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St. Thomas Libraries Blog

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

Library to host Concerts in November and December

  • Joan GriffithJoan Griffith (Photo by Mike Ekern ’02)
     
  • Please mark your calendars for November and December concerts in the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library.  You are all invited to these performances  – and you are welcome to come and go as your schedule allows.  Refreshments will be provided and we hope to see you!
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    • Tuesday, Nov. 20
      3:30-4:30 p.m. in the library coffee shop lobby: Guitarist Joan Griffith, UST Music Department, and Twin Cities pianist Laura Caviani will perform an acoustical concert of jazz and Latin music.

     

    • Wednesday, Nov. 28
      1:45-2:30 p.m. in the O’Shaughnessy (“leather”) Room (108): The UST Guitar Ensemble, under the direction of Joan Griffith, will play an informal concert of guitar music. Selections will include classical music, jazz, Latin and original works.

     

    • Tuesday, Dec. 4
      Noon-12:30 p.m. in the library rotunda: The UST Women’s Choir, under the direction of Dr. Robert Vickery, will sing holiday music (an annual St. Thomas tradition). The concert will include some audience singalongs.

     

    • Thursday, Dec. 6
      2-3 p.m. in the O’Shaughnessy (“leather”) Room (108): The UST String Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Matthew George, returns to the library for a concert of classical music. Selections will be chosen from: “Sinfonia in G-dur,” Albinoni; “Hungarian Dances from the 17th Century,” Ference; “Capriol,” Warlock; “Sinfonietta,” Genzmer; and “Mourão,” Guerra-Peixe.

 

  • Questions?   Please contact Karen Batdorf at 962-5401.
November 19, 2012 by
Database Highlights & Trials, News & Events

Core Curriculum – Human Diversity

See, that’s the great thing about America – our diversity. It gives us a depth that the old world doesn’t quite have yet.  While they have centuries of history on us, we have this wide spectrum of what it means to be an American.  So you are required to take a human diversity class.  And in that class you’re required to do some library research.  We have got this totally covered – some of these resources are really unique and interesting, so even if you’ve already fulfilled this requirement, you still might wanna check out:

E pluribus unum, baby.  E pluribus unum.

November 16, 2012 by
Database Highlights & Trials, News & Events

Journal of Visual Experiments (JoVE) Available Online via UST Libraries

JoVEThe Chronicle of Higher Education has a nice article on the online Journal of Visual Experiments (JoVE).  JoVE is an entirely new scholarly publication format, combining journal article and video documentary of scientific experimental methods.

The UST Libraries recently subscribed to this video journal to support our science disciplines. Note that while the Chronicle article mentions that JoVE is published in five topical and one general section, UST at this time can only afford to subscribe to the general section (watch for the “G” icon in search results). Articles from JoVE are indexed in PubMed and other indices.

Each article presents citation information, an abstract, links to video “chapters”, and other features in addition to the video article itself.  JoVE is available via our databases page, the Journals A-Z list, several science discipline research guides, and directly at: http://www.jove.com.ezproxy.stthomas.edu/general.

JoVE article

JoVE cartoon

October 31, 2012 by
Database Highlights & Trials

Hurricane Sandy

Just because we’re landlocked and nearly as smack-dab in the middle of the country as you can get, don’t think for one minute you’ll be completely free of Hurricane Sandy’s wrath.  No matter how far the distances, we are living in a very small and connected world.  What happens on the eastern seaboard can most definitely impact us as we go about our daily lives. Power outages effecting the major grids on the east coast can impact our grids out here in the midwest.  Those outages will require server farms located out east to rely on backup generators – but how long can those last?   There’s an interesting infographic that shows what could happen should a major hurricane hit the cloud. We subscribe to thousands of eresources – databases, ebooks, ejournals.  Some of them may be housed on the east coast.  We may lose access to some of our subscriptions.  There’s no way to predict.  I guess I just want to make everyone aware that there may be Internet outages because of the storm and just to stay flexible and patient while those who are in the thick of it work things out.

We suspect that we were already hit with one such scenario this weekend.  EStatement Studies, a resource that has financial ratios, was down on Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday.  They are located in Philadelphia.  Their offices are closed today because of Sandy.  Chances are they were making preparations for the upcoming storm and moving or migrating content.  This is just speculation on our part, but it makes sense. EStatment Studies came back up yesterday afternoon and is working fine now. In fact, we’ve heard from several of our vendors that their offices are closed and to please be patient. They wanted to allow their “employees and their families to prepare for and remain safe in the severe weather.”*

On the flip side, while we brace ourselves for the possibility of losing content, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have opened their paywalls for unlimited free access during the storm.  The headline was catchy: Hurricane Sandy blows down paywalls at NY Times, WSJ.

Still report all access problems to any database, ebook or ejournal, but also just try to remember that it’s a small world and things may not be working for us here because they’re REALLY not going well somewhere else.

*Email correspondence from Johns Hopkins Project Muse rep.

October 29, 2012 by
Libraries, News & Events, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library

Telos Project Today, November 29: Dr. Carol Bruess, Communication and Journalism

All are welcome to join the discussion this Thursday, November 29, in the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library at Noon.  Come to Room 108 and participate in the Telos Project Discussion Series where this week you will learn about Communication and Journalism from the viewpoint of Dr. Carol Bruess.  Sharing with students the importance of her areas of expertise, Dr. Bruess will also give her perspective on why a liberal arts education is important.

The Telos Project is an effort to bring a renewed focus on a crucial aspect of the University of St. Thomas’ commitment to the pursuit of truth: the integration of knowledge across disciplines. It is the purpose of The Telos Project to re-introduce to the St. Thomas community the dialogue and discussion that is essential for any intellectual community.

Meetings take place on Thursdays, from Noon to 1pm, in the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library. Each week a professor from a different department givea a brief but provocative presentation on (a) what his/her discipline is, (b) what attracted him/her to it, and (c) why the larger UST community should care. The meetings will take place in the O’Shaughnessy Room, (Rm 108) and will follow this format:

•12:00 – 12:15: Introduction by professor to his/her discipline and area of expertise.
•12:15 – 1:00: Discussion and conversation among/between students and faculty.

Refreshments will be provided – we hope you will join us.

October 24, 2012 by
Database Highlights & Trials

TRIAL – Docuseek2

Cindy Badilla-Melendez writes:
Docuseek2 is an online streaming video collection delivering about 180 titles from Bullfrog films and Icarus Films. Subjects include Environmental Studies, Social Sciences, Political Science, Latin America, Globalization, Earth sciences, Indigenous People, Sustainability and more. Be aware: for the purpose of this trial, this database only can be accessed on campus. If you have any questions or comments , please contact the Media Librarian, Cindy Badilla-Melendez.

Ends 11/25/12.

October 23, 2012 by
Libraries, News & Events, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library, Uncategorized

UST Libraries Successful in Promotion of Voter Registration

Over the course of 4 days (16+ hours) library staff/students registered 430+ voters. Today, October 16, was the last day to pre-register.

Look for a display on November 5th-6th, reminding patrons to vote, provide sample ballots, assist with locating polling places, and info regarding same day registration.

Special thanks go to Nathan Wunrow (O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library circulation supervisor and reserves coordinator) and all who participated and supported this initiative.

Additional reading:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/us/politics/more-colleges-take-a-leap-into-voter-registration.html?_r=1&google_editors_picks=true

October 16, 2012 by
Libraries, News & Events, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library

Library Tours On Demand

Hello Your Librarian is Jane Doe

You stream videos on demand – why not tour the library when you need it most? 

Monday, October 15th through Friday, October 19th library staff will be launching Library Tours On-Demand, a 15 minute tour of library resources when you need it most! Library staff will be seated at the entrance of O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library between 11:00 am and 4:00 pm introducing students to this new service and giving tours. 

What is included in the tour?  
It’s not your average architectural and stained glass window tour; in 15 minutes you will know how to discover and locate books, articles, journals, online resources, and microfilm. Don’t know what microfilm is? You’ll find out!

Why should I spend 15 minutes on a library tour? 
When it’s down to the wire and you have 9 hours and 33 minutes to pump out an eight page paper on DNA fingerprinting who are you going to turn to? Your research librarian, whose contact information you will now have.

 

 

 

October 14, 2012 by
Database Highlights & Trials

TRIAL – New international newspaper database

How often have you read a story about an important news event taking place in another part of the world and wanted to know more about it? Or what about wanting to know how world events are perceived in other parts of the world as opposed to the North American perspective? The Access World News Research Collection from Newsbank provides full text access to over 6,000 international news sources including newspapers, newswires and magazines.

You may enter keywords or phrases just as you would any other article database –

 

 

The real power of this database is the ability to take the topic you want to learn about and then pick the news sources you want to use.  You can start out broad and look for newspaper sources from all over the world, you may choose to search specific regions such as all of Asia, or you may decide to drill down to specific countries.  You may choose the countries you would like to search with menus or you can click on colorful maps that put the countries you are interested in into context with the rest of the region.

 

 

 

 

Finally, if you decided that you wanted to get a very local perspective instead of a larger, global view of an event, you can use The Access World News Research Collection to search North American and state sources.  Just as you can click on individual countries to find their newspapers, so you can click on states for regional stories and opinions.  This way you can read views on the Arab Spring from as far away as Kazakhstan, or as close to home as Delano, MN.

In full disclosure, the University of St. Thomas does already have two databases that contain the same level of international and local news coverage,  however after trialing this database I have to say that this beats them both in terms of ease of use.  If you have used either Factiva or Lexis-Nexis before I believe you will find The Access World News Research Collection a breathe of fresh air.  And if you have not searched either of those news databases then I think you are in for a treat.

 

Either way I would love to hear your opinion!  This trial will continue for three months so you have plenty of time to explore and compare it to what we currently own.  Regardless if you agree with me or not, I would love to hear your opinion!  Please send any and all comments or questions you have to me.

October 2, 2012 by