Top News: August 2007 Archives

To accommodate the library and research needs of the Temple University Community the Paley Library building will be open throughout the Labor Day Holiday. The hours are:

Saturday, September 1: 9 am to 5 pm
Sunday, September 2: noon to 8 pm
Monday, September 3: noon to 9 pm

Regular hours for the Paley Library building resume on Tuesday September 4.

For the Labor Day schedules of specific libraries and operating units, as well as regular operating hours for the fall semester, please consult our library hours page.

The Libraries have acquired on microfilm The Lesbian Herstory Archives, part 7 of the Gay Rights Movement. This collection consists of a full 150 reels of primary-source material along with a 73-page printed collection guide. Media types represented include "clippings, flyers, brochures, conference materials, reports, correspondence, and other printed ephemera". The earliest documents date to the 1950s and the era of the Daughters of Bilitis organization. Additional information about the nature of the collection is available from the LHA website.

The Lesbian Herstory Archives complements existing primary-source printed and digital collections such as the Gerritsen Collection and Women and Social Movements. It also complements GenderWatch and the new-to-Temple LGBT Life, two databases that index journal articles and other secondary sources. LGBT Life in particular contains indexing and abstracts for more than 130 LGBT-specific core periodicals and over 290 LGBT-specific core books and reference works. It also includes comprehensive, full-text coverage of The Advocate (1996 to date) and other important LGBT publications.

--David C. Murray

Three new library books take a critical look at the 60-year history of the CIA:

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (c2007) by New York Times reporter Tim Wiener. Listen to the author discuss his book (Real Player required).

In Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (c2006), Chalmers Johnson argues for the disbandment of the CIA: "I believe we will never again know peace, nor in all probability survive very long as a nation, unless we abolish the CIA, restore intelligence collecting to the State Department, and remove all but purely military functions from the Pentagon" (21). Can the American Republic survive "clandestine operations" abroad; the creation of a "private army" answerable only to the president; or the secrecy engendered by "a government within a government"? Nemesis is the third book in a trilogy that also includes Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (c2000) and The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (c2004).

David Barrett, a political scientist at Villanova University, is the author of The CIA & Congress: The Untold Story From Truman To Kennedy (c2005). Barrett examined recently declassified CIA documents, the so-called 700-page "family jewels," linking the agency to the attempted assassination of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and others. Listen to Barrett discuss his findings (Real Player required).

The Federation of American Scientists has made available online the CIA's own Factbook on Intelligence. Two Temple databases offer declassified CIA documents: Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) and Digital National Security Archive. More CIA history? Click United States. Central Intelligence Agency -- History, or explore the Force & Diplomacy subject guide.

--David C. Murray

Temple University Libraries is pleased to announce the addition of Classical Scores Library, a new database containing the digitized printed music of hundreds of works. The current release of 1,075 scores includes works by 49 composers of in-copyright material from Boosey & Hawkes as well as material from the University Music Editions microfilm series. Examples of composers included in this first release are Copland, Britten, Stravinsky, and Rorem, and many others. Upon completion, the database will include the entire UME catalog, manuscript materials, complete works of major composers as well as lesser-known composers, and multiple editions of some works for comparison and analysis.

Access and use of the database are simple and practical. Users can search or browse by composer, genre, instrument, type of score, and time period. Scores can also be searched by duration, language, year of publication, and publisher. The scores are provided in pdf format and can be easily downloaded and/or printed.

An exciting feature of the database is cross-linking online scores to corresponding sound recordings with sister database Classical Music Library. Listeners can easily follow the score online in Classical Scores Library at the same time as listening to the music.

Please feel free to contact me, Anne Harlow aharlow@temple.edu, for further information regarding this new resource

I am delighted to welcome Sebastian Derry, who is our new Media Services Librarian, effective August 6, 2007.

In this newly-created position, Sebastian will be responsible for creating and leading a media services unit in Paley Library. He wil be assessing the library's media collections and resources, bringing them into a single operating unit, and leading the library's planning for a media center that will offer a full range of services to students, faculty, and the Temple community.

Sebastian formerly served as the Fine Arts Librarian and Media Resources Coordinator at the University of Montana’s Mansfield Library. He has also worked at Hostos Community College Library in New York City. He has a Master of Library and Information Science degree from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the University of Prince Edward Island, also in Canada.

Larry P. Alford
Vice Provost for Libraries

I am pleased to announce that Mark Darby is the new head of our Cataloging and Metadata Services Department, effective August 1, 2007. This concludes a national search to fill the position.

Mark joined Temple Libraries in 1994 as a special collections cataloger, and since 2001 has led the department's database management unit. Previously, he was a cataloger and archivist at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study. He holds an M.S. degree in library science from Drexel University and an M.A. in Medieval Studies from Cornell University.

Larry P. Alford,
Vice Provost for Libraries and University Librarian