Olivia DrakeMichaelle Biddle, head of preservation services, presented a lecture titled "Saving Nigeria's Islamic Manuscript Heritage" Sept. 17 at Columbia University. Biddle has studied Islamic manuscripts all over the world. In March 2008, Biddle went on a five-week sabbatical under a U.S. Ambassador's Cultural Preservation Fund Grant to survey Northern Nigerian private and public collections of Islamic Manuscripts. These manuscripts are similar to those in Timbuktu, a World Heritage Site. Her survey resulted in recommendations for the preservation and conservation of the manuscripts. She returned to Nigeria in August 2008 training two local conservation teams: one in Sokoto, the home of…
When one of Olin Library's books becomes tattered or torn, Preservation Services helps restore the book, making it again available for circulation. In April, the one-room shop located in Olin's basement received its own facelift. "We outgrew the space that we had," explains Michaelle Biddle, head of preservation services. "Our carpet was saturated with dirt and mold, and we needed more space and better lighting." The renovation included removing a wall between Preservation Services and a storage room formerly used by Special Collections and Archives. The storage area was merged with the current preservation lab, adding an additional 180 square…
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Barbara Jones, the Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian, will retire from Wesleyan effective May 31. Jones came to Wesleyan from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2003. As the Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian, she has worked with students, faculty, Information Technology Services, and others to recreate library spaces and services, including the Olin Information Commons, Jakobson Periodical Reading Room, the Conservation Lab, and the renovated Science Library stacks and study areas. She has been a leader in the CTW library group, has helped make the consortium a model for collaboration among member libraries, and played an important role…
Patricia Tully, who has been the associate university librarian since 2004, will become interim University Librarian on June 1. Tully earned her bachelor of arts in philosophy and graduated magna cum laude from Williams College; she earned her masters degree in library science from the University of Michigan. She brings a wealth of experience to her new position, having served in both public and academic libraries. Before coming to Wesleyan, Tully served as head of technical services at the Gettysburg College Musselman Library and at Harvard’s Hilles and Lamont Libraries At Wesleyan, Tully has worked closely with staff within and…
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When John Chambless was rummaging through a pile of old books at his mother's home in Newark, Del., one mammoth album with an ornate and intertwined "WU" stuck out. Curious, he opened it up and discovered an album containing more than 50 black and white hand-laid photos of students, staff and campus buildings dated 1873. Intrigued by the mysterious book that lacked attribution, Chambless began a series of internet searches in attempt of finding the book's origin. (more…)