News from 2022
See all upcoming Libraries events — including our featured events, workshops, and exhibits — on the UMN Twin Cities Events Calendar.
An Arctic Map Re-post
Among the most wide-ranging explorers of the early modern era was the Dutchmen Jan Huyghen van Linschoten (1563-1611). Accounts of his voyages were published in large, beautiful books, well-illustrated, and often hand-colored as well. He became successful in both merchant and academic circles. Because Linschoten went virtually everywhere and was a well-known personage, the Dutch society dedicated to publishing historical and current travelers’ accounts is known as the Linschoten-Vereeniging.
OA Week Spotlight: Dr. Kathy Draeger
In celebration of Open Access Week and in light of the 2022 theme, “Open for Climate Justice”, we are excited to share a series of interviews with UMN faculty who work at the intersection of climate and justice and make their work open access. Kathy Draeger is Statewide Director for the U of M Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships and adjunct professor of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. She oversees statewide programming in sustainable development, including clean energy and sustainable ag and food systems.
OA Week Spotlight: Dr. Peter Neff
In celebration of Open Access Week and in light of the 2022 theme, “Open for Climate Justice”, we are excited to share a series of interviews with UMN faculty who work at the intersection of climate and justice and make their work open access. Peter Neff is an assistant research professor at the University of Minnesota and Director for Field Research and Data for the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX), a National Science Foundation funded Science and Technology Center pursuing the oldest ice core climate records found in Antarctica.
AgEcon Search as a climate justice resource
Climate researchers who are looking for studies on the economic aspects of their topics have a rich resource in AgEcon Search, the open access repository for agricultural and applied economics that contains over 170,000 freely available full text journal articles, working papers, conference papers, and other scholarly works.
OA Week Spotlight: Dr. Randal Barnes
In celebration of Open Access Week and in light of the 2022 theme, “Open for Climate Justice,” we are excited to share a series of interviews with UMN faculty who work at the intersection of climate and justice and make their work open access. Dr. Randal Barnes is an Associate Professor and Mental Health Advocate in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering.
OA Week spotlight: Dr. Melissa Kenney
In celebration of Open Access Week and in light of the 2022 theme, “Open for Climate Justice”, we are excited to share a series of interviews with UMN faculty who work at the intersection of climate and justice and make their work open access. Dr. Melissa Kenney is the Director of Research and Knowledge Initiatives at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment where she directs efforts to build synergy across IonE’s broad scientific research portfolio.
Open Access Week 2022
Each year, researchers, librarians, publishers, and students across the globe come together to spotlight the importance of open access to research. By making scientific research openly accessible, it increases its reach, validation, and potential for reuse for further scientific research. This year’s theme is "Open for Climate Justice" to highlight the need for accessible climate science across the globe to enable communities, policymakers, and scientists to respond to climate change and its impact. Lack of equitable access to climate research has long-lasting implications on humanity’s ability to respond to our changing climate.
LGBTQ books that have been challenged or banned
The following are a selection of books that have faced challenges or bans because of their LGBTQ themes and content. The text comes from the National Coalition Against Censorship page on LGBTQ Book Bans and Challenges.
Unboxing a New Acquisition at the James Ford Bell Library
One of the most fun things that we get to do at the Bell Library is acquire new materials for the collection. Earlier this year we were absolutely thrilled to receive a 17th-century manuscript map of the Java sea, by Johannes Blaeu, as a gift from the James Ford Bell Trust and trustees Ford and Amy Bell. This post is about an item that is considerably less rare and vastly less expensive, and yet thoroughly fascinating as well.
The past owners of the Bell’s books
We often find names written in the books that make up the Bell collection – inside the front or back covers, on blank leaves at the back of books, and even written across title pages. Most of these names mean nothing to me. When I’m not in a hurry or focused on a particular project, I occasionally pause and think about the person who might have read the book hundreds of years ago and felt strongly enough about it that they wanted to mark it as their own and add their name to the book’s history. I wonder how these books shaped their ideas about the world in which they lived.
Tartarians and Heliopolitans in a Little-Known Book at the James Ford Bell Library
The James Ford Bell Library holds a copy of a rather mysterious little book, published in 1689. It is a duodecimo of not quite two hundred pages, titled A Voyage into Tartary, containing a curious description of that country, with part of Greece and Turky; the manners, opinions, and religion of the inhabitants therein; with some other incidents, and it claims to be by one “M. Heliogenes de L’Epy, doctor in philosophy.” It is fairly uncommon: the English Short Title Catalogue recognizes only thirteen surviving copies, of which three are in the United States; and surprisingly few literary historians have noted its existence.
Cadillacs and Conquistadors at the James Ford Bell Library
It is fascinating to see the ways that historical interpretation has changed over time – sometimes due to the discovery of new materials, and sometimes because of societal changes that also altered the perspectives of historians. Ideas about the explorers of the so-called “Age of Discovery” are a case in point.