Four More Databases

More new databases have been added to the libraries’ collection. We’re a whirlwind of purchasing activity:

Oxford Reference Online: Oxford Reference Online includes well over 100 subject and language reference sources from Oxford University Press, including many titles from the Oxford Companions Series. Includes bilingual dictionaries, an illustrated dictionary, timelines, maps, and numerous subject specific reference books in many different areas.

This is a great resource for starting research or getting basic information on a huge variety of topics.

Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA): The LLBA abstracts and indexes the international literature in linguistics and related disciplines in the language sciences. The database covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Complete coverage is given to various fields of linguistics including descriptive, historical, comparative, theoretical and geographical linguistics. Abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,500 serials publications are included, as well as abstracts of books, book chapters, and dissertations. Coverage begins in 1973. (Updated monthly)

Criminology: A Sage Full-Text Collection: Criminology: A Sage Full-Text Collection is a searchable collection of bibliographic records with links to the full text in PDF format of 23 journals published by Sage and participating societies. The collection covers subjects such as Criminal Justice, Juvenile Delinquency, Juvenile Justice, Corrections, Penology, Policing, Forensic Psychology, and Family and Domestic Violence.

Urban Studies: A Sage Full-Text Collection: Urban Studies & Planning: A Sage Full-Text Collection is a searchable collection of bibliographic records with links to the full text in PDF format of 12 journals published by Sage. Seven of the journals are available in their totality, from volume one to the present. The collection covers subjects such as Anthropology, Economic Development, Economics, Education, Environmental Science, Planning Pedagogy, Planning Practice, Planning Theory, Policy Analysis, Political Science, Public Administration, Regional Geography, Regional Science, Residential and Community Development, Social, Spatial, and Cultural Dynamics, Sociology, Urban and Regional Planning, Urban Culture, Urban Geography, Urban Policy, Urban Politics, and Welfare Economics.

–Derik A Badman

Many New Databases Added

A number of new databases have been added to the libraries’ collection. Below are links to the resources and descriptions from our website. [text by publishers]

African-American Newspapers: 19th Century: Part 9: This enormous collection of African American Newspapers contains a wealth of information about the cultural life and history during the 1800s, and is rich with first-hand reports of the major events and issues of the day, including the Mexican War, Presidential and congressional addresses, Congressional abstracts, business and commodity markets, the humanities, world travel and religion. They also contain large numbers of early biographies, vital statistics, essays and editorials, poetry and prose, and advertisements all of which embody the African-American experience. This is an additional module that covers The Christian Recorder, Jan. 1883-Dec. 1887.

Index Islamicus: The Index Islamicus database indexes literature on Islam, the Middle East and the Muslim world. It is produced by an editorial team working at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, established to transmit knowledge about Islamic and Middle East studies, which have tradionally been part of the curriculum of SOAS. Records included in the database cover 1906 to the present.

Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts: LISTA indexes more than 600 periodicals plus books, research reports, and proceedings on subjects such as librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, and information management. Coverage begins in the mid-1960s.

MasterFile Premier: Access granted from AccessPA, this is a public library version of Academic Search Premier(ASP). It includes 729 unique full-text titles not covered in ASP.

PAIS International and PAIS Archive: PAIS indexes national and international public policy information from journal articles, books, conference research reports, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more. Newspapers and newsletters are not indexed. PAIS International covers materials from 1972 onward, while the Archive extends coverage back to 1915. PAIS contains some foreign language material but all index entries and abstracts are in English. Since PAIS tends to cover topics that are, have been or may become the focus of legislation it is particularly germane for students in the departments or schools of business administration, history, economics, law, political science, social administration, criminal justice, sociology and geography and urban studies, American studies and, African American studies. PAIS is a good choice if peer reviewed journals and or primary sources are needed to fulfill research requirements. [text by Susan Golding]

Physical Education Index: Since 1970 Physical Education Index has been covering peer-reviewed journals, report literature, conference proceedings, trade magazines, patents, articles from the popular press, and many other publications relevant to the field of physical education. Physical Education Index provides citation information and abstracts to journal articles about physical education and related disciplines (sports, sports medicine, dance, coaching, fitness, motor learning, etc.) from 303 core scholarly journals and numerous other publications. (Updated monthly)

Scopus:
(This is a year-long trial.) Scopus is an abstracting and indexing database covering over 14,000 titles in the scientific, technical, medical and social science literature. Coverage extends as far back as 1966. Cited references are searchable from 1996 onward. Subject Areas covered by Scopus: Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Engineering: 4,500 titles; Life and Health Sciences: 5,900 titles (100% Medline coverage); Social Sciences, Psychology and Economics: 2,700 titles; Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences: 2,500 titles; General Sciences: 50 titles.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts: Worldwide Political Science Abstracts provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy. It currently monitors approximately 1,500+ titles for coverage, of which 67% are published outside the United States.

Paley computer lab closing Dec. 17

December 17th, the last day of the semester, will be the final day of operation for the 100-seat “Scholar’s Information Center” computer lab, which has been provided by University Computing Services for more than 14 years in Paley Library. This closure is part of the preparations being made by Computing Services in anticipation of the opening of the new TECH Center in January 2006. The space currently occupied by the computer lab will be returned to library use. As a first step, over 20 new library workstations will be installed, and laser printing will continue to be available. Additional plans are under development. Another 100-seat computer lab is located in Tuttleman Learning Center, adjacent to the library’s circulation/reserve area. Its 24/5 schedule of operation will change once the TECH Center is open in January.

New JSTOR Titles Added To Arts & Sciences

The scholarly archive JSTOR has just added ten new titles to which Temple has access, listed below.

Archives of America Art Journal (1960-1999)
Jewish Quarterly Review (1888-1908; 1910-1999)
Journal of Biblical Literature (1887-1999)
Master Drawings (1963-1999)
Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (1905-2000)
Metropolitan Museum Studies (1928-1936)
Muqarnas (1983-1999)
Novum Testamentum (1956-1999)
Recent Acquisitions (1985-1988)
Vetus Testamentum (1951-1999)

–Fred Rowland

New Online Encyclopedias

The Libraries have added the following 4 online Oxford Encyclopedias to our collections: International Encyclopedia of Dance Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance They are all currently linked from the Ebooks page. –David C. Murray

Access World News

With the recent addition of Access World News, The Temple Universtiy Libraries now have three databases that provide international news coverage: Access World News, LexisNexis, and World News Connection. Two of these, LexisNexis and Access World News, also provide national coverage. Access World News‘ hierarchical structure makes it easy to drill down to the desired search domain. Using the map of the world you can choose to search regions or individual countries. There are over 600 US newspapers and over 700 international newspapers to choose from. The advanced search makes it easy to identify articles in many different sections of a newspaper and many different date ranges. On the left side of the homepage there are links to a number of major papers, like The Chicago Tribune, The LA Times, The New York Times, The Times (of London), and The Washington Post. The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News are also available from this database. Check the library’s News Sources subject list for a complete listing of our newspaper databases. To check for individual newspapers, you can also search Journal Finder.

New Book Lists

Curious about what is new in the library? The library spends large amounts of money to purchase new materials both physical and electronic. While we will keep you posted with this blog on new electronic resources as they become available, we are now experimenting with a way to keep you informed about new books coming into the libraries. Our trial collection of new book lists, includes a list of all new books for the previous month as well as smaller lists for books in specific subject areas like Music, Film and Media Arts, and Religion, as well as new books at the Ambler Library. And don’t forget, if you want to keep up on specific topics, you can also set up new book emails. –Derik A Badman

Curious Looks at Artists’ Books

What would a book designed and made by an artist look like? Can glass, soap, plexiglass and other non-paper materials form a book? Why would one need a can-opener when opening a book? These and other questions may be answered by Paley Library’s exhibition of artists’ books from its Special Collections Department and the Tyler School of Art Library: “Curious Looks at Artists’ Books.”

Exhibition location: Main Lobby, Paley Library

Exhibition dates:  November 11-December 31, 2005

Library Prize Info Session Nov. 16

Update: Two information sessions will be held in Paley Library room 130 (mezzanine level) for students and faculty interested in the Library Prize. Members of the Library Prize committee will be available to answer questions:

November 8, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

November 16, 12:30pm – 1:30pm

The Library is pleased to announce the 2nd Annual Library Prize for Undergraduate Research. The Prize encourages the use of Library resources, to enhance the development of library research techniques, and to honor the best research projects produced each year by Temple University undergraduate students.

Up to three projects are selected each year to win $1000. Winning entries exhibit: originality, depth, breadth, or sophistication in the use of library collections; exceptional ability to select, evaluate, synthesize, and utilize library resources in the creation of a project in any media; and evidence of personal growth through the acquisition of newfound knowledge.

The Prize is jointly sponsored by the Library and the Office of the Provost.

For deadlines, selection criteria, application requirements, and past winners (including the winning papers), see the Prize website.

Questions? Please contact the Library Prize committee at libprize@temple.edu.


2006 Philadelphia Neighborhoods Calendar

A view looking down the Ben Franklin parkway. The Urban Archives of Temple University Libraries has released a 2006 Calendar titled “Philadelphia Neighborhoods,” featuring photographs from the George D. McDowell Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Collection. The Evening Bulletin was a long running newspaper in Philadelphia which closed its doors in 1982. The Urban Archives holds a large collection of clippings and photographs from the newspaper. The calendar features thirteen large and several small black and white photographs of Philadelphia along with text discussing the history of twelve neighborhoods. You can purchase a calendar for $7.00 in the Urban Archives (on the ground floor of Paley Library) or for $7.00 + $2.00 shipping and handling via mail order (PA residents add sales tax). Send checks made out to “Temple University Libraries, Urban Archives” along with your name and address to: Urban Archives Temple University Libraries 1210 West Berks Street Philadelphia, PA 19122