Category Archives: Library

CIFNAL Speaker Series on June 10: “Preserving and Disseminating Medieval French Manuscript Heritage : Current Research Programs and Future Perspectives at the Bibliothèque nationale de France “

Join us on June 10 at 12pm EDT for the last session of the CIFNAL Speaker Series.

To register: https://ufl.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUrcOCpqTkqGtyZGvwVCpRkJY4Us88EWBxL

Preserving and Disseminating Medieval French Manuscript Heritage : Current Research Programs and Future Perspectives at the Bibliothèque nationale de France

Heir to the collections of the kings of France, the Bibliothèque nationale de France holds one of the largest collections of medieval manuscripts in the world, with nearly 40,000 documents. This collection, which continues to grow through purchases and donations, covers all fields of knowledge and includes many illuminated manuscripts.  The BnF preserves and promotes this collection through its online resources (Archives and Manuscripts catalog, Gallica digital library, Mandragore database). The BnF also leads or participates in numerous national or international research programs and uses artificial intelligence technologies to exploit manuscript corpora in order to support new research practices and new appropriations of this French medieval heritage.

Charlotte Denoël is archivist paleograph and chief curator at the Department of Manuscripts of the Bibliothèque nationale de France where she is in charge of the medieval service. In 2019-2020, she was member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
Her research on the manuscripts focuses on the Early and High Middle Ages and addresses images in a transdisciplinary perspective. Manuscripts and their decoration are analyzed through the prism of cultural history, history of art, and iconography. Among her current projects are a survey of manuscripts illuminated in France during the 10thand 11th centuries (Harvey Miller) and a collective book about the links between medieval art and contemporary art (Brepols).
Charlotte Denoël curated four exhibitions on the art of the Early and High Middle Ages, “Trésors carolingiens” (BnF, 2007), “Les temps mérovingiens” (Musée de Cluny, 2016), “Make it New. Carte blanche à Jan Dibbets” (BnF, 2018), and “Chefs d’œuvre romans de Saint-Martial de Limoges » (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Limoges, 2019).
She participated in major research programs at the BnF which include digitization, scientific description, restoration, and/or dissemination of some corpus of manuscripts: Europeana Regia (2009-2012), Biblissima (2013-2019), and the Polonsky program “France-Angleterre, 700-1200: manuscrits médiévaux de la BnF et de la British Library” (2016-2018).

CIFNAL Speaker Series May 20

Join us on May 20 at 12pm EDT for a presentation by Quinn Dombrowski entitled “Corpus Hebdo: Building Infrastructure for Multilingual Digital Humanities.” Register here.

“Corpus Hebdo: Building Infrastructure for Multilingual Digital Humanities”

The computational analysis of literature and other cultural media has recently blossomed within the interdisciplinary sub-field of “cultural analytics”, a community within the larger tent of digital humanities. The ability to track patterns across cultural production at a larger scale than previously feasible holds a great deal of promise as an avenue of research, but it depends on language-specific technical and data infrastructure. This talk will explore the state of this infrastructure for scholars of Francophone literatures and cultures, compared to what’s available for scholars of the Anglophone world. As “data” and “computation” make larger inroads in the humanities, how can librarians apply their linguistic and cultural expertise to the table in developing some of the necessary resources for supporting this new kind of scholarship? This talk will suggest opportunities for collaboration and advocacy that can make a difference for the future of Francophone cultural analytics.

Quinn Dombrowski is the Academic Technology Specialist in the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, and in the Library, at Stanford University. Prior to coming to Stanford in 2018, Quinn’s many DH adventures included supporting the high-performance computing cluster at UC Berkeley, running the DiRT tool directory with support from the Mellon Foundation, writing books on Drupal for Humanists and University of Chicago library graffiti, and working on the program staff of Project Bamboo, a failed digital humanities cyberinfrastructure initiative.  Quinn has a BA/MA in Slavic Linguistics from the University of Chicago, and an MLIS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since coming to Stanford, Quinn has supported numerous non-English DH projects, taught courses on non-English DH, started a Textile Makerspace, developed a tabletop roleplaying game to teach DH project management, explored trends in multilingual Harry Potter fanfic, and started the Data-Sitters Club, a feminist DH pedagogy and research group focused on Ann M. Martin’s 90’s girls series “The Baby-Sitters Club”. Quinn is currently co-VP of the Association for Computers and the Humanities along with Roopika Risam, and advocates for better support for DH in languages other than English.

CIFNAL Speaker Series April 15

Join us on April 15 (12pm EDT) for Nathan H. Dize’s presentation: “Translating Haiti in the Archives of Predominantly White Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” Register here.

Translating Haiti in the Archives of Predominantly White Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities 

Where is Haiti located in institutional archives of US universities? How is the Caribbean nation translated, or made legible to researchers and visitors of these archives? How is Haiti translated in the archives of Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) versus Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)? And how might these translations help us create more durable, accessible, and open collections in the future?

Nathan H. Dize will talk about his experience working, researching, and volunteering at numerous colleges and universities in the United States, including: Fisk University, Morgan State University, West Virginia State University, the University of Florida, the University of Maryland in College Park, Vanderbilt University, and Oberlin College.

Nathan H. Dize is Visiting Assistant Professor of French at Oberlin College. His work is situated at the crossroads of literary and intellectual history, cultural studies, translation studies, and the digital humanities. Nathan is particularly interested in how literature enables Haitians to practice intimate and collective rites of mourning across generations and beyond national borders. He is the translator of three Haitian novels: The Immortals by Makenzy Orcel (SUNY Press, 2020), I Am Alive by Kettly Mars (UVA Press, 2022), and Antoine des Gommiers by Lyonel Trouillot (Schaffner Press, 2023). Nathan has written for publications such as archipelagos, Caribbean Quarterly, Francosphères, the Journal of Haitian Studies, sx salon, and Transition; he also serves on the editorial board of the online magazine, ReadinginTranslation.com.

You can find recordings from the previous presentations on the CIFNAL Speaker Series’ page.

POSITION VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT: History Librarian

POSITION VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

History Librarian

Assistant University Librarian

University of Florida

George A Smathers Libraries

The University of Florida’s George A. Smathers Libraries seek a candidate for the History Librarian position who will be primarily responsible for the overall development, management, and coordination of the Libraries’ resources in all formats for history. The primary collection management focus of this position is general history but a knowledge of North American history, global history and intersections with humanities and social sciences will be a necessary secondary focus.

The position supports the University’s academic programs including the Department of History as well as interdisciplinary programs supported by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Responsibilities include analyzing the University’s programs in and related to History, collaborating with librarians and academic faculty to establish collection profiles, selection guidelines, and preservation, location and cataloging priorities; and evaluating existing collection strengths and current collecting intensities. The position collaborates with other employees, providing support in the broader areas of the social sciences, especially overlapping, interdisciplinary areas, manages specialized subject area reference services, library instruction, and online database services, and participates in branch and libraries-wide outreach programming.

The search will remain open until April 21, 2022, and applications will be reviewed as received. For a full description of the position and instructions on how to apply, please refer to the George A. Smathers Libraries faculty recruitment webpage at https://hr.uflib.ufl.edu/prospective-employees/current-openings/vacant-faculty-positions/.

The University of Florida is an equal opportunity employer and is strongly committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff. Applicants from a broad spectrum of people, including members of ethnic minorities and disabled persons, are especially encouraged to apply.

Address inquiries to Joe Piazza, Smathers Libraries Human Resources Office, at: jpiazza at ufl dot edu.

Recording of Jérémie Roche (CAIRN), Julie Therizols (OpenEdition), and Emilie Chouinard (Erudit)’s Talk: “The Future of Electronic Publishing in France and Francophone Canada.”

The recording of Jérémie Roche (CAIRN), Julie Therizols (OpenEdition), and Emilie Chouinard (Erudit)’s presentation, The Future of Electronic Publishing in France and Francophone Canada, is now available online.

CIFNAL Speaker Series March 4

Please join us this Friday for the third talk of the CIFNAL Spring Speaker Series by Darlene Hull (Libros de Barlovento): Plein de Défis : a Book Vendor’s Experience Acquiring Library Materials from Haiti

March 4, 2-3pm EST

Registration Link: https://ufl.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYoc-GvpzstGNyC62otaAvYbVnb3ogf1nSj

Darlene Hull completed her BA in Spanish at Bard College in 1979 after two years of study in Mexico and earned her Master’s Degree in Information and Library Science from the University of Kentucky in 1982. She served as Curator of Hispanic History & Culture Collections in Special Collections and as Latin American & Caribbean Specialist librarian at the University of Connecticut from 1982-2005. Darlene joined the Caribbean book distribution company, Libros de Barlovento, as co-owner in 2005. From 2009-2012 she was also a U.S. Distributor for vLex, a Barcelona-based full-text foreign and international legal database. She has been an active member of the organization SALALM since 1984 and served as the association’s President in the year 2002/2003.

Talk Description: A book vendor shares 10 years of experience collecting Haitian materials for academic and research libraries including information on publishing trends and output, relationship to the publishing industry in France and Canada, acquiring Creole as well as French language materials, the annual Livre en Folie, the nitty gritty of travel, acquisitions, and shipment prep in Haiti, challenges of acquiring Haitian materials remotely and overall high cost of doing business in Haiti.

CIFNAL Speaker Series February 25

Please join us on February 25 for the second talk of the CIFNAL Spring Speaker Series by M. Stephanie Chancy: Preserving Cultural and Historical Patrimony: dLOC Partnerships and Collaborations in Haiti. 

February 25, 2-3pm EST

Registration Link: https://ufl.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUkd-qgqzkrE9UEMOcVUa0CvaXlO6SDW7iC

Biography 

M. Stephanie Chancy is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the History Department at Florida International University. She holds a Ph.D. in History from FIU, and a Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts from the University of Miami. Her research focuses on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European Atlantic material culture. Her work incorporates elements of Caribbean History, European History and U.S. History, as well as material pieces such as paintings, sculptures and photographs. She served as the Green Family Foundation Graduate Fellow at the Digital Library of the Caribbean, taught several undergraduate courses in Art History, and prior to her academic career, was an administrator for two non-profit performing arts organizations. 

Talk Description 

Preserving Cultural and Historical Patrimony: dLOC Partnerships and Collaborations in Haiti 

The talk introduces the Digital Library of the Caribbean and discusses its mission. It specifically addresses dLOC’s work in Haiti and with its Haitian partners. It highlights the focus on both cultural and historical preservation as well as dLOC’s commitment to making that information available to scholars, teachers and students whose research focuses on Haiti.