April 2012 Archives
The Commonwealth Times' article Cabell's new 24-hour schedule relies on "The Working Dead features members of James Branch Cabell Library's overnight crew. Those employees are featured as zombified workers in a campy poster by artist Dave Morrison. Since Cabell began operating around-the-clock after spring break, the team has covered the late-night and early-morning shifts.
A limited number of posters will be given to library patrons Sunday-Thursday, May 6-10. Become a fan of the Cabell Facebook page or retweet or tweet about #libraryzombies and come to the main circulation desk to pick up a poster, until supplies are gone.
A limited number of posters will be given to library patrons Sunday-Thursday, May 6-10. Become a fan of the Cabell Facebook page or retweet or tweet about #libraryzombies and come to the main circulation desk to pick up a poster, until supplies are gone.
Editorial cartoonist Charles Henry 'Bill' Sykes (1882-1942) drew barbed political 
cartoons often loaded with complex political commentary on Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Germany and Japan and other major actors on the international stage in the years before the United States entered World War II.
James Branch Cabell Library acquired this collection of original circa 1940 drawings in 1980. They are available for view in Special Collections and Archives. This month, they were released in a digital format, further augmenting access to Cabell's outstanding collection of comic arts. The online collection
Born in Alabama and graduated from Philadelphia's Drexel Institute in 1904, Sykes drew as a freelancer and then worked for newspapers. In 1914, he became the first and only editorial cartoonist for the Evening Public Ledger. It ceased publication in 1942, the same year Sykes died. Sykes also had working relationships with Life, Colliers and The New York Evening Post.
His most famous cartoon, "Madonna and Child A.D.1940," depicts the ugliness of war. The image is of a mother and child wearing gas masks. It was published on August 13, 1940--the first day of the Battle of Britain.
The Sykes Editorial Cartoon Collection consists of 297 original editorial cartoons, three unfinished sketches, a U.S. War Bond poster and a U.S. Victory poster. The cartoons focus on American reaction to the Axis powers in the 1930s and 1940s. Sykes created his early cartoons using the unusual patterns of coquille board for the shading effect. His later works were created with a crayon-and-wash technique.
The online collection
cartoons often loaded with complex political commentary on Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Germany and Japan and other major actors on the international stage in the years before the United States entered World War II. James Branch Cabell Library acquired this collection of original circa 1940 drawings in 1980. They are available for view in Special Collections and Archives. This month, they were released in a digital format, further augmenting access to Cabell's outstanding collection of comic arts. The online collection
Born in Alabama and graduated from Philadelphia's Drexel Institute in 1904, Sykes drew as a freelancer and then worked for newspapers. In 1914, he became the first and only editorial cartoonist for the Evening Public Ledger. It ceased publication in 1942, the same year Sykes died. Sykes also had working relationships with Life, Colliers and The New York Evening Post.
His most famous cartoon, "Madonna and Child A.D.1940," depicts the ugliness of war. The image is of a mother and child wearing gas masks. It was published on August 13, 1940--the first day of the Battle of Britain.
The Sykes Editorial Cartoon Collection consists of 297 original editorial cartoons, three unfinished sketches, a U.S. War Bond poster and a U.S. Victory poster. The cartoons focus on American reaction to the Axis powers in the 1930s and 1940s. Sykes created his early cartoons using the unusual patterns of coquille board for the shading effect. His later works were created with a crayon-and-wash technique.
The online collection
Bring your tired tomes, your poor books longing to be saved April 23-27. VCU Libraries' expert staff will show you how to repair them and direct you to resources about preserving hardback treasures. During Preservation Week, April 23-27, Head of the Preservation Department Patricia Selinger, will be at a table in the lobby of James Branch Cabell Library from noon to 4 p.m.
She will demonstrate book repair techniques and answer your question and share handouts and information describing internet resources.
Preservation Week began in 2010 in response to the first national survey assessing the condition of library collections in the United States and their preservation needs. United States libraries hold more than three billion items. More than 21 percent require immediate attention and care. Individuals, families and communities also hold countless treasures that are at risk. The aim of Preservation Week is to connect everyone who has preservation needs through events, activities, and resources that highlight what we can do individually and together to preserve our personal and shared collections. Preservation Week is sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Society of American Archivists (SAA), the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), and the Library of Congress.
University News Service posted an article featuring Ram Bikes, VCU Goes Green and VCU Libraries. The April 10 article
More than a century of cultural history is easily accessible in image and text through 
The Vogue Archive, new to VCU Libraries. The Vogue Archive gives users digital access to the entire run of the U.S. edition of Vogue (1892-present) with its photographs, articles and
advertisements. Comprehensive indexing allows for searches of keywords,
materials, products, garments, designers, individuals and companies.
Students from a wide range of disciplines will find this resource useful, according to Emily Davis, arts collection librarian.
"Students who would be most interested would be in the areas of fashion, interior design, art history, advertising, mass communications and gender, sexuality and women's studies. Those in history, film studies and business might also find its content useful. The page formats are left intact so that may be of interest to graphic design."
"While many people think of Vogue as just a fashion magazine, in reality it presents a broad portrait of its era," Davis says. "Searching through the archives one can not only track the change in silhouettes, but they can also view pictures of Paris after the liberation, read an interview with Fellini, or an essay by Simone de Beauvoir. Fashion does not exist in a vacuum. Vogue documents both style and society."
According to The Vogue Archive Web site:
The Vogue Archive, new to VCU Libraries. The Vogue Archive gives users digital access to the entire run of the U.S. edition of Vogue (1892-present) with its photographs, articles and
advertisements. Comprehensive indexing allows for searches of keywords,
materials, products, garments, designers, individuals and companies. Students from a wide range of disciplines will find this resource useful, according to Emily Davis, arts collection librarian.
"Students who would be most interested would be in the areas of fashion, interior design, art history, advertising, mass communications and gender, sexuality and women's studies. Those in history, film studies and business might also find its content useful. The page formats are left intact so that may be of interest to graphic design."
"While many people think of Vogue as just a fashion magazine, in reality it presents a broad portrait of its era," Davis says. "Searching through the archives one can not only track the change in silhouettes, but they can also view pictures of Paris after the liberation, read an interview with Fellini, or an essay by Simone de Beauvoir. Fashion does not exist in a vacuum. Vogue documents both style and society."
According to The Vogue Archive Web site:
"Vogue was founded in New York in 1892 as a weekly society paper catering for Manhattan's social elite. When it was bought by Condé Nast in 1909, the publication changed dramatically: The quality of the paper, printing and illustrations improved, the frequency changed from weekly to fortnightly, the page count, advertising space and cover price all increased, and there was a new focus on fashion. The re-launched Vogue became one of the icons of the modern age: arriving at a time when the corseted gowns of the 1900s were giving way to simpler, more practical clothing for women, Condé Nast's use of eye-catching cover art by the great illustrators of the day created a similar revolution in magazine publishing. ... Cover illustration artists such as "Georges Lepape
and George Wolfe Plank ... Helen Dryden, Eduardo Benito and others, were strongly influenced by the latest developments in modern art, from Klimt and the impressionists to Bakst and Modigliani, and the covers of Vogue provided a very public platform for the radical aesthetics of Art Deco, cubism and futurism in the 1920s.
These illustrated covers gave way to color photographs in the 1930s and 1940s, including extraordinarily innovative work by Horst P. Horst and Erwin Blumenfield. ...
"The contents of Vogue reflect the changing styles and culture of the postwar world, from the stylized and extravagant ultra-femininity of Dior's New Look in 1947, and the Parisian chic of Balenciaga and Balmain, to the youth-focused designers of the 1950s and 60s (Mary Quant, Jean Muir, Ossie Clark). Vogue was one of the main outlets for the new photographic style of the 1960s: the bold and dynamic handheld approach of David Bailey, Terence Donovan and others.
"The contents of Vogue are obviously of central importance to the history of fashion, from the liberating modernism of Coco Chanel to the cross-gendered experimentation of Jean-Paul Gaultier and beyond. However, it is also a rich source for other areas of modern culture, providing a record of changing social tastes, mores and aspirations in the modern world, and encompassing literary works by Kate Chopin, Evelyn Waugh, Vladimir Nabokov and Carson McCullers, articles by Winston Churchill and Bertrand Russell, wartime photojournalism by Lee Miller, features on popular cultural figures of the day from Marlene Dietrich and the Beatles to Nicole Kidman and Beyoncé, and on prominent American women from Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama."
How to access VCU Libraries databases:
- VCU students, faculty and staff can access the database through either the A to Z Guide to Databases or using this link, http://library.vcu.edu/search/1163 from any computer with a VCU IP address.
- Off-campus, VCU users must first log into myVCU, then go to the VCU Libraries home page, click on Databases and drill down the database you want. Or go directly to http://library.vcu.edu/search/1163
- If you are not a member of the VCU academic community, you can gain access to databases on campus by joining the Friends of the Library.
Just as the nation is poised to mark Emancipation Day in mid-April, a significant
database of digital resources about slavery and abolition is now available to researchers through VCU LIbraries.
"Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive" (SAS) traces the history and ongoing cultural impact of slavery. It provides access to thousands of full-text primary source documents and archival records, including those from:
The database now consists of Part I, "Debates over Slavery and Abolition," and Part II, "Slave Trade in the Atlantic World." Two additional sections are being developed: Part III, "Institution of Slavery," and Part IV, "Age of Emancipation."
The online collection includes a small group of images, including the woodcut shown above of Underground Railroad leader and abolitionist Harriet Tubman. And, this rare photograph of two young American slave boys, mid-19th century.
How to access VCU Libraries databases:
database of digital resources about slavery and abolition is now available to researchers through VCU LIbraries. "Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive" (SAS) traces the history and ongoing cultural impact of slavery. It provides access to thousands of full-text primary source documents and archival records, including those from:
- The American Missionary Association Archives from 1839-1882;
- The Office of the Secretary of the Interior Relating to the Suppression of the African Slave Trade from 1854-1872;
- Amistad Research Center in New Orleans covering the array of documents related to one of the most important slave rebellions and trials in American and world history.
Ultimately millions of pages of information will be available in SAS,
letting VCU researchers search across all documents in each part in one
seamless interface, according to Kevin D. Farley, Ph.D., assistant professor and collection librarian for the humanities. "The
result will be unexpected and important contributions to the scholarly
dialogue about American slavery and its local and global ramifications."
The database now consists of Part I, "Debates over Slavery and Abolition," and Part II, "Slave Trade in the Atlantic World." Two additional sections are being developed: Part III, "Institution of Slavery," and Part IV, "Age of Emancipation."
The online collection includes a small group of images, including the woodcut shown above of Underground Railroad leader and abolitionist Harriet Tubman. And, this rare photograph of two young American slave boys, mid-19th century.
How to access VCU Libraries databases:
- VCU students, faculty and staff can access the database through either the A to Z Guide to Databases or using this link, http://library.vcu.edu/search/1158 from any computer with a VCU IP address.
- Off-campus, VCU users must first log into myVCU, then go to the VCU Libraries home page, click on Databases and drill down the database you want. Or go directly to http://library.vcu.edu/search/1158
- If you are not a member of the VCU academic community, you can gain access to databases on campus by joining the Friends of the Library.
The VCU Friends of the Library Spring Book Drive will be held Saturday, April 14, 
10 a.m.-1 p.m. James Branch Cabell Library, 901 Park Avenue.
Get an early start on your spring cleaning by cleaning off your book shelves! Drive up to the loading dock of James Branch Cabell Library with your books and book-related items, and members of the VCU Friends of the Library will be there to unload your donations for you. All we ask is that the books be in boxes or bags so that we can carry them safely and efficiently.
Anyone can make a donation. Acceptable items for donation include all types of books--such as novels, collections of poems, books of essays, children's books, and recent textbooks--as well as audiobooks, music CDs and LPs, movie DVDs, and more. For details on acceptable items
All donations go toward the VCU Friends of the Library Annual Book Sale in the fall, the proceeds of which help to fund the programs and collections of VCU Libraries.
For more information, contact Gregory Kimbrell, Membership and Events Coordinator for VCU Libraries, at (804) 828-0593 or kimbrellgg@vcu.edu. Donations are also accepted year-round at both James Branch Cabell Library and Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences. To make an appointment to drop off your donation, contact Gregory Kimbrell.
Directions: To reach the loading dock of James Branch Cabell Library, follow Park Avenue east until you reach North Linden Street. Take a right onto North Linden. As soon as you turn right, you will see a driveway to your left and a VCU Friend of the Library ready to greet you.
10 a.m.-1 p.m. James Branch Cabell Library, 901 Park Avenue. Get an early start on your spring cleaning by cleaning off your book shelves! Drive up to the loading dock of James Branch Cabell Library with your books and book-related items, and members of the VCU Friends of the Library will be there to unload your donations for you. All we ask is that the books be in boxes or bags so that we can carry them safely and efficiently.
Anyone can make a donation. Acceptable items for donation include all types of books--such as novels, collections of poems, books of essays, children's books, and recent textbooks--as well as audiobooks, music CDs and LPs, movie DVDs, and more. For details on acceptable items
All donations go toward the VCU Friends of the Library Annual Book Sale in the fall, the proceeds of which help to fund the programs and collections of VCU Libraries.
For more information, contact Gregory Kimbrell, Membership and Events Coordinator for VCU Libraries, at (804) 828-0593 or kimbrellgg@vcu.edu. Donations are also accepted year-round at both James Branch Cabell Library and Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences. To make an appointment to drop off your donation, contact Gregory Kimbrell.
Directions: To reach the loading dock of James Branch Cabell Library, follow Park Avenue east until you reach North Linden Street. Take a right onto North Linden. As soon as you turn right, you will see a driveway to your left and a VCU Friend of the Library ready to greet you.
Scifinder Scholar, the world's most renowned search and discovery tool for chemistry and related disciplines, is now being offered to the VCU community with unlimited access points. VCU Libraries has been subscribing to Scifinder Scholar since 1999, but for only a maximum of five simultaneous users.
As of April 1, 2012, Scifinder Scholar can be accessed by unlimited simultaneous users.
The operating hours remain the same and are:
As of April 1, 2012, Scifinder Scholar can be accessed by unlimited simultaneous users.
The operating hours remain the same and are:
- Sunday 1 p.m. until Saturday 10 p.m.
- On the first Saturday of each month, Scifinder Scholar will be available until 5 p.m. and will not be accessible again until 1p.m. the following Sunday.
