The Academy is currently undertaking a self-study in preparation for our re-accreditation by NEASC.  This comprehensive process, which occurs only once a decade, provides an excellent opportunity for all areas to reflect on what we do.  This is the first in a series of posts that will hightlight aspects of the program and services of the OWHL.

The Oliver Wendell Holmes Library sits at the physical center of the Academy Campus.  That was not an architectural accident.  Traditionally, academic libraries have occupied positions at the heart of their campuses, in both the physical and intellectual senses.   The OWHL is, second to Commons, the most active building on campus.  The library is open seven days a week, for a total of 86 hours.  During the course of an average day, more than seven hundred students pass through our doors.  Members of the library staff have more meaningful contact with more students than any other adults on campus.  Students come to the library to study individually and collaboratively, to interact with their peers, to find materials to meet their academic and personal needs.  They also come to learn how to navigate the vast, confusing information landscape in class instruction and individual research consultations with instructional librarians who are at the same time information professionals and skilled instructors.

Phillips Academy strives to be a school that educates outstanding youth from every quarter by effectively challenging them to develop their potential and to depart as thoughtful, versatile, responsible participants in the global community.  In the 21st century, it is not sufficient for our students to fully master the content of a rigorous curriculum.  Rather, they must become critical thinkers and effective and ethical users of information so that they can continue learning throughout their lives.  This skill is sometimes referred to as “Information Literacy” and it is the core of the OWHL’s instructional program.  Moe about teaching at the OWHL in Part two next week.

What happens when a student doing a research project needs to use fragile, rare, and valuable materials from our special collections? Thanks to the magic of digitization, we can provide them with access to these materials without harm to the originals. Sometimes we need to scan the item ourselves, but frequently Google Books or the Internet Archive has already digitized the book. In this case, all we need to do is add a link from our online library catalog to the full-text version of the book. For example, a senior recently requested the use of James Pike’s “The Prostrate State: South Carolina under Negro Government”. When the book was retrieved from the special collections, we noticed that the first twenty or so pages had broken off from the text block. The student looked through the book very carefully, but it became apparent that the book was too fragile for use. Fortunately, Tim Sprattler, who is in charge of the special collections, was able to find a link at Internet Archive and has added it to the library catalog record. The result was a happy student, and a book that did not sustain further damage.
Here is what the record looks like.

E-resource of the Week: The World and I School

Most of the electronic resources that we purchase at the OWHL can be associated with a specific discipline.  It is not easy to do that with The World and I School Online.  It is  a cross-curriculum resource featuring current news and analysis, viewpoint essays, biographical information, ethical dilemmas in science and technology and much more.  The product contains a complete introductory course in Spanish as well as weekly articles geared to more advanced learners.  The World and I School began life as a print publication, and the electronic version of that publication makes up the core of this resource.  Users can browse issues back to 1986, or search the complete collection by keyword. The advanced search capabilities permit the sorting of retrieved articles by relevancy, date, or author, and support more refined searches of the articles.  The product emphasizes global cultural studies, and includes both images and world cultural perspectives.   “Special Collections” such as Shedding Light on Islam, are well organized and invite lengthy browsing.  There is truly something for everyone in the product..  Find this resource on the OWHL homepage, e-resources A to Z list.   We think that you’ll be hooked.

Librarians to Speak at Parents’ Weekend

Have you ever wondered what student life was like at Andover back in its early years, and down through the years?  Are you curious about how the OWH librarians tackle the difficult job of helping students to learn the information skills that they need for lifelong learning in the digital millennium?  Then you should plan to drop in on the presentations that Tim Sprattler and Elisabeth Tully will be giving during Parents’ Weekend.

Sprattler, the acting Academy Archivist, plans to introduce the Westminster Assembly Shorter Catechism, the guide to being a good student that was used shortly after the founding of the Academy. He will also show other artifacts dealing with the life of an early scholarship student, and present evidence that 19th century PA students were often in their twenties rather than their teens. Additional highlights of the presentation include the Abbot girls Walking Program and the Military Clubs and Secret Societies. 

Tully, the Library Director, will discuss the library’s instructional program.  She will highlight the programs’ goals, and demonstrate some of the pedagogical approaches useful in working with intelligent and motivated students who are over-dependent on the free Internet as an information source, and ill-equipped to evaluate the information they find.

Both programs will be held on Saturday in the McLean Gallery of the library, beginning at 3:45.

Sharon Pei, a native of China and an instructional librarian at the OWHL by day, is a teacher of Tai Chi in the evening.  She was recently featured on the front page of the Littleton Independent newspaper in an article about the Tai Chi class that she has taught for the past 5 years at the Littleton Recreation Department.  Pei believes that  “the body, mind and spirit discipline of Tai Chi can calm the nerves, aid with balance, and offer therapeutic benefits to joints and muscles.” 

“We ask the class to think about why they do what they do, and what is good about the movements. It's interesting to learn,” she said.  Librarians are committed to lifelong learning, and Sharon says that she learns new things every time she studies the movements.

“I ask the class to forget the outside world,” she said. “Live in the moment. It's not strenuous. Being in touch with yourself is calming.”

In partnership with Agatha Kip, Phillips Academy School Nutritionist and Registered Dietitian, the OWH librarians have created a book display at the Circulation Desk for the month of October. All of the books focus on aspects of the food “industry”, especially those aspects that manipulate, process, and package food for consumption with regard not for health, but for profit. As people become increasingly aware that processed foods are not always the best choice when reaching for a snack,  the life cycle of food before it arrives on our plates becomes more important.   If you are interested in finding out about the role of corporations and conglomerates in providing your meals, then stop by the OWHL and check out any of these books. You’ll be amazed.

Stuffed : an insider’s look at who’s (really) making America fat
by Hank Cardello ; with Doug Garr

Food, Inc.: How Industrial Food Is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer – And What You Can Do about It; A Participant Guide
edited by Karl Weber

Food politics : how the food industry influences nutrition and health
by Marion Nestle

Food fight : the inside story of the food industry, America’s obesity crisis, and what we can do about it
by Kelly D. Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen

The end of overeating : taking control the insatiable American appetite
by David A. Kessler

The informant : a true story
by Kurt Eichenwald

Banned Books Week begins this Saturday, September 26th.   Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take the freedom to read for granted. BBW celebrates the commitment of libraries to ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints. Over the past eight years, American libraries were faced with 3,736 challenges.

* 1,225 challenges due to “sexually explicit” material;
* 1,008 challenges due to “offensive language”;
* 720 challenges due to material deemed “unsuited to age group”;
* 458 challenges due to “violence”
* 269 challenges due to “homosexuality”; and

Further, 103 materials were challenged because they were “anti-family,” and an additional 233 were challenged because of their “religious viewpoints.”

We have sequestered some of these challenged books under the owls in the lobby.  If you would like to check out a “banned book” - please (respectfully) break through the "barrier" and select your book.  This represents the freedom we have to be "free people who read freely."  While you are here, please pick up one of the "I Read Banned Books" buttons available at the Circulation desk to broadcast your love of reading.  

Attention readers!  While you were away on summer vacation, the OWHL staff  was busily adding new titles to our popular Young Adult section. Come check out the new display in the OWHL lobby (under the owls.)  Don't know where to begin?  Sometimes your taste in films can provide a clue.

• If you raunchy comedies like Superbad you should check out our new book "Swim the Fly."
• If you like some rock while you roll, as in Nick and Norah's Infinate Playlist - check out "Fat Kid Rules the World."
• If you'd like to be more than Just Friends try "Sweethearts."
• If you are a Twilight devotee - and are going through Edward/Bella withdrawal, please take a dose of "Inferno."
• If you think Twilight was full of  twits - check out "The Reformed Vampire Support Group."
• If you enjoy terrifying zombies like in 28 Days Later - you should read "Hater."
• And if you like your zombies a bit on the lighter side, A la Shaun of the Dead, how about another creative remake like "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" ?
• If you were taken in by Taken, try "Acceleration."
• Want your high school musical to be anything but ordinary?  Kooky and silly like Hamlet 2 - is "Castration Celebration."
• If Leo Decaprio in Romeo and Juliet had you yearning for more star-crossed lovers, read "If You Come Softly."
• If you have ever lusted after someone who was "out of bounds" like Sarah Michelle Gellar's character in Cruel Intentions, you should read the steamy "Academy 7."
• And finally - if you think the Matrix is our inevitable reality - you might want  to "Feed" your paranoia.

There are many many more new YA books here at the library.  Stop by to check them out. 

Last spring, the student group MOSAIC was awarded an Abbot Academy grant to bring award-winning, New York Times best-selling author (and musician) JAMES McBRIDE to campus this fall.  McBride will speak at All School Meeting on Wednesday, October 14  and will host a master class as well on that day.

If you have a chance in these early weeks of autumn, we suggest you read one of his books, displayed on the circulation desk in the OWHL lobby.

This is the first of a series of articles called “From the Andover Archives.”  Each article will feature an interesting collection of items from the Archives or the Special Collections.   

The Phillips Academy Archives contains countless treasures. The OWHL's summer student workers, Cassie and Ashley, have spent time exploring those treasures while helping Interim Archivist Tim Sprattler work on projects this summer.

In response to an inquiry from an Andover alumnus who was part of the Academy's Jazz Band "The Aces" during the 1950's, the girls found and scanned pictures of the band.

They were surprised to learn that the Academy also had a marching band during the fifties.

Arranging itself into the letter "A" was the band's signature move. Another request (for information on Andover's "Secret Societies" led the students to discover that not too long ago, Andover had what ammounted to residential fraternity houses.  This is the house inhabited by the members of PBX.

Many of these old houses still exist around campus. It would be fun to do a scavenger hunt to see how many could be identified. Cassie and Ashley enthusiastically agreed that it is great to have a summer job where you can learn interesting things while you are working. The entire staff of the OWHL is in complete agreement.

Tim's shirt says it all:

As recently as a generation ago, primary source research in American history required a great deal of patience and persistence. Some of the best resources for contemporaneous accounts of historical events--newspapers--were available, if at all, on microfilm. Few high school collections had the budgets necessary to offer users access to the micro forms or the equipment needed to view them. Fast forward to 2009. Phillips Academy students are indeed fortunate in being able to draw from a vast trove of digitized primary source material, including full-text access to important historical newspapers licensed by the OWHL.The librarians are very proud of the resources that we offer, and frequently remind students that they can't get to this excellent content using Google, because the materials are proprietary and hence not available on the free Internet.

While this remains true, the list of excellent free resources sponsored by universities and government agencies continues to grow. A case in point is a rich site offered by the Library of Congress. The LC has created Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program. This site provides digital access to historically significant  United States newspapers published between 1836 and 1922, and is freely available on the Internet. The site is searchable and browsable, and the full-text page views are in PDF format and have durable URLs. The site will continue to grow as additional states receive grants to digitize local papers.

Students of history have a much easier time these days finding primary source materials, so that they can devote their efforts to the hard work of interpreting and using them. Come to think of it, that will still require patience and persistence.

It is impossible not to have an opinion about YouTube. Based on an unscientific survey of my colleagues, many intelligent, thoughtful educators have little regard for the enormously popular video-sharing site. But if you haven't looked at YouTube lately, you might want to revise your judgement. Many top colleges and universities--including UCLA, Stanford, Dartmouth and many more--have created excellent educational videos and uploaded them to YouTube's educational site--http://www.youtube.com/edu.

YouTube EDU functions as an aggregator of the YouTube channels of the participating institutions. Content includes lectures on hundreds of topics, as well as speeches and special presentations. For example, commencement addresses (including the one at Notre Dame by President Obama, and the one at Duke by Oprah Winfrey) are archived for free viewing. If you haven't been to YouTube lately, you are in for a pleasant surprise. What began as a fairly frivolous vehicle for self-promotion has morphed into an important educational resource.

Librarians have known for some time that this day was coming, but still, the announcement last week by the American Chemical Society that it is ceasing the distribution of the print editions of all but three of its academic journals, and will offer the journals only online, was sobering. It is hard to argue with the rationale for this decision, that “printing and distribution costs now exceed revenues from print journals.” But are we really ready to give up, cold turkey, access to print-based publications?

Several years ago, we conducted an “overlap analysis” of our periodical collection at the OWHL. We had been systematically acquiring electronic access to databases of journals, and, as good stewards of Academy resources, it seemed inappropriate to purchase the materials in redundant formats. Our decision in each case was based on expected use. Titles that were routinely browsed in the Freeman Room (like Scientific American and The Economist) were kept in print even if we had full text leectronic access through one of the databases. On the other hand, if the titles were predominantly used for research, we dropped the print subscription.Frankly, electronic access is far superior for research, and in limiting our print holdings we were able to free up valuable space. Obviously we were not alone.

In a perfect world of unlimited resources, all libraries would acquire multiple formats in order to serve the needs of diverse users. But this is an imperfect world, where subscription prices are rising and budgets are shrinking. From the perspective of the publisher, the economics of an all-virtual publication are simple. The “fixed costs” are the costs attendant to producing one issue. The “variable costs” are essentially zero. The question then becomes, will this model be a boon to scholarship? Will publishers drop journal prices to acknowledge the economic reality of the new model? Or will they cling to an outmoded model of pricing that no longer reflects the costs of production? Additionally, what impact on the outcome of this revolution will the Open Access movement have? Most of the authors of scholarly journal articles are educators and scientists who are not being directly compensated for their work. The NIH model has demonstrated the benefits of providing open access to work produced by scientists receiving federal support. The only thing that is certain, is that the model will change. It is a very interesting time to be in this profession.