Smithsonian Libraries

Website Redesign: Update One

2012-01-27T09:00:00-05:00

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

2012-01-26T09:00:00-05:00

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

2012-01-25T09:00:00-05:00

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 and Gluckman-Maynard 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 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.

Featured Gifts and Exchange Partner: American Museum of Natural History

2012-01-23T09:00:00-05:00

For many years, the Smithsonian Institution Libraries has had a publication exchange program with various organizations around the world. Our exchange partners are generally universities, academies of sciences and arts, museums, government entities, and societies. Through our agreements, we swap our material, primarily the Smithsonian Contributions (a series of monographs which are written on a variety of subjects like anthropology, botany, marine sciences, museum conservation, paleobiology, and zoology), in exchange for titles by other institutions. Each Smithsonian Contributions issue is published initially online, followed by a print version for those who prefer that. All published issues can be found at: www.sil.si.edu/SmithsonianContributions/.

One of our scientific journal exchanges has been with the American Museum of Natural History Library in New York City. We have worked with them since 1951 or before, according to our correspondence files. In exchange for our Smithsonian Contributions series and various National Museum of Natural History departmental publications, we receive their American Museum Novitates and Bulletin of the A.M.N.H., in addition to many of their monographic publications on paleontology, zoology, botany, and taxonomy and the systematics of various types of plants and animals.

Images:

Top: Cover of Catalogue of Seed Plants of the West Indies by Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez and Mark T. Strong. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany, no. 98. via Smithsonian Scholarly Press.

Bottom - Tylosaurus from Animals of the past by Frederic A. Lucas. New York :[Amer. Mus. Press]1922., via the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

— Dana Feil

Cooking from the Collections: National Soup Month

2012-01-20T09:00:00-05:00

Did you know that January is National Soup Month? We didn't either but it gave us a great topic for this month's Cooking from the Collections feature! We whipped up two creamy, comforting vegetable soups that are sure to warm you up. We're happy to say that although they are the simplest recipes we've tried, they were also the most lauded by our SIL tasters (well, those without lactose issues, that is). Turns out you can't go wrong with butter and milk, flavored with a smidgen of vegetables. A cooking textbook from 1915 demonstrates that Paula Deen wasn't the first to hit upon that successful formula!

Green Pea Soup

This recipe comes from the fascinating A text-book of cooking by Carlotta C. Greer, published in 1915. As the title indicates, it was designed as a textbook to accompany cooking classes and hidden in the "Body-Building Vegetables" chapter was this gem. Despite the healthy-sounding name, this soup was so very rich and creamy that one taster commented "That soup should be a sauce". In fact, the basis of the dish is a simple white sauce, flavored with a bit of mushed peas. I take partial blame for the meager amount of vegetables, though. The recipes instructed me to cook the peas until "very soft". It occurred to me later that my modern idea of peas that are soft are probably still undercooked by 1915 standards. In addition, I found that mashing something through a strainer takes some serious upper body work! My weak biceps, combined with peas that may have been a bit too hard, produced little pea puree. Next time I will cook the peas to my desired level of doneness and then blend them with the cooking water using an immersion blender. You can read more of Greer's recipes via the digitized copy on Google Books here!

Ingredients:

1 pint or can peas
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 cups water (or liquid from canned peas)
Pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk

Directions:

Add peas, water and sugar to a saucepan and cook until peas are soft.
Drain the peas and press through a strainer (as I mentioned this didn't work out so well for me, perhaps a food mill would be better?). Set aside.
Heat butter in saucepan until bubbling and then add flour, salt and pepper. Stir constantly until flour is golden brown. Slowly wisk in the milk and simmer until sauce has thickened.
Stir in pea puree and serve.

-Erin Rushing

Cream of Tomato Soup

Our tasters also enjoyed this cream-based vegetable soup, from Cooking with Sour Cream and Buttermilk, published by the Culinary Arts Institute in 1956. The sour cream added a bit of tang but the real surprise ingredient here is Accent, a brand of seasoning containing monosodium glutamate (MSG). We don't necessarily endorse the use of MSG, but our fore-warned tasters reported not ill side effects from their limited exposure. Is it the Cream of tomato Soup of my childhood? No, that soup always will come from a can.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup of No. 2 tomato juice (unsure of what "No.2" indicated, we used regular Campbell's)
1 stalk of celery with leaves, cut crosswise into quarters
½ small onion, sliced
2 springs of parsley
½ bay leaf
6 whole cloves
1 ½ teaspoons of sugar
½ teaspoon salt
A few grains of white pepper ( I used black pepper, did not see purchasing white pepper for the use of a few grains)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, blend in 2 tablespoons of flour
¼ teaspoon of salt
¼ teaspoon of monosodium glutamate or Accent
Few grains of pepper
¾ cup of milk
¾ cup thick sour cream

Directions:

Combine in a saucepan tomato juice, vegetables, spices, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 min.
Meanwhile, prepare in a large saucepan the Sour Cream White Sauce. Heat butter, salt, pepper and Accent over low heat until mixture bubbles. Gradually stir in milk. Cook rapidly, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. Remove from heat. Stirring vigorously, add in very small amounts thick sour cream. Cook 2 or 3 min longer, stirring constantly until sauce is just heated.
Strain tomato juice mixture. Add it very slowly to the hot white sauce, stirring constantly and vigorously with a wooden spoon: DO NOT BOIL.
Serve immediately.

-Ninette Dean

A Winter Holiday in 1905

2012-01-18T09:00:00-05:00

Each month this winter, we are featuring a winter vacation related item. In December, we featured a 1906 brochure about a winter resort in South Carolina called The Court Inn. This month, we are featuring a 1905 Hampton Terrace Brochure.

Hampton Terrace, Augusta, GA.* Hampton Terrace Brochure, 1905, Hampton Terrace.

Hampton Terrace was a winter resort located near the Savannah River in Augusta, Georgia.* The hotel had three hundred rooms and accommodated up to five hundred guests. The bedrooms at Hampton Terrace were "of generous size, amply furnished, having closets six feet square" and each room included a telephone capable of long distance calls. There were six suites which included a parlor, dining room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. Connecting rooms were also available.

Those vacationing at the hotel could play golf on an eighteen-hole golf course, hunt, or fish in the nearby lakes and streams. There was also a flower garden for guests to walk through. For an extra cost, horses and vehicles were available from the stable. To entertain guests inside the hotel, there was a dancing hall, sun parlors, billiard tables, and a music room with an orchestra. Other activities included tennis, shuffleboard, and ping-pong.

Hampton Terrace Brochure is located in the Trade Literature Collection at the National Museum of American History Library. Take a look at Galaxy of Images to see more from this brochure, including views of both the interior and exterior of Hampton Terrace.

Check back in February to read about another winter resort of the past!

-Alexia MacClain

*Based on the brochure, we thought Hampton Terrace was located in Augusta, Georgia, but after some research we're not quite sure (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/picturingaugusta/aep028.php). Do any of our readers know which state the resort really called home? Was it Georgia or South Carolina? (edited 1/19/2012)

Celebrating the Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

2012-01-16T09:00:00-05:00

Over the past few years, we have had the opportunity to share many of the items in our collection about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy. Below are a few relevant links that you might find of interest on this day, as we remember King's place in American history.

Many other museums and research units in the Smithsonian hold fascinating items related to Dr. King in their collections. Click on the links below to learn more.

Martin Luther King Jr. , through the Scurlock lens (National Museum of American History)
Remember Martin Luther King, Jr. (Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Let Your Motto Be Resistance (National Museum of African American History and Culture)
Martin Luther King and other Civil Rights activists in the Time Collection (National Portrait Gallery)

Opening of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on August 22nd, 2011. Photo by Liz O'Brien, via SIL Facebook page.

Seeking Job Applications for a Development Position!

2012-01-13T09:00:00-05:00

Do you like fundraising and libraries? If so, we have the job for you!

The Smithsonian Libraries is seeking a Development Associate! This position will assist the Director of Development by managing the Libraries’ annual giving program and help with the preparation, planning and execution of donor-centered events associated with development and fundraising. We are looking for someone with two to four years of successful experience in annual gift fundraising (preferably in a library, university, or museum setting), and with exceptional writing and communication skills.

The Smithsonian Libraries is a dynamic enterprise that serves the information needs of Smithsonian staff and researchers and the general public worldwide. The Libraries builds and maintains nationally prominent collections in the fields of Smithsonian interest and hosts a website that reaches annually over 3.4 million individual visitors. The collections of over 1.7 million volumes, including 50,000 rare books and manuscripts, are particularly strong in natural history and biodiversity; history of science and technology; American, Asian, African, and contemporary art; design and decorative arts; aviation history and aerospace technology; and conservation. Electronic collections comprise over 4,000 online journals and databases. Libraries staff provide direct, personal service to Smithsonian scientists, researchers, and visitors through a network of 20 branch libraries located in museums and research facilities.

The Libraries offers an outreach program of exhibitions, lectures, publications, and other programs for the public. We seek to secure funding for the acquisition of new materials in all formats, including print and electronic. Other fundraising priorities include establishing a Director’s Fund to finance strategic initiatives that further the mission of the Smithsonian Libraries; raising money for digitization of materials for the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the American History and Culture collections, and world art & design collections, and establishing an endowed fellowship program for recognized scholars and researchers to use the Libraries’ special collections.

Interested candidates should submit their resumes and a cover letter to odstaffing@si.edu by February 6, 2012. Please indicate the organization for which you are applying in the subject line of your e-mail.

To learn more about the Smithsonian Libraries, please visit http://www.sil.si.edu.

Good luck!

Digitization Dispatch: Ancient Treasure, Supernatural Guidance, and Crowd Control

2012-01-11T09:00:00-05:00

This month, we feature another new addition from the National Museum of the American Indian's Vine Deloria, Jr. Library into the digital collection housed at the Internet Archive, here. The American Ethnological Society's 1860 description of an event has all the elements of a great Hollywood heist movie: likable protagonists, the quest for riches, and a lesson on the importance of secrecy, especially when the loot is within arm's reach of a town full of likable protagonists with their own quests to fulfill.

In 1858, two farmers discovered gold while tending corn crops in the Chiriqui province in Panama. Remarkably, they excavated the source undetected for nearly a year before word of the site spread into the populace of nearby towns and villages. Mining the cache in concealed fits and spurts, they reportedly lifted about 130 pounds of gold in the form of idols and relics which occupied the tombs of the ancient graveyard or Huacal. But not every tomb in the graveyard contained the gold that fueled their search. Many simply housed pottery or other, less marketable, tokens. The Antiquary's Magazine: or, Relics of Past Men, Tribes and Nations, reports the farmer's reported ability to distinguish between the profitable tombs and the cheaper versions laid in the divining power of one farmer's son. He constructed an apparatus from a steel rod and a wire while chanting until the rod showed him the way. The report goes on to debunk the swindle but never offers an explanation for the farmers' luck in finding so many valuable pieces. By May 1959, the public had discovered the famers' secret and in the weeks following, nearly 1000 pounds of gold are reported to have been taken from the ransacked graveyard.
That's a movie I'd watch.

The report also includes a more complete (and less spellbinding) description of various relics found among the tombs, bulletins from subsequent meetings, and a description of the Grave Creek Mound in Virginia.

The Fix: L’Assiette au Beurre

2012-01-09T09:00:00-05:00

There are times when we receive items in the Book Conservation Lab that have been altered from their original format. This was the case with a seven volume set of L’Assiette au Beurre, a French social protest magazine from the early twentieth century, from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library.

Before treatment – detached spine

The magazine was published from 1901-1912 and featured the drawings, mainly caricatures, by many well known artists such as Juan Gris, Théophile Alexandre Steinlen and Frank Kupka. Through caricature, these artists poked fun at the wealthy, police, politicians, the military, the church, and other established or bourgeois groups as well as addressing social and political issues of the Belle Epoque era.

Covers

The individual issues had been bound commercially by year into modern buckram covered cloth bindings. This oversewn binding structure placed considerable stress on the already brittle issues of the magazine causing damage and breakage.

Cover in Bound Volumes

As a result, the decision was made to dis-bind the issues. The issues were carefully removed from the binding, cleaned, repaired and then placed in individual Mylar L Sleeves. The issues were then placed in custom made double tray boxes by year. Researchers can now access any of the issues without unnecessary wear to the entire year’s run of issues.

After Shots of Box

— Katie Wagner