Luther Seminary Library

An Eminent Book Bully

2009 is the tercentenary year of the birth of Samuel Johnson, renowned lexicographer, conversationalist, man of letters, and much more. It would have seemed a shame to let this year pass without my learning more about this legendary bookman, and so, undaunted by my lack of expertise, I offered to do a presentation on the great man at a conference in June.

There are at least two new Johnson biographies out this year. I read them both, and did I ever learn a thing or two. Johnson was a man of great tensions and contradictions: his literary output seems prolific to us (he wrote Rasselas in a week, to pay for his mother's funeral), but a deep sense of personal laziness and procrastination never left him; he was kind to the coterie of misfits and outcasts he shared a house with, but could be devastatingly cruel in personal conversations; he craved and treasured friendship, but it was not difficult to offend him deeply; he will always be remembered to us as "Doctor" Johnson, but every one of his degrees was honorary, granted by eminent places like Oxford and Trinity College, Dublin only after he had won fame and respect on his own.

And I can't neglect to mention that while The Doctor was a great friend of learning, he was an unholy terror with respect to books themselves. One of his recent biographers observed that "he wrote in them, bent their spines, threw them face down on the dirty floor, stained them with food, and failed to return them to their owners." One volume, borrowed on his behalf from an Oxford library in 1734, turned up Johnson's London residence after his death, fifty years later!

Nobody's legacy is perfect, and not even a librarian would want Dr. Johnson to be remembered primarily as a "problem borrower." All the same, he was a great one for seeing the contradictions in others, but this one of his own – love of learning mixed with near-contempt for books themselves – seems to have escaped his notice.

What's Old Is New Again

The Encyclopædia Britannica has been around a long time.  First published in Edinburgh, Scotland a few years before the American Revolution, it is the oldest English language general encyclopedia still in print.  A fixture in libraries and, for those so fortunate, private homes for generations, a sight of its richly bound volumes standing in stately array on bookshelves communicated a sense of erudition, of almost comprehensive knowledge -- whether or not they were ever touched, save for the occasional dusting.  But touched they often were, particularly in libraries, as students by the millions used the encyclopedia to help them write their “reports.”  Librarians, for that matter, became used to the regular, annual visits of the Britannica sales representative who dropped by to inform the conscientious librarian of new features and revised, updated content – manifestly suitable for library patrons anxious for the latest and best.

Then, slowly at first, those cordial visits became less frequent, more often replaced by a phone call, or possibly a postcard.  After awhile even the phone stopped ringing.  For many libraries, including our own, where the time-honored, indispensible Encyclopædia Britannica was concerned, an eerie silence, a strangely becalmed feeling, reigned.

Jump to July, 2009.  Now, thanks to the efforts of the sagacious Minnesota librarians involved in choosing (and committing state funds to pay for) resources for the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM), Britannica is back, this time with a digital aura.  Now, Encyclopædia Britannica Online: Academic Edition is available to libraries throughout the state, including our own.  It is the traditional Britannica repackaged for the digital age, including video and audio content imbedded in articles, links to websites, headlines from the NYT and BBC, side-by-side country comparisons, “this day in history” and “biography of the day” features and more.  At this point you may be thinking, what will be the fate of the old print volumes in the Reading Room once students have seen this new online version?  The good news is they will still be there, their authoritative content at the ready for those who may prefer to get their information from staunch columns of text on wispy paper.  But even if these volumes receive only barest use, they will still look great on the shelf.  We just have to remember to keep them dusted.  We hope you enjoy the old/new Encyclopædia Britannica.

Summary Summer Tech Talks

Learning, Design and Technology (Kris Payne, Dan Ruth, Ryan Torma) is collaborating with the library (Jennie Bartholomew) to bring you a series of 30 minute discussions about some new, exciting, curious or interesting aspect of technology. We give a brief presentation on how to use the technology, and follow it with a roundtable discussion to answer questions and generate ideas for using it.

 

Luther Seminary students have many wonderful tech tools to play and learn with. This week we debuted the summer presentations with BibleWorks 8. Coming up the week of July 21st is PowerPoint; GoogleApps the week of August 4th; Endnote the week of August 18. Click here for the full schedule. Talks are in Northwestern on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Tech Talks are a good place to get your feet wet. Come and hear the general overview. Find out what you might want to learn more about. Pick up a few tips, say hi, and tell us what your tech needs are at Luther.