Changes in Summit borrowing

The Orbis Cascade Alliance is a consortium of 35 Northwest academic libraries. Through its membership in this group Reed participates in the Alliance union catalog (Summit) and the patron initiated borrowing system Summit supports.

Over the course of the next few months the consortium will be migrating the Summit union catalog to a different platform. The new version of Summit will be an OCLC-based WorldCat Group catalog with an interface based on WorldCat.org. Searching this union catalog will retrieve results based on the Alliance collections, followed by results from the rest of WorldCat, the world’s largest online database of library holdings. This approach will provide users with a closer integration of Summit and Interlibrary Loan borrowing, backed by the considerable expertise and resources of OCLC.

Undertaking a change of such a key library service is not something we do lightly. Reed faculty and students are avid users of Summit borrowing, topping the charts of per capita use of the system. We will make every effort to sustain or improve the types of service you have come to expect from Summit. As with all such changes, we likely will experience some implementation challenges. However, the potential rewards are significant in terms of affordability, sustainability, and future functionality.

Library staff will keep you informed of our progress and will provide ample instruction in the use of the new system. As always, we appreciate your patience and support, and would welcome your suggestions.

A. E. Doyle’s Architectural Library

May 12 – August 2008
Library flat cases

A. E. Doyle, an important Oregon architect, designed the iconic first buildings at Reed: Eliot Hall and the Old Dorm Block. His architectural library, acquired by Reed in the 1990s, is now accessible to all in the library’s special collections; selections from it are on display in the flat cases through the summer.

New Online Language Dictionaries Added

The Oxford Language Dictionaries Online recently added Russian and Chinese to its French, Italian, Spanish, and German languages. You now have access to over 4 million words, translations and phrases in six languages. Native speaker audio pronunciation has also been added.

Summit downtime Sept 6th & 7th

Summit will be down beginning late Saturday night, Sept. 6, through Sunday
morning Sept. 7 about 11 AM.  Please let a librarian know if you have any questions.  We’re very sorry for the inconvenience.

Ginsberg’s “Howl” and Beat Poetry

February 13 – April 10, 2008
Library flat and wall cases

This wall case exhibit celebrates the earliest recording of Allen Ginsberg’s best-known poem, “Howl,” recently identified in the Reed archives. Ginsberg and Gary Snyder ’51 stopped off at Reed to give a reading while on a Pacific Northwest road trip in February of 1956. This followed their October, 1955, explosive readings in San Francisco that brought the Beat Poets into the public eye. Included is the issue of The Quest announcing a “poetry reading” in Anna Mann on February 13th, 1956, the box lid of the 8″ reel-to-reel tape, and the two post cards written by Ginsberg and Snyder at this time to their friend, Philip Whalen ’51.

The larger part of the exhibit displays correspondence, photographs, manuscripts, and published titles of Beat poets Snyder, Whalen, Lew Welch ’50, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac. Their lively friendship and connection with Reed is clear in their many letters and often in their poems.

The Binford Collection: Janet Walker Binford ’36

Fascinating, colorful examples of the volumes gathered by Reed alumna, Janet Walker Binford ’36, grace the exhibition cases in the Hauser Library. The Binford Collection, part of the library’s special collections, contains gems of early exploration and travel, including Captain Cook’s volumes of his 1784 Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, highlights of the gardening world with a focus on rhododendrons, and carefully selected examples of children’s and other illustrated volumes. The collection also boast hundreds of titles printed by the Binford family’s publishing house in Portland, Binfords & Mort. September 10 – November 26, 2007.

EndNote Site License & Workshops

EndNote is now available to any current member of the Reed community (student, faculty, and staff members) for installation on their machines and use anywhere. Help and download instructions are available on the CIS website. For more help, please contact computer user services. For those of you who are interested, we will be holding introductory sessions this week:

Introduction to EndNote and EndNote Web
4:30 pm, Monday, Sept. 10, or 4:30 pm, Wednesday, Sept. 12
Meet in Library 17
Having trouble organizing citations for your thesis or a paper? Want to share citations with colleagues? Come to one of these short sessions for an introduction to EndNote and EndNote Web. Contact Linda Maddux or Taylor Smith for more information.

Library Tours August 27 – 29

New to Reed and want to know more about the library, but don’t live in a dorm? In addition to our regularly scheduled Dorm Tours, librarians will be offering “drop-in” tours. Tours will last about 30 minutes and include a short orientation of the main level plus a demonstration of a few resources you can access from the library website.

If you live in a dorm, check with your HA to find out your scheduled time. If you don’t live in a dorm, just join one of our drop-in tours:

  • Monday, Aug 27, 6:30 pm 
  • Tuesday, Aug. 28, 5:30 pm or 6 pm
  • Wednesday, Aug 29, 4 pm or 4:30 pm 

All tours meet in the library lobby.