Want to see a reel of microfilm from Special Collections but can’t make it during business hours? Thanks to equipment purchased with a grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents you can now request Remote Film Access and view the film on your home computer using a web browser like Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari.

In response to the increasing interest and need for digital access to microfilm, Hill Library purchased a Canon MS-800 and two ST-Imaging ST200 reader/scanners for the reading room. Using one of the three new machines, Special Collections patrons can view microfilm in the reading room where they have the option of saving scanned images from the reel to a USB drive, e-mailing the files to themselves, or printing the images.

LSU Special Collections was able to purchase an additional component, the Remote Film Access System, for one of the ST200 machines with the grant money. The remote access capabilities enable patrons who cannot visit the reading room to view film. Utilizing remote desktop software and a unique remote film access system created by ST-Imaging, Inc., Special Collections patrons are now able to view, scan, e-mail, and print from reels of microfilm in the comfort of their homes.

Individuals from around the state and the country who have used this LSU Libraries service are very pleased with the results. Special Collections provides the remote access service for a fee of $20 per session/reel. A session with one reel is offered from 5:00 p.m.- 9:00 a.m. (central time) Monday through Thursday, which is outside regular business hours to allow for in-house patron use of the machine.

Additional information about the service is available on the Special Collections website. Please contact Judy Bolton, Head of Special Collections Public Services or Gina Costello, Digital Services Librarian if you would like further details about Special Collections’ microfilm services for library patrons.

A mini-exhibition featuring Sturm’s recent work is on display in the lecture hall through October 20.

The talk, titled “James Sturm’s America: Cartooning on the Frontier,” was sponsored by the LSU Libraries, Department of English, the School of Art, and the College of Arts and Sciences. Special Collections would like to thank Professor Brannon Costello, Department of English, for arranging the lecture.

The Bowlus Collection includes more than 7,000 comic books and related materials, many from the silver age of comic books published during the late 1950s through the 1960s. Bowlus, an LSU alumnus, began collecting comics in grade school and continued until his untimely death in his late 20s, due to Marfan syndrome. The collection was donated to the LSU Libraries by his mother, Martha Bowlus, to honor his memory and preserve a collection he loved. The Bowlus Collection offers a wealth of graphic art and storytelling from a formative period in American cultural history.

The exhibit demonstrates that comic books are a rich popular culture resource. As with all forms of literary and artistic expression, comic books both reflect and influence to a degree the culture out of which they are created. Comics tackle contemporary issues and classic tales, and storylines are fleshed out in a universe with plots and characters ranging from the stereotypical to the fantastic.

Many of the materials that will be on display reflect comics produced from 1960 to 1985, with an emphasis on superhero titles. Loaned materials published in more recent years also supplement the collection. Topics of analysis include censorship, democracy and patriotism, race, gender and alternative and web comics. The exhibition will also include an industry history, with a focus on Marvel Comics, EC Comics and DC Comics.

On March 12 and 13, the internationally celebrated poet Rosanna Warren will be speaking in Hill Memorial Library. Ms Warren’s awards include the Witter Bynner Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the May Sarton Prize, the Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a Lila Wallace Readers Digest Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. She is the daughter of Robert Penn Warren.

Ms Warren is here as a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, and her visit includes several events listed below. Each of these promises to be a unique and exciting experience; you are cordially invited to attend all.

Monday March 12

4:30 p.m., Hill Memorial Library Lecture Hall. “Collaboration: Poets and Painters, Rosanna Warren and James McGarrell.” Exhibition and presentation on “Orbiana Oliveto,” 19 pairs of poems and monotypes by Warren and McGarrell. Exhibition dates March 5 -15, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Co-sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa and the School of Art, in collaboration with the LSU Libraries.

James McGarrell has taught at Indiana University and Washington University, and his work appears in museums and private collections throughout America and Europe, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum, and Hirshhorn Museum. A Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellow, he has also received awards from the State Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts Grants, a National Institute of Arts and Letters Citation and Grant, and a Tamarind Lithography Workshop Fellowship.

“Orbiana Oliveto” (on display in the lecture hall) is a suite of 19 drawings, each 22 x 30 inches, made and printed in the monotype medium on the intaglio press of the Ligurian Study Center for the Arts and Humanities at Bogliasco, Italy, in March and April of 2003. Rosanna Warren wrote 19 short prose poems (also displayed) to accompany them.

Tuesday March 13

4:00 p.m. James McGarrell speaks about his art, Hill Memorial Library Lecture Hall. Co-Sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa and the School of Art, in collaboration with the LSU Libraries.

5:30 p.m., Hill Memorial Library Lecture Hall. Reading by Rosanna Warren. Co-Sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa and Readers & Writers. Readers & Writers reception and book signing follows. Donations to Readers & Writers welcome to support future events.

LSU Libraries’ T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Director, Jennifer Abraham, is conducting an afternoon oral history workshop at Bluebonnet Library on Saturday, February 24, from 2-4pm.

The workshop is part of the One Book/One Community program, sponsored by the East Baton Rouge Parish Library and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. It is free and open to the public. The One Book/One Community Program’s Spring 2007 book, is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. For more details, click here.

The workshop will feature an audio/digital presentation on the desegregation activities of Baton Rouge citizens as told through oral history narratives housed by the Center. The workshop will introduce participants to the field of oral history and prepare them to conduct interviews through a variety of instruction and exercises. If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Abraham at jabrah1@lsu.edu or 225-578-7439.

LSU Libraries presents An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans from Nature, an exhibition based on the award-winning book by Craig E. Colten, Carl O. Sauer Professor of Geography at LSU. The exhibition opens on Monday, February 5, and runs through June 5, 2007, in Hill Memorial Library on the LSU campus.

The catastrophic flooding accompanying hurricanes Katrina and Rita is only the latest episode in the ongoing struggle between the Crescent City and nature. An Unnatural Metropolis outlines the history of this battle between people and place, illustrating the many obstacles faced by founders and citizens over two centuries. The exhibition documents yellow fever epidemics, flooding, drainage, sewage and sanitation issues that have challenged New Orleanians since 1718. The exhibition also explores the 20th century push to “reclaim” lands from the surrounding swamp for commercial and residential use, which proved to be a major factor in the magnitude of destruction suffered by New Orleans in 2005.

A reception and talk by Professor Colten will take place on Sunday, March 18 at 3 pm in the lecture hall in Hill Memorial Library. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. The library is open 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, and 9 to 1 on Saturdays. When classes are in session the library is open Tuesday evenings till 8 p.m.

Visit Current Exhibitions for more information, or call (225) 578-6544.

Image: View of Lake Ponchartrain, Charles C. Titcomb Collection; Titcomb Picture Collection, Mss. 1795, 2532, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, La.

Join us in the first floor gallery at Hill Memorial Library for a gallery talk by artist Charles Hobson at 1 pm on Thursday, October 26. The event is held in conjunction with the current exhibition, “Why I Love Books: The Artworks of Charles Hobson.”

A special free drawing will be held – enter for your chance to win one of several prizes, including a framed photograph of Huey Long from LSU Libraries Special Collections.

We hope to see you there!