Maybe you popped over to the Science Museum of Minnesota to see their Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit this summer.

And just maybe it spurred a HUGE interest in finding out more about the scrolls, life during the time of Jesus, or Judaism. According to the SMM, “the scrolls have a profound impact of Christianity, Judaism, the Muslim faith, and you’ll see examples of how their words have echoed in these three great religions for 200 years.”

We at the UST libraries are pleased to be able to help you find out more about some of the oldest surviving written documents by offering you 24/7 access to The Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  To supplement that, we have many other resources that may be of interest.    The Encyclopedia of Religion puts the Dead Sea Scrolls within the context of the major world religions.  The Encyclopedia Judaica can answer your questions about Judaism.   The Oxford Islamic Studies Online gives you background information on the Islamic world.  And the Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus include articles on life during the time of Jesus, as well as the life of Jesus.

These are just a few of the hundreds of e-books we have on religion.  Using this Reference Resource tool you can do keyword searches to find more e-books on religion or history or just about any topic you can think of.  (Please note, you are not searching the content of e-books, simply the titles and subject headings of e-books).

For those of you still interested in seeing the Science Museum exhibit, you still have time.  The Dead Sea Scrolls ends October 24, 2010.

The library is proud to present the beta version of Summon – a new discovery tool that allows you to search many (but not all) library resources the same way you search the free web.

Summon retrieves citations from most, but not all, of the library resources; each citation includes a link to either the online version of the item or a link to a record that indicates where a paper (or microfilm) version is located within the UST Libraries.

It works by indexing content from thousands of publishers.  Then it retrieves results from publishers with whom we have agreements.  Summon doesn’t index content from all publishers, nor do we have agreements with all publishers.  So in many cases you’ll still want to use subject-specific databases to find more info.  But when you don’t know where to start, Summon is a good place.

You can find all types of resources in this one single search.

Stay posted for more news on this new resource.  In the meantime, give it a whirl.  Keep in mind that we’re still in the beta phase, testing it and tweaking it so that we get maximum return.

Have you ever been forced to take a position on a (probably controversial) topic?  Have you ever been asked to write a paper in favor of something?  Or opposed to something else?  Well, let’s say you have.  And let’s say you didn’t really have all of the background information to take a stand, or really didn’t have an opinion one way or another.  We here at the library have got you covered.  We have several resources that offer a pro/con position on a wide variety of social issues and controversial topics.

Issues & Controversies offers in-depth investigations of today’s top issues.   Each article states the issue and gives a statement for or against it.  Then the article goes into detail supporting those positions.  This resource also offers editorial cartoons.  If you search on a topic (instead of choosing from their list of issues) you’ll get a tab that offers editorial cartoons.  I looked through ’em.  Meh.  I guess I was expecting more edge, but I thought the ones they chose were kinda doughy.  However, if you’re looking for pro/con info… Issues & Controversies sums it up pretty well.

Points of View does pretty much the same thing as Issues & Controversies.   Each topic is treated with an overview, point and  counterpoint.  However,  it doesn’t do the whole point/counterpoint as well as Jane Curtain and Dan Ackroyd did. In addition to offering summaries, periodicals, newspapers,  and books, PoV has news transcripts (but only NPR and CBS), primary source documents (which is mostly congressional transcripts), and images.

Opposing Viewpoints offers a ton of content on controversial topics.  Like the others, the content here is divided by type of resource.  There are viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.  It, too, has NPR transcripts, but these include audio files as well.

After doing the legwork and getting all the facts, I’m going to publicly state that I am pro library resources that focus on pro/con issues.  I know it’s a highly controversial position and that it could start a flame war, but I’m taking this position and I’m steadfast in my resolution.

Do you just not get sometimes?  It’s understandable.  You often, but not always,  get content with  .  But even if you don’t get the article, you always get choices.

was designed to connect all 300+ databases to all 47,000+ journals (both print and e-journals).  It’s not perfect (it’s very complicated, is what it is),  but when it works it’s pretty good.

If you see , click it to find out if UST owns the journal that the article is in – we don’t own every single journal that is indexed in our various resources.  If we own that journal electronically, you’ll be able to read the article where you are.  If we own it in print, you’ll have to come into the library to read the article.

When all pistons are firing and works, you will see something like this – the full-text of the article you were looking for.  Woo hoo!

That is, you’ll be taken directly to the article (if it’s in an e-journal).  Now that would always happen in a perfect world.  But, my little lambs, this world is far from perfect.  Sometimes you get this instead – no results were found.  <insert “Debbie Downer” sound here>

It sometimes happens that no results were found.  Just look up – no, not there – but at the top of the screen.  It says, “Full-text not found?  GET ADDITIONAL RESOURCES” which allows you to find the article a different way.  Hey… choices are good.

This article wasn’t available in the first result (Ebsco’s MegaFILE) but it was in the second and third (General Business File ASAP and LexisNexis Academic).  If those had failed too, you could click on the JOURNAL link, choose the volume/issue to see if that article was even included in the full-text format – not all of them are.  (Check it out – you just got another choice – looking up the journal).

If we simply don’t own that journal, you get options for ordering it.  What? You say… ANOTHER choice?  You spoil us. I know, but you deserve it.

You can order it through ILLiad – which means we find it for you at another library.  Or you can check CLICnet to see if one of the local libraries has it.  If so,  just go there and get it.  And don’t forget – NEVER FORGET – we’re here to help you.  Asking a librarian is also an option.

Now that you’re all keyed up about , you can find out more through the FAQ.

As you are probably aware, March is Women’s History Month.  Here in the library I like to celebrate that by visiting my favorite resource devoted to women, the always informative Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, which you might think is simply a collection of biographies of famous women.  It’s so much more than that though.  In addition to the biographies it covers geography and history; comparative culture and society; organizations and movements; women’s and gender studies; and topics in world history.  The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History includes an article on the International Red Cross.  Yep, you guessed it, March is also American Red Cross month.

In addition to the above, March also happens to be Frozen Food Month.  Mmm…  And in celebration of that fact, I thought you might be curious to read the history of General Mills, one of our local companies and owners of Green Giant.   The International Directory of Company Histories gives great background on companies – from their humble beginnings, through their empire-building years, right up through the present.  Included are subsidiaries, divisions, and competitors.  For those of you who don’t have time to read, this resource allows you to download the article to an mp3 player.   

Without Googling (or using the International Directory of Company Histories), what was the name of Green Giant’s sidekick?  Now you might be curious about the current state of the frozen food industry in the US.   Business & Company Resource Center includes both industry overviews and company overviews.   And taking it a step further, Market Share Reporter shows you that Green Giant currently holds 3.93% of the frozen broccoli market.

And of course, St. Patrick’s Day is in March, therefore March is also Irish American History Month.  The Dictionary of Irish Biography will help you celebrate in style.  For those of you who need to take it down a notch after all that excitement, you might want to flip through the Irish Times, “Ireland’s only independent newspaper.”  It goes back to 1859 (and up through 2008), so come prepared with a cup o’ joe.  Stop by the coffee shop on the first floor of the OSF library to celebrate National Caffeine Awareness Month.  A shot of caffeine will help to heighten your awareness and get you through 149 years of the Irish Times.

Told you it was a busy month!

The Oxford English Dictionary, that venerable lexical institution, has a stodgy, old world reputation.  But you might be surprised to learn that it adds words with great regularity.  In fact, just this month they added arf, among other interjections.  In December 2009 they added blogosphere and in September… (wait for it…) anyhoo.  Those hepcats at OED sure have their finger on the pulse!  In 2001 they added d’oh.  Interestingly enough, d’oh‘s history can be traced back to 1945.  Or maybe, on second thought, that’s not so interesting.  But… yeah, I got nothing.   Anyway, when you want something to back up the Urban Dictionary, don’t forget about the Oxford English Dictionary.