@barnlib: News from the Barnard Library
Events
Spring NSOP
Barnard Library & Centers: On Every Level
Friday, January 18 11:30-1:30
Milstein Center
Library staff will lead participants through every level of the library, from the Computational Science Center on the 5th floor down to the Movement Lab on the lower level. On the 1st through 4th floors, students will discover the wonders of the Design Center, the warmth and wisdom of the Personal Librarians, the enriching book collections, AND MORE. There will also be cute stickers and yummy candy. Come anytime in the two hour window. Each tour should take about 20 minutes. Please don’t *everyone* show up at the beginning.
Seminar Series
Emerging Technologies Consortium: Magic Leap
Friday, January 18 11:45 AM- 2:00 PM
Lynn Chu Classroom (LL002)
IMATS will host the spring event series programmed by the Columbia Emerging Technologies Consortium. The first speaker will be from Magic Leap, and all events are open to the Barnard/CU community.
Archives
Students from Anooradha Siddiqi’s Fall 2018 course, Histories of Architecture and Feminism, are exhibiting selections of their research in the Archives and Special Collection’s Reading Room (Room 423, Milstein Center). Experience some of the materials students grappled with while asking these questions. The exhibit will be up through the start of the spring semester.
Personal Librarians
On December 16, Miriam Neptune, Director of Teaching, Learning, and Digital Scholarship, facilitated a community conversation in the Bronx about race, immigration and citizenship with Dominican lawyer and activist Altagracia Jean Joseph and Alexis Francisco. They discussed what has happened to the over 200,000 people of Haitian descent who have became stateless in the Dominican Republic since 2013, the increase in violence against women and the LGBTQIA community, and how allies in the US can respond.
Operations
Breaking: you can now request Barnard Library books from our offsite storage facility. Click the BearStor link, and we’ll retrieve the items for you and deliver them to Barnard within three working days.
Movement Lab
The Movement Lab kicked off its first event, the Stillness Lab, on Friday, December 14th. This was an hour to relax, breathe, stretch, and just be in a space with ambient music and lighting (programmed by Guy de Lancey). The lab will run weekly this spring.
Computational Science Center
Rebecca N. Wright joins Barnard in January as the Druckenmiller Professor of Computer Science and the Diana T. and P. Roy Vagelos Computational Science Center (CSC) director. Dr. Wright is transitioning from Rutgers University, where she is a professor in the computer science department and director of the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science. In addition to leading the CSC, Dr. Wright will launch a computer science program at Barnard. Welcome, Professor Wright!
Collections
As a world music fanatic, I spent much of winter break immersed in Geoffrey Baker’s Buena Vista in the Club. Baker traces the Havana music scene, underlining how hip-hop has been intertwined with the country’s com-plicated political sphere. As Cuban officials rejected hip-hop in the ‘80s, the movement led by prominent figures to work with influential cultural institutions to accept, create, and enjoy hip-hop eventually paved the way for the genre to become a part of the Cuba’s national culture and identity. Baker also examines the larger Cuban “Nationalization” movement, and the shared histories of Cubans and African Americans as key factors contributing to the success of the hip-hop movement. This piece is an incredibly engaging critical history of Cuban music— highly recommended to those interested in tracing hip-hop in Cuba and better understanding the music’s socio-political undertones.
Review by Madiha Choksi, Digital Scholarship Librarian
Geoffrey Baker. Buena Vista in the Club: Rap, Reggaetón, and Revolution in Havana. Durham: Duke University Press, 2011.
