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Snapshot in Time: Campus During Covid

Posted on by Michelle Self-Ballard

Daily Illini Editorial entitled "Heed Travel Warnings" published in March 2020. It is hard to believe but it has been five years since the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus essentially closed after spring break. During the spring 2020 semester, spring break was officially from March 14th-22nd but campus did not fully re-open for the rest of the spring semester. Reviewing the Daily Illini, the concerns about Covid-19 before break were primarily about traveling abroad. In March 2020, the Daily Illini was still a physical newspaper and with the closing of campus, its publication was halted from March 15th through June 2020.

I was working at the Undergraduate Library in March 2020 and took the spring break week off on vacation. I never could have guessed that the libraries would close, and work and classes would move online for the rest of the semester. I remember even stating that there is no way the libraries would close, because at the time, they were considered an essential unit and were very rarely closed.

My colleagues and I worked remotely until the end of July while we began to determine how we could return to work in a safe manner and begin to provide what in-person library services we could for the 2020-2021 academic year. Upon return to campus, we had two weeks to completely revamp our services and get ready to open. When we did “reopen” for the semester, the services provided at the Undergraduate Library did not look the same. I won’t review it allDaily Illini image Alma Matter statue with works *air hug,* Welcome to the family! here, but services included: a check in station in the entry space that included Wellness Safety Associates to check building access permission, loanable technology picked up from lockers, study space for around 27 patrons that had to be booked 24 hours in advance, book pickup from lockers in the Main Library, quarantining any returned library materials for a week, etc.

Daily Illini cover August 2020. Article titles "World watches UIs Cutting-edge tests" and "Greek Life Adapts to Covid Restrictions" After I returned to work, I noticed that the UGL was still receiving copies of the Daily Illini, so I began to collect every issue we received. I knew that the year was going to be memorable and indeed, it was a very stressful and eventful year.

When this blog post was scheduled to be released at this time, five years after campus closed, I decided that it would be a good time to dust off those newspapers and give a brief overview of the 2020-2021 academic year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The newspapers provide a snapshot of the year and even though it is becoming recent history, it is still remembered and discussed to this day. In fact, while working on this blog post, I heard students walking across campus talking about the pandemic, the fact that it had been five years, and then discussing how that year affected them. It is an icebreaker and a good way to start a conversation with anyone old enough to remember the pandemic. Even though it affected us all differently, it still is a time that did affect us all, no matter how old we were at the time. Daily Illini article entitled, "New Cases Decline During Third Week of Classes" published September 2020

I know this next comment will show my age, but I have often thought that Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” could be rewritten from just the events that occurred in that one academic year. After reviewing the Daily Illini issues from that time, some of the events that could be mentioned in the song include:

  • Face masks
  • Social distancing
  • Saliva-based covid test
  • Classes and meetings over Zoom
  • Covid dismissals
  • Lack of toilet paper and low groceries
  • Safer Illinois App/boarding pass

Daily Illini September 17, 2020 page 5A. Article entitled "Campus Community deals with Covid-19"

  • Wellness Safety Associates (WSA)
  • Shield Team
  • Locked buildings
  • RSOs online
  • Dorm for isolation
  • Fall break with no campus return until Spring
  • Cancelled spring break
  • New variants
  • Covid fatigue/burnout
  • Mental health struggles
  • Automated testing
  • Covid/testing expense to campus
  • Vaccine
  • Herd immunity

Campus was not only affected by the covid pandemic that year. There were a lot of other important events happening on campus including:    Daily Illini August 31 cover article "Enough is Enough: CU Activists Protest Police Brutality"

  • Social justice concerns
  • Kingfisher mascot
  • National elections
  • Protests for defunding UI police
  • Bus service decreases
  • Food insecurity
  • Big Ten win

The 2020-2021 was an eventful year and these Daily Illini newspapers give a great overview of the challenges the campus faced. I want to ensure these newspapers are available to read so, the History Philosophy, and Newspaper Library (HPNL) will have them available after this blog post is active. Please stop in and read all about the memorable 2020-2021 academic year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Daily Illini cover October 5th, 2020 - Articles titled "Protesters call for defunding UI police" and "Kingfisher advocates to take it slow, built alumni support"HPNL also has books that cover many aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic so if you would like to learn more about the pandemic, please check out this bibliography:

HPNL Covid Bibliography

Public Aspects of Medicine

Fang, Fang, and Michael Berry. Wuhan Diary : Dispatches from a Quarantined City. HarperVia an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2020.

Kavey, Rae-Ellen W., and Allison Kavey. Viral Pandemics : From Smallpox to COVID-19. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2021.

Lewis, Michael. The Premonition : A Pandemic Story. W.W. Norton & Company, 2021.Daily Illini October 29, 2020 cover articles titles "Semester brings mental hardships" and "University reports new Covid-19 Surge"

Manaugh, Geoff, and Nicola Twilley. Until Proven Safe : The History and Future of Quarantine. MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021.

Nixon, Kari. Quarantine Life from Cholera to COVID-19 : What Pandemics Teach Us about Parenting, Work, Life, and Communities from the 1700s to Today. Tiller Press, 2021.

Petriello, David. The Politics of Disease : An American History from Columbus to Covid. McFarland & Company, 2023.

Sowemimo, Annabel, and Publisher. Wellcome Collection. Divided : Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare. Profile Books, 2023.

Tolley, Kimberley. Vaccine Wars : The Two-Hundred-Year Fight for School Vaccinations. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023.

Daily Illini Cover January 28, 2021 article title "Champaign County continues vaccine push"Social Science

Holden, Kisha B., and Camara Phyllis Jones. Black Women and Resilience : Power, Perseverance, and Public Health. State University of New York Press, 2024.

Peacock, Margaret, and Erik L. Peterson. A Deeper Sickness : Journal of America in the Pandemic Year. Beacon Press, 2022.

Philosophy/Ethics/Psychology

Being There, but How? : On the Transformation of Presence in (Post-)Pandemic Times. Transcript, 2024.

Butler, Judith. What World Is This? : A Pandemic Phenomenology. Columbia University Press, 2022.

Weinstein, Netta, et al. Solitude : The Science and Power of Alone Time. Cambridge University Press, 2024.

Wellner, Galit P., et al. The Philosophy of Imagination : Technology, Art and Ethics. Bloomsbury Academic, 2024.Daily Illini April 29, 2021 article entitled "Variants, fatigue risk UI's fall return"

History

Hill, Marc Lamont, et al. We Still Here : Pandemic, Policing, Protest, & Possibility. Haymarket Books, 2020.

Yancy, George, and Tim Wise. Until Our Lungs Give out : Conversations on Race, Justice, and the Future. Rowman & Littlefield, 2023.

Zakaria, Fareed. Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World. W.W. Norton & Company, 2020.

Political Science

Esposito, Roberto, and Zakiya Hanafi. Institution. Polity Press, 2022.

Daily Illini October 1st, 2020 story entitled "UI Covid-19 costs exceed $300 million"

 

 

 

 

Accessibility Issues in the Case of Microfilm (And Why You Should Still Give it a Chance)

Posted on by Rachel Sudbeck

The History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library (HPNL) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is home to a large collection of both newspapers and microfilm. While both are certainly collections that are still used regularly, there are many people of all generations who have never come into contact with a microfilm reel or scanner before coming here. And really, why would they have too? Everything is accessible on the internet at this point right?

Image of microfilm reel of the 1978 Daily Illini and accompanying box
Microfilm reel from HPNL’s collection of the Daily Illini

Well not exactly. 

In the past, microfilm was used as a form of preservation for more fragile objects like old books and newspapers that were printed on quickly degrading paper. There was a huge boom in the microfilming industry in the 50s and 60s when archivists and librarians became a little bit obsessed with increasing the longevity of their collections and saving space. During this process, however, they threw out many of the original copies of items that were filmed which made them only accessible on microfilm. At the time this probably seemed like a great idea (saving space and all that), but as we have transitioned into the digital age, physical-based media are seeing less and less use.

That dip in use does not reflect microfilm’s overall usefulness, however. People come into our library daily to view microfilm for a variety of reasons. But if these resources are so useful, why are they being used less and less? I can think of a few reasons: Continue reading “Accessibility Issues in the Case of Microfilm (And Why You Should Still Give it a Chance)” →

Flesh Out your Genealogical Searches with Small Town Newspapers

Posted on by Kimberly Lerch

 

Change of plans: no more rabbit holes. Geneaology!

Stephen Cornett Pribble Obituary
Stephen Cornett Pribble’s Obituary

Genealogy is more than just names and dates, jobs and relationships. I started in the late 1990s researching my dad’s side of the family. I  live in the area that my ancestors lived in back in the 1870s. There are a lot of us (Pribbles) in the Vermilion and Champaign County area. How did I find this out? Censuses, talking to older relatives (I interviewed my great-aunt, Anna Kathryn Pribble McNeese, 98 at the time), cemetery listings and walks, and joining the Illiana Genealogical and Historical Society. I used the society’s resources which, at the time, were reference books and microfilm. I looked on sites such as Ancestry.com, which were free back then, but there was a gap between my known Pribbles and the Pribbles listed on the site. Where did we fit in to the line that came over from England as an indentured servant?

Using HPNL’s libguide entitled Geneaology Resources, I found a number of aids useful in tracking down ancestors. Ancestry.com is still available, but you must pay to access the information there now, but Family Search is free.

Through the USGenWeb Project, I accessed the ILGenWeb site and from there, the Vermilion County genealogy website. From this site, deaths, marriages, military information, newspapers, and obituaries can be accessed. I’m just looking in Vermilion county for my folk, but the ILGenWeb has a site for each county in Illinois, and the USGenWeb Project for each state. I have used this site in the past to verify deaths and marriages.

Back on the Geneaology Resources libguide page, I selected “V” under the “Illinois” sidebar on the Genealogy Resources page, and am taken to the “Where to Start” page for searching information in Vermilion county. This led me to a number of books that may contain useful information. As for my Vermilion county cousins, I was able to read about them from an entry in History of Vermilion County… (Beckwith). Yohos can still be found in the area I went to school with Henthorns in Catlin, a nearby village to Westville, Georgetown and Sidell. It is a small world. One of my West Virginia (migrated in the 1870s, settling in Ridgefarm) cousins can be read about here. Frank’s brother was named Wilbur. Go figure. Kinfolk, but definitely independent lines from a common ancestor. Continue reading “Flesh Out your Genealogical Searches with Small Town Newspapers” →

New Life Will Rise From the Ashes… Right?: An Short Analysis of The Phoenix Complex: A Philosophy of Nature by Michael Marder in Our Current Contexts

Posted on by Rachel Sudbeck

Hurricanes continually pummel the coasts of the United States, we had record high temperatures across the country this summer, and we are biting our nails waiting for what winter may hold. When you really think about it, there is only one logical explanation for the extreme weather we have seen over the last decade: The government. 

Or at least that is what I saw some people saying on social media. 

While it may have been appalling to see people say that, it unfortunately isn’t a new train of thought. Climate change is a topic that has been debated for as long as I can remember and people around the world have always come up with any possible explanation that points the finger away from the human race’s involvement in it. If it is even a real thing at all, that is.  Continue reading “New Life Will Rise From the Ashes… Right?: An Short Analysis of The Phoenix Complex: A Philosophy of Nature by Michael Marder in Our Current Contexts” →

New and recent books by Illinois faculty

Posted on by Celestina Savonius-Wroth

One of the most satisfying parts of my job as an academic librarian is to see a research project that started out as a twinkle in someone’s eye appear in the Library as a published book. Here are some new titles by University of Illinois faculty members in the subject areas we collect here in the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library (African American Studies, History, Jewish Studies, Philosophy, and Religious Studies) that we’ve recently acquired (a few are still on order). Congratulations, all! Continue reading “New and recent books by Illinois faculty” →

HPNL – A Great Place to Study!

Posted on by Michelle Self-Ballard

Are you still looking for a good library to study in?

Come and visit us in the History, Philosophy and Newspaper Library located on the second floor of the Main Library building in room 246.

Directory April 2019 (illinois.edu)

Hours:

During the academic semester, HPNL is open from 9am-7pm Monday-Thursday, 9am-5pm on Fridays and 1-5pm on Sundays.

HPNL Study Space:

HPNL is a semi-quiet study space that has both large study tables that work for both individuals and small groups, as well as new individual study carrels! There is both traditional library seating as well as soft seating. The library has great natural lighting through large windows in the main reading room. If you need an even quieter space to read or study, and don’t mind a bit of cool temperatures, we also have a few seats in our microfilm stacks available for use. Continue reading “HPNL – A Great Place to Study!” →

Archives Bazaar: All Aboard the Preservation Train

Posted on by Jessie Knoles

Preserving Railroad History: An Invitation

Since 2017, The Urbana Free Library has hosted an event called the Archives Bazaar, where cultural heritage organizations from the Champaign-Urbana area—including special collections libraries, historical societies, archives, museums, and independent collectors—congregate to exhibit materials found in their collections. Archives bazaars exist to promote the preservation of our cultural heritage and to promote the use of archival collections by highlighting popular, “hidden,” or interesting collections within an institution. Bazaars are a chance for organizations and repositories to leave the stacks and connect with people in the community (not just the scholarly researchers one may think of when one thinks of archives!). It’s a way for us to say, enthusiastically, “Isn’t preserving history neat?” and “Please come use our collections!”

This year, The Urbana Free Library’s Archives Bazaar has a central theme on the history of the Illinois Central Railroad. 2024 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Illinois Central depot in Champaign, Illinois. The Illinois Newspaper Project, jointly administered by HPNL and the University Library’s Preservation Services Unit, will table at the Bazaar to showcase the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections (IDNC) and to promote our newly-published (and very first!) research guide featuring articles about the Illinois Central Railroad found in the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections. Continue reading “Archives Bazaar: All Aboard the Preservation Train” →

Asking Abby: A Brief Exploration of Advice Columns

Posted on by Jena Vallina

One of the many benefits of working at a newspaper library is the ability to acquaint myself with the tremendous archive of historical newspapers available on both microfilm and online databases. These newspapers, ranging from local papers to underground zines to major titles like the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, offer valuable insight into the cultural climate of their time period. For me, the most fascinating section of the paper is not always found under the front page headline. Often, it is situated far from the land of hard-hitting journalism, politics, and foreign affairs, somewhere closer to the crossword puzzle and the funnies. I speak, of course, of the advice column.

Continue reading “Asking Abby: A Brief Exploration of Advice Columns” →

The United States of Paranoia

Posted on by Kimberly Lerch

 

“There is nothing new under the sun.”  — Ecclesiastes 1:9

An attempt has been made on the President’s life, but the would-be assassin doesn’t complete his task. Soon after the incident, it is reported to the public that he’s just a crazy lone gunman. Murmurs. It is said that the gunman was in cahoots with the President’s political opponents, so an investigation is initiated. The President himself asserts that the shooter was probably hired by one or more members of the other party. The opposition counters by announcing that the shooting was staged to garner public sympathy for the President. Others blame the opposing party’s inflammatory comments made prior to the act for inciting it. Continue reading “The United States of Paranoia” →