Tag Archives: Facilities

New Reading Area at Armstrong Library

New Armstrong Reading Area
We’ve increased the size of the reading area on the main floor of Armstrong Library. Come to see the changes!

We removed over 1,000 volumes of outdated and otherwise unnecessary printed materials, and this allowed us to empty 2 bookcases.
The floor space that we gained by removing the bookcases has been filled with a combination of tables and armchairs. We’ll add a few more tables and chairs from staff offices soon, once we acquire replacements from storage. Because of a pre-existing budget request, we’ll be able to add 5 new study carrels downstairs, too.
This combination of tables, armchairs and study carrels was requested by students last year on the comments poster we hung at the entrance to the library. (The new video and laptop viewing equipment in the group studies was requested too.)
In addition, we eventually hope to add more computers and lamps, but wiring and budgetary limitations might not allow this. We also hope to purchase more dry erase boards, maybe some board games, and who knows what else!

Upcoming Displays at the Main Library

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Submitted by Joseph Watson

In observation of Breast Cancer Awareness month student organizers will display general information and certificates acknowledging donations that are being accepted in the dining halls.
The Men’s Advisory Group is presenting a video in the Atrium and elsewhere on campus.
The Roosevelt Institution, Middlebury’s non-partisan student-run political think tank, will present a display on McCain and Obama’s policy stances on immigration, foreign policy, the economy, healthcare, education, and the environment. This display will be in place for the full week before the election and will compliment the voter registration display already in place. (See previous LISt entry: https://sites.middlebury.edu/list/2008/09/26/voters-in-the-lobby/
And finally, LIS will be hosting the Associated Press’ exhibit “The American President” from Election Day until the Thanksgiving break. Joseph is creating panels for the two presidents who were born in Vermont to augment the AP exhibit since both Arthur and Coolidge are not represented in the touring exhibit. We’ve also received brochures from the State of Vermont historic sites for each Vermont born president. Below, please see the press release prepared for us by Blaire Kloman in our Office of Public Affairs. (It’s so great to work at Middlebury College where one can pass this sort of task off to colleagues with the appropriate expertise!)

Here is an example of the kind of photo that will be on display.

LOS ANGELES/ July 1960 U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy, D-Mass., makes his way through a crowd of supporters and journalists as he arrives for the Democratic National Convention. Kennedy turned back challenges by former Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson and U.S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, D-Texas, who accepted the vice presidential nomination. (AP)

For more information you can visit http://www.ap.org/americanpresident/#

PRESS RELEASE

Media contact: Blair Kloman

802-443-5483/bkloman@middlebury.edu

Oct. 20, 2008

IMMEDIATE

Middlebury College Library to host Associated Press photo exhibit of American presidents Nov. 4-25

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. ― “The American President,” an exhibit of more than 80 compelling news photos from the Associated Press (AP) spanning the past 60 years, will be on view at the Middlebury College Library from Tuesday, Nov. 4, to Tuesday, Nov. 25. The display shows American presidents at war and at ease, in victory and in defeat, confronting national crises and facing personal scandals, running for office and leading the country on the world stage.

Amid the extraordinary voter interest in the 2008 race for the White House, the new exhibit helps illustrate one constant in the ever-shifting media landscape. The coverage of the White House by AP reporters and photographers has been the dominant source of presidential news across the United States and around the world.

“We’re especially pleased to host the AP’s American President exhibit at this time, since it coincides with one of the most important national elections in recent memory. These photos of our past presidents capture the human side of those who have served, not just the formal face of the presidency. As with all of our work in the library, we hope the exhibit will encourage not only reflection, but also action,’ said Dean of Library and Information Services Michael Roy.

The exhibit features a number of the AP’s Pulitzer Prize-winning images, including Paul Vathis’ view of John F. Kennedy conferring gravely with his predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, at Camp David after the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961; Ron Edmonds’ rapid sequence documenting the 1981 assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan; and White House photos taken during Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment battle. “The American President” also includes memorable shots from the AP Images photo library, which contains more than 10 million film and digital images, and pictures taken in this year’s run for the White House by Senators Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama.

According to exhibit organizers, the college will be hosting the full photo exhibit with the 16 panels as well as a looping video on a monitor. In order to include the two presidents who were born in Vermont, the college library organizers are preparing two additional panels with photos of Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur to augment the display.

Exhibit hours will coincide with library hours, available online at www.middlebury.edu/academics/lis/about/hours_maps/hours_lib/. For more information, contact Middlebury College Preservation and Processing Manager Joseph Watson at 802-443-5487 or jwatson@middlebury.edu.

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“Scholar’s Rock”

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In front of Scholars Rock, Dean Mike Roy, Barbara Youngman, Robert Youngman and Professor Colin Mackenzie

Submitted by Joseph Watson

For more than a year we have been working with the Museum of Art to select a location for a large “Scholar’s Rock” that the museum wanted to place in the Main Library. Happily, the rock was placed the the East Reading Room on the Upper Level last week. The existing ledge on the interior wall was redesigned by Ken Pohlman of the museum and reconstructed by Stark Mountain Woodcrafters. The resulting pediment enhances the room and presents the rock beautifully. The piece was given to the museum by Robert P. ’64 and Barbara P. Youngman who have given generously over the years to encourage the study and collection of Asian art. In the rocks’ descriptive label Prof. Colin Mackenzie writes “Appreciated for their contorted shapes and fissured surfaces, ornamental rocks have been collected in China since the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.). Small rocks were displayed on scholars’ desks, while the largest ones were incorporated into gardens. They thus played an ornamental role analogous to that of figural sculpture in the West. The connoisseurship of rocks was intimately bound up with philosophical notions of transformation and concepts such as yin (negative) and yang (positive), and xu (emptiness) and shi (solidity). Rocks from Lingbi are prized for their fantastic forms.”
The Youngmans recently stopped by the library to view the stone and Mike had a chance to thank them for their generosity.

And speaking of art in general, the Museum has been adding and removing objects all summer. The revised list of art in the building is available in a brochure at the Info Desk and will also be available on the web soon. Also on the web: http://www.middlebury.edu/arts/capp/mural/mural.htm and http://www.middlebury.edu/arts/capp/exhibits/

And remember, temporary displays of art (or whatever) can be set up in the Main Lib. For more information on what’s available see go/lis?display.

And on an unrelated note– Announcing a new section of the LIS Wikis devoted to Facilities Concerns: The content is fairly brief at this point, but will expand over time. If you have topics that you think would be useful to have included please let me know. Check it out at go/wikis and select LIS then LIS Facility Issues. The best part is, it’s searchable!