Tag Archives: Top News

Using LexisNexis Congressional

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I was recently reading this article, Wealthy Reap Rewards While Those Who Work Lose, and came upon this paragraph: “‘The nation’s jobs crisis is so catastrophic that, unless Congress acts on the scale of the New Deal, millions of Americans will experience extremely long periods of unemployment for many years ahead,’ Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, told a panel of the Committee on Ways and Means recently.” I wanted to read exactly what Lawrence Mishel said in his testimony before the Committee. This provided a perfect opportunity to use LexisNexis Congressional, which indexes (and often provides full-text to) committee transcripts and hearings. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Go into LexisNexis Congressional and click on the Advanced Search tab
  2. Make sure just the Hearings box is checked
  3. From the search dropdown box, select Witness
  4. In the search field type: Mishel, Lawrence
  5. Click Search And, Voila! You’ll get this citation: [Job Creation], CIS-NO: Not Yet Assigned, SOURCE: Committee on Appropriations. Senate, DOC-TYPE: Hearing , DATE: Jan. 21, 2010., CIS/Index

From there, it’s easy to find your way to the full-text. Watch this SCREENCAST to see how it’s done.

Researching Oil Spills

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Those interested in looking beyond today’s headlines and delving deeper into the hot topic of oil spills and restoration and recovery from spills, both in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere, should check out a recently released bibliography prepared by staff at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Resources on Oil Spills, Response and Restoration: a Selected Bibliography is over 200 pages in length and includes hundreds of active links to online studies, maps, and websites, as well as citations to hundreds of printed studies.

Some of the print studies will be available at Temple (search Diamond the online catalog for these) while others can be requested through interlibrary loan (search Worldcat). This well produced bibliography is just one example of the incredible wealth of carefully vetted scientific, technical, and statistical information produced by the U.S. government which we receive as a federal depository library.

Jonathan LeBreton, Senior Associate university Librarian: jonathan@temple.edu

ALERT – Library Computers Undergoing Summer Maintenance

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During the summer months when traffic is slower in the Paley Library, our Library Systems Department has an opportunity to perform routine maintenance on our many computers so that they perform well throughout the academic year.

Beginning Tuesday, July 29 computers will start becoming unavailable so that we can work on them. Only specific groups of computers in different areas of the Library will be affected at any time, so that while there will be less computers available, there should be sufficient computers to meet your needs.

In August the computers at SEAL and Ambler will be maintained. The administration of the Temple University Libraries apologizes in advance for any inconvenience this may cause to the University community, but we hope you will appreciate our desire to keep our computers in the best possible condition for your benefit. Thank you. Here is the maintenance schedule:

June 29 – July 2, 2010: Computers in the Paley Information Commons will be reimaged. All 76 computers will be unavailable while the reimaging is in process.

July 6-7, 2010: Computers on the east side of Paley near the windows will be reimaged. All 26 computers will be unavailable while the reimaging is in process.

July 12-16, 2010: Computers on the 2nd & 3rd floors of Paley will be reimaged.

August 17-19, 2010: Public computers in SEAL will be reimaged with the Fall 2010 image.

August 23-25, 2010: Public computers at Ambler will be reimaged with Fall 2010 image.

Interviews: Library Prize Winners 2010

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Interviews with the winners of the 2010 Library Prize for Undergraduate Research are now available.

bermudez.jpgDonald Bermudez speaking at the Library Prize Awards Ceremony, May 5, 2010

Donald Bermudez – author of Keystone of the Keystone: The Falls of the Delaware and Bucks County 1609-1692 (History 4997) – and faculty sponsor Rita Krueger are interviewed by Adam Shambaugh

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iTunes U link (for downloads)

 

hussey.jpgBrian Hussey speaking at the Library Prize Awards Ceremony, May 5, 2010

Brian Hussey – author of Setting the Agenda: The Effects of Administration Debates and the President’s Personal Imperatives on Forming Foreign Policy During the Reagan Administration (History 4997) – and faculty sponsor Rita Krueger are interviewed by Fred Rowland

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iTunes U link (for downloads)

 

young.jpgCharise Young speaking at the Library Prize Awards Ceremony, May 5, 2010

Charise Young – author of African American Women’s Basketball in the 1920s and 1930s: Active Participants in the “New Negro” Movement (History 4296) – and faculty sponsor Bettye Collier-Thomas are interviewed by Fred Rowland

[ensemblevideo contentid=M9mF0Y9-Yk6dL-q5aQH5TQ audio=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

For more information on this year’s winners and honorable mentions, go to the Winners page.

An Interview with author Sharon White

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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

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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

Talking About Starbucks

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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

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 iTUnes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

 

—Fred Rowland

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

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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.

Discussion with Temple Classicists

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tompkins.jpg robin.jpg roy.jpg

On March 18, 2010 I had the opportunity to speak with Classics professors Dan Tompkins, Robin Mitchell-Boyask, and Sydnor Roy. I wanted to understand how Classics research–and humanities research more generally–had changed in the course of the past few decades in the wake of broad transformations in academia, technology, and society.

Dan Tompkins received his PhD from Yale University in 1968 with a dissertation entitled Stylistic Characterization in Thucydides. Robin Mitchell-Boyask graduated in 1988 from Brown University with a dissertation entitled Tragic Identity: Studies in Euripides and Shakespeare. Sydnor Roy is a 2010 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her dissertation is entitled Political Relativism: Implicit Political Theory in Herodotus’ Histories.

We began by discussing their respective dissertation experiences: where they studied, what kinds of sources they used, the technology that was available, and the scholarly community that surrounded them. Since the three dissertations spanned the years from 1968 to 2010, the discussion revealed interesting similarities and differences in the academic environment over the past forty years. Below is Part 1 of our discussion. Parts 2 and 3 will follow.

Listen to the audio of the discussion, Part I

[ensemblevideo contentid=xoGjjJfmXEydHowYpXDNrQ audio=true]

iTunes U link (for downloads)

Subscribe to this podcast series

 

—Fred Rowland

Exhibition Cell Phone Tour Launches

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We’ve created a cellphone tour to guide you through the current exhibition at Paley Library: The Radical, The Alternative, The Political—Posters from the Contemporary Culture Collection. The exhibition presents a rare glimpse into the political, the graphic, the radical—with broadsides, posters and other print-based materials from the Contemporary Culture Collection. The exhibition, which is culled from this outstanding collection of materials from radical, alternative, and independent presses, explores the theme of accessibility and dissemination of print materials. The Contemporary Culture Collection is one of the region’s most extensive collections of publications by alternative, independent, and small literary publishers; social reform and liberation movement organizations; and political organizations of the far left and right. The collection contains 5,000 journal, newsletter and newspaper titles, books, pamphlets, microfilm, audiotapes, posters, broadsides, artist books and prints. To participate in the tour, drop by Paley Library, proceed to the exhibit cases on the first floor and dial in at 215-525-1543, then hit prompt 50# to begin.