ReMix
News from the
Stanford Libraries
Welcome to ReMix, News for Library Donors and Friends
Last of its Kind?
This week, the Stanford Libraries mailed more than a thousand copies of its
2007-2008 Report to donors, officials, peer institutions, and others. This
pocket-sized document focuses on how we foster discovery and access to the
myriad resources of the Libraries, and it includes a variety of voices and
perspectives on bringing readers and materials together. What is remarkable is that it may be the last printed piece of its kind for the foreseeable
future. Departments and programs all over campus have been abandoning the
printing of annual reports – a trend that began well before the budget crisis
emerged – but we believed the
Libraries would probably be among the last to follow that trend. Some research libraries have trended toward fewer and fewer words, splashy graphics
and no text blocks at all, a trend we have so far resisted. However, with or
without content, these things are notoriously expensive, and the budget for
printing a SULAIR report has been cut for next year. Thus, the current edition – which I think a particularly coherent one – may become something of a
collector's item, if only for want of a successor.
Presumably, SULAIR's supporters and observers will miss some aspects of that publication
more than others. We certainly will continue recogizing donors and volunteers
in various ways, but other customary elements of our reports – notable acquisitions;
student and faculty research vignettes; a retrospective record of the "state
of the library" and its programs, exhibits, and technical innovation – are
of less certain interest. We must now determine which more timely, affordable,
and "green" publication alternatives – including, but not limited to,
ReMix – will best serve readers' needs and interests. I would very much welcome
any comments or suggestions from ReMix readers about what we publish and in
what form, by letter to andrew.herkovic@stanford.edu. Meanwhile, the current report is on the Libraries' website. We will gladly mail printed copies to ReMix readers or their friends, by request to sonialee@stanford.edu.
In the midst of changes, large and small,
Andrew Herkovic
President of Bibliothèque nationale de France to Speak
The Stanford University Libraries is pleased to offer to our supporters, on
Wednesday, April 8 at 4:30 pm in the Bender Room of Green Library, a lecture by
Bruno Racine, President of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, who will
discuss the future of books and libraries, the role of national libraries in
shaping that future, the relationship between national libraries and education,
and global strategies for literacy. Reservations to attend Books, Libraries and the Bibliothèque nationale de France: A Look
Forward may be requested by contacting Sonia Lee at sonialee@stanford.edu
or 650-736-9538.
Racine was
appointed President of the BnF in April, 2007. Over the years he has held many
senior positions within the French government, including Director General of Cultural
Affairs for the City of Paris (1988-1993), Director
of the Policy Planning Staff, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1993-1995), Director
of the French Academy
in Rome
(1997-2002), and President of the Centre Pompidou (2002-2007). He is also the
author of both novels and best-selling non-fiction books, including Art of Living
in Rome and Art of Living in Tuscany, and has been awarded several
major French literary prizes for his works. We anticipate a thoughtful and
lively discussion, and hope you will join us in welcoming Bruno Racine to
Stanford.
Student-Collectors at Stanford
Twenty-one students, with nearly equal representation by undergraduates and
graduates, submitted essays and annotated bibliographies to apply for The Byra
J. and William P. Wreden 
Prize for Collecting Books and Related Materials, made
possible by an endowed fund in memory of those two great and steadfast friends
of the Stanford Libraries. The number of entries far exceeds that of prior
Wreden prizes, similar university prizes elsewhere, and even our most optimistic
expectations; perhaps resurgence in student interest in collecting is underway
(one might draw the same inference from the number of Stanford students sighted
at the recent antiquarian book fair). Within the next few weeks, our panel of
judges, consisting of alumni (and collectors) Mary Crawford, Bruce Crawford and
Paul Saffo; San Francisco
bookseller John Crichton; and Stanford Rare Book Librarian John Mustain will
recommend first and second prizes to University Librarian Mike Keller.
To provide a sense of what today's students collect, we offer the following
sampling: children's books; philosophy; world literature (Germanic, Arabic,
Middle Eastern, Indian); social and political issues; John Steinbeck; epics and
the classics; California railroad travel and tourism; poetry and poetic
chapbooks; South Carolina; food and cooking; transgender authors and issues;
amusement parks; Dorothy Strachey; Hogarth's prints; and postcards and travel
illustration. Readers will see the announcement of Wreden Prize winners in an
upcoming issue of ReMix, and we hope
to see the winning essays published as well.
Bibliographical Scholar Discusses 5000 Years of
Poetry
In cooperation with the English department, Green Library hosted a series of
talks in February by Nicolas Barker, the first head of conservation at the British
Library and author of many distinguished works on the history of the book. Nowadays,
Barker is editor of The Book Collector, a
leading journal written for scholars, librarians, booksellers, and private
collectors; a faculty member at the Rare Book School at the University of
Virginia; and editor of John Carter's classic ABC for Book Collectors (in recent editions its author). Collectors
among ReMix readers will, we imagine,
have a well-thumbed and annotated copy of ABC
on their reference shelves.
While at Stanford, Barker presented a series of three lectures (and, we hope, a
preview of a future publication) entitled Ideas
or Form? The Transmission of Poetry, 3000 BC-AD 2008. Despite 
its origins
as a spoken art, the history of poetry's transmission as a written form
throughout antiquity, the Middle Ages, and up to the birth of printing, has much
to say about both poetic intention and audience reception. From authors' first
drafts and fair copies to modern kinetic concrete forms, poetry continued to
evolve as a visual, printed art, to what we know and recognize as poetry today.
Barker's erudition in typography (e.g., Baskerville's letter styles and how
they affected poetry), book history, the book trade and publishing, libraries,
and even literary and printing forgeries, provided insights into studying and
teaching poetry, especially in the manuscripts, early printed books, and finely
printed modern books of special collections.
New Digital Partnerships
Hardly a month passes without announcement of a new partner in digital library
endeavors at Stanford, but this month brings two noteworthy additions. Firstly,
CLOCKSS (Controlled Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) welcomed the University of Alberta as its newest governing library
member. CLOCKSS, which is based at Stanford and is an outgrowth of our LOCKSS
technology, was created to address the concern that digital content purchased
by libraries may "go dark" due to vagaries of the publishing business
or catastrophe. The CLOCKSS solution, jointly governed by a group of publishers
and librarians, is based on a secure, multi-site archive of web-published
content that can be tapped into as necessary to provide ongoing
subscription-free access to researchers worldwide. The University
of Alberta Libraries has the second
largest academic and research collection in Canada.
Secondly, The Royal Society of London announced the launch of its new online journal delivery platform hosted by Stanford Libraries' HighWire Press and a
new domain.
HighWire now delivers online editions of The Royal Society's
internationally-renowned science journals, including The Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society, which was begun in 1665 (the oldest
scientific journal in the English-speaking world) and has brought the world
many important scientific discoveries and contributing authors, such as Isaac
Newton, Michael Faraday and Charles Darwin.
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ReMix: News from
the Stanford Libraries provides highlights, news clippings, and notices about
Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources, which
comprises Libraries, Academic Computing, Residential Computing, Stanford
University Press, HighWire Press and Stanford Publishing Courses. ReMix is
published approximately monthly by the Library Development Office, only in
electronic form.
 The Bing Wing of Cecil H. Green Library |
Currently on Exhibit
"All of this I have seen": Leigh Ortenburger, Mountaineer & Photographer, through March 29 in Green Library’s Peterson Gallery. Reviewed here.
Notable Campus Canines (with a nod to cats): Stories from the Stanford University Archives, through March 29 in Green Library's Munger Rotunda.
Now on display near the south portal of Green Library:
-Templeton Peck Memorial Fund (in Journalism)
-Recent Publications from Stanford University Press
Upcoming Events
Lorenz Eitner Lecture: Encountering Antiquity in Renaissance Europe: Greeks, Jews, and Humanists, Anthony Grafton (featured in last month's ReMix), Professor of History, Princeton University. Thursday, April 2, 6 pm, Building 320, Room 105.
17th Annual Bliss Carnochan Lecture: The Invention of Celebrity, Felicity Nussbaum, Professor of English, UCLA. Friday, April 3, 3:30 pm, Stanford Humanities Center. Free and open to the public.
Lecture by Bruno Racine, President of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Wednesday, April 8, 4:30-6:00, Bender Room, Green Library. Click here for more information.
Annual Donor Recognition event, Tuesday, April 14 (by invitation only).
Upcoming Stanford Historical Society Events
Stanford University
Founders' Celebration, Monday, April 13. This event commemorates the founding
of the University and the legacy of the Stanford family. The program will begin
at 5:00 p.m. at Memorial
Church. Speeches will be
given by President John Hennessy and the two winners of the Student Speaker
Contest. The Mausoleum will be open from noon until 5:00 p.m. to allow visitors
inside for this special occasion.
Stanford Historic House & Garden Tour:
Reimagining the Clark Legacy, April 26. The annual tour will offer a rare glimpse into four
pre-1930 campus houses designed or influenced by architects A. B. Clark and his
son Birge Clark. Click here for more information.
Recently Published by Stanford University Press
Knowledge in the Blood: Confronting Race and the Apartheid Past by Jonathan D. Jansen.
SULAIR in the News
University Librarian Mike Keller speaks on "The Future of University Presses and Other Institutional Publishers" at Texas A&M symposium on scholarly communication in the digital age
UM librarian joins Chinese Academy
of Sciences editorial board (Mike Keller also joins board)
Writer Kiyo Sato to speak at Smithsonian (winner, 2008
William Saroyan International Prize for non-fiction awarded at Stanford
Libraries)
Timeline of Google Book Search
Digitizing life’s clutter (quotes Rondel Society member Paul
Saffo)
Second Life: Engaging virtual campuses (see page 2 for Stanford Libraries)
Time to Change Our Thinking: Dismantling the Silo Model of Digital Scholarship (with reference to Parker on the Web)
Other News
Provost announces salary freeze, additional cuts for FY 10
Paul Brown’s e-Human.com anatomy slides (Lane
Medical Library)
Researchers mine millions of metaphors through computer-based techniques
Preserving the magic (collecting games and
gaming hardware)
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