During Fall 2013 the Library is piloting a new service which offers students the option to check out films for a 48-hour loan period. This gives students the convenience of viewing films outside of regular Library hours. The success of this pilot will determine if the service continues.
The library owns thousands of DVDs which may be used for home viewing or research. Films do not have public performance rights, so they may not be shown publicly at club/group meetings. Some films are Reserved for use in the Library and will not be part of this pilot.
To find out if a film you’d like to see is available, search the catalog for the title, and choose DVD or VHS under the Format heading to restrict the search. You can also search by keyword to find films on a particular topic, like Physics.
So if you missed a popular film like Life of Pi, or you need more information for that paper you’re writing, see what Media Resources has to offer.
What would you expect to find when you woke up after being cryogenically frozen for 200 years?
See Woody Allen’s slapstick vision of the future in one of his funniest films.
Swank Motion Pictures describes Sleeper as the story of health-food store owner Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) who enters the hospital for a routine gall bladder operation. When he expires on the operating table, Miles’ sister requests permission to cryogenically freeze her brother’s body. After 200 years, Miles is unwrapped by a group of scientists and awakens to a “brave new world” of deadening conformity, ruled with an iron fist by a never-seen leader. Miles is forced to flee for his life when the scientists — actually a group of revolutionary activists — are overpowered by the leader’s police. Stop in to find out what happens next…
Join us on Wednesday September 25, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library. Jean Lenville, Assistant Dean of the Library, will lead a discussion following the film. The event is open to the public and free of charge. Light refreshments will be served.
We encourage all our University community members to submit “Your Scranton Story” in celebration of the University’s 125 years. At the end of the year, we’ll be capturing the Scranton Stories in our web archives, preserving your memories for the 150th anniversary and beyond.
Weinberg Memorial Library’s Reilly Learning Commons Sheli McHugh (Cataloging and Metadata Librarian & Reilly Learning Commons Coordinator)
Bonnie Oldham (Information Literacy Coordinator)
October 15, 2013 – 12:00-1:00PM in WML 305
In this session, Librarians Oldham and McHugh will talk about how the Library is developing its new Reilly Learning Commons. (Have you played with the Library’s new touch table near Java City?) They will define what a Learning Commons is and discuss trends within other Library Learning Commons. They will also explain why the Library decided to create one and share the ongoing collaborative process to design a space that is deeply responsive to our institutional mission and focused on student learning. A light lunch will be provided.
Wearable Technology: The Next Big Trend Joseph Casabona (System Integrator & Web Developer)
November 13, 2013 – 12:00-1:00PM in WML 305
As more wearable devices (Google Glass, Jawbone Up, Fitbit, the Pebble Watch, etc) hit the market, it’s important to understand what they do and how they are being used. At this session, we will answer those questions plus explain how they are being used in higher-ed. There will be a live demo of Google Glass and more. A light lunch will be provided.
Sessions are open to all University faculty and staff, but seats are limited, so please let us know you are coming. You can register at www.scranton.edu/ctleregistration – under Technology on Your Own Terms.
You may notice a few physical changes on the first floor of the Library when you return this semester. The most noticeable changes are in the Pro Deo room by Java City. Through a considerable donation for the Library’s 20th Anniversary last year, we were able to purchase an Ideum Platform Multitouch Table. The Multitouch Table runs on Windows 8 and has several apps installed. You can view photos from the Library’s Flickr stream, look at images of Hurricane Sandy’s effects on the Jersey Shore, view the landscapes of the planets in our solar system, put a puzzle together, and more! We will be working on adding apps and customizing programs for the device throughout the year. If you have any suggestions for the Multitouch Table, please, let us know. We are excited to see how you use the table and all its capabilities.
Another big change in the Pro Deo room is the addition of six cafe tables in half of the room. This has allowed us to increase seating in the space and make it more inviting from the outside looking in. The Pro Deo room now has a more cafe-like vibe for group discussion and interactive learning. While it may feel more open, there are an additional 10+ seats.
The computer work stations and study carrells have been relocated to the Reilly Learning Commons, aka the other 24 Hour Room, so the same amount of computers are still available 24 hours a day! There is also a floating white board in the Reilly room, additional couches,and two high top tables with stools.
You may have noticed some books in the Library Catalog listed with a location titled “Center for Mission Reflection” and wondered where the Center is located. It is actually a room within the Library on the fourth floor across from Special Collections. This collection features books and serials on Jesuit history and teachings. To find books within that space, search the catalog for “Center for Mission Reflection.”
The Library’s current exhibit, Pride, Passion, Promise: Celebrating the 125th Anniversary, displays photographs, documents, and memorabilia from the founding of the school in 1888 to the present. It covers the range of activities that institutions of higher education engage in, including student life, the development of the campus, as well as the primary purpose of educating students.
The exhibit opened Monday, August 12th, and will close December 15th. For further information please contact Michael Knies, Special Collections Librarian, 941-6341, Michael.Knies@Scranton.edu
The University of Scranton begins its 125th Anniversary celebration this month with a special mass on August 12. We know all true Royals take pride in the long history of the University of Scranton — but just in case your memory is a bit fuzzy, here’s a quick pictorial primer on the story behind our 1888 cornerstone, featuring materials from the University Archives and Digital Collections.
The University of Scranton was founded in 1888 by Most Reverend William G. O’Hara, D.D., the first Bishop of Scranton, as the College of St. Thomas of Aquin.
The Catholics of Northeastern Pennsylvania responded with enthusiasm. Four packed trains brought attendees from Wilkes-Barre and Carbondale, who joined the people of Scranton in an “immense throng” on Wyoming Avenue. At 2:30pm, community organizations and societies gathered at the corner of Franklin and Lackawanna Avenues and paraded to the Cathedral, carrying banners and (in some cases) bringing along a band. The Scranton Republican noted that “the parade was not a large one, but it made an excellent approach.”
The ceremony began at 3pm, as Bishop O’Hara and several priests, cross-bearers, and acolytes processed from the Cathedral to the cornerstone, accompanied by the Cathedral choir and an orchestra performing Mozart’s Gloria. Bishop O’Hara blessed the cornerstone, placed at the foundation of the planned College building. The granite stone (in a “much admired pink hue”) was inscribed with the College’s name and the date:
The cornerstone, as it appeared in the 1950s
Inside the cornerstone was placed a copper box, which held:
Seven silver coins, fresh from the U.S. Mint, including a rare 3-cent piece
That day’s issues of local newspapers (including the Scranton Times, the Scranton Republican, the Free Press, News, and the Catholic Record, along with the Catholic Standard of Philadelphia)
A record of the blessing, in Latin
Bishop O’Hara then gave a sermon, noting that “God gives His grace to all works that are given in his name.” He charged the attendees with the care and support of the College: “It is for you to put your shoulder to the wheel and to see this institution of learning rising up… [do] not think of educating your children according to the fashions of the world, but to train their minds and impress upon their hearts the great truths of religion and to point out to them the way in which they should walk.” The following day, local newspapers published the text of the sermon along with detailed reports of the event:
August 13, 1888 article about the cornerstone blessing (click for full view)
Bishop O’Hara’s plans came to fruition in 1892, when the construction of College Hall (later known as “Old Main”) was completed and St. Thomas College opened its doors. The three story brick building housed classrooms on the first and second floors, an auditorium/gymnasium on the third floor, and a chapel in the basement:
Old Main (center), ca. 1920s
The cornerstone remained at the base of Old Main for more than 70 years. During that time, St. Thomas College evolved into the University of Scranton (changing its name in 1938), and the campus center shifted from Wyoming Avenue to the property surrounding the Scranton Estate, which Worthington Scranton donated to the University in 1941.
Cornerstone of Old Main, as it appeared in the 1950s
In 1962, the University formalized this shift by moving the cornerstone from Wyoming Avenue to the new campus. The cornerstone was carefully removed from Old Main (which would be demolished in 1968):
Rev. Joseph A. Rock, S.J., overseeing the removal of the cornerstone in 1962
It was then transferred to the new campus, where a newly constructed classroom building — St. Thomas Hall — was about to be dedicated. The September 1962 issue of the Aquinas described the move:
The cornerstone was removed from St. Thomas College to perpetuate those things for which it stands. The intentions of the founding fathers and the service which its building has provided to higher education have all been carried with the stone to its new resting place beneath a new cornerstone in the walls of St. Thomas Hall.
No edifice is stronger than its foundation, and the foundation of St. Thomas Hall and the University is in the ‘Old Main’ building and St. Thomas College. This is symbolically represented by the old cornerstone providing a foundation for the new, as St. Thomas College provides a foundation for the present institution. Along with the stone, St. Thomas College has given its name to the largest building on the University campus, providing a continuity to the history of the school by linking its past with its present.
At the September 16, 1962 dedication of St. Thomas Hall, both the old and new cornerstones were blessed by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph A. Madden, chancellor of the Diocese of Scranton. Msgr. Madden observed: “What we witnessed here today is but a step, though gigantic, towards fulfillment of a divine command… ‘Go, therefore and Teach!'”
Rt. Rev. Msgr. Madden blessing the new 1962 cornerstone in front of St. Thomas Hall
A special guest at the dedication was Dr. Martin T. O’Malley, who at the age of 12 had served as an altar boy at the 1888 dedication. He was the only person to be present at both the 1888 and 1962 events.
The contents of the 1888 cornerstone were removed before it was installed; the original silver coins and the copper box went into other storage for safe keeping. It’s a little unclear from the 1962 accounts of the dedication, but it seems that the original 1888 newspapers were placed into the 1962 cornerstone, along with:
A letter from Robert P. Moran ’25, the architect of St. Thomas Hall, addressed to the future architect of any building that replaced it
A letter from 1962 student body president Jacques P. Kueny
A letter from Atty. James A. Kelly, president of the Alumni Society
A letter from Dr. Frank J. O’Hara, director of alumni relations, to alumni of the future
Bulletins from the Graduate School, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Evening College
The latest issues of the Alumni Bulletin
Promotional materials from a recent development campaign
A pictorial booklet
Copies of student publications
A list of student names for the 1961-1962 academic year
New issues of local newspapers from the day of the 1962 dedication
Three medals
New coins of each denomination
Both the 1888 and 1962 cornerstones were placed at the Linden Street entrance of the new building, which at the time was a very prominent location. Over the years, though, it proved to be a less than ideal spot in terms of cornerstone visibility, with bushes and eventually a tree hiding the stones from direct view:
St. Thomas Hall, ca. 1979St. Thomas Hall, 1982St. Thomas Hall, ca. 1990sSt. Thomas Hall, 2013
As part of the 125th Anniversary, the 1888 cornerstone has been dislodged from its 1962 placement and will be on display – location TBA – throughout the celebration. Keep an eye out for it, and be sure to take the opportunity to pay your respects to Bishop O’Hara and the University’s 125-year-old granite foundation.
The cornerstone on display at the August 12 anniversary Mass.
The Weinberg Memorial Library is excited to announce our newest digital collection – University of Scranton Commencement Programs – which includes programs from commencement exercises and related activities (like Class Night and Baccalaureate) held by the University of Scranton and its predecessor, St. Thomas College. Dated from the 1910s through the 1970s, the programs generally list names, degrees, and awards received by that year’s graduating class. Some programs also include biographies of honorary degree recipients.
We’re still working on digitizing programs from the 1970s to the present – but due to privacy restrictions related to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), we are unable to provide public access to programs dated after August 1974 that include student names. (For more information regarding FERPA, please contact the Office of the Registrar.) The original, printed programs are still available in the Library’s Special Collections and University Archives, where they may be viewed by appointment.
We hope that the collection will interest our alumni as well as our current students, faculty, staff, and friends. Please let us know at digitalcollections@scranton.edu if you have questions or suggestions for us, and make sure you take a second to browse through our other digital collections.
Visit the 5th floor Heritage Room in the Weinberg Memorial Library to view the latest publications written by University of Scranton faculty members. Books, journals articles, and conference proceedings from departments across campus are on display.
