In late June, the University Library will introduce its new catalog, Primo. The Primo Catalog is the search interface of a state-of-the-art library management system called Ex Libris Alma. The Alma/Primo system was designed to provide better access to, and management of, 21st-century library collections. It has been adopted by a number of research libraries including Harvard and Northwestern.
HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access
A message from the Library’s Associate Dean for Digital Strategies:
The ETAS will provide University students, faculty and staff with online reading access to print materials that are currently unavailable to our users. It is being offered while the COVID-19 pandemic is limiting access to the print collection. By offering this service, HathiTrust is helping us to continue to support teaching and research during the stay-at-home order.
New Digitized Newspapers
We’ve purchased two new newspaper files for our collection of ProQuest Historical Newspapers. We’ve also purchased additional years for seven titles already in our collection
Dewey → Library of Congress Classification
The History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library (HPNL) and African American Studies Research Center (AASRC) are reclassifying their book collections, switching from Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) to Library of Congress Classification (LCC).
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New Collection: Advertising America
Digitized selections from the J. Walter Thompson Company Archives at Duke University. Although the archive has not been digitized in its entirety, the size of the digitized portion is nevertheless enormous. The J. Walter Thompson Company was one of the most important American advertising agencies of the twentieth century, and this digital collection documents its work in sixteen industries:
Halloween Reads at the Library
It is that time of year again! The leaves are changing and the weather is dramatically fluctuating between warm and astonishingly cold as Fall tries to get its footing. The perfect time to curl up under a blanket and read something eerie. If you’re looking for a good non-fiction book to read in honor of Halloween then this is the list for you.
Here are a few of the books in our collection that are excellent for this season:
Flash Newspapers: New Digital Collection
Flash newspapers were a type of “underground newspaper” that catered to people interested in reading about, or participating in, illicit activities, such as gambling, prostitution, and other forms of vice. Flash newspapers were often published and circulated secretly, so as to avoid detection by law-enforcement, and consequently these newspapers were rarely collected by libraries. The best collection of flash newspapers in the United States is held by the American Antiquarian Society, and a large portion of that collection has now been digitized by Readex. The University of Illinois Library is pleased to announce that we have acquired this digital collection, American Underworld: The Flash Press.
Latin American Newspapers Series 2
Now available: Latin American Newspapers Series 2. Part of the World Newspaper Archive (which also includes African Newspapers, and South Asian Newspapers), Latin American Newspapers Series 2 is the second module in what is arguably becoming the best digital collection of Central and South American newspapers available anywhere.
Introduction to Scholarly Research: Pilot Instruction Series
Introduction to Scholarly Research is a multipart workshop series designed to assist undergraduate and graduate students with the research process, from start to finish. Join a team of librarians for this series of five workshops, during which you will learn how to become a more successful researcher. These sessions are open to students in any discipline. (Although taught by librarians from the Slavic Reference Service, the course content will not be specific to Slavic studies or any other discipline.) You will also learn how the University Library can support you in your research.
Continue reading “Introduction to Scholarly Research: Pilot Instruction Series”
The Mad Gasser of Mattoon
In September of 1944 the front pages of the Daily Illini were covered with updates about the ongoing war. The newspaper readily chronicled major developments in the war as well as the deaths of young men who, just a few short years before, had once walked the university’s halls. Given the amount of bloodshed that was unfolding around the world, it is easy to miss the newspapers’ coverage of one particularly strange event, one that would come to be called the Mad Gasser of Mattoon.