News

The Princeton University Library is pleased to announce the awarding of a NEH grant to support the creation of an open-access, research collection of avant-garde art, music and literary periodicals, 1848-1923, named after Vasily Kandinsky's painting Blue Mountain (Der blaue Berg, 1908-09, Guggenheim Museum, New York). Rare material from Firestone's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Marquand Library, and the Mendel Music Library will be included in the project.

Princeton University has recently implemented a new online rare-book requesting service for placing requests to consult any rare book or manuscript held in Firestone's Rare Books & Special Collections Department, Mudd Library and Marquand Library.  Users wishing to consult rare book material at Princeton will now be required to submit requests online.

Elizabeth Bennett, Librarian for History and History of Science, has put together many, very useful online research guides for a wide variety of historical topics.

As of 2/27/12, these rooms located on the 2nd Floor in Marquand will no longer remain unlocked on a regular basis due to frequent noise disruptions to classes held in the Tang Seminar Room. Tang Center affiliates will be able to access these rooms as needed with a key issued by Marquand Library staff. Library users needing to consult East Asian art reference material in the Tang Reading Room--location: TANG--may ask at the reference desk and a Marquand Library staff member will be glad to unlock the room on an as-needed basis.

One can search for individual sales by title in the library catalog, or search by keyword, e.g. Christies London. The Rare Books & Special Collections Division in Firestone has many runs of catalogs that may need to be requested from off-site, and are typically book, map, manuscript and numismatic sales, whereas Marquand tends to have the art sales (on- and off-site). Marquand has many auction catalogs going back to the 1820s, but recent runs are not at all complete and are mostly gifts from the Princeton University Art Museum.

Princeton University Library now has access to several new databases of interest to Marquand users.

Princeton University Library patrons now have the option of receiving electronically a book chapter or article from a book held at ReCAP. This includes Marquand's restricted ReCAP location ["ReCAP Marquand Library use only (RCPPJ)"]. Patrons can specify ELECTRONIC/ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DELIVERY (EDD) via the Main Catalog or SearchIt@PUL for library items held at ReCAP. The service is not meant to provide scans of entire books, which in many cases, is prohibited due to copyright restrictions.

Marquand Library has a total of four public printers at present. Library staff do our best to ensure that the printers are loaded with paper and toner, but we rely on library users to report problems to us as they occur. Some tips for solving printer jams have now been posted near printers, and we do our best to make sure printers are in working order before each weekend, when fewer staff members are around. Student assistants are not generally responsible for computers, copiers, and printers in the library, as they must oversee the front desks, check bags, and handle circulation duties.

In recent months, both Mendel Music Library and the Architecture Library have had thefts reported of laptops and money. Some money was stolen from a 3rd-Floor carrel in Marquand this past summer, when the library was virtually empty. We encourage Marquand Library users to refrain from leaving cell phones, laptops, wallets and other valuables on open tables in the library, as this invites possible thefts and Marquand Library staff are not responsible for such occurrences, unfortunately.

After more than a year preparing content and tinkering with the technical details with the help of Library Systems staff in Firestone, we are pleased to finally present our new website. We hope it will be useful and that you will find what you expect to find easily. Please feel free to send any and all comments to us at marquand@princeton.edu, and look for the Ask Us section on the left to contact us about specific items.