Tag: librarians

Need Journal Articles from 1865?

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September 28, 2008

6:51 pm

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Then JSTOR is a database you want to try.

If you are looking for journal articles from as far back as 1865, this database will provide them for you, and in .PDF full-text format too. Here’s how you would run a search for your topic, in order to find articles about that topic, which were written in bygone days:

  • Select JSTOR on our A-Z List of Databases.
  • The way to narrow your search to find journal articles from a specific time period is to place a check-mark in the box next to “Article” under “Limit To: Type:” and then to put the range of years you are looking for in the “Limit To: Date Range:” fields. So, for example, if I want journal articles on my topic from the years 1865-1940, I will check off “Articles” and then put “From: 1865” and “To: 1940.”
  • Then, type your search topic into the Advanced Search field at the top of the page. Keep in mind that your topic may have been called by a different name back in the 1800s!
  • Then click “Search,” look for article titles that cover what you need, click into them to read the abstracts (summaries) as needed, and select the .PDF option for viewing, printing and saving the articles for your research.

Remember, if you’re working from home or your dorm, make sure you first sign into My.Scranton.edu, and then select “A-Z Database Listing” from inside the Library tab. This way, when you eventually get to JSTOR, the database will recognize you as a student, and it will let you access the full-text .PDF of the articles you need.

Ever wonder what was being written about, say, librarians, in the late 1800s-early 1900s? Go give the search a try to find out!* There is one very interesting article from 1929 about a study of ways that librarians cultivated “wholesome reading interests” back then (“Methods Employed to Stimulate Interests in Reading. I” by William F. Rasche, from The School Review, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Jan., 1929), pp. 29-36) — very interesting indeed.

*So, okay, I know most of you probably don’t care about librarians and our fascinating history as public figures in the community… Ahem. But! Whatever your research interest is (for instance, I know there’s an assignment going around about researching the same social issue in 3 different historical time periods) JSTOR is a great place to start in your search for old journal articles on the topic.

I Love My Librarian!

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September 9, 2008

5:02 pm

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The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarians. The awards program will demonstrate how librarians are improving the lives of the people in their communities.

Up to ten winners will be selected annually and will receive a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and $500 travel stipend to attend an awards reception in New York hosted by The New York Times at TheTimesCenter on December 9, 2008. In addition, a plaque will be given to each award winner’s library.

The award is administered by the American Library Association with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York and The New York Times.

Eligibility Requirements

Who Can Nominate a Librarian

Nominators of public librarians must be public library users.

Nominators of librarians in college, community college or university libraries must be users of those libraries, e.g. students, faculty, or staff members.

Who Can Be Nominated

Each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the ALA in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.

Timeline for Nominations

Nominations for public libraries are open and must be completed by October 1, 2008. Nominations for college, community college, or university librarian and school library media specialists open September 2 and must be completed by October 15, 2008.

Nominate a Public Librarian | Nominate a College, Community College or University Librarian

March of the New Librarians…

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August 22, 2008

4:57 pm

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Hello there! My name is Donna Mazziotti*, and I’m yet another of your new librarians here at the U. Although I’ve been around since last March, I figured this is a great place to tell you a little more about myself. You’ll usually find me on the 2nd floor at the Reference Desk in the late afternoons and evenings, Sundays through Thursdays.

This is me:

Donna M. at the Reference Desk
Donna M. -- Your Friendly, Neighborhood Reference Librarian

So, what would you like to know about me? I hail originally from Elmsford, NY (right next to White Plains, NY, which is just north of NYC). I went to undergrad at NYU, where I majored in Drama and English. Any theatre or literature geeks out there will find in me a kindred spirit! Then I went to Library School at Long Island University, where they turned me into a Searching-Junkie. This means if you have a really tricky question about how to search for information about a topic, I won’t rest (literally) until we find something useful on it. In some circles, the fact that I enjoy this endeavor makes me a geek… But that’s okay, because I have way too much fun doing it, so I can say sincerely that I look forward to meeting you soon and helping you tackle those tricky research questions!!

See you at the ref desk…

*Not to be confused with Donna Ramos, our esteemed cataloging librarian.

New librarian in town

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August 7, 2008

9:39 am

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Kristen
Kristen

Hi everybody!I’m Kristen, the new Digital Services Librarian here at the Weinberg Memorial Library.I’ll be working on all sorts of digital library projects, from digitizing the University’s archival collections to using new technologies like social networking to better serve the University community– be sure to post a comment below if you have any ideas for me. As a former chemist, I’m also looking forward to working with the University’s science departments – although Katie Duke has left behind some enormous shoes to fill!

I’m originally from the Wyoming Valley, although I haven’t lived here in about eight years, so moving to Scranton feels like coming home. It’s been so fun over the past few weeks to rediscover all of my favorite places in NEPA, like the running path around Lake Scranton and (of course) Manning’s ice cream in Clarks Summit. But a lot has changed since I grew up here, so if you see me on campus, please stop me and let me know where YOUR favorite NEPA place is!

Farewell, Professor Duke!

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July 17, 2008

3:03 pm

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This is a summer of change here at the Weinberg Memorial Library. One such change is the departure of our esteemed Coordinator of Information Literacy, Prof. Katie Duke. Katie’s retirement after 23 years of serving the Scranton community is the beginning of the next set of adventures life has in store for her. Students and faculty in the Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Science, Mathematics, Nursing, Philosophy and Physics Departments know Katie for information literacy sessions in these subject areas which have always been exciting and useful, chock full of knowledge and gusto. The entire university community has Katie to thank for an Information Literacy program that is lauded and valued by so many, both within the university community and those outside of it. Her love for the research process comes out in all that she does, and for this she will be fondly missed.

Thank you, Katie, for your years of love and service!

“Study hard, and have fun!”

“Planning for the Whole-istic Library”

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June 4, 2008

1:36 am

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Last Thursday a group of us had the opportunity to attend the Spring Workshop jointly presented by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Library Network (NPLN) and the Northeast Chapter of the Pennsylvania Library Association (NEPALA). It was a very nice walk of 5 blocks in the Scranton sunshine over to nearby Lackawanna College, who was hosting the event.

After registration and a brief welcome, librarians from all over Northeastern PA settled into the beautiful, plush seats of Lackawanna College’s Mellow Theater to hear Keynote speaker Jill Hurst-Wahl share with us what her 20 years business/library experience have revealed to her about trends in the library.

http://www.lackawanna.edu/mellow/mellow.html

The Mellow Theater at Lackawanna College; image taken from: http://www.lackawanna.edu/mellow/mellow.html

She challenged the librarians present — hailing from public, college/university, and special libraries — by arguing that the only way libraries could ever become obsolete would be if we (i.e. librarians) allow them to become so. It’s our job to make users “dependent” on the library — and not because we feel the need for some kind of power trip! ;) A healthy dependence on the library, in my opinion, would stem from making our unique and exciting resources known to users (in our case, students, faculty and even the public), and furthermore by illustrating and teaching just how useful our information resources are to these key stakeholders.

(And yes, I just called our students stakeholders — if you’re a student, I bet you’ve never been called this before, huh? :) Information is power! :::cue super-hero music::: )

Jill Hurst-Wahl believes that the way to do these things is to “be where they are” — by “they” she means our library users, which in our case means most often students.

And where are you guys hanging out these days? On facebook, AIM, maybe MySpace (I get the feeling MySpace may be slowly going out of style — am I right?), and all sorts of other “Web 2.0” technologies. And so, that is were we must be as well.

As an aside, I feel the need to give a shout-out to our very own librarian Bonnie Oldham, who shares the night-shift with me at the ref desk. Bonnie serves on the 2008 Northeast Chapter Board for NEPALA, and helped put together this very cool event — so kudos to Bonnie for that!

There were a few other fun and interesting meetings and workshops at the event, but for me the Keynote Speaker stood out the most — followed very closely by the food served for lunch! :) Overall it was an interesting and exciting day — especially for this new librarian!

For information about this event as well as the NEPALA, visit:

Northeast Chapter of PaLA Wiki

Contact info for Jill Hurst-Wahl:
hurst@HurstAssociates.com
Meebo & Skype: jill.hurst.wahl
www.HurstAssociates.com
www.Digitization101.com
www.eNetworking101.com