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Mann Library

Open until 5pm - Full Hours /
Lobby/Contactless Pickup: Open 24 Hours

Welcome back, students!

We’re pleased to welcome Cornell students back to the library for the spring 2024 semester! Please be sure to check our full hours page for the most up-to-date information on library hours. This semester, we will have slightly reduced hours for the first few weeks due to changes in staffing, but we hope to be back to our regular schedule soon!

 

A few other reminders as you get back into the semester routine:

Lorenzo Langstroth Unvarnished

December 25th, Christmas Day, is widely known as a day for sharing and giving. It also happens to be the birthday of a man known as the father of American beekeeping: Lorenzo Langstroth, born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1810. With the winter holidays just behind us, it seems fitting to have this particular coincidence in mind as we announce a resource that we’re pretty sure students of beekeeping and its history will find a wonderful gift: a fully digitized, searchable copy of Langstroth’s handwritten personal journal. Where a researcher would have once had to make an in-person trip to Mann’s special collections reading room to attempt a deciphering of Langstroth’s (infamously difficult to read!) handwriting, the journal is now freely available—and actually readable—as both a digitized version of the original work and in a transcribed form as part of the online Biodiversity Heritage Library.

 

For those not yet fully in the know, Lorenzo Langstroth looms large in American beekeeping history thanks to discoveries and inventions he made as a self-taught apiarist, innovations which essentially revolutionized the 19th century practice of beekeeping and facilitated its development into the profitable industry of today. His guide on beekeeping, The Hive and the Honeybee, was first published in 1853 and has remained continuously in print since then. Langstroth’s story is also poignantly notable for a reason that you don’t have to a be a beekeeper to appreciate deeply: his struggles with debilitating depression, which stymied many of his professional endeavors. While working intermittently as a pastor and teacher when his mental health allowed, Langstroth found constant, life-affirming inspiration in the bee world he observed closely through the prism of the hives he kept for most of his adult life.

 

The journal Langstroth kept is a treasure for several reasons. It provides fascinating insight into pivotal moments of beekeeping’s technological history. It is, as well, an intimate view of resilience in the face of sometimes devastating mental health challenges. And last but really not least, in the comments and pet peeves that Langstroth also recorded in his ongoing notes-to-self, his off-the-record writing offers a more mundane but no less instructive tour through the day-to-day concerns—from keeping bee hives productive to the vexing challenges of protecting trade secrets and securing patents for promising new discoveries in a timely way—that would have been top-of-mind for any aspiring agricultural entrepreneur of the 19th century.

 

The online availability of Langstroth’s journal in both its handwritten and transcribed form has been a work very long in the making. When early 20th century entomologist Everett Franklin Phillipps joined the Cornell faculty 1924, he made it his mission to establish one of the world’s most important collections of beekeeping materials—now known as the E. F. Phillips Collection at Mann Library. Recognizing the importance of what is arguably the collection’s crown jewel—the original Langstroth journal—for the beekeeping field, Phillips began the painstaking process of transcribing 600 pages of Langstroth’s cramped, highly slanted script—rendered even more illegible by the frequent ink bleed-through from other pages—into easily readable typescript. The project remained unfinished at the time of Phillips passing in 1951, and others took up the work intermittently over the following decades. But it wasn’t until the epic pandemic-era national lockdown of 2020 that intrepid Mann Library collections specialist Betsy Elswit finally found herself with the time needed to finish transcribing of the journal’s final 200 pages along with also reviewing, correcting and digitally reformatting all previous transcriptions. Thanks to this heroic work, a browse through the work on the Biodiversity Diversity Heritage Library today provides a look at Langstroth’s original writing with a side-by-side, fully-aligned view of the corresponding transcribed, machine-readable text.

 

There is much to appreciate in Reverend Lorenzo Langstroth’s courageous perseverance through the inspirational highs and deep lows of life to impact the practice of beekeeping so profoundly. Future generations of beekeepers and other readers are also likely to find themselves deeply grateful to him for the rich and authentic record of both remarkable scientific observation and personal journey he left with us—and to Ms. Elswit for her invaluable part in bringing this record to the world’s fingertips.

Photograph of Betsy Elswit with Langstroth's original journal
Mann Library collections specialist Betsy Elswit with Lorenzo Langstroth’s original journal from the E. F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection at Mann Library.

Become a Better Data Steward with Cornell Data Services!

Spring Semester 2024 | Thursdays 9:30-10:30am | Mann Library Rm 100

For all levels and disciplines; attend all or a few.

Register to receive reminders at https://bit.ly/cudatadonuts

 

Join us for a weekly informal discussion series to work our way through the data lifecycle over donuts. From the planning stages of a research project, through closeout and data archiving, we will discuss best practices and point to resources on campus and beyond. There will be time for open conversation, questions, skill-building, and troubleshooting. Please bring your own beverage for donut dunking.

 

Sponsored by Cornell Data Services and Cornell University Library’s Research Data and Open Scholarship group.

 

Cornell Data Services (CDS) is a collaborative, campus-wide organization that links Cornell University faculty, staff, and students with data services to meet their research needs. CDS’s broad range of disciplinary, policy, data, and information technology experts provide timely and professional assistance for the creation and implementation of data management and sharing plans, and help researchers find specialized data-related services they require at any stage of the research process, including initial exploration, data gathering, analysis and description, long term preservation and access.

 

Please help us spread the word, and contact us with feedback or requests for information. Sign up for the Cornell Data Services monthly newsletter.

Spring 2023 Chats in the Stacks @ Mann Library

Get out your calendars and mark the dates of our spring semester book talks! All our Chats in the Stacks this semester will be held in-person in Mann Library 160 and livestreamed. You can find all recordings of our past Chats in the Stacks on our YouTube channel.

 

March 2, 2023, 4pm

Mann Library, Room 160 and livestreamed

Character Trouble with John Doris 

Human character has less of an influence on action than both philosophical theory and our everyday experiences would have us think, according to John M. Doris, the Peter L. Dyson Professor of Ethics in Organizations and Life and professor in the Sage School of Philosophy­. A leading proponent of interdisciplinary approaches to moral psychology exploring questions of character, virtue, and agency since the 1990’s, Doris has now collected over 20 years of his work into Character Trouble: Undisciplined Essays on Moral Agency and Personality (Oxford University Press, 2022). In this book talk, Doris will reflect on this collection, as well as discuss recent developments in understanding of moral cognition and behavior, and the moral psychology of character. 

 

March 9, 2023, 4pm

Mann Library, Room 160 and livestreamed

The Nature of Data with Jenny Goldstein 

It is not possible to fully understand current global environmental politics and responses to environmental challenges without understanding the role of data platforms, devices, standards, and institutions, according to Jenny Goldstein, assistant professor in Global Development. In her book talk, Goldstein discusses her new book, The Nature of Data: Infrastructures, Environments, Politics (University of Nebraska Press, 2022), coedited with Eric Nost, assistant professor at the University of Guelph, which brings together scholars from geography, anthropology, science and technology studies, and ecology to explore these connections, and reveal how environmental politics are waged in the digital realm.

 

March 15, 2023, 4pm

Mann Library, Room 160 and livestreamed

Draping for Apparel Design with Susan Ashdown 

The apparel industry, though driven by fashion and expected to embrace transformation, is often resistant to change in its technologies and vision, according to Susan P. Ashdown, Professor Emerita in Human Centered Design in the College of Human Ecology. This attitude has also been apparent in patternmaking textbooks used in apparel programs, but in editing the 4th edition of Draping for Apparel Design (Fairchild Books, 2022) Ashdown transformed this text from a ‘how-to’ book suited to a 1950s classroom to a modern book with an inclusive vocabulary, as well as methods and topics directed to the students who will lead the apparel industry in the future.

 

April 10, 2023, 4pm

Mann Library, Room 160 and livestreamed

Weeds of the Northeast with Antonio DiTommaso 

Identifying your local weeds can be relevant to everyone from home gardeners to landscapers, pest management specialists, allergy sufferers, and foragers of all kinds. In this book talk, Antonio DiTommaso, professor and Chair of the School of Integrative Plant Science Soil and Crop Sciences Section, will discuss Weeds of the Northeast, 2nd edition (Cornell University Press, 2023) a fully updated edition of the best-selling original full of lavish illustrations and detailed descriptions to aid in the identification of more than 500 common and economically important weeds in a region reaching as far south as North Carolina, as far north as Canada, and as far west as Wisconsin. Weeds of the Northeast is also a handy yet comprehensive reference for those aspects of weed biology and ecology which are most important to weed management.

Welcome (back) students!

The Spring 2023 semester is off to a snowy start, and we’re happy to welcome Cornell students back to the library! You may have noticed some changes since the end of last year, including the large area cordoned off on the 1st floor. Please be mindful and avoid the atrium area as you enter and exit the building. We have a construction project beginning in February that we hope will only last a couple months, so please pardon our mess while we make some much needed improvements! 

 

A few other things to remember as you get back into the semester routine:

COMING SOON: the new CALS Zone. located in Mann Rm 112 off the lobby. Starting in February, in addition to being our contactless pickup area and a 24/7 study space, this will also be a dedicated space for CALS advising help. Watch our website for an opening announcement in the coming weeks!

New Library Website for the New Year!

Cornell University Library is starting the new year off with an exciting announcement: we have a new website! Our newly redesigned site has all the great features of our previous website – such as our search box for the library catalog front and center on the home page – along with some great new functionality to make navigation easier and more efficient for our users. Some notable features include:

Have feedback to share with our development team? The link to our feedback form can be found at the top of all the webpages on the new Library site. To the many users who have already shared feedback with us or participated in our testing throughout the development process, we thank you for helping us design a site that works for you. 

Welcome Back! (And a Few Updates for Our Not-Yet-Quite-Normal New Semester)

With the Cornell campus gearing up for the spring 2022 semester these frosty early weeks of the new year, Mann Library extends a warm welcome to all new and returning students. We’re looking forward to seeing you in the Library—despite the curve balls that the COVID-19 pandemic keeps throwing our way! The challenges of a not-yet-quite-normal semester are making a few changes in our operations necessary for now. Below we give you an overview of those adjustments. And while some of the ways we usually do things have to be different for now, please know we continue to be here for any questions or concerns you may have. Get in touch with us 24/7 any way you prefer: library.cornell.edu/ask

 

  • Mann Library hours will be reduced for the first part of the semester. Until further notice, our hours of operation are Monday – Wednesday, 8am to 8pm, Thursday & Friday, 8am to 5pm, Saturday & Sunday, 12-5pm (Full hours can be found at mann.library.cornell.edu/full-hours.
  • The Mann Lobby and contactless pickup area (Mann 112) will follow our building hours for the first part of the semester (i.e. 24/7 access to these spaces has been suspended for the time being).
  • In line with current public health requirements, seating facilities in the library have been adjust to ensure a safe level of occupancy at any given time of day.
  • Cornell requires that an approved mask must be worn indoors at all times in campus buildings, including the libraries, unless you are in a private, non-shared space (e.g. our individual study rooms). Approved masks include masks with any of the following certifications: ASTM (procedure or surgical), KN95, FFP2, FK94, or NIOSH N95. Cloth masks are not approved unless worn in conjunction with an ASTM medical mask. More information on mask guidelines may be found at covid.cornell.edu/prevention/face-coverings/.
  • At this time, there is no eating or drinking allowed in any Mann Library spaces, including the Mann Lobby and Café, which is grab & go only (café hours can be found here: scl.cornell.edu/residential-life/dining/eateries-menus/cafes-food-courts-coffeehouses/mann-cafe. If we see you eating inside the library, we will ask you to leave to eat elsewhere. Though we understand that good coffee and snacks make any study routine better, it is important to ensure the wider public good on campus right now by being conscientious of the university’s health & safety guidelines!

Mann is undertaking these adjustments with the goal of helping the Cornell campus community manage an effective response to the current stage of the COVID pandemic. Together, we can stay healthy and successful as a learning community. Good luck, friends – be in touch if you need help (remember, just ask!) and here’s to a good semester ahead!

Spring 2022 Chats in the Stacks @ Mann Library

From affordable housing to molecular genetics, Mann Library is happy to announce a lively line-up of book talks for the spring 2022 semester. Mark your calendars for engaging cross-disciplinary discussions!

 

February 3, 4:00 pm

Carol Colfer, Adaptive Collaborative Management in Forest Landscapes: Villagers, Bureaucrats and Civil Society

Local communities are essential to the success of environmental policies, and yet many well-intentioned forest management proposals are based on top-down strategies disconnected from people on the ground. In contrast, an approach called Adaptive Collaborative Management (ACM) for forest landscapes attempts to better listen to local voices and build on communities’ knowledge and goals to collaboratively improve environmental planning.

 

CANCELLED March 3, 4:00 pm

Joe Margulies, Thanks for Everything (Now Get Out) Can We Restore Neighborhoods without Destroying Them?  (co-sponsored with the Cornell Law Library)

When a distressed urban neighborhood gentrifies, all the ratios change: poor to rich; Black and Brown to White; unskilled to professional; vulnerable to secure. Vacant lots and toxic dumps become condos and parks. Upscale restaurants open and pawn shops close. But the low-income residents who held on when the neighborhood was at its worst, who worked so hard to make it better, are gradually driven out. For them, the neighborhood hasn’t been restored so much as destroyed. Is it possible to restore distressed neighborhoods without setting the stage for their destruction?

 

March 9, 4:00 pm

Joseph Peters & Tina Henkin, Snyder & Champness Molecular Genetics of Bacteria

To understand big leaps in genome editing today, we must start small and look very closely at the molecular genetics of bacteria. In a live, virtual, Chats in the Stacks talk, Joseph Peters and Tina Henkin discuss their new book, Snyder & Champness Molecular Genetics of Bacteria, 6th edition (Wiley 2022),  a comprehensive edition of a classic text updated to cover massive advances in the field of bacterial molecular genetics from biochemical, genomic, and structural perspectives. Although the text is centered on the most-studied bacteria, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, many examples are drawn from other bacteria of experimental, medical, ecological, and biotechnological importance. Anyone interested in the fields of microbiology, genetics, biochemistry, bioengineering, medicine, molecular biology, or biotechnology should join this conversation.

 

April 14, 4:00 pm

Kaushik Basu, Policymaker’s Journal: From New Delhi to Washington D.C.

What is it like to move from the cloisters of academia to the high-profile sector of global markets and monetary policy? In his new book, Policymaker’s Journal: From New Delhi to Washington DC, (Simon & Schuster India, 2021) economist Kaushik Basu chronicles the years he spent working in the frenetic world of economic policymaking, first as chief economic advisor to the Indian government and later as the chief economist at the World Bank. In a live, virtual, Chats in the Stacks talk, Basu will discuss how he documented his day-to-day experiences over seven years of high-level, international economic policy work and share what he learned during that time.

Chats in the Stacks Spring 2021

The Cornell University Library Chats in the Stacks is a series of book talks featuring recent publications by Cornell authors. This semester, all the book talks will be virtual, so you can enjoy them wherever you are! See the schedule below for Mann Library.

 

January 29, 2021 4pm

Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them by Karl Pillemer

What makes family estrangement so painful? Why do these rifts arise in the first place, and how can we overcome them? Based largely on Pillemer’s groundbreaking, ten-year Cornell Reconciliation Project—the first national survey on estrangement—Fault Lines (Avery, 2020) combines science-based repair tools with the personal experiences of hundreds of people who have mended family rifts. 

 

April 2, 2021 4pm

The Constants of Motion with Roald Hoffman

In his poetry, chemist Roald Hoffmann explores philosophy and science, weaving worlds of sound and meaning from the simple building blocks of words. In his latest book of poetry, Constants of the Motion (Dos Madres Press, 2020), Hoffmann delves into personal experiences, including a desperate childhood shaped by the Holocaust and a search for consilience in the tranquil beauty of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

 

April 15, 2021 4pm

Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Need by Michael Hoffmann, Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, and Danielle Eiseman

Climate change is a recipe for disaster. Whether you’re a home cook or a master chef, backyard gardener or professional grower, the yields, flavors, nutritional content, and cost of what you eat are already being impacted, according to Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Need (Cornell University Press, 2021), a book that celebrates the power of food and tackles what is arguably the greatest challenge of our time.

An Extraordinary Year in Review

As the Cornell campus begins to move out of a restful winter break and stretch towards the start of a new semester, we’re pleased to bring our friends some of the highlights of the past year at Mann Library. It has been a year like no other—and yet, a look back shows some remarkable accomplishments. We know we are not alone there. We salute the resilience and dedication that has been so abundantly evident at Cornell and the world beyond as we have all faced an extraordinary year. The year ahead promises its own challenges. As we lean in with our patrons, colleagues and friends, all that we’ve managed so far provides inspiration for the future: 2021, we’re ready!