What do an American founding father, a Chinese revolutionary leader, an FBI director, an infamous lover, a pope, and a surrealist artist have in common? Ben Franklin, Mao Zedong, J. Edgar Hoover, Giacomo Casanova, Pope Pius XI, and Marcel Duchamp all worked as librarians. Ever wonder what it is like to work in a library?

A group of promising undergraduate and graduate scholars recently had the opportunity to find out by participating in a tour of DePaul’s John T. Richardson Library. DePaul hosted participants from LAMP, an organization dedicated to encouraging students from historically underrepresented populations to gain greater awareness of the library profession. 

 

 

 

Want to know how you can participate in your own tour of the library?

Tours of DePaul’s Richardson Library will take place on Saturday, October 18, 2009 from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m as part of Family & Alumni Weekend. Join us as we explore unique resources and perhaps you will one day start your own revolution.

 

A self-guided library tour is also available on the library’s website.

 

 

 

Due to a vendor system upgrade, Ulrich's International Periodicals, as well as our journal database, will be unavailable starting at 6:00pm on Friday, July 31st. Service should be restored by midnight. During that interval, access most journal subscription information via the library catalog. We apologize for any inconvenience.

  

The Image Collection staff has finally finished a long-term project to make browsing easier and more accurate. Both the "Browse by Category" and "Browse by Creator/Artist" links on the left side of the Image Collection page now lead to pages with unique, authoritative and simpler entries. Previously, there were often multiple entries for an artist due to alternate names, misspellings or misattributions. Similarly, the Category page had multiple entries for some categories, as well as categories no longer used. These are now corrected, and browsing should be much simpler and effective.

Additionally, content has been added in the following areas:

American Art: Paintings by Kenny Scharf and Julian Schnabel

African Art: Works of the Hausa people and scenes from the ceremonies of the Yako culture of Southeastern Nigeria.

Northern Renaissance: Works by Robert Campin and Rogier van der Weyden

Italian Renaissance: Paintings by Venetian painters Titian, Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tintoretto

Baroque Art: Highlights from a recent exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum

Islamic Art: Works in glass owned by the Corning Museum of Glass

Architecture: Drawings and plans by Frank Lloyd Wright

For more information about the Image Collection, or for assistance in locating images, contact the Image Collection staff. 

Image: Scharf, Kenny. "The Fun's Inside." 1983. Private Collection.

It's true that the summer sun is rising a little later and setting a little sooner, but that doesn't mean summer's over.  It just means that movies in the park start a little earlier!  
The Chicago Park District's answer to the drive-in movie, the "Movies in the Parks" program screens more than 170 current and classic movies in neighborhood parks throughout the city.  The program runs from June-September, so there's still time to find a film to enjoy.  Vist www.chicagoparkdistrict.com and search for "movies," for location and titles.

In addition to a night out in your local park, you can enjoy Chicago's Outdoor Film Festival in Grant Park!  Films are shown at dusk on a giant screen at the corner of Monroe and Lake Shore Drive every Tuesday night between July 14th and August 25th.  The remaining films:

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (July 28)
• Born Yesterday (Aug. 4)
• Psycho (Aug. 11)
• Young Mr. Lincoln (Aug. 18)
• Tootsie (Aug. 25)

 

Have you ever walked past that large "cape" near the O’Neil reading room on the third floor of the Richardson Library? Have you ever wondered what it was? Well, in fact, it is an example of priestly vestments. It was woven by hand with gold and silk brocade on silk in Lyon, France in 1925.  Why do we have it? After being purchased for the 50th Anniversary of St. Vincent de Paul parish, it was worn by a priest who represented the Vincentian order at the 1926 Eucharistic Congress in Chicago.  

Eucharistic Congress? On the wall near the vestment is a poster in a Celtic/art deco style in gold, maroons, blues, and oranges; it shows the symbols of the four evangelists above the Chicago skyline. This poster was for the 1926 Eucharistic Congress.  A Eucharistic Congress is like an Olympics or a World’s Fair for Catholics.  It is an opportunity for Catholics from all around the world, holy men and women and the faithful alike, to come together to share in the celebration of their faith and the Eucharist.  In June 1926, more than a million people came to Chicago for the first Eucharistic Congress in the United States for sacred services and conferences. Services were celebrated in Holy Name Cathedral and Soldier Field as well as on the campus of St. Mary’s Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. A reported ten tons of hot dogs were consumed during the Congress.
    
The Congress was important for elevating the image and spirit of the city of Chicago, which at the time, was riddled with gangster activity, tension produced by Prohibition, and questions about the place for immigrants (specifically Catholic immigrants) in the city’s social structure.  The congress put Chicago on the map for millions of Catholics around the world as a city that was powerful, determined, spiritual, and capable.

For more information on the Eucharistic Congress come visit Special Collections and ask to browse our Chicago collection.  Also, stop by and check out the vestment on the 3rd floor of the John T. Richardson Library near Special Collections, room 314!

Did you know that you can visit the Art Institute, Field Museum or Brookfield Zoo for FREE with a museum passport from the Chicago Public Library? 

Passes for families of up to four people are available for check out from Chicago Public Library branches.  Each library location has a limited number of Passports for each of the 13 museums that participate in the program, and one Museum Passport can be checked out per person, per loan period. The loan period for each Great Kids Museum Passport is one week. Might be just the thing for a rainy summer day.  Or week.

More information and a list of participating museums and institutions is available at http://www.chipublib.org/eventsprog/programs/kids/grkids_museumpass.php.  (Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a kid to take advantage of this program.)

Looking to get out and about in Chicago this weekend? Why not hop on a bike? This summer, the Ray Meyer Fitness Center has six brand new Cruisers available to rent! Bikes can be rented starting at 9:00am and run $10 for the day.

Here's a little inspiration: the Lakefront has 18 miles of paved bike path, and don't forget about the Cook County Forest Preserve, which has over 100 miles of paved bicycle trails. If you need help getting your bike around the city, you can take your bike on the CTA buses all day, every day, and the CTA trains all day, except during rush hours: http://www.transitchicago.com/riding_cta/bike_and_ride.aspx 

Check out the Campus Recreation site for additional details: http://campusrec.depaul.edu/equipmer/outdoor_br.html 

Are you a politically engaged and civically active person? Were you excited about last year’s election? Are you tired of your peers being referred to as the “apathetic generation?” Chances are you’re not alone. In The Good Citizen: How a Younger Generation is Reshaping American Politics, Russell Dalton dismisses the cynics who claim that American youth have no sense of civic duty and argues instead that younger generations are transforming the very notion of citizenship and reinvigorating democratic participation. (Lincoln Park Library: 324.0835 D1527g)

Not sure what to do after graduation? Have you ever considered the Peace Corps? The Insider’s Guide to the Peace Corps contains the most recent information and resources on Peace Corps programs as well as firsthand advice from recent volunteers. (Lincoln Park Career Information Collection 361.6 B2153I)

     

Have too many books on your summer reading list already? There’s always time for a good flick! Sit back, relax and enjoy HBO’s critically acclaimed John Adams. Based on David McCullough's bestselling biography, this 7-part miniseries offers an intimate look at the second president of the United States. If you enjoy American history you will not want to miss Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams. (Lincoln Park Library: DVD 791.4372 J65h2008)

 

If you're interested in other new titles, check out the New Titles link in the catalog or the displays at the Lincoln Park or Loop Libraries.

*Smallandround, "Finding Our Way Through the Flow." Flickr. 13 July 2009. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/smallandround/212018061/in/set-72157594153448379/">.

Sixth in a series highlighting DePaul’s campus and how it has changed through the years.

Alumni Hall once stood where the Student Center is located today. Dedicated on December 16th, 1956, this building ushered DePaul into a new era in its sports history, since, before it was built, DePaul’s sports teams had to make do with the old and out-of-date facilities at “The Barn.” The two million dollar Alumni Hall boasted such amenities as a fully equipped training room with “modern whirlpool baths,” two basketball courts, a 5300 person seating capacity, space for the DePaul College of Physical Education, a cafeteria, and a student and alumni lounge. In addition to becoming the home for DePaul’s sports teams, Alumni Hall offered much needed campus space for lectures, assemblies, commencement, academic conferences and concerts by DePaul’s School of Music.

Through the years, Alumni Hall played host to many well-known guests. The Bulls used Alumni Hall as a practice stadium in the 1960’s and 70’s, Muhammad Ali fought an exhibition there in 1979, and Dick Vitale debuted on ESPN there the same year. Mike Tyson also fought an exhibition at Alumni Hall in 1987. And in 1975, the Iranian Student Association paid $10,000 (enough for a new coat of paint for the building) to hold their national convention at Alumni Hall. For four days, four years prior to the fall of the Shah, they discussed and rallied for an overthrow of his government.

Most importantly for DePaul, Ray Meyer coached and won many of his games from the confines of the building. As Ray Meyer and the DePaul Basketball team won more and more victories, attendance at the games swelled. Eventually the Blue Demons began playing most of their games at Allstate Arena to accommodate their rapidly growing fan base, where they still play today. In June 2000, Alumni Hall was demolished to make way for the new Student Center.