March 2005 Archives

Our Web of Science coverage has been expanded! With the use of one-time funds, the library has just purchased 15 more years of access to this premier database. Indexing is now available from 1974 to the present.

The Web of Science database covers over 8700 scholarly peer-reviewed journals from three major indexes:

Science Citation Index covers 5900 journals
Social Sciences Citation Index covers 1725 journals
Arts & Humanities Citation Index covers 1144 journals

It also provides access to current and retrospective bibliographical information, abstracts, our online catalog, and cited references in all the above subject areas. You may search by author, keywords, journal title, and institutional affiliation. Researchers may also track a known relevant author or paper and find more recent papers that cite it, thus discovering who is doing current research on the topic of the older article. Expanded search options include the ability to: locate all cited authors (not just first authors), track times cited information, and follow hot links to cited references. Entries are linked to the library's holdings in our online catalog, Diamond. The index is updated weekly.

Note: This database is licensed for 10 concurrent users, so please hit the "Logout" button when finished to free up access for other Temple colleagues.

The Temple Book Club was created in February of 2003 when the "One Book, One Philadelphia" program began. Since then, the Book Club has met once a month to discuss books recommended by the Club members. EVERYONE is invited to come to the discussion: students, staff, faculty, administration, and the community at large. The group meets on the fourth Thursday, during the lunch hour, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. The Book Club is coordinated and sponsored by the Urban Archives, Paley Library and notices are sent out announcing the books that the club has decided to read. A Temple Book Club listserv has been established and if you wish to be included on the list, please send your information to Margaret Jerrido at mj@temple.edu or call 215-204-6639.

During its January meeting, a list was collected of books to read for the coming months. The club is trying different ways to encourage a larger audience to participate and it is hoped that this will be one way. Please share this list with colleagues, friends, and family.

April 2005: "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Paley Library Lecture Hall, April 28th, 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.

May 2005: "The Night Inspector" by Frederick Busch
Paley Library Lecture Hall, May 26th, 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.

June 2005: "Hell at the Breech" by Tom Franklin
Paley Library Lecture Hall, June 23rd, 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.

Starting March 17, Paley Library began experimenting with a "soft opening" Monday through Friday in response to students and researchers who eagerly await entrance before the official 8:00am opening time. Now students will be allowed entrance weekdays as soon as the security guards take up their positions in Paley and Tuttleman, up to an hour before opening. Patrons will be able to study, return books, check out books (using the self-check terminals), and search library databases using the Paley Reference Area computers. If you need help from Paley Library staff, however, you'll have to wait until they start arriving at 8:00am. This is part of an overall attempt at Paley to make the library more available to Temple's growing number of highly motivated undergraduates, graduates, and researchers.

Other important Paley and Tuttleman hours to keep in mind:
* In fall and spring semesters, the Tuttleman Scholars Information Center (SIC) is open 24 hours between Monday, 8:00am, and Friday, 7:30pm.
* For final examinations, Paley will be open 24 hours between Thursday, April 28 at 8:00am and Wednesday, May 11 at 10:00pm.
* Service Desks close at regular times during extended hours.

Paley library includes three passenger elevators. They are original building equipment dating from 40 years ago, and have proven quite difficult to keep in full, proper operation due to their advanced age and heavy traffic.

On February 21, 2005, Temple's Facilities Management Division began a major project to renovate all three passenger elevators. In addition to replacing controlling equipment, the hydraulic drive systems including cylinders and pistons, will be fully replaced.

The approximate schedule of work is:

February 21 - May:
Elevator #2 out of service.
During this time, use elevators #3 and #4.

May - July, 2005:
Elevators #3 and #4 our of service.
During this time, use elevator #2.

During this project we strongly encourage library users to:
1) take the stairs when possible to avoid delays and queuing
2) report promptly any malfunction or failure of elevators that should be in service.

Should you need further information or wish to report an immediately occuring elevator problem, please call Facilities at 1-1818 (Monday-Friday 8-4) or 1-1234 (evening/weekends or in case of emergency).

[Comments or suggestions concerning this project update should be directed to Jonathan LeBreton lebreton@temple.edu
Content last reviewed: 3/22/05.]

Welcome to Temple University Libraries' new blog. We started this to improve communication with you, providing news on library events, new acquisitions to our collection, information on useful resources, tips on researching, and whatever else we'd like to tell you about.

You can leave comments on any of the entries (beneath the entries is a link), or you can email one of the contributors directly (we are listed to the left). As this is a new and ongoing development, we'd appreciate any feedback: comments, criticisms, or suggestions.

New to blogs? Blog is short for weblog, and the Oxford English Dictionary (one of our many fine online resources) defines it as:

"A frequently updated web site consisting of personal observations, excerpts from other sources, etc., typically run by a single person, and usually with hyperlinks to other sites; an online journal or diary."

That's a fairly general definition. For a much more detailed look, see the Wikipedia entry on weblogs.

We'll be adding posts regularly, so please stop back in.

Have you ever been confused by titles of nobility in British history? Who was The Earl of Gloucester, or The Duke of Lancaster, or Lord Buckingham? What were their real names and what role did they play in the rough and tumble events of British history? Just how many Earls of Gloucester were there anyway and which centuries did they live in?

You can discover this and much, much more in print or online in the recently available 2004 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The 60 print volumes are available in the Paley Reference Stacks (1st Floor: DA28 .O95 2004). The online version is available from the library's alphabetical list of databases for a one year trial period. More commonly known as the Dictionary of National Biography, or DNB, this amazing resource contains over 50,000 biographies and 10,000 images of important British men and women from the 4th century C.E. through 2001, living persons excluded. The online version includes additional functionality for researchers, like the ability to search the references and images of each entry, or the ability to search by gender, profession, and religion. Looking for the Hogarth portrait of 18th century patron of the arts Mary Edwards? Wondering if there is any information on 19th century Quaker women scientists? Trying to identify a few good sources for the study of botany in Elizabethan England? The answers to these questions and more are only a few clicks away.

Remember, the online version of this amazing resource is available for a one year trial period, so if you like what you find, please be sure to tell your local Temple librarian. Faculty and student input is taken very seriously.

Cooperation between the libraries of Temple and the University of Pennsylvania are alive and well, judging by a joint presentation given by librarians David C. Murray and Nick Okrent during the 2005 Temple-sponsored James A. Barnes Club Graduate Student Conference. The Conference, held February 17 at Temple University Center City Campus, attracted history graduate students and faculty from throughout the U.S., Canada, and even Great Britain. David and Nick are the history librarians at their respective institutions. The handout for their presentation, titled "Teaching and Researching History: Local History Librarians Weigh In," is available for download (see attached). Two minds really are better than one!

Download file

Temple's librarians and archival collections played a significant part in Ambler College's award-winning entry at the 2005 Philadelphia Flower Show.

Linda Cotilla, Head of Suburban Campus Libraries, and Sandi Thompson, Ambler Librarian, served on the Flower Show Committee and provided the research, photographic images, and other archival documentation featured in the exhibit that won Best of Show in the Academic Educational category.

To illustrate the story of this significant period of Philadelphia horticultural history, the exhibit included materials from the Temple Libraries' Ambler Archives, Urban Archives, and Special Collections, as well as resources from a number of other local archives.

See also Ambler College's news release.

Marnie Carroll's "American Television in Europe: Problematizing the Notion of Pop Cultural Hegemony" (Bad Subjects 57, Oct 2001) highlights the difficulty of transnational acceptance of icons and particularly those of American Television. Carroll questions the "cultural critics' assumption that exported American culture is unquestioningly assimilated by non-American cultures around the world." Carroll takes on the commonly held idea of how influential American television is to other parts of the world.

Composition 50 classes have recently been focusing on analytical studies on various aspects of American culture, particularly mass media, and Carroll's article presents one part of this changing social landscape: American television and its international influences. Her article provides an excellent example for students of the kind of analytical thinking and argument they should show in their papers.

Here's the number one question asked by students of library staff: "How do I access the Libraries' restricted resources, such as the databases, from off campus?"

A simple answer: TUPortal.

Log into your TUPortal account as usual. Once logged in, click on the TULibraries tab near the top of the page. Enter your AccessNet password when prompted. If you utilize a "pop-up blocker" on your web browser you may need to manually click on the link provided. The Libraries' website should now appear in a new browser window. From within the new window, navigate to EbscoHost, Lexis-Nexis, and other restricted electronic databases available on the Libraries' site. Questions? Contact either Computer Services, 215-204-8000 or Ask A Librarian.

Temple Libraries is pleased to announce the inaugural Library Prize for Undergraduate Research. Designed to promote the use of library collections, in any format, by undergraduate students, the Libraries will award up to three $1,000 prizes for research projects completed in the fall or spring semesters, 2004-2005. To be eligible for the prize, students must be enrolled in a degree program in any discipline at Temple University and have completed a research paper or project in a for-credit course during the fall 2004 or spring 2005 semesters. The deadline for turning in all application materials is April 8, 2005.

For more information, please visit the Library Prize Web Site.