Eric GershonApril 1, 20113min
Will Erhard Konerding become a millionaire? The Wesleyan librarian may know already, but the rest of us will have to wait until a mid-May broadcast of ABC’s “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire” quiz show. Originally scheduled for April 14, the broadcast is now scheduled for Tuesday, May 17 at 10 a.m. Konerding, a documents specialist in Olin Library, is a contestant in an episode that taped Nov. 17, 2010, in New York City. The top prize is $1 million. Renowned on campus for his handlebar mustache, Konerding has previously been a contestant on three other television game shows –"Jeopardy" (1994),…

Olivia DrakeMarch 23, 20112min
Olin Library’s copy of the 1874 F.W. Beers County Atlas of Middlesex Connecticut has brittle pages and tattered maps.  However, anyone investigating 19th-century local history finds the Beers atlas invaluable. “We’d love to make the book accessible to the Wesleyan community and outside researchers, but we can’t do so without damage to the book until its physical condition is stabilized,” explains Pat Tully, university librarian. “It needs to be preserved so that it is usable by current and future scholars.” To help old books find a home back on the shelves, The Friends of the Wesleyan Library created an “Adopt A…

Olivia DrakeSeptember 24, 20101min
Kendall Hobbs, Olin reference librarian, and Diane Klare, head of reference, are the co-authors of an article titled "User Driven Design: Using Ethnographic Techniques to Plan Student Study Space," published in Technical Services Quarterly 27(4), pages 347-363, in 2010. In the article, Hobbs and Klare explain how librarians and information technologists at Wesleyan were provided with an opportunity to design a new study space for students during a library renovation. They teamed up to learn ethnographic techniques and apply them by incorporating student input into the new space, rather than making decisions based on traditional methods. Using this approach produced…

Olivia DrakeMay 12, 20101min
Olin Library welcomes one of the country’s largest King Arthur collections to Wesleyan’s Special Collections and Archives department. The Nathan Comfort Starr Collection of Arthuriana is one of Wesleyan's great hidden treasures. It comprises of more than 900 volumes related to the legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. The Friends of the Wesleyan Library funded a three-month, full-time librarian to catalog the collection. Rare book cataloger Samantha Klein began the task in January 2010, and finished in March. The collection was the 1981 bequest of Nathan Comfort Starr, (more…)

Olivia DrakeMay 12, 20101min
Suzy Taraba, University Archivist and head of Special Collections, received a grant from the George Frederick Jewett Foundation for the purpose of upgrading its exhibition area, located outside Special Collections & Archives in Olin Library. The $50,000 award will be applied Jan. 15, 2011 through Sept. 15, 2012. “The grant will enable us to improve the lighting in the area, and allow us to install new cases that are more secure and attractive, and that offer some humidity control,” Taraba says.

Corrina KerrMarch 22, 20102min
Patricia Tully, who has been the interim university librarian since June 2009, was appointed the Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian on March 1. During her interim appointment, Tully has administered the Library with creativity and dedication and has shown the strong leadership needed in these challenging times. Tully earned her B.A. in philosophy and graduated magna cum laude from Williams College; she earned her M.L.S. degree from the University of Michigan. Tully brings a wealth of experience to Wesleyan, having served in both public and academic libraries. "Many of you have worked with Pat during her terms as associate university librarian…

Olivia DrakeDecember 17, 20092min
Q: Alec, when were you hired as Wesleyan's music librarian? A: I came in the summer of 1998 to interview for the position, and started work that Fall semester. Q: Do most universities have a music librarian? Like other librarians, are you involved in cataloging, organizing, acquisitions and assisting patrons? A: Large universities with separate schools of music often have a branch music library with one or more librarians staffing it. Institutions of Wesleyan’s size vary somewhat, usually according to the relative importance of the music department within the school. In our case, with graduate programs in composition and ethnomusicology,…