Top News: December 2006 Archives

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

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