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New Faculty Publications Collection
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The Library is thrilled to unveil the new Faculty Publications Collection display in the Sorensen Family Reading Room on the first floor of the Rockefeller Library.
The circulating collection consists of print books authored by Brown faculty members as well as digital publications created by Brown faculty members in collaboration with Brown University Digital Publications and the African Digital Poetry Portal.
You can check out the print books and browse the items on-site. Scan the QR codes displayed on the shelves to access the digital publications, which are freely accessible anytime, anywhere.
The Library is proud to recognize and celebrate research and researchers at Brown in this way!
Please note that gathering publications for this collection will always be a work in progress. The collection will be updated on an ongoing basis. If you are a Brown faculty member and do not see a publication you authored on the shelves, please contact library@brown.edu with details.
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Unlocking History: Tunisian Letterlocking with Jana Dambrogio
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Join the Brown University Library and the Center for Middle East Studies for a workshop and conversation with Jana Dambrogio, conservator, author, and editor, on Tuesday, October 21 at 4 p.m. at the John Hay Library (321).
Free and open to the public. In-person event.
Letterlocking
Reconstruction of original locked letter packet, dated 1817, discussed in talk Offering a glimpse into a new collaborative project on letterlocking from Ottoman Tunis in the early nineteenth century, this talk will reconstruct the intricate folds, tucks, and slits of letter packets secured shut with “letterlocking,” a practice that underpinned global communications security for centuries before modern envelopes.
The speaker Jana Dambrogio has pioneered the study of letterlocking using automated virtual unfolding of sealed documents imaged by X-ray microtomography and computational flattening algorithms. She has co-authored numerous studies on the subject with Daniel Starza Smith, including their latest book from MIT Press entitled, Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter. Dambrogio situates her findings from this case study of Ottoman Tunisian correspondence within a novel letterlocking categorization system based on a study of 250,000 historical letters.
This event will delve into how the materiality of the paper lock itself acted as an antiforgery mechanism in the perilous waters of the Barbary Coast during the early period of diplomacy between the Ottoman regency of Tunis and the United States in the Mediterranean Sea. This session will be in conversation with Gwendolyn Collaço, Anne S.K. Brown Curator for Military & Society at the John Hay Library, who translated the 1817 letter from the Bey of Tunis to American President James Monroe (1817–1825) that Dambrogio analyzes in her work. In their dialogue, they will contextualize the unusual episode surrounding the dispatch of this letter, including American mercantile interests in the region, the response of the Bey of Tunis to violated ceremonial customs, and this dynamic period that transformed diplomatic correspondence between Tunis and its Mediterranean partners. This session features a hands-on demo of letterlocking techniques for audience members to try for themselves.
Jana Dambrogio Jana Dambrogio is the Thomas F. Peterson (1957) Conservator, Wunsch Conservation Laboratory, MIT Libraries. She is also the Director and Founder of Unlocking History Research Group, General Editor of Letterlocking.org and Dictionary of Letterlocking (DoLL).
This event forms part of CMES Research Initiative: American-Islamic Exchanges in the Long 19th Century.
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Critical AI Learning Community – Fall 2025
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The Library’s Critical AI Learning Community (CAILC) meets weekly during the spring and fall semesters on Mondays at noon in the Sidney E. Frank Digital Studio on the first floor of the Rockefeller Library. The meetings will take place in person and online every other week.
All members of the Brown community are welcome to attend. Lunch is provided on a first come, first served basis for in-person attendees.
Register to Attend
Please register to attend for both in-person and online attendance.
Fall 2025 Schedule
- October 20: AI in Medical Education (hybrid)
- October 27: Casual Conversations (in-person only)
- November 3: Deep Dive on AI Agents (hybrid)
- November 10: Casual Conversations (in-person only)
- November 17: Supporting AI-driven Research with Brown’s Center for Computation and Visualization (hybrid)
- November 24: NO MEETING (Thanksgiving week)
- December 1: Discussion with Ellie Pavlick from Brown’s AI Research Institute on Interaction for AI Assistants (hybrid)
- December 8: Casual Conversations / Semester Wrap-up (in-person only)
What is the Critical AI Learning Community?
CAILC is a participant-led learning community where students, faculty, and staff meet to explore and critique artificial intelligence technology and its implications for learners and researchers throughout the Brown community. Learners of all levels and backgrounds are encouraged to share their experiences, questions, and ideas.
Goals
The goals for this community include:
- Become familiar with key concepts and terminology related to artificial intelligence
- Learn the basics of using generative AI tools
- Develop skills for evaluating and critiquing AI technology
- Explore emergent applications of AI technology
- Develop an understanding of the opportunities and drawbacks posed by AI technology
- Explore opportunities for applying critical pedagogy and critical information literacy to our understanding of AI
Community Driven
We shape this community together! The CAILC aims to center issues related to power and social justice, and to explore engagement with the structures that shape our experiences at Brown and in higher education. We encourage all participants to also be contributors — to help design, inquire, and share throughout our lunchtime meetings. Our hope is that participants will discuss and propose their own ideas and share in the stewardship of this respectful, inclusive, and generative space.
Engaging Speakers and Conversations
The meetings alternate between invited speakers or discussions that explore specific themes in AI, and casual participant led, small group conversations. Past themes have included AI, Surveillance and the Military; Exploring Facial Recognition Technology; Building AI for Citizenship Surveillance; Human and System Bias in AI Tools; AI in Medical Education at Brown; and Teaching AI in the Context of Information Literacy.
The goal of the casual conversations is to provide a low-stakes space to explore AI in the context of higher education generally, and Brown University specifically. The conversations focus on practical skills, critical thinking, ethical issues, and social impact. These conversations are an opportunity to ask questions and to learn from one another. You’re welcome to bring your own conversation topics!
Want to know more, or do you have a theme to suggest?
Share it with the team at lorna_dawes@brown.edu.