
Art + Architecture + Planning

IAPril 2012: Arts and Culture Multimedia in the MIT Libraries

Posted March 23rd, 2012 by Mark Szarko

When: Thu April 26, 12:30 – 1:30 pm

Where: 14N-132

Want to find out how to obtain over one million tracks of streaming audio ranging from classical to jazz, popular, and contemporary world music? How about over 150,000 online music scores? Streaming video of poets reading from their work? Images so sharp you can see the shadow beneath the Mona Lisa’s smile? Or panoramic views of architectural sites from around the world?

Come to this session to learn how to bring these and other cultural treasures right to your desktop through the MIT Libraries.

Please register for this session. For more information, please contact Mark Szarko.

IAPril 2012: MIT Libraries Bookmobile

Posted March 23rd, 2012 by Mark Szarko

When: Wed April 11, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

Where: Lobby 10

Celebrate National Bookmobile Day with the MIT Libraries! Check out new fiction and non-fiction, DVDs, and music (Bring your MIT ID if you want to borrow something).

For more information, please contact Theresa Tobin.

New website provides access to treasures in the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation Collection

Posted February 13th, 2012 by Melissa Feiden

In conjunction with the Maihaugen Gallery exhibit opening of Glass at MIT: Beauty and Utility, the MIT Libraries have launched a new Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation Collection website.

The website includes a slideshow and sampling of images from collection artwork, including stained glass panels and paper designs.  A history page provides insight into Connick as an artist, his studio, and how the collection came to MIT.  Additionally, it covers the contents of the collection and processing projects such as digitization and conservation.

Soon, researchers will be able to use the website to access digital images in the collection and to search a database of collection job files containing information on Connick windows around the country.

For more information on the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation Collection, visit the new website or contact Jeremy Grubman, Project Manager, at jgrubman@mit.edu.

“Glass at MIT: Beauty and Utility” Opening Feb.10 in the Maihaugen Gallery

Posted February 1st, 2012 by Heather Denny



Please join us for the opening of the MIT Libraries’ latest exhibit GLASS AT MIT: BEAUTY AND UTILITY

Date: Friday, February 10, 2-4pm
Location: Maihaugen Gallery (14N-130)

A new exhibition in the Libraries’ Maihaugen Gallery explores glassmaking as revealed in glassware from MIT laboratories, blown glass from the MIT Glass Lab, and stunning stained glass windows from the Libraries’ Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation Collection. Tools, early photographs, and selections from rare books demonstrate the combination of artistry and engineering that goes into the creation of glass.

This event is free and open to the community.

Presentation on Research Data Management Services at Johns Hopkins

Posted November 4th, 2011 by Katherine McNeill

Please join us for a presentation by Sayeed Choudhury on the development of research data management services provided to the Johns Hopkins University research community by the Sheridan Libraries (http://dmp.data.jhu.edu/).  This presentation is being hosted by the MIT Libraries’ Research Data Management Team, which provides support for managing research data created at MIT (http://libraries.mit.edu/data-management).

Date:  Monday, Nov. 7th
Time:  2-3pm
Place: 6-120

Bio: G. Sayeed Choudhury is the Associate Dean for Library Digital Programs and Hodson Director of the Digital Research and Curation Center at the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University. He is also the Director of Operations for the Institute of Data Intensive Engineering and Science (IDIES) based at Johns Hopkins. He is the Principal Investigator for the Data Conservancy, one of the awards through NSF’s DataNet program. He has oversight for the digital library activities and services provided by the Sheridan Libraries at Johns Hopkins University.

Date: Monday, Nov. 7th

>Time: 2-3pm

>Place: 6-120

New York City Tax Lot Data Now Available

Posted October 25th, 2011 by Lisa Sweeney

NYC Parcels

Detailed tax lot data for New York City from 2002 – 2011 is available through the MIT Geodata Repository.  Attributes include ownership information, building characteristics (number of floors, total units, year built, etc.), valuations for tax purposes, and more. Easily find available datasets by using borough names, like Manhattan, to search.

ESRI Business Analyst available through MIT GIS Services

Posted October 19th, 2011 by Lisa Sweeney
Business Analyst

Business analyst data for Boston's Back Bay neighborhood

This package combines detailed data about business, consumer spending, demographics, segmentations, and major shopping centers with tools for analyzing geographically.

 

Find out more about the data types available and its capabilities.

Business Analyst Desktop is available in the MIT GIS Lab for teaching and research purposes. Business Analyst Online is also available for teaching in MIT classes. Contact gishelp@mit.edu with questions or if you would like access to Business Analyst Online for a class.

Welcome back! Check out what the Libraries did over your summer vacation.

Posted September 22nd, 2011 by Heather Denny

The MIT Libraries have been working hard during your summer vacation. Here are some of the new things you can look forward to this fall:

New resources

Library hours & study space

Upcoming Events

View the What we did on your summer vacation flyer (pdf).

GIS workshops – Fall 2011 Series

Posted September 19th, 2011 by Lisa Sweeney

MIT GIS Services

Come learn about creating maps and doing geographic analysis!

Register for the Fall GIS workshop series.

Workshops include:

  • Introduction to GIS – Friday, Sept. 23, 1-3:30 pm or Tuesday, Sept. 27, 4-5:30 pm.  This session will introduce students to open source and proprietary GIS options.
  • Introduction to GIS for Architecture – Wednesday, Oct. 12, 12:30-2 pm
  • Discovering and Using US Census Data – Tuesday, Oct. 18, 1-3:30 pm
  • Exploring Spatial Patterns using ArcMap – Tuesday, Nov. 1, 1-3:30 pm
  • Introduction to Spatial Statistics Tools and Analysis in ArcMap – Tuesday, Nov. 8, 1-3:30 pm
  • Introduction to Regression Analysis in ArcMap – Tuesday, Nov. 15, 1-3:30 pm

Been to Rotch lately? Check out our stacks improvements!

Posted May 18th, 2011 by Jim Eggleston

Finding books at Rotch is now easier thanks to the combined efforts of staff and students in the Information Delivery & Library Access department. For the past four months, the team of staff and students has been working in the stacks measuring and adjusting shelves, shifting the entire collection for maximum utility and replacing the end panel call number signs. Navigating the complex Rotch space is now simpler with clear collection, floor and study space signage in addition to the updated directory. Come check it out!

ESRI ArcGIS 10 Downloadable

Posted May 12th, 2011 by mit-admin

The latest version of the ESRI GIS software (including ArcGIS/ArcMap) and ESRI Data and Maps are now available to the MIT community via download from: http://ist.mit.edu/services/software/esri/10

Use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to make maps and analyze spatial information. Learn more about using GIS for your teaching at research at MIT GIS Services.

MIT GIS Services Globe

Digital library partnership gives MIT access to additional online resources

Posted April 20th, 2011 by Heather Denny

The MIT Libraries have recently joined HathiTrust, a partnership of over fifty academic libraries that share the ambitious goal of building a comprehensive digital library of their shared collections.

Started in 2008, the HathiTrust digital library currently contains over 8.5 million digitized volumes representing the collections of partner institutions. HathiTrust’s collections include both copyright and public domain materials digitized by Google, the Internet Archive, and Microsoft, as well as partner institutions.  Founded by twelve universities from the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the University of California system and the University of Virginia, the partnership has now grown to include fifty-five institutions.  MIT and Harvard are two of the most recent universities to join.

Through the HathiTrust website, the public can search the full-text of 8.4 million digitized volumes, and get full online access to 2.2 million volumes that are in the public domain.  With the MIT Libraries membership, the MIT community will have the added benefit of being able to download full volumes of public domain works in PDF format, and also build and share collections using the Collection Builder feature.  Access will be provided to MIT users, with authentication through Touchstone, later this year.

Joining HathiTrust is one of several steps the MIT Libraries have recently taken to expand access for MIT faculty and students to print or digitized resources beyond the holdings of MIT.  In January, the Libraries announced their membership in Borrow Direct, a partnership with Ivy Plus libraries that gives the MIT community access to nearly 50 million print items. In February, MIT and Harvard libraries jointly announced an expanded alliance to explore collaborations for sharing library materials, advancing digital preservation collections practice, and developing future off-site storage facilities and services.

“In today’s interdisciplinary learning environment, it’s essential for our faculty, students and researchers to have access to an even wider array of information resources than ever before.  By collaborating with other outstanding research libraries, we can offer the resources necessary to support the cutting edge research and education that is MIT’s hallmark,” said MIT Director of Libraries, Ann Wolpert.

Wolpert added that it is important for universities to take a leading role in shaping digital libraries. “Libraries have been stewards of the scholarly record for centuries,” she said.  “We’re committed to the long haul.”

The MIT Libraries are actively involved in open access initiatives that support MIT’s mission to make scholarly knowledge openly available to the world.  Partnering with HathiTrust, an organization committed to collecting, organizing, preserving, communicating, and sharing the record of human knowledge, is in line with the Libraries principles of supporting the long-term curation of the cultural record, and furthering global scholarship and research.

GIS courses available online through ESRI Virtual Campus

Posted April 19th, 2011 by Lisa Sweeney

Want to learn about GIS online, on your own time? The MIT community has access to many virtual campus courses from ESRI. Courses can help students learn many skills including: using ArcGIS, working in 3D, raster analysis, programming with Python, and creating mobile GIS applications. The virtual campus addresses a variety of topics including getting started with the basics of GIS and working with HAZUS – using GIS technology to estimate physical, economic, and social impacts of disasters.

The MIT community can sign up for ESRI virtual campus courses for free by emailing gishelp@mit.edu. For a listing of available courses visit the MIT GIS Services website: http://libraries.mit.edu/gis/teach/esrivc.html

For updates about GIS related events, new GIS data and software, and more subscribe to mitgis@mit.edu by visiting: http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/mitgis

Learn Quantitative Methods at ICPSR

Posted April 7th, 2011 by Katherine McNeill

Need to expand your skills in statistical methods and quantitative analysis? Attend the ICPSR Summer Program! Each year, ICPSR provides a comprehensive, integrated program of studies in research design, statistics, data analysis, and social science methodology. Registration is now open for the 2011 session.  Note: while most courses take place at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, some do take place at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

For a listing of course offerings and application information, see the ICPSR Summer Program web site.  For further information, contact Katherine McNeill, Social Science Data Services Librarian, at mcneillh@mit.edu.

Exhibition featuring paintings by architect Harry Ellenzweig opens Friday, 3/4

Posted March 1st, 2011 by Heather Denny

"The Center Cannot Hold", 1993

Harry Ellenzweig: Works on Paper, 1955-2010

Opening reception: March 11, 2011, 6:00-8:00 pm

On view: March 4-31, 2011, Rotch Library (7-238)

Harry Ellenzweig, the founding principal of the Cambridge-based firm Ellenzweig, has practiced architecture for almost 50 years. His work has focused on innovative designs for major academic institutions, as well as a wide range of projects for research, medical and corporate clients. His most recent building is the just-completed David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research here at MIT. In addition, Mr. Ellenzweig is an artist, and has been painting since youth. His work is included in several museums and many private collections in the United States. He has described his graphic works as reflecting “a vision informed by the architect’s eye, a passion for forms found in nature and images of cities – the shared heritage merging with an imagined and abstracted urban landscape.”

Harvard and MIT Libraries Explore Far-Reaching Alliance

Posted February 4th, 2011 by Heather Denny

Hayden Library, MIT

Widener Library, Harvard University

New agreement reflects physical proximity, cross-registration, joint programs, and research affinities

The Provosts of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have charged their respective library systems to explore expanded collaborations for sharing library materials, advancing digital preservation and collection, and developing future off-site storage facilities.

Both institutions have identified increased collaboration between and among their complementary libraries as an essential element in developing the research library of the 21st century. While an ambitious level of collaboration is anticipated, each library system will remain engaged with and guided by the respective missions and priorities of each university. While enhanced collaboration may serve to reduce prospective costs, the focus of the collaboration is on the future of 21st-century library services, technologies, and collections.

“No single library system can expect to meet the full intellectual needs of the academic and research communities of MIT and Harvard,” stated Harvard Provost Steven E. Hyman. “A wide-ranging exploration of all opportunities for collaboration is of great interest to both institutions.”

Both formal and informal relationships already exist between the MIT and Harvard libraries. MIT has shared in the use of the Harvard Depository since its inception in 1985. A 1995 agreement between Harvard College Library (HCL) and MIT brought reciprocal borrowing privileges to faculty, researchers, and graduate students in both institutions. An April 2010 pilot program extended those privileges to undergraduate students.

While traditional library materials have been the focus of prior agreements, digital materials are at the forefront of the new alliance.

“The increasing primacy of digital materials brings its own urgency to our collaboration, ” observed MIT Provost L. Rafael Reif.  “As new models of online information delivery emerge, Harvard and MIT can support joint programs for open-access as well as joint acquisition and licensing approaches that are appropriate for education and academic research.”

Under the agreement, the two libraries will develop a four-tiered action plan by the end of 2011.  The four tiers are:

Reciprocal access to circulating collections

By developing linked access between Harvard and MIT library catalogs and implementing reciprocal privileges that extend to Harvard’s graduate and professional school libraries, library patrons can anticipate full access to 20 million volumes that users will experience as a single collection.

Enhancing digital preservation and collection practices

MIT and Harvard have earned leadership roles through their open access programs and repositories and through their respective approaches to digital preservation. High priority areas for collaborative growth include digital archives of faculty papers and web-based publications.

Developing wider access to electronic information

Questions of electronic serials pricing, and the costs of building digital information management and delivery systems, point to opportunities for Harvard and MIT to investigate new models for licensing agreements, as well as alternative, open access forms of publication that reflect each institution’s commitment to the dissemination of new knowledge.

Envisioning joint off-site storage facilities for the future

Harvard and MIT have shared the Harvard Depository for high-density, non-browsable, off-site storage since 1985. Together, the two universities could effectively anticipate both a new service model and an additional facility for off-site storage.

“We’ve enjoyed a collaborative working relationship with Harvard’s libraries for many years,” said Ann Wolpert, Director of the MIT Libraries.  “This new agreement builds on our successes and underscores the commitment we share to provide our communities with the best and broadest range of resources possible, and to be at the forefront of advancing the digital preservation of scholarly work.”

“In several ways, the libraries of Harvard and MIT are already united by proximity and affinity,” said Helen Shenton, Executive Director of the Harvard Library. “Our new agreement supports the distinct priorities of two very singular universities. At the same time, it challenges us to collaborate on a sustainable information ecosystem for the 21st century.”

Changing Access to JSTOR

Posted January 10th, 2011 by Ellen Duranceau

Because JSTOR has recently reported excessive, systematic downloading of articles at MIT, we need to add a new layer of access control. This is the only way to prevent recurrence of the abuse and therefore the only way to ensure ongoing access to this valuable resource for the MIT Community.

How this affects your access:

  • Whether you are on- or off-campus, you must use either the shortcut URL for JSTOR (http://libraries.mit.edu/get/jstor) or use the JSTOR link in Vera in order to be recognized as a subscriber.
  • Your current MIT status will be verified as you are passed through to the JSTOR site.
  • This change will take effect by Wednesday, January 12, and as early as Monday, January 10.

If you find you have any problem with access, please email econtrol-lib@mit.edu.

The incidents that prompted this change involved the use of a robot, which is prohibited by JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use . Additionally, these incidents violated MITnet Rules of Use. Continued access to JSTOR and other resources is dependent on the MIT Community complying with these policies.

Thank you,
Steve Gass
Associate Director for Research & Instructional Services
MIT Libraries

New GPS units available for borrowing through MIT GIS Services

Posted December 14th, 2010 by Lisa Sweeney

Garmin GPSMAP62s
MIT GIS Services has recently added new Garmin GPSMAP62s GPS units to our collection.

These new units have a high sensitivity quad helix antenna, so they pick up satellite signals quickly. They also have a color display, are easily readable in the dark and in bright sunlight, have 1.7 gigabytes of memory, and are easily recognized by computers via a USB cable.

These are now available for checkout through the Rotch Library front desk.
For more information visit: http://libraries.mit.edu/gis/software/gps.html

Library Locations Closed Over Christmas & New Year's Holiday Week

Posted December 2nd, 2010 by Melissa Feiden
MIT winter scene

photo by: Tom Pixton

All MIT Libraries locations, with the exception of the 24-hour study facilities in Hayden and Dewey libraries, will be closed Thursday, December 23, 2010 through Sunday, January 2, 2011, as a cost saving measure to meet Institute budget reductions.

During the closure, the Libraries’ website, Barton, Vera and access to electronic licensed resources will be available.  However, most library staff will be on furlough and will not be available to offer assistance. A small number of staff will be on-call to address any reported system outages; reasonable attempts will be made to bring systems back online as soon as possible.

While it will continue to be possible to make online requests for some MIT Libraries’ services or materials, these requests will not be acted upon until the Libraries reopen.  Due dates for materials on loan have been adjusted to reflect the closure – no items will be due during this period and fines will not accrue.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

Visit our library hours page for a complete list of individual library hours.

Please send questions, comments or concerns to budgetfeedback-lib@mit.edu.

Remembering Omar Khalidi – Memorial service Friday 12/3

Posted December 2nd, 2010 by Heather Denny

On Friday, December 3 at 3:00 p.m. a memorial service will be held at the MIT Chapel for friend and former colleague Omar Khalidi. A reception will follow in W-11.

Omar Khalidi, photo by L. Barry Hetherington

Omar, who died on Monday, worked as the librarian for the Aga Khan Program in the MIT Libraries for over 20 years.  MIT News story.
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