Women’s Studies Archive: Women’s Issues and Identities is a new full-text database of primary source material useful for researching 19th-and 20th-century women’s history, with a focus on sexuality and reproductive freedom; women and the labor movement; international peace activism; and second wave feminist movements.  It also includes a collection of European periodicals, and a collection of the personal papers of a variety of women, including suffragists, missionaries, and communists.  This database is a digitization and full-text indexing of collections that were previously available in microfilm.  Researchers can search across the entire database or within specific collections.

Sexuality and Reproductive Rights

• Committee of Fifteen Records, 1900-1901
• Malthusian (1879-1921) and Eugenics Review (1909-1921)
• Planned Parenthood Federation of America Records, 1918-1974

Labor Activism

• Women’s Trade Union League and its Leaders (1903-1950), which includes the records of the New York Women’s Trade Union League and the papers of its leaders Rose Schneiderman, Margaret Dreier Robins.
• Women’s Labour League: Conference Reports and Journals (1906-1977)

Peace Activism

• Collected Records of the Women’s Peace Party, 1914-1920
• Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section (1919-1959)
• Records of the Women’s Peace Union, 1921-1940

Second Wave Feminism

• National Women’s History Project  collections: Herstory (1956-1974), Women and Mental Health (1965-1975), Women and Law (1969-1975)
• Grassroots Feminist Organizations, Part 1: Boston (1968-1998)
• Grassroots Feminist Organizations, Part 2: San Francisco (1972-1998)

Multidisciplinary collections

• European Women’s Periodicals (1840-1940)
• Women’s Lives (1834-1964) – letters, and diaries

Mary Day at Women and Children First bookstore. Behind her are owners Ann Christopherson and Linda Bubon. Photographs of anonymous women in a bookstore, Tracy Baim Editorial Files. LGBT Thought & Culture

LGBT Thought and Culture  is a full text database of books, periodicals, and archival materials documenting LGBT political, social and cultural movements throughout the twentieth century and into the present day. The collection includes materials collected by activist and publisher Tracy Baim from the mid-1980s through the mid-2000s, the Magnus Hirschfeld and Harry Benjamin collections from the Kinsey Institute, selections from The National Archives in Kew, periodicals such as En la Vida and BLACKlines, select rare works from notable LGBT publishers including Alyson Books and Cleis Press, as well as mainstream trade and university publishers.

The Library is offering weekly Zotero workshops in 306 Butler LIbrary:

Tuesday, February 16th from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm in 306 Butler Library
Monday, February 22nd from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm in 306 Butler Library
Friday, March 4th from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm in 306 Butler
Tuesday, March 8th from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm in 306 Butler

RSVP (dhc@library.columbia.edu).  If you’re bringing your laptop, download Zotero before the workshop.

Visit the Library Workshops page to see other workshops being offered this semester.

Butler Room 301 will be closed temporarily, Wednesday through Friday, February 10-12, 2016. We will be installing new, permanent reading tables in 301 as part of our ongoing efforts to improve the quantity and quality of seating in this room.  The final phase of this improvement project is expected to take place in March when new lamps and permanent power sources will be added to the new tables.

Library staff will retrieve print reference materials housed in Butler 301 throughout the closure period. If you need to use a reference book (call numbers A-Q, R046-R999, and S-Z), please ask for assistance in Butler 305, the Digital Humanities Center. If Butler 305 is closed, you may ask for assistance at the Butler Circulation Desk. A guide to call numbers and locations for the Butler Reference collection is available on the Libraries’ website.

Please contact us with any questions or concerns at butlersummer2015@libraries.cul.columbia.edu .

We look forward to welcoming you back to Butler 301 after the work is completed on Friday.

The New York Public Library is a great resource for downloadable e-books and e-audiobooks (kindle, overdrive, 3M, MP3, and many other formats).  It also has a vast collection of DVDs and books, amazing archival collections  and large collection of research databases.  All you need is a library card!

On Monday, 2/8, from noon-1pm, Lauren Bradley from the NYPL George Bruce branch will be in the Butler lobby on Monday (2/8) to sign people up for NYPL library cards. Anyone who lives, works, attends school, or pays property taxes in New York State is eligible to receive a free New York Public Library card.

Eligibility requirements and identification needed to sign up in person can be found at http://www.nypl.org/help/library-card/terms-conditions#Eligibility. In most cases, all that’s needed is a valid Columbia, Barnard, or other school ID.

Library card sign up can also be done in person at any NYPL library, including the Morningside Heights branch at 113th and Broadway, or by applying online at http://www.nypl.org/help/library-card.

If you’re a graduate student, you may wish to attend one of our “Getting Your Bearings” orientations, designed to help you begin using the powerful information tools at your disposal and to point you to some of the most important library services and personnel at Butler Library and elsewhere on campus.

The Libraries will be offering six “Getting Your Bearings” sessions to introduce graduate researchers to our collections and services.

The sessions begin with a 40 to 45 minute tour of key points and  services in Butler Library, including an intro to our Rare Book and Manuscript library.  This is likely to be of most interest and  relevance to people working in the humanities, history, and social sciences. The tours will begin in the Butler Lobby.

Monday,  August 31,  3:00 pm
Tuesday,  September 1,   12:00 noon
Wednesday  September 2,  11:30:am
Thursday,  September 3,  1:00 pm
Friday,  September 4,  9:30 am and 1:00 pm

The second half of the session,  which will take place in Butler 306, will be devoted to an overview of the Libraries’ online information system and ways to get the most out of it, and would be of value to all graduate students.  Participants who want to attend only the second half should feel free to come directly to Butler 306 about 40 to 45 minutes after the beginning  of the tour.