News

Burritt Bicentennial & Library Research Awards

Elihu Burritt Bicentennial Competition

Elihu Burritt Library is pleased to announce the Elihu Burritt Bicentennial competition. This award will recognize excellence in research and/or creativity related to Elihu Burritt and his lifelong interest in many important topics, including abolitionism, international peace, linguistics, and ocean penny postage. Applicants are invited to submit essays, papers, short stories, plays, historical fiction, poems, descriptive prose, video documentaries, etc.  for consideration.

Two prizes of $200 will be awarded in this competition during the Elihu Burritt Birthday Party on December 8, 2010 at 2 p.m. in the Special Collections department at Burritt Library. For more information about Elihu Burritt and list of the material available in the Elihu Burritt Collection, please go to http://library.ccsu.edu/help/spcoll/burritt/

For more information, criteria, and the application form, please go to:

http://library.ccsu.edu/services/award/burritt_award.php

2011 Undergraduate Library Research Award

Students can also apply for the 2011 Undergraduate Library Research award. This award will recognize excellence in undergraduate research papers/projects as well as skill and creativity in the application of library services, resources and collections. Two prizes of $350 will be awarded during the spring 2011 semester at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD). One prize will be award to a senior thesis (if applicable) and the other will be awarded to a paper/project from any class/year if applicable.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE LIBRARY RESEARCH AWARD IS A SEPARATE PRIZE FROM THE OTHERS PRESENTED AT URCAD. For more information about URCAD, please go to http://www.ccsu.edu/urcad/

Eligibility:

To be eligible, applicants must:

  • Be enrolled during the spring 2011 semester as a Central Connecticut State University undergraduate at any class level or discipline/major.
  • Have completed their research paper or project for a credit course during the spring, summer, or fall semesters in 2010.
  • Agree that the paper or project and application materials will become property of Elihu Burritt Library and may be publicly displayed in the library and/or library website.

For more information, criteria, and the application form, please go to:

http://library.ccsu.edu/services/award/application.php

News

Burritt Library Adventures in Research Podcast/Vidcast series

The “Adventures in Research” podcast series started last week, but you can view episodes anytime after they’ve been aired. We created some new and updated episodes.

If you or your students would like to become a little more familiar with the library, some of its sources and enhance your information literacy skills, then tune in each week (most of the videos are short). You can access them through our LibGuides @

http://libguides.ccsu.edu/index.php

Here is the schedule:

Week 1 – New Burritt Library website and “Sisterhood of the Lost Girls” (ghost story library tour)

Week 2 – “Consuls and You” (Keyword search and finding books in the stacks) and CONSULS 2 (Title search)

Week 3 – Setting up a PIN and CONSULS 3 (Author search and requesting books from other CSU libraries)

Week 4 – Types of Sources and Academic Search Premier

Week 5 – Scholarly vs. Popular sources and Proquest Newspapers

Week 6 – Evaluating websites

Week 7 – Primary Sources and Requesting items through ILL

Events

Elihu Burritt Bicentennial Celebration

Elihu Burritt, also known as “The Learned Blacksmith”, is New Britain’s most famous son.  The Elihu Burritt Library is spearheading the celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth and is planning several events for this fall semester.

Elihu Burritt was born in New Britain  on December 8, 1810.  He became a world citizen, linguist, abolitionist, reformer, peace activist and penny postage advocate.  President Abraham Lincoln appointed him a Consular Agent to Birmingham, England.  Elihu Burritt stayed attached to his hometown, and during his last years of his life become an active citizen.  He died on March 6, 1879 and is buried at the Fairview Cemetery.

The library was named after Elihu Burritt in 1959.  The choice of name was supported by many local organizations and  Robert C. Vance, the publisher and editor of The Herald.

For more information on Elihu Burritt please see the Special Collections/Archives website: http://www.library.ccsu.edu/help/spcoll/burritt/

The opening event for the Burritt Bicentennial will take place on Wednesday, September 22 at 11:45 in the Special Collections reading room in the library.

“Elihu Burritt:  Nineteenth-Century Pioneer for Transatlantic Peace, Social Justice, and Human Rights” a lecture by Dr. Wendy Chmielewski.

Wendy Chmielewski is the George R. Cooley Curator of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.  The Peace Collection holds a significant set of materials on Elihu Burritt.  Chmielewski’s work on the role of women in the U.S. and British nineteenth century peace movements has included exploring the participation of Elihu Burritt as well. She has published several works on the role of women in the peace movement and in intentional/utopian communities form the nineteenth century to the present.  Her most recent publication (2009) is  a co-edited collection of scholarly essays on Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams, titled Jane Addams and the Practice of Democracy.

Library Renovations

Library Renovation Update

The demolition crew is preparing to take the steps off the south side of the balcony! For the next two days (7/13 & 7/14) the front Handicapped Entrance to the library will be closed while they complete the demolition. The other handicapped entrance will be open from the north side of the building and the parking lot.

Exhibits, News

Nature Photography Exhibit!

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An Exhibit of photographic nature art by Connecticut native George Ostertag will be featured at the Elihu Burritt library at Central Connecticut State University during the month of June 2010.

The framed photographic art will include images of wildlife, waterfalls, wildflowers, and scenic views of well-known areas and national landmarks in various parts of the country.

ostertag-12The photographer has had the unique opportunity to capture many spectacular scenes while researching material for more than 23 hiking, outdoor recreation, travel guides, and photography books (for which he is the sole photographer and the co-author with his wife Rhonda Ostertag).  Some of their books, including many second edition copies, will also be on exhibit.

George has put together an extensive photo stock celebrating the American West and, more recently, many Eastern states. Wherever boot and backpack would take him, he took camera and tripod.  Diverse landscapes opened up unlimited photo opportunities with humbling deserts, rich forests, rocky coasts, waterfalls, and high mountains. A geologist by training and naturalist by heart, he finds beauty in all habitats.

His photography has been displayed at numerous galleries and has appeared in many publications.  His images have graced calendars, greeting cards, and postcards, many of which will be on display during this exhibit.
For additional information contact exhibitor Agnes Ostertag at 860 223-3723.

News

Library Acquires Oxford UP Journals Archive

We are pleased to announce the addition of the 2010 Oxford Journals Archive. The Archive includes over 150 titles, with the oldest material dating back to the middle of the 19th century. Journals included cover subjects as diverse as biology, medicine, and physics, through to law, economics, and theology. A complete list of titles is available at the following URL: http://www.oxfordjournals.org/access_purchase/complete_archive_2010.html

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