Stevenson Library News

Two major academic publishers DeGruyter & Brill have recently merged. We are thrilled to announce that Bard College now has trial access to its extensive collections of journals and ebooks for the fall semester!

Trial Period: Available until December 31, 2024

Since this is a trial, these ebook and journal titles will not appear in the library’s catalog. They are discoverable through citation records or going directly to a specific journal or book title. Links to Brill and Degruter are also available in our A-Z Database list.

The trial includes access to:

• De Gruyter eBooks
  • Access 58,000 eBooks covering 29 subject areas from across the Humanities, Natural and Social Sciences, Technology, and Medicine.
  • 16,000 frontlist titles, including 1,000 in English.
• Brill eBooks
  • Access 30,000 eBooks covering 26 subject areas from across the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Life Sciences
  • More than 2,000 titles are published annually, primarily in English.
• DeGruyter University Press Library
  • Award-winning titles in the humanities and social sciences from presses including Harvard, New York, Princeton, Texas, Toronto, and Yale.
• DeGruyter eJournals
  • Gain access to more than 300 non-OA journals.
  • All articles, all years, from volume 1, issue 1.
  • Prolific titles include Reviews in Chemical Engineering, Theoretical Linguistics, and Crelle’s Journal.
• Brill eJournals
  • Gain access to more than 500 non-OA journals.
  • All articles, all years, from volume 1, issue 1.
  • Popular titles include Historical Materialism, Amphibia-Reptilia, and Behaviour.

Please reach out to your library liaison if you would like to request that we purchase a particular journal or book title or if you have any questions!

Stevenson Library has recently acquired a site license for The Chronicle of Higher Education! The license provides for unlimited digital access, including:

• • The Chronicle’s articles, in-depth journalism, daily news, and data.
  • Articles and essays dating back to 1989.
    • Browse the Chronicle Issue Archive, 2015-present
    • Search the Chronicle Archive, 1989-present
  • Daily and weekly newsletters with the creation of a free account.
  • Special issues like The Trends Report.
  • Virtual events with topics for everyone on campus.
  • Opinion pieces from leaders in higher education.
  • Higher education job board and salary comparison data.

To access the Chronicle from ON CAMPUS, simply go to Chronicle.com for complete access. Bard College will appear in the top left corner

IF YOU’RE OFF CAMPUS: 

1. Go to Chronicle.com and click on the “Sign In” link at top, righthand side of the web page.
2. Choose the “Create an account now” option.
3. Enter and confirm your campus e-mail address, then follow the steps on the account setup pages

Please join us on Tuesday, October 1 at 3:30 p.m. for a grand opening celebration of the redesigned lower level of the library, featuring an accessible public entrance, fresh new study space, and a new service desk. Cookies and tea will be served!

The lower level redesign was completed in collaboration with Disability Access Services with support from the Bard Reading Initiative.

Disegno: Selections from the R & Company Archives Collection

Now on exhibit on the first floor of Stevenson Library through December 13, 2024.

Opening Reception: Friday, September 27 2-4 pm

About the exhibit

What is Design? As a noun, design can mean the plan to construct something, the composition of a physical or digital object, or the thing itself; as a verb, it is the action of materializing an idea with intent. As absurd as it may sound, a designer designs a designed design. At the R & Company Library and Archives, we are interested in all definitions of design and in preserving the materials that help makers achieve their goals.

Drawings are a crucial part of many creators’ practices, serving purposes as varied as the techniques employed in their making. Drawings may serve to jot down ideas, establish a concept, test form and function, enable construction, or present products. They may be quick sketches, detailed renderings, collages, and everything in between. While some designers don’t draw at all (and might conceptualize with models or build intuitively), others register each step of their progress. The latter group’s strategy gives us a glimpse into their creative processes, which offers an invaluable tool for understanding the full ethos of their works. For these people, the Italian word disegno, which means both drawing and design, serves as an apt operator.

Understanding design and drawing as interchangeable in the context of creative thinking, the present exhibition showcases highlights from our archives that illustrate the different functions and strategies drawings may serve, made by designers from distinct countries, periods, and backgrounds. By juxtaposing these works, this display reveals unexpected dialogs and comparisons between people who would otherwise not be in the same conversation. In common is their desire to materialize an idea by putting pen to paper.

About the R & Company Library and Archives

New York-based design gallery R & Company holds an important and extensive non-circulating library and archival collection covering the history of art, design, and architecture from the 1900s to the present. The holdings include many rare and out-of-print titles, specializing in international design overviews, period pamphlets, catalogs, photographs, and other rare resources and ephemera. The department is committed to preserving these collections and fostering a dynamic center for research and education surrounding the collections. Researchers are welcome by appointment year-round.

Learn How to Make Worry Dolls
an indigenous Mayan practice
With Ixmucane Pereira ’26
Thursday, September 19, 5:30-7 pm
Stevenson Library (first floor)

The making of worry dolls is an indigenous Mayan practice. In the dolls’ original tradition, a local legend about the origin of the Muñeca quitapena refers to a Maya princess named Ixmucane. The princess received a special gift from the sun god which would allow her to solve any problem a human could worry about.

In traditional and modern times, worry dolls are given or lent to brooding, anxious, or sorrowful children. They would tell their doll about their sorrows, fears and worries then hide it under their pillow before going to sleep at night. It is said that the child relinquishes their worries to the dolls during the night and by the next morning, all sorrows have been taken away by the worry doll.

All are welcome to come learn more about this tradition and make their own worry dolls. This event is cosponsored with the Office of the Dean of Inclusive Excellence, in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

Join us on Wednesday, September 18 for our annual welcome back event: Library Takeover with Bard Houses. Play lawn & board games IN the library (yes, inside the library!). We’ll have our famous home-grown minigolf course made out of books, corn hole in the stacks, board games, snacks, prizes & more! Come make some noise in the library with us! Happens on the first floor & lower level of Stevenson Library.

This Thursday, August 22, from 4:30-6pm,  join Associate Deans of the College Michael Sadowski and Nicholas Lewis, Director of the Institute for Writing and Thinking Erica Kaufman, and Associate Director of Stevenson Library Alexa Murphy for tea, cookies, and conversation.  Get to know members of the administration, learn more about Bard, and meet new people!

Happens on the first floor of Stevenson Library.

Stevenson Library is excited to announce the official launch of our new online catalog, WorldCat Discovery. In addition to the main WorldCat Discovery portal, you will also find a quick-search bar on the Library website.

Worldcat Discovery replaces our old library catalog and discovery interfaces. You can now search for books, articles, journals and more at Stevenson and libraries worldwide all through a single search portal. To avoid confusion, please delete any bookmarked pages to our old catalog that you may be using and begin using the above links starting today. 

To help you start to get acquainted with the new interface, we’ve provided introductory documentation in this guide, highlighting some of the notable features and changes including:

• Expanding your search beyond the Bard libraries
• Making lists and saving searches
• Keeping track of your loans and requests
• Making inter-library loan requests

While we complete this transition, some resources may be temporarily unavailable. If something doesn’t seem to be working correctly or you are having trouble accessing a resource, please use this form to report any problems to us. Thank you for your patience during this transition!