Take Our Survey

You may notice something different on our Temple Libraries homepage today. There – in the upper right hand corner of the page. Now you see it. Place your mouse pointer there and you’ll be invited to take our satisfaction survey. We’ll be offering this survey through the end of the semester. It’s a totally opt-in survey. You won’t receive an email asking you to take the survey. If you want to complete the survey – it’s there. There are two versions of the survey: short and long. The short version takes approximately 7 minutes to complete, while the longer version takes about 15 minutes. We hope you will take time -either less or more – to complete the survey. We are always looking for ways to improve Temple University Libraries and the services it offers. Your feedback will help us to do a better job of serving you and the Temple University community. If you have any questions or feedback about the survey, please contact Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian.

n+1 Interview: Gessen & Roth

On October 27, Keith Gessen and Marco Roth spoke in the Paley Lecture Hall about starting n+1 in the midst of the online transformation of the early 2000s.  n+1 is a print literary journal which released its first issue in 2004.  Before the lecture, we had a long discussion about their journal, the literary and competitive pressures of publishing, the death and life of the author, the life of print after the Internet, and just how n+1 got its name.

Gessen and Roth – Part I

[ensemblevideo contentid=uUB04PkXKkikhWZT0bD6jA captions=true height=90]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Gessen and Roth – Part II

[ensemblevideo contentid=6t6LAHylbEaCQTV-0s2y1g captions=true height=90]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

(More on Gessen and Roth)

 

—Fred Rowland


Discussion with Temple Classicists: Part 3

Dan Tompkins. Robin Mitchell-Boyask. Sydnor Roy.

This is the third 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 how they share their ideas with other scholars, publishing, classics web sites, and scholarly repositories.

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.

[ensemblevideo contentid=189qsmuqJUK_jnzrAcMeaA captions=true height=150]

(Listen to Part I and Part II of our conversation.)

—Fred Rowland

Margery Sly Joins Temple as Director of Special Collections

I am delighted to welcome Margery Sly to Temple University Libraries, where she will take on the newly created position of Director of Special Collections beginning today, December 20. Reporting to me, Margery will lead the merger of the collections and staff within our current Urban Archives and Special Collections operating units, and then lead the ongoing operations of this unified Special Collections division.

Margery comes to us from the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS), where she served as the Deputy Executive Director for the past seven years. Prior to that, she held several other administrative and archival positions at the PHS and Smith College in Northampton, MA. Margery received her MA in American History and MS in Library Science at Case Western Reserve. She received a BA in German literature and history from Dickinson College.

Please join me in welcoming Margery to Temple University Libraries.

With warm wishes,

Larry P. Alford

Talking Tuna

On September 24, Professor Daniel Levine of the University of Arkansas Classics Department spoke at Temple University about “Tuna in the Ancient Greek World”.  The Zeta Beta Chapter of Eta Sigma Phi brought him to campus after hearing him speak at a national conference.  Zeta Beta is a group on campus that promotes the teaching, study, and appreciation of Latin, Greek, and the ancient world.

Before his talk in the afternoon, Dr. Levine was kind enough to stop by my office to discuss his topic.  We had a lively conversation punctuated by lengthy classical quotes, strange-sounding Greek words, and a few laughs.  It was a thorough education on the ancient tuna, some of whose relatives still exist today, though in ever sparser numbers.  The interview is broken into two parts.

Tuna in the Ancient Greek World

[ensemblevideo contentid=DzQgKEHaU0y6cKjmt3VD8Q captions=true height=150]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Tuna in the Ancient Greek World – Part II

[ensemblevideo contentid=h6HYVDAjhk2-jC7pO8B32g captions=true height=150]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

—Fred Rowland

Lost Tribes of Israel: The Interview

losttribes.jpg

On November 15, Paley Library hosted the 5th Annual Symposium on Race and Judaism. Entitled “Lost Tribes: Ancient and Contemporary Perspectives”, it featured eight speakers who spoke on a range of topics from the ancient context to modern interpretations. The keynote address was delivered by Rabbi Debra Bowen, the leader of Congregation Temple Beth El in North Philadelphia.

Before the symposium, three of the speakers sat down with me for an interview: Lewis Gordon, director of the Institute for Afro-Jewish Studies and philosophy professor at Temple; Mark Leuchter, chair of the Jewish Studies program; and David Koffman, history professor at York University.

Listen to the audio of the interview: Lost Tribes

[ensemblevideo contentid=rTuQukUMcUmrQvejneVPMw captions=true height=90]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series


—Fred Rowland

Delphine Khanna joins Temple University Libraries as Head of Digital Library Initiatives

I am delighted to welcome Delphine Khanna to Temple University Libraries, where she will take on the role of Head of Digital Library Initiatives beginning today, December 1. Delphine will create a Digital Initiatives Department, where she will oversee the digitization of special collections and other library materials in text, image, and video formats. She will also lead the development of digital repository systems to preserve and make accessible the intellectual output of Temple University, and the implementation of discovery tools related to these initiatives.

Delphine comes to us from the University of Pennsylvania, where she served as the Digital Projects Librarian for over ten years. Prior to that, she held several digital librarianship positions at Rutgers University. Delphine earned her MLS from Syracuse University, and her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Linguistics and Computer Science from the University of Paris.

Please join me in welcoming Delphine to Temple University Libraries.

With warm wishes,

Larry P. Alford

Paley Open 24 Hours Starting Monday December 6

Starting Monday morning December 6th, Paley Library will be open 24 hours a day through the end of finals on Saturday December 18th. Paley will close at 5 p.m. on Saturday December 18th. During this time, the circulation/reserve desk in Tuttleman and the reference desk in Paley will close at their regular times, but the building will be open 24/7 for studying and research. Hours for other library locations are available here.

Students can access all articles on course reserve through our e-reserve service in the Diamond catalog by following the links for Reserve / E-Reserve. Books can be checked out using the 2 self-check machines in Paley opposite the reference desk.

— Penelope Myers, Head of Access Services