Author Archives: Gretchen Sneff

New! Cell Phone Audio Tour of Paley Library

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New! Cell Phone Audio Tour of Paley Library

You can now use your cell phone to get information about Paley Library departments and services. Call 215-525- 1543, and enter a tour stop number (listed below), followed by the # key.

There is no charge for the call, just your cell minutes.

This service also features a Call Number Locator to help you locate Paley books! Enter 0, the keypad number corresponding to the first letter of the call number, and then the # key.

Tour Stops are posted throughout the library and a List of Stops and Floor Plan is available at the Circulation/Reserve Desk, the Reference Desk and from the Information rack at the Bell Tower entrance.

These are the current stops:

  1. Dean’s Welcome
  2. Paley First Floor
  3. Reference Services
  4. Circulation/Reserve Desk
  5. Computer Workstations in Paley
  6. Special Collections
  7. Paley Second Floor
  8. Paley Third Floor
  9. Media Services
  10. Urban Archives

You can leave us your feedback about the tour by pressing 0, followed by the # key. For more information about the new cell phone audio tour of Paley Library, you can contact Gretchen Sneff.

2007 Library Prize Award Recipients Announced!

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The Library Prize panel of judges has selected the recipients for the 2007 Library Prize for Undergraduate Research.

The judges were impressed with the variety of topics, the reflective essays on the library research process and the quality of research submitted.

$1000 Award Recipients in alphabetical order:

Joseph Basile
“Ending the ‘Inhuman Traffic;’ The Role of Humanitarianism in the British Abolition Movement.”
History W387
Dr. Travis Glasson, History

Clay Boggs
“The Jews and the Pharisees in Early Quaker Polemic”
History 399
Professor David Watt, History

Matthew M. Rodrigue
“Rethinking Academia: A Gramscian Analysis of Samuel Huntington”
History H385
Professor Kathy Le Mons Walker, History

In addition, the following students were selected to receive Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order):

Michael Gieda
“The Civilian Conservation Corps; Conserving Discrimination”
History W386
Professor Sharon Ann Musher, History

Cherice D. Gordon
“Cervical Cancer: A Silent Threat in African-American Women”
Public Health W3321
Professor Sarah Bauerle Bass, Public Health

Stephanie L.S. Sikora
“The Great Escape: 21st Century American Politics and the Kyoto Protocol”
History W397 and H385
James Rogers, Political Science

Penelope Waite
“The Struggle for an Inclusive Vision of America: Lorin W. Brown, the Federal Writers’ Project, and the Definition of American Identity”
American Studies 393
Professor Lisa Rhodes, American Studies
Please join us to celebrate at the Awards Ceremony and Reception this Friday! Come Meet the 2007 Winners and their sponsoring professors!

Date/Time: Friday, April 27th: 4:00 p.m. Awards Ceremony, 5:00 p.m. Reception

Location: Paley Lecture Hall

Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres will be served.

–Gretchen Sneff

Library Prize Info Sessions

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Library Prize for Undergraduate Research Information Sessions.

The Library Prize for Undergraduate Research was established to encourage the use of Library resources, to enhance the development of library research techniques, and to honor the best research projects produced each year by Temple University undergraduate students.

The deadline for submissions for this year’s Prize is April 6, 2007. Please come to one of these four info sessions with your questions and for information about the submission process and requirements.

Location: Paley Library Mezzanine, room 130

Tuesday, March 13
12 noon – 1 p.m.

Wednesday, March 21
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 28
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 3
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

For more information, click here.

–Gretchen Sneff


Changes for the Science, Engineering & Architecture Libraries

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*** As of July 21, the closing dates have been revised. See new dates on the schedule below. ***

As previously announced, the Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematical Sciences libraries will close later this month. This article describes the redeployment of books and journals, the relocation of library staff, and the collection and services to be offered in a newly created Science, Engineering and Architecture Library.

New locations for science materials
Most older and lesser used materials will be moved into the new Library Depository, a closed-stack shelving and retrieval facility which opened in late June. Materials going to the Depository include books more than 13 years old that have not circulated in the past ten years and bound journals that are available in full-text electronically, such as titles available via Science Direct, American Chemical Society, Nature Online, and the American Physical Society. In addition, all journal volumes published before 1985 will be sent to the Depository.

Some materials will be moved to Paley Library including bound journal volumes published after 1984 and books published before 1997 that have been borrowed in the past ten years. All material currently housed in the Mathematical Sciences library will be moved to Paley Library.

The newest materials from the science libraries will be consolidated in the location previously occupied by the Engineering & Architecture Library, which will be reconstituted as a Science, Engineering and Architecture Library.

The Science, Engineering and Architecture Library (SEAL)
The new Science Engineering & Architecture Library will include current issues of print journals, a collection of reference materials and the most recent ten years of monographs in architecture, biology, chemistry, engineering, geology, physics and general science. Architecture bound journals will be held in SEAL. Services will include reference, course reserves, and library instructional services. We will also offer a slate of new online services such as Instant Messaging reference, new book lists, a SEAL blog site featuring new tools, resources, library events and news. Twenty-two computer workstations will be available and SEAL will offer expanded service hours seven days a week.

SEAL.jpg

The Move

The transfer of materials to the Depository is already well underway in the Paley Library. Movers will start to work in the branch libraries in the later part of July. The Libraries will close the day before the movers arrive.

Scheduled dates of library closings, as of July 21st:

Physics Library, Tuesday, July 25 at 5pm
Chemistry Library, Friday, July 28 at 5pm
Biology Library, Friday, July 28 at 5pm (Previously August 1st)
Mathematical Sciences Library, Monday, July 31 at 4.30 pm (Previously August 3rd)
The Library catalog is updated daily as the move progresses to clearly indicate the new location of materials. Items relocated to the Depository may be requested using a form linked to each record in the catalog. Books will be delivered to Paley or SEAL within 24 hours and needed journal articles will be delivered via email. For more information about the new Library Depository, see the Temple Times article of April 27, 2006, the Library Blog article of June 21, 2006, and the Depository FAQ.

Staff
The library closures and other changes also mean changes for several of our staff. Joyce Dennis, Bibliographic Assistant (BA) in the Mathematical Sciences Library, has elected to take a position in the Collection Development Department in Paley Library. Joyce has a long history of library service at Temple, and already experienced an earlier transition when the library at TU-Center City was closed. Katerina Montaniel, currently in the Chemistry Library, will move to Access Services, as the BA with primary responsibility for the provision of services in the Library Depository.

Staff who will be located in SEAL include Gretchen Sneff, Head, SEAL Library, and librarian for engineering and architecture; Laura Lane, Science Librarian for physics, mathematics, geology and general science; Kathy Szigeti, Science Librarian for biology, chemistry, and computer science. Cathy Zabroski, Bibliographic Assistant currently in the Engineering & Architecture Library, will head circulation and supervise student workers in SEAL, and Marianne Sanville, BA currently in the Biology Library, will relocate to SEAL and oversee course reserves, collections and document delivery.

We hope that SEAL will become a popular gathering space for students in science, engineering and architecture. Having concentrated staff, services, and the most current books and journals across the sciences and engineering, SEAL will provide students and researchers the most current discipline-specific and cross-disciplinary information needed for study and research.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Gretchen Sneff, 215-204-4724, gsneff@temple.edu
Head, Engineering & Science Libraries


More than a Thousand New E-Journals

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All Elsevier, Blackwell, Cambridge journals now available online!

Temple University Libraries is pleased to announce online access to virtually the entire journal collections of three major publishers: Elsevier, Blackwell Publishing, and Cambridge University Press. In collaboration with the Health Sciences Libraries, the Temple Libraries have licensed access to more than 1500 new titles. These new collections are especially strong in the sciences, technology, and medicine; offer substantive collections in the social sciences; and include a number of important titles in the humanities. A total of 750 Blackwell Publishing journals are now available via the Blackwell-Synergy platform, and 200 Cambridge University Press titles are available via Cambridge Journals Online. Temple has also entered into agreement to provide 1500 Elsevier online journals, almost the entire Elsevier ScienceDirect collection, on a trial basis until the end of 2007.

ScienceDirect

Temple University has reached an agreement with Elsevier to provide access to nearly all of the ScienceDirect journal titles–with the exception of certain society publications–on a trial basis until the end of 2007. ScienceDirect journal content focuses on the scientific, technical, and medical fields but includes a significant number of titles in the social sciences as well. We previously enjoyed access to about 550 titles on ScienceDirect. Approximately 950 additional titles will now be available to Temple University researchers. Coverage extends back to 1995. See a list of titles here. Titles showing a green icon have online content available to Temple. We will evaluate the titles over the next two years to decide on permanent subscriptions after 2007.

Blackwell-Synergy

Temple University now has online access to all journals published by Blackwell Publishing (with a few exceptions) via the Blackwell-Synergy platform. Blackwell’s journal collection includes scientific, technical, medical, social sciences, and humanities titles. A total of approximately 750 titles, with access extending back to 1997, are now online. Prior to this, Temple had subscriptions to approximately 260 Blackwell titles, not all of which were online. See a list of available titles.

Cambridge Journals Online

Temple University now has access to all online journals from Cambridge University Press via Cambridge Journals Online. Cambridge journals are in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. See a list of titles here. There are a total of about 200 journal titles, only 80 to which we previously had access. New titles generally extend back to 2003. For titles to which we previously subscribed our access may extend back farther.

To access these important new resources, use Journal Finder to locate individual titles, or select the resource: ScienceDirect, Blackwell-Synergy, or Cambridge Journals Online from our list of full-text databases on the Library website.

Please feel free to contact me or Ask A Librarian about questions or for assistance with these resources.

Gretchen Sneff
Head, Engineering & Science Libraries