Tag Archives: Top News

Tech Center Librarians – Version 2.0

Posted on by
Reply

The Libraries have revamped the “Ask a Librarian” Tech Center program. Beginning this semester we’ve moved from the 2nd floor lobby to Room 205A, a breakout room, in the general lab area. Three librarians — Susan Golding, Derik Badman, and David Murray — will alternate workshops and drop-in consultations on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 1-2 p.m. all semester long.

Jan.18th- Feb 1st (T,W,Th) — Librarian available for drop in consultations

Feb. 6th, 7th, 8th — Better Grades in Less Time
You work too hard! Sharpen your research skills to cut down on time and get better results. Temple Libraries have the resources you need right at your fingertips. Join a Temple University Librarian for this session covering basic timesaving tips about using library resources.

Feb. 13th, 14th, 15th — Librarian available for drop in consultations

Feb. 20th, 21st, 22nd — 10 Ways to do Scholarly Research in Your Pajamas
Pizza delivery? Take out Chinese? Now you can get your research to go. Temple University Libraries offer thousands of online resources and services. Join the librarian to learn how to make the library come to you! Take out menu provided.

Feb. 27th,28th, Mar. 1st — Librarian available for drop in consultations

March 6th, 7th, 8th — (Spring Break)

March 13th, 14th, 15th — Getting Organized Online
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!

March 20th, 21st, 22nd — Librarian available for drop in consultations

March 27th, 28th, 29th — Stuff You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Google
“Google gave me 8,956,441 hits. This stinks.” Decrease your frustration with Google by learning how to use it like any other library database. In other words, like a pro! In this session a Temple University Librarian will cover how to find books, journal articles, news, maps, and more through Google. Learn how to use Google’s advanced options to focus a search and get the most relevant results.

April 3rd, 4th, 5th — Librarian available for drop in consultations

April 10th, 11th, 12th — To Google or Not to Google
Google provides fast but often ineffective results. Will you really impress your professor by citing a Wikipedia article as a source for a research paper? In this session a Temple University Librarian will discuss the pros and cons of using Google for academic research. Discover how to just as quickly access more appropriate sources without over relying on Google. This session will cover a new open source Wiki alternative, as well as some of the more traditional reference tools that have been digitized for easy web access.

April 17th, 18th, 19th — Librarian available for drop in consultations

April 24th, 25th, 26th — Citations Without Tears
Save time on your papers, and throw out all those long citation guides. Learn to use Refworks, a web based application (free to Temple students!) that allows you to easily and quickly gather your citations and organize them for the creation of bibliographies and in-text citations in almost any format– APA, MLA, Chicago, and more.

May 1st, 2nd, 3rd — Librarian available for drop in consultations

May 8th, 9th, 10th — Librarian available for drop in consultations

Please join us all semester long in Room 205A in the Tech Center! And please do let us know what you think of our new services.

—David C. Murray

New! Wilson Full-Text

Posted on by
Reply

Temple University Libraries announce the addition of several new electronic resources, plus changes in a few familiar resources, providing enhanced and updated access to materials in core undergraduate subject disciplines.

Wilson OmniFile is a gateway database, offering integrated access to selected full-text articles and page images, plus citations and abstracts, from thousands of periodicals and journals available in these 11 H.W. Wilson specialty databases:

* Applied Science & Technology Index (formerly called Applied Science & Technology Abstracts)
* Art Index (formerly called Art Abstracts)
* Biological & Agricultural Index
* Business Index
* Education Index (formerly called Education Abstracts)
* General Science Index (formerly called General Science Abstracts)
* Humanities Index (formerly called Humanities Abstracts)
* Legal Periodicals Index
* Library Literature & Information Science
* Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature
* Social Sciences Index (formerly called Social Sciences Abstracts)

Because Wilson OmniFile is multi-disciplinary, researchers have access to information on virtually any subject, including Art, Education, Humanities, Law, Information Science, Social Sciences, Business, Biology, Agriculture, and much more. With its breadth of coverage and plentiful full-text availability, Wilson OmniFile is an excellent starting place for any project.

In addition, three other electronic resources are now also being provided by H.W. Wilson, offering a new interface and enhanced content:

* Biographies Illustrated Plus (formerly called Wilson Biographies Plus)
* Book Review Digest Plus (formerly called Book Review Digest)
* Essay and General Literature Index

Please feel free to contact a Reference Librarian by phone (215-204-8212) or online via Ask-A-Librarian for further information about these resources.

–Kristina De Voe

Ebsco and Ovid Connections Restored

Posted on by
2

Full access to databases and full-text journals licensed from EbscoHost and Ovid was restored by Wednesday afternoon 1/17 for both on and off-campus users. As previously posted, on Tuesday 1/16 and Wednesday 1/17 access was disabled by an apparent attack on the domain name servers of various internet service providers (ISPs). Users on and off-campus clicking on our valid links or (or even manually keying in a url) found their browsers redirected to a commercial search portal instead of Ebsco or Ovid. On-campus access was restored as of Wednesday morning 1/17. Off-campus access was restored about 4:15 Wednesday afternoon. Library staff and Temple Computing Services continue to examine server logs and other evidence to diagnose the apparent mechanism and cause of this redirect attack and will develop an improved response plan for working with Temple ISPs to prevent recurrence. Again, we apologize for this interruption to library services.

TIME for Information Literacy

Posted on by
Reply

Getting mentioned in Time magazine counts for something. Time garnered lots of attention with its “Person of the Year” issue that celebrated the year of Web 2.0. But for those who follow developments in education, the more significant issue could be the one that appeared on December 10, 2006. Its cover story focused on the need for revolutionary change in education. As academic librarians we were please to see this article because it acknowledges that for 21st century learners it’s not about finding information, but evaluating information to determine its value:

Becoming smarter about new sources of information. In an age of overflowing information and proliferating media, kids need to rapidly process what’s coming at them and distinguish between what’s reliable and what isn’t.

As educators, we can’t anticipate or expect that tech-savvy students will be able to critically evaluate the content they find as a result of their search engine research. It may only be that by integrating the teaching of research skills into the curriculum that improvements will be made.

Even Time noted the value of information literacy classes in the article:

Classes like this, which teach key aspects of information literacy, remain rare in public education, but more and more universities and employers say they are needed as the world grows ever more deluged with information of variable quality. Last year, in response to demand from colleges, the Educational Testing Service unveiled a new, computer-based exam designed to measure information-and-communication-technology literacy. A pilot study of the test with 6,200 high school seniors and college freshmen found that only half could correctly judge the objectivity of a website.

One mention in a mainstream media publication is nice, but information literacy is still far from being a mainstream educational practice. For educators and students, information literacy is far from a common phrase. At Temple University, we’re working to change that.

Steven J. Bell, Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services

Whither the university?

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve been reading about the future of the university lately. Detractors think it costs too much, is inefficient, is too politicized, doesn’t properly train the workforce of the future, and is generally out of step with the great demographic changes of the past 25 years. It’s not flexible enough (what is?), researchers don’t teach well and teachers don’t research well. Supporters point out that universities are among the few institutions that have survived from the fifteenth century, that good education is just plain expensive, that education is about more than just posting “content” online somewhere, that Socrates got it right, and that businesses are out to privatize lots of publicly-funded infrastructure as was done with the healthcare industry (there is even talk about Educational Maintenance Organizations, EMO’s). Both supporters and detractors seem agreed that there’s a lot of change ahead for the university.

Of course the development of the Internet plays a huge role in the debates surrounding the future of higher education. Techno-utopians see the Internet as bringing more democracy, more education, more knowledge, more love, new life forms… More practical sorts see the reduced costs of information delivery on the Internet as a great business opportunity, so you see for-profit educational organizations popping up. More traditional sorts see the Internet as improving but not overturning current educational practices.

What interests me the most is the way the Internet (and high-tech in general) produces what can only be described as religious passions in many people. Cyberspace becomes a heavenly realm where information and emotions are transmitted friction-free and conflict melts away. You saw this in the millennial binge of the late 1990’s dot.coms, where profits were suddenly deemed unimportant and market share was everything. The fall of the Soviet Union, the rise of the Internet, and Y2K (remember that?) made everyone a bit crazy for a time.

Below are some of the sources I’ve been looking at and thinking about:

Digital Diploma Mills–short book, well written and closely argued, author very much against distance education, makes interesting comparisons to the “correspondence movement” in the early twentieth century

Digital Revolution and the Coming of the Postmodern University–seems a bit too focused on the technology and not enough on the institutions that create the context for the technology

After the New Economy–includes interesting analysis of 1990’s business bubble

Post-Capitalist Society–by Peter Drucker (aka “the management guru”), Drucker began talking about the “knowledge worker” decades ago, thinks the university won’t last

Startup.com–this documentary unwittingly highlights the excesses of the 1990’s dot.com boom

Shaping Communication Networks: Telegraph, Telephone, Computer–puts Internet in historical perspective

Death of the University–written in 1987, interesting but makes a lot of sweeping generalizations

The Future of Work

Higher Education in the Digital Age

The University in Transformation

Technology and the Rise of the For-Profit University— authored by Donald Norman, an educational entrepreneur (UNext), says scholars should create content and instructional specialists should deliver it

Undisciplined–by Louis Menand, interesting, about the breakdown of disciplinary boundaries in the university

Linkages Between Work and Education?

Dearing Report–influential UK report on higher education

Distance Education and the Emerging Learning Environment–short, interesting article

The Rise and Rise of the Corporate University–good article, part of an entire issue of the Journal of European Industrial Training devoted to corporate education

Surviving the Change: The Economic Paradigm of Higher Education in Transformation–interesting article by a guy with economic training

Educating the Net Generation–from Educause, about learning styles, likes and dislikes of the net generation

—Fred Rowland

Apology for Website Unavailability

Posted on by
Reply

I would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused by the unavailability of the Libraries’ website during the holiday closure.

The Libraries’ website, including our extensive menu of links to external databases and full-text journals, was unavailable intermittently during Temple’s holiday closure. Security software installed on our webserver registered recurrent attacks or other suspicious activity and shut down the server to protect data. Library staff on call brought the system back online during the University closure as they became aware of the problems, but subsequent apparent attacks prompted repeated shutdowns.

The webserver and its firewall were stabilized early Tuesday morning (1/2/07) and have been continuously available since then.

We have taken additional steps behind the scenes to prevent recurrence of such extensive outages which we all recognize as having impeded research activity by faculty and students working over the break. Further hardware and software modifications will continue during the spring so that we can continue to improve the reliability of access to the increasingly broad and indispensable array of online resources and services we now offer. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience this problem caused. We will do our best to ensure that it does not happen again.

Larry P. Alford,
Vice Provost for Libraries

CQ Press E-Resources

Posted on by
Reply

Temple University Libraries recently began electronic subscriptions to titles from the CQ Press. This gives the Temple community access to substantial resources on American government, politics, history, public policy, and current affairs. One of the sources of particular note is CQ Researcher, a weekly publication that focuses on a balanced presentation of one specific topic per week that follows the format of sections covering: Introduction to the issue, History of the issue, Recent events surrounding the issue, Where the issue is headed, Maps, graphs, tables, charts, Issue time line, Statements from representatives of opposing positions, Works cited, Readings for further research, Organizations concerned, and Notes on sources. It makes for an ideal starting point for forming opinions and beginning research, particularly on controversial issues and public policy. Recent topics have been: Philanthropy in America (12/08/2006)
The New Environmentalism (12/01/2006)
Privacy in Peril (11/17/2006)
Video Games (11/10/2006)
Understanding Islam (11/03/2006)
Middle East Tensions (10/27/2006)
Ecotourism (10/20/2006)
Caring for the Elderly (10/13/2006) In addition to CQ Researcher, Temple is subscribed to the titles that make up the Political Reference Suite through a common interface that is easy to navigate. The site describes these resources at:

“CQ Congress and the Nation is the signature resource for perspective and analysis of the U.S. Congress. It is the authoritative reference on Congressional trends, actions, and controversies.

CQ Historic Documents Series Online Edition collects more than 2,500 primary sources covering current events around the world from 1972 to present and provides a clear, logical organization and tools for exploring these rich resources. Comprehensive country profiles chronicling national history, government, and political parties, as well as profiles on intergovernmental organizations, development banks, and the agencies and specialized bodies of the United Nations. CQ’s Politics in America has been called “the ultimate insider’s guide to politics” and is an essential resource for readers who want authoritative information on the members of Congress. Explore the actions and opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court with clear and in-depth analysis of every decision made by the nation’s highest court since the 1989-1990 term. CQ’s Vital Statistics on American Politics is a powerful tool for researching statistical data on politics on the United States. Washington Information Directory Online Edition is the one resource you can trust to navigate the complicated web of official Washington. It’s your one-stop source for the right information.”

Feel free to contact me for further information about using these resources. –Rick Lezenby
Librarian Subject Specialist for Political Science
rlfile@temple.edu
215-204-4571

ARTstor’s Dunhuang Archive

Posted on by
Reply

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

Posted on by
Reply

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

Posted on by
Reply

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