Happy 2019 and welcome back for the spring semester! Are you ready to make 2019 your best year yet? The Libraries have you covered. Read on to learn about new and ongoing initiatives and resources that will help you keep your resolutions and start off the new year strong.

Exercise your creativity

Today marks the opening of our creative writing contest to commemorate the new Charles Library and the launch of the Short Edition short story dispenser. Submit a short original piece by March 8 for a chance to win a cash prize and/or be published in Temple’s first short story dispenser.

Make some extra money

If you’re an undergrad, consider submitting your research and creative projects to the Livingstone Undergraduate Research Awards (submissions open through February 18) for a chance at winning a prestigious honor and cash prize.

Start a new project

Want to try your hand at podcasting, photography, or film? The Libraries can help! We lend out audiovisual equipment like DSLR cameras, Flip cameras, audio recorders, and tripods from our Media Services department. We also have workstations for editing your projects. Visit the Media Services desk on the ground floor of Paley Library to learn more.

Learn a new skill

Interested in 3D printing or Virtual Reality? Our Digital Scholarship Center houses a makerspace and VR lab. You will also find expert staff on hand and a variety of workshops and orientations to get you started.

Read a good book

There’s nothing like getting lost in the world of a new book. Browse Paley Library’s leisure reading collection on the first floor, near the Ask Here desk, and see what new worlds you can discover.

Elevate your research

Use our Ask a Librarian service to work with an expert subject librarian to deepen and develop your research and/or personal projects.

Take in a cultural experience

Need a little more culture in your life? The Libraries’ Beyond the Page public programming series offers a variety of free lectures, concerts, exhibitions, film screenings, and more that are sure to entertain and engage. Did we mention they are free?

Based on feedback received from the university community, Temple University Libraries released an enhanced version of the Library Search on August 13th, 2018. During the 2018-2019 academic year, the Libraries will continue to make further updates to the search.

Please refer to our Library Search Road Map and Frequently Asked Questions page for more information and check the library website throughout the year for further updates. If you have any additional questions, please contact asktulibrary@temple.edu.

Based on feedback received from the university community, an enhanced version of the Library Search is currently under development at Temple University Libraries. A beta version was released in February 2018, and was updated with new features on June 25, 2018. Try it out at librarybeta.temple.edu/bento.

On August 6, 2018 (updated date: August 12th), this updated version of the Library Search is scheduled to replace the existing interface. During the 2018-2019 academic year, the Libraries will continue to make further enhancements to the search.

Please refer to our Library Search Road Map for more information and check the library website over the summer for further updates. If you have any additional questions, please contact asktulibrary@temple.edu.

What better way to bring in April than with National Poetry Month? Established by the Academy of American Poets, this month celebrates the enduring legacy and ongoing work of American poets and encourages us to support poets and poetry.

Wondering how you can join in the fun? Sign up for Poem-a-Day at poets.org, and you will receive a brand new, previously unpublished poem in your inbox every day. Check out today’s poem, “Agatha” by Dorothea Lasky.

If you’re interested in getting involved on campus, look no further than the Babel Poetry Collective, which is a collection of spoken word poets, musicians, vocalists, and emcees.

Another way to celebrate poetry is to share your favorite poem with a friend. Here, I’ll start: check out “Onset” by Kim Addonizio. Now, it’s your turn!

Spring Break is right around the corner! Looking to take a break from studying and stretch out with a good book? Read on for recommendations from our library staff on what they are reading right now and what you just can’t miss. We hope you find your new favorite book!

I recommend The Floating World by C. Morgan Babst. I’m still reading it, but to summarize I’d say it’s about a family torn apart by and attempting to come back together after Hurricane Katrina. It brings to life the other worldly, apocalyptic post-storm horrors as experienced by different family members.

–Kathy Lehman, Supervisor, Circulation and Reserve

Two Faces of American Freedom by Aziz Rana argues that American freedom in the form of Republican self-rule was predicated on the domination of subordinate populations, both internally and externally. The book explains how this dynamic has played out in the course of American history, and is relevant today in thinking about contested positions on immigration. This book is also available online. 

–Fred Rowland, Reference Librarian, Classics, Economics, Philosophy, and Religion

I loved The Unseen World by (Temple Liberal Arts writer-in-residence!) Liz Moore. The novel follows protagonist Ada Sibelius as she decodes the clues of her father’s past. It’s part family mystery, part computer science history, part coming-of-age story. I couldn’t put it down. Moore did a reading for us in the fall and the crowd loved her as much as I do.

–Sara Curnow Wilson, Library Outreach and Communications Administrator

First is Elizabeth Tova Bailey’s The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, which my daughter gave me for Christmas. It’s an utterly absorbing personal narrative of the way a debilitating illness is lightened and enriched for the author by intimate daily observation of a common garden snail in a terrarium – a gift given to the author by a visiting friend during that illness. In spite of the odd subject, it is a profoundly intimate and moving book. We don’t hold it but you can get it from the Free Library.

[Editor’s Note: See bottom of this post for other borrowing options!]

Second is Robert Hass’s A Little Book on Form: an exploration into the formal imagination in poetry. For anyone of a literary bent, it is an utterly readable and entertaining jaunt through many possible ways of understanding “form” as a dimension of poetry in the English and American traditions from the Renaissance to the present. That may sound dry, but Hass has such a lively and personal voice that it’s fun to read and consistently provides new insights into the many ways poems work. Especially of interest to aspiring poets.

Finally, Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric. It’s hard to describe this patchwork of prose poems that is one of the most probing and troubling investigations of race in contemporary American experience. It is somewhat dense and demanding but it is worth the effort. The section on Serena Williams is itself worth the price of admission.

–Joe Lucia, Dean of Libraries

I’d like to recommend The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu. I’m only halfway through this book but it’s already unlike anything I’ve ever read! It follows two generations of Chinese scientists as they grapple with the future of humankind. The narrative of The Three-Body Problem weaves together a huge range of subjects including the Cultural Revolution, virtual reality games, nanotech, aliens, and theoretical physics, and still somehow manages to have a suspenseful storyline.

–Sarah Jones, Science & Engineering Librarian

I recommend Lila by Marilynne Robinson. It’s a beautiful rendering of character and place, set in rural Iowa. If you are interested in studying the craft of fiction writing, Robinson shows you how to weave seamlessly from thought to memory to present. It’s astonishing, and the characters stay with you long after you finish the book.

–Beckie Dashiell, Editor

One final tip: Temple doesn’t hold a copy? You can borrow from other libraries using E-ZBorrow or ILLiad and pick up at your Temple library!

It may be a new year and the start of a new semester, but the Libraries are here, as always, to help you learn and succeed, with materials, resources, and a whole slew of free academic and cultural programs.

Paley Library, photo courtesy Chris Kendig

For example, did you know you could save money and borrow your course textbooks right here in the Libraries? Check out Course Reserves and see if your instructor has placed any of your course materials on reserve.

From bottom left: Librarians Sarah Jones, Latanya Jenkins, and Urooj Nizami share information about library resources with students. Photo courtesy Chris Kendig.

As a member of the Temple community, you also have access to the Libraries’ vast collection of databases for your research, including Nexis Uni, which is back by popular demand!

Not sure where to start? We have comprehensive Research Guides for each of your course subjects, as well as our How Do I…? guides for help with basic tasks and services.

And don’t forget about the Libraries’ Beyond the Page public programming series, where you can find a variety of free programs, concerts, workshops, and more to keep you intellectually engaged this semester.

Here are a few more tips to help you start the new year off right!

• Check out our Media Services, where you can borrow DVDs, audio and camera equipment, Chromebooks, iPads, and more.
• Use the newly streamlined Library Search to discover books, ebooks, articles, and much more.
• Discover who the Subject Librarian is for each of your courses and use our Ask a Librarian service to get in touch.
• Explore all the cool things you can do at the Digital Scholarship Center, including 3D printing!
• The Libraries are here for all your Printing needs.
• This story from a fall issue of Nutshell has even MORE tips!

A workshop in the Digital Scholarship Center, photo courtesy Brae Howard

Starting at 8:00 AM on December 7 through 8:00 PM on December 20, the Libraries go 24/7 for final exams. But we’re sweetening the deal! Leading up to December 7, we’re extending our Saturday hours and staying open until 10:00 PM (instead of 7:00 PM). So whether you’re working on a group project or a research paper, we’ve got you covered during the end of the semester crunch.

Remember you can book a study room ahead of time, and stay tuned for information about snacks, activities, and therapy dogs coming at you during reading days and finals period.

*Please note that normal Saturday hours (9:00 AM–7:00 PM) will apply on the Saturday that falls over Fall Break (November 25).*

As progress is made on Temple’s new central library, our staff continues to prepare the collections for the move. The migration, like any move, provides an opportunity to reevaluate our current collections and create space for other materials, including our ever-expanding archives and special collections.

With this in mind, the library administrative team has made the decision to deaccession a selection of print journals that we receive in digital form. This change will result in no loss of access. All selections—approximately 1,000 titles constituting approximately 80,000 volumes, the large majority already stored offsite—will continue to be available online via stable providers and in print through one of our library partners.

Completing this undertaking now will reduce the time and expense involved in moving our collections to the new library building. The process of deaccessioning becomes more complicated once materials have been added to the automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS).

While preservation of the scholarly record remains a central tenet of Temple Libraries’ mission, this is accomplished collectively with our many library partners.  In today’s world of ready online access to journal content and robust sharing agreements among libraries, it is not necessary for all libraries, even research libraries, to maintain hundreds of volumes of seldom used print journal archives.

Please feel free to contact Dean of Libraries Joe Lucia, at joe.lucia@temple.edu, with any questions or concerns about this process.