Wednesday, April 3, 2013

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.



Friday, March 1, 2013

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

Monday, February 25, 2013

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 WorkA-Z List










Friday, February 15, 2013

Recent Ebook Purchases

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

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

 book cover      Birth (and Death) of the Cool by Ted Gioia

book cover     Environmental Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing by Frank Spellman

  book cover   Handbook of Youth Mentoring edited by David DuBois and Michael Karcher

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

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

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

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

book cover   Social Media Reader edited by Michael Mandiberg

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

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

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



Wednesday, February 6, 2013

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.

Friday, February 1, 2013

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.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

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 Reservestab you will find both online and printable forms to put videos, journal articles and books on Reserve.

A “Materials Suggestion Form” is available through theAcquisitionstab.  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 theArchivestab.

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.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Library Late Nights


Did you know that on a regular week, the James A. Cannavino Library is open 116.5 out of 168 hours in the week?  That is more than the main libraries at Yale or Princeton.  What’s more, there are professional librarians on hand to help faculty and students for almost all of the hours that we are open.

Regular Semester Hours


Monday - Thursday
07:30 am - 02:00 am
Friday
07:30 am - 09:00 pm
Saturday
10:00 am - 09:00 pm
Sunday
12:00 pm - 02:00 am
Both faculty and students lead busy lives and often need to utilize the library and library resources outside of the normal nine-to-five workday.  This is why there is a professional librarian available on Friday nights and weekends, and two professional librarians available each evening, during our evening hours from Sunday through Thursday.

Opportunities for Faculty

Having two professional librarians available during the evening does allow the James A. Cannavino Library to better serve Marist’s students, but it also allows us to better serve our faculty. 

During the day, your best contact person is your department’s assigned Library Liaison.   In the evening, Nancy Lewis, the James A. Cannavino Library’s Evening Operations Librarian, is available to answer any questions, help you with your research,  and assist you in setting up bibliographic instruction for you classes.  She is also available in the evening to meet with you about setting up course-specific Pathfinders

Opportunities for Students

We do our best to keep the library just as functional for students in the evening as it is during the day with little to no diminishment in resources. In return, students continue to utilize the library late into the night.  

Reference – We have full reference service available to assist your students until 12:00 am, Sunday – Thursday and until closing on Fridays and Saturdays.  

Computers/laptops – In addition to our computers, printers and scanners in the Escriptorium and on the first floor, The James A. Cannavino Library has a collection of laptop computers available to students for use within the library.  Laptops can be borrowed at the circulation desk.

Collaborative rooms - For group projects or group studying, the library provides collaborative rooms on the first and third floors.  The rooms vary in size and computer equipment provided.  These rooms are very popular in the evenings, and as the end of the semester approaches, can become entirely booked hours in advance, so tell your students to call ahead!

Quiet study room - The library provides a quiet study room on the first floor.


Especially as we approach finals, many students take advantage of all that the library provides, late into the night.  We are here for you and your students when you need us, even if that time is well after the sun goes down.




Friday, November 16, 2012

EADfying Lowell Thomas Papers

Article by:
Monish M. Singh
Digital Archivist

Introduction
In 2007, Marist College Archives & Special Collections received a grant from National Historical Publications & Records Commission (NHPRC) to arrange, describe, preserve and make the collection of one of our nation’s best known journalists and explorers, Lowell Thomas accessible to all interested researchers and educators. The Lowell Thomas Papers consists of approximately 36,000 photographs, hundreds of hours of audio, thousands of feet of motion picture film, numerous artifacts and over one million pages of manuscript materials that date from 1789 to 1984. To make this collection accessible, the project proposed to arrange and describe the entire collection down to item level and create a finding aid marked up in EAD format.