Information Commons Dedicated

The LPC Library's Information Commons was dedicated yesterday. It provides for many new approaches to teaching, learning and research. The renovated first floor of DePaul’s John T. Richardson Library offers cozy seating, a hub of academic resources and media tables where students can bring their own device and collaborate on large screens. If you find yourself on the Lincoln Park Campus, be sure to stop by.  For more information click here.

If you weren't there, here are a few who were:

Helen Marlborough and Kathryn DeGraff

Fr. Richardson speaking to the attendees

Fr. Ed Udovic

And, retiree Elaine Beaudoin was the winner of the door prize, an iPad Mini.  It was a lovely event.

Photos courtesy: Elaine M. Beaudoin

Richardson Library Information Commons

Dear Colleagues,

The staff of the DePaul University Library cordially invites you to the grand opening of The Richardson Library Information Commons. The Information Commons is a comfortable, flexible, technology-rich space for individual study, collaborative work, and research and tutoring services.

The Grand Opening will be held on the first floor of The John T. Richardson Library.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013
From 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. (remarks begin at 4:00 p.m.)
John T. Richardson Library
2350 N. Kenmore Ave.

To learn more about the Information Commons and what is available there, please visit http://libguides.depaul.edu/infocommons.

Visit go.depaul.edu/maps for location information and bit.ly/infocommonsopening for a schedule of events.

RSVP by Friday, September 20 to (773)325-7849 or libadmin@depaul.edu


Sincerely,

Scott Walter
University Librarian

Email sent to University Community, September 6, 2013

Kathryn DeGraff on the Dickens' Christmas Carol collection

Thanks, Kathryn, for sharing the video produced by the DePaul Media Department on Dickens' Christmas Carol collection.  Nice job!

DeGraff on Dickens

DePaul blessed with a Dickens archive 

strong on ‘Christmas Carol’

Kathryn DeGraff poses with her favorite edition of A Christmas Carol, a 1940 edition, at DePaul University's Richardson Library in Chicago, Ill., on Wednesday, December 19, 2012. | Andrew A. Nelles~Sun-Times Media

There are no twinkling lights, North Pole elves or candy canes, but tucked into a quiet third-floor office in DePaul University’s Richardson Library is a rare collection of books that speaks to the essence of the modern Christmas experience.

DePaul’s library, 2350 N. Kenmore, is home to more than 1,000 volumes and items relating to Charles Dickens, with an emphasis on “A Christmas Carol.”

“When Dickens wrote ‘A Christmas Carol,’ Christmas was not the holiday we know today,” said Kathryn DeGraff, who has curated the Dickens collection since 1980. “ ‘A Christmas Carol’ was the right story at the right time, and Dickens was clearly the right author for it.” 

Dickens penned the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, his spunky son Tiny Tim and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come in 1843 as a quick way to make a buck. When it was published, Christmas celebrations were making a comeback from a series of Puritanical rules meant to quash what was formerly a bawdy medieval celebration. Dickens’ iconic story and character became synonymous with the modern-day Christmas celebration. 

“This is really about the power of family but it’s also a very important story about the power of giving,” DeGraff said. “By the end [Scrooge] is distributing charity.” 

DeGraff sees the roots of not only the family Christmas celebration in the book.

Kathryn DeGraff shows an 1844 first edition of A Christmas Carol that is part of the Dickens collection at DePaul University's Richardson Library in Chicago, Ill., on Wednesday, December 19, 2012. | Andrew A. Nelles~Sun-Times Media 

Click the photo gallery to view more items from the Dickens' collection photographed by the Sun Times.

Chicago Sun Times, December 21, 2012,  BY KARA SPAK Staff Reporter/kspak@suntimes.com December 20, 2012 5:34PM.  Online @ http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/books/17134625-421/dickensat-depaul.html