Georgia Tech’s Library and Information Center

The Georgia Tech Library provides both research support and library-instruction services for Georgia Tech faculty and students.

This page contains an overview of Georgia Tech’s library resources for Brittain Fellows, contact information for librarians who frequently work with the Writing Communication Program, and information about interesting special collections and archives.

NOTE: The library is undergoing extensive renovations (expected to last through 2020), so the availability and locations of resources are subject to change. Consult the websites below to keep up with these changes.

The Georgia Tech Library provides both research support and library-instruction services for Georgia Tech faculty and students. Contact the librarians below to arrange for class visits or set up more extensive workshops about WOVEN projects such as videos and podcasting. To assist you and your students with these projects, the library also has a generous equipment rental service where you can request cameras, microphones, digital recorders etc.

The library offers specialized computer labs, such as the Multimedia Studio and Homer Rice lab that instructors can reserve for classes. These spaces also have open sessions for students work on multimodal projects outside of class.

Georgia Tech’s library is open 24 hours during the regular semester.

Georgia Tech has a partnership with Emory University library that allows faculty to easily access Emory’s extensive collections- most materials from Emory can be requested through Georgia Tech’s Library Support Services and delivered to your campus mailbox.

Key Library Contacts for Writing and Communication Faculty

Contact any one of the librarians below for assistance with their specialization. They are able to help you with both your own research and with your classes, offering individual support, class meetings, and workshops.

Karen Viars, Humanities and Science Fiction librarian, karen.viars@library.gatech.edu, (404) 385-5393

Liz Holdsworth, elizabeth.holdsworth@library.gatech.edu, 404-385-5392

  • questions about library databases
  • arrange class visits about library databases
  • recommend a database/journal purchase

Alison Valk, Multimedia Instruction Librarian & College of Computing Liaison, alison.valk@library.gatech.edu, (404) 385-0379

  • questions about multimedia software at Georgia Tech’s library
  • arrange class workshops about multimedia projects such as using iMovie

Charlie Bennett, Undergraduate Programming and Engagement librarian, charlie.bennett@library.gatech.edu, (404) 385-0879

  • arrange class workshops on creating podcasts and audio editing software

Jody Lloyd Thompson, Head Librarian of Archives and Records Management, jody.thompson@library.gatech.edu, (404) 894-9626

Ximin Mi, Data Visualization Librarian, ximin.mi@library.gatech.edu
404-385-5685

  • questions and consultations about data visualization
  • arrange class workshop on data visualization

Gadget Lending Services

Georgia Tech’s library has an extensive array of multimedia equipment that faculty and students can rent—audiorecorders, video cameras, GoPros, microphones, virtual reality devices, in addition to the standard laptops and tablets.

Visit this site for more information or contact the Gadgets Coordinator, Jason Ellis (gadgets@library.gatech.edu).

Book Delivery Services

Brittain Fellows are eligible to have library materials delivered to their campus mailboxes in the Hall Building, via the LENDS service. Materials from Georgia Tech’s and Emory’s collections are typically delivered within 48-72 hours of request.

Visit the LEND website to learn how to set up an account and learn how to request materials.

Tip: You should enter 0167 as the campus mail code to ensure that materials are delivered to the Hall Building.

Professional Development Workshops

The library hosts walk-in professional development workshops on topics such as EndNote X7: Citation Management, Essential Databases & Library Resources, and Introduction to Dreamweaver. Visit this page to learn more about these workshops.

Rare books, Special Collections and Archives

This section was researched and compiled by Nicole Lobdell.

The Rare Books Room and Special Collections at the Georgia Tech library offers a number of collections and individual resources that can be useful to Britt fellows in both their teaching and personal research. Below are some of the collections and more specific information that might be of use to Britt fellows who wish to use the special collections for personal research and course design. There are no finding aids for the individual collections, and the best resource to helping you explore the individual collections and what they contain is Jody Thompson.

The Irving “Bud” Foote Collection is the largest and most significant humanities collection in the Georgia Tech Library. It is a collection of science fiction including a large array of pulp novels. The cover designs of many of these works would make an interesting project for individual research or for a course on science fiction and art, book cover design, and other similar themes.

The Edwin B. Feldman Collection includes works by and about H. G. Wells, Nicholas Monsarrat, C. S. Forester, and Nevil Shute, historical figure Lord Nelson, and literary character Horatio Hornblower. This collection does include several important works, but few first editions and no papers or manuscripts of any of the authors listed. This collection also includes a first edition of C. S. Forester’s Captain from Connecticut (1941), part of the Horatio Hornblower series.

H.G. Wells in the Feldman Collection: There is a first, illustrated edition of H. G. Wells’s When the Sleeper Wakes (1899); Wells’s novel was first serialized in The Graphic,but he was dissatisfied with its publication and ultimately rewrote it in 1910. This early edition would make an interesting project for research or for a course artifact on how authors revisit and sometimes rewrite their own work.

In the Feldman collection there is also an illustrated edition of The Time Machine, which Wells arranged himself. Published in 1932 by Random House with designs by W. A. Diggins, Wells wrote a new preface for this edition. The illustrations offer an amazing glimpse into The Time Machine as envisioned by the author and by prevailing design styles in the 1930s. The print ink changes color from red to black to distinguish between the frame narrative and main narrative. There are full-page illustrations and paintings that depict key moments of the text. This text would make an interesting object of study for a course on science fiction, art, and/or book design.

Georgia Tech Architecture Collection  is a hidden repository of art and architecture magazines and rare books on art, art history and architecture from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Included among them are works on William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Aubrey Beardsley (numerous works on Beardsley), John Ruskin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Salvador Dali, and works on medieval and Gothic architecture.

The Architecture Library owns many different nineteenth- and twentieth-century art nouveau magazines, including 6 volumes of Ver Sacrum, published between 1898-1903, including the front and back covers of individual editions, which showcase the work of Gustav Klimt. There are 10 volumes of Pan, an important German art nouveau magazine published between 1895 and 1900. While the whole of Pan has been digitized, these are the original issues and include works by Kipling and Proust, including Halbe Unschund (Half-Innocence, a revision of Proust’s Erotics to Go). There are 14 volumes (volumes 1-15, missing volume 4) of Dekorative Kunst, a German avant-garde magazine published between 1897-1929.

You can request materials from the architecture collection via Library Service Center, an off-site, state-of-the-art cold storage facility.

Other Significant Rare Books

First edition of Isaac Newton’s Opticks: or, a treatise of the reflexions, refractions, inflexions and colours of light (1704): The Rare Books Room in the Main Library at Georgia Tech owns a rare, first edition of Newton’s Opticks and it is available for both viewing and handling (with gloves) by request. Viewing and handling this rare book would be an amazing experience for researchers and students alike. This work might make an interesting look for a class either doing mathematics-based or science literature, or for instructors whose students are specific mathematics majors. A class on book making and book printing would also find the fold out diagrams of the more complicated maths in the back, and these would make for an interesting discussion on how the book was printed in 1704. I believe that the dark brown leather cover is an original binding.

Für Fabrik, Manufaktur und Handlung (1791-1808): The Rare Book Library at Georgia Tech also contains works on material culture, including collection on textile manufacturing. Published between 1791 and 1808 in Leipzig, Germany, this 31-volume set contains actual fabric swatches produced in the 1790s along with hand-drawn and color-tinted illustrations of material culture objects including jewelry, personal accessories, and home design. The fabric swatches and colored drawings have retained their vibrancy, indicating the rare use of this collection. The Georgia Tech library is one of the only libraries in the world to own all 31 volumes, making it a hidden gem of the collection. These volumes would be of interest to anyone doing research into material culture, textile history, dress history, and 18th-century culture. These volumes would offer important hands-on work for students doing course assignments on any of these topics as well.

RetroTech: A recent, ongoing project, retroTech is a highly curated combination of classic, vintage hardware and software and modern tools for digital archiving and emulation, all designed to be accessed and used. retroTECH aims to inspire a cultural mindset that emphasizes the importance of personal archives, open access to digital heritage, and long-term thinking.As with most library resources, the location of RetroTech may change due to renovations; check its website for updates.