In the news this week, National History Center Founding Director Wm. Roger Louis has won a distinguished teaching award. Then, two articles explore how internships and other experiences outside the academe can supplement one’s graduate education. Explore some interesting online resources through the Digital Archives of the National Library of Scotland, at The Memory Palace podcast blog, and at an upcoming exhibit on FDR. Finally, we continue our look at “History in Hard Times” with concerns about the Iraq National Library and Archive and an update on the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

• Founding Director Wins Teaching Award
  The National History Center has announced its Founding Director, Wm. Roger Louis, is the 2009 recipient of the Professor of the Year Award. Louis is the Kerr Chair of British History at the University of Texas at Austin.
• Every PhD Needs a Plan B
  In this article Alexandra M. Lord speaks on the value of internships to graduate students. Also see a related article, “Just Don’t Go, Part 2,” which is a follow-up to this previous article on graduate school in the humanities.
• Soviet Posters at NLS
  The Digital Archives at the National Library of Scotland has a wide-ranging collection of early Soviet era posters online.
• The Memory Place
  Nate DiMeo, a veteran public radio reporter, has created a new history podcast collection at "the memory palace" blog and on iTunes.
• Delivering Hope: FDR & Stamps of the Great Depression
  A new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, beginning this June, takes a look at how Franklin D. Roosevelt used “stamps to convey messages of hope, optimism, and the solidity of the federal government” during the Great Depression.

History in Hard Times
We continue to keep an eye out for effects of the current economy on libraries, departments, and institutions. Here are some recent updates:

• Iraq National Library and Archive
  From the IraqCrisis listserve at the University of Chicago comes reports of the budget, exclusive of support for staff, being cut by 60%. The e-mail went on to say, “to put this in perspective, the book acquisitions budget for the INLA for 2007 was all of $7,000. One need not do the math to see how deprived of support this institution is.”
• Update Regarding the Oregon Historical Society Research Library
  In the March 5th edition of What We’re Reading, we mentioned the temporary closing of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library. An updated announcement on the society’s web site now states that the library will be closed through May. See also a petition to save the library and pictures on Facebook of recent protests to save the staff.

Contributors: David Darlington, Debbie Ann Doyle, Elisabeth Grant, Arnita A. Jones, and Robert B. Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.