Digital Beethoven

Posted on March 15, 2007 by Anne Harlow

The Beethoven-House in Bonn has recently added to its Digital Archives the sketchbooks of Ludwig van Beethoven. The Archives include digitized first-edition scores, manuscripts, letters, and now sketchbooks. The sketchbooks are particularly important for scholars to understand Beethoven’s creative process. Beethoven had two types of sketchbooks. At his home, he jotted down ideas in large hardbound volumes. But, when he was not at home, he carried smaller, soft-bound books to capture ideas as he was on his way. After his death, many of the sketchbooks were taken apart and pages sold separately. Now, cooperation between many libraries has made possible and accessible a nearly complete collection of all of Beethoven’s extant sketchbooks, not only those kept at the Beethoven-House. Detailed explanations in English of each page of the pieces involved, watermarks, and history of the particular sketchbook enhance this already rich and interesting resource.

At the Beethoven-House Digital Archive, one can search for a specific piece of music and find a digitized first edition, perhaps a manuscript, as well as relevent letters and sketches. Letters are linked with sound files of audio versions. Some sound files of musical examples are also included.

Exploring the Digital Archive of the Beethoven-House is truly exciting, made even moreso by the addition of Beethoven’s sketchbooks.

Bravo Beethoven-House!

Beethoven Resources at Temple Libraries

Paley Library has a strong collection of books about Beethoven as well as scoresby him. To listen to music by Beethoven, go to Classical Music Library, a streaming audio service, access provided by Temple University Libraries.

–Anne Harlow

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online

Posted on March 15, 2007 by Fred Rowland

Hello All, Great news: we now have the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online! It’s available from the All Databases list. REP has both superb content and an equally superb interface. There is also supplemental content online that is not in the print volumes. To give just one example of the excellent documentation in this reference source, the bibliographies of major philosophers give the authoritative editions of the authors’ works, both in the original language and in English translation. Coverage of this encyclopedia is very broad and skips over many disciplinary boundaries. To provide just a few examples, there are articles on Augustine, Martin Luther, Maimonides, Ibn Sina, and Confucius that would be of interest to students of religion. There are articles on ethics, business ethics, and journalistic ethics. If your interest is literature there are articles on katharsis, mimesis, poetry, tragedy, and literature and philosophy. For social scientists, there are articles on the history of the philosophy of the social sciences, the philosophy of the social sciences, and on prediction in the social sciences. For historians, there are articles on the philosophy of history and on Chinese theories of the philosophy of history. Key Features (from REP web site)

2,000 original entries from a team of over 1,300 of the world’s most respected scholars and philosophers
Covers an unparalleled breadth of subject matter, including Anglo-American, ethical and political, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, continental and contemporary philosophy
Over 25,000 hot-linked cross-references between articles and new links to other editorially reviewed websites
An invaluable resource for all levels of users – students and general readers gain a rapid orientation with accessible summaries at the beginning of every in-depth article
Regularly upgraded with new material, revisions, and bibliographic updates, REP provides access to the latest scholarship and major developments in philosophical inquiry worldwide

Also, don’t forget about philosophy encyclopedias on Gale Virtual Reference Library: Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and the New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. —Fred Rowland

Shopping List for the Hungry Mind 2

Posted on March 14, 2007 by Steven Bell

READING: A Prayer for the City: The True Story of a Mayor and Five Heroes in a Race Against Time by Buzz Bissinger. The inside-look at then Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell as he combats budget gaps, unions, and fickle constituents during his first term in office. A story for the city of Philadelphia, especially as it approaches a mayoral election in the Fall.

WATCHING: Igby Goes Down (2002) directed by Burr Steers: In the vein of The Catcher in the Rye, this coming of age satire follows Igby as he stumbles down the paths of self-discovery and self-destruction amid his dysfunctional family upbringing.

LISTENING: Cake’s “Pressure Chief”. Catchy lyrics with a quiet, tongue-in-cheeck kind of humor mixed with multiple musical genres make this Indie band always a delight.

–Kristina Devoe

—

READING: Dostoevsky, Fyodor: Notes from Underground, The Double and Other Stories: Existential Fiction at its dreariest. Dostoevsky is a master in this genre as well as a master writer in general. He portrays the mannerisms of polite society so well and really knows how to set a scene. These stories are not as involved or active as some of his other works (like The Brothers Karamazov) but they are great for their own reasons.

WATCHING: The X Files, all seasons: This show is the precursor to the types of crime dramas you see all over television now. Before The X Files television shows never bothered to include even portions of the science behind crime and detective work. Now, it’s included in every show. Even though it had a relatively low special effects budget, and took place in the early 90’s, The X Files still does a better job of telling a story and not being too dumb for normal audiences.

LISTENING: Phish and Dave Matthews Band: I happen to read an article in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History about the so-called “Jam Band” phenomena, and it mentioned both of these bands. I’ve always been a fan of both groups but never considered some of the possible philosophical motivations. I have been listening to both, especially the live recordings, and noting the spirit of the improvisations that they embark on while performing. I could listen to these two bands all day and never get tired.

–Nik Barkauskas

—

READING: Jacques the Fatalist and His Master by Denis Diderot (1796) (a translation in English) (the original in French): Inspired by Sterne’s Tristam Shandy, philosopher Diderot wrote this funny novel about a master and his servant who believes in determinism. The real joy here is the author’s experimental approach to narrative, which prefigures the metafictional work of authors from the 20th century. First lines: “How had they met? By chance, like everyone. What were their names? What’s it matter to you? Where were they coming from? From the closest place. Where were they going? Does anyone know where they’re going? What did they say? The master said nothing, and Jacques said that his captain said that all that happens, good or bad, is written on high.”

WATCHING: Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi, Sundays at 10pm or download at iTunes): Barring names, this television series bears almost no relation to its campy 70s precursor. The creators have taken up the long tradition of social commentary in science fiction (usually absent from sci-fi television) and shaped an episodic narrative that is not only dramatically riveting but places contemporary ethical, social, and political issues onto a futuristic setting. From presidential elections to terrorism, collaboration, and torturing enemies, Battlestar Galactica is one of the bravest shows on television for allowing us to step back and look at these issues anew. The best show on television, period.

LISTENING: Freedom’s Road by John Mellencamp (2007): Probably best known for his small town pop hit “Jack and Diane”, Mellencamp has been putting out albums for years that blend rock, country, pop, and folk influences into a oeuvre that is often inconsistent but riddled with great songs. His latest album continues his tendency to political commentary with songs that are clearly directed at our current political climate. “Our Country”, which I’m sure you’ve heard on commercials for trucks, taken without its commercial baggage is a great Woody Guthrie-esque tune that harkens back to “This Land is Your Land”. “Freedom’s Road” addresses the glories and dangers of freedom.

–Derik Badman

Field Guide to GenBank and NCBI

Posted on March 14, 2007 by

Temple University Libraries and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) present A Field Guide to GenBank and NCBI Molecular Biology Resources, a lecture and hands-on computer workshop on GenBank and related databases covering effective use of the Entrez databases and search service, the BLAST similarity search engine, genome data and related resources. Detailed information available here. Lecture When: Thursday March 15, 2007, 9 a.m. to Noon Where: Kiva Auditorium, Ritter Hall Annex, Main Campus (map) Hands-on Computer Workshop When: Thursday March 15, 2007 @ 1:30-3:30 p.m. (Full*) or 3:45-5:45 p.m. (Full*) Where: Paley Library Classroom, Main Campus (map) *If you would like to be put on a waiting list for either workshop on Mar. 15, please contact Katherine Szigeti. Register for the lecture (and also for the tentative March 16 workshop). The training is free and open to the Temple community. Please contact Katherine Szigeti or at 215.204.4725 with any questions.

Digital Mozart

Posted on March 13, 2007 by Anne Harlow

The Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum in Salzburg together with the Packard Humanities Institute, in celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the birth ofWolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), have made the entire Neue Mozart Ausgabe, both scores and Kritische Berichte freely available on the web. Now, students, scholars, and the public have access to scholarly digitized scores of Mozart’s entire oeuvre for personal study or educational use. The printed version of these scholarly scores has been an ongoing effort of Bärenreiter Verlag since 1955. The works of Mozart arguably constitute some of the most beautiful, profound, and moving utterances of mankind. Would our world be more peaceful if more people listened to Mozart? I believe so! Enjoy!

Further Mozartiana

Temple University Libraries has quite a number of books about Mozart, and well over 1,000 music scores of his works.
To listen to sound recordings of Mozart’s music go to Classical.com, online access provided by Temple University Libraries.

–Anne Harlow

Get Organized Online!

Posted on March 9, 2007 by

March 13th, 14th, and 15th at 1pm Tech Center – Green Room 205A Forgot about a paper that’s due? Forget to pay your phone bill or to call back that cute classmate? In this session a Temple University Librarian will demonstrate online applications that help you organize “to do” lists, events, and documents. Get text message or IM reminders! Access your calendar from any computer, anywhere! Questions? Contact Derik Badman.

Cambridge Collections Online

Posted on March 7, 2007 by Fred Rowland

I am very pleased to announce that Cambridge Collections Online (CCO) is available. Featuring the highly regarded Cambridge Companions, CCO is currently comprised of 144 Cambridge Companions to Literature and Classics and 93 Cambridge Companions to Philosophy, Religion, and Culture, with new volumes added each year. The material covers authors, like Augustine, Maimonides, and Hemingway, and topics, like American Modernism, Crime Fiction, and Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge Companions have become essential to faculty and students who want good general introductions and overviews of subjects in the humanities.

Each volume features contributions from major scholars in their respective fields. Take the Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law as an example. Of the twenty authors who contributed chapters, seventeen had at least one book in Temple’s library catalog from a major university press (and in most cases several). CCO will prove useful to undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. Faculty will use it to study areas outside their specialties, to help prepare for lectures, and to assign to students as course material. Graduate students will use it to write papers and to prepare for preliminary exams (Temple offers masters and PhD degrees in English, Philosophy, and Religion, to name just a few of the relevant degrees). Finally, undergraduates will use it to write papers and to study for tests.

CCO is available from the All Databases list on the library homepage. Check it out today!

—Fred Rowland

More History Database Trials

Posted on March 7, 2007 by Gerald Doyle

The Libraries are currently running additional history-related database trials. From Gale we have temporary access to:

–19th Century U.S. Newspapers
–Conditions and Politics in Occupied Western Europe, 1940-1945
–Making of the Modern World
–Sabin Americana, 1500-1926
–Testaments to the Holocaust
–U.S. Supreme Court Records & Briefs, 1832-1978
–Women, War & Society, 1914-1918

Also of interest are Blackwell’s Compass journals, specifically History Compass. Please provide feedback directly to me on the upsides (and downsides, if any) of these resources.

–David C. Murray

Paley Library Hours During Spring Break

Posted on March 5, 2007 by pmyers

Paley Library is open every day during spring break. These are our hours:

Saturday March 3 9 am – 5 pm
Sunday March 4 Noon – 4 pm
Monday March 5 – Friday March 9 8 am – 7 pm
Saturday March 10 9 am – 7 pm
Sunday March 11 Noon – 2 am

For information on hours for all Temple libraries go tohttp://library.temple.edu/about/hours/index.jsp?bhcp=1

If you have any questions please call 215 204-0744.

Help With Newspaper Research

Posted on March 5, 2007 by Gerald Doyle

Newspaper research can be difficult. The goal of our new Newspapers subject guide is to make the process a little easier by answering such questions as:

Why can’t I get newspaper articles from last month on Google News?
Why can’t I access _____ [insert newspaper title] online for 1950?
How do I access a list of Pennsylvania newspapers?
Where can I find historical newspapers?
How do I get access to newspapers Temple does not own?

Temple researchers can of course also use the guide to easily and quickly read thousands of online newspaper articles. Never pay for a New York Times or Wall Street Journal article again!

A librarian is always available for research help and follow-up.