Tag Archives: New & Updated Electronic Resources

Reference Universe

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Many of the Libraries’ electronic databases index newspapers, magazines, and journal articles. One unique database, Reference Universe, indexes thousands of print reference works such as dictionaries, handbooks, and encyclopedias. The database now also indexes web-based reference works. Why is this important?

Suppose you are assigned a research paper on the impact of religion during the Han Dynasty. Maybe you’ve heard that the Han period represents a “Golden Age” in Chinese history. Beyond that, though, the Han are a mystery. Obtaining background information now becomes critical to both your understanding of the topic as well as your ability to properly research it. That’s where Reference Universe comes in! A quick search of the Reference Universe database for the phrase “Han Dynasty” reveals citations for Temple-owned reference works including the Encyclopedia of Religion and War. Even better, Reference Universe indicates that there are no less than 15 entries in the back-of-the-book index to the Han Dynasty. Examples include “Confucianism, Han Dynasty” on pp. 82-87, and “Legalism and Confucianism–Han Dynasty” on pp. 83, 84, and 106. The next step is simply to walk into Paley Library’s reference stacks and retrieve the encyclopdia in question.

As mentioned above, Reference Universe now goes one step further by both indexing and providing direct links to Temple-owned online reference works from ABC-CLIO, Oxford, and netLibrary, among others. It’s never been so easy to search and retrieve the important background information critical to good research.

–David C. Murray

Exciting New Online Encyclopedias!

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Temple has just purchased electronic access to seven excellent encyclopedias, mainly on religious topics, through The Gale Virtual Reference Library, which is accessible from TUL homepage on the A-Z database list, the eBooks list, and in the Library Catalog. These specialized encyclopedias are great places to start research on unfamiliar topics, providing nice overviews, bibliographies, and linked cross-references. In addition to the great content, The Gale Virtual Reference Library interface is much more user-friendly than those of other e-book vendors, and each encyclopedia can be searched or browsed. Check out the links below! 1) Contemporary American Religion 2 volumes, 1999

2) Encyclopedia of Buddhism 2 volumes, 2004

3) Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World 2 volumes, 2004

4) Encyclopedia of Religion 2nd ed., 15 VOLUMES, 2005

5) Encyclopedia of Science and Religion 2 volumes, 2003

6) New Catholic Encyclopedia 2nd ed., 15 VOLUMES, 2003

7) New Dictionary of the History of Ideas 6 volumes, 2005

Pennsylvania Gazette and African-American Newspapers

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Temple Libraries today acquired the electronic version of the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1800. Published in Philadelphia, the Gazette is often called the New York Times of the 18th Century. For now, researchers should go directly to Accessible.com for access to this full-text resource. Once at the site, click on “Search” to begin. A second major acquisition is African-American Newspapers: The 19th Century, also available from Accessible.com. Representative titles include Freedom’s Journal, the North Star, Provincial Freeman and the Frederick Douglass Papers. –David C. Murray

Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology

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Temple now has online access to the Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, available from the e-books page. The 5 volume print version is available in the Paley Reference Stacks. Here’s what the publisher says about this reference work: “The Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology is the first work to map this ever-changing field. It is the most comprehensive, research-based encyclopedia consisting of contributions from over 900 noted researchers in over 50 countries. This five-volume encyclopedia includes more than 550 articles highlighting current concepts, issues and emerging technologies. These articles are enhanced by special attention that is paid to over 5,000 technical and managerial terms. These terms will each have a 5-50 word description that allow the users of this extensive research source to learn the language and terminology of the field. In addition, these volumes offer a thorough reference section with over 11,500 sources of information that can be accessed by scholars, students, and researchers in the field of information science and technology.” –Fred Rowland

Early American Imprints

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A major new acquisition, Early American Imprints (EAI) Series I and II will be particularly welcome among students of Americana.

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans (1639-1800)

Based on the renowned American Bibliography by Charles Evans. The definitive resource for every aspect of life in 17th- and 18th-century America, from agriculture and auctions through foreign affairs, diplomacy, literature, music, religion, the Revolutionary War, temperance, witchcraft, and just about any other topic imaginable. Upon completion, Evans Digital will consist of more than 36,000 works and 2,400,000 images.

Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1819)

Covering every aspect of American life during the early decades of the United States, this rich primary source collection provides full-text access to the 36,000 American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the first nineteen years of the nineteenth century. Its intuitive interface allows students and scholars to explore the development of the American nation as never before.

To access the database simply click on the appropriate series title above. Alternately, from the Libraries’ Home Page, click on Find Articles > All Research Databases > NewsBank Fulltext Pennsylvania Newspapers. From there, click on Series I or II as desired. EAI will soon have its own link on the “All Research Databases” page. If accessing Early American Imprints from off-campus, log into the Libraries’ Home Page via TUPortal.

–David C. Murray

Twentieth Century North American Drama expands coverage

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The Twentieth Century North American Drama database from Alexander Street Press has just announced that it is expanding its full-text coverage from 1500 to 2000 plays. This new content will be released in September 2005. The increase comes from 250 plays by new playwrights like Adam Rapp, David Lindsay Abaire, Naomi Wallace, Paul Rudnick, and Mac Wellman, all of whom are contemporary rising stars. These plays are unpublished and under copyright so you’re unlikely to find them elsewhere. Another 250 plays come from the early works of major playwrights, including some plays that were written in the late nineteenth century. These additional works come from Eugene O’Neill, David Belasco, Langdon Mitchell, Clyde Fitch, William Gillette, Augustus Thomas, William Vaughn Moody, William Dean Howells, and a few others. As you peruse this electronic collection of plays, make sure to look at the Multi-field Search because it provides fantastic fine-grained indexing, allowing the user to search by the age of the author at the time of publication, gender, race, nationality, genre, literary period, settings, performers, and composers, among others. Other Alexander Street full-text databases available at Temple (see All Research Databases) include:

  • The American Civil War: Letters and Diaries
  • American Film Strips Online
  • Black Drama 1850 to Present
  • Black Thought and Culture
  • Early Encounters in North America
  • Latino Literature
  • North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories
  • North American Women’s Letters and Diaries
  • Oral History Online

–Fred Rowland

JSTOR gets even better

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Temple Libraries recently acquired access to JSTOR’s Arts & Sciences IV Collection. When complete, this multidisciplinary collection will provide access to over 100 new, full-text journal titles. Many titles are already available. JSTOR is the premier scholarly journal database. To access JSTOR’s main search interface, click here. –David Murray

Vanderbilt TV News Archive now available

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The Libraries have just subscribed to TV NewsSearch, the database of The Vanderbilt University Television News Archive. Through this subscription, Temple users have access to over 705,000 records describing the news content of the Archive’s extensive collection. In addition, you can access online video from the Archive’s collection of CNN material. In order to view the video, you will need to download the free RealOne media player from Real Networks. The Archive’s entire collection holds more than 30,000 individual network evening news broadcasts from the major U.S. national broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC (since 1968), and CNN (since 1995). It also includes more than 9,000 hours of special news-related programming including ABC’s Nightline since 1989, presidential press conferences and political campaign coverage, and significant national and international events.

Web of Science access now available back to 1974

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Our Web of Science coverage has been expanded! With the use of one-time funds, the library has just purchased 15 more years of access to this premier database. Indexing is now available from 1974 to the present. The Web of Science database covers over 8700 scholarly peer-reviewed journals from three major indexes: Science Citation Index covers 5900 journals Social Sciences Citation Index covers 1725 journals Arts & Humanities Citation Index covers 1144 journals It also provides access to current and retrospective bibliographical information, abstracts, our online catalog, and cited references in all the above subject areas. You may search by author, keywords, journal title, and institutional affiliation. Researchers may also track a known relevant author or paper and find more recent papers that cite it, thus discovering who is doing current research on the topic of the older article. Expanded search options include the ability to: locate all cited authors (not just first authors), track times cited information, and follow hot links to cited references. Entries are linked to the library’s holdings in our online catalog, Diamond. The index is updated weekly. Note: This database is licensed for 10 concurrent users, so please hit the “Logout” button when finished to free up access for other Temple colleagues.

Amazing New Biographical Resource

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Have you ever been confused by titles of nobility in British history? Who was The Earl of Gloucester, or The Duke of Lancaster, or Lord Buckingham? What were their real names and what role did they play in the rough and tumble events of British history? Just how many Earls of Gloucester were there anyway and which centuries did they live in?

You can discover this and much, much more in print or online in the recently available 2004 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The 60 print volumes are available in the Paley Reference Stacks (1st Floor: DA28 .O95 2004). The online version is available from the library’s alphabetical list of databases for a one year trial period. More commonly known as the Dictionary of National Biography, or DNB, this amazing resource contains over 50,000 biographies and 10,000 images of important British men and women from the 4th century C.E. through 2001, living persons excluded. The online version includes additional functionality for researchers, like the ability to search the references and images of each entry, or the ability to search by gender, profession, and religion. Looking for the Hogarth portrait of 18th century patron of the arts Mary Edwards? Wondering if there is any information on 19th century Quaker women scientists? Trying to identify a few good sources for the study of botany in Elizabethan England? The answers to these questions and more are only a few clicks away.

Remember, the online version of this amazing resource is available for a one year trial period, so if you like what you find, please be sure to tell your local Temple librarian. Faculty and student input is taken very seriously.