Trial to Video Streaming - Ambrose Digital

The Library has arranged a trial to the video streaming service, Ambrose Digital.  The database includes hundreds of broadcast-quality documentaries and educational films, many in high definition.  The films are mobile accessible, closed captioned, and allow for video clip viewing with permalinks that make it easy to include in iLearn.  

Film series include the complete BBC Shakespeare Collection, The Ascent of Man, Turning Points in US History, Childhood, A History of Christianity, The History of Western Art, and the new BBC series, Civilization: Is the West History?

If you would like the Library to subscribe to this service, please email Judy Diffenderfer at judy.diffenderfer@marist.edu.

Impact of Government Shutdown on Online Resources

Many valuable sources of information provided by the federal government are impacted by the current lapse in appropriated funding.  Some online resources are no longer available, while others will not be updated.  The U.S. Census Bureau is providing access to American Fact Finder, but other resources like Historical Censuses and the North American Industry Classification System are inaccessible. The Library of Congress will continue to offer access to Thomas.gov and beta.Congress.gov.   Limited updates will be made to PubMed.gov during the shutdown and the database is still available to researchers.  The Federal Digital System, the main resource for government documents, will receive updates to Congressional materials and the Federal Register only.  For guidance seeking alternative resources for you or your students, please contact your Library Liaison.

Arts & Sciences IV Collection Added to JSTOR

The Library has recently expanded our holdings in JSTOR by adding the Arts & Sciences IV collection. There are 112 titles in this collection with an emphasis on business, education, and law. There are also titles in over 15 other disciplines including history, political science, psychology and sociology. In the past couple years, many students and faculty have tried to access these titles through Google, so it is a welcome addition to our collection.  

Click here for the title list.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Pathfinder

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance.

-From About The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on RebeccaSkloot.com

This summer, all first year students at Marist College were asked to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot.  

Librarian Nancy Lewis has created a Special Topics Pathfinder, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,  as a resource for students and Faculty working with the common reading.  This pathfinder draws together resources related to the story and the science of the HeLa cells, maps of locations in the book, as well as resources related to researching and writing about a story. A number of multimedia resources, including  a video of HeLa cells dividing are presented.

While this Pathfinder will certainly be of use to the First Year Seminars, we hope that other classes may find these resources of use and that you will direct your students to the pathfinder as well.

We hope you will also stop by and see the Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks Display in the display case on the second floor of the Library.

Recent DVD Purchases

Check out some of the dvds the Library has recently purchased at faculty request:

   The Corporation  DVD 1534-35

   Weight of the nation  DVD 1536-38

   First World War, the complete series  DVD 1539-42

   Miss representation  DVD 1543

   Amor brugo / Love, the magician  DVD 1546

   39 steps  DVD 1557

   Half the sky  DVD 1572-73

   Ghosts of Rwanda  DVD 1576 

   Margin call  DVD 1577

   Helvetica  DVD 1585 

Lowell Thomas Papers: Now Searchable Through Fox Hunt

All of the 61,369 catalog records along with 40,000 digitized images from the Lowell Thomas Papers are now searchable through Fox Hunt. This enhances the discovery process as the results from the LT Papers will be integrated to the overall search results from the library. Researchers who are particularly interested in searching Archives & Special Collections’ digital records can limit their search by selecting "Archival Materials" from the content type in the advanced search.

The Lowell Thomas Papers encompasses a wide range of materials documenting the life, family, and professional career of Lowell Thomas. These materials include correspondence, administrative and financial documents, manuscripts, printed materials, photographic materials, motion picture films, audio recordings, and memorabilia. Of particular interest are the materials relating to Thomas's travelogues, association with T.E. Lawrence, Cinerama productions, journey to Tibet, and broadcast series "High Adventure with Lowell Thomas." The overview of this collection can be viewed at: LT Paper Historical Note.

This highlights a major milestone for Archives & Special Collections. The Lowell Thomas Papers is the first digital collection from our archives to be successfully integrated in the Fox Hunt. Furthermore, we are working closely with Serial Solutions to integrate the remaining 49 manuscript collections and additional updates will be sent as we do so. In the meantime follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get a snapshot of our collections.

For a sample search of the Lowell Thomas Papers in Fox Hunt please click on the following search phrase: Lowell Thomas Tibet.

Recent Print Book Purchases

The library has recently added the following print books:

     Introduction to Presocratics : a thematic approach to early Greek philosophy with key readings / Giannis Stamatellos

     Inheriting Abraham : the legacy of the patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam / Jon D.  Levenson

     Syria : the fall of the house of Assad / David W. Lesch

     Thomas Jefferson : the art of power / Jon Meacham

     The generals : American military command from World War II to today / Thomas E. Ricks

     The Hudson primer : the ecology of an iconic river / David L. Strayer

     Fashion and art / edited by Adam Geczy and Vicki Karaminas

     What money can't buy : the moral limits of markets / Michael J. Sandel

     Intelligence in action: strategically managing knowledge assets / G. Scott Erickson and Helen N. Rothberg

     Regarding Warhol : sixty artists, fifty years / Mark Rosenthal ... [et al.]

     Dialect diversity in America : the politics of language change / William Labov

     The wire : truth be told / Rafael Alvarez


If you have books (print or electronic) you would like the library to order, please use our online acquisitions form or email your librarian liaison.

March 12, 6PM - 8PM iLearn and the Marist Library

On Tuesday, March 12th, from 6PM to 8PM there will be an "iLearn and the Marist Library" workshop in the AT&E Computer Lab,. Room 305 in the Library.    Librarian Nancy Lewis' presentation will focus on how you can integrate Library Resources into your iLearn course.  She will discuss how to link to articles in the online Library Collection and provide an introduction to Library Pathfinders.  She will demonstrate how to link a Library Pathfinder into your iLearn course. 

To register for the workshop, visit,  http://www.marist.edu/facultystaff/cte/workshops.html?cat=38

New Database: Roper Center iPOLL database

The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research iPOLL database is now available through the Cannavino Library website.  iPOLL contains over half a million questions and answers from polls conducted by the major polling organizations from 1935 to the present.  They also have large datasets available for downloading.

Video tutorials for iPoll are available.  iPoll also provides a Teaching Tools section with sample assignments.

The scope of the questions reported in iPoll cover almost all disciplines taught at Marist College.

• Economic Issues/Policies :Business; Economy; Personal Finances; Social Security; Taxes; Work 
• Education
• Elections, Political Parties/Figures
• Government Institutions : Congressional Approval;  Presidential Approval;  Role of Government; The Presidency; The Supreme Court 
• Health Issues/Policies, Science, and Nutrition:  Health Care; Medical Research; Smoking
• International Affairs/Crises/Wars:  Afghanistan; Europe;  Iraq; Latin America; Terrorism
• News Media/Coverage
• Personal Characteristics, Beliefs, and Lifestyles:  Evolution and Creationism; The Elderly; Family; Homosexuality; Leisure & Recreation; The Mood of America; Patriotism; Religion; Retirement; Sports; Science & Technology; Internet; Privacy; Space Exploration
• Social Issues: Abortion; Alcohol; Crime; Energy; Ethics; Global Warming; Human Rights; Illegal Drugs; Immigration;Poverty; Race Relations; Women & Work; Youth  
• US Defense & Foreign Policy: Defense Spending; Role of the United States in the World

From the Topics section of iPoll, you can click on  a sub-topic and see the relevant questions and responses.  We have added links to iPoll to the following Subject Guide Pages:

Business Administration	Communication	Criminal Justice
History	Political Science	Psychology
Public Administration	Social Work	A-Z List

Recent Ebook Purchases

The Library recently purchased over 60 ebooks to add to our Ebrary database.  A sampling of the titles include:

       Born Together Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study by Nancy Segal

       Birth (and Death) of the Cool by Ted Gioia

     Environmental Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing by Frank Spellman

     Handbook of Youth Mentoring edited by David DuBois and Michael Karcher

     Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal and Political Dilemmas edited by J.K.Holzgrefe and R. Keohane

    Online Social Networks: Identity, Community, and Culture in the Digital Age         edited by Z. Papacharissi

     Philosophy and Love: From Plato to Popular Culture by Linnell Secomb

    Sacred Matters: Religion and Spirituality in Families by Wesley Burr, et. al.

   Social Media Reader edited by Michael Mandiberg

     Theatre Censorship: From Walpole to Wilson by David Thomas, et.al.

    Visions of the Land: Science, Literature and the American Environment... by Michael Bryson

   Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Couples and Family Relationships edited by G. Karantzas and P. Noller

Jstor Register & Read now cover 1,200 journals

Jstor has expanded the Register & Read  program we wrote about last October.  That pilot program covered 75 titles, and allowed anyone with a free Jstor account to read and add to a reading shelf up to 3 items in journals not under subscription by Marist College.  The program has now been expanded to cover 1,200 out of Jstor's approximately 1,600 titles. To learn how to use Register & Read, please view this Jstor Video.

New Exhibit - Hidden Treasures

The Archives and Special Collections is mounting a new exhibit in the Steel Plant Art Gallery.  "Hidden Treasures: Photographers and the Lowell Thomas Papers" will be on display from February 7th through March 2nd.  Please join us for the opening reception on February 7th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.  Light refreshments will be served.

This exhibit displays the work of four photographers from the Lowell Thomas Papers. Frank R. Roberson was a prolific early travel lecturer. Lowell Thomas’s “With Allenby in Palestine and With Lawrence in Arabia” made him world famous. Harry Chase was a pioneer photographer whose innovations enthralled audiences. Lowell Thomas, Jr. was one of only a few to take photographs of Tibet and the Dalai Lama before the invasion of Communist China. The remarkable photography within the collection is truly a hidden treasure.


Lowell Thomas’s remarkable life began in the gold mining boom town of Cripple Creek, Colorado.  An ambitious term of collegiate study earned him two Bachelor’s degrees from Valparaiso University in two years and then a Master’s degree from the University of Denver while he worked as a newspaper writer. From there he moved on to the Chicago Kent College of Law, and then to Princeton University, where he taught while pursuing his law degree. In Chicago he worked as a reporter for the Chicago Evening Journal and gained notoriety for exposing a man attempting to blackmail a number of wealthy Chicago industrialists – men who provided the capital for the Lowell Thomas Travelogues.


In 1917 his fledgling career obtained him ambiguous support from the U.S. government to create war propaganda. In August he married Frances Ryan and left for Europe where he toured the Western Front and found it insufficient for a travelogue. When he heard of General Allenby’s campaign in Palestine he jumped at the opportunity and sped off to the Middle East where he met T. E. Lawrence in Jerusalem in February 1918. Fran Thomas stayed in Italy where she worked with the Red Cross, was shot at while touring the front and arrested as a spy for taking photographs.


Thomas returned to America in 1919 where he gave his travelogue performance at the Century Theater and Madison Square Garden in New York. British theater promoter Percy Burton brought him to London where “With Allenby in Palestine and With Lawrence in Arabia” became an enormous hit. Thomas then took his travelogue on tour through Australia and New Zealand while others performed the lecture throughout Canada. Keen to build upon his early success, Thomas returned through Malaya, Burma and India where he and Chase gathered material to create “Through Romantic India.”


Lowell Thomas is remembered mostly as an American radio news broadcaster from 1930 to 1976, first on the NBC and then the CBS radio network. He was also an author of more than 50 books and countless newspaper and magazine articles, a noted speaker who for much of his life traveled widely on the national lecture circuit, a world traveler, filmmaker, entrepreneur and friend and associate of many of the most influential people of the 20th century.

Lowell Thomas in Petra, 1918.

Welcome Back

Welcome back to Spring 2013. We want to remind everyone about the  Marist Library Resources forFaculty  page.  

  From the Library homepage: 

 (1)   drop down the “Services” menu

 (2)  click on the “Faculty” submenu to display the page.  

On the first tab you will find the list of Department Liaisons.  Each Department at Marist has a designated Library Liaison.  That Librarian is the one person you need to contact for help with any Library need.  Our Library liaisons have changed a bit this semester due to a retirement.

The second tab is for “Ask-A-Librarian”.  Fill out the simple form and someone will contact you shortly with an answer to your question or concern.

Under the “Reserves” tab you will find both online and printable forms to put videos, journal articles and books on Reserve.

A “Materials Suggestion Form” is available through the “Acquisitions” tab.  It is one of many ways in which you can request books and other materials be added to the Library collection.

If you are interested in working with the Marist Archives & Special Collections for teaching or research, you will find introductory information on the” Archives” tab.

The Library Pathfinder program proved very successful in its first year of operation.  You can read more about the Pathfinder process under the “Class Support” tab.

We look forward to working with you.