The Getty Research Institute Library will be closed to all readers on Monday, May 29, in observance of Memorial Day.
Saturday, May 27: Moth treatment scheduled in the Research Library
In response to some moth sightings, an organic moth treatment has been scheduled for the entire Getty Research Institute building starting Saturday, May 27, at 11:00 p.m. All carpeted areas, including reader carrels, will be treated.
The building will re-open on Sunday, May 28 (note that there will be intermittent noise associated with a follow-up vacuuming taking place throughout the building that day).
In preparation, please remove any items from the floor in your work area and place them on your desk, counter spaces, or shelves. These include boxes, paper, or any other materials that might obstruct access to the carpet. You do not need to worry about chairs, chair mats, or trash cans. Please also be certain you have removed any collection materials that might be on or near the floor.
If you have food items stored in your workspace, you should remove them prior to the treatment. If you are unable to do this, you may consider discarding these items when you return.
Focus on E-Resources: Latin American databases
In the spirit of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a Getty-led initiative exploring Latin America and Latino Art dialogues with Los Angeles that will take place September 2017 – January 2018, we’d like to highlight two databases that relate to Latin America.
HLAS Online Handbook of Latin American Studies
Edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress and in continuous publication since 1936, this resource is a bibliography of Latin American works selected and annotated by scholars. Each year, more than 130 international academics choose over 5,000 works for inclusion. It is multidisciplinary, alternating annually between the social sciences and the humanities.
HAPI Hispanic American Periodicals Index
A project of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Latin American Institute, this index provides complete bibliographic citations to articles, book reviews, documents, original literary works, and other materials published since 1970 about Latin America and the Caribbean. Coverage is from the arts and humanities to political, economic, and social issues. This index is available to on-site only.
For a quick tour of HAPI, check out this video:
–Susan Flanagan, Collection Development Librarian for Electronic Resources
Books related to the Concrete Poetry exhibition
A selection of books is now available in the Research Library’s Plaza Reading Room to complement the Getty Research Institute’s current exhibition Concrete Poetry: Words and Sounds in Graphic Space. These books will be on reserve in this location through July 31, 2017.
The full list of titles is available in Primo Search.
–Aimee Calfin, Senior Research Services Assistant
Sunday, April 9 – Annual Getty Center Emergency Power and Lighting Test
On Sunday, April 9th, the Getty Center will perform its annual Emergency Power and Lighting Test, as required by Los Angeles City and Fire Department.
All Extended Readers will need to leave the site by 6:30 p.m.
Focus on E-Resources: Humanities E-Book from the American Council of Learned Societies
The Research Library offers access to ACLS Humanities E-Book (HEB), an online full-text searchable collection of about 5,000 books. The titles are recommended and reviewed by scholars and are offered in collaboration with 31 learned societies and over 100 contributing publishers. Records for each book title are available in Primo Search.
A distinctive feature of ACLS HEB database is the full-text search function across the entire collection of books. Access to the resource is available from our Article and Research Databases: A to Z list.
This video provides a three-minute introduction to searching the collection.
–Susan Flanagan, Collection Development Librarian for Electronic Resources
Moth treatment scheduled for GRI this weekend
We were just notified that in response to some moth sightings, the GRI, Risk Management, and Facilities have scheduled an organic moth treatment for the entire GRI building this Saturday night, March 11, at 11:00 p.m. All offices, workstations, and reader carrels will be treated, along with meeting spaces, hallways, and other open areas that are carpeted. The building will re-open Sunday at 7:00 a.m.
In preparation, please remove any items from the floor in your work area and place them on your desk, counter spaces, or shelves. These include boxes, paper, or any other materials that might obstruct access to the carpet. You do not need to worry about chairs, chair mats, or trash cans. Please also be certain you have removed any collection materials that might be on or near the floor.
If you have food items stored in your workspace, you should remove them prior to the treatment. If you are unable to do this, you may consider discarding these items when you return.
Join us on Thursday March 16 for the 2017 Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
Art+Feminism is an international campaign to improve coverage of feminism and the arts in Wikipedia. In a 2011 survey, Wikimedia found that less than 13% of its contributors are female. While the reasons for the gender gap are up for debate, the practical effect is not: content is skewed by the lack of female participation. Art+Feminism invites people of all gender identities and expressions to address this imbalance by participating in communal updating of Wikipedia’s articles.
Location: Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Plaza Level
Date: Thursday, March 16, 2017
Time: 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Who should attend: Anyone! No Wikipedia experience necessary. Beginners are welcome and encouraged to attend!
Wikipedia Training for New Editors: 1:00 pm
What to bring: Your laptop, power cord, and ideas for articles that need updating or creation. (Optional: three reliable published sources related to your article, such as a book or journal.)
Parking: Park in the main parking structure. Bring your parking ticket with you to the edit-a-thon for validation. To receive complimentary parking you must RSVP.
RSVP here: All participants are encouraged to RSVP so we can best accommodate you during the event.
Questions? Call us at 310-440-7390
Our event will be one of several events happening in Southern California throughout March and beyond. Visit the Art+Feminism Program Dashboard for all events.
Library closed on 2/20
The Research Library will be closed to all readers on Monday, February 20, in observance of Presidents’ Day.
A Smartphone Trick for Viewing Negatives
We allow researchers to use their smartphone cameras to take study images of material during their visits in our Special Collections Reading Room. Many of our library visitors benefit from this opportunity to snap photos to aid them in their research.
The trusty smartphone has a handy trick in its settings features that can also help researchers to view negative film in positive colors. We tried it out and were quite pleased with the results.
By enabling “Color Inversion”, “Invert Colors,” or “Negative Colors” under your phone’s “Accessibility” setting, the camera turns into a viewer that allows photographic negatives to be viewed as positives. The path to navigate to the color inversion setting on your phone will vary based the phone’s operating system (iOS or Android).
We were having so much fun experimenting that we wanted to delve into our collections to test it out some more.
These are negatives of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House No. 22 (1960) from the Julius Shulman Photography Archive.
And here is the positive with the color inversion setting “On.”
Voilà!
The next time you are in the Reading Room and need to take a look at a negative, hopefully you’ll give it a try. If you can’t wait until your next appointment to try it out, you can Google “negative film” and then click on “Images” and hold up your phone to the computer screen.
If you use any other handy smartphone tricks while researching in the archive, please share it with us in the comments!
-Sarah Sherman, Reference Librarian