In the Spotlight

New Exhibit:
The Elevator and the City

An elevator drawing from Escaliers et Acenseurs by Theodore Lambert, published in Paris by C. Schmid, 1891.

The history and influence of the elevator on urban growth, technology, and culture is the topic of University Library's newest exhibit, on display in the Library's main exhibit space through March 19. Materials from collections throughout the library system have been gathered to illustrate the wide-ranging effect the elevator has had on modern life. For example, the exhibit shows how the elevator contributed to the growth of cities such as Chicago and New York, which were forced to expand upward with skyscrapers or "elevator buildings" (as they were often called in the 19th century).

The exhibit features a striking selection of books, maps, and photographs that trace the history and science of freight, storage, and passenger elevators from the mid-1800s. One section highlights Elisha Otis's 1854 demonstration of the first safety passenger hoist (patented in 1861), while another offers speculations about elevators of the future. Also featured are elevators of the imagination (such as Roald Dahl's Great Glass Elevator), elevators in art (including an 1889 farce by William Dean Howells in which several guests are stuck in an elevator on their way to an elegant dinner), and a portrait of General George Owen Squier, said to be the inventor of Muzak (popularly known as elevator music).

Materials for the exhibit were contributed by the Art Collection, Government Publications & Maps Department, Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center, Music Library, Seeley G. Mudd Library for Science and Engineering, Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, and the Transportation Library. The exhibit is open to the public during regular Library hours.

Eighteenth Century Collection Online (ECCO): The 18th century full-text at your fingertips.

Northwestern University Library now offers complete online access to the searchable text and page images of more than 150,000 books published in Great Britain and its colonies during the 18th century -- a total of 33 million pages in all. The Eighteenth Century Collection Online (ECCO) can be searched for names both famous and obscure ("Benjamin Franklin" or "James Oglethorpe"), important places ("Brandywine"), or commodities, issues, or important themes of the century ("tobacco," "revolution," or "slavery"). Results can be sorted and filtered in a number of interesting ways. Occurrences of searched words are then highlighted in yellow on an online facsimile of each page, making them verifiable without having to go to microfilm or to consult the original printed work. Currently, access is available only through the Library's Electronic Resources Finder (search for "ECCO") or by going directly to the resource link.

Please note that currently (January 2004) only about 50 percent of the entire database is loaded, sorted into discipline groups, i.e. History and Geography, Fine Arts, Social Sciences, Medicine, Science and Technology. Other major sections, including Language and Literature, go online in April of this year. By year's end, Northwestern plans to provide access to each individual title in ECCO from the Library's online catalog, NUcat. A link will take users directly from the title entry in the OPAC to the work itself.

New Music Library Listening Center and Computer Lab

Cutting the ribbon to open the new lab are (left to right): Charles Deering McCormick University Librarian David Bishop; Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery of the School of Music; Mort Rahimi, Vice President, Information Technology and Chief Technology Officer; and Provost Lawrence Dumas.

After months of planning by University Library, the School of Music, and Academic Technologies, the Music Library Listening Center and Computer Lab officially opened its doors on the second floor of Deering Library. This marks the end of an in-depth planning process that involved exploring new music technologies and selecting the best and most innovative tools for music education. The result is a facility equipped with sophisticated software for beginning to mid-level music technology applications.

Installation of this high-tech software creates exciting opportunities for Northwestern students. Instead of just delivering music, the new facility allows students to create music from scratch using notation programs, sequencers, multimedia software, and musical optical character recognition (MOCR) software. The notation software, for example, allows students to compose a piece of music and then listen to the composition played on various instruments. “This opens up a completely new avenue for the lab,” says Peter Webster, associate dean for academic studies and research in the School of Music. “The focus has shifted to include music creation and multimedia work such as CD and DVD production. There is tremendous potential here.”

Originally located in the School of Music, the lab was moved into the Music Library Listening Center space on the second floor of Deering Library, directly opposite the Music Library. Today there are a total of 18 machines in the lab – nine PCs and nine MACs – all equipped with advanced music keyboards, headphones, and the latest software available for beginning and intermediate music applications.

“Because this facility is located in Deering Library, it allows us to play a central role in the School of Music,” says Charles Deering McCormick University Librarian David Bishop. “This type of collaboration keeps the Library in the mainstream of academic activity at a time of extraordinary change. It also demonstrates the Library’s commitment to serving as a center for technology on campus.”

Academic Technologies has also played an important role in making this new music technology available to students. To create a classroom space where students can learn to use the new equipment, Academic Technologies agreed to equip one of the labs on the Library’s lower level with music keyboards, musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) sound modules, and the music software.