Seventy years ago, in the fall of 1952, a new Mann Library building opened its art deco doors on Cornell’s upper campus, and the Cornell Ag Quad has never been the same since. We warmly invite Cornell alumni and their families to help us celebrate our 70th anniversary and all the ways this library has grown, thrived and yet stayed true to its classic roots and its Cornell mission—helping to advance knowledge with public purpose—through the big changes of the digital age. Drop by our Cornell Family Weekend Celebration for birthday cake, a scavenger hunt, prizes and party favors. All ages welcome!
Year: 2022
The Library’s got you covered during Fall Break!
Whether you’re getting out of town and doing some traveling, or enjoying a quiet staycation at home, Mann Library can help you make the most of your fall break!
Heading out of town? Use Access Anywhere to access library resources
When you’re off-campus, you can connect to databases, journals, and e-books that would otherwise be restricted or hidden behind paywalls through Access Anywhere. Just install the Access Anywhere bookmarklet on the web browser of your choice. Next time you hit a restricted website, click the Passkey icon. If the Library has a subscription to the resource you are trying to access, you will be prompted to sign in with your NetID and password.
Enjoy our wide selection of e-books and audiobooks!
Looking forward to some pleasure reading over the long weekend? OverDrive allows current Cornell students, faculty, and staff to check out and download e-books and audiobooks. There are multiple options for accessing e-books and audiobooks via OverDrive:
- Install the Libby app to download books to a computer, phone, or other device.
- Read or listen online directly through your computer browser with OverDrive Read.
- Use your Amazon account and either a Kindle device or app to download Kindle formats.
In addition to Cornell’s OverDrive offerings you can sign up for a Tompkins County Public Library Card to take advantage of their collection. New York State residents may also apply for a New York Public Library Card and/or a Brooklyn Public Library Card to access their OverDrive content as well as other online resources.
Staying in town? Come visit us!
Mann will be open with limited hours during fall break:
- Friday, 10/7 8am to 5pm
- Saturday, 10/8 1 to 5pm
- Sunday, 10/9 CLOSED
- Monday 10/10 8am to 5pm
Tastings & Tomes: Celebrating NYS Cider Week @ the Library
Each year, the Finger Lakes cider industry commemorates a long and rich tradition of cider-making and apple growing with a regional celebration, which this year has gone New York State-wide. The Peck Lab in the Cornell School of Integrative Plant Sciences is teaming up with Mann Library to invite the Cornell community and Ithaca area residents to join in the fun. A special program in the Mann Library lobby on Tuesday, October 4 will feature fresh apples to taste, sweet cider to savor, new ideas to explore about foraging for old apple varieties across the landscape, and insights to gain from beautifully illustrated rare and distinctive old pomology volumes that are valued by both experts and amateurs alike. Drop in anytime between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to celebrate with us!
Soil Fair @ Ag Day this Friday 9/30!
Soil is the foundation of our food systems and our planet’s most biodiverse habitat. It also has a key part to play in humankind’s ability to mitigate and manage the process and effects of global warming.
Important as it is to our planet’s life support system, there is much to be learned about this vital but under-appreciated resource. The Cornell community and wider Ithaca area public are warmly invited to explore some of what’s happening at Cornell to advance our knowledge about soil, its life-sustaining qualities for a healthy future, and the various ways we can work to protect and support its vital role in our global agro-ecoystem. Join us at the Soil Fair that will be part of this year’s Ag Day being organized by Alpha Zeta Cornell on the Ag Quad on Friday,, September 30, 9:00 to 4:30 p.m. Look for us on the Tsujimoto Plaza in front of Mann Library!
Programs, information tables and partners at the Fair will include:
- The Cornell Soil Health Lab– Why testing for soil health is important and how it can help you.
- New York Soil Health Initiative – A good part of NYS’s future rides on our soil, and lots is happening across the state to protect this resource. Plus, cool t-shirts!
- Cornell Nutrient Analysis Laboratory – Cutting-edge innovations for analyzing what’s in your soil–pH is just the start!
- The Cornell Soil Monolith Collection – Every place in the world has a deep and consequential soil history, and soil monoliths tell that fascinating story.
- Soil3/Healthy Soils, Healthy Communities/Ag Soils of the City – Healthy soils help communities thrive, and these Cornell programs are leading the way.
- Soil Ecology – What thrives in a bin of rich compost? Come take a closer look at the fascinating hidden world of soil biota.
- Mycorrhizal Fungi – Underground habitats teem with symbiotic connections that we’re just starting to uncover–lots to get excited about here.
- CU Dining Composting Program – Food scraps into sustainable food systems–Cornell Dining is on it, and you can help!
- Bio365 – Biochar + biology = healthy soils for sustainable farming, indoors and out.
- Urban Horticultural Institute – Greener urban environments need healthier soil–how do we get there?
- The Circular Bionutrient Economy – On the beauty and the power of not letting our liquid gold go to waste.
- Capro-X – Upcycling food waste into green bioproducts.
- Cornell Soil Science Minor – You too can make soil a part of your studies at Cornell–here’s how!
- Sustainable Aquaculture – On the healthy soil-water continuum!
- Soil is Life – Come find out what we mean by the theme behind the exhibits that have been on display at Mann Library since late spring. Frankly, we’ve fallen in love with dirt and we think you will too.
Cornell University Library Grants Program for Digital Collections
Attention all Cornell faculty and post-A exam graduate students: Do you have an idea for a new digital collection that will support research and teaching at Cornell? Perhaps you know of a collection of images or objects we can photograph, or have analog material – DAT tapes, slides, negatives, or cassette tapes – related to your research or the history of your field? The Grants Program for Digital Collections funds several digitization projects each year, and all you need to apply is a good idea!
Examples of proposals that are within the scope of the grants program include:
- Creating new digital collections from Library, departmental, faculty, or graduate student-held resources that are regularly used in teaching or research, including lecture notes, slides, photographs, printed documents, manuscripts, or audiovisual materials.
- Digitizing archival collections or unique materials held by Cornell University, which are instrumental in supporting learning, teaching, and research, as well as supporting the University’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Converting materials or born-digital content held by other cultural institutions, that will support teaching and research at Cornell — especially combining dispersed resources to create new and enriched ones.
- Projects that will subsequently support new research methods, innovative data visualization, and tools that enable novel ways of analysis and interpretation.
50+ diverse projects have been funded over the past twelve years. Interdisciplinary collaborations across the University are encouraged. Email dcaps@cornell.edu with any questions. Note: Final selection of materials will be subject to ability to clear copyright.
Inquiries requested by October 1, 2022 | Application due October 31, 2022
The 2022 grant cycle is now closed. Please check back in August 2023 for information about the next cycle.
Voting Info at the Library
No better day than National Voter Registration Day to announce a new info resource at Mann Library: a kiosk on Mann’s 1st floor offering some forms and handouts students will find helpful for making their voice heard in the U.S. election process. Here’s what you’ll find there:
- New York State voter registration and absentee ballot request forms;
- Guidance on the correct way to fill these forms out;
- Information on connecting with some super-helpful webpages for registering to vote in any state, (e.g. the Andrew Goodman Foundation, and the Cornell University Library Voting and Civic Engagement library guide);
- Additional handy info, e.g. how to find your nearest mailbox for sending your forms on their way!
The voting info kiosk at Mann is made possible by a partnership between Mann Library and Cornell Votes, a non-partisan student organization dedicated to fostering a campus culture which every person exercises their right to have a voice in their representation. Care to get involved with this good effort, or want further info on any question you might have about registering to vote? Sending an email to Cornell Votes will do the trick!
Fall 2022 Chats in the Stacks @ Mann Library
We are pleased to share our line-up of fall book talks, which will be held in-person in Mann Library 160. You can find all recordings of our past Chats in the Stacks on our YouTube channel.
Mann Library, Room 160
Harold van Es, Building Soils for Better Crops: Ecological Management for Healthy Soils
Organic matter was once extolled as the essential soil ingredient, but the availability of inexpensive synthetic fertilizers and the mass industrialization of farming after World War II have led to a serious soil crisis. What can we do to increase the vitality of soils today and for future generations? In this book talk, Harold van Es explains how soil health has degraded at the global level, and the steps that everyone can take—from home gardeners and small farmers to large agricultural corporations and food industries—to improve and preserve this essential resource.
Mann Library, Room 160
Chris Barrett, Socio-Technical Innovation Bundles for Agri-Food Systems Transformation
While dramatic advances in human well-being have been achieved worldwide through technological and institutional innovations in agri-food systems, adverse impacts on climate, the natural environment, public health, and social justice increasingly impede further, sustained progress. How humanity can innovate to bring about local and global agri-food systems that more equitably, healthfully, and sustainably expand on past progress is the fundamental question posed in Socio-Technical Innovation Bundles for Agri-Food System Transformation, a synthesis of the current state of the world’s agri-food systems, and an examination of key external drivers of change anticipated over the next 25–50 years.
Mann Library, Room 160
Robert Connelly, Frameworks, Tensegrities, and Symmetry
Geometry has been a wonderful attraction since the time of Archimedes. We all have our prejudices and points of view. Some are from the problem of making a structure rigid. Some are from the problem of making a surface flexible. Some are beautiful Art. Tensegrities are all of those as collections of points with distance constraints. Some are rigid but very squishy, but they all can be seen and felt. In this book talk, Robert Connelly, professor in the Department of Mathematics and a pioneer in the study of tensegrities, will discuss the latest edition of Frameworks, Tensegrities, and Symmetry (Cambridge University Press, 2022).
November 10, 4pm CANCELLED
Mann Library, Room 160
Jenny Goldstein, The Nature of Data: Infrastructures, Environments, Politics
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 this book talk, Goldstein discusses her new book, The Nature of Data (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.
Fall 2022 Workshops @ Mann Library
We want to help all new and returning Cornellians start the semester off right with our selection of fall workshops. There is no better time to start building those research skills, and with our wide selection of pre-recorded workshops, you can explore these sessions at a time and place that works best for you!
Visit our Workshops page for the full listing of asynchronous workshops, including help with searching and literature reviews, citation management software (Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote), the nuts and bolts of systematic reviews, and research data management.
And be sure to check out the schedule of live workshops this semester, which are being offered in-person in Stone Classroom (Mann 103):
Intro to QGIS
Learn the basics of QGIS, the popular free and open-source desktop GIS application for mapping and geospatial analysis. We will work together through examples of loading common types of data, modifying the display styles, and performing some basic analysis.
Introduction to Bloomberg
Tuesday, October 4, 4:30- 5:30pm
Hundreds of thousands of investment professionals rely on the most comprehensive financial research tool on the market – Bloomberg. Give yourself a competitive advantage by learning the basics of how to navigate Bloomberg quickly and efficiently.
Introduction to Market Research
Thursday, September 22, 4:30-5:30pm
Understanding the consumer is essential for any successful business. Market research encompasses a number of aspects critical to understanding the consumer, ranging from their demographic make-up to their attitudes and behavior regarding a product or service. This workshop will introduce attendees to the basics of market research, highlighting key concepts that dictate what information is available, and exposing attendees to Cornell’s top resources for discovering this information.
For the full listing of all Cornell University Library workshops, visit the CUL Workshops calendar.
Mann’s Graduate Study Area Gets an Upgrade!
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!
New Mann Staff — Fall 2022
Please join us in welcoming the newest Mann staff members who have started at the library within the last six months!
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.
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).
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.