Ask a Librarian in Your Department

Posted on October 17, 2006 by

A growing number of librarians are offering office hours in various departmental lounges across the University. The librarians are there for quick questions, in-depth research sessions, or just as a way to get to know you.

The departments, librarians, hours, and locations currently involved:

Department: English
Librarian: Kristina Devoe
Location: 1044 Anderson
Hours: 3-4:30 Monday and Tuesday

Department: History
Librarian: David Murray
Location: History Lounge, 9th floor Gladfelter
Hours: 11-noon, Monday and Thursday

Department: Religion
Librarian: Fred Rowland
Location: Religion Lounge, 6th floor Anderson
Hours: 10:15-11:45 Tuesday

Department: Boyer College of Music
Librarian: Anne Harlow
Location: Presser Learning Center, 1st floor Presser Hall
Hours: 2:30-3:30, Monday

Department: Conwell Center
Librarian: Anne Harlow
Location: Tutoring Lab, 2nd floor 1700 N Broad St
Hours: 2:30-3:30 Wednesday

Department: Theater
Librarian: Anne Harlow
Location: to be determined
Hours: 2:30-3:30 Friday

Department: Honors
Librarian: Susan Golding
Location: Honors Lounge, 2nd floor, Tuttleman
Hours: 12-1 Wednesday and Thursday

Free Online Research Tools Class

Posted on October 1, 2006 by

October 10, 2006 from 1-2:30pm in Paley Library Room 130. Writing a paper or article? Working on a group project? Need a better way to organize all those websites, journal articles, and citations you’re saving for a thesis? Want to keep up with the latest articles in your area of study? Maybe you just want easier ways to search the internet? Or information about freely available software? Come to the library and learn about free online resources that can help you find, organize, share, and output information, as well as keep up with the latest news and articles. Topics include the extensible internet browser Firefox, advanced internet searching, social bookmarking sites for sharing information, free software (of all types), information on using RSS to keep up to date with journals, websites and news, and an introduction to RefWorks. All interested parties are invited. Questions? Email: dbadman@temple.edu or AIM: derikbad

Last Chance to Transfer Ikon Copy Card Value

Posted on September 30, 2006 by

Tomorrow is the last day that you can transfer any money remaining on your Ikon copy card.

Beginning August 1, 2006, new photocopiers provided by Xerox have replaced the IKON photocopiers located throughout Temple University, including all libraries. As part of this transition, after August 1st, photocopiers located in the libraries and elsewhere at Temple no longer accept Copy Cards issued by IKON under its expired contract with Temple. All photocopiers provided under the new Xerox contract accept Diamond Dollars; some will also accept coins/cash.

Temple University students, faculty, staff and guests who currently have an IKON copy card with any cash value remaining may transfer the value left on the Copy Card to their Diamond Dollars account until October 31, 2006.

To transfer Copy Card value to your Diamond Dollars account, please follow the two steps below as soon as possible after August 1st:

1) Print and complete a value transfer form
2) Bring the completed form AND your IKON Copy Card(s) to one of the following locations:

Main Campus
Diamond Dollars Office (through October 31, 2006)

Health Sciences Campus
Kresge Hall Library 2nd Floor – Circulation Desk (through October 31, 2006)

Please allow up to 72 business hours for the funds to transfer into your Diamond Dollars account.

Departments and grant offices will be notified when they can pick up their new cards at the following locations: Diamond Dollars Office, Kresge Hall, Ambler Library, TUCC, and Podiatric Medicine.

For faculty, students, and staff who were not on-campus during August 1-October 31, special arrangements will be made later.

For further information, contact the Diamond Dollars Office, 1910 Liacouras Walk, Rm 202, phone 215-204-3140.

— Jonathan LeBreton, Sr. Associate University Librarian

New Civil War Index – Temple Exclusive!

Posted on September 28, 2006 by Gerald Doyle

Background

William Still’s Underground Railroad was first published in Philadelphia in 1872, and is considered by many historians to be the most important primary-source document available on the subject. As a consequence of its historical significance, Still’s book today is widely available in print, microfiche, and online (see, for example, the original 1872 illustrated edition from Quinnipiac University Library; or the 1878 revised edition at Project Gutenberg). Portions of the Underground Railroad are also available in two Temple-only Alexander Street Press databases: The American Civil War: Letters & Diaries and North American Women’s Letters & Diaries. For each letter writer in Still’s book, Alexander Street Press indexes the following: name; places of birth and death, if known; gender; nationality; race; ethnicity; religion; occupation; education level; school attended; political allegiance (Union or confederate); state of residence; military status and rank, if applicable; marital and parental status; and cause of death. It is easy to restrict a search to any combination of these fields (e.g. male letter writers from Pennsylvania who were Quakers).

Temple Exclusive

Temple University Libraries is pleased to make available the McGowan Index – Copyright 2003 by Temple alumnus, James A. McGowan — a new and wholly unique index to William Still’s important work. The focus here is on the runaways. McGowan’s database indexes name and alias (of runaway); day, month, and year of escape; city, county, and state of origin; gender; age; color; number of escapees in the party, including number captured if applicable; children in the party; ability of runaway to read/write; conductor name; party armed or unarmed; violence or no violence involved in escape; mode of escape; owner name; and estimated monetary value of runaway in and out of home state. The McGowan Index opens up new opportunities for research, and it beautifully complements the indexing done by Alexander Street Press. Note that page numbers refer to the 1970 Johnson Publications reprint of the Underground Railroad, not the original 1872 edition. All researchers, Temple and non-Temple alike, are encouraged to download the Index (350 K), which is in Excel spreadsheet format, from the U.S. Civil War Subject Guide. Using Excel filters, users can limit searches to a particular field or combination of fields. The McGowan Index may be used for educational purposes only.

—David C. Murray

Sandi Thompson Assumes Interim Head Position

Posted on September 25, 2006 by

s_thompson.jpe We are pleased to announce that Sandra Thompson has agreed to accept the position of Interim Head of the Suburban Campus Libraries following Linda Cotilla’s retirement. Sandi will be responsible for the operations of the Ambler and Tyler libraries.

Sandi holds the B.A. degree in History from Pennsylvania State University, University Park and a Masters of Science in Library Science from Drexel University. Since obtaining her MLS from Drexel in 1984, Sandi has worked as Bibliographic Services Librarian at the Ambler Library. Prior to that, she worked in several Bibliographic Assistant positions in the Paley Library system. She has been very active professionally at Temple and in regional and national library organizations.

Sandi looks forward to working with faculty and students at both Ambler and at Tyler in this new role. She can be contacted at sandi@temple.edu or by telephone at 267-468-8645.

Larry P. Alford, Vice Provost for Libraries and University Librarian

Derik Badman Is New Digital Services Librarian

Posted on September 25, 2006 by

d_badman.jpe We are pleased to announce the appointment of Derik A. Badman as a librarian on the Paley Library staff. Derik has been working as a librarian at the Ambler Campus for almost two years. At the Ambler Library he was responsible for Access services and helped provide reference and instructional services both at Ambler and on the main campus.

Derik received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Temple’s Tyler School of Art and his Masters in Library and Information Science from Drexel University. While earning his Masters degree he worked as a supervisor in the former Zahn Library. Derik will work in the Paley Reference and Instructional Services Department as Digital Services Librarian where he will evaluate current and emerging technologies to help improve delivery of information to support teaching, learning, and research at Temple. He will also serve as liaison for collection development, reference, and instructional services for the College of Education and the School of Social Administration.

Derik is eager to assist students with their information needs and to meet with the faculty in his subject areas to ensure that we are building collections to serve their research and teaching needs. His email address is dbadman@temple.edu and his phone number is 215-204-5250.

Larry P. Alford, Vice Provost for Libraries and University Librarian

Reach out, Relive, and Reveal Through Filmmaking

Posted on September 22, 2006 by

Reach out, Relive, and Reveal through filmmaking
A Panel Discussion

Monday, October 9, 2006
2:30 PM– 4:30 PM

Temple University Libraries, Paley Library, Lecture Hall
1210 W. Berks Street, Philadelphia PA 19122

The Temple University Libraries’ Urban Archives department, in collaboration with Scribe Video Center, presents a screening and public panel discussion of community oral history projects. The panel will focus on the Precious Places Community History project, a documentary video model developed by SCRIBE that places humanities scholars and videomakers with community groups to produce community histories that focus on significant public spaces that define a particular city neighborhood. Since 2004, over 30 community groups throughout the Philadelphia region have participated in this project and created short documentaries.

Our distinguished panel includes: Louis Massiah, Executive Director of Scribe; Jamese Wells, Precious Places project coordinator; Dr. Rickie Sanders, a consulting project humanities scholar and Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at Temple University; John Pettit, a consulting project videomaker, facilitator and the assistant archivist of the Urban Archives at Temple Libraries; and two members of community groups that participated in the project. The discussion will include the process of creating a community oral history, and the role of the community and public archives in creating community histories. Panel members will also look at how to make use of resources for historiography within neighborhoods, and the role of humanities scholars and independent videomakers in community settings. The panel will also invite questions and discussion with the audience.

Three eight-minute Precious Places documentaries, completed in 2006, will be screened in the course of the panel presentation — Youth and the Houston Center: Growing Up Together, by United Communities of Southeast Philadelphia; Unhushed!, by the Still Standing Project of Camden; Villa African Cólobo by Grupo Motivos of Norris Square, North Philadelphia.

An exhibit of Philadelphia neighborhood images from the Urban Archives’ vast photograph collections, as well as products developed by Scribe, will be on display. A reception will follow the panel discussion.

This program has been supported in part by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Federal-State Partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For additional information, please contact the Urban Archives at 215-204-5750 orurbana@library.temple.edu

Margaret Jerrido,
Head, Urban Archives Department

Happy Birthday John Coltrane!

Posted on September 15, 2006 by Anne Harlow

To celebrate John Coltrane’s 80th birthday, a jazz-fest will be held on Saturday, September 23rd from 1:00 – 8:30 PM at the Awbury Arboretum in Germantown.

From the Tranestop press release:

“This free outdoor concert is part of the John Coltrane Jazz Festival – “Giant Steps Over Philly”, ! ; and is hosted by State Representative John Myers and State Senator LeAnna Washington.

This concert was rescheduled from September 2nd … which provided the TraneStop the opportunity to merge this festival with its annual celebration of Coltrane’s birthday. The event will still have two stages with international recording artist Billy Paul headlining the John Myers Blues Stage and internationally recognized jazz legend Archie Shepp headlining the John Coltrane Jazz Stage.”

Go to the Tranestop website for more information and additional artists that will be featured.

Directions:
“The Awbury Arboretum is easily accessible by train and bus both within and from outside the city. SEPTA’s R-7 Chestnut Hill-East/Trenton rail line stops at Washington Lane Station within feet of the jazz stage and a block from the blues stage. The R-7 connects at Trenton with New Jersey transit lines from New York and has stops at all three Philadelphia center city stations. Travelers from Washington, DC or the south or travelers who come into the city by bus, can pick up the R-7 at Suburban Station, 30th Street Station or Market East Station. The Saturday R-7 morning trains no. 1714, 1716 and 1718 will get you to the concert site by 11:59am, 12:59am and 1:59am, respectively and trains continue to run hourly thereafter. Departing R-7 evening trains no. 1731 and 1733 depart the concert site back to center city and Trenton at 8:41pm and 9:41 pm, respectively. The SEPTA bus route XH (connects at Broad and Erie) and route 23 also place riders right at the concert site on Washington Lane and Chew. TraneStop encourages participants to make good use of available public transportation to help make this an enjoyable and non-stres! sful experience for all involved. Call SEPTA at 215-580-7800 or visit the websites www.septa.org and www.thecommuterschoice.com for further information.”

Selected Library Resources for John Coltrane

Books

Biography and description of works from Grove Music Online.

Articles from International Index to Music Periodicals

From American National Biography.

Full-Text Articles from JSTOR

Citations to articles from Music Index.

Full-text articles from the New York Times. through ProQuest historical newspapers.

Articles from RILM (Repertoire International de Litterature de Musicale).

Internet Resources

John Coltrane website

PBS – Jazz, a documentary by Ken Burns, artist biography: Coltrane These videos are available at Temple University Library’s circulation desk (ML3506 .J399x 2000) and can be checked out.

John Coltrane, Avant Garde Jazz, and the Evolution of “My Favorite Things” by Scott Peterson

Hear and see John Coltrane, live, 1965, playing “Naimba”

The Tranestop

BBC Music Profiles – John Coltrane

Streaming audio of Coltrane music is available from CDigix.
Requires Internet Explorer.
-Anne Harlow

Temple Joins the Center for Research Libraries

Posted on September 14, 2006 by

We are pleased to announce that Temple University Libraries has joined theCenter for Research Libraries (CRL), a one-of-a-kind consortium of North American universities, colleges, and independent research libraries.

This will provide Temple’s researchers and scholars with access to a vast, unique collection of over four million resources, many of which are materials produced outside the United States, including publications and archives from many developing nations, and most of which are only available through participation in this program.

For example, the Center holds the only copies in North America of over 800,000 foreign dissertations, some of the earliest African-American newspapers, and the 100,000-plus-page archive of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge security force – all of which are now available to Temple faculty and students.

CRL has many additional collection strengths, including area studies, U.S. regional and ethnic newspapers, foreign government documents, and international journals, 50 percent of which are in the sciences.

All materials in the Center’s catalog are available for long-term loan to the Temple libraries. Materials can be kept for up to 2 years if not requested by another CRL patron.

To find the CRL catalog on our website, click on “Find Books”, then Other Catalogs. Please note that CRL holdings are represented in WorldCat. Anything listed in the CRL catalog can be requested through our Interlibrary Loan services.

CRL is located on the campus of the University of Chicago. Temple scholars visiting Chicago are welcome to visit the Center and use the collections in-house. Faculty and students visiting Chicago should contact the Reading Room at least three business days in advance of their desired visit. The number of the reading room is (773)955-4545 ext.347 and the hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 2:00.
If you have any questions, please contact
Penelope Myers, Head of Access Service at 215 204-0749, pmyers@temple.edu,
Justin Hill, Head of Interlibrary Loan borrowing at 215 204-0752,jhill@temple.edu, or
the librarian subject specialist for your area.

— Penelope Myers

Civil War Documents Go Missing

Posted on September 7, 2006 by Gerald Doyle

It’s been more than 140 years since the guns fell silent, but the U.S. Civil War apparently still has the power to provoke. According to this story in American Libraries Online, a thief recently stole two Civil War Era documents from an exhibition at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The article states that the library estimated the combined value of the two documents at only $400; other, more valuable items were passed over by the thief. Removed from the exhibition case were a confederate soldier’s furlough and the medical examination certificate of a slave. “Retired police captain Walt Hilderman, who loaned the documents to the library, said that the thief could have been motivated by controversy stemming from his split with the group Sons of Confederate Veterans…”

“The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.” –Henry Miller