April 2007 Archives
"Cite This Item" feature is now part of WorldCat and other FirstSearch databases! This feature gives users an opportunity to get a bibliographic citation in five common styles: APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA and Turabian. Users may copy and paste the needed format into a bibliography. Users should note that formatting rules within a style can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study, and that they should apply the specific requirements of a reviewing body.
As Shakespeare fans and scholars around the globe celebrate the Bard's 443rd birthday this week, and as Washington D.C., in conjunction with the Folger Shakespeare Library, is in the middle of its six-month city-wide fesitval, Shakespeare in Washington, the non-profit group, American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) published a report stating that fewer colleges appear to require students to study the influential author. The report is causing a bit of a buzz on ALA's Literatures in English listserv (LES-l).
Three new editions of Continuum encyclopedias are now available online via xreferplus.
Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature
The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature comprises more than 1,100 signed biographical-critical entries, plus over 70 topical essays.
Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature
The Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature is a comprehensive guide to all British literature, including literature in English from the colonial and postcolonial periods in Africa, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, India, and New Zealand. Important authors from these areas are covered in substantive topical articles on their respective literatures. Includes 1,200 entries, plus 70 topical articles.
Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature
The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature covers 150 years of children's literature across many cultures and includes 1,200 biographical-critical entries, plus nearly 100 topical articles all written by experts in the field.
Continuum Encyclopedia of American LiteratureThe Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature comprises more than 1,100 signed biographical-critical entries, plus over 70 topical essays.
Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature The Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature is a comprehensive guide to all British literature, including literature in English from the colonial and postcolonial periods in Africa, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, India, and New Zealand. Important authors from these areas are covered in substantive topical articles on their respective literatures. Includes 1,200 entries, plus 70 topical articles.
Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's LiteratureThe Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature covers 150 years of children's literature across many cultures and includes 1,200 biographical-critical entries, plus nearly 100 topical articles all written by experts in the field.
Temple University Libraries now has access to Sage Journals Online, a collection of over 400 journals in the social sciences, humanities, medicine, engineering, and physical and life sciences from Sage Publications.
Well over 100,000 articles devoted to Communication Studies are inlcuded, focussing on communication theories, behaviors, and research, plus media, mass communications, radio, journalism education, broadcasting, and so much more.
I recently watched The Da Vinci Code (yes, I know I'm about a year or two behind) and was mildly shocked to see that the library research scene was completely cut out in favor of searching via a mobile device. In the novel, the main characters, Robert and Sophie, go to a library and work with a librarian to help decipher some of the riddles. In the film version, though, the library scene is eliminated as going to the library would, as Robert puts it, simply take too long. Instead, the main characters use a young man's mobile phone to search the Web, and the young man even gives pointers on how to best search!
In his article, Miguel Helft of The New York Times recently outlined the future of searching the Web via mobile phone.
As an FYI, Diamond, the online catalog of the Temple University Libraries, is available via your mobile phone, PDA, or other small screen device (SSD). Just enter http://diamond.temple.edu/ into the web browser on your phone or wireless PDA, and click the "Text-only / AirPAC" link to check it out.
The Pulitzer Board awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize winners earlier this week. Some of the winners included:
For Public Service - The Wall Street Journal
"Awarded to The Wall Street Journal for its creative and comprehensive probe into backdated stock options for business executives that triggered investigations, the ouster of top officials and widespread change in corporate America."
For Fiction - Cormac McCarthy, "The Road"
“The Road [is] Cormac McCarthy’s new masterpiece . . . Lush, sensuous prose . . . Gorgeous descriptions . . . . . . He evokes Hemingway’s literary vision in order to invert it, first by eliminating the promise that nature can provide a refuge from human destruction and finally by giving us redemption in the form of the love between a parent and a child.”
–Jennifer Egan, Slate
For Poetry - Natasha Trethewey, "Native Guard"
For Public Service - The Wall Street Journal"Awarded to The Wall Street Journal for its creative and comprehensive probe into backdated stock options for business executives that triggered investigations, the ouster of top officials and widespread change in corporate America."
For Fiction - Cormac McCarthy, "The Road"“The Road [is] Cormac McCarthy’s new masterpiece . . . Lush, sensuous prose . . . Gorgeous descriptions . . . . . . He evokes Hemingway’s literary vision in order to invert it, first by eliminating the promise that nature can provide a refuge from human destruction and finally by giving us redemption in the form of the love between a parent and a child.”
–Jennifer Egan, Slate
For Poetry - Natasha Trethewey, "Native Guard""Trethewey's style is reserved, even cautious, though her subjects are emotionally charged, even violent. This creates an interesting dichotomy, especially in poems such as "Pastoral" with its touchy image of Trethewey confronting the great white Southern poets -- Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren and others -- while in blackface. Though this is her third book, Trethewey is still perfecting her voice and may have only scratched the surface of her remarkable talent."
-Darryl Lorenzo Wellington, The Washington Post's Book World
Famed American novelist, Kurt Vonnegut died earlier in the week. A key postmodern author, Vonnegut perfected his satirical voice by his use of non-linear narration and terse humor - as evident in his highly acclaimed, semi-autobiographical work, Slaughterhouse-Five.Vonnegut authored over 20 works during his lifetime, frequently carving out his own presence within them and prompting critics to proclaim that his books "chronicle a search for the human."
The library's collection of Vonnegut's works are available.
In his article, Peter Wilson of The Vancouver Sun, recently meditated on the future of technology in our everyday lives, including how we will be able to search for the information we need in bigger and better ways.
Indexed in its entirety, Shakespeare Survey, the celebrated yearbook of Shakespeare studies, can now be searched via Cambridge Collections Online.
Chambers Classic Speeches is now available online via xreferplus.Chambers Classic Speeches is a diverse selection of speeches given by politicians, monarchs, rebels and intellectuals from around the world. Each speech is accompanied by a short introduction that describes the historical context of each speech. Biographies of each speaker are also available.
Brewer's Curious Titles: The Fascinating Stories Behind More than 1500 Famous Titles is now available online via xreferplus. Brewer's Curious Titles tells the often intriguing, and sometimes surprising, stories behind an array of titles of works of literature, music and the visual arts. Arranged in simple A-Z order by title, it explains the meanings of, and reasons for, the titles of more than 1500 famous and not-so-famous novels, films, poems, plays, paintings and works of classical music.
The new, third edition of Cambridge Guide to Literature in English is now available online via xreferplus.The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English is "the most authoritative and international survey of world literature in English available," covering all the major novelists, poets and dramatists - from Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Austen, Dickens to Conrad and to contemporary writers from all over the English-speaking world - Saul Bellow, Adrienne Rich, Les Murray, Wole Soyinka, and Janet Frame. Substantial coverage is also given to such literary genres as popular fiction, science fiction, detective novels, and children’s classics. All literary concepts and movements are described in detail.
Check out the new literary-related resources added to the library collection in the past month.
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