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Roman to Islamic Beads and Pendants from Matmar and Mostagedda, Middle Egypt
Get PDFBetween 1927 and 1931, British archaeologists Guy Brunton and his wife Winifred recorded over 150 graves assumed to date from Late Dynastic to early Islamic times in the cemeteries of Matmar and Mostagedda, Middle Egypt. Sixty-four bead objects found in funerary context are now located in six museum collections. Recent studies of material found in these tombs and the radiocarbon dating of textile samples allowed for a revision of Brunton’s initial chronology and an overview of the typology of the bead corpus based on the revised chronological framework. The analysis of the Matmar and Mostagedda corpus also opens the avenue for a study of the timeline, typology, use, and provenience of beads at sites in the Middle Egyptian Nile Valley during the Roman to early Islamic period
Volume 23 Issue 3 Introduction
Get PDFThe Oregon library community consistently amazes me with its innovative, enterprising, and patron-focused activities. Indeed, we hear about these many activities through Libs-Or, OLA conferences, and this journal. While certainly not by design, many of the voices we hear come from libraries along the I-5 corridor. Cool things happen in those libraries, of course, but this issue of the OLA Quarterly amplifies voices we hear less frequently: the rural institutions that constitute the majority of the libraries in Oregon.
I have spent most of my career working in small and rural libraries. My first library job was at my hometown library: Langlois Public Library (service population: 785) on the southern Oregon coast. The experiences I had at Langlois and other rural Oregon libraries taught me two lessons that, while perhaps truisms, are nonetheless worth saying. First, serving patrons in rural areas—no matter your library type—bears similarity to larger library counterparts, but it differs in significant ways that require a shift in mindset. Second, “rural” is not some monolithic concept that comes with a defined set of needs, just as “urban” and “suburban” are not; each rural community and group of patrons is unique
Continuously Adapting: The Bonneville Power Administration Library
Get PDFDuring my 2009 interview for a librarian position at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the panel members laughingly admitted that the BPA Library needed “a facelift.” I could see what they meant—the space, crowded with stacks, did not contain a seating area and lacked a “modern technology” feel. Instead, the team had focused its energy on something very important: preserving BPA’s history.
A bit of background about BPA and its library: the U.S. Government built Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams in the 1930s and 1940s as part of the New Deal. Power from these massive projects strengthened the Northwest economy and brought electricity to rural areas that were not served by existing utilities. Congress created BPA in 1937 to sell and deliver power from dams in the Pacific Northwest Columbia River power system. BPA needed a way to centralize all the technical information required to operate one of the nation’s largest high voltage transmission systems and in 1939, the BPA Library was created.
The Library still focuses on supporting the technical reference and research needs of the BPA workforce, but with so much history behind us, our scope has expanded to include 500,000 BPA photographs, 8,000 BPA-published documents, and about ten films. Now, apart from the BPA workforce, we also assist researchers, scholars, and members of the public who are curious about the role BPA played in the development of the Pacific Northwest
Stories of Southern Oregon = Communities + Libraries + Museums + University
Get PDFCollaborations often have the best outcomes because conversations among those with diverse experiences, varied institutional affiliations, and cross-discipline training bring breadth and depth of perspective. The Stories of Southern Oregon project was a good example of how libraries, museums, and academics can work together to surface important historical content, build community, and strengthen relationships. Thanks to a 2017 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Common Heritage program, Southern Oregon University faculty partnered with the Eagle Point and Ruch branches of the Jackson County Library District and local museums to collect stories and images of heritage work-life like logging, mining, farming, and ranching. Memories of a different time are very much alive in the rural towns of Jackson and Josephine counties, and public libraries and museums are central to the collective heritage of our small communities. This article describes the Stories of Southern Oregon project and how public libraries in Ruch and Eagle Point engaged their communities to bring history to life, and make a real difference to those they serve every day
Library Takeovers: After Hours Nerf Games and More at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library
Get PDFThe Corvallis-Benton County Public Library (CBCPL) has been hosting action-packed after-hours events for all ages since July 2017. Referred to as Takeovers, these events involve crafts, video games, Nerf games, and more—all while the library is closed. Each Takeover event is tailored to a specific age group (either tweens, teens, or adults) and people from outside that age group are not permitted in the library during the event. Takeovers are all about having fun and connecting with others and have proven to be incredibly popular; for example, registration and attendance caps are necessary for the Tween Takeovers to be sure the library can accommodate all that want to attend. This article will discuss the origin of the idea for CBCPL’s Takeovers, how these events are planned and coordinated, tips for any library interested in hosting their own Takeovers, and the ways in which these events tie into the CBCPL mission
The Jackson County Genealogy Library: Over a Half-Century of Helping People Find Their Roots
Get PDFWhen the first few folks who gathered together in Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley to share their interest in genealogy and family research wrapped up their meetings back in the late 1960s, their “president,” Ora Strom, tucked their shared reference books under her bed for storage. Little did that small group know that they would come to embody the proverb, “From humble beginnings come great things.” Indeed, from those modest actions arose two significant and related Southern Oregon entities: The Rogue Valley Genealogical Society (RVGS) (www.rvgsociety.org) and the Jackson County Genealogy Library (JCGL) (www.rvgslibrary.org), which is managed by the Society.
In September of 2016, RVGS celebrated its semicentennial—50 expansive years of preserving the past so that others might benefit from the accumulated knowledge of so many who paved the way to create the society and library as they are today. RVGS and JCGL are gems that, these days, serve not only Southern Oregon but also researchers from all over the world. In fact, JCGL now houses the largest genealogical collection between Portland, Oregon, and Sacramento, California! For a modest membership fee, patrons gain access to a world of services and materials, including free special interest research groups, free and fee-based classes and seminars, and monthly programs open to members and the public at no charge. (Non-members pay a nominal daily visitor fee to use the library, and research requests are filled at special rates.) Society membership meetings are combined with public programs which occur nearly every month of the year. These popular talks delve into such topics as the Applegate Trail and settlement of our part of the state, the Orphan Train Movement, stagecoaching and stagecoach routes, historical visitors to and residents of Southern Oregon, and other historical and genealogical topics of interest
Adulting 101: Know Your Audience
Get PDFDuring the winter of 2017, I began to see a common topic on library programming group threads centering around ideas such as teaching basic life skills to young and new adults that may not have been taught at home or school. Around the same time, Clara Piazzola, the library’s young adult assistant, came to me to share an idea that was buzzing around her library school discussion boards. She told me about a program idea that would teach young people necessary skills to help them survive in the grownup world. Talk about a coincidence! I gave her the go ahead, and she began planning.
Clara came up with the name, Adulting 101, and a six-month program outline. Planning each session, we chose to invite local speakers for a few of the topics that warranted professional facilitators. Flyers were displayed in the library and mailed to local bulletin boards and radio stations. Adulting 101 was posted to the library website, social media, and electronic calendars. We reserved the room, bought snacks, and were ready to launch.
The event post on our library’s Facebook page started a ripple effect that took us by surprise. We had Facebook likes and shares from tens of thousands of viewers. People were emailing and phoning our City Administrator, Library Director, and the library for more information. The local television station saw the post, called for an interview, and covered the first program. There were radio interviews. We had electronic inquiries and phone calls from across the country and then some. The American Library Association’s Programming Librarian asked for an article (Lucas, 2017). Adulting 101 was even mentioned on the morning talk show LiveKellyandRyan (Adulting 101 for Millenials [sic], 2017)
Florida Cut-Crystal Beads in Ontario
Get PDFFaceted rock-crystal beads attributed to ca. 1550-1630 have been found at a number of North American archaeological sites, principally in the southeastern United Sates where they are generally termed Florida Cut-Crystal. Finds further to the north are rare. It was, therefore, of great interest to discover three different examples in the bead collections of two 17th-century Huron-Wendat sites in southern Ontario: Le Caron (BeGx-15) and Warminster (BdGv-1). The beads are investigated using a multi-disciplinary approach in an effort to determine how and where they were produced