Amherst College

Rehearsing Catastrophe in Revolutionary Russia
On Tuesday, April 1 at 4:30PM in the Friendly Reading Room please join Cathy Ciepiela, Boris Wolfson, and Bryn Geffert for reflections on and conversation about the 1917 revolution as catastrophe.
Professor Ciepiela will reflect on the 19th-century radical intelligentsia's embrace of revolution as catastrophe, with attention to Mikhail Bakunin's observation that "the urge to destroy is also a creative urge." Librarian of the College Geffert will ruminate on the Orthodox community's understandings of the revolution as an apocalyptic, eschatological catastrophe. And Assistant Professor Wolfson will consider the aftershocks of 1917 - the spectacles of destruction on the early Soviet stage that transformed the ideology of permanent revolution into a cultural sensibility of perpetual catastrophe. This is the fourth of five in a series related to this year’s Copeland Colloquium theme “Catastrophe and the Catastrophic.” This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

The Besmirch Williams Contest
The dastardly no-goodniks at Williams have befouled the good name of our Fairest College. See the video here and weep with indignation. Frost Library resolves to restore the honor of your alma mater. Your charge: submit a shooting script to dmcnutt@amherst.edu for a video that sullies the name of Williams in suchlike manner. The winner will receive a $150 prize and gratis support from IT to film and edit the video. Deadline: March 17, 2014. Rule #1: The script must be nothing short of hilarious. Rule #2: See Rule #1. Rule #3: The script must promote Amherst library research services (not the inferior, so-called "research services" of Williams College).

Requirements: Please submit a detailed script with either a storyboard or a rough draft of your video. Academic Technology Services (ATS) has video equipment that can be used, if you need it. While ATS will provide assistance in filming the final draft of the movie, the strongest submission will have a clear vision of what the video will look like and who will be involved. And of course, it must be hilarious and restore the reputation of Amherst College. To submit a video, use the Amherst College FileSender or upload it to your Google Drive and share it with dmcnutt@amherst.edu. Any questions can be directed to Dunstan McNutt.

Digital Scholarship Summer Interns
Not sure what digital scholarship is, but intrigued by the term? Want to learn about methods, explore tools, and develop hands-on skills? Apply for a paid, full-time Frost Library Digital Scholarship Summer Internship! We welcome a range of applicants—no digital scholarship experience is necessary, but curiosity and commitment are appreciated. You’ll work with a small group of students, librarians, archivists, and IT specialists in areas like digitization, curation, information visualization, and project management as well as collaboratively design and develop a digital scholarship project built around one of the Library’s digital archival collections. Application deadline is March 24, 2014.

New mezzanine exhibit: Landscapes and Nature by Thomas Stratford
Come see the new photo exhibit on the Frost Library mezzanine by Amherst College staffer Thomas Stratford, featuring campus landscapes, local nature, and portrait-quality images of wildlife. Free and open to the public through June 2014.