Research Questions? Contact Research Librarian Adam Lewis | Senior Spotlight: Alex Tananbaum | We Ask, Professors Answer | Break Reflections | Letter to the Newly Declared: Celebrate! | “Film, Literature, and Culture in Mumbai and Seoul” OCS with Arnab Chakladar. Apply Now!
An Interview with Librarian Adam Lewis
Want to hear more about one of our wonderful Carleton librarians? Read on!
This past Tuesday, we had a chance to sit down with Adam Lewis, a Reference and Instruction Librarian for Humanities. Adam has been at Carleton for a little over three years now, working mostly with the English department and the humanities. Prior to Carleton, Adam lived in Boston and worked as an English and American Studies professor at Boston College, and then at the University of Minnesota. He switched to librarianship when he began work at Carleton.
Adam’s favorite part of being at Carleton so far has been “working with the students… and meeting for consultations.” He primarily works with students during their comps, yet he is available and happy to meet with any student. He says that he likes to “get to work with students in a lot of different departments. It’s been an opportunity… to learn a lot about linguistics or art history” and a variety of other disciplines. He finds that there can be a lot of intersection between the disciplines in regards to “the fundamentals” of their research, such as identifying what new, critical commentary on a work adds to prior discourse.
Unsurprisingly, Adam has conducted his fair share of academic research. He focused his dissertation on 19th-century American literature. He worked extensively with “magazines and newspapers and periodicals . . . published by Americans [who] went abroad and started newspapers in [countries such as] Liberia and Nicaragua and Hawaii.” He traced how these publications got printed in both American magazines and in faraway places. Adam also examined correspondence between the writers and editors involved to explore how work changed or was made anonymous in various publications. “Fiction and poems [would] change as they were published in different venues when the editors were trying to do something different with it.”
Adam’s number one tip for research is: “come and talk to a librarian.” He cleverly notes that Carleton students tend to have packed schedules. Although they may consider themselves too busy to schedule an appointment with the research librarians, coming to the library for research help saves students time and provides them with a valuable toolkit for future research. The librarians “can show you [the] resources or things you didn’t know we had . . . It can be helpful, whether it’s me or other librarians, to [hear] ‘Oh, you’re writing about Toni Morrison, here’s this really important essay that was written.” Librarians are also willing to talk through paper ideas and help at any point in the research process. Adam says that sometimes it can be hard to understand when you are searching on your own what kind of actual impact your research may have on the larger scope of your project. A librarian can help with that. He would like students to know that “We’re here . . . and available to talk . . . that’s a big part of my job, so they shouldn’t feel like it’s an imposition. I’m always really excited to help find your articles or talk through ideas.”
Stop by the reference desk for a drop-in session or schedule an appointment with Adam at gouldguides.carleton.edu/alewis. We assure you, no student has ever regretted it!
Thank you so much, Adam, for all that you do!
Senior Spotlight: Alex Tananbaum
What is Alex thinking as they approach the end of their time at Carleton? Find out below.
For our latest edition of senior spotlight, we interviewed senior English and Studio Art double major Alex Tananbaum. Read their wonderful answers below!
1. What Comps option did you choose/what was your comps subject/favorite part of this option or topic?
I chose to do research comps and studied the gendered and racial politics in fanfiction from a specific fandom, then how those politics changed (or didn’t!) when fanfiction from that fandom was published as original work. I didn’t know much about fandom studies before comps, so it was really interesting to learn the theory, research norms, etc.
2. What is your plan post-Carleton?
I am still in the job search process, but hopefully some form of social work with Jewish organizations or museum curatorial work in California.
3. What is something you tried at Carleton that you never have thought you would do?
I guess this is technically off campus, but I went to the SPAM museum with some friends in Austin, MN! It was actually pretty fun, and there were free samples (SPAMples)
Thank you so much for your responses, Alex. e at the SLM hope you have a wonderful senior spring at Carleton!
We Ask, Professors Answer
What are our lovely English professors thinking about this spring term? Are they filled with nostalgia or something else?
It’s that time again! For this week’s question, we asked: Do you ever get nostalgic and wish you were a student in college again? Why or why not?
Adam Lewis: Yes, because it was so exciting to be learning all these new things. I was really absorbing as much as I could and I loved that. [But] I don’t really miss being 20.
Arnab Chakladar: No. I do wish I had all my hair again though.
Michael Kowalewski: Not during COVID! Otherwise, absolutely. Why? For the pleasure of reading works for the first time and being brushed by the wing of a great idea.
Gwen Kirby: I want to be a college student again in the way that I want to live a million more lives—so yes! But I haven’t forgotten what a challenging and uncertain time college can be, either, so I wouldn’t go back again lightly.
Thank you, professors, for your wonderful answers! We are very glad you are our professors even if you still want to be students. Besides, don’t we teach you something new every day?
Break Reflections
How did our seniors fare this past spring break?
An article about a survey we sent to people in the English department? How new! How exciting! How innovative! We are breaking glass ceilings here at the SLM.
We asked our lovely English seniors to send us a small poem describing their spring breaks. If you’re interested, read on. If you’re not, why are you here? You can stop anytime you want.
Abby Quade:
pozole, carnitas, ceviche in my tummy
but back to america with notably less money
Jesse Barker Plotkin:
Saw family &
Made maple syrup
Olivia Ho:
Snow in Wisconsin, wind in Chicago,
Humidity in Ohio. O, I love the midwest in Spring!
Valentine Wiener:
Five hours there, traverse the town at speed,
And then five hours back. Spring “break” indeed.
Alex Tananbaum:
UFO Cowboys (a Roku Original) Is the Best Show of All Time
We watched cowboys shoot at UFOs
A whole nine hours, far from home.
Will Prim:
I got lost inside a whale and still haven’t found my way out.
Letter to the Newly Declared
Dear Readers, this seemingly ordinary issue of the 2LM has saved its biggest announcement for the very end. As of this week, the most brilliant, eloquent, and clever Carleton students entered a new phase of their Carleton careers. They declared their English major!
Next issue, we will release the much-anticipated formal list of all English majors, but first we have one important announcement. If you are a new English major, you are invited to attend the English Major Declaration Celebration on the Wednesday of April 23 at 5pm in the Soule Space on Second Laird. You are also invited to flaunt your new English-major aesthetic of flipping through a novel, sipping an iced coffee, and hammocking on the Bald Spot while your STEM-committed peers rush to the fluorescent lighting of their beloved Anderson halls. All to say–Congratulations! To echo the ever true words of the wonderful librarian Adam Lewis, “I want more English majors. Everybody should be an English major.”
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