2010 Library Prize Award Ceremony

Classes are over and finals underway, but you might still be curious about the outcome of the 2010 Library Prize for Undergraduate Research. This year’s winners were honored at an award ceremony that took place one week ago today, May 5 at 4:30 p.m., in Paley Lecture Hall. Faculty who worked with the winners were also present. Drs. Krueger and Collier-Thomas spoke passionately about their students’ winning projects and the experience of helping shepherd such amazing examples of undergraduate research to completion.

The winners also spoke eloquently about the starts and stops, frustrations and triumphs of conducting the research necessary to complete their papers. Prior to the award ceremony the three winning students sat down with their primary faculty sponsors for interviews.

Look for links to the MP3 interview files, PDFs of the winning projects, and pictures of the winners and honorable mentions to appear on our Winners page shortly.

New Trial: Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels

We have trial access to Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels until 7/7/10.  It is the “first-ever scholarly online collection for researchers and students of adult comic books and graphic novels.”  According to the publisher:

Underground and Independent Comics provides a comprehensive view of alternative comics from the 1960s to today, particularly those from North America. There are also some pre-1960s materials included due to their influence on later works and their overall historical significance.

The collection contains scans of both original comics and reprint books.  Wherever possible we have included the original comic books instead of, or in addition to, later reprints.  Since many underground comics were anthologies, we have only included those stories for which we have received permission from the copyright holders.

This first release features approximately 24,000 pages of comics and a small number of The Comics Journal issues. Future releases will introduce additional content and functionality that will allow for more detailed browsing, searching, and content analysis.

At completion Comics will include more than 100,000 pages of materials, including 75,000 pages of primary materials (the comics themselves), and more than 25,000 pages of materials about comics—interviews, commentary, theory, and criticism—from The Comics Journal and other secondary sources.

Your feedback on the trial is appreciated!

An Interview with author Sharon White

sharon white.jpgInterview with Sharon White

On Thursday, March 25, 2010, author and professor Sharon White visited the Paley Library Book Club to discuss her most recent book, Vanished Gardens: Finding Nature in Philadelphia. Sharon White is the recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship for Creative Nonfiction and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Sharon spoke to the Book Club about her own experiences and explorations of public gardens in Philadelphia. She also discussed her research of the little-known history of urban agriculture that is as old as the city itself. After the book club talk, Sharon sat down with librarian Adam Shambaugh to chat about Vanished Gardens, her earlier works, life in Philadelphia, and writing as a healing process. Please have a listen.

 

Adam Shambaugh

Refworks 2.0 beta available

When you log into Refworks, you now have the option to try out the Refworks 2.0 beta version. Just click on the link in the upper right corner for “Refworks 2.0.” When using Refworks 2.0, you will have access to all the citations in your Refworks database. From Refworks 2.0, you can switch back to the traditional interface by clicking “Refworks Classic” in the upper right corner. Make sure you save any new work before switching between the two interfaces.

Refworks 2.0 preview RW2.jpg —Fred Rowland

New: MadCad.com Codes & Standards

We now have online access (one user at a time) to selected codes/standards via MadCad.com.

Currently available:

  • International Building Code 2009
  • International Energy Conservation Code 2009
  • International Mechanical Code 2009
  • International Plumbing Code 2009
  • NFPA 13: Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems
  • NFPA 70: National Electrical Code
  • NFPA 101: Life Safety Code
  • ASHRAE Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings

Talking About Starbucks

Bryant Simon

Bryant Simon

Temple history professor Bryant Simon is the author of Everything But the Coffee: Learning About America From Starbucks, published by University of California Press in 2009. It describes how the Starbucks phenomenon reflects many of the social and cultural trends in American society and business. On March 24, 2010, he stopped by Paley Library to talk to me about his new book. He discussed the history of the company, the research methods he employed, the coffeehouse tradition, the shrinking of public spaces in America, and how we might renew our civic culture.

Listen to the audio of the interview

[ensemblevideo contentid=SJ8M9IHa2Uu06K2YLqbBDA audio=true]

 iTUnes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

 

—Fred Rowland

Trial: Oxford Bibliographies Online

We have trial access to Oxford Bibliographies Online (OBO) until 5/29/10.  According to Oxford, OBO is

an entirely new research tool for the social sciences and humanities. A scholar-curated library of discipline-based subject modules, OBO is designed to help busy researchers find reliable sources of information in half the time by directing them to exactly the right chapter, book, website, archive, or data set they need for their research. Each entry is a selective guided tour through the key literature on a topic, receives multiple peer-reviews as well as Editorial Board approval, and is designed to facilitate a research experience with no dead ends.

Subject modules currently available are Classics, Criminology, Islamic Studies, and Social Work.  Your feedback is welcomed.

Improvements Coming to the Urban Archives Reading Room–Renovations May 3 through July 2

The Urban Archives Reading Room is undergoing improvements that require extensive renovations, scheduled to take place between May 3 and July 2. During that time, some services may be limited. Full services at the Archives will resume on Tuesday, July 6. We encourage you to contact the Archives ahead of time, at 215-204-8257 or urban@temple.edu, for the best possible research assistance. Ongoing updates about these improvements will be posted at http://library.temple.edu and http://library.temple.edu/collections/urbana, so check back for additional information.

ARTstor Update 4/29/10

ARTstor has announced the following:

Now available: Foundation for Landscape Studies
ARTstor has collaborated with the Foundation for Landscape Studies to share approximately 5,000 contemporary photographs and historical illustrations of gardens and landscapes from around the world in the Digital Library.

Now available: European popular imagery from the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
ARTstor has collaborated with the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin to share approximately 800 images of European prints documenting popular culture in the Digital Library.

Now available: Beyond the Taj: Architectural Traditions and Landscape Experience in South Asia (Cornell University Library)
ARTstor has collaborated with Cornell University Library to make available more than 6,600 photographs of South Asian architecture from the Beyond the Taj collection.