The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) presents the exhibit, "Ringing Far and Near: Student Music and Song at the College of William and Mary" now through February 9, 2009. Using programs, posters, photographs, clothing, artifacts, audio recordings, and other materials from the SCRC, the exhibit provides a general overview of music at the College of William and Mary, with a major emphasis on student groups including the Choir, band program, a cappella groups, nontraditional and world music ensembles, student rock bands, and many others.
For further information, please see the Current Exhibits page.
The Princeton Review recently announced in its latest edition of The Best 368 Colleges that the W&M libraries are considered by its students to be one of the best in the nation. Based on surveys completed by 120,000 students on 368 campuses, W&M came in eighth, after Harvard, Princeton, Duke, College of New Jersey, Cornell, Brigham Young, and Loyola. Besides best library, there are over fifty other categories that rank such intangibles as Best Classroom Experience, Most Politically Active Students, Top Party School, Happiest Students, and Great College Town. New this year is a Green Rating, which is based on a school’s environmentally related practices, policies, and courses. The Best 368 Colleges is available in the reference print collection at Ref. L 901 S836 2009.
Linda Adams, who worked at Swem Library from 1966 until her retirement in 1998 as head of the Circulation Department, passed away on September 6. The family will receive friends from 1:30-2:00pm Thursday, September 11, at Nelson Funeral Home, 3785 Strawberry Plains Road, Williamsburg, with a memorial service to follow at 2:00pm.
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the admission of women to the College of William and Mary. In September 1918, women enrolled at the College, making it the first state-supported four-year college in Virginia to admit women.
In honor of this anniversary, the Special Collections Research Center at Swem Library is maintaining a blog, Mary Comes to the College with William, 1918-1919, posting contemporary College records, newspaper accounts, diary entries, and other materials exactly ninety years after they were created.
The blog begins with the Board of Visitors' endorsement of the proposed legislation to make the College co-ed on February 12, 1918, and will follow the path of the first class of women through June 1919, the end of their first year.
William and Mary graduate students Jordan Ecker and Kate Hill are contributing entries to the blog. Amy Schindler, the University Archivist, conceived of the blog and is responsible for its creation and upkeep. She would be happy to answer any questions about it. For more information, please contact her at 757-221-3094 or acschi@wm.edu.
Swem Library now has MultiSearch, a "federated search" product that allows you to search multiple databases simultaneously and easily access available full text online. Try it out today!
Questions? Contact the Reference Dept.
Swem Library presents the exhibit, "From the 'Burg to Berlin and Beyond: World War II at Swem Library." Using letters, diaries, posters, photographs, sheet music, and other materials from Swem's Special Collections Research Center, the exhibit provides a general overview of the War, with a special emphasis on the College and Williamsburg. The first four sections of the exhibit are in the Marshall Gallery; the remainder are in the SCRC.
Please note, the Marshall Gallery is open whenever Swem is open, while the cases in the SCRC are open only when the SCRC is open. Exhibit runs April 28-September 14, 2008.
-- Detailed Exhibit description
Beginning in September, Swem Library at the College of William and Mary will host a free five part reading and discussion series called “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature – Identity and Imagination.” The series explores Jewish literature and culture through scholar-led discussions of contemporary and classic books on a common theme. The library’s series will explore the theme of “A Mind of Her Own: Fathers and Daughters in a Changing World.”
The scholar for the project is Dr. Robert Scholnick, professor of English and American Studies at the College of William and Mary. Dr. Scholnick has published widely in American literature and given numerous presentations to scholarly and professional organizations.
The program is made possible by a grant from the American Library Associations with funds provided by NextBook. Nextbook is a national initiative to promote books that illuminate 3,000 years of Jewish civilization. Local partners for the series include Temple Beth El of Williamsburg and the Williamsburg Regional Library.
The first program will explore Tevye the Dairyman by Sholem Aleichem and will be held on Tuesday, September 2, at 4:00 pm on the first floor of Swem Library. Other programs are as follows:
| September 23 | Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska |
| October 14 | O My America by Johanna Kaplan |
| November 4 | American Pastoral by Philip Roth |
| December 2 | Bee Season by Myla Goldberg |
Program participants will be asked to read and discuss all the books. To register for the program and to obtain books, please contact Don Welsh (221-3068, djwels@wm.edu) at Swem Library.
Effective immediately, the date due for books checked out by William and
Mary faculty from Swem Library will be "never." This is a change from the
current 365-day loan period and 365-day renewal period for books. This
change will free both Swem circulation staff and faculty from some
time-consuming and repetitious record keeping. The due date does not apply
to other materials such as videos; those loan periods
are outlined on the Borrowing Privileges chart.
Please note that you can use "My Account," available from both the Swem home page and online catalog, to see a list of materials checked out in your name. Although the due date says "never," any material checked out by a faculty member may be recalled when needed by another patron. Faculty will have seven days to return recalled items; if they are not returned, the faculty member's account will be blocked, resulting in no further borrowing privileges until the matter is resolved.
For questions, please contact David Morales, Swem Circulation Manager, at x13058 or dnmora@wm.edu.
