Paley Open 24/7 Through Finals

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To provide Temple students with an around-the-clock study environment and all hours access to our collections, the Paley Library will be open 24 hours a day starting 8 am on Monday, December 8 and will remain open 24/7 until 5 pm on Saturday, December 20. The staff of the Paley Library is available to provide assistance with any last minute research needs, help finding hard-to-locate information, or whatever our students need to complete their assignments successfully. As always, when in the Library please watch your personal belongings at all times. Avoid leaving cell phones, electronic devices and book bags unattended.

Please also be aware that the Paley Library will be closed starting Wednesday, December 24 and will not re-open until Monday, January 5, 2009. Normally the Library would be open several days during the winter break. However, the University has scheduled a major electrical infrastructure upgrade for the Library that requires all power in the building be shut for at least four days. Though we understand this closure will inconvenience some members of our community, this is clearly the best time to shut down without causing a major inconvenience to a large number of library users. We will be publicizing this closure in a variety of ways.

The Paley Perk Wins A Close Contest

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It came down to the wire and The Paley Perk is the winner of our cafe naming contest. For the last few days of November The Paley Perk and The Study Mug were running neck and neck towards the finish line. But it was ultimately The Paley Perk that took the cup. Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote for their favorite cafe name. Look for more information about the grand opening of the cafe in the spring semester when we officially name it The Paley Perk – and we award the grand prize – an 8 gb iPod Touch to the student who came up with the winning name.

Exploring Race in Contemporary Judaism

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On October 6, 2008, The Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought at Temple University held its Second Annual Symposium on Race and Judaism in the Paley Library Lecture Hall. The program was entitled Exploring Race in Contemporary Judaism: A Symposium on Jewish Diversity [click here for PDF of flyer].

Before the symposium began, Professor Lewis Gordon, director of The Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought, sat down with three of the presenters, Edith Bruder, Avishai Mekonen, and Shari Rothfarb Mekonen to discuss their work. Edith Bruder has written a book entitled The Black Jews of Africa: History, Religion, Identity and her symposium presentation was entitled “African Judaism: Ancient Myths and Modern Phenomena”. Avishai Mekonen and Shari Rothfarb Mekonen screened and discussed their work-in-progress documentary, 400 Miles to Freedom, a “film [which] explores racial and ethnic diversity in Judaism through the story of Avishai Mekonen, whose disappearance in Sudan as a boy launches a quest that leads him to other African, Asian and Latino Jews in Israel and in the U.S.” John L. Jackson, who also presented at the symposium (“The Bodied Politic: Ethnobiology, Anti-Religiosity and the Reckoning of Black Hebrewism”) was not present for this recording (but we hope to record an interview with him at a later date).

[ensemblevideo contentid=mgtrjIiXtk6zj3iKadF-TQ audio=true] (mp3, 22 MB).

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

 

More Computers On 2nd and 3rd Floors

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The staff of the Paley Library are pleased with the positive response of the Temple student body to the renovation of our first floor computing area. In fact, the area has become popular quickly and at peak hours it can be a challenge to find a computer. See the photo below which shows the computer area on a recent afternoon at 3:00 pm.

1stflpcs.JPG

While there are almost double the number of computers in the first floor west computing area compared to prior semesters it still does not always meet the demand. Students should keep in mind that there are still an additional 25 computers by the front window on the east side of the first floor. During the summer we also added 20 computers on the second floor (10 on each side of the building) and 6 on the third floor (all on the west side). See the photo below of some computers on the third floor.

3rdflpcs.JPG So if you can’t find a computer on the first floor computing area, keep in mind we have more computers at other locations in the Paley Library. Do note that all of the library’s computers print to the printers located in the first floor computing area.

Try ILLIAD for your Interlibrary Loan needs

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ILLIAD is our new service for requesting materials not available or not owned at any of our Temple University Libraries. To use ILLIAD you need to register as a first time user, and once you have done that all you need to do to use ILLIAD is to login with your Temple access net account and password. Then you can request articles, book chapters, books not available at Temple or through E-ZBorrow, dissertations, conference proceedings, and anything else you need. Using ILLIAD you can check on the status of your requests, request renewals, and access articles you requested. It also keeps a history of your requests. A video is available to help you if you are using ILLIAD for the first time. Library patrons at the Paley, Law, Ambler, Tyler, SEAL, and Harrisburg Libraries need to use this login. For Kresge and South Libraries use this login. For the Podiatry library use this login. If you have any questions about this service please feel free to contact Penelope Myers at pmyers@temple.edu or 215 204-0749, or Justin Hill at jhill@temple.edu or 215 204-0752.

Thomas Heverin is New Science Librarian/SEAL Instruction Coordinator

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I am delighted to welcome Thomas Heverin to the Temple University Libraries. Thomas started Monday, September 22nd, in the position of Science Librarian/SEAL Instruction Coordinator. Prior to arriving at Temple, Thomas worked at the Carlson Science and Engineering Library at the University of Rochester and the Center for Natural Language Processing at Syracuse University. Additionally, he served several years as an officer in the U.S. Navy. Thomas received a MLIS from Syracuse University and a B.S. in Meteorology from Penn State. He will provide research and instructional services for science, engineering, and architecture students and faculty. Thomas will also serve as the coordinator of SEAL’s instructional program and its integration into the Libraries’ information literacy initiative. Thomas’ subject responsibilities will include mathematical sciences, earth and environmental science and physics. Please join me in welcoming Thomas to Temple Libraries. Sincerely, Larry P. Alford Dean of University Libraries

Voter Info @ Your Library

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Thumbnail image for votebutton.jpgAre you registered to vote? The deadline to register in the State of Pennsylvania is Monday, October 6th! Find out how to register and more at Temple Library’s new Voter’s Information Guide – Election 2008. Easily keep up with information on the candidates, the issues, fact checkers, news feeds, commentary, election history, and political humor. Comment on positions, candidates, and resources. There’s even a guide for first-time voters. All the info that you need to make the right decision on November 4th is in one place, at the touch of your fingertips, @ your library!

Faculty Place High Value On TOC Alerts

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A new report discusses the different ways in which scholars find articles and other materials of interest. “How Readers Navigate to Scholarly Content” is published by Simon Inger and Tracy Gardner for a consortium of scholarly publishers, including the Nature Publishing Group. It examines how scholars start their search for content and how they navigate different search resources. Current articles are extremely important to scholars in helping them keep up with the latest research in their field, and faculty use different strategies to do this. For keeping up with those journals for which they have no personal subscription many faculty rely on Table of Contents (TOC) alerts. Many faculty may not be aware that nearly every major aggregator database and e-journal collection to which the Temple University Libraries subscribe has this feature. It is fairly easy to create a TOC alert for any one of the thousands of journals accessible electronically through the Libraries.

Among the survey questions faculty were asked I found “How often do you follow links to a publisher’s e-journal web site from these starting points” of particular interest. Figure 5 (pg. 18 of 32) shows a number of strategies to get to the e-journal and TOC alerts is far and away the top starting point. tocalert.jpg Temple Universities librarians are well versed on the many different databases and e-journal collections that offer TOC alert services, and can advise faculty on how to efficiently register for and set up the alerts. We encourage our faculty to take advantage of this valuable feature. As the study shows, TOC alerts are not only a great way to access scholarly content, but are also the much preferred way that faculty have discovered as the starting point for their “keeping up” regimen. For more information about getting started with TOC alerts please contact Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services.

New Food/Beverage Policy Well Received

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With the addition of new carpets, new furniture and new computers on the first floor west of the Paley Library, the hope is that it will all stay looking clean and well maintained for the students of today and tomorrow. To facilitate this goal a new food and beverage policy was introduced at the start of the fall semester. The new food policy allow snacks of all types, but foods that are by nature messy or aromatic (think styrofoam containers of chinese food, cheesesteaks or pizza) are no longer permitted in the library. We do make an exception for the new cafe area; the messy and/or aromatic foods are allowed there. Beverages of all types may be consumed as long as they are in a closed container.

foodposter.jpg So far Temple students are cooperatively adhering to the new policy, and we are receiving positive feedback about the changes to the first floor west of the Paley Library. We appreciate that Temple students are supporting our efforts to keep this area clean and a place that everyone on campus will want to use. More information about our new food and beverage policy is available on our website, or you may contact Steven Bell to discuss the new policy.