Reopening News
Welcome back to Barnard Library at the Milstein Center! Library seat reservations are back for the Spring semester with limited availability on floors 1 to 3 from 11am-6pm Monday through Friday. (Yes, the green chairs are open!) Before making a reservation, please review COVID-19 guidelines about physical distancing and QR code check ins.
We also welcome you remotely from the new Barnard Library Virtual Circulation & Help Desk, open 11am-6pm Monday through Friday, where you can ask questions about the Library, equipment, or circulation.
Please note that our stacks continue to be closed. Access materials using the “Pick-Up” or “Scan” functions in CLIO. To return items, use the Barnard Library book drop in front of the Milstein Center or any Columbia University Library bookdrop. Learn more about all current services.
Archives
The Archives Reading Room is reopening by appointment, one day a week, for Barnard and Columbia-affiliated researchers. Email archives@barnard.edu to schedule your appointment and visit collections.barnard.edu to see descriptions of collections which you can consult in the reading room. We are excited to see you!
Empirical Reasoning Center
The ERC is now open for walk-in hours! Come ask staff and student workers all of your empirical questions ranging from project development and finding data to troubleshooting analysis/visualization in various softwares. Check the ERC website for drop in hours and for any upcoming workshops/events!
Staff News
Director of AV Services Patrick Eisenhauer will be leaving Barnard in February, taking the role of Director of AV at University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Patrick has accomplished a lot during his time at Barnard; he facilitated AV installations and troubleshooting for the new Milstein Center building; and most recently, he led the upgrades of 50 instructional spaces and 23 additional mobile carts for hy-flex instruction! We are sad to see him go, but congratulate him on this new chapter.
Welcome Zine Tech, Claudia Maria Acosta to the Zine Library!
Claudia (they/she) has been involved in zine-making, alternative print communities, and independent archives work as a zine librarian, library worker, and zinester since they were a college freshman. She founded the zine librarian’s committee within the Travis Fristoe Zine Library at the Civic Media Center — an alternative library and socialist community space in Gainesville, FL. They’ve since co-organized zine fairs and facilitated workshops across Florida, including at the Miami-Dade Public Library Special Collections department as a special collections assistant.
As an incoming MLIS student at Queens College and Spectrum Scholar, they’re excited to contribute to union-building for students and library workers, abolitionist efforts in libraries, and the inclusion of radical zines and commix in the archives!
Events
Code a Collage | Friday February 5th, 2-4pm ET
In this workshop, craft your own collage using only one line of code. Learn how to leverage an open source neural network to transfer the style of an image to another image. Think making a photo of your dog look like a Van Gogh! You can make a Valentine's Day card, a birthday card, or an awesome collage for your desktop background. No coding experience needed.
Leave this workshop with a basic understanding of neural networks, style transfer, Google Collaboratory Notebook, and with a craft! Contact Katie at kbrady@barnard.edu with questions. Find more info and register for this workshop and others at csc.barnard.edu/events.
Emerging Filmmaker Mentorship Program Info Session | February 5th, 3-3:30pm ET
The Media Center's Emerging Filmmaker Mentorship Program (EFMP) is back for its Spring 2021 iteration.
The EFMP consists of five workshops throughout the semester that will focus on providing creative support to undergraduate Barnard filmmakers. At the end of the workshops, those who attended three out of the five will officially apply to EMFP in order to obtain funding for their film and continue with one-on-one mentorship to support the production and post-production logistics of their projects. The program is seeking ambitious, visionary students who have an idea for a film, and the drive to get it made. Our goal is to offer resources to populations traditionally marginalized in media production settings, including women, people of color, and those with financial limitations.
To receive a zoom link to the info session, first sign up for the workshops you’re interested in. For any questions related to the program, email mediacenter@barnard.edu.
Laughter Meditation with Laraaji | February 11th, 10:10am-11:25am ET
Join LARAAJI for a guided interactive, hilarious, musically-supported laughter release session that will deliver you into deeper relaxation and inner stillness. Receive guidance from LARAANJI to use your own voice, tone, and laughter as vehicles for internal energy medicine and positive psychology. RSVP
LARAAJI is a multi-instrumental musician/recording artist and laughter release meditation guide. He has recorded and toured the globe with amazing ambient music performances and therapeutic laughter meditation workshops since the 1980's.
Valentine's Day Cards and Memes in HTML & CSS | February 12th, 2-4pm ET
Learn HTML and CSS while coding Valentine's Day cards and/or memes for your friends and loved ones. Contact Katie at kbrady@barnard.edu with questions. Find more info and register for this workshop and others at csc.barnard.edu/events.
MeMoSa: Laraaji: Deep Listening Live Music Performance | February 18th, 5:30pm-7pm
Musician and laughter release meditation guide, LARAAJI, will channel a multi-instrumental sound baptism featuring celestial Zither/Harp for deep meditation and peaceful introspection. Listeners are invited to listen while wearing a blindfold. RSVP
How to Create a GIS/Data Visualization Portfolio | February 18th, 6-7:30pm ET
Join the Barnard ERC and Columbia Research Data Services for a workshop on how to create a GIS/Data Visualization Portfolio led by graphics journalist Rachael Dottle BC'16.
Rachael has worked at Bloomberg, IBM, FiveThirtyEight, and the MTA and was the recipient of the Sigma Young Data Journalist of the Year Award in 2019. RSVP
Media Center Podcasting Workshop | February 19th, 1-2:30pm ET
Join the Media Center for a workshop on how to write, record, edit, and publish your very own podcast from home. Attendees who sign up in advance will receive a USB microphone to create a professional sounding podcast from their own computer. Sign up.
Black History Month Event: Celebrating Gladys West, Mathematician and Computer Programmer | February 26th, 2-4pm ET
We would be lost (literally) without the contributions of Gladys West. West is a mathematician who helped construct a geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth’s shape, making the invention of the GPS possible. She worked at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division as a mathematician and programmer, where she and her husband were two of only four black employees at the time. West was inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018.
The celebration will include watching a short video and learning about West, as well as exploring her contributions more closely by working directly with satellite data.
Contact Katie at kbrady@barnard.edu with questions. Find more info and register for this workshop and others at csc.barnard.edu/events.
Personal Librarians
Writing any research papers this semester? Dreaming up details for your historical graphic novel? Planning for a summer grant proposal or craft project? Whatever you're curious about right now, we probably have a guide for that.
There might be one for your classes or your major. We’ve got guides on organizing your sources with citation management software, finding materials to support your making in the Design Center, and making choices about engaging with your and others’ intellectual property. Each guide also provides contact information and consultation calendars, so it’s easy to connect with BLAIS to continue your research journey. Let us help you along the way!
Archives
If you've used the archives' digital collections to search for photographs or read old issues of the Barnard Bulletin, you've used an open source software called Islandora.
Open source software is powered by community contributions, and in January, Archives Director Martha Tenney led collaborators at other schools that use Islandora in an online hack/doc, which combines the form of a hackathon–bringing coders together to work on a predetermined problem in a large block of time–with a substantial documentation and testing component. At the January 13-14th hack/doc, 40 participants worked on developing tools for metadata cleanup and migrating data out of the current version of Islandora.
Digital Humanities Center
On January 28th, the DHC hosted its first workshop on “Reducing Your Digital Carbon Footprint.” Participants were given tools to measure and understand the material impacts of their digital lives. The DHC frames the work of shrinking your digital carbon footprint in order to reduce and repair harm through an ethics of care inspired by the Black feminist praxis of adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds.
The Digital Humanities Center is committed to hosting and supporting programming that reflects its core values of inclusivity, sustainability, exploration, and collaboration. To find out more or to get involved, email digitalhumanities@barnard.edu.
This year’s theme for the virtual NYCDH Week 2021, Care and Repair, will focus attention on New York Digital Humanities (NYCDH) as a community of digital humanities practice impacted by the past year. During the week of February 8th to 12th, the event will offer individuals opportunities to learn new skills, hear about DH projects from across the city, and connect with a vibrant and diverse community of scholars and practitioners.
Our former and current BLAIS Staff will be presenting: Madiha Zahrah Choksi will be leading this year's Kickoff Keynote Talk on February 8th and Alicia Peaker will be leading a workshop on "Reducing Your Digital Carbon Footprint" on February 9th. Register for free and support our amazing BLAIS Staff!