This is the first in a series of articles spotlighting Wikidata and other Wikimedia-adjacent technologies as they can be and have been used to facilitate linked data and data discoverability in LIS and academic contexts. In this article, an overview of the technologies in question will be provided along with preliminary resources that have guided the Gottesman Libraries’ Technical Services team in its implementation and use of Wikidata to make its immediate community and, by extension, the larger world better able to access the intellectu...

The Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) is a comprehensive civil rights law that was signed into law on July 26th 1990 by President George H.W. Bush. ADA covers a wide range of mental and physical medical conditions, including those that not necessarily severe or permanent in nature. It requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to...

Did you know that St Mary's Episcopal's Church operated a free kindergarten on Lawrence Street -- forming the basis of the first experimental school of Teachers College, Columbia University? The parish house became too small to accommodate the kindergarten and elementary school, causing the elementary classes to move to a double sided house on 129th Street. In 1902, donors Mr. and Mrs. James Speyer provided a multi-story building in a Ge...

Bastille Day is celebrated as a national holiday in France, commemorating the seize of the royal fortress (aka prison) which symbolized the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs -- Marie Antoinette, among them. On July 14, 1789 revolutionaries overthrew King Louis XVI, forcing the "ancien regime" to accept constitutional government and thereby beginning the modern republic of France.Bastille Day is...

Under the direction of Peter William Dykema, Professor and Chair of the Music Education Department at Teachers College, Columbia University from 1924-1940, the music curriculum greatly expanded. The 16 Music Education courses went far beyond offerings relating to musica...