Why Do We Have Daylight Saving Time?

Spring Ahead, Fall Back!

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

Colloquially, I always heard that Daylight Saving Time (DST) had something to do with farmers, or maybe kids having to get up for school in the dark. In truth, DST was started as an energy-saving measure.

The first use of DST was during World War I. In 1916, the German Empire set clocks ahead one hour to conserve fuel for the war effort. After the end of the war, DST was reversed and Germany went back to standard time.

DST was also introduced in the United States during World War I. In 1918, a bill introduced the idea of “seasonal time” to combat the short sunlight hours in winter. The bill was repealed after seven months.

The United States re-established DST during World War II when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed it as a fuel-saving measure during wartime. DST did not become federal law until the Uniform Time Act in 1966, which made the start and end dates of DST across the United States.

In the past few years, many have argued to do away with DST. Some studies have shown that the time change can be detrimental to our health, especially to those with Seasonal Affective Disorder. By altering our sleep cycles, DST can also put some at a higher risk of heart issues.

More than two dozen states have considered legislation to get rid of DST but as of yet have not passed any laws. Currently, Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states that do not participate in Daylight Saving Time.

In response to public dislike for DST, the Sunshine Protection Act was proposed to make daylight savings time permanent, meaning the time would no longer change twice a year. In 2022, the Senate unanimously passed the act, but without House approval and a signature by President Biden, it has not become law.

As politicians are still working to get this act passed, we’ll all turn our clocks back on November 5 this year.

[Post by Emma Larson-Whittaker, Library and Outreach Assistant, Starrett City]

Open Access at the Library of Congress!

Image by Capucine from Pixabay

Did you know…?

The Library of Congress has a growing collection of Open Access e-books!

This collection includes books on history, music, poetry, technology, and fiction. In addition to English language books, there is a large collection of German works, as well as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and many other languages.

You can read the LOC collection online, or download them as a PDF or as an EPUB.

Click here to explore the Library of Congress’ Open Access books!

[Post by Emma Larson-Whittaker, Library and Outreach Assistant, Starrett City]

Celebrating Open Access Week

Image via Wikimedia Commons, by user Awesomecat713

Traditionally, academic faculty and researchers disseminate their findings in scholarly journals, driven by a commitment to advancing human knowledge rather than financial gain. Prior to publication, authors are typically required to enter into copyright agreements with publishers, ceding a significant portion of their usage and distribution rights. This means that if an author wishes to share their work with others, whether in educational settings, via social media, or on digital repositories, they must obtain permission from the original publisher. The granting or denial of permission is contingent upon the policies set by the publisher.

Adding complexity to this system, many publishers employ paywalls, restricting access to scholarly publications. Access to these articles often demands purchase or affiliation with an academic institution. Academic libraries frequently bear the cost of high licensing fees, ensuring access for their faculty, researchers, and students. However, individuals unaffiliated with educational institutions or unable to afford access fees encounter barriers to essential scholarly content.

The significance of Open Access lies in its potential to expedite the dissemination of recent discoveries and breakthroughs via the Internet. When new scientific knowledge reaches a broader audience, its impact grows, benefiting students and researchers worldwide. Accelerated access enables immediate use of findings for problem-solving or patient treatment. In contrast, traditional publication methods often entail delays of several months to a year, and accessibility to the public may remain limited.

To support the Open Access movement, several actions can be taken:

Image via Wikimedia Commons, by user SOER Frank

Publish in Open Access Journals: There are literally thousands of open-access journals available.

To search for Open Access Journals, you can try different databases. But you can also consult the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ which regularly catalogs and provides information about open-access journals with high standards. Alternatively, consider publishing in subscription-based journals while retaining the right to deposit research articles in digital repositories, such as PubMed and SSRN. This approach allows for the sharing of intellectual, artistic, and scientific output with fewer restrictions.

Negotiate Copyright Agreements: When dealing with publishers, negotiate to preserve the ability to share research output with a wider audience. Understanding and managing your copyright contract is essential.

Deposit Articles in Digital Repositories: Self-archive articles in digital repositories like Touro Scholar, an online archive that showcases and shares scholarly work. Such repositories expand global access to research.

Switch from Traditional Textbooks to OER

Embracing Open Educational Resources (OER) is a vital component of promoting open access and advancing educational equity. OER refers to openly licensed teaching and learning materials that are accessible to anyone, free of cost. By transitioning from traditional textbooks to OER, academic institutions and educators can further facilitate equitable access to knowledge. These actions contribute to the Open Access movement’s goal of democratizing access to knowledge and fostering collaboration in the academic and research communities.

For further information check out Sparc: Advancing Open Access, Open Data, Open Education

Contributed by Sara Tabaei, Librarian at Cross-River Campus

Library Staff Profile: Holly Skir

Holly Skir, Chief Librarian at Lander College for Women

Welcome to the latest in our series of Staff Profiles. Holly Skir recently joined the Touro community as the Chief Librarian at Lander College for Women. Holly was kind enough to answer some questions for us below:

Where were you born?

I was born in Manhasset, NY

Where else have you lived?

I’ve lived in New Jersey and Florida

What languages do you speak?

I know a little Spanish, French, and Italian

What fields have you studied and/or degrees have you earned?

I have a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and a Master of Science in Library and Information Science.

What is your ideal vacation?

I would love to visit Italy again.

Any hobbies?

I love going to museums. I also love to cook and bake.

Favorite food?

I’m a foodie so definitely love a lot of different foods. I also have a sweet tooth; I love ice cream!

Tell us one thing about yourself that most of us probably don’t know.

I was originally planning to pursue a career as an opera singer.

Thanks, Holly! Welcome to Touro!

New Digitalized Hebrew Manuscripts at LOC

Order of Prayers before Retiring at Night, 1745. Via Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress recently digitized over 200 historical manuscripts in Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian, and Yiddish. The entire collection is available to the public online.

The documents include materials from the 10th through the 20th centuries and include poetry, Jewish magic, responsa, and folk medicine. In particular, there is an especially large collection of 17th and 18th-century Judeo-Italian manuscripts including much on Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism.

The collection is “both an inspiration and an invitation to admire, engage, draw upon and advance Jewish contributions to humanity from the 10th century onward,” according to the chief of the African and Middle Eastern Division, Lanisa Kitchiner.

[Post by Emma Larson-Whittaker, Library and Outreach Assistant, Starrett City]

Indigenous Peoples Day vs. Columbus Day: Why the Change?

This year, the contentious public holiday will fall on October 9, but what makes it controversial in the first place?

A Brief History of Columbus Day

U.S. Soldiers in Columbus Day Parade, c.a. 1910-1915
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [2014690868]

As most of us were taught in school, in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue on the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria and discovered the Americas. An Italian, Christopher Columbus worked for Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II of Spain. He was searching for a nautical path to China but discovered an entire continent instead. Columbus brought new wealth and resources back to Spain, opening the Americas to European conquest.

Celebrating Sukkot!

A sukkah from inside (via Wikimedia user Muu-karhu)

After the solemnity and introspection of the High Holy Days, Sukkot, the Festival of Booths, is always a treat. Like the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, I look forward to Sukkot every year because this holiday, unlike Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, is an unaltered celebration.  After the Exodus from Egypt, the ancient Jews traveled the wilderness for forty years before reaching the land of Israel. They lived in small huts called “sukkot” during this time. The holiday of Sukkot commemorates those temporary dwellings: Orthodox Jewish families build a small hut, or Sukkah, outside the house where they eat all meals for the seven days of the holiday. Many Orthodox Jews also sleep outdoors in the Sukkah. A typical Sukkah would look something like this:

(source)

The holiday of Sukkot is also called “Chag ha-Asif,” or the festival of the harvest. It is a festival of thanksgiving for the bounty that was just harvested in time for winter. As a child, I always enjoyed helping my father build our Sukkah on the back porch and decorating it with posters, flags, and ceiling decorations suspended from the bamboo poles that made up our s’chach (the roof of the sukkah, which must be made from some form of plant).

I love to visit other people’s sukkahs because no two sukkahs are exactly alike. Every family builds and decorates theirs in their own unique style. The requirements to build a sukkah are pretty simple, according to Wikipedia: “A sukkah design must be a temporary structure.^[4] The roof must be made of non-edible plant material.^[4] The roofing must be thick enough to shade those sitting inside in the daytime, and thin enough so that stars are visible through the roof at night.^[4] The walls must be at least 10 handsbreadths tall but can be made of any material. Did you know that the body of a dead whale can serve as a wall? ^[4][7][10] The sukkah can also be built atop a live camel.^[3][4][7]”

 Fortunately, these days we do not need to use dead whales for walls, but I came across some pretty interesting sukkah designs when I did a quick Google image search. In the fall of 2010, an architectural design competition called Sukkah City was held in partnership with the Union Square Partnership for New York City’s Union Square Park. All entrants can be seen here on Sukkah City’s website. The winning designs were constructed at Brooklyn’s Gowanus Studio Space and set up in Union Square Park for the duration of the holiday. Below are some of the more eye-catching designs.

Sukkah City entrant Sukkah of the Signs by Ronald Rael, Virginia San Fratello

Sukkah City entrant “LOG” by Kyle May and Scott Abrahams

Sukkah city entrant “Gathering”, by Dale Suttle, So Sugita, Ginna Nguyen

Sukkah City entrant Repetition meets Difference | Stability meets Volatileness by Matthias Karch

(All images from http://www.sukkahcity.com)

For more information on the holiday, take a look at the Encyclopedia Judaica page here.

Or check out these titles in our collection:

• The Sukkot and Simhat Torah anthology by Philip Goodman
• A treasury of Succos prayers: excerpted from … the complete ArtScroll siddur, by Nosson Scherman
• The Lulav and esrog handbook: the laws of the Four Species, by Hadar Margolin; translated by Dovid Oratz
• Succos: its significance, laws, and prayers: a presentation anthologized from Talmudic and traditional sources, laws by Hersh Goldwurm; background and insights by Meir Zlotowitz; prayers and ritual by Avie Gold; overview by Nosson Scherman

Sukkot begins at sundown on Friday, September 29, 2023 and will end at sundown on Friday, October 6, 2023. Happy holidays!

(Blog post originally posted October 2016)

Contributed by: Toby Krausz, Judaica Librarian, Midtown