More New Resources!

The following databases have been added to the library web site:
• Bio Med (Central) provides access to 199 peer-reviewed open access journals in all aspects of biomedical research
• Book Review Index Plus was formerly a print resource and is now available online. It provides access to reviews of books in over 600 journals. Coverage goes back to 1965.
• Columbia International Affairs Online is, according to their online description, “the most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 onward that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs.”
• Early Republic database contains the seventeen volumes of primary material documenting the actions, debates, and thoughts of the First Federal Congress and its members that were collected by the First Federal Congress Project (FFCP) and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Essay & General Literature Index was formerly a print resource and is now available online. It provides access to essays contained in nearly 7000 anthologies and collections. Coverage goes back to 1985.
• Literature Online Index provides access to more than 350,000 English and American literary works in full-text (and to Anglo-Saxon and Middle English texts as well). It also provides literary criticism, in both journals and complete reference books, on authors and works contained in the database.
• RILM Abstract of Music Literature is an online index of scholarship on music from all over the world. Short descriptions of journal articles are available.
• Short Story Index was also formerly a print resource which is now available online. It gives the publication information (names and dates of books, journals and magazines) for short stories back to 1994. 4000 short stories are available in full-text.

We now have ten concurrent users for the Mergent database.

New ebooks include Classical & Medieval Literary Criticism and Literary Criticism 1400-1800. These resources are part of the Gale literary criticism series in our reference collection. We have volumes 1-111 and 1-164 respectively in print. The current and subsequent volumes will be available online. Ebooks available soon are the New Catholic Encyclopedia and Children’s Literature Review.

RefWorks — a resource to help you gather, manage, store and share all types of information, and to create citations and bibliographies for your papers.

Another new resource is going to make the life of every single member of the UST community so much easier! It’s RefWorks, and it practically performs miracles. At its most basic, RefWorks helps you to cite the information you use in your papers. No more struggling with trying to comprehend the MLA or APA citation handbooks (although we will still keep copies in the library). You input the citation information, and RefWorks creates lists of works cited and footnotes. But RefWorks is so much more than that. It helps you organize your research by keeping it all in one place – accessible at any computer for RefWorks is web-based. You can even share this information with others and collaborate on group projects using it. You are able to create numerous accounts on RefWorks, so if you want to share some information sources but keep others private, you can. RefWorks is also available on the Doherty Library list of databases under “Reference.”

Doherty Library will be offering workshops on using RefWorks in the fall semester.

Exciting New Resource at Doherty!

Doherty Library has acquired a new exciting resource beginning July 1, 2009 and available for the second summer session. This resource is Credo Reference.

Credo Reference is the dream of those who want to break the Wikipedia habit. Credo has all that Wikipedia has and more. It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s available 24/7 at any computer. Unlike Wikipedia, however, Credo Reference is made up of 401 different resources and all of them are authoritative. When you type a term into Credo, the database searches all 401 resources, so you find a variety of points of view on the same subject. These points of view are all by respected scholars in their fields. Moreover, Credo reference contains specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, and quotation books. Many of these specialized resources can be cited as reliable information in your papers. Credo also has cool features like a measurement converter and a crossword puzzle solver. Credo can be found on the library website under Databases by Title and Databases by Subject. You can also click here and give it a try.

Progress at the Archives

University Archives, Sienna House

The University Archives staff has been very active in developing an Archives web page that now includes finding aids and articles of historical information about the University.

The effort to add material to the Archives web page is ongoing. One example is the posting of a list of the ten presidential administrations of UST and the years of their service. Eight different men served as president; two returned for an additional term. The web page is illustrated with photos of the UST presidents. Two other recent examples include material about the first UST School of Nursing and material about the Office of Student Affairs that have now been posted on the web site.

The Archives staff also compiled a spreadsheet depicting the history of the many structures that UST has acquired, demolished and constructed since 1947. Several blocks of fourteen houses each and the streets surrounding them have been removed to create space for academic and support buildings and to make travel safer and more convenient between the buildings. Also within the Archives is the original of a 1947 letter naming the University. The naming process was quite simple, a single meeting of a committee.

Information concerning the University’s development was researched and posted in an effort to inform students, faculty and the public as to how the University came into existence, who played a critical role, and the events that brought us to the present. Without a knowledge of the University’s history, there will be no understanding of the events that shape our current existence.

The Archives web page can be found as a link on the main Doherty Library web page at http://www.stthom.edu/Public/index.asp?page_ID=4804. You can also contact the Archives staff at 713-525-3895.

African American National Biography

The African American National Biography edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham  compliments our resources the Oxford National Biography and the American National Biography (ANB). When the ANB was re-released in 1999, its editor Casper Grathwohl asked Gates to highlight one of the African Americans listed in the then new edition. Gates found that so many important figures were missing from the ANB, that a completely new encyclopedia would have to be created as its complement; Grathwohl and Gate’s co-editor Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham immediately assented.

Gate’s mentor in African American studies, John Wesley Blassingame, Sr., had been adamant that the discipline of African American studies had to end the cycle of each new scholar having to re-do the work of previous scholars because the earlier work had fallen into obscurity. A complete collection of quality reference books such as encyclopedias, bibliographies and concordances would insure the continuation and accumulation of scholarship in the field. Gates has been responsible for many innovations in the field of African American studies including collections of slave narratives and the discovery of the first novel by an African American, Our Nig by Harriet E. Wilson. The African American National Biography is the culmination of his work to create a solid basis for African American scholarship and will be his greatest contribution for generations to come. The African American National Biography will continue as the primary reference tool in the field as well.  This title is located in our Silent Reading Room.

Chat with a Librarian

Doherty reference librarians have long been available for questions by phone and by email. And of course we are always happy to help researchers in person. But this Fall, the Doherty Reference Department has instituted a new communication venue — Chat. So whether you are at home, at play or even somewhere in the library and don’t want to leave your stuff unattended, send us a question. To participate in Chat, you can find us (and add us to your buddy list) on AIM (DohReference), MSN LiveMessenger (doherty_reference), and Yahoo! Messenger (doherty_reference). You can also connect directly with us through our Meebo account from the Doherty Chat page even if you don’t have a chat account yourself.

We Recommend…

The American Presidency Project

I was recently reminded of the complete awesomeness of
The American Presidency Project web site while building the Political Science research guide for Doherty library. And since some of you may have better things to do than explore our library pathfinders (as if…) I wanted to also feature it in the library’s news blog.

The American Presidency Project began in 1999 as a collaboration between John Woolley and Gerhard Peters at the University of California Santa Barbara. It is an online archive of over 76,800 documents related to the U.S. Presidency. This site is a treasure trove of primary sources, including executive orders & proclamations, state of the union addresses, presidential addresses to the United Nations & to foreign legislatures, press conferences, veto statements, Saturday radio addresses, and more. The archive contains both text and audio, allowing users to listen to everything from FDR’s fireside chats, or his stirring June 6, 1944 “Prayer on D-Day,” all the way up to to George W. Bush’s recent “Address to the Nation on the War in Iraq.” The Project covers all 43 administrations and also includes official public papers of the presidents.

Another feature of the Project is its summary data on presidential elections. Data is currently available from 1828 through the 2004 election. There’s even a special collection of documents related to the 2000 election dispute (Gore v Bush / Florida). Users navigate the site by keyword searching, browsing by catagory or they can go directly to a public paper, execuitve order or proclamation by searching its official number.

Rachel

Doherty Library Acquires Paintings

Elkins Foundation Gift Results in New Art for Doherty Library

The Doherty Library recently purchased two oil on canvas paintings by Eva Carter. The acquisition was made possible by a generous gift from the Elkins Foundation. The works hang side by side on the south wall of the western side of the main lobby. One is titled “Turning Point” (below, on the left) and the other “Emerald” (below, on the right).

The two paintings are representative of Ms. Carter’s abstract expressionist style. ArtNews characterizes her work as “impulsive, wild, and brimming with movement and emotion, yet they [are] too well composed to be completely spontaneous” (December 2004, p.150). With “Turning Point,” Carter “seems to sculpt with color, creating a triple dimensionality through warm advancing reds and whites, contrasted against cool, receding creams and beiges. Every square inch of the canvas has purpose and integrity, cajoling viewers to participate in the forces of energy that seem to pulse before their very eyes.” ( Focus/Santa Fe, January 2005 issue, p.1013). “Emerald” has a similar effect on the viewer, exerting energy and emotion using olive and beige tones. The two works compliment each other nicely, and their abstract style compliments the mid-century modern architecture of the library. We are fortunate to have such fine art displayed at Doherty library.

Eva Carter has had several art exhibitions in Santa Fe and also Charleston, South Carolina and other venues.

 Jim & Rachel

The Greenwood Endowment for Children’s Literature

The Patrick Spann Greenwood Children’s Literature Collection

Does it seem strange for an academic library to have an extensive collection of children’s books? Not to UST education majors seeking curriculum materials for their coursework! Since the 1970’s, the Greenwood endowment has supported the acquisition of material in children’s literature and other materials in the areas of general education and human development related to the curricula offered by the School of Education. The Greenwood collection was made possible by a gift from Mr. and Mrs. N. W. Freeman in memory of their grandson, Patrick Spann Greenwood (1970-1972). Books in the Collection can be recognized by their distinctive memorial bookplate.  A large part of the Collection is found in the children’s literature area of the library’s book stacks (that’s the PZ’s on the 2^nd floor of Doherty). All the children’s books are available for check-out by UST students, faculty and staff. Other materials — general education and human development — are shelved where appropriate throughout the library. UST Education majors as well as all students and library patrons past, present and future benefit greatly from this simple act of generosity by the Freemans.

Rachel

America at a Crossroads: 9/11 Film Series Acquired

America at a Crossroads Documentary Series

This month, the library received twelve documentaries for the Center for International Studies Films and Documentaries Series.  The DVDs are from PBS Home Video:  AMERICA AT A CROSSROADS SERIES.  The films explore “the challenges confronting the post 9/11 world – including the war on terrorism, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the experience of American troops, the struggle for balance within the Islamic world, Muslim life in America, and perspectives on America’s role globally.”  This collection of titles is shelved behind the circulation desk.  The film titles are:
The Brotherhood
The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom
Europe’s 9/11
Faith Without Fear
Gangs of Iraq
JIHAD: The Men and Ideas Behind Al Qaeda
Kansas to Kandahar
The Muslim Americans
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Security Versus Liberty: The Other War
Struggle for the Soul of Islam: Inside Indonesia
Warriors

Dianne

The Slick Endowed Collection in Business Ethics

The Sally S. and William T. Slick, Jr. Endowed Collection in Business Ethics

Over the years, Doherty library at the University of St. Thomas has benefited from the generosity of individuals and families in the form of endowed library collections.  Endowed collections typically set aside a sum of money in trust for the regular purchase of library materials in a particular subject area or genre, thus insuring that that collection will continue to grow in perpetuity.  In 1996, the Sally S. Slick and William T. Slick, Jr. Endowed Collection in Business Ethics was established to create a collection of material in the Doherty Library to support the Center for Business Ethics and the Cullen Trust Endowed Chair in Business Ethics at the University of St. Thomas.  Recent purchases include books about business ethics, social ethics, moral and ethical aspects of corporate culture, conflicts of interest, the role of human conscience in business and corporate history.  Books purchased by this endowment are identified by a bookplate placed in the front of each volume acquired for the collection.  The material is shelved throughout the Doherty library.  To survey our latest purchases for the collection, click the “Endowed Collections” tab in the Doherty library catalog and select the “Slick Collection in Business Ethics.”

Rachel

Bibliography of the History of Art

Bibliography of the History of Art 

The library recently replaced its primary art history indexing source with the Bibliography of the History of Art.  The Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) provides indexing and abstracting to 4,300 periodicals related to the history of art, an increase of over twenty-fold from our previous Arts database.  In addition to articles, BHA also provides subject access to art-related books, conference proceedings, dissertations, art exhibition catalogs and dealer’s catalogs.  The coverage focuses on European and American art from late antiquity to the present.  Indexing encompasses the traditional fine arts – painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, etc. – and architecture, as well as the decorative and applied arts – crafts, graphic arts, folk art, etc.  It is produced by the Getty Research Institute and the Institut de l’Information Scientifique et Technique (INIST).  The BHA includes and greatly extends the coverage of two art indexing and abstracting services.  Its predecessor databases are the RAA (Repertoire d’Art et d’Archéologie) and the RILA (International Repertory of the literature of Art).  Those resources, combined with current indexing & abstracting makes BHA one of the most comprehensive bibliographies of scholarly writing about the history of Western art available.

Rachel

A New Encyclopedia of Philosophy from Macmillan

Encyclopedia of Philosophy  (Macmillan Reference, 2006)

Noted Austrian musicologist Otto Erich Deutsch once observed that “Reference works should initially be published in their 2nd editions.” Doherty library has recently received the 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2006) from Macmillan. The new encyclopedia greatly expands upon the original edition which was published nearly 40-years ago. The original 1967 set, edited by Paul Edwards, consisted of 8 volumes in 2,163 pages. The new edition consists of 10-volumes in 7,799 pages. It contains more than 2,100 entries, including more than 450 completely new articles. A 21-member editorial board oversaw contributions from hundreds of scholars, with Donald M. Borchert of Ohio University acting as editor-in-chief. Some original articles remain, while many more of them were updated by their original authors. Accompanying bibliographies were also updated. Useful new features include a thematically grouped index, e.g. “ancient philosophy” or “philosophy of science,” as well as greatly updated and expanded bibliographical essays on the literature of philosophy. This overview of the secondary literature— the standard dictionaries, encyclopedias, journals and subject bibliographies—may prove particularly useful to beginning scholars.According to a reviewer in Choice, “the second edition better reflects a growing global vision within this field of study to include subject areas that have recently surfaced within academic programs, e.g., applied ethics, feminist philosophy, terrorism, and various national and religious philosophies.” The set also includes over 1,000 biographical entries.

Rachel