We are celebrating a momentous occasion – the 50th anniversary of the Founders Memorial Library at Northern Illinois University! For half a century, this iconic building has stood as a symbol of knowledge, discovery, and community on our campus. It has been a place of learning, exploration, and inspiration for generations of Huskies.
In 2024, NIU Libraries in collaboration with the Mexican Cultural Center of DuPage presented a nine month exhibit featuring 22 whimsical alebrije sculptures throughout Founders Memorial Library. The word alebrijes—pronounced ah-leh-bree-hehs—refers to imaginary creatures that possess elements from different animals. They originated in the 1930s from the vivid dreams of Mexico City artist Pedro Linares. The artistic tradition of alebrijes gained popular exposure in the United States with “Coco,” the 2017 Disney/Pixar film.
While the official response of Northern Illinois University to the COVID-19 crisis is being recorded and preserved in the Regional History Center and University Archives at NIU Libraries, we also want to include your personal experiences and reactions in an effort to better document this unprecedented event. The Regional History Center and University Archives is asking students, faculty, staff, and alumni to share their experiences about how they have been impacted by COVID-19.
February 14, 2008 was a tragic day for the community of Northern Illinois University. This site was created by the staff of the University Archives and Regional History Center as a memorial for all affected by that day's campus shooting. It is devoted to the healing and support of each individual as they browse and comment upon the items and contribute their own unique memories.
For the course FLSP 438/538 taught by Stephen Luis Vilaseca, both undergraduate and graduate students collaborate to produce an ongoing digital humanities project entitled “Mapping the Marginalized in Contemporary Spanish Literature.” With the guidance of the professor and NIU’s library specialists, students developed three digital maps, two of Madrid and one of Barcelona.
For the course FLST 581 taught by Stephen Luis Vilaseca, two graduate students, Monica Morales and Jessica Yandun, collaborated to produce a digital humanities project entitled “Toledo en la literatura” [Toledo in Literature]. With the guidance of the professor, Monica and Jessica developed a digital map of Toledo containing texts and videos about the urban sites visited.
Rare Books and Special Collections of the Northern Illinois University Libraries includes those materials that, because of their rarity, condition, form, or subject matter, are best handled separately from the general collection. There are roughly 10,000 rare books in the collection covering subject matter in history, art, literature, religion, and philosophy. In addition, we have 42 Special Collections. The Hidden Treasures exhibit offers a peek into these collections.
In the fall semester of 2016 Northern Illinois University Libraries, the Northern Illinois University Archives and the Northern Illinois University Regional History Center collaborated with Professor Stanley Arnold of the university’s History Department and twenty three of his students to gather and explore historical materials pertaining to the theme of Immigration to DeKalb County, Illinois.
September 25, 2019 marks the 110th birthday of Raya Garbousova, former NIU cello professor, NIU honorary degree recipient, and accomplished soloist and pedagogue. This guestbook serves as a place for her students, friends, community members, and whomever she may have influenced in any way during her life to share with others their experiences.
In August 2022 the NIU University Libraries became home of the 191st Science on a Sphere installation. This exhibit contains information about the NOAA dataset catalog as well as datasets developed and showcased by the Libraries. Locations to find more information about use, playlists, current events, reservations, and dataset creation are also included.