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Mann Library

Open until 6pm - Full Hours /
Lobby/Contactless Pickup: Open 24 Hours

Month: August

Mann’s Graduate Study Area Gets an Upgrade!

Study pods, collaborative booths, private carrels, and much more!
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Soft seating and study pods in graduate study area

Mann Library’s refurbished graduate study area – which includes both the David R. Atkinson Graduate Student Study Room and the Joseph and Geraldine McManus Study Room – is located on the library’s 3rd floor. The renovation of this space was concluded in early 2020 and now provides furniture and technology conducive to a wide range of work styles. From private study pods and carrels, to counter-height open tables, to collaborative booths and docking stations, Mann has a variety of furniture options to meet the needs of graduate students. Graduate students can reserve desks and study seats ahead of time on the library’s Find a Space webpage: mann.library.cornell.edu/find-a-space.

 

In line with principles of user-centered design for library spaces, graduate students from across campus had a direct hand in shaping the area’s facilities upgrade, providing feedback via interviews and journey mapping exercises. In addition to the gratitude we owe to the students who provided this invaluable input, Mann gratefully acknowledges the gift that made this important renovation possible: a bequest from our generous friend, the late Mary A. Morrison (1921-2017), who was professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell from 1960 to 1988.

We also have lockers in the graduate study area that are available for loan by the semester – please inquire at our Help Desk. In addition to the graduate study area, we have five graduate study rooms elsewhere on the 3rd floor. These are individual study rooms that are reservable for up to 8 hours at a time and are limited to graduate students only. These can be reserved at spaces.library.cornell.edu/reserve/mann-grad-study.

 

Head up to the 3rd floor on your next visit to Mann Library and check out all the new study space options. Your new favorite study spot is waiting to be discovered!

Row of desks in graduate study area

New Mann Staff — Fall 2022

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Please join us in welcoming the newest Mann staff members who have started at the library within the last six months!

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Diana Hackett, Digital Literacy Librarian

Diana joined the Mann Library Instruction team on April 11 as our Digital Literacy Librarian. She holds an M.A. in Library and Information Studies from University College London, and an M.A. and B.A. in English Literature, both from the University of Sheffield. Prior to joining Cornell University Library, Diana was most recently an academic librarian in the UK, where she worked for 3 years as an Assistant Librarian in a social sciences library at Nuffield College.

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Ten Van Winkle, Multimedia Support Specialist

Ten started at Mann Library on June 2 as our Multimedia Support Specialist. Prior to joining Mann, Ten worked at the SC Johnson College Office of Diversity and Inclusion as their Office and Program Coordinator. Ten is also the chair of the Young Professionals Colleague Network Group (CNG) at Cornell. Previously, they worked as a Legal Assistant and Client Services Coordinator for a law firm and continue to work as a freelance art instructor in the Ithaca area. Ten graduated from Cornell with a B.S. in Communications (‘12).

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Robin Gee, Critical Pedagogy & Equity Librarian

Robin started at Mann on August 15 as the Critical Pedagogy & Equity Librarian. This position is part of the Library’s first cluster hire in Critical Information Literacy as part of our efforts to foster collaboration across library instruction programs and build library-wide interest in critical information literacy. Robin comes to us from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where they recently completed their MLIS.

Mann Library Tours & New Student Welcome

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Mann Library Tour & New Student Welcome

Monday, August 15 – Wednesday, August 17, 12-2pm

Tours depart from the Mann Lobby every 30 minutes

 

Why do our students tell us that Albert R. Mann Library is their home away from home? Come to our tour to find out! Explore one of the country’s best library collections in life sciences, human ecology, and other related disciplines, and discover all the tools we offer. And don’t miss our door prizes—they’ll be fun and have good info for you too! Families are welcome. Tours run approx. 30 minutes and include a Q&A.

 

Didn’t register for a tour? No problem! Feel free to join us during any time slot that works for you. We look forward to meeting you!

Threading the Needle: Call for Fiber & Fashion Art

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The exhibit, Threading the Needle: Weaving Traditions into Contemporary Textile Art at Mann Library’s Gallery will present artists that blur the line between craft and art and turn traditionally feminine arts into visual storytelling by using combinations of stitching, quilting, embroidery, mending, remaking, refashioning, upcycling and other textile crafts.

 

Threading the Needle features pieces that draw on these traditional textile techniques, with a particular focus on the work of artists incorporating ideas of social and/or environmental sustainability and inclusive practices or themes. These contemporary pieces will be exhibited alongside selections from Cornell University Library’s Home Economics Archive: Research, Traditions, History (HEARTH) database as a means to connect current artwork to historical sources while reimagining those sources for the future.

 

Application Requirements

  • 2-5 example images of work and an accompanying one paragraph long statement about each piece. Submit at least one image for each piece, and not more than two. Images should be labeled as LastName_FirstName_Title.jpeg. (e.g. Smith_John_seaming.jpeg). Statements should be labeled LastName_FirstName_Title_Statement.jpeg.

If you are submitting one piece for consideration, two of the images should be of the piece you are submitting, others can reflect your overall work. Submit one statement.

 

If you are submitting multiple pieces for consideration, images should be of each piece you are submitting, and one statement should accompany each piece. Make clear which piece goes with which statement.

 

If you are submitting a series of work, images should be of all the pieces in that series. Submit one statement for the series.

 

NOTE: Depending on space availability and a desire to represent different artists it’s possible only one piece may be selected for display even when multiple pieces or a series are submitted.

 

  • Bio or CV
  • Submissions should be sent to: mann-public-ed-prog@cornell.edu
  • Artists who submit an entry and images to Cornell University Library agree to have images of their work appear on the website for the exhibit and programming materials.

Timeline

  • Application Deadline: September 30, 2022
  • Artist Notification: November 15, 2022
  • Submission must be received by January 6, 2023

Exhibit opening: March 2023

Data Literacy: Cultivating Skills to Engage with Data

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The ability to find, analyze and utilize existing data helps us interpret, engage with and critique the world around us. We are living in a time when our behaviors and actions are increasingly viewed as data points, and when recent court rulings and laws have ignited larger conversations about the ways in which the most personal of data might be utilized for prosecution. Data is valuable, and profitable, and can be illuminating. But data is also imperfect, and can be biased, and used as a weapon against vulnerable populations.

 

In this class, we will take a critical approach to learning about data literacy. Data literacy refers to the skills needed to find, read, curate, analyze, and communicate with data. This includes self-reported data (like demographics, hate crime statistics and responses within focus group), observational and trace data (like web searches and street traffic patterns), and experimental data (like health outcomes in vaccine clinical trials).

 

This 1-credit class aims to equip students from a variety of non-technical backgrounds with the necessary skills to think critically about quantitative and qualitative data. The class approaches data literacy as part of a broader process of inquiry into the world – not from a math or statistics-centric point of view. Students in this course will end the semester with a better understanding of the various ways that data is used- and perhaps in some cases, shouldn’t be used- to inform advocacy, science, civics, and policy.

 

Upon completing the course, students will be able to:

  1. Describe the strengths and limitations of the following data types: 1) self-reported data, 2) observational or trace data, and 3) experimental data.
  2. List at least two real-world examples that demonstrate the harmful consequences of “data-driven decision-making” and describe solutions to mitigate bias and harm within such decision-making.
  3. Identify three sources for locating open and reusable datasets and locate one dataset based on student interest.
  4. Apply FAIR data principles to evaluate a dataset.
  5. Utilize open-source, web-based tools for simple data cleanup & analysis.

ALS 1210 information and registration: bit.ly/als1210dataliteracy

Final Reminder! Submit your course reserves for the Fall 2022 semester

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Faculty and instructors, please submit your fall semester course reserves requests by Friday, August 5. Please see instructions for submitting requests: https://www.library.cornell.edu/services/reserves.      

 

Mann’s physical course reserves will again be held in a self-service model. Students can use materials in the library without checking them out. If desired, they may check out materials overnight. Multi-function printers/scanners are available in the library for scanning chapters at no charge.

 

Note that per our Copyright Office, if you are using streaming media for your course (films, tv shows, or music) the Media Digitization Request Form at olinuris.library.cornell.edu/digitization must be submitted or resubmitted each semester for each item and course, even if the form has been sent for an item/course in a previous semester. Due to ongoing high volume of submissions, we currently process media according to the “needed by” dates shown on the form.

 

We are also in the process of contacting departments to retrieve their personal/dept. copies of textbooks from the last few semesters. If you will be needing the materials to go on reserve again for fall, we can hold the books. Otherwise, we greatly appreciate your cooperation in returning your valuable books.

 

If you have any questions, please contact our course reserves coordinator, Wendy Thompson, at mann_reserve@cornell.edu or by phone at (607) 255-3296.

The New Mann Café is Now Open

The new Mann Café opened August 23 in the Mann Lobby!
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If you’ve been among the many Cornellians missing the smell of good coffee in the Mann Lobby over the summer weeks, we’ve got some great news to share. On Monday, August 23, the new Mann Café opened its doors (off of the Mann Lobby) to offer a welcoming array of hot and cold drinks. By Thursday, August 26, the café will be open and on track for a full service menu—and a lively gathering spot featuring refreshing beverages and healthy food will again be part of the upper campus landscape. There’s lots to be happy about with this new development. Among the features that has Mann Library staff particularly delighted:  

  • Coffee – The new Mann Café will serve locally roasted Copper Horse coffee, a top quality brew that’s become  popular among Ithaca’s java aficionados since it first entered the local coffee roasting scene in 2014.
  • Tea – Not to be outdone, the discerning tea lovers among us are loving the fact that the café will feature fine organic tea by Teatulia, a company committed to regenerative farming and investing in the health, education and livelihoods of the community working in their tea garden.
  • Menu – In addition to the standard grab & go fare for hungry-but-short-on-time customers, Chef Chloe Greenhalgh (who also serves as managing chef for Martha’s Café in MVR) has prepared a menu of hand-crafted breakfast, lunch and dinner food that has something for every type of foodie—from peanut butter & apple-blueberry butter bagels and breakfast burritos (egg or scrambled tofu) to hot ham & cheese panini and vegan (also hot) bbq jackfruit sandwiches.
  • Local Sourcing – Thanks to Cornell Dining’s partnership with the food service vendor Performance Food Group, whenever possible, ingredients for the food prepared on-site will be sourced from within a 250 mile radius of Ithaca.
  • Hours – The café will be open 8am-5pm for the first couple of weeks of the semester, but as the semester gets underway, it will then shift to extended evening hours (we’ve heard as late as 10pm, matching the hours of Mann Library…yay!!) —a boon to those late-working students we see in the library. After Labor Day Weekend, the café will be open seven days a week.
  • Forms of payment – In addition to credit and debit cards, as part of Cornell Dining’s network of campus eateries, the new Mann Café will accept Big Red Bucks for students, and Meal Choice for Cornell staff and retirees.
  • Last but not least, composting and recycling! As with all other dining facilities on campus, a well-honed system of sorting for composting and recycling will be in place, and we’re hoping y’all will use it well. (And by way of refresher for getting our recyclables right:  current guidelines from Sustainable Campus Cornell).  

In short, we say: What’s not to like about one more way that the Cornell campus community can enjoy some good food and drink together while also taking well-deserved pride in continuing to push the campus sustainability envelope? We hope to be running into you at this fun Ag Quad hot spot soon!

Start the school year off right with our September workshops!

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It’s a fact of life—blossoms bear fruit, not to mention seeds for further growth. And this life sciences library hopes to help all the new and returning Cornellians get their 2021 fall semester off to a blooming start with a fresh line up of workshops. Follow the links below to register for what we’ve got going on in September—we’re eager to help you get a strong start on reaping in the sweet rewards of a great school year!  

 

Welcome Back Cornellians—Wherever You Are!

Bear illustration by Daisy Wiley; photography & poster design by Jenny Leijonhufvud
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Look at that! September is here, and Cornell classes for the fall 2020 semester are officially rolling. The Mann Library staff is really happy to be starting the 2020-21 academic year with all new and returning Cornellians, wherever you may be. After a busy summer getting ready for hybrid semester, we’re pleased to announce all ways that we are here for you — via virtual research support and instruction, our book delivery and article/book chapter scanning services, and as quiet study space for all students registered for on-campus study. Here are the key things we’d like you to know:


For all general Cornell Library updates & info

Getting books and articles

  • Mann has a robust paging system in place that allows us to retrieve books or scan articles for you. Check out our recent “Back to Library Basics” update to get the full skinny on how to make your request.
  • In-person research and browsing in the Mann stacks is now also available to on-campus Cornellians. Faculty may swipe in; undergraduate and graduate students should make seat reservations via chatter.cornell.edu. For browsing hours and other important information about getting into the Mann stacks, please check out our “Back in the Stacks” update. 
  • We’re currently unable to accommodate requests for in-person viewing of the rare books in Mann’s special collections vault. However, for items that are not already available online at resources such as the Biodiversity Heritage Library Internet Archive, and Hathi Trust or via Cornell Library’s own digital collections, we may be able to scan requested materials for you. Full information and access to the rich life science and human ecology digital collections created by Mann Library, see our special collections page. 
  • The Library’s course reserves service has moved into an online, accessible environment to the fullest degree possible. Every effort is being made to make course reserves available for digital access by all students in a given class, while physical course reserves are available at Mann and Uris libraries if quiet study reservations are made via the chatter.cornell.edu system. For full details, see “Accessible Course Reserves for a Hybrid Semester.”

Library spaces for quiet study

Mann Library is now open for quiet study for all Cornell students who are registered for on-campus study. Study spots are available by reservation only, using chatter.cornell.edu. Hours of study space availability are: 8:00 a.m. through 10:00 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 8:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m. Fridays, and 12:00 p.m. through 6:00 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. 


Research services & support

  • Our online workshops will continue to help students build all kinds of research & learning skills throughout the semester. The Library’s workshop calendar shows what is being offered and how to sign up.
  • CUL’s “Ask a Librarian” service continues to be available 24/7, with Cornell librarians present online for a large part of that time.
  • You can also jump right in to in-depth research help with Mann subject librarians too! Go to our “Disciplinary Research Support” page to connect with Mann librarians who can offer you some deep expertise.
  •  There is now remote access to specialized software (ArcGIS and Rhino), students will need to self-enroll. The library is also helping to facilitate remote access to Bloomberg and students should contact mgtref@cornell.edu to request Bloomberg access.

Printing, coffee, & more

  • Cornell’s new printing service, CU Print, is now up and running with full info available at bit.ly/CU-print. CU Print jobs can be picked up in the mannUfactory makerspace off the Mann lobby whenever Mann is open. Other CU Print pick up spots are Uris Library and RPCC. 
  • Last but never least, Manndible Café will be opening for grab & go service starting September 8th. For hours and other updates on that count be sure to visit the Manndible page. 
  • Our popular equipment loans are also now possible again! Includes cameras, projectors, GPS units & more. All may be requested for a one-week loan on our equipment reservation page. Laptop loans are available at Olin-Uris Libraries on their request page. 

We think that covers it for now. But if you do find yourself with a question, please don’t hesitate to email mann-ref@cornell.edu and we’ll get right back to you. We all  know this semester is going to be an extraordinary one for the Cornell community—and the Library is here to make sure it’s an extraordinarily successful one for you as well!

New IT Consulting Desk Now Open @ Mann

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Life saver and laptop iconNeed some help setting up your computer for Net-Print? Using Zoom? Accessing a cloud-based application through Cornell? Getting set up to use Cornell’s virtual private network (VPN) service? Making sure your devices are secure? Or anything else computing-related?

The new IT Consulting Desk now open in the Consultation Area on Mann’s first floor is a great place to start.

As of Thursday, August 29th, Cornell Information Technology (aka CIT) will be staffing this new service point @ Mann Library from 9:30 a.m – 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday for the regular Fall 2019 semester. This desk complements the new IT Service Desk that also recently opened in B40 Olin Library. You will get computing-related help at both service points on a walk-in basis. Depending on demand over the course of the Fall semester, CIT will continue their Consultation Desk at Mann Library into the Spring semester as well.

For more info on the full range of services offered by IT@Cornell, visit their website homepage or their overview of email contacts.