2010 Book Cart Decorating Contest Results!

The results for the 2010 Jean Outland Chrysler Library Annual Book Cart Decorating Contest are in! This year we had three wonderful and unique entries  - and when the votes were counted, it was a close race. Entering the contest this year were:

Book Cart 1"Das Popenhaus, or, The Dollhouse" by Library Interns Chelsea and Casey was full of interesting details and some familiar faces:  

 

Book Cart 2, "Draw with Harold!" by Laura was inspired by the popular children's classic Harold and the Purple Crayon. Visitors were encouraged to pick up a purple crayon (or, rather pencil) and add a drawing to the cart:

        

Book Cart 3,  "Bonjour Coco!" by Sara was inspired by the designs of Coco Chanel and brings a little of the "City o

 Lights" into the reading room with its recreation of the Eiffel Tower:

Visitors to last week's Library Open house were invited to vote for their favorite design. The winner with 40 votes was "Draw with Harold",  coming in second was the intern's detailed "Popenhaus" with 38 votes and finally, in close third was "Bonjour Coco!" with 34 votes. 

Our thanks to everyone who particpated and voted this year. If you didn't get a chance to see the carts, they'll be on view through Friday, July  30, 2010 in the Reading room.

Mid-Summer Report!

This past Wednesday, we rearranged some furniture and welcomed the Friends of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library for an open house. It was a pleasure to meet so many enthusiastic supporters of the library. Thank you to those that stopped by and we appreciate the continued support of all the library Friends and volunteers. Personally, the open house was a chance to show museum staff, museum volunteers, and library Friends what I’ve been up to this summer and hopefully promote the ongoing benefits of the cataloging fellowship. It’s hard to believe I’m beyond the halfway point of the fellowship; so far, roughly 500 items in a variety of formats have been added to the catalog and I hope to keep that number climbing steadily in my last few weeks!


--John Curtis, 2010 Jean Outland Chrysler Cataloging Fellow

Mixed Media

In the course of a single day’s work here at the Jean Outland Chrysler Library, I may process and catalog anything from Victorian travelogues to independent films starring heroes of the American counter-culture movement. Such diversity speaks volumes about the library’s commitment to building a truly comprehensive collection and also makes my job a lot of fun!
One of my priorities this week was reviewing and cataloging audiovisual materials. Whether in VHS, DVD, or even CD-ROM form, these materials will soon find a new home in the A. Kempton d'Ossche Art Video Collection. While adding an officially released and professionally produced biography of Pablo Picasso to the collection is fairly straightforward, the library also offers footage of past museum events, artist interviews, and taped art-related segments from news programs such as CBS Sunday Morning. A substantial portion of the un-cataloged audiovisual material has come to us with limited or non-existent documentation and the first step is often popping in a tape to see what’s actually on it. Once the suspense has passed, the detective work begins again and (hopefully) a catalog record takes shape as the tape plays. It’s safe to say that, when it comes to audiovisual material, the Jean Outland Chrysler Library offers researchers the chance to go off the beaten path.

In the midst of my work with tapes and videodiscs, I was able to describe and catalog three photo albums from more than a century before families could document a trip to Europe on a camcorder. Found together in a box in the library stacks, the three leather-bound albums date from 1875 and 1878 and, in early forms of photography, document a tour of Western Europe. I found it fascinating that a contemporary tourist would take or buy many of the same photos as those in the album and felt a tangible link to the past while exploring this fantastic resource. The albums reside in the rare books room and now have individual catalog records; I also created an archival finding aid to describe the three albums as one collection. Unfortunately, there are few immediate clues as to the origin and custodial history of the collection, but the albums can certainly stand on their own as valuable primary sources.
--John Curtis, Jean Outland Chrysler Library Cataloging Fellow

2010 Decorate My Book Cart Contest

The Book carts have arrived! Voting is now open!

This summer, Library staff and Library interns teamed up to decorate three of the Library’s book carts in a no holds barred contest for the title of champion book cart decorators ! The only rules were:

• All decoration must be reversible (no permanent changes to the carts)
• A budget of $5 per entrant.

Each cart was inspired by a book in the Library collection. Who will be victorious? You decide! Ballots are available for each cart - so vote soon and vote often! Hurry! Voting closes Wednesday, July 21 at 5 p.m.

Pictures and more information about each cart coming soon!

Summer Update - News from the Library

It’s been a busy summer around the Jean Outland Chrysler Library! The interns and cataloging fellow have been hard at work, helping to keep our collections safe and making them more accessible. Over the last month, 380 items have been cataloged, labeled and made ready for use.  Our new children’s book collection has also been growing by leaps and bounds! The additions to our collection have been made “clear” to staff and patrons in the last week thanks to the addition of a beautiful glass door! We greatly appreciate all of the time and effort that went into its installation.


We’ve had some exciting events, and are preparing for more in the near future! The new CD Music of Quality and Taste: Selections from the Myers Music Collection premiered last month to rave reviews. Also at the end of June, the staff of the JOCL attended the 2010 American Library Association Conference in Washington, DC to see what’s new in the industry. We are all looking forward to the Jean Outland Chrysler Library Open House on Wednesday, July 21 from 4pm – 6pm. The same evening, please join us for the next installment of “Art & Books, Wine & Cheese,” where we will be discussing Nick Hornby’s newest novel Juliet Naked. We hope to see you soon!

Postcards, Periodicals, and Greetings from Estonia

Happy Fourth of July! Appropriately, the early 20th century postcard collection I’ve begun processing this week has its fair share from the US of A, along with what I’ve determined to be one postcard from what is now the capitol of Estonia. No I'm not spending the holiday weekend in Eastern Europe, but if I had sometime around the turn of the century, I could have sent a postcard much like the one in our collection. I’m putting my archives training to good use (hopefully) and creating a finding aid for a small postcard collection currently housed in the rare books room of the Jean Outland Chrysler Library. The origins of the collection are a bit mysterious, but that won’t keep us from arranging and describing it to provide access for researchers interested in late 19th and early 20th century postcards. The collection is truly a global one, with landscapes, cityscapes, art, and architecture from more than a dozen countries. Most of the postcards are blank, but represent a useful resource for both those interested in postcard manufacture and use and those interested in the scenes they depict. The bulk of the collection is art reproductions and scenic locales so I’m currently arranging the collection into series based on geography and, in the case of the art postcards, Library of Congress classification. The finding aid won’t describe individual postcards, but will provide an overview of the collection and valuable access points to what could otherwise be an overwhelming jumble.

This week I also worked on cataloging art periodicals. In addition to our diverse current periodical subscriptions, the library also holds donated and rare materials and specific issues related to museum collections and shows. More dynamic than single or even multi-volume monographs, periodicals present unique cataloging challenges. Periodicals often change names, absorb other serials, change the frequency of distribution, and shift the place of publication. Cataloger becomes detective!

Finally, a quick shout-out to our new glass door. Museum staff and visitors can now see the friendly faces waiting for them at the reference desk as they enter the reading room. What once appeared to be a particularly foreboding vault door is now a lot more inviting. It may seem like a small detail, but, especially in the case of museum visitors, the new door sends the message that they’re welcome at the library.

--John Curtis, Cataloging Fellow

Music to Our Ears - Myers Music CD Release

The Jean Outland Chrysler Library is very proud to announce the release of Music of Quality and Taste: Selections from the Myers Music Collection. This is the first CD produced using music from the Myers Music Collection – housed in the Library's Archives. In the past we’ve told you about selections from this extensive collection of over 900 pieces of 18th and 19th Century sheet music (more information here) now, you can hear a selection of 18 pieces from the collection as the Myers enjoyed them. The music is exquisitely performed by the Virginia Chorale Trio – featuring talented musicians Amy Cofield-Williamson, Scott Williamson, and Charles Woodward.

The CD will soon be on sale in the Museum Gift Shop. A preview copy will be available in the Library Reading Room – stop by and enjoy a few minutes of Music of Quality and Taste.