Transgender Day of Remembrance

Transgender Day of Remembrance is observed annually on November 20 as a way in which to commemorate people who have been murdered as a result of transphobia. To learn more about the transgender community, take a look at the displays on the second floor of the Birnbaum Library; check out some of our new books on trans issues; and remember that the LGBTQA & Social Justice Center has additional educational, health and community resources, including a lending library.

Gender Failure by [Coyote, Ivan, Spoon, Rae]A Murder Over a Girl: Justice, Gender, Junior High by [Corbett, Ken]

Stress-Free Week at the Mortola Library

The Mortola Library will host another Stress-Free Week of activities starting December 5. Students are encouraged to join us for our popular Toast-mageddon event, Therapy Dogs, Game Night, puzzles, clay sculpture, and more!

Monday, Dec. 5:

Enjoy free toast as we “toast” the end of the semester — it’s Toast-mageddon! (10am- 4pm)

Tuesday, Dec. 6:

Color and Relax! (9am- 5pm)

Wednesday, Dec. 7:

De-stress with Therapy Dogs from the Good Dog Foundation! (10am- 3pm, Birnbaum Room)

Zen Gardening! (9am- 5pm)

Thursday, Dec. 8:

Therapy Dogs, Birnbaum Room (10am- 1pm)

Therapy Dogs, Kessel Student Center (1- 3pm)

Clay Sculpture! (9am- 5pm)

Friday, Dec. 9:

Puzzle Fun! (9am- 5pm)

Like playing board games? Want to meet new people? Stop by Game Night (7- 10pm).

 

Homer S. Pace, Keeper of the Books

The Pace Study is located on the 16th floor of 41 Park Row, a landmark building built in 1854 and extensively renovated in 1888 that served as the original home of the New York Times and was purchased by Pace College in 1951. The Study served as the office of Robert S. Pace, Pace’s second president and son of co-founder Homer S. Pace. Today it is used for small meetings of special significance to the University. The Study’s many valuable books and objects reflect the varied interests of Homer Pace, an accountant by vocation and a collector by avocation.

Homer loved to travel, as is evident from his choice of books. The Study collection contains a number of geographies and books of travel and exploration. Among the geographies are a 1681 German-language geography of Asia, a 17th century Dutch-language geography, Mallet’s Histoire de l’Univers, dating from 1686-86, and a universal geography in Latin dating from 1697. The books of travel are an excellent contemporary history of the age of exploration, with many volumes dating from the Golden Age of the 17th century. Among these are Dampier’s Voyages, 1698-1705, Hawkesworth’s (Capt. Cook’s) Account of Voyages, published in 1773, and Alexander Hamilton’s New Account of the East Indies, 1732.  In tribute to these adventurous men, engravings of four famous explorers, Cordoba, Mendoza, Columbus and Magellan, hang in the Study.

Homer’s collection of rare books reflects his life-long fascination with words. Included are several historic examples of lexicography, among them: Huleots Dictionarie by John Higgins, the oldest volume in the collection, dating from 1572; John Harris’ Lexicon Technicum; Nathan Bailey’s An Universal Etymological English Dictionary, published in 1721; two early editions of A Dictionary of the English Language, by Samuel Johnson, considered the greatest English dictionary of the 18th century; a complete 21-volume set of A New English Dictionary of Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), “the emperor of dictionaries,” in the words of H.L. Mencken; and a ten-volume 1906 edition of The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, considered by many lexicographers to be America’s greatest contribution to the field of dictionaries.

Thanks to archivist Ellen Sowchek for providing the information and the photograph of Robert S. Pace in the Pace Study.

robertspace6

 

The Curious Case of the Missing Trump Books

You may have noticed that in the weeks leading up the 2016 Presidential Election, the Birnbaum Library has displayed books by and about the leading candidates, political parties and the electoral process. Our core values include democracy, diversity, intellectual freedom, and social responsibility[i]. Therefore, our goal in selecting material was to be as balanced and impartial as possible and to encourage students to take seriously their rights as citizens. When shortly after the display went up two books attributed to Donald Trump were turned backside-front so that his familiar pout no longer greeted onlookers, we respected the freedom of expression exercised by the anonymous culprit. However, when a few days later the Trump books disappeared altogether, we were reminded of recent incidences of college students demanding censorship[ii]. As we conclude our fruitless search for the missing books, we are left with no choice but to reorder them. The unintended consequence of an act of vandalism and suppression of speech: more royalties for Donald Trump.

Welcome to our two new Instructional Services Librarians!

Sarah Cohn and Gina Levitan joined the Birnbaum Library staff this September as Instructional Services Librarians. Sarah and Gina join Jennifer Rosenstein, First Year Outreach Services Librarian, in the Instructional Services department and will design, facilitate and evaluate Information Literacy and library research instruction sessions for Pace students, faculty and staff.

Sarah has a BA in Political Science from the University of Oregon and an MLIS from CUNY Queens College. She comes to Pace from Manhattan College where she was an Assistant Librarian for Information Services. Sarah also worked at the International Culinary Center as an Assistant Librarian, and prior to going to library school, she worked for 10 years as a pastry chef in restaurants in New York and Washington, D.C . She is currently pursuing her MA in Liberal Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. A California native, Sarah now lives in Brooklyn with her cat, Esperanza.

Before coming to Pace, Gina was the Research Services Librarian at Sarah Lawrence College. She has a MLIS and MA from Long Island University and NYU, and her research interests include critical library pedagogy, media studies, and historical newspapers. She’s a native New Yorker and a big fan of NY1.

Please stop by the Instructional Services Office outside room E101 and welcome Sarah and Gina to Pace!