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Month: March

New Stacks Signage at Mann Library Makes Browsing Easier

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Patrons exploring the stacks at Mann Library may have noticed something new recently: updated signage designed to make navigating the library’s physical collections easier and more intuitive.

 

The new signs highlight subject areas, call number ranges, and unique images from Mann Library’s collections. Together, these elements help users quickly see what kinds of topics are in each section of the stacks, making it easier to browse and discover materials they might not have searched for online.

 

For many students, navigating the stacks can feel unfamiliar at first. Library books are organized using call numbers, which function like an address for each item. A call number tells you exactly where a book lives on the shelf, and books with similar call numbers are grouped together by subject. This system allows related materials to be shelved near each other, supporting browsing and discovery, but it can take a little practice to understand and navigate the library shelves with confidence.

 

The new signage helps make subject areas more visible. In addition to listing call number ranges, the signs include plain-language subject keywords, such as sustainable agriculture, fashion design, or rural sociology, so that users can quickly understand what topics they’ll find in each aisle. The signage also incorporates images drawn from Mann Library’s collections, adding visual interest while highlighting the breadth of subjects located in the stacks.

The project grew out of a simple observation: the previous stacks signage had been in place for many years and was no longer serving users as effectively as it could. What began as an effort to improve old range labels soon turned into a broader rethinking of how improved stacks signage could assist the people navigating them.

 

The new system was a collaborative effort between Marty Cain (now a Reference Assistant at Olin Library), Carson Williams (Collection Development Librarian), and Wendy Thompson (Public Services Assistant). The team combined data analysis, design work, and subject expertise to rethink how information about the collections is presented in our stacks.

 

The project also reflects a thoughtful approach to the language used in library classification systems. Some traditional Library of Congress subject terms are outdated or use harmful language. By supplementing those terms with clearer subject descriptions, the signage helps bridge the gap between technical classification systems and the way users naturally think about topics. The result is a signage system that transforms the stacks from a maze of call numbers into a more navigable and engaging environment – one that invites exploration and discovery.

End panel of a library book stack with older yellow call number range signs, surrounded by shelves of books in Mann Library.
Previous stacks signage at Mann Library used simple call number range labels that offered little subject context for users.

The impact of this project has been recognized by Cornell University Library. Cain, Williams, and Thompson received the 2025 Library Innovation Award for their work developing the new subject-based stacks signage at Mann Library.

 

Today, the new signs help guide users through the physical collections while also encouraging a key part of the library experience: browsing. Because books on related subjects are shelved together, following a call number range can often lead to serendipitous discoveries.

 

Mann visitors are encouraged to use the new signs as a starting point to explore our collections. You might come in looking for one book and leave with a few new ideas!

New stacks signage at Mann Library showing call number ranges, subject keywords, and a poster reading “Food & Agriculture Statistics, Livestock,” mounted on the end of a book stack between shelves of books.
The redesigned stacks signage highlights subject areas alongside call number ranges, making it easier to see what topics are located in each aisle.

Library Hours for Spring Break

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It’s almost spring break, and we know everyone is probably looking forward to some much needed rest and relaxation! If you are traveling for the break, we wish you safe travels and hope that your time away is restorative. If you’re staying local and  choose to spend any part of your break at Mann Library, please note that we will have adjusted hours from Friday, March 28 – Sunday, April 6.

 

    • Friday, March 28, 8am to 5pm
    • Saturday, March 29, 1 to 5pm
    • Sunday, March 30, CLOSED
    • Monday, March 31 – Friday, April 4, 8am to 5pm
    • Saturday, April 5, 1-5pm
    • Sunday, April 6, 12-6pm

We will return to our semester hours on Monday, April 7. You can always find our most up-to-date hours information on our hours page: mann.library.cornell.edu/full-hours. And you can find hours for all campus library locations on the Cornell University Library site: library.cornell.edu/libraries/

The History of 4-H Clothing Clubs in New York State

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The History of 4-H Clothing Clubs in New York State: A Preamble to Sustainable Fashion Education?

Thursday, March 20, 4-5pm

Mann 160

 

Can historic 4-H clothing club curricula from the 20th century serve as a valuable source of sustainable fashion practices for today? Join us for a presentation by Samantha Alberts, doctoral student studying Fiber Science and Apparel Design and 2024 recipient of the College of Human Ecology Graduate Archival Research Fellowship, as she shares with us the research she conducted on 4-H clothing club curricula from 1930-1990 and this very question. By analyzing archival materials from Cornell University’s Division of Rare and Manuscripts Collection and conducting 22 interviews with previous club participants and leaders, Alberts’ study explored how historical educational approaches might inform contemporary sustainable fashion design practices. The research investigates both the ecological insights and potential social limitations of these early educational methods, seeking to provide nuanced insights that could help address the environmental challenges posed by the fashion industry today.

 

Samantha Alberts is from Herkimer, New York and is a first-year PhD student in the College of Human Ecology. Alberts research explores integrating archival and oral histories into the realm of sustainable fashion. Her work emphasizes community outreach, youth development, and exploring how history can inform and enhance modern-day sustainable fashion practices.

This talk is hosted by Mann Library and the College of Human Ecology. Light refreshments will be served.

 

To attend this talk virtually, please register here: https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zMFp-SMQRjWpKDRaCb6YYQ#/

Strategies for Getting Published: Journal Editor Panel Discussion

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Strategies for Getting Published: Journal Editor Panel Discussion

Tuesday, March 18, 3 to 4:30pm

Virtual event

 

Scholarly communications can have many pathways and outcomes. Please join Cornell University Library as it hosts a moderated discussion about the peer review and publishing process focused on helping PhD candidates in engineering, animal, life, and physical sciences.

 

Please bring any questions you might have! Panelists include Cornell faculty Xingen Lei (Animal Science); Karl Niklas (emeritus Plant Science); Csaba Csaki (Physics); and Emmanuel Giannelis (Engineering), who are experienced journal editors, peer reviewers, and authors.

 

Please register for this online only discussion.

Changes to Mann Library Hours

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Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mann Library will be adjusting our hours of operation from Sunday, March 9 – Thursday, March 27. Our new hours will be:
 
  • Monday & Tuesday, 8am to 8pm
  • Wednesday & Thursday, 8am to 10pm
  • Friday 8am to 6pm
  • Saturday & Sunday, Noon to 6pm

It is our hope that these changes will be only temporary, and that we will be able to return to our regular semester hours as soon as possible. For the most up-to-date information, please visit our full hours page. As a reminder, we also have multiple 24/7 study spaces available to members of the Cornell community, including the Mann Lobby, Stone Computer Classroom (Mann 103), and the CALS Zone (Mann 112). To check the hours for all Cornell libraries, visit library.cornell.edu/libraries/.


We appreciate your patience while we work to navigate the current uncertainties. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Dr. Ye Li, Director of Science & Agriculture Libraries, at yl3932@cornell.edu.

Events celebrate Nabokov as butterfly scientist

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Jose Beduya and Kathy Hovis, Cornell University Library, College of Arts and Sciences

 

A giant of 20th century literature known for such novels as Lolita and Pale Fire, Russian émigré and former Cornell professor Vladimir Nabokov was also a prodigious lepidopterist who collected and studied butterflies since the age of five.

 

“It is not improbable that had there been no revolution in Russia, I would have devoted myself entirely to lepidopterology and never written any novels at all,” he said in an interview for the Paris Review in 1967.

 

On March 14 and 15, a series of free public events at Mann Library will celebrate Nabokov’s lesser-known but impactful contributions to the science of collecting, classifying and understanding the prismatic world of butterflies.

 

March 14: Talk and Exhibit Opening Reception

When Nabokov published his papers in the 1940s about the evolution and migration of a group of butterfly species known as Polyommatus blues, he was met with skepticism by the scientific community. But, more than six decades later, his theories were confirmed by a study done by a group of butterfly experts using DNA sequencing techniques.

 

On March 14, 4-5 p.m., in room 160 of Mann Library, the leader of that study, Naomi Pierce, will deliver a lecture titled “The Evolution of Nabokov’s Polyommatus Blues.” A biology professor at Harvard University and the lepidoptera curator in its Museum of Comparative Zoology – a position Nabokov held in the 1940s – Pierce will discuss her research in connection with the writer’s trailblazing work.

Handdrawn image of an imaginary species of butterfly, from the dedication page of Look at the Harlequins
In first printings of his books, Vladimir Nabokov often inscribed dedications to his wife, Vera, and made drawings of butterflies. For the dedication page of Look at the Harlequins, he drew an imaginary species of butterfly, Arlequinus arlequinus. From the Division of Rare and Manuscripts Collection.

Through a collaboration between Cornell University Library and the Cornell University Insect Collection, Pierce’s lecture is part of the opening festivities for the exhibit “From Nabokov’s Net” in Mann Library’s main gallery. The exhibit will run through August, concurrent with a related book exhibit in the lobby titled “No Mere Curios: Finding Nabokov’s Lepidopterist Inspiration in the Rare Books of Entomology.”

 

“From Nabokov’s Net” showcases facsimiles of the writer’s original drawings, letters, photographs and other artifacts pertaining to butterflies that are kept in Cornell University Library’s Rare and Manuscript Collections. The exhibit also features specimens from the Cornell University Insect Collection, including several collected by Nabokov, who taught Russian literature at Cornell from 1948 to 1959.

 

The Karner blue butterfly – a novel species first described by the writer in 1943 – is featured prominently in the exhibit as a reminder of the importance of conserving natural habitats.

 

“When Nabokov went out and looked at these butterflies in an area outside of Albany, they were like blue snowflakes – just lots and lots of these beautiful, little blue butterflies all over,” said Jenny Leijonhufvud, Mann Library exhibit curator and outreach space coordinator, who co-curated the exhibit. “But then very quickly, in the decades after that, primarily due to habitat loss, they suddenly went from being very plentiful to being an endangered species.”

Photography of Naomi Pierce
Naomi Pierce, the Hessel Professor of Biology and curator of lepidoptera in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.
Photography of specimens in original envelopes with dates and annotations.
Several butterfly specimens donated by Vladimir Nabokov to Cornell are kept in their original envelopes that have been dated and annotated by the writer. Photo by Emily Jernigan.

Several of Nabokov’s butterfly specimens are displayed in their original envelopes. “From his own handwritten notes on these little envelopes that contain all these butterflies, we know that these are the butterflies he was collecting while he was writing Lolita,” said Corrie Moreau, co-curator of the exhibit, director of the Cornell University Insect Collection, and professor of entomology and ecology and evolutionary biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

 

“From Nabokov’s Net” uncovers an important facet of Nabokov, according to Moreau. “He could be quite whimsical in his fictional writings and even when he was writing about his own life, but he was strict and meticulous when it came to his science,” she said.

Vladimir Nabokov taught Russian literature at Cornell, where he had an office in Goldwin Smith Hall. From the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

Moreau and Leijonhufvud both said they hope the exhibit will serve as a vehicle for showcasing the insect collection and the library as invaluable sources of knowledge for scholars and enthusiasts.

“Many people think museum collections are these dusty, outdated resources, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Moreau said, “We’re constantly using them to answer questions that the people who collected them a hundred years ago couldn’t have imagined.”

 

March 15: Panel Discussion, Video Screening, and Interactive Art-Making

Honoring Nabokov as a writer and scientist, the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) is also organizing a series of events on March 15, 1-4 p.m., in Mann Library’s CALS Zone and atrium titled “Nabokov, Naturally,” part of A&S’s Arts Unplugged series and named after and inspired by a fall 2023 class taught by Anindita Banerjee, associate professor of comparative literature. In that class, students in the environment and sustainability major explored the writer’s life and work, and studied how human affairs and natural environments are entangled in Nabokov’s imagination.

 

“What is both unique and deeply inspiring about Nabokov’s legacy at Cornell are the intertwined ways in which his writings, drawings and photographs speak to scientists, readers and artists alike, bringing startlingly diverse fields and knowledges together as one community,” Banerjee said. “This was true for my students, in particular, who came to study Nabokov from a multitude of disciplines but with a shared passion for our planet with all its forms of life.”

 

During the event, participants can:

  • Take a close look at Nabokov’s butterfly collection;
  • Watch an eCornell video exploring the many ways that Nabokov’s legacy is alive today, both on campus and throughout the country;
  • Visit the new Mann Library exhibits;
  • Visit with students in the class to discover new information they discovered about Nabokov, the professor;
  • Talk with faculty, students and Nabokov experts from across the country during a panel discussion titled “The Butterfly Effect: Vladimir Nabokov as Scientist and Artist;” 2-3:30 p.m., in room 102 of Mann Library;
  • Stretch their creative wings by contributing to a giant multimedia art piece, or create their own butterfly with the help of entomologist/artist Annika Salzberg using both traditional and nontraditional materials.

“This 21st century engagement with Nabokov’s science-art practice transformed the legendary writer and ‘butterfly man,’ from a historical icon of Cornell to a model for living and learning today and for the future, one that that can care deeply for the world despite personal and communal tragedy and find beauty even amid unthinkable catastrophes,” Banerjee said.

 

This story also appeared in the Cornell Chronicle.

Spring 2023 Exhibits & Events

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Save the date! An opening reception for Mann Library’s spring 2023 exhibits will take place in the Mann Library Gallery on Thursday, March 23, at 4:30 pm (remarks to start at 4:45pm). Come find out about and explore our new installations that celebrate the fiber arts and highlight efforts being made towards sustainable fashion.

 

Threading the Needle: Weaving Traditions into Contemporary Textile Art

Mann Gallery, 2nd Floor

Using needle and thread, warp and weft, 28 artists mend and explore the meaning and self-expression behind textile creation and envision a future of textiles and “slow fashion” that brings storytelling back into the conversation and back into our own relationship with the textiles in our lives.  

 

Sustaining Style: Towards Responsible Fashion

Mann Lobby

Booming fast fashion has made stylish clothing more affordable than ever before, but costs to industry workers and the natural environment have been serious. Issues include rising global carbon emissions, microplastic pollution of the world’s oceans, and widespread pesticide use, to name just a few. “Sustaining Style” explores ideas and innovations being investigated here at Cornell University and around the world to realize a more sustainable way of producing and consuming fashion.

 

Mann Library is pleased to present “Threading the Needle” and “Sustaining Fashion” as part of the Threads of History: Textiles Across Cornell programming occurring on the Cornell campus in 2022/2023. Other exhibits and events taking place at Mann Library as part of this programming include:

If you create it, we’ll elevate it! Elevator art contest at Mann & Olin Libraries

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Cornell students, enter our elevator art contest for a chance to showcase your creativity for a chance to win a Cornell Store prize, valued at $100 (with gift receipt)! The winning entries will be displayed on the 1st floor elevator doors in both Mann Library and Olin Library and will be judged both by visual appeal and by how well they fit our theme for 2022: “Connection.” You must be a currently enrolled undergraduate, graduate, or professional school student at Cornell.

 

Use the submission form (Cornell login required) to provide basic information about you and a paragraph describing how your entry supports the theme. Upload a high-resolution, digital file of your artwork. You must also attest that your work (including all images contained in it) is original and solely made and owned by you. Any inaccurate information could disqualify your submission. Multiple submissions are allowed.

 

Deadline: April 11, 2022. The winners will be chosen by April 18. 

 

Image file requirements and recommendations

  • File name must include your net ID, for example “cd58_TitleOfWork.jpg”.
  • Final size of decal is 88 inches high x 42 inches wide (split down the middle to allow doors to open).
  • Portrait orientation works best.
  • File format must be vector (e.g. PDF, EPS, AI or SVG), or high-resolution raster, larger than 20MB (e.g. JPEG, TIFF, PSD).

If your image is a photograph, please provide the location where your photograph was taken (city, country, and landmark). Consideration will be given, in part, to the location where the photograph was taken and any legal restrictions on the use of images of individuals from that location.

Exhibit Expo @ Mann Library

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Mann Library is pleased to announce a spring 2022 Exhibit Expo highlighting our two newest exhibits:

 

Join us at the Library anytime between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 24 to browse the exhibits, meet the artists and contributors, and enjoy a public reception. Free and open to the Cornell community.

Library Workshops in April

Check out our April workshop line-up
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April is the cruelest month? We beg to differ, Mr. Eliot. Join us for any of our workshops and we’ll help you put the muddy, rainy early spring in a whole new light. Plus, Earth Day! Some highlights:

And of course, rain or shine, questions big or small, we’re here for you–just ask a librarian!