Yearly Archives

2013

Summertime and the reading is easy!

Hey, UST-ers! Graduation is over, the Class of 2013 is on its way to becoming productive members of the “real world” and summer has arrived in Minnesota. Okay, so the last one might be a bit of a stretch, but even if it’s not beach-y outside, you can still get plenty of R-n-R at the library this summer.

If you’re taking a little break during Summer I, don’t forget we have lots of stuff to keep you entertained: leisure books are arriving regularly. We also have Kindle ebook readers for you to check out!

If you’re sticking around and taking classes during summer, we’ve got stuff for you, too! Our reference services will still be available for all of your research questions! This summer, we will so please come and chat with us.

Just as a reminder: The O’SF library will be open seven days a week during both summer sessions. Here are UST library hours. Coffee Bene will be back in September. We miss them too!

May 30, 2013 by kmburke

A Humanist Apologizes to Numbers

A fun article from the Chronicle Review by Jon Volkmer. Here’s a taste, from the beginning of the article:

“On behalf of word people everywhere, I hereby extend this general apology to numbers. We have not always counted you as friends. I myself, an educator of the literary persuasion, have sometimes failed to live up to my pan-disciplinary liberal-arts ideals. I am tacitly complicit when advisees use foul invective in re the math requirement. I break out in hysterical yawning in the presence of anisotropic fractional maximals.

In my defense, numbers have not always been nice to me, either. I think it started with that C-plus in algebra. Numbers still seem, at times, downright vindictive. At tax time, for instance. Or when I step on a scale. My idea of an irrational number is what I see in my checkbook after paying the bills each month.”

Right up my poli sci major alley.

May 30, 2013 by

News & Events

Congratulations to the University of St. Thomas Class of 2013!

Whether you finished in four years, are celebrating as a super-senior, or transferred in from another school, the O’SF library extends a big UST Congrats to all the graduating seniors this weekend! We truly hope the O’SF library was a positive part of your time here at St. Thomas, and we’re sure gonna miss seeing your smiling faces (studying is fun, right?) in the library!

If you are graduating, you don’t have to entirely say goodbye to the library, though! We’ve got great resources for graduates! Check out our library services for Alumni.

You can also keep up with the latest in O’SF Library happenings by following us on Twitter, and liking us on Facebook. (We know you’re gonna be nostalgic for the all-nighters you pulled here. It’s okay to admit it. We get it.)

If you’re not graduating yet, don’t fret! We have plenty of awesome stuff in store for the summer and next school year, too. Keep in touch, come say hello, and stake out your prime study space for next fall! Remember, we’ll be closed this Sunday and Monday for graduation/Memorial weekend, but we’ll be back up and running on Tuesday, May 28 for Summer hours.

Thank you, seniors, for helping make our work at the library special and important. After all, the library is here to support YOU! Good luck to all the graduates as you embark on your next adventure. And remember, you’ve always got a friend in the O’SF library!

May 22, 2013 by kmburke

Art, Database Highlights & Trials, Services

Featured Librarian: Kate Burke

It’s time for the third in our Featured Librarian series!

This week I spoke to Kate Burke, a reference and student experience librarian at the St Paul campus. You’ll see her in a wide variety of classes as well as heading up many of the fun activities that happen around the libraries. Here is what she had to say:

What departments are you a liaison for?
I am responsible for Art History, Philosophy, Air Force ROTC, Mathematics, Physics, Geography, and Geographic Information Systems and Computer and Information Sciences.
What resource – in your topic area – do you think is the coolest?
I love ARTstor
What’s one cool thing that resource can do?
ARTstor can be used by all students to help them create awesome presentation using fabulous artwork

Getting to know Kate…

What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Chocolate Chip.
Who is your favorite author?
I love Jane Austen and Sue Grafton.
Do you prefer the Minnesota Twins or the St Paul Saints?
As a native St. Paulite, I am going with the Saints.
Is there something random about you that you’d like us to know?
I make a wicked Angel Food cake. There is no box involved. It is completely homemade. All my children ask me to make it for their birthdays.

Kate may be contacted by email, or by phone at (651) 962-5027. See more information about her on the library website.

May 22, 2013 by

Database Highlights & Trials, News & Events, Political Science, Services

Featured Librarian: Linda Hulbert

It’s time to feature another UST Librarian! Linda Hulbert wears many hats around UST Libraries; as both a subject liaison and the Associate Director of Collection Management and Services, she oversees quite a few resources. Let’s see what she has to say about her favorites…

What departments are you a liaison for? Political science and General
What resource – in your topic area – do you think is the coolest?
OK! I love The New York Times Historical.
What’s one cool thing that resource can do?
I don’t know that it’s the best resource for my students who work in the area – but I do know that it is so cool to have current events and see when the first time certain terms were used – like suicide bomber. I love the fact that you can look at how the country was looking at events contemporaneously – like the Civil War. For my political science research, I also really like the papers in CQ Researcher.

Getting to know Linda:

HNYT

What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Anything with chocolate, fudge, and caramel
Who is your favorite author?
I have to many: William Styron for Sophie’s Choice; Graham Greene for Quiet American; Maeve Binchy for wonderful warm fiction; Elizabeth George – Lynley mysteries; Rushdie – Enchantress of Florence.
Do you prefer the Minnesota Twins or the St Paul Saints?
Neither. Baseball, meh – now let’s talk about the Packers!
Is there something random about you that you’d like us to know?
I have a one year old grandson, and one on the way – so fun!

Linda can be contacted for research assistance or classroom sessions by email, or by phone at (651) 962-5016. See more information about her on the library website.

May 15, 2013 by

Libraries, News & Events, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library

Final Telos Project Panel Discussion – May 16 at Noon – Room 309

You are all invited to come to the last Telos Project session of the year – this time it will be a four-person panel made up of:

Dr. Jill Manske, Biology

Dr. Marty Johnston, Physics

Dr. Carol Bruess, COJO

and Dr. Christopher Michaelson, Business Law

Each of these professors has been a featured speaker during the year-long series – come back for a final visit. We will be in Room 309 of the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library – come to the third floor and follow the signs – see you soon!

May 14, 2013 by

Business & Economics, Database Highlights & Trials, Services

Featured Librarian: Marianne Hageman

Welcome to new series here on the blog: the Featured Librarian!

We figured it would be fun for everyone to know who we are and, along the way, learn a bit about what we love about the place we work. First up is Marianne Hageman, a business librarian who works mainly on the St Paul campus.

Here are some answers she gave in a recent interview:

What departments are you a liaison for?
I’m a liaison librarian for business, specializing in (but not limited to) marketing resources. I’m also liaison for the advertising and PR side of COJO.
What resource – in your topic area – do you think is the coolest?
That’s hard, since we have so many cool resources. But I’ll give a huzzah to MRI+ Mediamark Reporter, the demographics database.
What’s one cool thing that resource can do?
MRI+ can give you information on who buys what, and then ties that to different characteristics, including what magazines people read and the kinds of television programs they watch. There’s a separate section for teen data, and it’s pretty cool (or creepy, depending on how you look at it) to see what teens like to eat for breakfast.
Who is your favorite author?
I can’t limit it to just one! A favorite author from childhood is Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the “Anne of Green Gables” books and so much more. She’s a great comfort read. A favorite British author, recently deceased, is Diana Wynne Jones, who wrote “Howl’s Moving Castle” (made into a film by Hayao Miyazaki (it’s a great film, but the book is better.) A favorite Minnesota author is Lois McMaster Bujold; I’m working on reading all of her books this year. If you ask me tomorrow, I might have a different list.

Marianne can be contacted for research assistance or classroom sessions by email, or by phone at (651) 962-5404. See more information about her, and schedule a research consultation, on the library website.

May 8, 2013 by

News & Events

The World’s Strongest Librarian

Here is a new memoir of a librarian who does some great bashing of professional stereotypes. John Hanagarne is a librarian in Utah. Here is a link for the full article at New Yorker.

May 6, 2013 by kmburke

News & Events

May Day Images from ARTstor

May Day has many different meanings for people all over the world. It started as a spring festival to celebrate the warmer weather. Now May Day is identified with labor rights. Here are a few images from Artstor that reflect the festival nature of the day.

May 1, 2013 by kmburke

Database Highlights & Trials

Looking for paintings by Pieter Claesz?

Whenever you are looking for art, it’s easiest and fastest to search Summon for the artist’s name. Then you simply limit to painting or image (or art or drawing or photograph… you get my point). Here’s how it works. From the library homepage, use the Summon tab to search your artist:

I chose Picasso cuz he’s one of my favorites. Once you get the results, click MORE under CONTENT TYPE to limit to images.

Depending on the artist, you’ll have a lot of image types to choose from. Click as many as you like.

You might have to play with your pop-ups. If asked, permanently allow pop-ups from this provider.

You can even search by the title of a painting or photograph (or any type of work of art) if you’d like to get more specific. These images are coming mostly from ArtSTOR, which you can search separately. If you search ArtSTOR directly you can create albums (after you sign in) and save images to albums. You can also take ArtSTOR on the road with its mobile app. You have to first create an account in ArtSTOR in order to use the mobile app.

We have a lot of really cool art resources. For your one-stop shop on background information, you cannot go wrong with Oxford Art. It’s very thorough and includes the once-famous Grove Dictionary of Art & Artists. But Oxford Art is bigger than even Grove. If it’s articles you have a hankerin’ for, a quick search in Art Full Text will get you what you need. I already told you about ArtSTOR.

If you’re not keen on using multiple tools, just stay in Summon for all of your information needs. For example, if you want background info on an artist, choose REFERENCE as a content type. Reference is the same as dictionaries and encyclopedias. In the case of art, you’ll find articles from Oxford Art by searching Summon and limiting CONTENT TYPE to REFERENCE. If it’s articles, stay in Summon and limit to SCHOLARLY JOURNALS INCLUDING PEER REVIEWED. And if you want images, well… I already covered that.

This all actually came about because a student was recently looking for works by Pieter Claesz. There were 31 found in Summon. All paintings. Here’s one of ’em. When I limited to REFERENCE information, I found him mentioned in the “Encyclopedia of Death and the Human Experience” in an article called “Symbols of Death and Memento Mori.”

May 1, 2013 by

Older Posts

Newer Posts