USC Libraries

The USC Libraries have begun a collaboration with USC School of Dramatic Arts professor Oliver Mayer to showcase the essential role of libraries in discovery and the creative arts through an upcoming series of flash plays. The original plays—short, one-act pieces written by Dramatic Arts students, faculty, and alumni—will appear spontaneously across campus beginning this spring and continuing throughout the fall 2013 semester. The first flash play in the series, which will be performed at a specific time and location to be announced through Twitter (@USCLibraries) and other social media, will take place near Doheny Memorial Library during the week of April 22. Keep reading to learn more about the flash play series.

The GRAMMY Foundation announced a $10,000 grant to support the preservation of the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives' rich audio collections. The grant will fund the digital preservation of one-of-a-kind recordings of early LGBT activists dating back to the 1950s. The recordings capture the voices of early activists like Ivy Bottini, Morris Kight, and Phyllis Lyon as well as their views on topics ranging from military service, marriage equality, and the struggle for many basic legal protections taken for granted in our democracy. Keep reading for more details.

The USC Writers Conference returns to Doheny Memorial Library this Thursday and Friday, April 18 and 19. The two-day conference brings together writers, editors, illustrators, and others for an exploration of writing and the creative process. Renowned writing coach Ivory Madison, founder of the Red Room online writers studio, will lead two hands-on instructional sessions. Fees for the conference — hosted by the USC Libraries and the USC Office of Continuing Education and Summer Programs—are $125 for the general public and $75 for USC students, alumni, and Friends of the USC Libraries and include lunch each day. RSVP online, or contact Eileen Kohan at kohan@usc.edu or (213) 740-5679 for more information. Click through for the full conference program.

Stop by the Friends of the USC Libraries' booth during the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on April 20-21 to discover the benefits of becoming a Friend. The Friends booth, number 914, is located in USC's Alumni Park in front of Doheny Memorial Library.

In its April 1 issue, th USC Chronicle featured a USC Neighorhood Outreach-funded project founded by the USC Libraries' Zahid Rafique. As Andrew Good writes for the Chronicle, Rafique's troybots program teaches robotics to students at USC's neighoring elementary schools. Find the story on page 2 of the Chronicle, or read it online on the USC News website.

On April 29, 1992, chaos erupted on the streets of Los Angeles after a mostly white jury acquitted four Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers in the beating of a black motorist, Rodney King. The rioting lasted six days, and the National Guard was called in to patrol the streets around USC. Twenty-one years later, the city is still trying to make sense of the unrest. Now, two newly unsealed collections at the USC Libraries will help scholars better understand the violence, its causes, and its legacy. The collections—recently processed with support from the Council on Library and Information Resources—contain the records of two independent commissions set up to investigate the Los Angeles Police Department in the wake of the King beating and the 1992 riots. Keep reading to learn more about the collections, and about a related Visions and Voices panel discussion on April 29.

In an article in this week's USC Chronicle, Allison Engel profiles University Archivist Claude Zachary. “I enjoy doing the research and working with our patrons,” he tells her. “I get to learn new facts and new faces from USC’s rich history almost every day.” Find the story on page five of the April 1, 2013, issue, or read it online at the USC News website.

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) recently awarded $203,200 to Out West: The LGBTQ Community Archive Cataloging Project, a collaborative effort to process rare archival materials held by the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives and the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. Included in the project are 111 archival collections featuring a wealth of rare materials, ranging from the suit worn by Harvey Milk when he was assassinated to early gay and lesbian wedding photos, matchbooks from 1950s gay bars, and memorabilia from José Sarria’s 1961 campaign for San Francisco city supervisor. Keep reading for photos and details about the project.

A copy of Robbert Flick's Parade Route: Pasadena, May 8 and May 9, 1993 from the USC Libraries' Special Collections is currently on display at the Gagosian Gallery in New York. The book is part of an exhibition of artist books by Ed Ruscha and more than 100 contemporary artists. The libraries' copy of Parade Route—one of only three in existence—was previously featured in a 2007 exhibition of artists books in Doheny Library.

The Scout Report, a weekly publication of the Internet Scout Project, recently highlighted the USC Libaries' Los Angeles Examiner Collection. Keep reading to learn more about the collection, publicly accessible through the USC Digital Library.