March 2008 Archives

TU Libraries now has access to Journalism Practice.

Journalism Practice is devoted to “the study and analysis of significant issues arising from journalism as a field of professional practice; relevant developments in journalism training and education, as well as the construction of a reflective curriculum for journalism; analysis of journalism practice across the distinctive but converging media platforms of magazines, newspapers, online, radio and television; and the provision of a public space for practice-led, scholarly contributions from journalists as well as academics.”  All contributions are refereed anonymously by acknowledged international experts in the field. 

The journal is also considered a companion to Journalism Studies, which we have access to via Communication & Mass Media Complete (2000 to 1 year ago).

Full-text articles published from 2007 to the present are currently available from this journal.

TU Libraries now has access to European Romantic Review.

European Romantic Review is the journal of the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism (NASSR) and publishes innovative scholarship on the literature and culture of Europe, Great Britain and the Americas during the period 1760-1840.  Topics range from the scientific and psychological interests of German and English authors through the political and social reverberations of the French Revolution to the philosophical and ecological implications of Anglo-American nature writing.

Full-text articles published from 2002 to the present are currently available from this journal.

TU Libraries now has access to Media International Australia.

Media International Australia publishes new scholarly and applied research on the media, telecommunications, and the cultural industries, and the policy regimes within which they operate.

Broadly inclusive and interdisciplinary, the journal welcomes the writing of history, theory and analysis, commentary and debate. While its primary focus is Australia, the journal also aims to provide an international perspective.

Full-text articles published from 2002 to the present are currently available from this journal.

As part of the English Department's Spring Lecture Series, Rey Chow will be presenting "Translator, Traitor; Translator, Mourner (or, Dreaming of Intercultural Equivalence)" on Thursday, March 27th at 5:30pm in Tuttleman 101.

Rey Chow is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Brown University, where she teaches in the Departments of Comparative Literature and Modern Culture and Media. She is the author of seven books, including The Protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Columbia UP, 2002), The Age of the World Target: Self-Referentiality in War, Theory, and Comparative Work (Duke UP, 2006), and Sentimental Fabulations, Contemporary Chinese Films: Attachment in the Age of Global Visibility, (Columbia UP, 2007), and over seventy articles.  Her work has been widely translated and anthologized.

A pre-talk reception will take place from 4:00-5:00pm in 821 Anderson Hall. 

Canadian poet Lisa Robertson will visit Temple as part of the Poets & Writers Series.

Robertson's books of poetry include The Men: A Lyric Book, XEclogue, Debbie: An Epic, The Weather, and Rousseau's Boat.  She writes essays and collaborative texts for the visual arts, and these have been collected in the book Occasional Works and Seven Walks from the Office for Soft Architecture.

Robertson has taught or held residencies at many universities, including Naropa’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. After 4 years living in France, where she began translating the poetry of Eric Suchere and Michele Bernstein's Situationist novel Tous les chevaux du roi, she is now visiting artist at California College of the Arts.

The event is free, open to the public, and will take place on Thursday, March 20th, 8:00pm, Temple University Center City Campus (TUCC), 1515 Market Street, room 222.

In his recent article appearing in The Nation, Associate Professor of English at Yale University, William Deresiewicz, argues that the field of (English) literary studies -- and English Departments themselves -- is "slowly dying," "losing its will to live" as fewer students study or major in English literature.  He also points to the profession's lack of an emerging theoretical school in nearly 20 years as well as a dwindling job market.

Despite a poor job market, Deresiewicz notes that the number of "'service'" positions - Rhetoric & Composition, Creative Writing, Technical Writing, and Communications - seem to dominate the Modern Language Association Job Information List. 

Are English Departments becoming too oriented to the teaching of writing as opposed to the teaching of literature?

TU Libraries is currently trialing the newspaper database, PressDisplay.

PressDisplay provides digital, interactive replicas of more than 450 print newspapers and magazines, from 70 countries, in 37 languages, making it an indispensable news source for anyone who not only wants multiple perspectives on the news, but also wants to see the original print layout/format. 

A 'one-stop shop' for the world's most prestigious newspapers and magazines, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Daily Telegraph, and The Los Angeles Times, these publications may be viewed in their original format using a standard Web browser or through a BlackBerry, iPhone or smart mobile device. 

Users can search for the last 60 days worth of newspapers by country, language, or title and also perform keyword searches.  Articles may be printed, saved, or emailed for later use.  Articles from many foreign language publications can be instantly translated into one of several major foreign languages.

The trial lasts until April 11th and is password-based.  The password is "welcome."

Be sure to check PressDisplay out, and let me know if the Libraries should add it to its collection of eResources!

In her recent Vanity Fair article, New York Times television critic, Alessandra Stanley highlights the new generation of (television) comediennes, such as Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Sarah Silverman, who not only "act, perform stand-up, write, and direct," but also "[dish] out the jokes with a side of sexy," noting that Fey is an example of one who "cultivates a 'sexy librarian' look" on her hit program, 30 Rock with her "foxy glasses and decolletage."

While I find this highly amusing, I would encourage those trying to emulate the 'sexy librarian look' to look no further than my fellow colleague in Libraryland, The Well Dressed Librarian for advice and tips. :-)

Need to learn more about the god/goddess or other classical deities mentioned in literary texts?  Try using the following online mythology sources!

Who's Who in Classical Mythology is a biographical guide to Greek and Roman mythology.	The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology contains detailed descriptions of Greek legends, gods, and heroes.
The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World contains comprehensive articles on central figures, both real and mythological.	A Dictionary of World Mythology examines the gods, deities, and spirits found in myths around the world.

With the state primary just over a month away, I was becoming curious as to how the current Democratic presidential primary contenders would woo the great state of Pennsylvania.  Clinton, it seems, has decided to (publicly) reclaim her Pennsylvania roots.  A recent New York Times article and video highlight Clinton's connections to the Keystone state.

A rare photograph of Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan, has been found.

Taken in 1888, the photograph shows an eight-year-old Helen sitting outside in a chair holding Annie's hand and a doll.  The photo is currently believed to be the earliest one of the two together, and the only one showing the child with a doll - the first word Sullivan spelled for Keller after they met in 1887.

The photograph is now housed at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston.  To learn more about how the photograph was found, read their press release.

JSTOR, the electronic journal database, plans to roll out a new interface by mid-March and is encouraging users to preview the new interface. 

With the new interface, the following features will also be included:

• A single, improved format of PDF files, to simplify printing and expand accessibility
• Personalized account functionality, called "MyJSTOR"
  • You can store your user information and your saved citations
  • You can select one-time acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions for PDF access
• More efficient navigation throughout the site
• The ability to search within result sets
• Thumbnail views of article pages: see full articles at a glance

Check out the preview interface, and tell us what you think of it!

In his recent Los Angeles Times article, Joseph Tartakovsky ruminates on the striking, if not amusing, connection between great writers and alcohol, asking "is there really a muse in the bottle?"