There’s much more to Stanford Libraries than just books nowadays. So the libraries’ staff is inviting the Stanford community to a Green Library open house from 1 to 4 p.m. today to learn about everything from book-scanning robots to medieval manuscripts to experts who can help researchers organize and preserve massive amounts of data. Coupa Café will provide refreshments for the afternoon.
“People will be surprised, pleasantly surprised, at how much the library has to offer and how many ways we support teaching and research,” said CHRIS BOURG, assistant university librarian for public services. “And, of course, we have lots of books – including plenty of great free books we will be giving away.”
That’s not all they’re giving away. An Apple iPad and a set of Beats Solo HD On-Ear Headphones will be raffled, along with autographed books from the 2012 Saroyan Prize for Writing. In addition to the drawing prizes, other giveaways will include free books from previous Saroyan Prize for Writing winners.
The Stanford Mendicants, Stanford’s oldest a cappella group, will kick off the event at 1 p.m.
Stanford’s radio station, KZSU (98.1 FM), will be broadcasting live outside of Green Library’s east entrance (that is, the one by the red fountain), featuring music from Stanford’s music library and hosting on-air interviews with students and library experts from 1 to 4 p.m. Talisman, which performs a cappella music from around the world, will make a guest appearance, singing live on KZSU at 3:15 p.m.
A curated tour of the Green Library’s current exhibit, “Scripting the Sacred: Medieval Latin Manuscripts,” will begin at 3 p.m. Demonstrations of the page-turning robotic book scanner will begin at 1:15, 2:15 and 3:15 p.m. (limit eight people at a time for the 45- to 50-minute tours). Other tours will show how the libraries preserve and provide access to born-digital media such as computer hard drives, floppy disks and CD-ROMs, and demonstrate how Stanford’s renowned map collections is digitized.
“The bottom line is that libraries, especially the Stanford Libraries, are all about the joy of discovery in all its forms,” said Bourg. “Our open house is a chance for us to show off all the cool stuff we do.”
— BY CYNTHIA HAVEN, Stanford Libraries