic Afghan artwork hidden away during the Taliban regime.


Patrick Oberholtzer
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
You have heard about his Indian policy but you probably didn’t know about his duels.

Alex & me: how a scientist and a parrot discovered a hidden world of animal intelligence--and formed a deep bond in the process
Learn how an African gray parrot stunned the scientific world.

Black men built the Capitol: discovering African-American history in and around Washington, D.C.
Did you know that the Capitol and White House were built by slave labor?

The gamble: General David Petraeus and the America’s military adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008
Find out all about the surge and what the future of Iraq may be.

American Mafia: a history of its rise to power
The history of organized crime over the last 120 years is featured.


Jane Rutherford
Online social networking on campus: understanding what matters in student culture
How do college students use various social networking sites (such as Facebook)? Find out how some college administrators view these sites.

Comprehending Columbine
Learn all about the Columbine shootings … the most famous case of school violence.

The house in the night
This is the 2009 winner of the prestigious Caldecott Medal presented by the American Library Association to the artist of the “most distinguished American picture book for children.”

The graveyard book
Another award winning book as chosen by the American Library Association. This one is the 2009 Newbery Medal winner for the “most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.”

Is it safe?: protecting your computer, your business, and yourself online
Identity theft … spam … fraud … online predators … computer viruses. Learn how to protect yourself from these threats.


As you can see, we cover a ton of interesting subjects and although these books are very good, they aren't the only ones here. The stacks are worth at least an hour of browsing through!

Next week, you'll learn that the Library doesn't just have computers -- we have a whole range of equipment available for you -- and you'll find out where various useful things are located and how you can use them.

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Question of the Week
When I look in the ALADIN Catalog for old residential school newspapers, I see a lot of records with the word "microform" in them. What does it mean, where can I find it, and what do I have to know before I use it?
The word "microform" is a general term, kind of like "fruit" -- apples and oranges are two different kinds of fruit, for example. Here at the Library, we have two kinds of microforms: microfilm and microfiche. They work on similar principles but look a little different.

A microform is a photographic reproduction of a document on a film, which is usually made of some kind of plastic. The image is much smaller than the original, which helps save storage space. The only caveat is that you need special machines to read something in microform.

Microfilm is essentially a long tape that can hold many pages, while microfiche looks like a plastic card about the same size as a large index card, and holds fewer pages. In our Library, we use microfiche mostly for documents from ERIC, a government-run education database. The microfiche documents are arranged by ERIC numbers, which start with ED (for "ERIC document"), and they are located in large yellow cabinets downstairs by the periodicals. Fortunately, all ERIC documents produced after 1997 as well as some earlier documents are available electronically (see the ERIC database in ALADIN).

Microfilm is used in our Library to store readable copies of deaf-related dissertations and other documents. The dissertations are arranged by special four-digit numbers that we assign to them, plus the year (like 1356 1987), which you can find in ALADIN. The other documents are all deaf-related and are mostly residential school newspapers and other publications. Those are arranged alphabetically by title, then by the date published. All microfilm documents are contained in individual boxes that are labeled with information about what's on the film inside it, so it's very easy to browse for, for example, a copy of the Arizona Cactus from 1996. You can find microfilms in big orange cabinets between the index shelves and deaf periodicals on the first floor.

In order to read either microfiche or microfilm, you will need a microform reader; those are the three gray machines with big screens on the first floor by the computers. Loading microfilm into one of those machines can be a little tricky, so if you're not familiar with it, please feel free to ask a librarian for help! In addition, you can print from microform; all three of our readers have printers that can print out what you see on the screen. Printing is very similar to making a photocopy, so a copy card is required to print anything out from a microform reader. The same price applies: 10 cents per page.

Microform resources themselves are not electronic; you can't do a quick search to find the precise location of the information you need. However, some of the dissertations and periodicals that we have on microform are also available electronically.

The truth is, microfiche and microfilm are increasingly outdated formats. The Library recognizes this, and we are in the process of digitizing our microform collection so that it will be more accessible to Gallaudet students and faculty members, as well as researchers around the world. For example, the first 20 published volumes (1847-1875) of American Annals of the Deaf is now available online.

Finding journal articles: Part two

Let's do a little exercise: Your professor gives you the following citation in your required readings:

Ledford, K.F. (1995). German lawyers and the state in the Weimar Republic. Law and History Review, (13)2. 317-349.

Where do we go from here? Remember last week's blog post? The screengrab to the right is the same as last week, so take a look to refresh yourself. Here, you already know what journal you want, so you don't need to check ProQuest Research Library, Ebscohost Academic Search Premiere, "Databases by Subject," or "Databases by Title." That means this week, we will be focusing on Gallaudet e-Journals.

In this case, you already know what journal you want -- Law and History Review -- but you're not sure what database it's available in, so you go all the way to the right in the screengrab above to "Gallaudet e-Journals."

"Gallaudet e-Journals" is our listing of all the journals we subscribe to electronically; it's a good way to narrow down your search even further. You just search for the name of the journal, and then you'll see whether we have it, and if we do, how many years' worth of issues we have, and what database it's available through.

So in the case of our example above, you can see the name of the journal is Law and History Review. Just enter "law and history review" into the search box et voila! It hath appeared (picture to the left).

Sometimes it can be hard to understand an e-Journal record. Let's take a look at the e-Journal record for Law and History Review.

Here you'll see a listing of the databases it's available in, how far back they go in each database, and whether or not we may have full-text access. For example, we see that you can access articles from Law and History Review in JSTOR Arts and Sciences 4 between the years of 1983 and 2005 and in LexisNexis Academic any time from 1996 on. The article we're looking for is from 1995, so JSTOR it is.

Click on that, and a little box pops up (to the right):

You can use the citation above to fill in the blanks: Year: 1995, Volume: 13, Issue: 2, Start Page: 317. Click on GO -- hitting "Enter" won't work -- and you're there!

This concludes our little tutorial on database research. Was it as good for you as it was for me?

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Question of the Week
A lot of times when I have to pick up books at the Service Desk, the person at the desk has to ask me some questions before they can get me the book I need. Why don't they just look on the shelf?
Here at the Library, we have three different kinds of shelves that exist for only one purpose: to hold books for people to pick up. You know about one -- CLS -- but the other two can be confusing for librarians without asking some questions.

The "hold" shelf is for items that you want to check out but can't right away for whatever reason. Maybe you came to the Library to check out a book, but found out you forgot your ID at home. Instead of putting the book down and hoping someone else doesn't get to it first, you can ask us to hold it for you, and then once you find your ID, you can come back and pick it up. We generally hold books for 7 days, maximum.

Bear in mind: you have to pick up the item you reserve, with your ID.

The "reserve" shelf, on the other hand, is for faculty who want to have books, movies, or other items available for their courses. Students in those courses can come in and check out those items for up to two hours in the library. There's a reason for this: we usually only have one copy of the item the instructor wants, and sometimes when we don't have it, the instructor brings in his or her own copy. All students need to have access to that item, so we put it on reserve so it's always available for them. This way, nobody needs to worry about one student checking out our only copy of Ghosts of Washington for a month, preventing other students from being able to take advantage of this resource.

In sum, the "hold" shelf is for you to check out personally; the "reserve" shelf is for your instructor -- for you to use in your course.

Finding journal articles: Part one

The last two Questions of the Week touched on the topic of doing academic research by finding journal articles. One of the most common questions I come across in my daily life as a librarian is, "How can I find journal articles?"

This is harder than it looks, and that's why including articles from scholarly journals is an extremely important part of solid academic work -- this is work, so you will need to focus and be willing to spend time reading through what may turn out to be dozens of lousy results in order to find the few gems you can use for your paper. This is even more important now because of the changes in the curriculum in response to the recent challenges set by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).

So where do you go from here? How do you find journal articles? Let's start with the basic stuff:

First, it's important to understand how things work in the Library when it comes to supporting academic research, which includes understanding a key difference between journals and library databases, as well as exactly what these databases are.

A journal is a collection of articles on an academic subject, written by experts on that subject and published regularly like a magazine -- some come out once a month, others come out once every three or four months. Those subjects can range from something as broad as psychology to something as narrow as "Nanotech Applications in Materials Science." Along with regular magazines like Sports Illustrated or Vogue, we call them "serials" or "periodicals" because they're published on a schedule with no end in sight. You can think of a journal as being very similar to a magazine -- except instead of Britney Spears' latest antics along with colorful ads, you'll learn the latest in positron coaxial crystallography and its application in hydrodynamic fluid interactions (don't waste your time looking for positron coaxial crystallography or hydrodynamic fluid interactions, incidentally -- I made them up as an example).

A library database can include many journals and is usually available online through ALADIN. Some are specialized, focusing on one discipline only, and some are very broad and include hundreds of journals from dozens of disciplines.

In fact, we have two of these very broad databases: ProQuest Research Library and Ebscohost Academic Search Premier. Both databases are the two best places to start your research if you're not sure where to look; a search in either will enable you to start narrowing your topic and figuring out how to refine your search.

You can get there by visiting aladin.wrlc.org; if you're off campus you will be prompted to log in. This is required because our access to those databases are on a subscription basis, which means we pay for each Gallaudet student, staff member, or faculty member to have access. In the screengrab below, you'll also notice that we've arranged our electronic access in a certain order. First, we have ProQuest and Ebscohost for extremely general searches.

Click on the picture to the right to enlarge and look in the little red box -- that's where you go for either ProQuest or Ebscohost. The process of searching isn't too different from Google; you just need to remember four things:

• Proper terminology -- no slang allowed!
• Synonyms. For instance, instead of just looking for "teaching," try also searching for "education" or "instruction." You will have to try a few times to get exactly what you're looking for, which means you have to be willing to spend time with it. ProQuest and Ebscohost will become your newest friends.
• Full-text searching. Most databases will let you check a box requesting that you see only full-text results, which means the entire article is available for you to read online. Sometimes you'll come across abstracts, which are short summaries of articles. Abstracts should not be used as sources, but can be used to weed out some articles that aren't appropriate.
• Peer-reviewed articles. We covered this in a previous Question of the Week.

Now look to the right of the red box in the picture; you'll see "Need more?" with links to "Databases by Subject" and "Databases by Title." These links are the next link (ha ha, see what I did there?) in the chain of search refinement -- they will help you narrow your search further if you only want articles in your field, or if you know exactly which database you want.

Databases by Subject is fairly straightforward. You'll see a little menu of different disciplines, like History, Psychology, and Audiology / Human Biology / Medical Sciences. See -- we went and organized them for you! Most of the disciplines taught at Gallaudet are represented in databases here.

Databases by Title is even simpler. You just search for the name of the database you want. If you're new to this and you have no idea where to begin, go back to ProQuest, Ebscohost, or "Databases by Subject."

This is just for a start. Before you start getting dizzy with knowledge and start popping Dramamine, we'll take a breather here. Next week, we'll get even further into the process of refining your search for journal articles and we'll do an exercise, based on a recent course project. It's about the Weimar Republic -- it'll be fun.

No Question of the Week this week. Happy Spring Break!

Meet Jane Rutherford

Most people (which actually means me) tend to think of Wisconsin as the land of cheese and beer.

It's more than that, says Jane Rutherford, the Instruction & Reference Librarian we'll be meeting today. Apparently there are also cows. Vast, rolling plains of Holsteins and Anguses teeming all the way into the sunset. It works for me -- nothing goes better with a beer than a nice cheeseburger.

Anyway, you've probably seen Jane from time to time on the Service Desk; it's very likely you've asked her for help more than once. Still, there's much more to her than the lady with the ready smile: she was into computers before they were computers, and has seen some of the most important events in Gallaudet's recent history. Keep reading to find out more!

1) Where are you from, anyway?
I was born and raised in Stevens Point, WI.

2) How did you get here?
I got a job at the Stevens Point Public Library while I was a freshman in college and LOVED it -- I'd finally found what I wanted to do in life. After I got my B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, I attended the State University of New York-Geneseo for my Master's in Library Science. While at Geneseo, I met my future husband. After getting my MLS, I worked at a small college library (Keuka College) in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York. My husband got a job with the federal government, so we moved to Virginia. After some temping and clerical work, I got a job as a computer programmer, doing database design work. About a year and a half into that job, a job for "library systems analyst" came up here at Gallaudet, and it needed many of the skills I had from my education and work experience. I had NO experience with the Deaf community.

3) How long have you worked here, and can you give me an idea of some of the more interesting things you've seen in your tenure at Gallaudet?
I got the job here at Gallaudet in 1981 (28 years in April!). As I mentioned above, I was originally the "library systems analyst," but about 15 years ago, the Library did a big reorganization and I became a reference librarian (the exact title has changed several times). So even with 28 years here, my job has changed so much it doesn't feel that long.

In the library, I saw some wonderful changes in how we access information. When I arrived, we produced the catalog on microfiche (what a pain!). We then moved to a locally-produced online catalog, and then to the wonderful ALADIN system. With each change in format, it became easier and easier to find our books, videos, etc. Through the same period, we went from journal (magazine) articles on paper and microfilm, identified through paper indexes, to online indexes (but still paper and microfilm text), to where we are now with all indexes online and over 15,000 journals with full-text articles.

At the University, I witnessed changes in communication. Originally, much communication was "simultaneous communication" -- signing in English order with signs indicating things such as "ing" or "the." We now use much more American Sign Language. I was also here for the "Deaf President Now" movement, and then the more recent presidential protests. Deaf people have really made their mark on this university and the rest of the country.

4) I don't think a lot of people know that the librarians here at Gallaudet tend to specialize in specific subjects. What are your specialties?
Because of my initial position here, I purchase books for "computer studies" (the Management Information Systems part of Business Administration, and the Computer Science portion of Mathematics and Computer Sciences). I also am the specialist for education-related departments (Education, Educational Foundations and Research, Administration and Supervision, Family and Child Studies), even though I have no background in any of those areas.

5) What can you do for students or faculty in these fields?
Well, in addition to purchasing materials (books, videos, etc.) to support the course work and research in these subjects, I can do class presentations in which I will teach the class how to do research or how to use a particular database or similar topics. During these presentations, I always emphasize that the students can make an appointment with me for one-on-one training or research assistance. I have dozens of these each year and find them to be one of the best ways to help the students.

6) Can you list some of the resources that you use the most in working with students and faculty? Why are they good resources to use?
Because I work so much with graduate students in education-related departments, the database I use most is ERIC (http://eric.ed.gov). ERIC has thousands of listings for journal articles, book, book chapters, etc. It is easy to limit searches to research, which is something all the graduate students will eventually need to find. And, finally, ERIC has many deaf-related entries. ERIC is not ideal, though, because it has so little full-text, but it does have a link to find out if we have the article or not (clunky but effective).

The other databases I use most are Proquest Research Library (my favorite) and EbscoHost Academic Search Premiere. These are always a great place to start as they have information on virtually any topic, are quite easy to search, and have many thousands of full-text articles.

7) What do you like the most about working here?
Especially since I became a reference librarian, I enjoy working with the students. I do this in several ways, but mostly at the Service Desk, helping a wide variety of students find information on a wide variety of topics using a wide variety of tools. Do you see the theme? VARIETY! I love that feeling when the light goes on and the students find what they need and understand what they can do with all the resources we provide here in the Library. I also love when former students come back and the connection we made years before has evolved into meeting their spouses and children -- I feel a part of a big family here. Also, in addition to this, I really enjoy being able to sign. I'm far from a perfect signer, but I think I am a good communicator, both one-on-one and in classes. I think the physicality of signing was good for my personality.

8) There's been some talk about a new library building in the works over the next few years. What's the one thing you'd most like to see change from the old building to the new one?
I think I'd have to say I'd like the new building to be easier to navigate. The octagonal/spaceship design of the current building is interesting to look at but unwieldy to "live in." It should not be a challenge to find the materials or areas that the students need. Curves, hidden hallways, dead-ends -- not nice! Secondly, I hope the new building can be designed so it will be timeless -- this building was outdated in design and functionality soon after we moved in in 1980.

9) Last question, I promise: What's your favorite color?
Blue, most of the time.

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Question of the Week
I see the word "Consortium" used a lot in the Library, like when I search for a book or journal and there's a picture of a yellow Post-It note in the record saying "Request through Consortium Loan Services." What does it all mean and how can I take advantage of that?
The Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) is a group of eight universities in the DC area that pool their resources in order to benefit all their students. The seven universities other than Gallaudet are Georgetown, George Mason, Marymount, George Washington, American, Catholic, and University of the District of Columbia.

The main benefit you'll get from this collaboration is the access you have to every book and journal article in all eight universities, including some electronic titles. This means you have over four million books at your disposal, plus 25,000 journal subscriptions! This is an astronomical amount of information!

If Gallaudet doesn't have the book you're looking for, but, let's say, Georgetown does, you can check out their copy in one of two ways: you can go there in person and use your Gallaudet ID, or you can request the book you want through Consortium Loan Services (CLS) by using that little Post-It note. All you need to do is fill in a few blanks -- such as your ID number -- click "Submit," and, if a Georgetown student doesn't get to the book before your request goes through, it'll be on its way to you within a couple of days. A courier comes here every morning to pick up and drop off books coming in or going out, so turnover time is pretty quick.

You can also request specific journal articles from other WRLC libraries, but that part will have to wait until next week; I'll be discussing how to search for journal articles as well as how to use our databases then, because both things go very much hand-in-hand.

Movies, events, and articles, oh my

This week certainly got off on an interesting footing, what with the snowstorm and all. Still, Chapel Hall looked lovely amidst the large flakes of snow falling around it -- or plastering it when the wind got a little feisty.

Anyway, what's new this week?

First, we just got a bunch of new DVDs in. Here's what you can look forward to:

Two new Superman movies
A few zombie flicks, including 28 Days Later, its sequel 28 Weeks Later, and Shaun of the Dead -- to go with Evil Dead and Army of Darkness
Some updates to our family-friendly collection, including both older and newer versions of Yours, Mine, and Ours, as well as Cheaper by the Dozen, Kung Fu Panda, and Wall-E
A couple nice adventure movies, like The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Gladiator, and Enchanted
A brief update to our Quentin Tarantino collection, including Death Proof and both Kill Bill movies

... as well as many more. These aren't the only new movies; we got quite a few more in a couple of weeks ago, which are now on the shelves, including the Sex and the City movie and some relics from a more civilized age, like Clueless and Sixteen Candles.

Aside from the new DVDs, we also have a new display up by the west entrance (the doors by the Mary Thornberry building) for the Big Read D.C. If you haven't heard of it yet, it's a nationwide program where each city picks one book to read, then they host a month's worth of fun activities based on that book.

We're excited about this because this year, they picked The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which is an absolute classic in Deaf literature. It's also really depressing -- and a good read. It's about this Deaf guy whose best friend -- the only other Deaf person he knows -- gets taken away, leaving him alone in a little town full of hearing people during the Great Depression. Four townspeople start visiting him so they can pour out all their secrets and feelings without being embarrassed, because he can't hear or understand them; he mostly just sits there while these people talk to thin air for hours on end. This isn't really a fun way for anyone to spend their time, especially for a smart Deaf guy who also happens to be incredibly isolated.

I always thought it was an unusually sympathetic treatment of a Deaf character for its era, and I'm thrilled to see that the entire city of Washington, D.C. is focused on this book this spring.

So, the display. We have approximately sixteen billion copies of Lonely Hunter (which seem to be going quickly), plus a few biographies of Carson McCullers, the eminently fascinating woman who wrote the book. We're also giving out bookmarks, reader's guides to the book, and flyers for a panel discussion we're hosting in April.

The panel discussion is going to be really neat, so save the date: April 7, 4-5 p.m., in the G-area of the JSAC (where Starbucks is). We'll have Deaf people discussing the book and what it means to them and Deaf culture in general. We're also calling for volunteers to participate in the panel, so if you're interested in throwing in your two cents about the book, come find me in MLC 1304 by the Deaf School Yearbooks, at the Service Desk in the Library, or e-mail me at james.mccarthy@gallaudet.edu. We'll be giving free gift certificates to the Bison Shop to anyone who sits on the panel! Useful if you're in need of Gallaudet-branded umbrellas, sweaters, lanyards, vehicles, animals, plants, or beer-bottle openers.

That about wraps it up for this week. Next week will be our first librarian profile!

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Question of the Week
My instructor wants me to find sources for a research paper, but she said they have to be peer-reviewed journal articles. What does "peer-reviewed" mean and why does it matter? How do I find peer-reviewed articles?
A lot of times, academic journals require peer review for new articles. What this means is that when an article is submitted to a journal, it has to go through a process where other experts in the same field read it and decide whether or not it's a good article. That decision depends on questions like: Is it well-researched? Are the methods consistently applied? Are the basic principles of the article accurate according to the reviewer's knowledge of the subject? Is the article as neutral as possible, or does the author seem to personally prefer one conclusion over another?

This is important because it's a quality-control process, which means only good, strong articles that are accurate, well-researched, and consistent are published. Because of that, you can trust those articles because you know the author didn't just make up a bunch of big words that sound nice together. Peer-reviewed articles can also be called "scholarly" articles because they're very high-quality works that are appropriate for use by scholars (like you!) in their academic research.

You can find peer-reviewed articles in most of our e-journal databases. When you search for articles, you will usually see a little box under the search box that says something like "Scholarly journals, including peer-reviewed" in ProQuest Research Library or "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals" in Ebscohost: Academic Search Premier; the database will let you put a little check mark in that box so that only high-quality articles appear in your search results. You may need to hunt around for that little box if you're not familiar with the database you're using, but it's always worth the effort!

A quick introduction

The first post on any blog is always a momentous event. It can be hard to know what to say, so for today, I'll introduce myself and describe in a little more detail what this blog is all about.

My name is Jim McCarthy, and I'm an Instruction & Reference Librarian at Gallaudet University. I'm a Florida boy, born and raised in the Tampa Bay area. I was born deaf and grew up signing, speaking, and reading. I went to Rochester Institute of Technology (home of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf) in upstate New York for a Bachelor's in Professional and Technical Communication with a minor in art history, as well as a significant focus on world literature. After I graduated, I spent some time working for a deaf service center back in the Bay area before starting work on a Master's degree in Library & Information Science. I became a newspaper archivist during my last year of school, and then Gallaudet began advertising for an open position as a librarian a few months after I graduated, so here I am!

After a month or two here, I began to wonder if there weren't other ways for the Library to reach out to the various groups of people we serve, and as a twentysomething, a blog was the second thing that came to mind (the first thing was Facebook, of course!). The result is on your computer screen right now.

So what's going to happen here?

You'll see several different types of posts on this blog:

1) The collection: We'll spotlight different parts of our collection, including some surprising stuff, like kids' books or graphic novels (what your mom used to call comic books), or even the neat fiction books you can find in the Deaf Collection. You'll also hear a little about the Archives and all the weird things they have in their super-secret vault in the basement. Plus, of course, we'll point out any new books or movies that you might find interesting.

2) Policies: We'll explain a little bit about the way we do things here, so you at least know what to expect and why. In addition, we'll cover anything important you need to know about our policies that might have changed in the recent past. You'll be one of the first to know -- by reading this blog.

3) Resources: We have a ton of stuff here. Almost all of it is useful for something, while the rest is just for fun! We have style manuals if you're worried about APA or MLA format, movies (both deaf-related and general) for both education and pleasure (my favorite? Dark Knight. It's on the shelf right now), copiers, computers, a public copy of both Washington Post and USA Today, tons of research databases, lots of DVD/VHS players, TVs (including a giant one that's got cable), various rooms you can use, and more that will be detailed in future posts.

4) Librarians: Once in a while, we'll profile one of our own librarians. You'll get to see what they look like and learn a little about where they came from and get an idea of their individual personalities. We'll also include a little detail about their individual specialties, so you know who to go to when you need something for a specific class or discipline. You'll learn something new: we like developing relationships with students and faculty!

5) Events: You'll hear about different events we have planned, like FYS workshops or seminars or our Big Read panel discussion, coming up in April. Here's something you probably didn't know: we love it when a lot of people show up! We'll also mention other campus or DC-area events, like the monthly lecture series on Deaf history in the DC Public Library system.

6) Literary stuff: We'll get book recommendations from our librarians and talk about those books a little bit, like why the librarian thinks you should read the book he or she recommends, or interesting stuff in general (for example: what does a graphic novel have to do with ancient mythology?). We'll also spotlight any potential connections to courses being offered here on campus.

You're more than welcome to comment and contribute to each post, but there are two things to remember: First, we have a comments policy on the comment page (you'll see it when you click on the link to comment) which outlines what's okay and what's not; second, any inquiries about your personal account (like fees you don't agree with or questions about what's been checked out on your account) need to go to library.help@gallaudet.edu. This is because your personal information is confidential according to library policy, while this blog is a public forum -- you wouldn't want your intimate details out on the Internet for the world to see, would you?

I think that about covers the introduction. Watch this space; it'll be updated every Friday!