A dozen or so important looking people gathered in the Butler lobby yesterday to announce/celebrate(?) Norman E. Alexander’s gift of $4 million to Columbia. The cash supports Jewish Studies collections and funds a new Jewish Studies librarian position, filled by Michelle Chesner. Bwog initially thought that the new Jewish Studies library would be in Butler lobby, but that […]

The weather got you down? Holed off in your room with a few friends watching old re-runs because nothing new has come out on Hulu yet this season? Tricked yourself into caring about work enough to goto Butler, but now you’re just watching Youtube anyway? Sweet; same here. Below are a few tidbits to help […]

After extensive testing on the Canadians, The New York Times launched its dreaded paywall today! The gray lady now requires non-subscribers to fork over fifteen bucks a month for digital content. Bwog had lotsa questions, so we talked to the trusty keepers of information, Columbia librarians. According to Journalism librarian, Chris Ergunay, NYT subscriptions—current and […]

In the latest issue of the Blue & White, Carolyn Ruvkun hangs with her heroes, the bubbly bibliophiles of Columbia libraries. “We have a responsibility to posterity,” explains Karen Green, Columbia Librarian for Medieval History and Graphic Novels. In their duty to capture history before it dissolves into the unrecorded past, Columbia’s librarians are entrusted […]

With Butler filled to the brim with exam-tide holiday cheer (not to mention unshowered overachievers) you may be seeking an alternative study spot, any study spot, whether on campus…or slightly, vaguely off. With that in mind Bwog follows correspondent Zack Hoopes inside the ghoulish, gothic depths of Burke Library at the Union Theological Seminary… Monday, 9:38 pm I […]

Say goodbye to the days of Columbia as a jumbled, impossible-to-navigate bureaucracy.  We love you, librarians of Columbia.  Thank you for being our friends.  Their “Ask Us Now” feature may be down as of this writing, but check it out: our librarians can be contacted during office hours through AIM, G-chat, Windows Live and the […]

Last week Bwog staffer Brendan Ballou interviewed Tamar Dougherty, rare books archivist at Columbia and his former boss. Dougherty is curator of the Herbert Lehman Papers (next to the Lehman library). She talked about her rare book collection, the stigma of being a librarian, and the East Coast – West Coast divide. How’s work at […]