Smithsonian Libraries

New and Notables: January 2012

Wondering what's new in the SIL stacks this month? Here's a sampling! Above the book listings, you'll see a slideshow with links to the WorldCat records for each book. If you are not a user of our physical collection, WorldCat will help you find a copy of the book in a library near you.

Here are some of the newest additions to the National Air and Space Museum Library collection:

	Astronomy at the Frontiers of Scienceby Jean-Pierre Lasota, editor.   Springer, New York/Dordrecht, 2011.    QB47. A88 2011
	Cataclysm: General Hap Arnold and the Defeat of Japan by Herman S. Wolk.  University of North Texas Press,Denton, Texas,  2010.  UG626.2 A76 W65 2010
	DC-3, A Legend in Her Time.  A 75th Anniversary Photographic Tribute by Bruce McAllister.  Roundup Press, Boulder, Colorado, 2010.  TL686. D65 M33 2010
	Skies to Conquer: A Year Inside the Air Force Academy by Diana Jean Schemo.   John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2010.  UG638.5 P1 S34 2010
	Wings of Ice: The Mystery of the Polar Air Race by Jeff Maynard.  Vintage Books, New South Wales, North Sydney, Australia.  G608. M39 2010

—Leah Smith

 

New books in the National Museum of American History Library:

	Benching Jim Crow : the rise and fall of the color line in southern college sports, 1890-1980 / / Charles H. Martin. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, c2010. GV706.32 .M37 2010
	Founding rivals : Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights and the election that saved a nation / / by Chris DeRose.Washington, D.C. : Regnery Pub., 2011. E302.1 .D47 2011
	Are we not new wave? : modern pop at the turn of the 1980s by Theo Cateforis.Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, c2011. ML3534 .C37 2011
	Japanese American resettlement through the lens : Hikaru Carl Iwasaki and the WRA's Photographic Section, 1943-1945 by Lane Ryo Hirabayashi ; with Kenichiro Shimada ; photographs by Hikaru Carl Iwasaki ; foreword by Norman Y. Mineta. Boulder, Colo. : University Press of Colorado, c2009. D769.8.A6 H578 2009
	Lincoln on war edited and with an introduction by Harold Holzer. Chapel Hill, N.C. : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, c2011. E457.92 2011

— Trina Brown

Website Redesign: Update One

As we've mentioned before, the Smithsonian Libraries is redoing its website to move to Drupal 7 and away from our legacy ColdFusion site. The new site aims to be more friendly easier to our visitors, with a "flatter" hierarchy of information and simpler navigation to find information. It's been two months since we started and we have an update on where we are in the development and some of the fun things we've encountered along the way.

Graphic Design

The same content appears differently in various browsers. Shown: Internet Explorer, Opera and Chrome

(N.B. When I refer to "styles", I really mean CSS. For the uninitiated, this is generally what controls how a web page looks, separating it from what a website does or what information the site contains.)

We're happy to say that the graphic design is nearly complete! Our initial design started with a Photoshop file. The first round of development of was simply to convert the Photoshop file into an HTML 5 Prototype that looked as close as possible to the Photoshop file while still looking normal in all of the major browsers. It's a fact of life that we still need to support some of the quirky styles that are needed to make a site look good in Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and OS X Safari. This HTML Prototype is a way to make sure that what we want to build can be built. After that, it's a matter of turning it into something functional.

(Side note: There are those out there who may argue that this step is inconsequential and possibly a misuse of valuable time. As I've continued beyond the Prototype, I've found that the it is a useful reminder of what the page should look like. I've referred back to it a number of time during my conversion of the Prototype to a Drupal 7 theme.)

So that means the second round, creating a Drupal Theme was the next logical step. Even though the manner in which I created the prototype was completely different from that of creating a Drupal Theme, the work that I did there carried forward and streamlined some of the development of the theme. For the record, we are using the Zen theme, which is meant to act as a foundation for a sub-theme of your own creation, which we did. We cleverly named our sub-theme "smithsonianlibraries" to set it apart from the other themes that Drupal uses. Of course, we will not be sharing this theme with others, though it may get use on related websites that we build in the future, especially if they are Drupal.

Content is key!

Pretty graphics aside, there comes a point in developing a site in Drupal where the content starts to become important. It's one thing to create a handful of placeholder menu items, but those all need to be deleted and recreated (or edited) when the content becomes available. So now we have something along the lines of a chicken-before-the-egg problem. Building a website requires the content, but the content requires somewhere to go before the site can be built. So in one sense, these two things happen in parallel while we're building.In this case, I started out with some sample content to get the basics in place, but at this point in time I've deleted the sample content for a more complete set of records. They may still need some edits, but the content is still closer to "final" than "beta."

Much of the content so far has not be a simple matter of export-from-old and import-to-new. Certain portions of the site are getting a new, flatter architecture which means that content that once was separated onto multiple different pages is now being combined into a single, rich page. The benefits to the user experience far outweigh the temporary challenges that we face in reorganizing the data.

At this point in time, we can say that each of the 20+ locations of the Smithsonian Libraries will have it's on "homepage" giving you all the most important information about that library in one place. More information will be available if you wish to delve deeper, but this aims to help visitors find information faster and easier than before.

There's more to come!

As we mentioned before, this first phase of development presents a new website based on Drupal 7. Despite the learning curve involved, for both the developers and the rest of our staff, we feel we are well-positioned for what is to come later this year... 

For now, schedules have shifted slightly, so now we are working towards an internal launch date in February or March and the launch and announcement of our new site sometime in April, at the earliest.

Stay tuned!!

Smithsonian Libraries Accepting Professional Development Internship Applications

The Smithsonian Libraries will award up to three paid internships for graduate students interested in working in research and museum libraries for the summer of 2012. The internships cover specific areas of librarianship, including technical services, digital projects and research, and reference and reader services. Below are the available projects. Applications close March 12^th, 2012.

 

NASM Sheet Music Cataloging

Candidates interested in the Libraries’ technical services will work in the Discovery Services Department, gaining valuable cataloging and metadata skills,  particularly as they pertain to the description of sheet music held in the National Air and Space Museum branch.  Intern will catalog sheet music by upgrading existing brief records.  One of the special objectives of this project is to provide access to the graphic content of the publications, usually an illustrated title page (often referred to as a sheet music cover). 

 

The ideal candidate will possess knowledge of cataloging (music cataloging desirable) through coursework or practical experience.  The ability to read musical notation is desirable.  Bachelor’s degree in music preferred, but bachelor’s degree in any humanities field (art, literature, history, etc.) that would provide general background knowledge of American popular culture in late 19^th century and 20^th century would be acceptable.

 

 

Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) Workflow Project

Candidates interested in digital projects will assist Digital Services and Metadata Services staff in developing a workflow for the transfer of digital images from  cds to the  Smithsonian's enterprise-wide Digital Asset Management System. The intern will help to develop an efficient workflow for the ingest of files, including transferring them from their current media and  embedding metadata.

 

The ideal candidate will be a graduate student with interest in digital preservation and knowledge of IPTC metadata. Experience with Artesia a plus.

 

Artists’ Books

Candidates interested in research, reference and reader services will work in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library where they will address advanced bibliographic searching and developing exhibition ideas featuring artists’ books.

 

For this internship, an MLS graduate student with art background is preferred; class work or experience with cataloging/metadata. Exhibition experience is a plus but not necessary.

 

 

Information for all applications:

Qualified applicants must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, hold a 3.0 GPA in their major, demonstrate interest in the research and museological activities of the Smithsonian Institution and Libraries and show solid writing, analytical and computer skills. The internships are offered to current students and recent graduates of accredited library programs. Interns may receive up to $500 dollars per week for a maximum of six weeks. Applications for summer 2012 internships will be accepted on a rolling basis until March 12. Candidates who are not selected for the Libraries’ paid internship program may be eligible to receive non-paid internships. To view program information, requirements and additional details visit http://www.sil.si.edu/Galaxy.cfm?id=3.21.

 

 

 

 

 

Cooper Hewitt National Design Library moves into new spaces

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, in the Carnegie Mansion on 5th avenue, is closed for the next two years to undergo extensive renovations so that the entire mansion can be converted to exhibition galleries.  The library, began in the 1890s by the Hewitt Sisters at Cooper Union, occupied the Carnegie Mansion’s third floor when the collections were obtained by SI in the 1970s. Since that time, the library has grown to include approximately 80,000 volumes, 4500 trade catalogues, and several picture collections.

 

CHNDM Library Reading Room in the Carnegie Mansion

For more than two years, CHM Library staff, volunteers, and student workers have been planning the move of the library into two new spaces – connected townhouses on 90th Street adjacent to the mansion known as Miller and Fox Houses, and to a facility in Newark, New Jersey.   Over the past five months, the collections have moved partially to Miller-Fox, and partially to Newark.  Library staff worked with SI's Office of Facilities Engineering and Operations and the design firms of Beyer Blinder Belle  Architects & Planners LLP and Gluckman Mayner Architects in planning these new spaces.

The staff and public spaces of the Library are on the second floor of the connected Fox and Miller Houses. Two rooms of the Miller House, the former residence of Andrew & Louise Carnegie’s daughter Margaret and her husband Roswell Miller, were refurbished.  One oak paneled room serves as the library’s workroom and offices for the CHM Library staff.   The Fred & Rae S. Friedman Rare Book Room (formerly the Bradley Room in the Mansion space), features state-of-the-art environment/security and fire suppression systems and compact shelving to house CHM Exposition, CHM Bradley, and all CHM RB materials.

The public spaces of the library are in Fox House (the former M. Louise McALpin residence built in 1903), comprised of the Reception/reference room at the library entrance, and 2 Reading rooms. The Reception Room contains current and bound serials and reference volumes, an area to greet and register visitors, public work stations with PCs, scanners, printers, and a microfilm reader-printer.

The Arthur Ross Reading Room, an elegant renovated parlor to the south of the reference area, is adorned with a crystal chandelier and wall sconces by E.F.Caldwell & Co.; a marble fireplace, mirrors, and modern seating and tables by Steelcase to accommodate twenty researchers along with shelving for serials and student shelves and course reserves.

Arthur Ross Reading Room at the new CHNDM Library

 

A second oval, wood-paneled room also with marble mantel & original Caldwell lighting fixtures to the north of the reference area,  serves as the ”quiet reading room”, accommodating  twelve researchers.   Cooper Union Museum and Cooper-Hewitt exhibition catalogues, long runs of shelter magazines and more reference works are housed here.

 

North Reading Room at the new CHNDM Library

 

Downstairs, the new first floor compact shelving stacks are accessible by stairs from the reference area, housing approximately 20,000 monographs, serials, and Master’s theses.  Trade literature and past CHM exhibition records are housed on stationary shelving here.

 

First floor stacks in the new CHNDM Library

 
Approximately 60% of the monograph and bound serials collection are now in compact shelving in a secure and environmentally controlled, 2700 square foot space in the offsite facility in Newark, New Jersey – a floor above where the CHNDM objects collections are housed.   The Caldwell, Kubler, Czech book covers, postcard, large trade catalog, pop up books, and archive collections have also been moved to Newark.    A majority of items housed offsite –thanks to SIL’s cataloging division- are now noted in SIRIS as CHM NWK.   This offsite facility provides space for years of collection growth.

 

Stacks at offsite facility, CHM NWK.