What Do You Think of Our Computer Workstation Prototype

As part of a larger plan to upgrade and enhance the Paley Library first floor computing area, new types of computer workstations are being considered. One prototype of a new workstation is currently on display in Paley Library, located in the center of the first floor computer area. Here are photos of the prototype:

workstation1.JPG workstation2.JPG We urge our students to visit the Paley Library to give this prototype a personal use. Try it out. Then let us know what you think of it. Does it provide enough space? Is it comfortable to use? Is there enough privacy or too much? What do you think would work better? Share your feedback by adding a comment to this post or use our online suggestion box. We look forward to providing a variety of new furniture that will make this area a better workspace for our students.

– Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian

New Streaming Audio Databases

Temple University Libraries is pleased to announce the addition of new online streaming audio resources.

American Song contains over 50,000 songs in every style, period, and genre. Genres represented include Blues, Tin Pan Alley, Cajun, Cowboy, Ragtime, African-American songs, Bluegrass, sacred, and choral music. One can browse the database by historical events such as D-Day, the Cuban Missile Crisis, or the first moon landing. Also included are presidential campaign songs from 1789-1996.

Contemporary World Music provides twentieth and twenty-first century music from everywhere in the world. Genres include reggae, world beat, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, and Arab swing as well as more traditional genres such as Indian Classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, gospel, and more. One can search or browse genre, people groups, instruments, geographic location, and performer.

Database of Recorded American Music (DRAM) is a non-profit initiative funded by the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and other organizations. This database provides streaming audio of American music from New World Records, CRI, Albany, Innova, Cedilla, XI, Pogus, Deep Listening, and Mutable Music labels. A wide array of genres is represented: folk, Native American, jazz, 19th century classical, early rock, musical theater, contemporary, electronic, and more. Searching and browsing by composer, instrument, performer, record labels, and titles of compositions is available.

These databases provide depth and variety to the repertoire offered by Temple’s online audio resources.

For a list of streaming audio resources provided by Temple University Libraries see guides.temple.edu/music.

Please feel free to contact me for further information about these resources.

-Anne Harlow

Quiet Please! A Guide To No-Noise Zones in the Library

Looking for a quiet space at Paley Library? There are plenty of them. You just have to know where to look. We actually have several designated study spaces, and other spaces that are generally much quieter than others. If you are looking for a quiet study space the first place to avoid is the computer area on the west side of the first floor. It’s noisy, and that’s all right with us. However, we are promoting the east side of the first floor, with plenty of individual study carrels, as a quiet zone. Please respect those studying in this area.

Noisy Socializing – 1st Floor – West Side quietarea3.JPG
Quiet Study – 1st Floor – East Side quietarea2.JPG
We have also dedicated one entire side of the second and third levels to quite study. Those who want to generate more noise or work in groups should avoid these areas. Look for these signs as you head up to the upper levels.

quietarea1.JPG

You may also be unaware that since we moved the magazines and journals to the east side of the first floor the lower level area is currently being used as a study space and it’s one of the quietest spaces in the library. (Edit (9/23/08): Lower level is no longer available for studying as it is being transformed into the forthcoming media services area.)

quietzone4.JPG

And don’t forget that there are study rooms, available on a first come first serve basis, scattered all around the outer edges of the second and third floors. If you are in a no-noise zone and fellow students are creating some disturbance, we recommend that you politely ask them to respect the quiet areas of the library. If that doesn’t seem to work you are encouraged to seek assistance from a library staff member.

– Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian

Literature Criticism Online

TU Libraries has recently added Literature Criticism Online to its suite of electronic resources!

Literature Criticism Online is an outstanding reference literature database, offering biographical and bibliographical information on over 3,000 20th century and contemporary literary figures (novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers, and literary theorists), in addition to scholarly and popular commentary from books, journals, magazines, broadsheets, pamphlets, diaries, and newspapers.

This collection contains the scanned pages of every single volume from two of Gale’s popular, print literary series: Contemporary Literary Criticism (245 volumes currently) and Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (196 volumes currently). Just think how much shelf space that would be! Users can search by known author, text, critic, or source title, as well as by keyword.

Literature Criticism Online is a valuable literary resource and complements well with the Libraries’ subscription to Literature Resource Center which contains select collections of critical material from Gale’s other literary resources: Children’s Literature Review, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, and Short Story Criticism.

Be sure to check it out!

-Kristina De Voe, English & Communications Librarian

New Carpet and Chairs Improve Study Spaces

We hear you. You’ve told us you want better study spaces – and as much of it as we can provide. To better accommodate the needs of our library user community we’ve recently upgraded several spaces on the second and third floors of the Paley Library. These areas are all newly carpeted and new, comfortable chairs, many with tablet arms, are available in several of the improved study areas. Here are photos of two of the nine enhanced study spaces: Thumbnail image for studyarea2.JPGThumbnail image for Thumbnail image for studyarea1.JPG These new study spaces will be found on the far ends of both the second and third floors of Paley Library. Look for them in center and/or corners of these areas. We hope you enjoy these improved spaces. If you would like to provide feedback or suggestions for additional enhancements, please use our suggestion form.

– Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian

Professors Strike Back

What do university faculty think about Rate My Professor and what their students are saying about them at that site? Well, the folks at MTVU recently gave a group of faculty members a chance to react – on camera – to comments their students posted about them at RMP. The videos found at “Professors Strike Back” make for compelling drama, entertainment and even a few “stop and think about that” moments.

Even better, two professors from Temple University are among those featured.Terence Oliva, of the Marketing Department, and Laura Shinn, of the Economics Department, share thoughtful comments about Rate My Professor. But I have to say that one of my favorites comes from Professor David Linton at Marymount Manhattan College. I’d like every student to spend 20 seconds to hear what he has to say about college. In short he says, it’s not about getting a degree – it’s about getting an education. If you approach it as a consumer experience, like buying a car, you are bound to be disappointed.

– Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian

The Teaching Professor

The Libraries have recently acquired a site license to The Teaching Professor, an online newsletter designed to assist faculty with the practical side of teaching. The Teaching Professor helps instructors to:

  • Overcome obstacles to effective teaching
  • Stay abreast of the latest pedagogical research
  • Hear what’s working for colleagues “in the trenches”
  • Hone skills and stay on top of teaching innovations
  • Truly connect with students

Here’s an excerpt from an article titled Faculty Self-Disclosures in the College Classroom from the April, 2007 issue: “While interviewing university faculty for a study about classroom communication, ‘Jim,’ a professor of history, made this comment about a colleague he had observed teaching: ‘I was really amazed, when I saw him teach, how little of his personality you see.’ This starkly contrasted with his perception of his own teaching style, about which he said, ‘I try to use humor a lot. My dad says I just think funny, you know, and I do; it’s hard for me not to joke around.’ This comment started me wondering about how much of ourselves we let our students see.”

The articles in The Teaching Professor are brief and to the point. Worth a look.

David C. Murray

Web of Science Backfiles Added

We are pleased to announce that Temple University Libraries has acquired Web of Science backfiles to the year 1900. The breakdown by discipline is:

  • Arts & Humanities back to 1975
  • Social Sciences back to 1956
  • Science back to 1900

Web of Science is a repository of historic, multi-disciplinary journal literature. The backfiles are critical to locating a wealth of useful historic source and citation information. Of the 50 most highly cited items in Web of Science, more than 60% were published over 20 years ago. Via the powerful linking capabilities of the Web, retrospective data becomes easily available and maximizes serendipitous discovery. —Kathy Szigeti

Start Better Study Habits By Avoiding All-Nighters

With the spring semester starting soon it may be a good time to share with students, and their instructors, some timely tips for better study habits. The Study Hacks blog recently featured a post titled “Five Bad Study Habits You Should Resolve to Avoid in 2008“. Well, it is the time of the year for resolutions. Their five bad habits to eliminate include: (1) studying without a plan; (2) skipping classes; (3) rote review; (4) studying after midnight; and (5) not taking notes while reading. Read the post for more details on how and why to eliminate these bad study habits.

And speaking of staying up late to study (item 4), particularly at exam time, a researcher at St. Lawrence University studied the correlation between student sleep time and their grade-point averages. Students reported that they had pulled at least one all-nighter during a semester and that those who did it regularly had lower GPAs. Sounds like avoiding all-nighters is a good way to begin improving study habits in 2008.

-Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian

New Platform for ABC-CLIO Databases

The two ABC-CLIO databases, America: History & Life and Historical Abstracts, are now available on the familiar EBSCOhost platform. Advantages of having these core history databases on Ebsco include multiple database searching; easy linking to full-text databases such as JSTOR; personalized folders, a part of My EBSCOhost, for those who choose to create personalized accounts; the Historical Period Limiter, a way to find articles that discuss an event or events that occurred within a specific time frame; and a new cited reference search encompassing both databases. This last feature can be used in conjunction with Web of Science to more accurately gauge the importance to the field of history of any refereed journal article. —David C. Murray