Browsing Tag

Libraries

Celebrate Banned Books Week at the UST Libraries

What does the children’s book series ‘Captain Underpants’ have in common with ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’? They both top the 2012 list of most frequently challenged books according to the American Library Association’s State of America’s Library Report 2013. In order to highlight instances of challenges made to books on local levels, the UST Libraries will join thousands of libraries and bookstores across the nation to celebrate the 31st. anniversary of Banned Books Week Sept. 22nd. – Sept. 28th. Since its inception in 1982, Banned Books Week has promoted the idea that while not every book is intended for every reader, each person has the right to decide what to read, listen to or view. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

Throughout the week the university’s libraries will observe Banned Books Week with displays and events in the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library, a “Banned Books Coffee House” discussion lounge, library tours, updates on the UST Libraries Facebook page and an informative UST Banned Books Week website that will link to other libraries, articles and videos that focus on issues of intellectual freedom.

Also returning is the popular Banned Books Week trivia contest (posted on the UST Banned Books website). Test your knowledge each day of the week with a new question about a famous or infamous work of literature. Each day’s winner will be selected randomly from among those with the correct answers and will receive a $5 gift certificate to the UST Bookstore or a popular banned book.

banned_2013

September 17, 2013 by Andrea Koeppe

Kudos, Libraries, News & Events

Welcome, Dr. Sullivan!

We at UST Libraries are excited to welcome our President-Elect and share with her our tradition as “the intellectual and technological crossroads of information resources, teaching, and learning at UST.”

To get started, here are some highlights we hope Dr. Sullivan will find helpful and interesting as she transitions into her new position (and that we thought you library-lovers out there might like to check out, too!):

Our Newly-Designed Website and Online Resources

Providing easy-to-use mini research portals to through our Google-like Summon search engine, catalog, research Subject Guides, and more. Read more about it here.

Great Scholarship

USTRO

UST Research Online, our online reseach repository, is a wonderful place to familiarize yourself with the work being done by faculty and students

Virtual Tours and Histories of St Thomas

University Archives Photograph Collection contains a fascinating array of images related to the school’s history

Historic Walking Tour of the Saint Paul campus is a great way to get oriented with the history of the campus – can you find the pictures of Lake Mennith?

Written Histories of St. Thomas and the Saint Paul Seminary:

There have been many books written about UST. Here are two of the most popular:

Journey Toward Fulfillment (1986) by Joseph Connors
To Work for the Whole People (2002) by M. Christine Athans

More can be found in the University Archives.

*For more information about our President-Elect, Dr Julie Sullivan, please visit the St Thomas Newsroom.

February 14, 2013 by

Libraries

Sunday Nights Live: Librarian Edition!

lauraface

It’s Sunday night.

You have a project due tomorrow and you still need one more article.

Who ya gonna call?

That’s right – the library!

Specifically, you can now chat with me, since I’ll be the UST Librarian on call from 7pm-10pm on Sunday evenings.

Due to high demand, we have decided that starting Spring 2013 we at UST Libraries will add three more hours of reference services to our normal schedule. I, Laura Hansen, will be available every Sunday evening to help you with anything you might need.

Think you can stump me?!

To reach me, feel free to use any of the standard methods on the “Ask a Librarian” section of our new library website. Although I won’t be physically at the library, I’ll be available via phone, email, IM chat, Skype, text, and even tweet (you can reach any UST Librarian these ways during our other reference hours, too!)

ask_a_librarian

*Note: Even when UST Librarians aren’t on duty, you can always get help through our 24/7 AskMN Service.

February 7, 2013 by

Archbishop Ireland Library, Charles J. Keffer Library, Libraries, New Materials, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library, Uncategorized

UST Libraries Embarks on New Ebook Initiative

Demand Driven Acquisition/Patron Driven Acquisition pilot project has started at the University of St. Thomas.

What does that mean? Liaisons in Business, Education and Psychology have hand-crafted profiles with Coutts/Ingram for the purposes of identifying and adding ebook records to CLICnet in those 3 disciplines. We won’t own these – AND they are available for use. We will own them once the third user goes into the book itself or the index (not the cover page or table of contents). The books should all be able to be used by more than one person at a time, but we could not limit our profile to only downloadable – until more publishers are on board. The sample size would have been too small.

These should all work and act like all other MyiLibrary books.

Questions?

Ask Linda Hulbert (lahulbert@stthomas.edu) or 651-962-5016 if she doesn’t know the answer, she’ll make a good one up! On the spot!

January 22, 2013 by

Charles J. Keffer Library, Libraries, News & Events

Keffer 2.0 – Under Construction!

For those of you who haven’t heard, in the next few months Keffer library will be undergoing some renovations. Later this spring, we will be reopening as “Keffer 2.0.”

Keffer staff have been working hard to prepare for this change. Throughout it all, our main goal is to keep library services and staff available as usual. This has meant moving books, the circulation desk, reference desk, reference collection, and more to temporary locations within the library.

But most importantly, we’re still open! Library access is still available through elevators moving between the first and second levels. Once you reach the lower level, we are ready and waiting as usual to help you with whatever research or other help you may need. We’re extremely grateful for your flexibility as all the construction goes on around us!

To satisfy your curiosity about what’s going on as you work around us, this week has been the start of the more major moving and demolition. Carpets have been lifted up, walls knocked down, and in general, the space is being prepped for Keffer 2.0.

You may also have noticed how the reference desk has been relocated to room 130. It and many other materials have moved into nooks and crannies around the library; feel free to ask any library staff if you are having troubles finding anything.

When construction is finished, we will reopen with the majority of library services located on the second, skyway level. Plans are underway for the lower level to contain the book and periodical stacks as well as a quiet reading area.

Again, we’re extremely grateful for your flexibility and patience as we stay open for business throughout construction! Despite all of the change, our focus continues to be providing quality services and research help to the UST community, and we at Keffer are happy to help you with whatever you need.

In the meantime, please feel free to stay tuned for future construction updates; we’ll try to post updated photos to our Facebook page as they’re available.

We look forward to reopen as the “new” Keffer library later this spring!

January 11, 2012 by

Business & Economics, Libraries, News & Events, Uncategorized

It’s baaaack: The PNC Christmas Price Index!

CPI

Did you know? Each holiday season, your favorite UST business librarians anxiously await the release of one of our favorite traditions:the PNC “Christmas Price Index!”

The PNC CPI tracks how much it would cost to buy each of the 78 gifts in “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” PNC has been doing this every year since 1984, so they really know their stuff. For those of you who aren’t some of my amazing Finance students, this CPI is a play on the “Consumer Price Index,” which tracks the changes in price of goods and services like housing, clothing, food, and transportation that reflect American consumers’ spending habits.

PNC makes a fun website every year depicting their CPI and allowing us to discover the costs of each individual gift; this year we get to hop aboard the “Index Express” railway. As we travel through “Fluctuation Farm,” “Inflation Station,” “Index Falls,” and “Percentage Peak” to hear how the golden rings, partridges in pear trees, ladies dancing, and more are faring in the markets.

CPI Express

And the results? The 2011 CPI increased by 3.5% over last year – to (drummers drumming please):

$24,263.18

The largest increases were for the poultry this year: the Two Turtle Doves (25%) the Partridge in the Pear Tree (14.2%), the Swans-a-Swimming (12.5%), and Geese-a-Laying (8%). The Four Calling Birds were left out of this trend, with a 13.3% decrease. Four French Hens remained constant at $150, as did the price of Ladies Dancing ($6,294.03) and Lords-a-Leaping ($4766.70), although the dancers did get a large salary increase last year. And, as some of you who follow the markets might predict, the cost of everyone’s perennial favorite, Five Golden Rings, is at $645 – a decrease of 0.8% from last year.

cpigraphic

If you do a Summon search on the Twelve Days of Christmas, there are nearly 73,000 items – which is an increase of over 325% from last year! Included are thousands of books, videos, music, and more to help get you in a holiday spirit (and perhaps help you out of finals doldrums?) from some our favorite authors and artists. Check them out!

Happy Holidays!

December 8, 2011 by

News & Events

Visit the world’s most beautiful libraries

People can speculate about the demise of physical libraries and print collections but as of right now a room full of Kindles can not inspire this kind of beauty. Not that the UST libraries are so shabby, but if you would like to view some truly spectacular photos of libraries from around the world click here.

December 14, 2009 by Andrea Koeppe