It’s almost summer, and that means it’s time for the Low Maintenance Book Club Big Books Edition! This year, we’ll be reading Don Quixote, sometimes described as a founding novel of Western Literature and/or the greatest work ever written. Do you agree? Let’s discuss! Since this work is especially epic, we’ll cover it over four meetings. The first is scheduled for Wednesday, May 22nd at noon over Zoom and covers Part I & II. Although you’re welcome to read any translation, we recommend works by Grossman, Raffel or Jarvis. Although the readings are l ..read more

Post by Haley Walton, Librarian for Education and Open Scholarship Image courtesy of _FXR/Flickr. In 2018, Duke joined the Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem (TOME) pilot, a five-year collaborative effort between the Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and Association of University Presses (AUP) to make scholarly books open access. Over the past six years, the Duke University Libraries has seen fifteen Duke-authored monographs to publication as both traditional print runs and digital open downloads through the Open Monograph Award. What is open ..read more

For the last several years, the Duke University Libraries has purchased copies of the assigned texts for a wide range of Duke courses and made them available to check out for free. It’s one of our most popular services, and students regularly tell us how much they appreciate it. And no wonder, when the cost of a single textbook can often exceed $300. Now there’s a way you can help us make the program even better and do something about the ridiculous cost of textbooks at the same time. At the end of this semester, donate your textbooks to the library. We’ll make them available for other stude ..read more

                    It’s time to graduate! You’ve reached this important milestone in your academic career and are about to do great things! Some of you will embark on your careers shortly after graduation, some will go on to graduate and professional schools, and others may even write and get published. Whatever path you take, there’s a good chance you will still need to perform research, which leads to the question… Will I be able to access Duke University Libraries’ resources after I graduate? Unfortunately, you will lose some of your acces ..read more

Post by Luo Zhou, Librarian for Chinese Studies; Rachel Ingold, Curator of the History of Medicine Collections; and Laura Williams, Head of the Music Library This year commemorates a significant milestone: the 50th anniversary of Libraries Assembly (LA), the association for staff across all the libraries at Duke University. To kick off this celebration year, a fresh new logo was unveiled, designed by Aaron Canipe, symbolizing LA’s core commitment to fostering  connections and partnerships with co-workers, and offering information about Duke and its libraries. The new logo was selecte ..read more

Post contributed by Arianne Hartsell-Gundy, Head, Humanities and Social Sciences and Librarian for Literature The Columbia Granger’s World of Poetry was originally a print index (first edited by Edith Granger in 1904) with thirteen editions. Though the online resource has many enhanced features, you can still search by poet, title, and first line. The word “world” in the title is apt because the poets represented span many countries. Why Should You Use This? This database is a reliable resource for locating a specific poem. Though there are great online resources like the Poetry Foundation and ..read more

William Francis Gill Latin Professor William “Billy” Francis Gill graduated from Trinity College in 1894, and completed his graduate work at Johns Hopkins  University in 1898. He returned to Trinity to teach Latin from 1898 until his death from pneumonia on October 18th,  1917 at Watts Hospital, now the North Carolina School of Math and Science.  He established Duke’s Classical Club in 1910, and collective with other faculty, the 9019 Honor Society.  The only endowment for collections in Classical Studies was established in honor of Professor Gill by his friends and family ..read more

This room is the student’s workshop. This is the Socratean basket in which he is lifted from the business world. Professor William Francis Gill (T 1894), on libraries. The Gill Endowment The single endowment for collections in  Classical Studies for the Duke University Libraries was created in memory  of Latin Professor William “Billy” Francis Gill  in December 1917. Native to Henderson, North Carolina, Professor Gill graduated from Trinity College in 1894, and completed his graduate work at Johns Hopkins  University in 1898.  He returned to Trinity to teach until hi ..read more

A brand-new exhibit on Humanistic Buddhism (人間佛教) has just opened in the IAS Office Exhibition Space, on the second floor of Bostock Library. This is a collaborative project between Duke University Libraries’ East Asian Collection and Fo Guang Shan Temple, located in Raleigh, North Carolina. The curators of the exhibition are Alexander Atkins, a PhD student at the Department of Religion; Master Miaozhou (妙舟), head of Fo Guang Shan Temple; Luo Zhou, Chinese Studies Librarian, and Matthew Hayes, Japanese Studies Librarian. Buddhism is a fast-growing religion in the United States, and the study o ..read more

Are you an undergraduate who enjoys creative writing?  You could win an award for your talents! The Rudolph William Rosati Creative Writing Award The Rosati Creative Writing Prize is awarded each spring in recognition of an outstanding work of creative writing.  All Duke first year or sophomore students are eligible to submit work for consideration.  Projects may be any genre and take any form (audio/video, digital media, etc.), but must include a substantial creative writing component. Deadline: June 15th, 2024 Prize: $1500 For more details: https://library.duke.edu ..read more