Holiday Cards from HWS Presidents

Archives has digitized our collection of Holiday Cards sent between 1919 and the present by Hobart and William Smith Colleges Presidents and other officials. Take a look and get in the mood for your holiday of choice, or just the school break.


The oldest card in our collection, sent by President Bartlett between 1919 and 1939.

Thanksgiving Week Hours

Please note our reduced hours this week. The library will close at 3 pm on Wednesday for Thanksgiving break and will reopen on Sunday with regular hours. We hope you all have a good and restful break!

Archives Scrapbook Collection

Join us this Friday, November 7, between Noon and 4:45 in the Rare Book Room on the lower level to view several scrapbooks from members of the early classes of William Smith College.

Serendipity in the Archives

October is American Archives Month. Join us next Wednesday, October 22, at 7:30 PM in the Learning Commons Presentation Room (Warren Hunting Smith Library, 1st floor) for a talk by Michael Tinkler, Associate Professor of Art. Professor Tinkler will talk about "Serendipity in the Archives" -- how an archives visit to answer a simple question of fact turned into a research project, an article, and a new field of interest. Tinkler, a medievalist, while preparing to give a tour of Hobart's St. John's Chapel on behalf of the Geneva Historical Society, ended up learning much more about Gothic Revival than he ever expected - and is working on it still!

1908/1909 William Smith Catalogue

Rachel I Sutcliffe, 2002 William Smith Alumna, has found the 1908-09 William Smith Catalogue available on Google Books. Since it is the first WS Catalog, it's worth a look in this centennial year. There is also a link to it on the Archives page.

Historical news resources

The newest addition to our databases is World News Digest, published by Facts on File. This database contains an archival record of news stories dating back to November 1940.

For other historical news sources, try our full-text databases containing the New York Times dating back to 1851, the Wall Street Journal back to 1889, and the Washington Post back to 1877.

Two new databases

Two more databases are now available for your use. Women's Studies International covers the core disciplines in Women's Studies to the latest scholarship in feminist research. Coverage includes more than 586,600 records and spans from 1972 and earlier to present. This database supports curriculum development in the areas of sociology, history, political science and economy, public policy, international relations, arts and humanities, business, and education. Over 2,000 periodical sources are represented.

The Film and Television Literature Index covers scholarly and technical writing as well as journalism relating to a broad array of topics in film and television. It contains indexing and abstracts for over 300 journals in their entirety and selectively within another 300.

New art database

We've just added a great new database to our collection. Oxford Art Online is an excellent resource for art research. Most notably, it contains the full text of the Grove Dictionary of Art, with over 45,000 articles on topics in Western and non-Western art, more than 5000 searchable art images, and over 40,000 links to images at museums around the world. Oxford Art Online also includes access to the Oxford Companion to Western Art, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. All four titles are fully searchable.

Learning Commons open

It's official -- the Learning Commons is now open. To our first-year students: welcome! And to our returning students, faculty, and staff: welcome back! We hope you enjoy our beautifully renovated space and take advantage of all the services that are now available to you in the library. There are excellent new spaces for group work and for individual study, and many different types of technology available for you to use. You'll also find experts in research, writing, and technology here to help you develop your own skills as you tackle various projects.

We'll be giving tours to first-year students tomorrow afternoon, but feel free to stop by at any time and explore the new Learning Commons. We hope to see you here soon!

Myler Half-Dime Novels

Our archives has received a large collection of Half-Dime Novels from Gene Myler of Flowery Branch, GA, in honor of his father Joseph J. Myler.

Joseph J. Myler created the collection and was a member of the Hobart class of 1919, Chairman of the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Board of Trustees, 1948-1952, and recipient of an honorary doctorate in 1959.

It is a collection of 922 issues from Beadle's Half Dime Library, published between 1877 and 1905. Each issue is 16 pages and has a woodcut illustration on the cover. Most also have a title and an alternative title, such as "Ralph Boy, The Boy Buccaneer; Or, The Fugitive Yacht."

For more detailed information about the collection, see our finding aids for the Joseph J. Myler Collection of Half Dime Novels and other archival collections on the Archives website.

July 4th Holiday

In accordance with the Colleges' holiday calendar, the Library will be closed Friday, July 4, 2008. Have a safe and enjoyable long weekend!

New databases

We're proud to announce that two new databases are now available to the HWS community. The Dictionary of Literary Biography contains biographical and critical essays on authors worldwide, with a focus on American and British literature, and Book Review Index indexes book reviews from 1965 to the present, including over 600,000 full text reviews.

You can always find the most current listing of our databases in the quick links section on the library home page or by browsing our database listings by subject and title on the navigation menu.

Construction update

The first floor construction is beginning to take shape. In this picture, you can see framing for some of the new walls (staff offices and a flexible presentation room).

Construction is beginning on the lower level as well, so the collections stored downstairs (archives, microfilm, and bound journals with call numbers in the P-Z range) will be available only by request. If you need access to these materials, fill out a paging request and library staff will retrieve them for you. Please allow 24-48 hours turnaround, as these areas will often be difficult for library staff to access due to the construction.

Construction update

Construction on the Learning Commons is proceeding at a fast pace. Here you can see the view through the lobby where the wall to Technical Services has been removed. The windowed area in the background, formerly staff office space, will be the new location of the reference collection. This area will feature comfortable seating and areas for group work, with a view through the windows to the Scandling Center.

Library closures

The library will be closed on Monday, May 26 in observance of Memorial Day. We will be also closed on the morning of Wednesday, May 28 for a staff retreat, but plan to reopen by 2 pm.

Summer changes

After two hectic days of moving, the library has reopened for summer hours. As you can see, the first floor has been cleared and is ready for construction to begin. Watch this space for updates and pictures as the Learning Commons begins to take shape.

A few reminders:

• To enter the library during construction, take the staircase next to the Geneva and Sanford rooms to the second floor. The main entrance will be closed for the summer.
• Unfortunately, wheelchair access to the library will be unavailable during construction. If you need library services and cannot use the stairs, call the reference or circulation desk and we will make every effort to accommodate you.
• Please delay any donations of material for the Archives or gift books until September.
• Remember to arrange for use of the Archives in advance (please call Linda Benedict at least one week in advance at 781-3009, as the Archives will be open "by appointment" only).
• Call ahead or make appointments for Reference service whenever possible.