Author Archives: smiths

Register now: Letters in the Digital Age interdisciplinary conference on 21st June

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Speaking in Absence: Letters in the Digital Age (Conference, Tuesday 21 June 2016 / 9th week – Weston Library and Wolfson College, Oxford)

A conference hosted by Helen Brown (Hertford College / Oxford University Press), Michaela Crawley (Wolfson College / Oxford Centre for Life-Writing) and Olivia Thompson (Balliol College / Bodleian Libraries):

Registration for our conference is live, and closes at midnight on Monday 20 June (registration for dinner closes Thursday at midnight).

The conference is a one-day, interdisciplinary, student-led conversation on how we engage with handwritten letters in the digital age. We aim to explore the potential for collaboration between academics, librarians, technicians, editors, and publishers for the creation of mutual frameworks within which to use the digital as a means to supplement the analogue. We have chosen correspondence as a vehicle for this exploration because in the age of social media, its nature raises immediate and intriguing questions about the progression from material object to digital resource.

Speaking in Absence final poster 2 Daytime activities at the Weston Library will include:

  • an opening lecture on editing letters by Christopher Ricks (Boston University),
  • panel discussion with the leaders of pioneering digital editing projects (Robert McNamee, Electronic Enlightenment; Alison Pearn, Darwin Correspondence Project; Howard Hotson, Cultures of Knowledge)
  • demonstration of the process of digitizing letters by Miranda Lewis (Digital Editor, Early Modern Letters Online),
  • visual tour of correspondence in the Bodleian collections led by Special Collections curators,
  • panel on publishing with representatives from Oxford University Press and Blackwell’s.

From the Weston Library, delegates will then proceed to Wolfson College for a further panel discussion with writers and directors of projects based on the letters of Gertrude Bell, Dorothy Hodgkin and Ada Lovelace, and Letters 1916, a crowdsourced local history project in Ireland; and drinks reception with research posters by postgraduate students.

The conference is organised by students as part of the TORCH-OCLW annual postgraduate conference competition, and is additionally sponsored by the Bodleian Libraries and Balliol Interdisciplinary Institute.

The conference fee (£45 / limited number of subsidised undergraduate places at £20) includes refreshments throughout the day (breakfast, lunch, two coffee breaks, drinks reception). The conference dinner (£30) must be booked separately. For the full programme and instructions on registration options, please click here: http://www.e-pistolary.net/speaking-in-absence/programme

If you have any questions please contact olivia.thompson@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

History books: Sale on donation basis – 20th June

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Come and take a book (or two) away, in return for a small donation (or a big donation if you like!)

Monday, 20th June, 9.30am – 12.30pm
Trevor Roper Room, History Faculty

The History Faculty are having a book sale by donation. Details as follows from Susanne Heinrich, Assistant Graduate Officer:

We managed to extract about a third of the late Hubert Stadler’s books from his house and would like to make them available to historians. The books are mainly academic, in English, and most of them in connection with medieval history, but not exclusively.

The idea behind this venture is to support students, and we will give any proceeds to the Hubert Stadler Scholarship Fund which supports History graduates. So, we welcome any size donation in exchange for a book – and if you are a poor student who puts £1 in the pot then we have supported a History student as well!

Watney book for auctionAlthough most books are quite ordinary, there is one which is bit more special:
Cornbury and the Forest of Wychwood, by Vernon Watney, 1910, leather bound, 32 x 40 x 8 cms, 296 pages. This book is available for sale on Amazon and ABE for around £300, but we have a reserve price on it of £100. We will be holding a silent auction for this book and you can submit your bid either online (this is where you can see more pictures of the book) or in person on Monday, 20th June in the History Faculty, until 12.30pm. Alternatively, you could just email me on susanne.heinrich@history.ox.ac.uk

We will not disclose any of the information about bids to anyone, and will destroy all collected data after the event. The highest bidder will be asked to contribute the promised amount to the Hubert Stadler Scholarship Fund which supports graduate students, before collecting the book.
The book can be viewed during standard office hours in the Graduate Office.

Do come and browse through the books on the 20th and tell anyone who might be interested. Any remainder will go to Oxfam in Turl Street.

Vacation borrowing limit now 30 books plus short loans

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From today the Vacation borrowing limit is increased to 30 books and now includes short loans. Everything is due back on Monday 10th October so that’s plenty of time to get through all that reading! We have some sturdy Bodleian plastic bags at the desk to help you carry them all home. Remember to clear your fines before you borrow.

nature-grass-green-book

SOLO maintenance: 8-11 April

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SOLO will be undergoing essential maintenance from 5pm Friday 8th April to 9am Monday 11th April. SOLO will still be available but will have limited functionality:

  • SOLO-logoFind & Request tab (location information) will not display.
  • Viewing and renewing loans will not be possible.
  • Placing requests will not be possible.
  • Self-issue machine will not work.

Access to e-resources will be unaffected; readers will still be able to view ebooks and online journal articles.