What’s New at Schaffer Library

Most Schaffer Library online resources are available to the Union College Community only. In order to access on-campus resources from off-campus, you need to have either a VPN account or a proxy account available from ITS. You can download the form from their website to apply for an off-campus account and return it to the ITS office located in Steinmetz Hall. ITS is open Monday - Friday 8:30am - 4:54pm.

If you are already home - call 388-6293 during business hours for further instructions.

Free Download: Berlioz’s Overture to Benvenuto Cellini

For Berlioz, success in opera was the surest route to financial reward and artistic reputation. Berlioz embarked on a search for a suitable subject, finally settling on Benvenuto Cellini’s memoirs. Initially cast for the Opera-Comique in 1834, Berlioz elevated the tone of the work and offered it to the Paris Opera.

This recording is performed by the Orchestre national de Montpellier, Lionel Arnaud, conductor.

Download this work now through December 8th, 2008.

Lion now offers more than 65 volumes of poetry from Faber and Faber Ltd.

In addition to the Faber titles already covered in Literature Online
(including notable works by T. S. Eliot, Seamus Heaney, Sylvia
Plath, Ted Hughes, and Paul Muldoon), this extended agreement
includes the poetry of W. H. Auden and Philip Larkin, previously
unavailable in electronic form. Also added are Nobel prize-winner
Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, T. S. Eliot’s early poetry,
and more recently published material.

The Latest News

This report ties in with yesterday’s post from the Pew/Internet report on Teens, Video Games and Civics. ”Kids’ Informal Learning with Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures” is a three-year collaborative project funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Carried out by researchers at the University of Southern California and University of California, Berkeley, the digital youth project explores how kids use digital media in their everyday lives.

Read the Final Report as well as a White Paper entitled, Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project .

Digital Youth Research also includes projects, publications, and more.

The first national survey of its kind finds that virtually all American teens play computer, console, or cell phone games and that the gaming experience is rich and varied, with a significant amount of social interaction and potential for civic engagement. Full Report

Thanks to our very own Collection Development Librarian, Courtney Seymour.  Tips to help make things a little easier and to let you know just what we might do to help.

Twelve Secrets

The library is undergoing a long term trial of WebFeat - a federated search engine, which allows for searching across several of the Library’s electronic subscriptions simultaneously.

“Any Topic” searches databases across disciplinary boundaries (i.e., JSTOR, Proquest, etc.) Other categories are available from the pull-down menu. Please note that Webfeat does not search every database that we have access to. That list can be found via our Databases & Indexes page.

After submitting your search you will be presented with the first ten results from multiple databases. Results are displayed in the order that they are returned from the source, the best databases are not necessarily listed first.

An evaluation of nearly 180 subscription-based electronic resources in 14 subject categories

Check out the latest e-reviews with Library Journal as eight librarians attempt to organize some of the best-known respected (along with some well kept secret) e-resources available into 14 key subject categories and assess them according to the criteria they use most when considering what to buy.

See full review online.

The Global Economic Crisis

According to the International Monetary Fund, much of the world, including Europe, the United States and Japan, is currently in or close to recession. The crisis started with the collapse of subprime mortgages in the U.S. and quickly spread to financial markets around the globe.

The BBC reports that Japan is suffering from falling exports and weakening consumer demand at home. European economies are also predicted to undergo a period of weak or negative growth and in the U.S., 750,000 jobs were lost this year. Hungary, Iceland, Ukraine and Pakistan are all seeking emergency relief from the IMF.

Central banks have been very aggressive in helping to shore up flagging financial institutions either through recapitalizations or buying up assets of private firms as seen in the U.S. with the $85 billion government rescue of AIG.

This month CIAO examines the global financial crisis.

Check here for more updates in November

**PLEASE NOTE: From Friday, November 14 at 8:00 a.m. through Friday, November 21 at 5PM, the Schaffer Library building will be open 24 hours for study.There will be no desk services from 2am until 8am each night.