By: Library Staff

Opened in 1933 and closed in 1956, Black Mountain College was a small, experimental art college located just outside of Asheville, North Carolina. Despite its size, the college had a huge impact on American art.

While most scholarship on BMC focuses on its staggering lineup of faculty and students (Josef Albers, Ruth Asawa, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Buckminster Fuller, Jacob Lawrence, Charles Olson and MC Richards, among many others), David Silver’s interests rest on the college’s unique work program. Students, faculty and staff of BMC had a set of chores and tasks performed collectively, much of which took place on the campus farm, that helped the college thrive and, at times, survive.

In this talk, Professor Silver traces the history of the farm at Black Mountain College, discusses key contributors and introduces a number of literary and artistic representations of the farm and farm life. Along the way, he will talk about innovative examples of living-learning-working communities and connect the efforts at Black Mountain College to today’s attempts towards “green campuses” and environmental sustainability. This talk will take place in the first floor auditorium of the Hunt Library on Monday, April 8, at 6 p.m..

David Silver is an associate professor of media studies, environmental studies, and urban agriculture at the University of San Francisco. With his urban agriculture colleagues and students, Silver has been active in USF’s organic garden, the campus farm stand, and various food distribution projects within the City of San Francisco. He is currently on sabbatical researching the history of the farm at Black Mountain College.

By: Library Staff

Too often, professors think of research as books, journals, and libraries. Too often, students think of research as Google and Wikipedia. What happens when we use both? In this talk, Professor David Silver discusses student work and research from his courses in “green media.” In particular, Silver will discuss the vital role both libraries and social media play in student research in the 21st century.

This talk will take place in the second floor auditorium of D. H. Hill Library on Tuesday, April 9, at 3 p.m..

David Silver is an associate professor of media studies, environmental studies, and urban agriculture at the University of San Francisco. With his urban agriculture colleagues and students, Silver has been active in USF’s organic garden, the campus farm stand, and various food distribution projects within the City of San Francisco. He is currently on sabbatical researching the history of the farm at Black Mountain College.

By: David Hiscoe

Results magazine explains how the new Hunt Library “harnesses the tools of the digital age to spark an innovation revolution.”

By: Marian Fragola

Mary Evelyn Porterfield became the first African American to be named as NCSU Homecoming Queen in 1970.

Red, White & Black Walking Tour

Thursday, April 11 at 3:00 p.m.
The tour will begin on the quad side of Holladay Hall

Join us to learn about the spaces and places on NC State’s campus that have had significant impact on the lives and experiences of African American students and the larger community. Dr. Walter Jackson, NC State associate professor of history, and Ms. Toni Thorpe, program coordinator at NC State’s African American Cultural Center, will lead the tour. The walking tour will conclude with refreshments and reflection at the Witherspoon Student Center. Please wear comfortable walking shoes.

Free and open to the public. The Red, White & Black Walking Tour is a collaboration between NCSU Libraries and the African American Cultural Center. For more information, please call 919-513-3481 or email marian_fragola@ncsu.edu.

By: David Hiscoe

On the evening of April 2, the day of April 3, and the evening of April 4, the university will officially dedicate the Hunt Library, drawing crowds both inside and outside the building as we thank the many people who made the project possible.

During the ceremonies, most of the Hunt Library will remain open. But the building may be even more lively than usual with hundreds of visitors exploring the spaces and the dedication ceremony itself being shown on screens in the library.

In addition, on the evenings of April 2 and April 4, the fifth floor of the Hunt Library will be hosting parts of the ceremonies and will have to be closed.  We assure you that such closings will be very rare in the future and apologize for any inconvenience.

During this period, quiet spaces are available at the D. H. Hill Library and other branch libraries on campus.

By: Library Staff

The North Carolina State University Libraries has acquired an important collection of nearly 400 rare pamphlets and other works relating to animal advocacy, animal rights, and animal welfare. These materials enhance the Libraries’ collecting efforts in an interdisciplinary field that engages scholars across the humanities, human and veterinary medicine, and the sciences.

Of significant scholarly and historical importance, the collection spans a period of over eighty years from the 1870s to the 1950s, and includes a wealth of promotional, advocacy, and educational materials that throw light upon the moral, social, medical, and political dimensions of this complex movement.

Concern for animal welfare grew in the decades after the first animal anti-cruelty law was passed in 1822.   With the backing of renowned abolitionist William Wilberforce, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) was established in 1824, becoming the first animal welfare organization in the world and the first law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. The pamphlets and other materials conserved in the NCSU Libraries collection continued this momentum, engaging some of the leading activists of the time including the noted feminist and social reformer Frances Power Cobbe (1822-1904) and Henry Salt (1851-1939), author, social campaigner, biographer of Henry David Thoreau, founder of the influential Humanitarian League, and friend of Mahatma Gandhi. Also included are published works and correspondence from notable novelists H. E. Bates, H. G. Wells, and George Bernard Shaw.

These materials stand as testament to the work of the tireless campaigners who sought to spread their message through the creation and distribution of mass publications. Because the material was often published in the heat of argument with little thought for long-term preservation, this collection provides a valuable and unique multi-disciplinary research tool, as well as potential source for future exhibitions and associated opportunities for outreach and educational projects.

The acquisition of these pamphlets builds on the NCSU Libraries’ leadership in this collecting area and augments existing archival processing initiatives, including Acting for Animals: Revealing the Records of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare Movements, a 2011 grant that documents the animal welfare and the animal rights movements of the second half of the 20^th century. The Acting for Animals grant was supported with funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Dr. Tom Regan, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at NC State University, notes that “before the recent acquisition, the library’s holdings were the most comprehensive in the world. With the addition of these new materials, especially the ones from the nineteenth century, the library has strengthened its claim to preeminence.”  The depth and breadth of the NCSU Libraries’ collections now provide a rich trove of primary resources to support research in animal advocacy, rights and welfare from the 1870s to the present.

By: David Hiscoe

Complex magazine’s Art&Design website has ranked the new Hunt Library as one of the “25 coolest college libraries” in the world in a list that includes a range of buildings from beautifully traditional spaces such Trinity College Library in Dublin to the stunningly ultra-modern University of Indonesia Central Library in Jakarta.

By: Marian Fragola

NCSU Libraries Women’s History Month program: A/V Geeks present “The Trouble with Women”
Tuesday, March 26 at 3:00 p.m.
Auditorium, West Wing, D. H. Hill Library

In celebration of Women’s History Month, NC State alum Skip Elsheimer of the digital film project A/V Geeks, will screen and discuss “The Trouble with Women” – short films from the 1950s and 60s that present the pros and cons of women in the workplace and other cultural issues. Heidi Grappendorf, scholar-in-residence at the Women’s Center, will also be on hand to provide insight. If you have not experienced an A/V Geeks presentation, it is definitely worth your while. A fascinating glimpse into the past through educational and historical archived films.

Free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, call 919-513-3481 or email marian_fragola@ncsu.edu.

By: Mike Nutt

Miami may have won the ACC basketball tournament, but a different kind of championship was awarded in the Hunt Library auditorium last week. Kimberly Dufresne was awarded the first place prize in the NCSU Libraries’ My #HuntLibrary Instagram photo competition after a fierce competition that lasted two months and had 1,400 entries. The quantity and quality of the photographs made the final selection difficult, but in the end, Kimberly’s photograph was the clear winner. It features the unique visualization technology in the building and symbolically illustrates how the James B. Hunt Jr. Library allows our students to reach new heights. Kimberly, a junior graphic design major, received an iPad Mini at an awards ceremony during halftime of NC State’s first-round game during the ACC tournament.

Libraries Communications Director David Hiscoe presents iPad Mini to Kimberly Dufresne

Left to Right: Mike Nutt, Kimberly Dufresne, David Hiscoe, Megan Wood, Emily Reeves, Torey Kiss, Tammy Wingo

Although the contest is over, we are now beginning the process of ingesting the stunning photographs from the My #HuntLibrary contest into the permanent University archives. Our goal is to add all of the Instagram photos that were tagged #HuntLibrary into our digital collections so that they become a permanent part of the story of the James B. Hunt Jr. Library. The My #HuntLibrary website will also continue to live on, so don’t forget to keep tagging your beautiful shots of #HuntLibrary!

Here are Kimberly’s winning photo and the five runners-up category winners.

First Place: Kimberly Dufresne

Most Creative Photograph: Emily Reeves

Best Architectural Photo: Torey Kiss

Best Community Photographer: Joshua Rucker

Wolfpack at Work: Mark Malek

Best Sense of Space: Tammy Wingo

These photographs were also selected as contest Finalists:

Chao Wan

Lauren Lu

Megan Wood

Tammy Wingo

Chris Ragone

Leonora Shell

Tammy Wingo

James Gries

By: Library Staff

It’s not quite as good as being in Greensboro in person, but it’s definitely the second best choice, especially if you need to stay close to your studies but don’t want to miss the Wolfpack in action.

We’ll be streaming the ACC Tournament live in the new auditorium on the first floor of the Hunt Library, starting with the NC State/Virginia Tech game on Thursday, March 14 at 2 p. m. and on each afternoon on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  It’s free, and a great chance to enjoy the games with the best screen and sound system on campus.

As an added bonus, during halftime of the NC State/VA Tech game, we’ll announce the winners of the My #HuntLibrary contest and present their awards. My #HuntLibrary is an Instagram photo project that lets the NC State community show what they love about the transformative new James B. Hunt Jr. Library. For more details, visit http://go.ncsu.edu/myhunt.