Category Archives: Library News

Welcome Back Temple Students! ceLIBration Welcomes New Students

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The staff of Temple University Libraries are excited about the start of the fall 2010 semester. We want to welcome all of our returning students back to campus, and we welcome all of our new students as well. Temple University Libraries has some new and exciting things in store for the fall campus, plus lots of interesting events for you to attend. Be on the lookout for our “Guide for Library Users” that will appear as an insert in the Temple Student News, and keep following our library blog throughout the semester.

You can also follow us on Twitter at /templelibraries and on Facebook.

On Friday, August 27 the Temple University Libraries held its fourth annual ceLIBration event in Paley Library as apart of all the Welcome Week festivities. The several hundred students who attended ate over 300 hot dogs, 400 cookies, 500 soft pretzels, 100 Jimmy Johns sandwiches, and more water and soda then we can count. In addition to the music and games, a highlight of ceLIBration was the Great Library Scavenger Hunt. Participants had to complete a series of tasks to find the answers to the questions, and in doing so they traveled to every corner of Paley Library.

The winners of the first hunt were Dion Trinidad (first place – shown below on the left), Dannielle Harrington (second place) and Laura Carione (third place). The winners of the second hunt were Katie Gensemer (first place), Kevin Chaya (second place) and Jennifer Cubbler (third place) – all three shown below on the right.

The Temple University Libraries thanks all the students who came out to ceLIBrate with us, and we look forward to a good fall semester. As always, we are here to help you succeed.

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TU Libraries switches to Refworks 2.0

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Refworks is the citation management program that the Temple University Libraries offers to the university community that makes it easier to store, organize, annotate, and output citations as bibliographies. On Monday, August 23, the Libraries’ switched over to the new Refworks 2.0 interface, which provides a more intuitive and efficient user experience. Anyone familiar with the first version of Refworks (now called Refworks Classic) should be able to make this transition with relative ease.  (The Refworks Classic interface will be available until December simply by clicking on the “Refworks Classic” link in the upper right corner of the Refworks 2.0 interface.)  As before, users can access Refworks 2.0 from the Libraries’ homepage under “Find Articles.”

Here are some of the improvements in Refworks 2.0:

  • Shortcuts that allow quick access to important features
  • Reduced menu bar that includes only the most important items
  • Tabs for quick access to (all) References, Folders, and shared folders

In Refworks 2.0 you don’t need to constantly shift from one page to another to perform simple functions as was often necessary in Refworks Classic.  The same great features are now easier to find and use.  Take a spin on Refworks 2.0!

Here’s a Refworks 2.0 preview. 

—Fred Rowland

 

Survey Will Gather Information About Electronic Resource Use

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In an effort to gather information about the usage of the Temple University Libraries’ electronic resources, an occasional web-based survey will be launched on Tuesday, August 31. The survey form will appear when connecting to any electronic resource. That includes the library catalog, the journal databases, music libraries, electronic books, etc. The online web survey must be completed in order to gain access to the desired electronic resource. This four question survey, while creating a momentary disruption, will only be conducted for two consecutive hours per month through the next academic year. The survey is anonymous and will coincide with short on-site surveys of a similar nature being offered at Paley Library.

The University administration has requested that we conduct this survey in order to gain more information about how the institutional investment in electronic information resources contributes to our scholars’ and researchers’ capacity to perform research that leads to new discoveries. While this survey will create some minimal disruption in the short run, the data gathered will be of great benefit to our instituition in the long run. Therefore we will greatly appreciate your understanding and cooperation if and when you are asked to complete the survey form.

Should you have further questions, an FAQ is appended to the online survey instrument or you can contact the Controller’s Office which is sponsoring the survey.

Refworks 2.0 launched today

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Refworks is the citation management program that the Temple University Libraries offers to the university community that makes it easier to store, organize, annotate, and output citations as bibliographies. On Monday, August 23, the Libraries’ switched over to the new Refworks 2.0 interface, which provides a more intuitive and efficient user experience. Anyone familiar with the first version of Refworks (now called Refworks Classic) should be able to make this transition with relative ease. (The Refworks Classic interface will be available until December simply by clicking on the “Refworks Classic” link in the upper right corner of the Refworks 2.0 interface.) As before, users can access Refworks 2.0 from the Libraries’ homepage under “Find Articles.”

Here are some of the improvements in Refworks 2.0:

  • Shortcuts that allow quick access to important features
  • Reduced menu bar that includes only the most important items
  • Tabs for quick access to (all) References, Folders, and shared folders

In Refworks 2.0 you don’t need to constantly shift from one page to another to perform simple functions, as was often necessary in Refworks Classic. The same great features are now easier to find and use. Take a spin on Refworks 2.0!

Here’s a Refworks 2.0 preview.

Expect Periodic Disruptions at Ambler Campus Library Over the Next Two Weeks

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For a two-week period beginning Monday, August 16, 2010 the Ambler Campus Library is having new carpet installed. The Library will be closed for extended times during this two-week period. While disruptions to service are likely, Library staff are available to answer questions and resolve any difficulties caused by the carpeting work. The computer lab will be available for limited use, but printing may not always be available. Access to the books and other library materials will be addressed on a day-to-day basis. Every effort will be made to fill all requests. Materials from Paley and other libraries being sent to Ambler will be available to our patrons as usual. It is advised that you call ahead if you plan on coming to the library: 267-468-8643 or 267-468-8644 While this project was scheduled for when classes are out of session to minimize the disruption, the Libraries’ administration is aware that this will cause inconvenience for the Temple University community. For that we apologize. Your understanding and patience is greatly appreciated, and the staff of the Ambler Library looks forward to serving the community with a new look for the fall semester.

Announcing Changes at Science, Engineering & Architecture Library (SEAL)

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Effective immediately, the Science, Engineering & Architecture Library (SEAL) will be renamed the Science and Engineering Library (SEL). This change is precipitated by soon to begin physical renovations to SEAL. Approximately 40% of SEAL’s existing footprint will become a new bio-engineering program space for the School of Engineering. In order to manage the loss of space, all of the architecture material is being integrated into the Paley Library collection. In addition, selection of architecture materials and liaison services, going forward, are now the responsibility of Jill Luedke, Art & Architecture Librarian. SEL will continue to provide all existing services and resources to the students, faculty and staff of the School of Engineering and the College of Science and Technology. The collection in SEL will include science and engineering books published after 2007, key reference materials, course reserves and print current periodicals. Computers and study spaces will continue to be available. The Library Systems & Technology Office is in the process of updating all references to SEAL on our website and in the library catalog. Please contact Gretchen Sneff, Head of the Science and Engineering Library, at gsneff@temple.edu or 1-7828 with any questions or concerns.

Wiley Interscience becomes Wiley Online Library this weekend

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Wiley Interscience is migrating to a new platform this weekend and will be unavailable from 4am 8/7/10 until 12pm 8/8/10. The new platform will be called Wiley Online Library and will be available at http://libproxy.temple.edu/login?url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com. Further information is available here.

Discussion with Temple Classicists: Part 2

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This is the second part of my conversation with Classics professors Dan Tompkins, Robin Mitchell-Boyask, and Sydnor Roy, which took place on March 18, 2010. We talked about the impact of new theoretical approaches on classics research, the effect of the Internet on interdisciplinary research, and new channels for distributing PhD dissertations.

Dan Tompkins received his PhD from Yale University in 1968 with a dissertation entitled Stylistic Characterization in Thucydides. Robin Mitchell-Boyask graduated in 1988 from Brown University with a dissertation entitled Tragic Identity: Studies in Euripides and Shakespeare. Sydnor Roy is a 2010 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her dissertation is entitled Political Relativism: Implicit Political Theory in Herodotus’ Histories.

Listen to Part II of the Conversation

[ensemblevideo contentid=h7gwF6rYJ0-QyHdGRuaK4Q audio=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

 

(Listen to Part I of our conversation.)

—Fred Rowland