Oxford Dictionary of National Biography’s Spring 2009 update

June 18th, 2009 by goldermg


Oxford updates the Dictionary of National Biography with a special focus on gardeners and engineers of everyday life. This update includes entries on 87 men and women who died before 2000, plus 20 New ‘reference groups.’

NEW BIOGRAPHIES
Gardeners—national profession and pastime
This month brings you 30 biographies of men and women who shaped the history of British gardening.
Many made their name cultivating and promoting now popular plants, including the ‘daffodil king’ Peter Barr and Henry Eckford, ‘father of the sweet pea.’ There’s also Christopher Leyland who gave his name to the rapid-growing, conifer, Leylandii—now a controversial feature of domestic gardens but originally an ideal plant for Leyland’s Northumberland estate.

Engineers of everyday life
You’ll also find ten inventors and pioneers of modern forms of domestic and public sanitation. Household names include Thomas Twyford and John Shanks, together with George Jennings, whose public conveniences for the Great Exhibition gave rise to the term ’spend a penny.’ They are joined by figures associated with public health, including James Simpson —inventor of water filtration beds—and Jesse Dawes, the pioneer of modern refuse collection and salvage—in which Britain once led the world.

Preservers of nature
In Darwin’s anniversary year, the Oxford DNB looks at those who enabled flora and fauna to be studied before photography. New subjects include taxidermists Rowland Ward and Walter Potter —creator of anthropomorphic tableaux—and botanical artist, Lilian Snelling.

GROUPS IN HISTORY
As well as biographies, this update adds 20 new groups in Themes.

TOPICAL LIVES FROM THE OXFORD DNB
Further biographies are available in the complete Oxford DNB now available—free, online, and at home—via your public library or daily with our Life of the Day service and bi-monthly podcast.

See May 2009 Update for further details.

EBSCO enhances ATLA Database

June 17th, 2009 by goldermg

From EBSCO:

We are pleased to announce that EBSCO Publishing, in collaboration with the ATLA, has enhanced the Scripture Authority File functionality available on ATLA Religion Database, ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials and ATLASerials Religion Collection via EBSCOhost.

Previously, ATLA Religion Database, ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials and ATLASerials Religion Collection via EBSCOhost included a flat scripture authority file that displayed scripture references in alphabetical order and required users to search for exact scripture references indexed in a given citation.

With the new authority file, users can browse the books of the bible in canonical order and drill down to the chapter, then verse level. Selecting an entry at the book, chapter, or verse level will execute a search for all records indexed with that book, chapter or verse.  

With the new scripture authority file, EBSCO has added an expanded scripture reference searching for records indexed with a scripture range.  For example, if a user selects Acts in the new scripture authority and drills down through Chapter 1 and elects to search Verse 5, they will return records indexed with Acts 1:5, as well as records indexed with Acts 1:1-11 or Acts 1:1-15:35.

Check out ATLA Religion Database now.

Literature Online Update

June 15th, 2009 by goldermg

228 Full-Text Journals
This latest release sees the addition of three new titles to Literature Online’s library of full-text journals; Carlyle Studies Annual, Commonwealth: Essays and Studies and Tolstoy Studies Journal. This release also sees the withdrawal of one full-text journal; Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, at the request of the publishers. The addition of these journals brings the total number of titles up to 243. Further titles will be added in forthcoming releases, increasing still further Literature Online’s coverage of contemporary scholarship in the fields of literary and cultural studies.
See Information Centre: What’s New? for complete update information.

Special Collections Closure Notice

June 15th, 2009 by goldermg

Special Collections in Schaffer Library will be closed beginning June 15, 2009 for renovations to the space to improve the climate control system. 

During the closure we will not be able to retrieve materials or to answer research questions as the collections will be in storage.  A reopening date is not known at this time.  We will notify everyone when we are ready to reopen.

For immediate questions phone (388-6620, 388-6616) or email (specialcollections@union.edu) and we’ll try to help.

Library Server Update

June 11th, 2009 by goldermg

One of the library servers is experiencing technical difficulties and is currently off-line.  This will affect the display within the online catalog, access to many of our databases and indexes, as well as to the Union College Postcard Collection.

Try ConnectNY or Worldcat for easy catalog access. You can get call numbers and locate items in Schaffer Library or order material via Interlibrary Loan.

Links to Databases listed under “Any Topic” will work - including EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Wilson, Web of Science, Project Muse, and  JSTOR.

Please see a Reference Librarian for assistance with connecting to other resources. We apologize for this inconvenience and will hopefully be fully operational in a few days.

ARTstor Collection News

June 8th, 2009 by goldermg
Collection agreement: Fondazione Federico Zeri (Università di Bologna) archive images
ARTstor is collaborating with the Fondazione Federico Zeri, Università di Bologna to share approximately 25,900 photographs of 16th century Italian paintings in the Digital Library.
Learn more
 Choson Period (1392-1910)| Buddhist Guardians (Sinjangt'aeng), detail of figure in bottom left | Image provided by Carl Strom and Jennifer Strom   Tala, Bilaspur, Madhya Pradesh, India | Male Head, Garbhagrha (Sanctum) | Image: American Institute of Indian Studies
Now available in ARTstor: Korean Buddhist monasteries and temples
ARTstor has collaborated with Carl and Jennifer Strom to digitize and distribute more than 3,200 images from the unique Strom Archive of the art and architecture from Buddhist monasteries and temples in Korea.
Learn more
  First images from the American Institute of Indian Studies now in ARTstor
More than 12,000 images from The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS) documenting art and architecture in India are now available in ARTstor.
Learn more

JSTOR adds content

May 28th, 2009 by goldermg


The following journals have been added to the JSTOR archive. More detailed information about all JSTOR titles and collections, along with delimited lists, can be accessed from JSTOR’s Available Collections page.

The Annual of the British School at Athens (Arts & Sciences V)
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=annubritschoathe
Release Content:
Vols. 1- 98 (1894/1895 - 2003)
Moving Wall: 5 years

Asian Ethnology (Arts & Sciences III)
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=asianeth
Release Content:
Vol. 67, Nos. 1-2 (2008)
Moving Wall: Zero

Note: In 2008, Asian Folklore Studies became Asian Ethnology. Content for this title is released as soon as the latest issues become available to JSTOR.

Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America (Biological Sciences; Life Sciences)
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=bullecosociamer
Release Content:
Vol. 1, No. 1 (January, 1917) - Vol. 83, No. 2 (April, 2002)
Moving Wall: N/A
Note: The remaining content for 2002 will be released as soon as the issues become available to JSTOR. Beginning with Vol. 84, No. 1 (2003), this journal has been published online.

Harvard Review [1992- ] (Arts & Sciences V)
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=harvardreview
Previous Title: Harvard Book Review [1989-1991] (1080-6067)
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=harvardbookrev
Previous Title: Erato [1986-1988] (0898-073X)
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=erato
Release Content:
Nos. 1 - 9/10 (1986-1988);
Nos. 11/12 - 19/20 (1989- 1991);
Nos. 1-29 (1992- 2005)
Moving Wall: 3 years

Jewish History (Arts & Sciences V)
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=jewhist
Release Content:
Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring, 1986) - Vol. 19, No. 3/4 (2005)
Moving Wall: 3 years Read the rest of this entry »

PubMed Central adds new journals to the archive:

May 25th, 2009 by goldermg

The following new journals have been added to the PubMed Central archive:

Clinical Interventions in Aging

URL:http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/tocrender.fcgi?journal=502&action=archive

Archive includes volume 3 Note: There is no embargo delay for this journal.

Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine

URL:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/tocrender.fcgi?journal=838&action=archive
Archive: v. 1 (2008). Current content is forthcoming with no delay.

Project Muse adds 2 titles:

May 25th, 2009 by goldermg


Black Women, Gender & Families

Black Women, Gender & Families analyzes, develops, and furthers Black Women’s Studies paradigms. It centers the study of Black women and gender within the critical discourses of history, the social sciences, and the humanities. Second, this journal provides an Africana/Black Studies and Women’s Studies cross-field and interdisciplinary venue for Black womanist and Black feminist theories, methodologies, and analyses. Third, it more fully integrates gender as an analytic category, and strengthens Black Women’s Studies as a paradigm for studying black women, gender, families, and communities especially policy-related issues within the broader disciplines of Black Studies and Women’s Studies. Fourth, this journal provides the space for interdisciplinary, comparative/transnational studies of Global Africa/the African Diaspora and other women, families, and communities of color, using Black Women’s Studies frameworks.

BWGF is an official journal of the National Council for Black Studies in collaboration with the African American Studies and Research Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The journal is peer-reviewed, and is published biannually by the University of Illinois Press. NCBS membership is not a prerequisite for manuscript submission or publication, but authors are encouraged to join.

http://muse.jhu.edu/content/alerts/journals/black_women_gender_and_families

Studies in American Jewish Literature

Studies in American Jewish Literature (SAJL), the official journal of the Society for the Study of American Jewish Literature, publishes peer reviewed scholarly articles, book reviews, occasional poetry, and short stories dealing with aspects of the Jewish experience in literature.

For more information on the journal:

muse.jhu.edu/content/alerts/journals/studies_in_american_jewish_literature

Credo Reference Demo

May 13th, 2009 by goldermg

Interested in how Credo Reference works? Schaffer Library is currently trialing the service - and will be offering a demonstration on Tuesday, May 19th at 12:50. Contact Gail at x6624 or email goldermg@union.edu.

  • Content! - 399 full-text titles from over 60 publishers covering all subject areas.  New titles recently released and soon to be released.
  • New platform with enhanced features now available!  New features including seamless searching into other library resources using a newly-developed meta-technology only available with Credo Reference, new concept map, roll-over technology, and much more.
  • Search functionality - general layout, cross-references, scope, and subject/title configurations.
  • Other Features - dynamic table functionality, interactive world atlas, flash animations, videos, and audio files.