History News has for the last several years been a sub-category of the main Temple University Libraries News blog. As of this semester Temple Library History News is its own distinct blog. What’s the difference? Not a whole lot beyond a more up-to-date interface. There is, however, a new URL and a new RSS feed.
A common question at the Paley Library reference desk is “Where can I print color pages from the computers?” and up till now the answer was “Not here.” That’s about to change. To respond to student requests for color laser printing in the library, Paley has recently added a color printer to its two black & white printer stations in the first floor computing area. Owing to the much higher cost of color laser prints it is necessary to charge a fee for the color prints, and the cost is $.50 per copy, the same fee charged in the TECH Center. The procedure to print to the color print station is the same as for the black & white printers, but students must specify that they want to send their print job to the color printer. Students must then swipe their identification card in order to pay the copy fee with Diamond Dollars. We are unable to accept cash or coin as payment for color prints. – Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian
Temple University Libraries offer nearly 400 different research databases, everything from the highly used and well known ones such as Academic Source Premier and LexisNexis to some niche products such as Mediamark Reporter or Women Writers Online. For many students and faculty a comprehensive research process often requires more than one database, and for some of our users just choosing the right database can be challenging. It can be time consuming to run a literature search in each selected database, and each search system may use a different search interface. MultiSearch, a new way to search library databases, changes everything.
MultiSearch is a collection of approximately 250 library databases, plus sources such as Google and Google Scholar. It allows library databases to be searched in any number of combinations, either those pre-determined by librarian subject specialists or those the searchers select themselves. The beauty of MultiSearch is that there is only one interface to use. You can now obtain results from multiple databases, all at once, with a single simple interface, and the search automatically deletes duplicate records.
Starting a MultiSearch is easy. Either choose one or more search subject categories or design your own combination of databases:
Record results are displayed by default in a most recent to oldest order, and records from the different databases are interfiled. The results are also categorized in a number of ways: by subject content, by author, by database, and by journal. You can easily rearrange the results to meet your specific needs:
Please give MultiSearch a try. We think you’ll like it. But whatever your reaction is, we want to know. This is just our first version of MultiSearch – and we will use your feedback to guide our future customizations. Please share your reactions and suggestions by adding a comment to this post or use our library suggestion page.
For more information see our “Introducing MultiSearch” page.
And if you’ve got a better name for this thing than MultiSearch, we’d like to hear from you.
Getting help while in the Paley Library stacks can sometimes be a challenge. If no library workers are immediately available, seeking assistance requires a trip to the first floor. That can mean a time-consuming walk down the main stairway or an elevator wait. To alleviate that situation and improve the availability of quick help when needed, four service phones have been added to the Paley stacks. The four beige phones are found on central columns, well marked with signs, on both the east and west sides of the second and third levels. 
The phones directly dial one of five different numbers. The menu is as follows:
We encourage our library users to make use our new service phones to quickly call for help as needed from our library stacks.
– Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian
On February 4, 2008 Associate Professor of Religion Laura Levitt stopped by Paley Library to talk about her new book American Jewish Loss After the Holocaust, published by New York University Press. Below is a link to the MP3 file of the interview. Her book deals with the normal everyday losses that American Jews experience and tries to situate these in the larger context of American Jewish community life and the “grand narrative” of the Holocaust which tends to overshadow so much. During the course of American Jewish Loss After the Holocaust Levitt analyzes and meditates on selected poems, photographs, and films, as well as tells personal family stories. The interview gives a nice sense of Levitt’s new work and her interests. It runs about twenty-one minutes. Have a listen.
[ensemblevideo contentid=GUxCuKb7KkSwNUzk2nJUjw audio=true] (February 4, 2008)
iTunes U link (for downloads)
Subscribe to this podcast series
The Temple University Libraries would like to thank Professor Levitt for taking the time to speak with us. We hope to make this the first of many faculty interviews on topics of interest to the Temple University community.
As part of a larger plan to upgrade and enhance the Paley Library first floor computing area, new types of computer workstations are being considered. One prototype of a new workstation is currently on display in Paley Library, located in the center of the first floor computer area. Here are photos of the prototype:
We urge our students to visit the Paley Library to give this prototype a personal use. Try it out. Then let us know what you think of it. Does it provide enough space? Is it comfortable to use? Is there enough privacy or too much? What do you think would work better? Share your feedback by adding a comment to this post or use our online suggestion box. We look forward to providing a variety of new furniture that will make this area a better workspace for our students.
– Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian
Temple University Libraries is pleased to announce the addition of new online streaming audio resources.
American Song contains over 50,000 songs in every style, period, and genre. Genres represented include Blues, Tin Pan Alley, Cajun, Cowboy, Ragtime, African-American songs, Bluegrass, sacred, and choral music. One can browse the database by historical events such as D-Day, the Cuban Missile Crisis, or the first moon landing. Also included are presidential campaign songs from 1789-1996.
Contemporary World Music provides twentieth and twenty-first century music from everywhere in the world. Genres include reggae, world beat, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, and Arab swing as well as more traditional genres such as Indian Classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, gospel, and more. One can search or browse genre, people groups, instruments, geographic location, and performer.
Database of Recorded American Music (DRAM) is a non-profit initiative funded by the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and other organizations. This database provides streaming audio of American music from New World Records, CRI, Albany, Innova, Cedilla, XI, Pogus, Deep Listening, and Mutable Music labels. A wide array of genres is represented: folk, Native American, jazz, 19th century classical, early rock, musical theater, contemporary, electronic, and more. Searching and browsing by composer, instrument, performer, record labels, and titles of compositions is available.
These databases provide depth and variety to the repertoire offered by Temple’s online audio resources.
For a list of streaming audio resources provided by Temple University Libraries see guides.temple.edu/music.
Please feel free to contact me for further information about these resources.
-Anne Harlow
Looking for a quiet space at Paley Library? There are plenty of them. You just have to know where to look. We actually have several designated study spaces, and other spaces that are generally much quieter than others. If you are looking for a quiet study space the first place to avoid is the computer area on the west side of the first floor. It’s noisy, and that’s all right with us. However, we are promoting the east side of the first floor, with plenty of individual study carrels, as a quiet zone. Please respect those studying in this area.
Noisy Socializing – 1st Floor – West Side 
Quiet Study – 1st Floor – East Side 
We have also dedicated one entire side of the second and third levels to quite study. Those who want to generate more noise or work in groups should avoid these areas. Look for these signs as you head up to the upper levels.
You may also be unaware that since we moved the magazines and journals to the east side of the first floor the lower level area is currently being used as a study space and it’s one of the quietest spaces in the library. (Edit (9/23/08): Lower level is no longer available for studying as it is being transformed into the forthcoming media services area.)
And don’t forget that there are study rooms, available on a first come first serve basis, scattered all around the outer edges of the second and third floors. If you are in a no-noise zone and fellow students are creating some disturbance, we recommend that you politely ask them to respect the quiet areas of the library. If that doesn’t seem to work you are encouraged to seek assistance from a library staff member.
– Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian
TU Libraries has recently added Literature Criticism Online to its suite of electronic resources!
Literature Criticism Online is an outstanding reference literature database, offering biographical and bibliographical information on over 3,000 20th century and contemporary literary figures (novelists, poets, playwrights, short story writers, and literary theorists), in addition to scholarly and popular commentary from books, journals, magazines, broadsheets, pamphlets, diaries, and newspapers.
This collection contains the scanned pages of every single volume from two of Gale’s popular, print literary series: Contemporary Literary Criticism (245 volumes currently) and Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (196 volumes currently). Just think how much shelf space that would be! Users can search by known author, text, critic, or source title, as well as by keyword.
Literature Criticism Online is a valuable literary resource and complements well with the Libraries’ subscription to Literature Resource Center which contains select collections of critical material from Gale’s other literary resources: Children’s Literature Review, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, and Short Story Criticism.
Be sure to check it out!
-Kristina De Voe, English & Communications Librarian
We hear you. You’ve told us you want better study spaces – and as much of it as we can provide. To better accommodate the needs of our library user community we’ve recently upgraded several spaces on the second and third floors of the Paley Library. These areas are all newly carpeted and new, comfortable chairs, many with tablet arms, are available in several of the improved study areas. Here are photos of two of the nine enhanced study spaces: 
These new study spaces will be found on the far ends of both the second and third floors of Paley Library. Look for them in center and/or corners of these areas. We hope you enjoy these improved spaces. If you would like to provide feedback or suggestions for additional enhancements, please use our suggestion form.
– Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian