Month: February 2016

Changing Chinese Cities: Author Book Talk, March 8

Posted on by UC Berkeley Library

City skyline of tall buildings in Shanghai

Renee Chow will discuss her book, Changing Chinese Cities: The Potentials for Field Urbanism, at the Environmental Design Library on March 8th.

Synopisis: Using a lens of urban fields, Renee Y. Chow describes life in neighborhoods of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and its canal environs. Detailed observations from courtyard to city are unlayered to reveal the relations that build extended environments. These attributes are then relayered to integrate the emergence of forms that are rooted to a place, providing a new paradigm for urban design and master planning.

Essays, mappings and case studies demonstrate how the design of fields can be made as compelling as figures.

Following thirty years of economic and political containment, cities are now showcases whose every component street, park, or building is designed to express distinctiveness. This propensity for the singular is erasing the relational fields that once distinguished each city.

In China’s first tier cities, the result is a cacophony of events where the extraordinary is becoming a burden to the ordinary.

Date: Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Time: 7­:00pm to 8:30pm

Place: Environmental Design Library Atrium, 210 Wurster Hall

Post contributed by David Eifler, Environmental Design Librarian

Exhibit honors “Imagined Communities” author & scholar, Benedict Anderson

Posted on by UC Berkeley Library

Book cover

The most insightful and enduring work of renown scholar, Benedict Anderson, is showcased in a small exhibit in room 120 of Doe Library.

Professor Anderson was recognized as a giant in Southeast Asian studies. He inspired and trained several generations of students and shared his intellectual originality and innovation with the world.

Anderson’s most influential publication, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, has been translated into two dozen languages.

Find out more about his work online and at the exhibit, which is up until April 29th.

Anderson passed away recently.  Throughout his life, he was an accomplished scholar who produced a few dozen major scholarly works on language and politics. He was the editor of the seminal journal Indonesia published by the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. His linguistic skills were also extraordinary. Anderson was fluent in Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Javanese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Thai.

Virginia Shih and Vaughn Egge co-curated the exhibit.

Post contributed by Virginia Shih, Librarian for Southeast Asian Collections

Lunch Poems: David Gewanter, March 3

Posted on by UC Berkeley Library

David Gewanter

Enjoy poetry during lunch on Thursday, March 3, 2016. Lunch Poems is a monthly series of mid-day readings.

David Gewanter is author of three poetry books, In the Belly, The Sleep of Reason, and War Bird (all from U. Chicago Press), and co-editor of Robert Lowell: Collected Poems (FSG & Faber). His awards include the John Zacharis First Book Award, James Laughlin Award finalist, Ambassador Book Award, Hopwood Award, Whiting Award, Eisner Prize, Academy of American Poets prize, and others. He teaches at Georgetown and lives in DC. His new manuscript of poems is Fort Necessity.

This event is free and open to the public.

Date: March 3, 2016

Time: 12:10 pm – 12:50 pm

Place: Morrison Library

Lunch Poems: David Gewanter, March 3

Posted on by UC Berkeley Library

David Gewanter

Enjoy poetry during lunch on Thursday, March 3, 2016. Lunch Poems is a monthly series of mid-day readings.

David Gewanter is author of three poetry books, In the Belly, The Sleep of Reason, and War Bird (all from U. Chicago Press), and co-editor of Robert Lowell: Collected Poems (FSG & Faber). His awards include the John Zacharis First Book Award, James Laughlin Award finalist, Ambassador Book Award, Hopwood Award, Whiting Award, Eisner Prize, Academy of American Poets prize, and others. He teaches at Georgetown and lives in DC. His new manuscript of poems is Fort Necessity.

This event is free and open to the public.

Date: March 3, 2016

Time: 12:10 pm – 12:50 pm

Place: Morrison Library

1916 News Flashback outside Moffitt Library

Posted on by UC Berkeley Library

Newspaper front pages on display outside Moffitt Library

Have you noticed some decidedly old news posted on Moffitt’s Newspaper Display Wall alongside current events from around the world?

We’re posting the front page of a different 1916 newspaper each week so you can see what was making headlines a century ago.

We primarily post newspapers from California or other Western states, though not exclusively. Each historical paper is up Thursday through Sunday, while the other front pages in front of Moffitt change daily.

We hope you enjoy this peek into the past!

For more old news, see our online news databases and check out blog posts on historical newspapers from History Librarian, Jennifer Dorner.

New Books In Graduate Services February 2016

Posted on by Scott Peterson

Experiencing nature : the Spanish American empire and the early scientific revolution

Experiencing Nature: The Spanish American Empire And The Early Scientific Revolution by Antonio Barrera-Osorio

The siege of Jerusalem

The Siege Of Jerusalem (A Broadview Anthology Of British Literature Edition) edited and translated by Adrienne Williams Boyarin

German Jewry and the allure of the Sephardic

German Jewry And The Allure Of The Sephardic by John M. Efron

The punitive society : lectures at the Collège de France 1972-1973

The Punitive Society: Lectures At the College De France, 1972-1973 by Michel Foucault

Adam Usk's secret

Adam Usk’s Secret by Steven Justice

The work of the dead : a cultural history of mortal remains

The Work Of The Dead: A Cultural History Of Mortal Remains by Thomas W. Laqueur

Science in action : how to follow scientists and engineers through society

Science In Action: How To Follow Scientists And Engineers Through Society by Bruno Latour

Strange tools : art and human nature

Strange Tools: Art And Human Nature by Alva Noe

Lube Job: Movies @ Moffitt, Mar 2

Posted on by UC Berkeley Library

Photo of Oil Field in Ocean, By Andyminicooper (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

The Movies @ Moffitt series features films selected by students for students, on the first Wednesday of each month. This month’s selection, Lube Job, will play on March 2nd.

Title: Lube Job

Director: Guy Hernandez

Length: 58 Minutes

Synopsis: Lube Job is an in-depth look at Louisiana’s century-old relationship with oil and gas, and the resulting environmental catastrophe devastating its treasured wetlands and age old way of life.

When: Wednesday, March 2. Doors open at 6:30pm, and the film starts at 7:00pm.

Where: 150D Moffitt Library

A UCB student ID is required for entry, and the event is free. Light refreshments served.

Post contributed by Tim Dilworth, First Year Coordinator, The Library

Creating Aging Friendly Communities Talk, Mar 2

Posted on by UC Berkeley Library

Professor Andy Scharlach will discuss his new book, Creating Aging Friendly Communities (CAFC) on March 2nd in the Social Research Library.

CAFC focuses on the need to redesign our communities to respond to the realities of our rapidly aging society. This topic effects all of us, and grapples with important questions of how to make sure that all older adults are actively involved, valued and supported.

Please join us for discussion and celebration!

Date: Wednesday, March 2

Time: 4:00pm – 5:30pm

Place: Social Research Library, 227 Haviland Hall

Book cover

Post contributed by Susan Edwards — Head, Social Sciences Division, Social Welfare & Psychology Librarian

Oral History Center — and Bancroft Library — Open House Friday 2/26!

Posted on by Paul Burnett

This Friday — February 26th — the Oral History Center along with The Bancroft Library overall welcomes you to our annual open house. In addition to exhibits of rare and fascinating items from the archives, Oral History Center historians will be presenting on four major oral history projects: Rosie the Riveter, West Coast Cocktails, Chicago Economists, and Freedom to Marry. All presentations are set to take place in the Oral History Center conference room, Bancroft 267, on the first floor of the Bancroft Library.

Schedule for Oral History Center speaks at The Bancroft Library Open House

Exhibit: Thinking Comparatively: Celebrating Benedict Anderson’s Scholarship

Posted on by dorner
Thinking Comparatively: Celebrating Benedict Anderson’s Scholarship
  An Exhibition
February 19 through April 29, 2016
120 Doe Library
Benedict Anderson (1936-2015) was born to Anglo-Irish parents in Kunming, Yunnan, China. He was raised in China, California, and Ireland. He received his bachelor’s degree in classics from Cambridge University in 1957 and his doctorate in government from Cornell University in 1967. He was the Aaron L. Binenkorb Professor of International Studies Emeritus and taught at Cornell from 1967 until his retirement in 2002.
Throughout his life, Anderson was an accomplished scholar who produced a few dozen major scholarly works on language and politics. Among these, his most influential publication, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, has been translated into two dozen languages. He was the editor of the seminal journal Indonesiapublished by the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. His linguistic skills were extraordinary. Anderson was fluent in Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Javanese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Thai.
Professor Anderson was recognized as a giant in Southeast Asian studies. He inspired and trained several generations of students and shared his intellectual originality and innovation with the world.
A small collection of his most insightful and enduring works has been assembled for this exhibit in honor of his widely admired scholarship.
A library guide to Anderson’s works is available at:

http://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/benedict-anderson/home