Apply for George D. McDowell Fellowship

The Urban Archives at Temple University Libraries invite applications for the 2007 George D. McDowell Fellowship. The McDowell Fellowship provides support for two fellowships not to exceed three weeks of research and study in the Urban Archives.

The Fellowship was established in memory of George D. McDowell, the last librarian at the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin newspaper. The Bulletin was founded in 1847 and the final issue was printed January 29, 1982. Shortly after the paper closed, Temple University acquired its entire clipping and photograph libraries. The clippings are an incomparable resource for research on the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They date back to the 1890s but the bulk of the clipping collection covers the period 1920-1981. Most importantly, the clipping collection is indexed by name or broad subject categories. The photographs date back to the early 20th century, with the bulk of the images covering 1940-1981. The photographs are also indexed by name and subject.

The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Collection is the major resource in the Urban Archives and is complemented by more than 250 manuscript collections, which altogether provides one of the most comprehensive resources documenting the social, economic, and political development of an urban area.

Purpose of the Fellowship

The purpose of the Fellowship is to provide an opportunity for scholars to do research using the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Collection and produce a scholarly work.

Who can apply

Undergraduate and graduate students, independent scholars, educators, writers, film makers and anyone interested in the history of Philadelphia are invited to apply. Current employees of Temple University are ineligible.

Download an application (Word Document)

Deadline

Application Deadline: February 15, 2007
Review and Selection: by March 15, 2007

Inquiries to: Urban Archives, Temple University Libraries, 1210 W. Berks Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122; email: urban@library.temple.edu ; voice: 215-204-5750; fax: 215-204-3681

— Margaret Jerrido, Head of Urban Archives

Study Day Coffee Breaks in Paley, Dec. 7 and 8

Free coffee and snacks will be available on the main floor of Paley Library on Thursday and Friday evenings, December 7 and 8. Sponsored by the Academic Affairs Committee of Temple Student Government and by the Temple Libraries, the event will begin at 7:00 p.m. and last until the coffee and goodies run out. Good luck on your finals! — Brenna Wilson, chair of TSG’s Academic Affairs Committee — Carol Lang, Assistant University Librarian

ARTstor’s Dunhuang Archive

The term “Silk Road” was coined in the nineteenth century by German geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen to describe the informal network of roads that connected China to Central and South Asia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. Along its corridors between 200 BCE and 1500 CE flowed trade goods, technology, and weapons, as well as social, cultural and religious ideas. Religions like Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoastrianism, Manicheanism, Judaism, Islam, and Nestorian Christianity all traveled the Silk Road at different times and different places. Buddhism followed this route to China from India and Central Asia.

The Chinese city of Dunhuang was strategically located along the Silk Road on the western frontier of China at the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. It became an important place to stop, rest, pick up provisions, and trade. Between the fourth and fourteenth centuries, thousands of Buddhist cave sanctuaries were carved from the sandstone hills about 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang. These caves served the religious and secular purposes of a vibrant Buddhist community. Fortunately hundreds of caves survived intact to the present. Artifacts from the caves include murals, sculptures, paintings, manuscripts, and textiles. After removal of many artifacts to Western countries in the early twentieth century, the Chinese government set up the Dunhuang Research Academy to oversee the study and preservation of the Dunhuang caves.

ARTstor provides thousands of high resolution images of the Dunhuang caves and their contents through its Mellon International Dunhuang Archive collection. MIDA “is the product of a major and ongoing multi-institutional, multi-national effort to create high-quality digital reconstructions of the mural paintings and related art and texts associated with the several hundred Buddhist cave shrines in Dunhuang, China”. Images come from the caves themselves, from artifacts found in collections worldwide, and from the Lo Archive at Princeton University.

Each image comes with a complete description that allows for easy access. You can browse the Dunhuang Archive by Object Type, Cave Number, or Contributor. The Advanced Search lets you perform complex keyword searches while limiting your search by Collection and Object Classification. I’ve created a few Image Groups below to give you a small taste of what’s in this collection. You will have to disable your popup blockers to view the images.

Image Groups
Dunhuang Buddha paintings

Dunhuang Bodhisattva, Buddha sculptures
More Dunhuang Bodhisattva, Buddha sculptures

Other Links
Historic Maps of China (click on the timeline to see the borders of China during each dynasty)
Buddhist Art in China
Buddhist Art in Central Asia
Buddhist Art in India
Silk Road (saved search from Oxford Reference Online)

 

—Fred Rowland

Steven Bell Appointed Associate University Librarian

bellinqphoto_sm.jpgWe are delighted to announce that Steven J. Bell has accepted the position of Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services, concluding a national search we began last spring. He will join the library on Friday, December 22, 2006.

Steven currently is the director of the Gutman Library at Philadelphia University as well as a noted author, speaker, and leader in the library profession. He has written more than thirty articles and was profiled in the Library Journal Movers and Shakers of Librarianship series in 2002. Among his responsibilities, Steven will oversee reference and instructional services, access services, the suburban libraries, the Science, Engineering and Architecture Library, and a media services department. He also will participate in the conception, design, and implementation of improved library services. In partnership with faculty, the head of Paley Library reference, and other librarians, he will develop instructional programs to ensure that students graduate with the information skills needed for success in today’s world.

Steven holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Temple, so it is a pleasure to welcome him back home. He also holds a Masters in Library Science from Drexel University and a Doctorate of Education from the University of Pennsylvania.

— Larry P. Alford, Vice Provost for Libraries and Unversity Librarian

Temple Times article, December 7, 2006

48 Online Reference Works

The library has just added 48 new titles to our collection of online reference works through Gale Virtual Reference Library. These full-text works are fully searchable and browsable. Each individual work is internally cross-indexed.

The titles cover a wide-range of topics from the arts to history, education, and science, and they are a valuable source for topic overviews and information when starting the research process.

The new titles are:

African American Almanac, 9th ed.
African-American Years: Chronologies of American History and Experience
American History Through Literature 1870-1920
CDs, Super Glue, and Salsa: How Everyday Products Are Made
Dictionary of American History
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed.
Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
Encyclopedia of American Industries, 4th ed.
Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice
Encyclopedia of Education
Encyclopedia of European Social History
Encyclopedia of India
Encyclopedia of Irish History and Culture
Encyclopedia of Modern Asia
Encyclopedia of Population
Encyclopedia of Recreation and Leisure in America
Encyclopedia of Russian History
Encyclopedia of the American Constitution
Encyclopedia of the Great Depression
Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa
Encyclopedia of World Cultures
Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement
Europe, 1450 to 1789: An Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, 2nd ed.
Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained
Governments of the World: A Global Guide to Citizens’ Rights and Responsibilities
Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia
History of the American Cinema, Volume 1
History of the American Cinema, Volume 2
History of the American Cinema, Volume 3
History of the American Cinema, Volume 4
History of the American Cinema, Volume 5
History of the American Cinema, Volume 6
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy
Major 21st-Century Writers
Major Acts of Congress
Nutrition and Well-Being A to Z
Reference Guide to Short Fiction, 2nd ed.
Reference Guide to World Literature
Science and Its Times
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture
Tobacco in History and Culture: An Encyclopedia
Water: Science and Issues
West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, 2nd ed.
World Education Encyclopedia
World Press Encyclopedia
Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations

Derik A Badman

iPOLL: Polling Database

TU Libraries is pleased to announce the addition of iPOLL Databank from The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research to its collection of databases.

A fabulous resource for the public opinion/public policy scholar, iPOLL is a dynamic, full-text database of 500,000 questions from national public opinion surveys from as far back as 1935, covering a wide array of social and political topics as well as economic issues, including the environment, presidential elections, Social Security, and immigration.

Survey sources include major U.S. survey research organizations: the Gallup Organization, The Roper Organization, Louis Harris and Associates, the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, and more.

Keyword, subject, organization, and date indexes are provided, allowing users to sift through questions easily. Each item includes the complete question text and the percentage of the public giving the response, in addition to study level information, such as the name of the organization(s) who conducted the poll, the dates when the poll was conducted, the polling method used, and a description of the polling sample.

Because the database focuses solely on surveys that have U.S. national adult samples – and not state or foreign samples – iPOLL complements well with the Libraries’ subscription to Polling the Nations, an online database of national, international, state, local and special survey information.

Access to iPOLL requires free registration.

Please feel free to contact me for further information about the resource.

Kristina De Voe

New History Database Trials

The Libraries are currently running trials to four history-related databases: British Periodicals; C19: The Nineteenth Century Index; House of Commons Parliamentary Papers; and Periodical Archives Online. I have received lots of positive feedback from faculty on the latter two databases, both of which appear prominently on the history resources “wish list” for 2006-2007. Periodical Archives Online is the full-text, online version of the old Periodicals Contents Index. It would be very helpful to receive feedback on C19: The Nineteenth Century. Can this database take the place of the currently-subscribed-to 19th Century Masterfile? For good or ill, The Masterfile has a relatively simple search interface. Please send your feedback on the usefulness of any of these resources to me at dcm@temple.edu. —David C. Murray

Religion in the news

Over the past year many of the popular weekly news magazines, like Newsweek, Time, and US News and World Report, have featured cover stories on religious themes, most involving religion in the public sphere. Below are links to a number of these cover stories, accessed through the database Academic Search Premier.


WHERE WE STAND ON FAITH.
 (Cover story)
Newsweek

Religious Protection. (Cover story)
New Republic

In Search of The Spiritual. (Cover story)
Newsweek

A New Welcoming Spirit in the Mosque. (Cover story)
Newsweek

DOES GOD WANT YOU TO BE RICH? (Cover story)
Time

God vs. Science. (Cover Story)
Time

A Passionate Voice And a Moral Vision. (Cover story)
Newsweek

A New Social Gospel. (Cover story)
Newsweek

The Case Against Faith.
 (Cover story)
Newsweek

A Shepherd Protects His Own Backyard. (Cover story)
Newsweek

Debating ‘Da Vinci’ (Cover story)
U.S.News & World Report

The Kingdom of Christ. (Cover story)
U.S.News & World Report

THE WAYS OF OPUS DEI. (Cover story)
Time

—Fred Rowland

Guest Speaker on the Middle East

Hassan El Menyawi will speak on Monday, November 27, at 2pm in the Women’s Studies Lounge on the 8th Floor of Anderson. Menyawi is currently Assistant Professor at the United Nations University for Peace, teaching courses on international law and human rights. Toward Global Democracy is an article by Manyawi published in the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies. —Fred Rowland

Learn About the Center for Research Libraries

Temple Libraries recently joined the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), an important consortium of North American universities, colleges, and independent research institutions based in Chicago. Affiliates of CRL member institutions can borrow expensive, rare, and/or otherwise hard-to-find research material, in some cases for up to two calendar years. Imagine access to that formerly unobtainable resource without having to travel halfway across the country! Please join me in the History Department’s “fish bowl” — Gladfelter 913 — for one of two informal sessions designed to introduce faculty and graduate students to CRL. We will discuss the benefits of CRL membership, and will proceed through a search / request from start to finish. The sessions will be held from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m. on November 9 and 10. If you cannot attend either session but would like an introduction to CRL, please contact me. —David C. Murray