#TBT in the Archives 4/28/16: Old School Tech

Ship students have not always had laptops, tablets, and digital projectors to use in their classes. Before all of these technologies were invented, last century's technology looked a lot different!

Aside from the paper records and photos we have featured in the past on Throwback Thursday, the University Archives also houses other memorabilia from the university. For example, the football team used to watch films of their games which were recorded on film reels. Games are not the only subject of the film reels in the Archives. There are also films of other aspects of campus life including various May Day celebrations from the 1950s as well as graduation ceremonies and homecoming celebrations from the 1960s.

Film reels, 1950s-1960s

Another example of "old school" tech housed in the Archives is a Keystone Eye Comfort Stereoscope. A stereoscope is a device which takes two photographs of the same object and creates a 3D image. Though the stereoscope was losing popularity into the 1920s, many people believed that they still had educational value and could be used to diagnose vision problems.

Stereoscope with image cards

There is also a vintage slide projector housed in the Archives. It runs off of electricity just like a newer projector and has a bulb in the back which illuminates a slide on the screen. Projectors like the one in the Archives were used in auditoriums and classrooms because of the clear pictures they produced. By moving the lens forward and backward, one could adjust the size and the clarity of the image.

Vintage slide projector that was used in the mid-20th century

That wraps up our Throwback Thursdays for this semester! Check back in the fall for more Ship history!

Milk and Cookies with President Harpster - 5/2/2016

Join us for something sweet during finals' week!
Eat Cookies! Drink Milk! Study!

See you in the library Monday evening?

PA Primaries: Tuesday 4/26/2016

Election Day

Tuesday, April 26

"Rides to the Polls"

10am-7pm

Pick up/Drop off Locations:

Presidents Hall - Entrance Area

And

The CUB –Main Entrance across from Reisner Dining

Residence Hall Association Vans will provide transportation to the Polls at

Vigilant Hose Company
20 Walnut Bottom Rd
Shippensburg, PA 17257

The "Rides to the Polls" is a partnership between non-partisan Ship Votes, the Residence Hall Association, the Women's Center and APSCUF.

Extended hours are in effect

The library's extended hours are in effect now through Friday, May 6. The library will be open until 1:00am Sunday through Thursday, until 11pm on Friday, and 9pm on Saturday.

Sometimes it's hard to stay inside and focus when it's so nice out, but remember the library has quiet study on the second floor, and group study areas on the first and lower levels. Study hard! The semester is almost over!

Streaming films for a rainy Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day, which is your annual reminder to give the planet a hug. 

If you're stuck inside not planting trees because of the rain, you can learn more about global warming and its effects in An Inconvenient Truth, see the toll the food industry takes on the environment in Food, Inc., or even check out a cult classic thriller's bleak take on industrialization in Soylent Green. All are available streaming FREE from Swank Digital Campus. 

Lehman Library Extended Hours - Open Late for You

Finals week is just around the corner, which means the library will be open late each night, starting this Sunday (April 24).

The library will be closed on Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8. Stay tuned to the blog for summer hours updates!

#TBT in the Archives 4/7/16: Dorm Rooms

Despite all the changes that take place at a university over the years, dorm rooms remain a constant! More than just a place to sleep, study, and socialize with friends, a dorm room serves as a student's home away from home. Read on to see how Ship students have decorated and used their dorm rooms over the last 50 years.

In the 1950s, dorms were segregated by gender. There were separate dorms for men and women, and there were strict regulations regarding access to the opposite gender's living spaces.

In these photos from 1951, students hang out in their dorm rooms and get ready for the day.

No matter the decade, studying can be exhausting. Perhaps what made studying in the 1960s most different from today was the lack of computers. However, students still personalized their dorm rooms by decorating their walls, and of course piling their desks with study materials.

Though the walls of this dorm room (from 1968) have Peanuts characters on them, the room looks like a dorm of today--dresser, desk, books, and posters!

This student, who was studying hard, shows what a dorm room's best function is--sleep!

In the 1970s, technology similar to what we would see in dorms today began to appear. Students had smaller TVs and different devices for playing back music. Their time would be spent reading and studying in their rooms. Their desks, like today, were rarely clean and quickly became overwhelmed with books, papers, and food.

Studying, 1976

A desk cluttered with books, food, and drinks, 1976

Students have always brought belongings to school which remind them of home and make them feel more comfortable in their dorm.

This student's room shows her books and trinkets from home! (1988)

Dorm rooms from a decade ago most closely resemble the dorms of today. But again, we see how quickly technology changes. Check out the large square computer monitor in the room pictured below.

A computer monitor adorns a student's desk alongside pictures of friends and family (2005)

Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Contact Archives & Special Collections via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.

National Library Week April 10-16, 2016

What is "National Library Week? 

Except from Library History Buff (libraryhistorybuff.org)

"In 1957 the National Book Committee, a joint committee of the American Library Association and the American Book Publishers Council, recommended the establishment of a National Library Week.  The first National Library Week was observed May 16-22, 1958 with the theme “Wake Up and Read”. It has continued every year since 1958.  In 1974, the American Library Association became the sole sponsor of the event. 

Although the current National Library week originated in 1958, the idea of a week to promote libraries was not new. In fact the Publicity Committee of the American Library Association recommended such a week in 1922 at the Detroit Conference of the American Library Association.  The Publicity Committee suggested April, 1923 as a possible time to initiate a Library Week."

This year's National Library Week theme is Libraries Transform, reminding all Americans that today's libraries are not just about what we have for people, but what we do for and with people.

Visit Ezra Lehman Memorial Library during the week of April 10-16 to view the posters display in the main gallery showing how the transformation has taken place in the history of the library's services.  

2+2 = April! It's Math Awareness Month

CC-BY-SA

In case you didn't know, April is Math Awareness Month. There may be a lot of us who don't think about math too much, but it is part of our every day lives, whether we like it or not.

For some fun math knowledge, watch this video from the library's Films on Demand database - "The Story of Math."