Events

On April 10, three Stanford librarians will talk to Stanford graduate students about their experiences moving from PhD programs into library work.  This event, titled “Alt Ac @ Libraries,” will feature Chris Bourg, AUL for Public Services (PhD in Sociology); Matt Marostica, Subject Specialist for Economics and Political Science (PhD in Political Scicence); and Regan Murphy Kao, Japanese Studies Librarian (PhD in Japanese).

Matt, Regan, and Chris will engage with soon-to-be Stanford PhDs on what it means to support research through curation, collection, and other library work, instead of taking more traditional PhD paths into tenure-track faculty positions — positions that are both increasingly scarce and not necessarily the right fit for all academically-minded people.  They will likely address both the challenges and the rewards of their careers in an academic library such as Stanford's.

The perhaps odd-sounding "alt-ac" moniker gained prominence a few years ago as a Twitter hashtag marking conversations among and about "alternate" career paths for people with academic dreams (and credentials).  In 2011, an unusual (and fascinating) collection of essays called #alt-academy, edited by University of Virginia digital humanist (and fellow library worker) Bethany Nowviskie, was published by MediaCommons.  This path-breaking collection describes itself as being

by and for people with deep training and experience in the humanities [and other fields], who are working or are seeking employment — generally off the tenure track, but within the academic orbit — in universities and colleges, or allied knowledge and cultural heritage institutions such as museums, libraries, academic presses, historical societies, and governmental humanities organizations. 

Like all institutions of graduate education, Stanford has large communities of both PhD-bound students nervous about future employment, and PhD-educated, untenured, academic staff who love their careers.  Surprisingly — shockingly, really — these two communities rarely gather to discuss what will inevitably unite many of their members: an "alternate academic" professional career.  The Alt Ac Speaker Series, of which this Stanford Libraries panel is part, is sponsored by the Vice Provost for Graduate Education, the Career Development Center, the School of Humanities and Sciences, and the Humanities Center.  The series is designed to give Stanford graduate students the opportunity to explore "a range of rewarding alternative academic (alt ac) career options within colleges and universities." 

The Stanford Libraries, meanwhile, are a haven for people who have chosen precisely such careers.  Our colleagues Chris, Regan, and Matt will be proudly representing the dozens of us who have chosen this path, which they'll generously share with our graduate student colleagues on campus.

Writer Jeffrey Eugenides will be reading this evening at the Knight Management Center's Cemex Auditorium. Eugenides—who received an MA in English and Creative Writing from Stanford in 1986—is the author of 1993's The Virgin Suicides and of 2003's Pulitzer Prize–winning Middlesex. The event takes place at 8:00 pm.

Take a look at SearchWorks for titles by Jeffrey Eugenides available in the libraries.

Scripting the Sacred, an exhibition of Western European manuscripts and fragments, showcases the medieval experience of reading. The exhibition is on display in the Peterson Gallery and Munger Rotunda of Green Library through March 17, 2013.

Studying these texts involved not only the absorption of knowledge, but also practices of interpretation, identification, and devotion. By focusing on the exercise of reading, this exhibition explores "scripting" in diverse forms: scribal activity, scripted performances, and inscribed divine things (res divinae).

Throughout the Middle Ages, the Bible remained the paradigmatic text for reading and studying. The exhibited biblical items highlight different preferences pertaining to legibility. Indeed, scribes designed manuscripts to guide, assist, and sometimes challenge readers, as medieval versions of biblical commentary and patristic works exemplify. The liturgical genres on display contain written and visual markers that instruct readers in the proper performance of the Mass, music, and specific feast days. The text portion of the liturgy helped stage the clergy's ceremonial duties. Liturgical fragments with musical notation assisted ritual actors in the memorization of stylized speech. Both components show how customized manuscripts promoted reading aloud. Miniature prayer books and books of hours demonstrate a late medieval trend toward privatized and personalized lay devotion.

Additional materials on exhibition include fine facsimiles from the Art & Architecture Library portraying the national origins of late antique and medieval scripts and illustration, fragments of ancient Egyptian papyri highlighting the gradual transition from papyrus to parchment and from scroll to codex, and a selection of codices and fragments–mainly recovered from the bindings of early printed books–from Stanford's paleography collections.

Far from being a static process, reading in the Middle Ages necessitated a dynamic relationship between manuscripts and their readers, at a much more deliberate and contemplative pace than most modern reading. As we encounter radical changes in our own digital age, this exhibit encourages us to think critically about how we interact with the text, and how these interactions condition the way we acquire knowledge.

Scripting the Sacred is curated by Kathryn Dickason, Ph.D. candidate in Religious Studies and David A. Jordan, assistant director for library development and associate curator for paleographical materials.

Exhibit cases are illuminated Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. The gallery is accessible whenever Green Library is open; hours vary with the academic schedule. To confirm library hours, call 650-723-0931 or go to http://library.stanford.edu/libraries_collections/hours_locations.html

For a map of campus and transportation information, go to http://www.stanford.edu/dept/visitorinfo/plan/maps.html

NOTE: The exhibition is free and open to the public; first-time visitors and those without Stanford ID must register at the entrance to Green Library before entering the building.