Follow Lowell Thomas Travelogue on Twitter

Throughout the month of December the Marist College Archives and Special Collections twitter account @LowellJThomas will have a Lowell Thomas Travelogue Theme, tweeting pictures and quotes from Thomas's famous World War I travelogue series "With Allenby in Palestine and with Lawrence in Arabia".

In 1918 Lowell Thomas went overseas to photograph the allied war effort. After first visiting the western front, it was in Egypt, Palestine and Arabia that Thomas and his photographer Harry Chase took their most spectacular motion pictures and photographs. It is at this time that Thomas also met T.E. Lawrence, whom, through Lowell Thomas's Travelogue, would become legendarily famous. The multimedia show about Lowell Thomas's travels through Palestine and Arabia became a sensation in America and Europe due to the incredible photographs and Thomas's commentary. Follow @LowellJThomas on twitter today to experience it for yourself!

Library help over the break

As the semester draws to a close The James A. Cannavino wishes you all happy holidays.

During the mid-winter break many faculty will be using the time to work on research and prepare classes for the coming semester.  The Library will be open many days during the break.  If you are working from home and have library-related questions, please contact us.

• Day by day Library hours are posted on the Library calendar.
• Phone us at 845-575-3292 when the Library is open.
• Send an email anytime to Ask-A-Librarian@marist.edu.
• ILL  will be available and fully staffed  throughout the break.
• Librarians will be available all days the Library is open to work with you in person or by telephone.

Katy Silberger will be available throughout the break to work with you on iLearn/Library issues.  If you would like help creating an “electronic reserve reading list” or linking to the Library instructional videos, please contact her.  If you would prefer to work from home, she can offer assistance by telephone and email.  Her direct phone number is 845-575-3419.

Collaborate with Students in the Library

Do you ever want to meet with a small group of students in the Library?

 Four collaborative rooms in the Library are available for faculty and staff use from 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday.  They are located on the second floor in the Alumni Reading Room area of the Library.

The rooms accommodate between 5 and 8 people and may be reserved for 1 to 3 hours up to a week in advance.

 This space is made available for occasional meetings rather than regularly scheduled activity.

To reserve a room, please contact the Academic Learning Center at 575-3300.

Room #	# Seats	Features
300A	8	Whiteboard
300B	6	Computer
300C	6	Computer
300D	5	Computer

Why doesn't the Library have this journal?

Recently a faculty member asked me why Marist's library doesn't receive two respected journals of Catholic thought: America and First Things, yet does receive the similarly respected Commonweal.  The short answer is, we do get all three, but not in print.

Marist College Library's long-term commitment to build a digital library has enabled us to move from  1200 serial titles in print to more than 55,000 titles accessible digitally.  A complete, searchable list can be found by visiting the Library Catalog and clicking the "Journals" link.

Search tip: use the drop down option for one-word titles, as below.

.
Many digital editions lack the glossy, eye-catching covers and stimulating layouts of corresponding print versions.  This is especially true if they are part of a massive library database, and especially troubling if you rely on covers and headlines - catching your eye as you casually browse the library main floor -  to remind you of the valuable content inside.  But one often overlooked advantage of these digital serials, is that they allow any Marist community member to create, essentially, their own personal email subscription.

All of our major content providers offer this service - typically styled "Alert"

Examples below:

WilsonWeb














Ebsco

Once activated, this service will deliver the tables of contents of any journal with links to the full text article, on a schedule you can set.  And for the more adventurous, most can create RSS feeds too.

Of course there are many more valuable features of digital publications, and many challenges in working with them.  Please don't hesitate to contact me (Mark Colvson, 845-575-5218) or any of my colleagues to ask about finding digital serials, building them into your pedagogy, or any other features you nay have wondered about.

Putting the Library in iLearn: Mair Room, Thursday Nov. 17, 1-4 pm.

Come and learn how easy it is to link to the Library’s online articles, books, videos and images this coming Thursday from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. This CTE session will be held in Margaret Mair Room in the James A. Cannavino Library.

This will be a practical hands-on session.  You will learn how to copy article links from library databases and embed those links into iLearn "Resources", "Lessons", "Emails", "Forums", etc.  You will be introduced to the Marist iLearn Library Site which contains written instructions and brief instructional videos created by the Library.

The Library has a strong collection of electronic resources that you can use in iLearn including:

• 5,000+ Online Videos (Documentaries, American History, Counseling & Education)

• 85,000+ e-books

• 55,000+ electronic periodicals

• 1.7 million images (Artstor, etc.)

• Hundreds of electronic reference resources

Register for this session at the Center for Teaching Excellence Workshops: iLearn Training Workshops page.  (Its the last session at the bottom of the page.)

If you are interested in this topic but have a time conflict, please email Kathryn.Silberger@marist.edu and we will arrange to work with you at a more convenient time.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Student Newspaper Archive Now Available On-line

You can now read 40 years’ worth of Marist College Students newspapers on-line. To search across four decades of campus history you can use our new Archives Search, or to browse issues of the Record or the Circle by year please visit our Student Newspaper Webpage.

Help Us Build Marist's Collections

We all know that the Library exists to support Marist's fundamental teaching mission.  But we sometimes forget that faculty may be the first to discover critical gaps in our collections, or hear about important new works we should acquire.  So here's a reminder.  Please regularly submit recommendations, via our Materials Suggestion Form, or by any other reasonable means:

• email book reviews or publication notices;
• circle items on a photocopy of a bibliography page or journal review article; 
• tear out a publishers catalog page, circle your recommendation and send it along (or send the whole catalog!);
• use the "Notes" field in an Inter-Library Loan request to alert  us that an item would make a good addition to the collection.

Rules of Thumb

1. Send suggestions to Judy Diffenderfer (Judy.Diffenderfer@marist.edu), Collection Development Librarian, or your department's Library Liaison.  They can expedite purchases, alert you when items arrive on shelf, and/or advise on collection policy for your discipline.
2. Include your name on everything you send in. 
3. Supply a good citation. Minimally - title, author(s), publisher and year; better -ISBN.  Or try emailing a reference from Worldcat.org (a massive database of over a billion items held in libraries worldwide).

 Of course the Library faces budget and policy constraints.  We won't be able to acquire every recommendation automatically.  But it's highly valuable to know what faculty are looking for.  Even when we cannot fill requests immediately, we do keep them on file for when opportunities arise down the road.

We are very grateful to the many of you who stay involved in library collection building.  For those who haven't, or haven't recently, please give it a try.  You'll be surprised how easy it is to help strengthen Marist's library in the areas that matter most to you.

Sage Journals Online

Our subscription to the Sage journals online, called Sage Premium, has been upgraded to include over 600 journals. The new subscription also includes all new titles launched this year, such as Organizational Psychology Review; Race and Justice; Society and Mental Health; The Neurohospitalist; and Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety. The database is accessible through the library's A-Z database page and many of the subject pages. Check it out at http://online.sagepub.com.online.library.marist.edu/search

New Exhibit in the Lowell Thomas Communication Center

Journey to the Land of Our Past with the Lowell Thomas Travelogues

Journalist, lecturer, author, broadcaster and famous globetrotter,

Lowell Thomas was the foremost raconteur of the twentieth century. His

long and distinguished public career began in the wartime deserts of

the Middle East and was completed here in Dutchess County. His 1919

travelogue, "With Allenby in Palestine, and Lawrence in Arabia" was

the most popular of its kind, became the lens through which the West

perceived the First World War in the Middle East, and popularized T.E.

Lawrence who became famous worldwide as "the Uncrowned King of

Arabia." The exhibit attempts to recreate the experience of Lowell

Thomas's famous travelogues as well as provide a historical survey of

the related events from 1917 to 1919. Displayed are major aspects of

the presentation, relevant documents and advertising, and biographical

sketches of major figures. Visitors learn how Thomas presented the

wartime Middle East in two parts, the land of our constructed past and

the land of the Other - the land of the Bible and that of The Arabian

Nights.

The Lowell Thomas Papers were donated to Marist College by the Thomas

family in 2006. The processing and preservation of the collection was

completed in October of 2009 with the help of a grant from the

National Archives and Record Administration's Historical Publications

and Records Commission (NHPRC). The Lowell Thomas Papers are

housed at the Marist College Archives & Special Collections,

located on the first floor of the James A. Cannavino Library.

Many of the collections images and objects have been digitized through the support of

an additional grant from the NHPRC and are available on-line at

http://library.marist.edu/archives/search/.

The exhibit will be up for the 2011 - 2012 academic year.

Environmental History Collections

The Archives and Special Collections is becoming well known for its rich environmental history collections, which include thousands of books, documents, photographs, audio, and video materials documenting the Scenic Hudson Decision.

The Scenic Hudson Decision was a 17-year (1963-1981) legal dispute which defeated Consolidated Edison's plan to embed the world's largest pumped storage hydroelectric plant into the face of Storm King Mountain, near Cornwall, New York. The lengthy and controversial case had an immense impact on environmental and legal issues affecting the Hudson River Valley as well as the nation. The landmark case set important precedents in environmental law including: the right of citizens to participate in environmental disputes, the emergence of environmental law as a legal specialty, ideas Congress incorporated in the country's first National Environment Policy Act (NEPA), federal and state regulation of the environment, and it is credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Now approximately 1,000 books can be found on the Library catalog and all 17 of our archival collections documenting Scenic Hudson Decision have finding aids available on-line.

The environmental collections' newest addition is the recently published book,  Environmental History of the Hudson River: Human Uses that Changed the Ecology, Ecology that Changed Human Uses (SUNY Press, 2011), which includes Executive Vice President Geoffrey Brackett’s chapter  “Thy Fate and Mine Are Not Repose”: The Hudson and Its Influence. 

  

Lowell Thomas Digitization Project

The Archives and Special Collections is currently in the middle of a mass digitization project, which is being funded by the National Archives. The goal of the project is to make all of the approximately 36,000 images in the Lowell Thomas Papers available on the Internet. Several thousand images are currently available via the finding aid for the collection and on IBM’s Content Manager database.

You can search Lowell Thomas’s WWI era glass plate negatives by going to the following URL: http://library.marist.edu/archives/search/ or by browsing the following subject areas:

• Arabia
• Palestine
• Egypt
• Personal
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Malaya
• Burma
• India
• Airplanes
• American Expeditionary Forces
• England
• Greece
• Italy
• Malta
• Mediterranean Sea
• Military
• Miscellaneous
• First World Flight
• Oversize

Additional updates will be sent out as this project progresses.

Library Quiet Space

Quiet Study in Kirk Reading Room

The Library has experienced a significant increase in use early in the new academic year. This is at least partly attributable to a crowded campus and students seeking a conducive, that is to say, quiet place to work.

Accordingly we have designated the Kirk Reading Room (North end of the 1st floor) as a full-time Quiet Room.  Here researchers can place a thick set of double doors between themselves and the inevitable traffic noise and conversation of the wider public spaces.

The library will monitor use and solicit comment during the year.  Please pass along your own or your students' thoughts/comments using the link below, or contact Associate Director Mark Colvson (x2193).

Reese Family Papers

The Archives and Special Collections recently received an extraordinary collection from former Trustee Alex Reese and his siblings Frances Reese Olivieri, John R. Reese, and George Reese.

The Reese Family Papers document the professional and personal lives of several of the ancestors of Frances Gallatin Stevens Reese and her husband, Willis Livingston Mesier Reese. The papers contain indentures, personal, political, and business correspondence, military documents, manuscripts of prose and poetry, scrapbooks, bills of lading, invoices, promissory notes, canceled checks, financial ledgers, diaries, passports, newspaper clippings and photographs.

Highlights from the collection include the papers of Ebenezer Stevens (1751-1823), who was a Major General in the American Continental Army and corresponded with Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, and James Madison. The papers of Robert Shaw Oliver tell his story while he served in the Civil War, rising to the rank of General after the conflict. He was named Assistant Secretary of War in 1903 under Theodore Roosevelt and served into the administration of William Howard Taft. Researchers will also find the personal papers of Frances (Franny) Reese (1917-2003) who was a leading environmentalist and founding member of Scenic Hudson. Her efforts helped launch the modern environmental movement during the lengthy and controversial law case known as the Scenic Hudson Decision.

The Reese Family Papers are already available for use by researchers. The finding aid for the collection can be found at the following URL: http://library.marist.edu/archives/reesePapers/reesePapers.xml. These papers are a treasure trove of information for articles, term papers, or capping papers. Don't let the opportunity to be the first to publish using the Reese Family Papers get away!

Mark Colvson: New Associate Library Director

Mark Colvson

Mark Colvson has joined the Marist College staff as the Associate Director of the Library.  He holds a B.A. in Psychology from Haverford College and an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Drexel University.  Mark has over twenty years experience in academic librarianship, having worked previously in libraries at the University of Pennsylvania, Binghamton University, Bryn Mawr College, and most recently, the United States Military Academy.  During his tenure at Bryn Mawr, he led the Public Services staff for the main library as well as the Desktop Support staff for Information Services.  Most recently, at West Point, Mark led the Systems Division.

Mark’s library interests include student-centered learning as it affects the delivery of library instruction, the use of social media in delivering library services, and the impact of electronic media on the academic conversation.  His other interests include amateur theatrics, vocal music performance, and the fanatical support of his hometown ball club, the Philadelphia Phillies.

Ask-A-Librarian has a new easy-to-remember email address:

Ask-A-Librarian@marist.edu.

 Ask-A-Librarian is the question-and-answer email service of the Cannavino Library.  Ask any library-related question and a librarian will respond to you within a few hours.

We changed the email address for Ask-A-Librarian to make it easier to remember.  In Lotus Notes type the word “ask” into the Marist Address Book Directory, and the address will pre-populate. With other email systems simply address your email to Ask-A-Librarian@marist.edu.   

         

You can continue to use the form on the website to ask your question.  A link to the form is also available in many of our databases.  The form will open in a new tab or window allowing you to look at the database screen as you enter in your question. 

                

Many students use the Ask-A-Librarian service.  We saw a significant increase in the use of the service over the past year.  Please let your students know about Ask-A-Librarian.

Online Instructional Videos

Over the past year we have developed a number of short instructional videos illustrating library concepts and skills.  Because of the many questions at the Reference Desk about the nature of scholarly articles and how to find them we put together a series of three video tutorials, addressing different aspects of the issue.  The tutorials are:

(1)   What is a Scholarly Journal?   (2:45 minutes)
(2)   Finding Scholarly Journal Articles in Databases.  (2 minutes)
(3)   Is this a Scholarly Journal ?  (2 minutes)

These videos are available in the iLearn Library Site, “Resources”  module, folder “Basic Library Skills”, sub-folder “Scholarly Journals”.  From the Library Site, individual videos can be copied easily into courses.

Two videos address beginning Library skills.  They are:

(1)  Library Catalog Basic Tutorial (5 minutes)
(2)  Fox Hunt: A Brief Overview (3 ½ minutes)

These videos are available in the iLearn Library Site, “Resources”  module, folder “Basic Library Skills".  Individual videos can be copied easily into courses.

The same videos are available from the Cannavino Library YouTube Channel,  (http://www.youtube.com/user/CannavinoLibrary.)   A playlist with the three Scholarly Journal videos is available at the site. (http://www.youtube.com/user/CannavinoLibrary#g/c/0DE53FAA8EDA5F72) .

We welcome suggestions and requests for new videos addressing library topics or databases.

iLearn Library Site

The iLearn Library Site is an open joinable site created to support faculty integrating Library resources into their iLearn courses.  At present we have videos aimed at communicating basic library concepts and skills to students and “how-to” documents written to support the creation of stable URLs to library resources in iLearn.  The documents and videos are stored in the “Resources” module.

In a brief downloadable document, we provide instructions, with screen shots, for joining the iLearn Library Site, http://library.marist.edu/tut/ilearn_support/joinlibsite.pdf

          If you have any questions or need assistance using Library resources in iLearn, please contact Kathryn Silberger.  Her telephone number is 845-575-3419, and her email address is Kathryn.silberger@marist.edu.

UPDATE ON VIDEO DATABASES

The library now has a subscription to both the Filmakers Library Online and Education in Video. If you are interested in creating links in iLearn to either an entire video or to a clip of one of the films, please contact Katy Silberger after July 18 at x2419 or kathryn.silberger@marist.edu.

Extension of Trials to Filmakers Library Online and Education in Video

Thank you to all who have provided your feedback on the two video databases we have had on trial for the last several weeks, Filmakers Library Online and Education in Video. The Library has received many positive responses to the databases, especially from faculty who teach online. We are hopeful that we will have enough money in the budget to subscribe to both of them - a decision will be forthcoming in the next couple weeks.

For those of you who have not had the opportunity yet to look at the databases, the trial has been extended through the end of May.

Temporary Access to Two Online Political Science Encyclopedias

The Library has arranged for temporary online access to The Encyclopedia of Political Science and the Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History. Both encyclopedias are published by CQ Press and may be accessed through May 27. Please email Judy Diffenderfer if you would like the Library to purchase permanent access to one or more of these online encyclopedias.

Online Video Documentaries Trial -- Should We Subscribe?

The Library currently has a trial through May 7^th to an online documentary video collection called Filmakers Library Online (FLO).  Links to FLO can be found on the Library Subject Guide pages and on the A-Z list.  The documentaries can be viewed from home as well as campus.  Please email Judy Diffenderfer with your comments if you would like the Library to subscribe to this collection.  .

Filmakers Library Online  currently has 911 documentaries covering subjects across the curriculum.  Well over half the titles have been issued since the year 2000 and many have earned awards

Particular subject strengths include Women’s Issues (162 titles), Health (126),  History (99), Religion (76) Race & Culture (72), Politics (64), Sociology (50), Economics (50), Psychology (48),   Sexuality and Gender (34) Environment (32),  Medicine (32) and Fine Arts (29).

A searchable transcript accompanies each film and clips of a portion of a film can be created to be shown in class or embedded into iLearn.

     We have two similar video collections from the same publisher, American History in Video and Counseling and Therapy in Video.  These collections have enjoyed increasing use, suggesting this is a successful platform for delivering content.

Free Access to Routledge Education Journals -- April Only

Routledge, owned by Taylor & Francis, is providing free access for the month of April to all its education titles. While strong in journals focusing on elementary and secondary education, this collection also includes journals limited to education within a discipline, such as "Accounting Education" or "Journal of Biological Education" and journals dealing with various aspects of higher education such as "Theory into Practice", "Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education", or "Quality in Higher Education". A link to this temporarily free collection can be found on the Library Education Subject Guide page at the top of the "Additional Databases" section. You can also access it directly through the Routledge website. Please remember, this access will terminate on April 30.

Full House for Faculty Recognition Award

A Standing-room only crowd of colleagues attended the 2011 Faculty Recognition Award (see photos).

Dr. Elizabeth Purinton-Johnson presented the award to Dr. Joanne Gavin, and Dr. Roger Norton presented Dr. Ron Coleman with his award. To read more about this year's ceremony, please visit the Library's 2010-11 Faculty Awards page.

Faculty Recognition Award

This year's Faculty Recognition Awards go to Dr. Ron Coleman of the School of Computer Science and Mathematics and Dr. Joanne Gavin of the School of Management. The award is sponsored by the Library Development Committee and the James A. Cannavino Library and recognizes faculty's scholarly and/or creative works. Please join us at the awards ceremony on March 23 at 12:30 pm in the Henry Hudson Room (Fontaine) to honor and congratulate your colleagues.

Need Help Researching Journals for Article Submissions?

Ulrichsweb is useful for locating journals by field of interest.  The database covers over 86,000 active journal titles, including more than 50,000 that are refereed.  A link to the website has been added to every library subject page and the A-Z list of databases.

It may be searched by title or keyword on the basic search screen or you can click the Advanced Search button for more search field options. 

Basic information provided includes the content type and if it is peer reviewed.

Publisher and editor contact information is found under “Additional Title Details” and  “Publisher & Ordering Details”.

In some cases the table of contents of past issues are provided.

Contact your librarian liaison today for more information on using this helpful tool. 

Helping Students Determine if a Journal is Scholarly

Ulrichsweb is an authoritative guide to periodicals published throughout the world.  Among the data provided for each title is a characterization of the type of journal and if the journal is peer reviewed.  We have integrated into our “Find Journals” tool.

•      From the sidebar on every page of the library website the “Find journals” search box is available.

• Type in a title name or fragment and click on “Search”
• The results display for each title will provide date range information and direct links to our holdings.  Right after the title there is a link for “Title details from ulrichsweb.com”.   Click on that link.

• A tabbed record will provide details about the journal.  On the first tab, “Basic Details” there are lines that indicate when a journal is scholarly and if it is peer reviewed.
  
  
  
• For journals of academic significance there often times is a review that will discuss reputation and significant features.