In Blume: News from the Blume Library

What’s going on in the Blume Library?

2011-12-02T09:11:00.007-06:00

You may have noticed some empty shelves as you walk into the Louis J. Blume Library. We will be starting construction on a new Learning Commons in May 2012 and we are making some preparations for that space.

The library is discarding both journals and reference books that are available to our faculty and students as on-line digital resources. We are NOT discarding non-reference books from the circulating collection on the third floor. This is something we would have done in a leisurely fashion anyway and no one would have noticed. Libraries do it every day, all over the world. If not, we would be buried under tons of useless information and misinformation and the university would have to build a new wing for the library every ten years or even more often. We have had to move quickly this semester because we are starting construction on the new Learning Commons in May and have to move substantial quantities of books and journals between the floors to make the space available.

NOTE: While we ARE recycling material that is useless to our students and faculty, we are not lightly throwing away material that might be useful to other libraries. We are working with Better World Books, a company that redistributes books to libraries serving developing countries and other nonprofits, and sells used books to individuals. We have shipped more than 9 tons of books to them for redistribution or discounted sales to Haiti, various African countries, and other places. We could do no more than that. You can read more about Better World Books in Wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_World_Books

See the environmental metrics document to learn more about this activity, which has brought $8,744.82 back to the library and is being used to purchase ebooks.

based on information provided by Dr. H. Palmer Hall, Director, Louis J. Blume Library, St. Mary’s University

Native American Heritage Month 2011 in the Blume Library

2011-11-03T10:58:00.009-05:00

The Blume Library, in partnership with the Native American Student Association at St. Mary’s University, has created a display to celebrate Native American Heritage Month this November. The display is installed in the entryway of the Blume Library and will run from Nov. 1st-30th.

The artifacts on display are clothing and other items presented to Geronimo, leader of the Chiricahua Apaches during the late 19th century. Geronimo was imprisoned by the U.S. Government for raiding and for defying the resettlement of his people to an arid reservation in Arizona.

The display also includes books on Native American Studies, historical studies of Geronimo, and fiction by Native American authors. Books on display are available for checkout.

You can find out more information about Native American and about display though the Native American Heritage Month LibGuide on the Library website.

I encourage you to take time to celebrate Native American Heritage Month by visiting the display, learning more from the LibGuide, and taking advantage of the events sponsored by the Native American Student Association. Check out the University calendar for more details about upcoming events.

100,000 E-books From Open Library's "In Library" Lending Program

2011-10-20T11:17:00.002-05:00

The Blume Library's membership in Open Library's new e-book lending program brings instant access to over 100,000 online titles to the St. Mary's community. Participating libraries in the "In Library" lending program pledge to make a part of their collection available in e-book format and, in return, their users are eligible to borrow e-books made available by over 1,000 other member libraries.

To borrow an e-book, you must be either connected to the campus network or authenticated through our proxy server as a member of the University community, in exactly the same way as other library databases work.

Once authenticated, you create your own account at Open Library using the "Sign Up" link at the upper right corner of the "Borrow eBooks" page. Search or browse for an e-book and begin reading!

E-books may also be downloaded and read offline using Adobe Digital Editions and can be transferred to portable reading devices compatible with that software.

Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive, and in addition to the lending library of current titles, it makes freely available nearly 1,000,000 other e-books in all languages, though the vast majority are older, out of copyright, works.

If you want to read more about the "In Library" lending program, it has been publicized in the Wall Street Journal, Publisher's Weekly magazine, and its own "Borrow eBooks" webpage.

2011-08-17T11:26:00.004-05:00

On June 2, 2011, the National Academies Press (NAP) announced that nearly all of their publications would become freely available on their web site. Over 4000 titles from NAP have been digitized and are available as HTML full-text or PDF full-text. (You must register with the site to download the PDF files, but registration is free and painless.)

The National Academies Press publishes reports issued by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. More than 200 books are published by NAP each year on a wide variety of topics ranging from Space and Aeronautics to Math, Chemistry & Physics to Education to Computers and Information Technology to Conflict and Security Issues and many, many topics in-between!

A group of approximately 25 librarians from Kazakhstan, Canada, and the United States have joined together (virtually) to catalog the entire NAP digital collection. So far, just over a thousand titles have been cataloged. These cataloging records will be loaded into our catalog here at St. Mary's as they become available, so check the catalog frequently and if you can't find something, try searching the NAP web site. Of course, you're always welcome to contact a librarian for further assistance!

Some of the reports that have just been added to the catalog are Marine Protected Areas: Tools for Sustaining Ocean Ecosystems, Improving Mathematics Education: Resources for Decision Making, Immunization Safety Review: Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and A Modified Baseline Incineration Process for Mustard Projectiles at Pueblo Chemical Depot.

eBooks migrate to EBSCOhost platform

2011-08-02T13:31:00.021-05:00

Many of our subscription electronic books or eBooks have now migrated from the netLibrary platform to the EBSCOhost platform. What does this mean for you as a researcher or faculty member? It means a platform that has many familiar features, that is easier to search, and that makes it easier to download, email, or print portions of our books.

Many of our popular databases, such as Academic Search Complete and Business Source Complete, use the EBSCOhost platform, so many of the icons and user features should look familiar. If you have set up a MyEBSCOhost account in one of these other databases, you can also use in with the eBook Collection. Just follow this MyEBSCOhost account link if you would like to learn how to set up an account.

Additional features include:

Navigate to eBook chapters or sections directly from Result List and Detail Record

Search within an eBook for specific terms, yielding a list of hyperlinked pages

Create notes that are associated to eBook pages

Optional download capabilities and user-selected checkout duration

Our eBooks will continue to be searchable in our library online catalog. Enjoy searching and using the eBook Collection via the EBSCOhost platform!

Find items in libraries near you

2011-07-19T15:30:00.008-05:00

WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information. You can quickly determine whether the Blume Library or another local library has a particular book, DVD, or other item that you are seeking.

Search many libraries at once for an item and then locate it in a library nearby
Find books, music, and videos to check out
Post your review of an item, or contribute factual information about it

Also, if you have a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) and the Red Laser app, using the WorldCat Search API, you can scan a bar code of a book and quickly find out if your local library has that book in their collection. Watch the video on the WorldCat site to learn more about this nifty feature!

Reduce anxiety with the Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics

2011-07-12T09:16:00.019-05:00

Don't let terms and phrases like measures of central tendency, MANOVA, or kurtosis send you into panic mode! Reduce your anxiety about statistical analysis with the Encyclopedida of Measurement and Statistics, edited by Niel J. Salkind (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference, 2007). This 3-volume, 1136-page publication presents state-of-the-art information and ready-to-use facts and explanations in a non-intimidating and accessible style. The encyclopedia is specifically written to appeal to beginning and intermediate-level students, practitioners, researchers, and consumers of information.

As with other Gale Virtual Reference Library titles, this resource includes downloadable mp3 audio files for each entry, allows users to easily email items to oneself and others, and includes a citation tool that will generate an MLA or APA format citation for each entry.

Whether conducting research, writing proposals, and analyzing data, or understanding what the median is in a news story, this subject encyclopedia can help alleviate confusion.

Psychological meaning of religious experience

2011-06-27T13:20:00.018-05:00

The Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion, edited by David A. Leeming, Kathryn Madden, and Stanton Marlan (New York: Springer, 2010), offers a definitive and intellectually rigorous collection of psychological interpretations of the stories, rituals, motifs, symbols, doctrines, dogmas, and experiences of the world's religious and mythological traditions. In 997 pages, the Encyclopedia applies a range of psychological approaches to understanding the form and content of religious experience, at the same time offering insight into the meanings of various symbols and themes of numerous world religions.

As with other Gale Virtual Reference Library titles, this resource includes downloadable mp3 audio files for each entry and a citation tool that will generate an MLA or APA format citation for each entry. Other features:

A comprehensive reference work that includes that broad spectrum of psychological approaches to understanding the form and content of religious experience

Entries draw on forty different religious traditions, including modern world religions (e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism), as well as older religious movements (e.g. African Animism, Egyptian, Greek, Gnostic, and Native North American religions)

Provides the technical and phenomenological vocabulary that will enable researchers in the fields of psychology and religion to pursue collaboration and dialogue

This is a crucial resource for the collaboration and mutual illumination of the fields of psychology and religion and their intersection.

CQ Press Political Reference Suite: Making National Government More Understandable

2011-06-14T10:16:00.014-05:00

Through the Blume Library's and the Law Library's subscription to CQ Press Political Reference Suite (PRS) or CQ Electronic Library (CQEL), we have access to the following searchable publications:

CQ Almanac - offers year-by-year analysis on politics and policy in the US Congress.
Congress and the Nation - the definitive source for actions of the US Congress including legislative history, policy analysis, and key votes.
Historic Documents Series - provides key primary sources, context, and global coverage updated yearly.
Political Handbook of the World - the most authoritative resource for political information, including government histories, party profiles and election results on more than 200 countries.
Supreme Court Yearbook - offers essential coverage of the US Supreme Court.
Washington Information Directory - the essential guide to key contacts at government agencies and national organizations, including federal agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

While our library has older editions of these titles in print, some of the advantages of the online publications include:

Advanced search options so that users can search by keyword across all CQ Press online editions or limit their search to certain topic areas or titles

Multiple, customized browse options to help locate and explore all available content

Easy-to-use interfaces with clean, inviting screen designs

Handy personalization options that save user profiles and search results for use in future research

Links to available external resources

CiteNow!™—An exclusive CQ Press feature that helps users easily download full citations in MLA, APA, Chicago, or Bluebook style

Try searching the CQ Press Political Reference Suite (PRS) today!

The Encyclopedia of Consciousness Awaits Exploration

2011-05-25T12:17:00.017-05:00

The Encyclopedia of Consciousness, edited by William P. Banks (London: Academic Press, 2009) is a 2-volume background source, providing a summary of major research and scientific thought regarding the nature of consciousness, the neural circuitry involved, how the brain, body, and world interact, and our understanding of subjective states, in 79 in-depth entries. Entries range from Aesthetics and the Experience of Beauty to Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness to Religious Experience: Psychology and Neurology to William James on the Mind and Its Fringes. Many of these in-depth entries are divided into sections, and many include a glossary, bibliography, and brief biographical sketch of the entry's author. 407 images are included with this publication.

This resource is available 24/7 to current students, faculty, and staff through the Credo Reference database.

LibGuides can help your students

2011-05-11T11:25:00.001-05:00

As faculty and staff are busily preparing for both summer and fall semester courses and activities, we thought you might like to know a little bit about new resources we have been developing to assist your students in conducting research for their classes and programs. We began using new software called LibGuides last summer. The web-based program helps us build guides to library and online resources in virtually any subject and present this information in a student-friendly, well-organized manner. We have developed LibGuides for business, government information, some core curriculum courses, English, oral communications, counseling, psychology and more than 60 other topics, frequently in consultation with other faculty members.

You may want to add the URL for a specific LibGuide to your syllabus or in your Blackboard course. If you would like us to develop a LibGuide for your class, please contact your department’s library liaison or Diane Duesterhoeft.

based on information provided by Dr. H. Palmer Hall, Director, Louis J. Blume Library, St. Mary’s University

May 2011 Voter Guide

2011-04-19T11:45:00.014-05:00

The Elections & Voting LibGuide has been updated with May 2011 Bexar County candidates & websites, where available. To see which candidates have web sites, see the Municipalities 1, 2, and 3 pages, under the Generic Ballot (Bexar County) tab.

Are you uncertain about whether you are currently registered to vote in Texas or at which address you're registered? Then check out the Voter Information Search database made available through the Texas Secretary of State's office. You can search by Driver's Licence number & date of birth, or First Name/Last Name & date of birth. Try it out!

Inspiration Online via TED.com

2011-03-09T15:18:00.020-06:00

I've recently been intrigued by the TED video series and excited that these videos lead me to great resources available in our library. TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to being a platform for "Ideas Worth Spreading". Most of the content is short videos (20 minutes max) of people presenting their fascinating research, ideas, discoveries, music, etc. TED makes all of the talks available for free online. This post highlights some of my recent TED discoveries and links to related library materials.

Christopher McDougall's question Are We Born to Run?

McDougall wondered why modern Western runners seemed to suffer so many running-related injuries. Was that just a feature of running? His question led him to spending time with a tribe in Northern Mexico who are known for their injury-free distance running prowess (50, 100 miles races). McDougall describes how he came to believe that current running shoes are to blame for runners' injuries, advocating barefoot running as the way to solve this problem. Check out McDougal's book Born to Run:a Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen for more info. (find the book at the Blume Library or other libraries via WorldCat)

Jane McGonigal's concept that Gaming Can Make a Better World

McGonigal's talk explores her ideas of how to harness the enthusiasm and devoted interest of gamers to solve real-world issues. Her recent book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World goes into more depth about her research and the games developed by the R&D organization Institute for the Future. Gamers aren't wasting their time after all! (find the book at the Blume Library or other libraries via WorldCat).

Bill Gates talk How State Budgets Are Breaking US Schools

Gates talks about recent, and low-term, economic threats to the US educational system. Most funding for schools comes from state budgets. He asserts that a large part of the problem is state legislators' unwillingness to make difficult decisions about long-term viability for the educational system, instead playing games with accounting and state budget deficits. Take a look at some articles in Academic Search Complete for other perspectives on US education and state budgets.

Take a look at TED.com and find talks that inspire you. And then, expand on your interest by searching to see what the library has to offer on the subject!

What's in the news?

2011-02-01T15:13:00.004-06:00

Often, it's a government publication that's in the headlines!

Such as the recently released Financial Crisis Inquiry Report. You couldn't come within 10 feet of any media for a few days last week without hearing about this massive report of the National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States.

Since we are a federal Depository Library, we will get a paper copy of this report sometime in the next few weeks. But you can take a look at it online if you can't wait. Here is a link to what you'll notice is the official government version, made available by the Government Printing Office.

This isn't the only high-profile government report to make the news lately. You might remember at the end of last year there was quite a buzz about this report to the President—Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling.

You can also see the official version of this one right now, courtesy of GPO. We'll soon be getting a paper copy of this commission's recommendations (the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, that is).

Keep informed! Follow up on what you hear on the news by checking with us at the Blume Library.

Welcome Back!

2011-01-10T10:16:00.003-06:00

As the Spring 2011 semester begins, I want to give you an idea of how the library can help you with your research assignments.

Tips

Get Help: Do you have a research paper and you don’t know where to start? Ask one of the reference librarians for help. Our primary purpose is to help you figure out where to find information on topic. You will find librarians at the Reference Desk in the Blume Library. You can also give us a call (210-436-3508), or contact us by email. In addition, you will get some great resource tips from our online Research Guides, created by Blume librarians, which focus on popular research topics.
Find materials online: The library subscribes to over 100 online databases that include articles, e-books, e-reference books, reports, statistics, videos, images, and more. Our website includes a links to some of the most popular databases, a complete list of databases, and a links to databases by academic subject.
Find books, videos, and cds: Search the Library Catalog to discover the books, videos, cds, government documents, etc. that we have on your topic. You will use your Rattler ID card to check out from the library. By the way, we also buy popular books, movies, and music. Looking for something fun to do? Borrow free entertainment from the library!

Need more information? Take a look at the library website or contact us at the library. We can help you succeed!

How are we doing?

2010-11-29T08:15:00.005-06:00

If you have a few minutes, take a quick survey and tell us about your experience with government information.

The Blume Library is a Federal Depository Library, and has been one since 1964. The Federal Depository Library Program was established by Congress to ensure that the American public has access to its Government's information. Since becoming a Depository, we have accumulated what we hope is a valuable collection of print resources from the Congress and many government agencies. We have reports from Censuses back to 1960, Statutes at Large (pictured on the right) back to 1964, primary diplomatic source material in the Foreign Relations of the U.S. back to 1914, and the Congressional Record (and antecedents) back to 1789! Plus much, much more.

In recent years, the government has been increasingly making its information available online and the Blume Library offers guidance in navigating these resources through tools available on our website. We offer a Government Information on the Web Subject Index, a State Government Information Index, a series of guides to government information, and more.

So take our survey! It covers access, services, and collections. Results of the survey will contribute to efforts by the Government Printing Office, the agency which operates the Depository Program, to address the value of Depository Libraries. Let us know how you have used government resources in the Library and online, what works for you and what could be improved. Thanks!

Library Subscribes to Value Line online

2010-11-11T11:08:00.001-06:00

The Louis J. Blume Library recently subscribed to the online Value Line Research Center. The Research Center provides research on stocks, mutual funds, options, and other types of investments. The Value Line Research Center is available on-campus and off-campus to currently enrolled students, faculty, and staff at St. Mary’s University.

The Blume Library also subscribes to several other databases that provide investment information. These databases are:

Morningstar Investment Research Center – mutual funds, stocks, portfolio analysis tools
NetAdvantage (Standard & Poor’s) – stocks, mutual funds, company and industry information
Business Source Complete – business journal articles, newspapers, magazines, etc.

You can find the Value Line Research Center, and the other databases, on the Blume Library website at http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/indexes/bus.htm.

Contact any Reference Librarian if you have questions about this subscription or any other Blume Library database.

Voter information and links to campaign websites

2010-10-24T16:52:00.004-05:00

Are you are registered to vote in Bexar County? Take a look at http://stmarytx.libguides.com/vote for links to candidates' sites, where available.

If you have already voted, thank you for voting. For those who haven't, Early Voting runs through Friday, October 29 in Bexar County. Election Day is Tuesday, November 2 and your local polling site will be open 7am-7pm. Links to the Bexar County Elections Department information about voting is available at http://stmarytx.libguides.com/vote

Participate in LexisNexis® QuizWhiz student competition for a chance to win valuable prizes!

2010-09-15T15:37:00.004-05:00

Current St. Mary's University students are invited to participate in the LexisNexis Academic (one of the Blume Library's subscription services) QuizWhiz contest. Win points and prizes while exploring the content of LexisNexis Academic.

Sign up today. Registered students answer multiple choice questions on legal, news, business and more. Each correct answer earns points that may be redeemed by students for a variety of gift cards from national retailers in values of $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100.

Competition runs from September 13 through November 15, 2010 with questions updated as frequently as twice a week for opportunities to earn more.

See http://www.lexisnexis.com/quizwhiz/ for more information!

33 Years of Magill's Literary Annual Reviews Online

2010-07-20T14:49:00.011-05:00

With the receipt of our 2010 Magill's Literary Annual, we have online access to 33 years of past Magill's Literary Annuals. The database includes over 6,900 reviews and essays covering fiction and nonfiction, across subjects, genres, and countries. Each year, Magill's Literary Annual critically evaluates 200 major examples of serious literature, both fiction and nonfiction, published during the previous calendar year. You can find the link to this database under Salem Literature on our web site or linked in our catalog record for Magill's Literary Annual. Search this resource to learn about recent publishing trends or to see how your favorite contemporary author or work of contemporary literature has stood the test of time.

Howdy, Partner!

2010-06-22T08:43:00.008-05:00

Having trouble finding good, reliable, government information on a specific topic, like the Electoral College or Recycling? Or perhaps you'd like to browse a collection of useful government links on a broad topic like Education or the Military, and find a jewel of a useful website?

You should try our Government Information on the Web Subject Index!

The Index provides a single portal to link collections on particular subjects, taking advantage of the varied organizational schemes and terminologies developed by librarians around the country.

And the Index has just had its value acknowledged at the highest level—it's been designated an official Service Partner of the Government Printing Office, one of a handful of operations nationwide that "assist GPO to provide enhanced services to Federal depository libraries."

We are deeply honored to have our work so recognized by GPO, and are very excited at the national exposure that St. Mary's and the Blume Library will enjoy, especially in the library community, as a result of the Partnership.

Depository libraries receive tangible government publications, access to electronic publications (some of which are not freely available to the public), training, and support from the Government Printing Office. Established in 1813, the Federal Depository Library Program's purpose is to "to ensure that the American public has access to its Government's information." At St. Mary's, both the Blume Library and the Sarita Kenedy East Law Library are depositories. Across the nation, there are over 1200.

Government information can be useful in all sorts of research projects. Check out the Index, by all means, but if you need further assistance in finding government data or reports, ask a Reference Librarian.

Fun with local health statistics

2010-06-15T10:02:00.007-05:00

How healthy are the residents in the county where you live? Do the local residents eat lots of fruits and vegetables? Is there a low incidence of obesity? What percentage of the local population smokes? You can easily find this information through several health statistics web sites. The Community Health Status Indicators (CHSI) site allows users to view data for any county in the United States. The site is a partnership between federal agencies and several private non-profit organizations. The data is obtained from a number of federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency, Census Bureau, and Department of Labor. You can even easily generate a 12-page booklet with the data and graphics for your county. After selecting the state and then the county you which to examine, select the Print Full Report option on the right side of the screen and your booklet will automatically be formatted!

Another site that makes a game out of comparing one city (really the county) against another on several health and quality of life measures is Community Clash, provided by MeYou Health, a private well-being company that encourages people to pursue, achieve and maintain a healthy life through education and fun. Play Community Clash and see how your city compares to the rival city of your choice!

There's an App for the OECD Factbook 2010

2010-06-03T11:42:00.014-05:00

Several weeks ago we noted that the World Bank Group opened their data to all. Now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is making their OECD Factbook 2010 freely accessible through a downloadable app available for your mobile device. The OECD Factbook is arranged by 12 themes such as population and migration, macroeconomic trends, and globalization. Each indicator includes a table showing the latest available data for the 30 OECD countries, and data for Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russian Federation and South Africa where available. The data in the OECD Factbook are available in several formats. The mobile app for the OECD Factbook 2010 can be freely downloaded at the App Shopper site.

[image and information from OECD and App Shopper sites]

Deepwater Horizon...

2010-05-06T09:34:00.005-05:00

...what a poetic-sounding name for a horrific event. And its full impacts won't be known for weeks, months, or perhaps even years.

If you want to keep up-to-date on what's happening with the Gulf oil spill—efforts to cap the leaks, predictions as to movement of the slick, and efforts made to minimize the damages as it makes landfall—we can help.

A diligent government information librarian in Alabama is compiling this bibliography of links to government and news sources. Their emphasis is, naturally, on the Alabama coastline, but they also include big-picture coverage.

Some of the government agencies most concerned with the spill are:

NOAA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, who offers this informational page on the spill (the image on the left above is from their website)
NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which provides rather chilling satellite imagery of the area, including the example on the right, which came from this NASA web page
EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, who offers this page on efforts to monitor the environmental impacts

World Bank Group opens data to all

2010-04-28T16:33:00.011-05:00

The World Bank Group now provides free access to more than 2,000 financial, business, health, economic and human development statistics that had mostly been available only to paying subscribers in the past.

This means that researchers, journalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), entrepreneurs and school children alike will be able to tap into the World Bank's databases via a new website at data.worldbank.org

The World Bank's open data initiative has the potential to stimulate more evidence-based policymaking in developing countries by bringing more researchers and innovative analysis into the development process. The move might also stimulate demand for data and increase countries' capacity to produce it.

For the first time, data will also be available in languages other than English, with an initial 330 indicators translated into French, Spanish and Arabic. Read more at http://go.worldbank.org/MZ29WQLWK0

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Congratulations to 4th Annual Library Undergraduate Research Award recipient

2010-04-01T09:29:00.008-05:00

On Friday, March 26, 2010, the recipient of the Fourth Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award was recognized at the Eleventh Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. The award recognizes a student researcher who demonstrates skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project.

The First Place Award of $200 was granted to Rebecca Denise Lopez for her project, "Enhancing Learning: Modifying the Learning Practice Inventory for Use in Health Care." The faculty mentor for the project was Dr. Andrea Berndt.

Congratulations, Rebecca!

Stand up and be counted

2010-03-23T12:41:00.004-05:00

Well, you don't actually have to stand up. You can be counted sitting down. And it's so easy to do you can even be counted lying down if you prefer. There's very little energy required.

Every 10 years, as specified in the U.S. Constitution, the Census Bureau conducts a count of every single person in the land. At least, that's the theory. It only works if each of those people cooperates and participates.

This April 1 is Census day for this decade. The last time it happened was April 1, 2000, and it won't happen again until April 1 (presumably) 2020. Every household is to respond to the questionnaire as of that day. Not the day before or the day after. [I was so disappointed that my son barely missed getting counted in the 1980 census—he was born a week later!]

The form is very short and only takes a few minutes to complete. You can take a look at it here. The more detailed questions that used to be a part of the Census are taken care of in the American Community Survey, which is an ongoing survey and only questions a sample of the population.

Simple as it is, there are a couple of areas you might have questions about:

If you live on campus, your parents shouldn't count you on their form at home. You'll be counted in the dormitory. Here's more information on this count.
The Census folks intend for Hispanic origin (which has only be noted since the 1970 Census, by the way) to be considered a separate characteristic from race. That's why there are two separate questions on the form. But race is self-reported. So if you're not comfortable marking white or African-American for race, there's a place for you to fill in what you consider yourself. The whole race question is very complicated and fraught with linguistic, emotional, and political baggage. The Library's Census guide has a section on comparability of Census data in this area. But suffice it to say that a perfect solution has yet to be devised.
If you have any questions about getting a form or filling it out, here are some information phone numbers.

The main thing is to be counted! Census data is used for apportioning seats in the U.S. and Texas legislatures, for awarding grants, and in the research papers of generations of college students. So don't be left out!

Apply for the Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award

2010-03-11T18:38:00.003-06:00

Are you entering a project in the Undergraduate Research Symposium?

Consider applying for the
Fourth Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award

First Prize: $200
Second Prize: $100

The Award recognizes student researchers who demonstrate skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project. The Award is restricted to undergraduate students.

You must enter the Undergraduate Research Symposium (deadline Friday, March 12, 2010) to be eligible for this Award.

The Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award application deadline: Monday, March 22, 2010 at 5pm.

Photo of 2007 Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award winning project posters.

Photographs and Memories …..during Women's History Month

2010-03-09T15:19:00.005-06:00

We celebrate Women's History Month every March in the United States. This year, St. Mary's University is hosting several programs to honor the contributions of women. Take a look at the 2010 St. Mary's University's Women's History Month program.

I hope you will visit the Blume Library to see our display celebrating Women's History Month: Snapshots of Women's History. I designed the display to focus on the way photographs can challenge our assumptions about the diversity of female experiences. The pictures on display show women contributing to society in a variety of ways including as artists, teachers, students, protestors, writers, business owners, and athletes. All the photos on display come from the Flickr Commons project, a repository of publicly-held photographs from archives and libraries throughout the world. The display also includes books from the Blume Library collection that focus on women in photography, either as subjects of the photos or as photographers.

The Blume Library Art Exhibit area highlights the two themes of women and photography this March with the opening of a photo exhibit by local artist Melanie Rush-Davis. The exhibit will run from March 7- April 16th and a reception will be held on Wednesday, April 7th from 4-5:30pm.

I invite you to stop by the library to view these displays and think about women's contributions to society, both now and in the past. I also encourage you to take advantage of all the wonderful Women's History Month programs occurring this month on our campus!

The Chronicle of Higher Education now available through the Blume Library

2010-02-14T16:51:00.008-06:00

The Louis J. Blume Library now offers you the full-text, with graphics and photos, of The Chronicle of Higher Education at your desktop or from wherever you might be.

The Chronicle of Higher Education is where college and university faculty members and administrators turn for news, information, and jobs in higher education. The Chronicle’s online edition is published every weekday. The Chronicle’s site features the complete contents of the latest print issue; daily news and advice columns; thousands of current job listings; articles published since September 1989; vibrant discussion forums; and career-building tools.

Go to the Louis J. Blume Library web site and click on The Chronicle of Higher Education at the top of that page or go to the The Chronicle’s direct link at http://blume.stmarytx.edu:2048/login?url=http://chronicle.com

For other new databases and trials, check the Louis J. Blume Library web site. The Library frequently "test drives" new databases and would very much appreciate your feedback on them.

information provided by Dr. H. Palmer Hall, Director, Louis J. Blume Library, St. Mary’s University

Download netLibrary books to your eBook reader

2010-01-21T10:21:00.015-06:00

Did you get an eBook reader recently? If so, did you know that you may be able to download selections from the library’s collection of 50,000+ NetLibrary eBooks onto your eReader?

All you have to do is connect to the Louis J. Blume Library’s website and click on Databases Listed Alphabetically. When you do, you will be able to click on NetLibrary. This will take to the NetLibrary website where you will be able to establish a free account with NetLibrary.

NOTE #1: Initially, you need to do this through the library’s website because Netlibrary uses our IP addresses to authenticate that you are connecting from a library that has purchased the collection. You may also do this from off campus by using EZ Proxy, the server that let’s all of our faculty and students log on to and check the library’s databases from off campus.

Procedure:
From the NetLibrary website, go to "Advanced Search."
Key in your search (by author/title/subject/keyword) and,
Before clicking on the search button, select "Downloadable eBooks."

You will be shown a list of downloadable eBooks that matches your search criteria.
When you get a list of books, click on "Show Details"
and then click on "Check Out & Download this eBook."

NOTE #2: Do have your eReader connected to your computer when you do this. The book will be downloaded into your "reader software" on your computer so you can transfer it to your hand-held device.

NOTE #3: NetLibrary checks books out to you and they will be unreadable on your eReader after 7 days. So, don’t download a whole bunch at one time.

NOTE # 4: NetLibrary is a scholarly collection of eBooks, so don’t look for bestsellers or works of fiction. Get those from the Sony store, Amazon, B+N.com, or other eBook vendors.

Since all of the downloadable eBooks are pdf files, they ought to work on a variety of eBook readers.

NOTE #5: Just another service provided by the Louis J. Blume Library.

Happy Techie New Year!

information provided by Dr. H. Palmer Hall, Director, Louis J. Blume Library, St. Mary’s University

Is this the coldest it's ever been?

2010-01-11T14:55:00.003-06:00

Well, it surely felt that way to me this weekend. Especially when we had a heater malfunction Saturday night! But I found out that it was even colder, 'way back in 1886, when the record for January 9 was set, at 12°. Our 16° the other night was close, though!

If you want to find out how cold, or how hot, or how much rain (or how little) has fallen on a certain day—or usually falls in a certain month—or has fallen since a certain date—you can find that on the internet.

The National Climatic Data Center has a nifty Records Look-up web page, and if you look at the chart for Lowest Minimum Temperatures for Texas, on January 9, you'll see a lot of red entries: new records were set elsewhere in the state, right and left!

You can also look up records, as well as current temperatures and forecasts, for all over the country, at the National Weather Service. To find all kinds of records for San Antonio, check out this compendium they provide. It might have made me feel a little warmer, psychologically, if I'd realized the other day that once, in 1917, it was 84 degrees here on January 9!

A handy and reliable non-governmental site (with less annoying ads than you find on weather.com) is the Weather Underground's Weather History page. Despite their goofy name (which is a counter-culture reference perhaps known only to People of A Certain Age) there's a lot of data here.

Enjoy browsing for fun weather facts on these websites. And try to keep warm!

Credo Reference

2009-11-24T12:09:00.012-06:00

The Blume Library recently started a subscription to the Credo Reference database. This rapidly growing resource currently encompasses 446 full-text reference titles with over 3 million entries from 70 highly-respected publishers integrated in a robust search engine.

Credo Reference includes many unique interactive features such as dynamic table functionality for world, state, and county statistics, an interactive world atlas, flash animations, videos, poetry/literature readings, over 700 music files, and a critically-acclaimed concept map. It also contains more than 200,000 images from all subject areas, over 200,000 audio pronunciations, and a citation formatter in APA, MLA, and Chicago formats for all articles.

Library Journal included Credo Reference as one of two general reference resources selected among its 2008 Best Reference List.

Search Credo Reference for authoritative background information as you begin researching your topic!

Fall Election 2009

2009-10-26T21:23:00.009-05:00

Did you know that there are 11 Texas Constitutional Amendments on the ballot? These propositions pertain to a variety of issues including private property and eminent domain, property taxes, research universities, veterans, and more. More information about each proposition, as well as pro and con arguments, is available at the League of Women Voters of Texas web site.

Friday, October 30, is the last day of Early Voting in Texas. The early voting site polls will be open until 6pm today and Wednesday, and will be open 8am-8pm on Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30. A generic sample ballot for Bexar County is available at the Bexar County Elections site. It also has information on where to vote, how to generate your personalized ballot, early voting, and several additional information sites.

And if you can't get to the polls this week, Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Polls will be open from 7am-7pm. See the the Bexar County Elections site to find your local polling site.

Last fall, nearly 60% of registered voters in Bexar County voted. Predictions are that less than 6% of registered voters will vote this time around. Will you become informed and help change that statistic?

2009-10-17T15:42:00.007-05:00

The Internet is here to stay, so why not start making more efficient use of the technology to share research data? That’s precisely what the Open Access movement is all about!

For years and years, scholars have conducted research, written reports, and submitted them to journals for publication. These journals would choose which articles to print and then publish an actual issue of a journal. To recover their costs for printing, paper, editorial work, etc., these journals would charge a fee to anyone who wanted that issue or a subscription to all issues printed in a given time frame.

Fast-forward to the late 1990s. The Internet has made its debut and everyone is trying to cash in, including journals and publishers of journals. Even today, readers are often asked to pay to access the electronic content of journals and to pay to obtain a print-copy of the journal. Often the print journal is published but the content is not available online for 6-18 months. Libraries who want to serve their users best, buy a print subscription to journals (so the users can read the most recent news), but then later buy the electronic content (because we know you’d rather do your research online). In effect, libraries and users are charged twice for the same information, just in different formats. If the research was conducted using tax payers’ money, then the reader is paying three times for data that he/she funded by paying taxes!

The Open Access movement argues that if tax payers funded the research, the results should be freely available or available for a very moderate fee. The Association of Research Libraries has reported that journal subscription costs have risen four times faster than inflation since the 1980s or roughly 260%, while libraries’ budgets have been decreasing, not just in relation to inflation but literally.

The Internet has brought about a dramatic change in the way business and life is conducted. Why shouldn’t publishing follow suit? Those who support Open Access want to free scholarly research from the shackles of traditional publishing models and provide it for everyone to access and use. The Student Statement on the Right to Research proclaims, “Scholarly knowledge is part of the common wealth of humanity." They further state that Open Access democratizes access to research.

The display in the Blume Library is meant to introduce students, faculty, and staff to the Open Access movement. The international Open Access community has declared this week, October 19-23, 2009, as Open Access Week. Won’t you join the growing community of Open Access supporters?

Check out these organizations for further information.
Open Access Week

JISC [Joint Information Systems Committee]

Public Library of Science

Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition

Students for Free Culture

President Declares October National Information Literacy Awareness Month

2009-10-07T15:31:00.008-05:00

On October 1, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation declaring October National Information Literacy Awareness Month. The proclamation recognizes all Americans' needs to acquire, evaluate, and effectively use information in any situation.

The proclamation was the result of a campaign by the National Forum on Information Literacy, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. 1989 was also the year when the American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy issued its report.

The proclamation's goals dovetail with the American Association of School Librarians' Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning and the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.

How high? How low? How far?

2009-09-30T14:00:00.017-05:00

Ever have to settle a friendly wager about which mountain is higher or how big the country really is? There's one handy government web page that can answer these questions and many more of interest to any geography geeks: the USGS' Elevations and Distances in the U.S. I used this particular resource the other day when I needed to pin down some geography trivia for my personal blog. The question was the elevation of San Antonio, subject of a dispute between me and my husband.

I found the range of 505-1000 feet above sea level for San Antonio's elevation. (Unfortunately, my husband's guess beat mine.) So what about other Texas cities? The website gives elevations for the 50 largest cities in the country, a list which contains 6 in Texas:

Houston is at the bottom, elevation-wise, with a "variation" of 0 to a whopping 83
Dallas: 390-686
Austin: 406-1080 (the biggest variation, which would come as no surprise to Austin-area bike-riders)
Fort Worth: 513-766
El Paso: 3695-4080...wow!

El Paso's city elevation has a ways to go to catch up with the state's highest point, though, Guadalupe Peak, at 8,749 (see left). Texas is far behind the big boys, elevation-wise, though. The highest point in the U.S. is Mt. McKinley, in Alaska, at 20,320. Mt. Whitney, in California, at 14,494' barely beats out Mt. Elbert in Colorado, 14,433', for the highest point in the lower 48. But we Texans shouldn't feel too inferior—we're head-and-shoulders above Florida's high point of 345!

What about the lowest point? In Texas it's sea level anywhere along the Gulf coast. For the country, the lowest elevation by far is Death Valley, in California, at 282' below sea level. The only other state with a below-sea-level mark is Louisiana, namely New Orleans at -8'. That's why hurricanes are such a worry there.

The web page doesn't only deal in highs and lows. An unusual section gives various locations that can claim to be the center of things. Where is the "Heart of Texas," really? According to the USGS, the geographic center of the state is in McCulloch County, 15 miles northeast of Brady (where my parents were married, so my Texas bona fides run pretty deep!).

What about the center of the country? Depends on whether you're looking at the lower 48 or the whole 50. Answers are Lebanon, Kansas, and Castle Rock, South Dakota.

And we're talking about a pretty big country, no matter how you measure it. The USGS reckons that from Maine to Hawaii we're 5,859 miles wide. And from the southern tip of Texas due north to the Canadian border is 1,602. Our southern boundary runs for 1,933 miles, and the northern (lower 48 only) for 3,987. From sea to shining sea, indeed!

All kinds of other fun facts are lurking on the web page. And it's available gratis from your government. So you don't even owe anyone a cut next time you use it to win that bet or ace that trivia contest!

International Literacy Day: The Power of Literacy

2009-09-08T10:28:00.005-05:00

Today, September 8, is International Literacy Day. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, first proclaimed International Literacy Day in the mid-1960s.

Worldwide, 776 million, or one in five, adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women while 75 million children are out of school. Literacy is a human right that is at the heart of basic education for all. It is essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy.

In this technological age, many educational institutions are taking literacy beyond the basics to Information Literacy (or Information Competency or Information Fluency). Information Literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information. Work with us at the Louis J. Blume Library in developing and refining your information competency skills!

Find yourself with a map...

2009-08-13T08:39:00.005-05:00

What can't you find on a map?

I'm one of those people who can spend hours looking at an old map, seeing where rivers start and end, looking for oddly-named towns, and wondering what I'd see if I took one of the little back roads instead of the interstates. Our current government documents display area highlights some of our tangible maps and sources for online maps from the government.

The U.S. government produces a lot of maps, for many different purposes. The Library receives a few of these in paper form that you can check out and use in class presentations, or scan to use in papers. The larger maps in the Library's collection are kept in a special case on the west wall, main floor. Here is more information about this collection, including a complete catalog, as well as links to sources of online maps.

A voluminous collection of smaller maps from the CIA is kept in a notebook in the documents stacks, at this classification number: PREX 3.10/4: . Why am I not surprised that the Central Intelligence Agency is so into maps?

Thousands more maps from government agencies, as well as other cartographic sources, are available online, of course. You can see some of the government sources, and some map examples, if you look at the mini-posters on the end panels of the display.

Sometimes these online maps come with gee-whiz searching and zooming features. An example of this kind of map site is the Library of Congress' American Memory.

The more recent maps we have from the CIA have online equivalents that you can find through the Library's catalog or at this site provided by UT Austin's Perry-Castañeda Library. Here is a small version of the centerpiece map in the display, an extremely informative map of Iraq. (You can see a zoomable larger version of this map here.)

Ask a Reference Librarian for assistance in finding and using the maps and atlases in the Library's collection or online. Get lost—and found—with maps!

TV and the Emmy Awards

2009-07-17T10:53:00.007-05:00

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the 61st annual Emmy's award nominations yesterday. So, in honor of this announcement, I thought it would be fun to look at the Emmy's history and some other sources for television research.

The Academy, established in 1946, first awarded the Emmy in 1949. According to the Emmy Award database, the 1949 awards included only 6 categories: Best Film Made for Television, Most Outstanding Television Personality, Most Popular Television Program, Station Award, Technical Award, and a Special Award for the designer of the Emmy statue. Pantomime Quiz Time won the most popular TV program in the inaugural ceremony. You can see footage of Pantomine Quiz Time in several clips on YouTube. According to the online Encyclopedia of Television, the Emmy's were only given to Los Angeles-based shows and stations in the first year since the United States lacked coast-to-coast signals, driving the focus to shows that would have been seen by the Emmy Awards viewing audience. The Emmy's went national in 1954. The Encyclopedia of Television covers this early history, the split between Hollywood and New York, and the changes to the Emmy Awards in the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences entry.

For more recent television news, there are hundreds of sources for TV reviews and information. Academic Search Complete, one of the Blume Library's databases, is a great place to look for TV reviews, research articles on the influence of television programming, and more details about the Emmy Awards. The Blume Library catalog also lists hundreds of books, ebooks, and government sources about television broadcasting. Of course, Google and other Internet searches provide an overwhelming number of webpages, videos, pictures, etc. about TV. For the latest TV and Emmy news, search Google News for updates from around the world.

The 61st Emmy Award show will be shown on Sunday, September 20 at 7pm Central Time on CBS. I'll be rooting for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog to win Best Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs. I mean, how can you not love one of the first free, Internet-only TV shows, created by the awesome Joss Whedon? Which, of course, begs the question...what is a television show? Can something be a TV show if it was never shown on television? I guess it can.

If it may please the court....

2009-06-05T15:12:00.004-05:00

Last week President Obama, no stranger to "firsts" himself, made history again, nominating the first Hispanic woman to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. If you want to find out more about this appeals court judge in advance of her confirmation hearings in the Senate, there are lots of resources you can turn to.

Here is the President's official press release upon the nomination, and National Public Radio has news coverage and commentary from that day that you can review here.

The Law Library of Congress has compiled this extensive listing of resources, including some of her writings, citations to her previous confirmation hearings, and legal websites that are good sources for more information.

If you want to some Library research on your own, you can consult the Lexis/Nexis database. Searching on "Sotomayor" from the "People" tab will give you references to news items about the judge. To see the various cases she's been involved with, go to the "Legal" tab and choose "Federal and State Cases." By entering "Sonia Sotomayor" as a natural language term in the search box, you'll receive a list of the cases over which she's presided. Be warned, however, that this is a very long list!

City of San Antonio Runoff Elections

2009-06-01T17:05:00.009-05:00

You might have heard that there were some local elections last month. Perhaps you even voted in the election. For registered voters in the City of San Antonio's Districts 2, 5, and 8, the elections continue. In fact, today is the first day of Early Voting for citizens who live in these three districts. More information and details are available at the Voter Information: Spring 2009 City of San Antonio Runoff Election page.

If you are eligible to vote in one of these City Council Districts and you can't get to one of the early voting polling sites by Tuesday, June 9, Election Day is Saturday, June 13. Polls will be open from 7am-7pm. See the Voter Information page to find your local polling site.

Spring 2009 Voter Information

2009-05-05T08:37:00.009-05:00

Did you know that today, May 5 (Cinco de Mayo), is the last day of Early Voting in Bexar County? The early voting site polls will be open until 8pm today. Information including links to early voting poll sites, as well as links to web sites--where available--of candidates who appear on the Bexar County generic sample ballot is included on the Voter 2009 web page. It also has information on where to vote, how to generate your personalized ballot, early voting, and several additional information sites.

And if you can't get to the polls today, Election Day is Saturday, May 9. Polls will be open from 7am-7pm. See the Voter 2009 page to find your local polling site.

Last fall, nearly 60% of registered voters in Bexar County voted. Predictions are that less than 20% of registered voters will vote this time around. What will you do to change that statistic?

Government Scientists Earn their Pay [updated]

2009-04-29T12:49:00.006-05:00

When there's a crisis involving something technical, scientific, and complicated it's nice to know that your taxes are paying experts to keep on top of things. That's why the current swine 'flu scare is a good lead-in to our new government information display: Government Science.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have put up this informative website that's chock full of details, and links to more details, that go a long way toward explaining this scary—but, at least for now, still manageable—new threat. Scientific information from the government, while being a human-run enterprise and thus capable of containing errors of fact and judgment, is still 'way more reliable than the Center for Stuff That I Heard from Some Guy, recently reported from on the Daily Show.

One thing we've been hearing from both reliable sources and Some Guys, has been how important personal hygiene is to foil this outbreak. Note the sudden appearance of hand sanitizers all over campus, including at our Reference Desk. If there's anything more you want to know about the benefits of hand-washing, or how to do it properly, the CDC provides this factsheet.

As important a role as the CDC plays in keeping informed, it's only one of scores of government agencies working in all areas of science and technology. We pulled some samples from our tangible collection and from the voluminous government scientific web for our current display. Hope you enjoy it!

[Update: curious about our previous experience with swine 'flu? An Ohio librarian has updated a history/bibliography of the 1976 swine 'flu scare.]

Just in time for Earth Day

2009-04-21T19:26:00.009-05:00

Now through May 1, you have free access to Environmental Studies & Policy Collection and select eBooks from Gale. Environmental Studies & Policy Collection is a compilation of over 700 journals, periodicals and magazines, which provide robust coverage of environmental issues and policies, including diverse perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policy makers, as well as corporate interests. You'll find familiar, reliable content from periodicals and magazines, such as: Audubon, Mother Earth News, Natural History, American Scientist and many more.

You also have free access to select eBook titles, including:

Gale
Climate Change in Context
Environmental Science in Context
World of Earth Science
Beacham's Guide to the Endangered Species of North America
Environmental Encyclopedia
Environmental Issues: Essential Primary Sources
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia
Weather Almanac

Macmillan
Animal Sciences
Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy
Plant Sciences
Pollution A to Z
Water: Science and Issues

U*X*L
UXL Encyclopedia of Biomes, 2nd ed.
Alternative Energy
Endangered Species
Grzimek's Student Animal Life Resource
UXL Complete Life Science Resource
UXL Encyclopedia of Biomes
UXL Encyclopedia of Landforms and Other Geologic Features
UXL Encyclopedia of Water Science
UXL Encyclopedia of Weather and Natural Disasters

Enter your search in the following box and take a test drive!

Congratulations to 3rd Annual Library Undergraduate Research Award recipients

2009-04-09T09:34:00.019-05:00

On Friday, April 3, 2009, the recipients of the Third Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award were recognized at the Tenth Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. The awards recognize student researchers who demonstrate skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project.

The First Place Award of $200 was granted to Patricia Amalia Sipes for her project, "Beth, Babel, Boibel: Robert Graves and the Ciphering of Hidden Meanings in Celtic Poetry." The faculty mentor for the project was Dr. Alice Kersnowski.

The Second Place Award of $100 was given to Kristina Kay Lindsey for her project, "The Business of Charity: The Mindsets, Marketing Trends, and Solutions of Incorporated Non-profits during Times of Financial Downturn." The faculty mentor was Dr. Stephanie Ward.

We thank all the students who took the time and effort to submit an application and proposal for the Award. We encourage students who are eligible to apply next year for the Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award.

Congratulations to Patricia and Kristina!

News flash!

2009-04-01T08:47:00.008-05:00

Government launches new ‘Print Your Own Money’ website! Twitter switch for Guardian, after 188 years of ink! Redcoat Holdouts Still Fighting American Revolution! Shaq Finds Mysterious Inscriptions Written On Basketball!

Sound a little fishy? But they are headlines! I found them on the internet!

In honor of April Fools Day I made this selection of headlines from fake news sites (plus the one that's linked—it's from a real site, but a very clever April Fools joke). Feel free to pass any of them on to gullible friends!

Fake news makes for great comedy, as fans of the Daily Show know. The Onion and NewsBiscuit are internet sites that churn it out, too. And while the news tidbits featured on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, aren't fake, they're awfully funny and crazy enough to be fake. Fans of fake news will tell you, though, that the more real news you know, the funnier the fake stuff is—good motivation to keep current with current events.

Presumeably readers of and viewers of the foregoing know when they're hearing fake news, but what if you come across something you're not sure of? Snopes is a good site for sorting true from false stories, and Museum of Hoaxes has good stories about hoaxing as well. And there was an InBlume post a while ago with other ideas of places to check to debunk (or confirm) urban legends.

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On a more serious note, a group of concerned bloggers have made a cute pun and are encouraging donations to local food banks today. Check it out at April Food Day. Many of these organizations are hurting due to increased demand for their services and reduced resources. The San Antonio Food Bank website gives you an easy place to join this effort—and if you want to help more, there's information on volunteering with them. InBlume is happy to do its blog-bit in this worthy cause.

Help understanding the financial crisis

2009-03-19T10:38:00.004-05:00

Has the complicated financial news lately got you scratching your head? Need some help telling TARP from ARRA from FDIC?

Some industrious librarians offer these well-organized collections of reliable, authoritative links to helpful information on the subject. Louise Feldmann, at Colorado State University, has made this comprehensive guide available. Jason Phillips, a reference librarian at Mississippi State is working on another extensive guide, which even includes links audio and video resources. (Note that not all sub-topics have content yet.) Speaking of which, here is National Public Radio's Economy page, which provides access to many of their news stories and analysis programs. And another Colorado library, the Jefferson County Public Library in Lakewood, has put together this page on the crisis.

In addition to these library projects, the Federal Reserve branch in St. Louis, which provides oodles of good economic data in the best of times, too, has developed this Financial Crisis Timeline. The site also includes links to analytical papers and reports, data, and a handy FAQ.

The financial news might be gloomy, but it's always better to know more about a problem than just to ignore it and hope it goes away. We hope these links will help!

Women's History Month 2009 - Saving the Planet

2009-03-02T14:48:00.009-06:00

Women’s History Month is a time for us to reflect on the accomplishments of women and the continuing challenges facing women in our world. The national theme for this March is “Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet” which highlights the ways in which women having contributed to environmental awareness, sustainability, and the green movement. St. Mary’s University’s Women’s History Month Planning Committee will be presenting several public programs inspired by the national theme. For more information about campus programming, check out the St. Mary’s Women’s History Month page and the March 2009 program brochure.
The Blume Library’s March book display offers books demonstrating women’s contributions to identifying and solving the most difficult problems in our natural world. For example, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, arguably the book that started the environmental movement, is just one of the great works on display. All display books are available for checkout. Take this opportunity to learn about women’s contributions to environmental awareness!

If you are looking for online material, several websites offer information, and fun facts, about women’s history. The U.S. Department of State highlights the 2009 national theme on the department’s Women’s History Month pages. More information about Women’s History Month, and research collections relating to women’s history, can be found on the Library of Congress’ Women’s History Month site. The U.S. Census Bureau posts a Women’s History Month feature each year that gives some current statistics about women. An example of the 2009 data includes that fact that “28.2 million women 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more education in 2007, more than double the number 20 years earlier.” Obviously, women continue to take advantage of the educational and career opportunities available to them thanks to the efforts of equal rights activists of the past and present.

For something on the lighter side, quiz yourself about women’s history. There are several online quizzes that are fun but also let you know how well you know women’s history. About.com offers a great Women’s History Month website with a related quiz. Or, try the quiz on the National Women’s History Month Project site. While your there, take one last opportunity to reflect on the national theme by reading a few biographies of contemporary women who are working to save our planet.

~Necia Wolff

(Beautiful "Love Your Mother" photograph courtesy of Cayusa on Flickr.com. Photo listed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic license.)

Ready to recover?

2009-02-26T10:24:00.012-06:00

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law on Tuesday and if you've watched, listened to, or read any news this week you've probably heard a lot about it.

But what is it really all about and what does it mean for you? At 400+ pages, reading the thing is probably not an attractive option, (although you can do so here if you've got the spare time or the curiousity) but fortunately some folks have made understanding it a bit easier.

USA.gov, the major portal to U.S. government information online, provides this summary of the Act's aims, along with a timely warning against fraudulent offers of "stimulus" money, and links to both background information and more details.

The good bloggers at GovGab (from the General Services Administration) posted this link-filled highlight reel a few days ago. They focus on some of the middle-class tax-relief provisions of the legislation. One of the main links they recommend is recovery.gov, a new website set up to answer questions and keep the public informed as to how the Act is working. Be sure to check out the site's FAQ. And the site gives you opportunities to react and interact with the process. Check back with this site often, since their clever moving timeline will be filling up with more information as the Act's provisions are implemented.

If you do decide to look at the text of the Act, UT Arlington librarian Tom Lindsey has made it a lot easier to zero in on the right section with this handy blog post. He lists all the sections and the pages upon which page in the PDF version of the Act each starts.

Two birthdays for the price of one!

2009-02-12T09:12:00.008-06:00

February 12, 1809, saw the birth of two little boys who would grow up to do great things. Such great things that two librarians were both inspired to blog about them! How famous can you get!

Famous Little Boy #1

Abraham Lincoln became the 16th President of the U.S. and guided the country through its darkest hour, the Civil War. Finding more information about this fascinating historical figure is easy—because so much has been written about him—and hard—because so much has been written about him! You can get an idea of this abundance looking at the listing in the post below.

On the web there's even more Lincoln information and artifacts. Ford's Theatre, where he was assassinated in 1865, is a site you might not think of for Lincoln research, but they have a Lincoln Museum onsite and also provide this website. [The image is from the Wikimedia Commons.]

Famous Little Boy #2

Charles Darwin developed the theory of evolution through natural selection, which not only revolutionized the science of biology, but also gave everyone a new way to look at the natural world. When I was in London last semester I enjoyed visiting the special exhibit at their Natural History Museum that was dedicated to Darwin's bicentennial. It was a really fascinating collection of memorabilia, handwritten notes, letters, photographs and books. [The Museum is high on Darwin even in non-bicentennial years; the photo is one I took in the museum's main hall of the Darwin statue there.]

I saw a particular San Antonio-Darwin connection in the exhibit that delighted me as as Spurs fan. One of the objects on display was a beetle Darwin collected on his famous voyage on the Beagle. And it was from Bahia Blanca, Argentina, one of the ship's ports of call, and the hometown of our own Manu Ginobili! It really is a small world, isn't it?

Lincoln, Darwin, and the NAACP

2009-02-12T08:20:00.022-06:00

February 12, 2009 marks several anniversaries. It is the bicentennial of the birth of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. It also marks the centennial of the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a leading United States civil rights organization.

More biographies (over 14,000) have been written about Abraham Lincoln, than about any other individual, according to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Lincoln's complex personality and character have resulted in biographical studies with a variety of titles: Carl Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln: The War Years; Diplomat in Carpet Slippers: Abraham Lincoln Deals with Foreign Affairs; From Pioneer Home to the White House: Life of Abraham Lincoln: Boyhood, Youth, Manhood, Assassination, Death; Lincoln's Quest for Union: A Psychological Portrait; The Lincoln Nobody Knows; and The Last Best Hope of Earth: Abraham Lincoln and the Promise of America. These are just a few of the many books about Lincoln in the Blume Library's collection.

It might seem a stretch to compare Lincoln and Charles Darwin, but there are some commonalities. In fact Adam Gopnik's Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life, which has just recently been published, shows how these two men, who never met, altered the way we think about death and time--about the very nature of earthly existence.

It is no coincidence that the NAACP was founded a century ago, today. The NAACP is committed to struggle and armed with hope, working for full citizenship of all people regardless of origin, and continuing to press the cause of equality and social justice.

Happy Birthday!

[book cover images from http://covers.librarything.com/]

Bigger than Life

2009-02-03T13:16:00.007-06:00

Back in the print-only, pre-digital-photography days, Life magazine was considered the gold standard for photo-journalism. Many famous photos, like the one at the right of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J day, were first published in Life.

Now Google has made an archive of millions of Life magazine photos, including many unpublished images, available online at images.google.com/hosted/life.

The archive can be searched from the page linked above, or just add source:life to any image search in Google from the regular search screen. Some of the archive's subject tags make precise subject searching somewhat iffy, but simply browsing through the results is fascinating. You can browse by decade, also, starting with the 1860's (yes, there was photography then, but not in the 1750's, as the web page hints—perhaps this is a typo?).

At any rate, photos of historical figures is a highlight of the collection, even back as far as the Victorian age—above at left is a photo of Queen Victoria herself.

Landscape photography is another area in which Life photographers excelled. On the right is a scene of shipping on the Yangtze River in China in the 1940's.

After you put in search terms or click on a link to browse, you'll see a page of thumbnails just like in a normal Google image search. Click on the picture of interest and you'll get a larger image (plus a link to a full-size image) and you may see information such as who took the photo, when and where it was taken, and additional information about the scene.

Trivia, tragedy, celebrity, ordinariness, action, tranquility—it's all a part of Life and you can find images of just about anything in this collection.

Note: all images in this blog post were taken from the Google Life Photo Archive. Photos in the archive are for personal, non-commercial use only. Remember always to credit the source of photos used in papers and presentations.

Hail to the Chief!

2009-01-15T08:33:00.003-06:00

....the song with this name is the official musical announcement that the President has arrived, and as of next Tuesday afternoon it will be played for a new one. Barack Obama will be sworn in as 44th President in a ceremony set to begin at 10:30 a.m. our time. For complete, official, information about the ceremony and the many accompanying events, you can look at the Presidential Inauguration Committee's website.

Some information, including a general schedule of events and a biography of Mr. Obama, can also be found in the Library's inauguration display, shown at the right. The display is located on the first row of the government documents collection on the main floor. Other items in the display include a look at past inaugurations (and a volume of inaugural addresses), a selection of presidential documents from the '60's to the present, and a large format booklet with photos and diagrams of the White House gardens.

Want still more inauguration info? National Public Radio has gathered links to many of their recent stories about the inauguration—from the origin of the oath of office to how security will be handled to how the rehearsals were conducted.

Information Literacy News

2008-12-08T13:22:00.010-06:00

As you wrap up final exams and pack your bags for the holidays, be sure to stop by the Blume Library's new Information Literacy display!

Not sure what Information Literacy involves? Also known as Information Competency or Information Fluency, Information Literacy refers to the skills used to identify when information is needed, and then locate, evaluate, and use it effectively. These abilities are especially crucial in our current environment of technological change and nearly unlimited information choices.

Ever been stumped with the question, "Can I really trust this information?" Whether looking up stock market prices, searching for the latest YouTube videos, or googling to find a paper topic, it's easy to become overwhelmed with the increasing abundance of unfiltered resources.

Here's where Information Literacy dives in for the rescue! Information literate individuals understand how knowledge is organized and how to apply strategies for finding, analyzing, and using information to nearly any challenge. They are not only able to exercise more control over their learning in academic settings, but also manage information choices in their everyday lives with greater ease.

For more details about Information Literacy, check out the following links:

Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)

Information Literacy Resources Directory

National Forum on Information Literacy

St. Mary's Information Competency Plan

Texas Information Literacy Tutorial (TILT)

Over the break, test out your Information Literacy skills with some fun Internet Search Challenges, or polish your chops with these tips for locating, evaluating, and using Internet resources!

Global Road Warrior

2008-11-19T14:01:00.003-06:00

Have you tried the Blume Library’s new database, Global Road Warrior? Whether you’re an adventuresome traveler, preparing for a Study Abroad program, or curious about different cultures, this "ultimate guide to the world" promises a worldwide experience!

Just in time for International Education Week at St. Mary’s, Global Warrior offers a wealth of information about 175 countries. Learn about the climate or demographics for locales that your friends discussed in the Student Showcase. Find out more about the business culture for countries represented in the Fair Trade Sale. Before watching the film, Rough Cut, equip yourself with facts about security and medical issues.

Global Road Warrior is especially valuable for preparing yourself to visit a foreign country. Jot down sightseeing stops recommended by insiders, gain practical insight about essentials to pack in your suitcase, and memorize a few common terms in the native language. Familiarize yourself with the country’s electrical plugs and voltage standards, and check out a list of nearby Internet cafes, to stay connected during your travels. You can also find answers to specific concerns, including tipping practices, emergency numbers, transportation options, and advice geared towards businesswomen.

Link to Global Warrior at the top of the Blume library’s website, and tour the possibilities! [photo courtesy of http://www.thewashingtonnote.com]

Sustainability Resources: Live and Online

2008-11-13T11:20:00.006-06:00

Interested in learning more about sustainability issues and how you can get involved? You're in luck!

This Saturday, November 15, stop by the Texas Recycles Day festivities at Woodlawn Lake Park, less than 3 miles from St. Mary’s campus (map). Start the day off by learning how to compost, then soak in the music, entertainment, and food. Pick up a few tips from the on-site exhibits, including purses made from recycled books and hand/chair massages. Drop off your used ink cartridges, plastic grocery bags, wire hangers, and even old sneakers, to de-clutter your dorm room and recycle at the same time!

Before you go, check out these online resources:

LivingGreenSA.com supplies local news, blogs, and an events calendar, as well as links to other city and state-wide resources.
The Green Wikia community generates content written from a green point of view and focused on ways people can adapt to more sustainable living, with topics from hybrid cars to natural pest control.
Grist sheds light on environmental news, with a splash of humor, to prove that “news about green issues and sustainable living doesn’t have to be predictable, demoralizing, or dull.” Learn handy tricks for everyday eco-living, read about the political side of green issues, and load up on enviro-friendly kitchen wisdom with weekly recipes.
Along a similar wavelength, TreeHugger delivers sustainability news through an enthusiastic, upbeat lens. A reliable media outlet for blogs, newsletters, videos, and even a weekly radio show related to sustainability, TreeHugger brilliantly fuses green themes with modern fashion and lifestyle trends.
One of the oldest and most thorough sources of sustainability news, Envirolink connects you with a range of resources, especially helpful for non-profits.
For media websites dedicated to sustainability audio and video, visit: GreenTV, emPivot, Do The Green Thing, Go Green Tube, and ViroPOP.
[Photo courtesy of http://www.ga.wa.gov]

Sustainability Resources in the Spotlight

2008-11-05T14:43:00.003-06:00

Heard the new buzz word on campus? Last week, The President’s Peace Commission hosted a program dedicated to the issue of sustainability. On November 18, the Lin Great Speakers Series will return to environmental concerns, with renowned speaker David Orr’s lecture, “The Changing Climate of U.S. Politics.” International Education Week, scheduled for the same week (November 16-21), focuses on a similar theme, “We Have Only One Earth: An Environmental Challenge,” with related exhibits and presentations.

Swing by the Blume Library to dig deeper into the issues! Our new sustainability display gives you a taste of the resources available on campus. From films to government documents, newly-released books on the hottest topics in the field and even e-books that you can access from your own laptop at home, you’re guaranteed to pick up a few interesting facts. Maybe even find a topic for that research paper on your “to-do” list…

The display also includes some tips for how you can take action toward a sustainable future and online resources to guide your plan. Check out the Carbon Footprint site to calculate how much carbon dioxide your everyday activities account for, and then learn how you can reduce your carbon footprint with simple changes, like defrosting your refrigerator or turning off your DVD player.

Among state resources, Texas Campaign for the Environment offers voting records and environmental reports, quirky videos, and contact information for similar organizations. At the local level, Build San Antonio Green connects you with green builders and designers, provides a “green map” of San Antonio, and keeps you updated with an events calendar. [photo courtesy of http://www.solarsanantonio.org/]

Digital Texas Resources of Note

2008-10-27T09:59:00.004-05:00

The Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative (THDI) is a statewide cooperative effort to digitize historical Texas documents and images, which are placed on their web site Texas Heritage Online. Included in this collection is Orville Dewey's 1844 document Discourse on Slavery and the Annexation of Texas, an oral history of George Orzuna, Jr. with both a transcript and the audio available, and a picture of Colonel Castro with Corranzisla's forces at Ojinaga.

The University of North Texas has been digitizing its collection of historic artifacts and placing them in their Portal of Texas History. They have also begun receiving grants to help other institutions digitize collections. UNT is a key player in the THDI.

The Library of Congress’s Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers project is working with the Portal of Texas History to digitize newspapers from Texas. Currently The Daily Herald from Brownsville has been scanned and uploaded to the Library of Congress’s site. The Library of Congress's site includes digitized newspapers from across the country.

Voter Prep 201

2008-10-23T13:07:00.006-05:00

Voter Prep 101 presents some great resources to get more information about candidates at the top of the election ballot. But what about those races further down the ballot? Who are all those justices and judges we’re voting for? Where do we find more information about the people running for county offices? And what about the candidates for school board and water district elections?

It is often difficult to find in-depth unbiased information about the candidates for local elections. There usually isn’t the media coverage for local races that there is for national and statewide races. And candidates for local elections often don’t have the financial resources that state and national candidates have.

Here are a few suggested resources for gleaning more information, however. A page with links to candidates’ campaign websites, or at least contact information where available, is located at Voter Information 2008: Bexar County, Texas.

The LexisNexis Academic database (available to the St. Mary’s University community) provides access to an archive of full-text articles from newspapers and newswire stories, including articles from the San Antonio Express-News, the Associated Press and Business Wire.

Of course one can search for individual candidates via the Google search engine. Results will sometimes turn up entries from local blogs, such as the WalkerReport, as well as scattered articles from local online news sources. A list of area media with a web presence is included in the San Antonio Media Sources Guide, including newspapers and magazines.

Voter Prep 101

2008-10-15T16:55:00.003-05:00

With the end of the presidential debates and Nov. 4 just around the corner, are you ready to vote?

If you’re planning to vote in San Antonio, be sure to check out the Bexar county election site, where you can verify that you’re registered, see a list of early voting locations, and preview a sample ballot. Voting outside of San Antonio? Navigate through the Texas Secretary of State’s election site and USA.gov.

Still undecided about which presidential candidate to support? Start with the issues that matter most to you, and try TPR’s “Select a Candidate” quiz. By selecting your view on a series of topics, the survey helps to determine the candidate whose positions are most compatible with your leanings. Perhaps even more useful, the results page outlines each candidate’s position on specific issues, including Iraq and Afghanistan, immigration, and education.

Puzzled by a candidate’s claims during the debate or skeptical about a media pundit’s commentary? Factcheck.org, a non-partisan, nonprofit consumer advocate for voters, aims to decrease confusion and deception in US politics by educating readers on the issues.

A similar nonpartisan guide, OpenSecrets.org, focuses on the role of money in U.S. elections and public policy.

Check out Politico.com, a nonpartisan Internet journal that covers a wide array of political subjects and features a “Campus” page specifically geared toward students.

If you’re interested in tracking daily trends in the campaign, along with bipartisan analysis, browse the latest developments at Pollster.com.

Links to more Open Access data

2008-10-06T14:44:00.002-05:00

Looking for more information on Open Access? Try these great resources!

The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) is one of the leading bodies in Open Access.

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is, in my humble opinion, the premier site to use when trying to locate an Open Access journal in a specific discipline or on a specific topic.

Are you a student and want to connect with other open-minded people? Try Students for Free Culture.

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is another amazing site similar to DOAJ, but focusing on scientific and medical literature.

Tuesday, October 14 is the first annual Open Access Day

Feeling politically motivated? You may wish to contact your Congressional representatives and encourage them to OPPOSE HR6845, which is intended to prevent Open Access distribution of federally-funded research. We’ve already paid for the research with our tax dollars, why should we pay again just to read the results?
Open Access Day’s blog has more information as does The Alliance for Taxpayer Access.

The Open Access Directory has a bunch of great links with much more information.

SPARC has some relatively brief brochures explaining Open Access.

Peter Suber of SPARC has written this brief, one-page explanation of Open Access.

What's going on with the economy?

2008-09-30T12:43:00.002-05:00

The current crazy economic situation is pretty confusing, but here are a few information sources that can help you make as much sense of it as it's possible to do.

Here is a link to the Treasury Department's press release, detailing the original bailout package. The Congressional Budget Office prepared this informational letter in response to a Congressman's request for cost details. Here's a link to the bill that was rejected on Monday, and here's the House of Representative's report on the bill. Be aware that the great amount of interest in these documents has overworked government servers on occasion the past few days. You might have to try more than once to get this material, especially if you have a slow connection.

Reliable, non-partisan news analysis can be found here in a series of articles on the National Public Radio website. They give you lots of links to background information.

Want a really different perspective? Here's what today's Times of London has to say.

2008-09-26T16:12:00.001-05:00

Open Access is a phenomenal movement in publishing. Much like the philosophy behind open-source software, Open Access publishing uses the Internet to freely disseminate research findings and reports.

Traditionally, researchers applied for grants from federal institutions. These institutions used tax payers’ money to fund the research grants. The researchers then conducted their research and published their findings in a journal. To read the article, members of the general public had to purchase the journal or find a library with a subscription to the journal, in effect paying to read the results of research that they funded!

With Open Access, researchers still apply for grants, which are still typically granted using federal monies. However, now the reports are published in Open Access journals, which are freely available online and anyone with an Internet connection may read the article reporting the findings.

Open Access provides researchers with a larger audience, shortens the delay between acceptance and publication of articles, and increases the citation rate of their articles.

Open Access provides researchers with free online access to scholarly information.

Open Access provides teachers with research articles which they can freely share and use in classes without fear of copyright infringement.

Open Access provides scientists and scholars a feasible way to publish their research without utilizing the traditional publishing system, which has actually been raising prices for years, causing many libraries to cut subscriptions. Some subscription prices have increased 700 percent since 1989! Publishing through Open Access is an effective solution to the out-of-control spiraling of journal prices.

To learn more, visit the Public Library of Science (http://www.plos.org/oa/definition.html), The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (http://www.arl.org/sparc/), or Students for Free Culture (http://freeculture.org/).

New On The International Scene

2008-09-05T12:10:00.004-05:00

Have you ever searched for global data, only to find yourself overwhelmed with the wealth of information available? The Blume Library may have a solution for you, with two recent additions to the International Relations subject database.

Launched by the United Nations Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UNdata delivers a single entry point for locating and accessing an impressive array of statistical resources. Currently consisting of 17 databases, with more additions on the way, UNdata searches over 55 million records pooled by UN agencies and similar international organizations from the past 60 years.

Topics range from agriculture, employment, and industry to education, health, and tourism. Users can search by keyword, browse individual databases, or even view popular searches from other users. Bonus features include country profiles that summarize key social and economic statistics, accessorized with color maps; a wiki with links to in-depth information about UNdata’s sources; an extensive glossary of commonly-used terms; and an Explorer tab for locating data sources and displaying statistical reports in table formats. Highly recommended by the most recent issue of Choice Reviews, this powerful tool is intended not only for analysts and decision-makers but also for students in a variety of disciplines who share a common interest in global statistics.

International Security Resources targets the information overload issue with a similar solution, by compiling international resources in a central location. Edited by Richard Horowitz, Esq., this collection of resources may be browsed by topic or tool, though a keyword search may be the most practical tactic for sifting through the wide assortment of links for useful tidbits. Topics include arms control, human rights, money laundering, and weapons of mass destruction, while the featured tools consist of databases, search engines, libraries, and media. Whether you’re tracking down the latest counterterrorism reports, locating international bloggers, or challenging your investigative knowledge with a 38-question quiz, indulge your curiosity by checking out International Security Resources.

Both International Relations resources are freely available through the Blume Library’s Databases Listed By Subject.

London-bound

2008-09-02T12:39:00.005-05:00

In a couple of days 23 St. Mary's undergrads and 2 faculty members will be heading to London for the fall semester. One of the faculty is Librarian Kathy Amen. The students will be taking courses on British culture, history of science, sports in the UK, and World War II, earning St. Mary's credits toward graduation. Some of them will also be working in internship positions with British firms. In addition, of course, they'll all be experiencing English and European culture and cuisine first-hand.

Does this experience sound like fun to you? Check out this and other St. Mary's study abroad programs here. And if you want to keep in touch with Kathy while she's away, read her blog.

Wordle Wonder

2008-08-08T10:54:00.009-05:00

Wordle is a program that generates "word clouds" from text that you provide. Unlike regular word clouds that simply give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text, Wordle makes an image with words of varied prominence. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. You can print out the images, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

Here's a Wordle for this blog. Click on the image for a larger version:

View the Wordle gallery to see images others have made. Have fun making your own Wordles!

Philosophical Exploration

2008-07-31T12:46:00.002-05:00

From Italian existentialist Nicola Abbagnano to Spanish Christian ontologist Xavier Zubiri, the entries in the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Donald M. Borchert, discuss the thought systems of important individual philosophers from around the world, as well as important topics, ranging from aesthetic experience to Zoroastrianism. In print, this publication is 10 volumes and totals to nearly 8,000 pages. However, it is available anytime, any day to the St. Mary's University community through the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

This resource was recognized as an Outstanding Academic Title in 2006 by Choice, the American Library Association's chief academic book and electronic resource review publication.

The clear and accessible presentation of wide-ranging philosophical subjects makes this a first-stop resource for general readers, students and educators. The entries tend to be longer and more comprehensive than in similar works and include guides to related entries. This resource includes an appendix of additional articles; a thematic outline of the contents based organized by historical periods and subfields of philosophy; a number of articles on philosophy bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and journals; and an index for the entire set.

Environmental Resources

2008-07-15T11:52:00.003-05:00

• The library subscribes to several resources that will help you find information about current and developing environmental issues and technologies. Through the Gale Virtual Reference Library, which is available to the St. Mary’s University community online at any time, everyday, you can access Environmental Issues: Essential Primary Sources. This 2006 publication contains approximately 175 full or excerpted documents---speeches, legislation, magazine and newspaper articles, essays, memoirs, letters, interviews, novels, songs, and works of art---as well as overview information that places each document in context. Coverage includes environmental thought and writing; earth processes and history; energy; environmental disasters, legislation, conservation, and activism; and human impacts on nature as it illustrates the diversity of environmental issues facing present and future generations.

• Another resource that is helpful for current issues, such as rising oil prices, climate change, alternative fuels, recycling or waste reduction, and more, is CQ Researcher. This resource provides an overview, background, chronology, current situation, statements from opposing positions, and a bibliography for each timely topic covered.

• Academic Search Complete and Business Source Complete are two databases providing access to journal articles. They can be searched simultaneously, and a search can be limited to items including “Full Text” and to “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.”

• Our library online catalog provides access to print and online books, as well as government information about environmental issues.

• There are a number of environment-related resources bookmarked at http://del.icio.us/blumelibrary. These can be browsed or searched by tags such as water, sustainability, renewable, energy, and more.

Cinephilia

2008-05-28T13:44:00.004-05:00

A refreshing cool retreat from the summertime heat of South Texas can be found by viewing a film in a movie theater or on your personal entertainment system. Two film reference sources available anytime, any day to the St. Mary's University community through the Gale Virtual Reference Library can provide more scholarly information than one might find through the Internet Movie Database.

The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers provides thorough coverage of films and filmmakers, including legendary films, actors and actresses, directors, writers and other production artists. Entries include a detailed essay written by an expert, biographies, filmographies, comprehensive credits, and major awards. Entries also contain extensive references to books and journal, magazine, and newspaper articles. In print, this publication is 5,706 pages contained in 4 volumes. The 4th edition was published in 2000 and contains numerous photographs.

Another film source, Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film (2007), provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to film and film studies, covering such aspects as production, national traditions, studios, genres, critical theory and film history. This source is useful for those looking at themes or background on terms, such as cinephilia. In print, this publication is 2,136 pages contained in 4 volumes. It was named an Outstanding Reference Source in 2008 by the American Library Association’s Reference and User Services Association Collection Development and Evaluation Section.

Access these resources from the cool comfort of your home or office and impress your friends with your understanding of film theory or background film knowledge!

Congratulations to 2nd Annual Library Undergraduate Research Award recipients

2008-04-28T19:15:00.011-05:00

On Friday, March 28, 2008, the recipients of the Second Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award were recognized at the Ninth Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. The awards recognize student researchers who demonstrate skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project.

The First Place Award of $200 was granted to Rita Lopez for her project, "The Influence and Adaptation of the Japanese Noh Theatre in William Butler Yeats’s 'At the Hawk’s Well'." Faculty mentors for the project were Dr. Alice Kersnowski and Dr. Frank Kersnowski.

The Second Place Award of $100 was given to Kristin Taylor Leslie for her project, "Performance Theory in Edith Wharton’s ‘The Age of Innocence’." Faculty mentors were Dr. Richard Pressman and Dr. Alice Kersnowski.

Congratulations to Rita and Kristin!

Census Atlas of the U.S.

2008-04-09T14:17:00.003-05:00

This colorful new publication from the Census Bureau puts all kinds of interesting statistics about the U.S. and its citizens in fascinating visual form. The first comprehensive population and housing atlas published by the Bureau since the 1920's, it contains almost 800 maps, most showing data to the county level. In addition, there are narrative highlights and useful charts further illustrating the diverse subjects: age and sex, race and Hispanic origin, living arrangements, language, income and poverty, education, migration, military service, and more.

Want to get a visual idea of how many children in the U.S. consider themselves to be of mixed race? check out page 36. How about a comparison of commuters leaving for work before 6 a.m. in 1990 and in 2000? Page 191. Need a visual idea of which Houston neighborhoods have a higher median income? You can see that on page 218. These are just some examples of the kind of information contained in the atlas.

The atlas is available for in-library use and it can be found on the bottom shelf (since it's too big to fit on the regular shelves) in the documents stacks near its classification number: C 3.205/8-3:29. And if you should need access to its maps from off campus, you can find a PDF version on the Census Bureau's website.

From Suffrage to the Senate Profiles America's Political Women

2008-03-26T16:35:00.006-05:00

This election year is an appropriate time to search and visit From Suffrage to the Senate: America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues. In print, the publication is 943 pages contained in 2 volumes. However, it is available anytime, any day to the St. Mary's University community through the Gale Virtual Reference Library. The 2nd edition was published in 2006 and contains more than 120 photos and tables, plus more than 150 new entries.

The encyclopedia covers relevant court cases, legislation, organizations, movements and social issues, as well as biographical sketches on women who have worked in various arenas of American politics, including campaigns and the media.

A chronology of women in American politics from 1638 to the present is provided. Do you know who the first woman to run for president of the United States was? Hint: the year was 1892. Find out, and learn much more by exploring From Suffrage to the Senate: America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues!

Explore the Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America

2008-03-19T09:49:00.006-05:00

Another reference resource recognized as an Outstanding Academic Title in 2007 by Choice, the American Library Association's chief academic book and electronic resource review publication, is the Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America. This publication also received the prestigious American Historical Association's 2006 Waldo G. Leland Prize, which has only been awarded to one publication every five years since 1981.

The Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America was edited by Rosemary Skinner Keller and Rosemary Radford Ruether with associate editor Marie Cantlon and was published by Indiana University Press. In print, the publication is 3 volumes and totals to 1,296 pages. However, it is available anytime, anyday to the St. Mary's University community through the Gale Virtual Reference Library. The encyclopedia is interreligious, interracial, and multicultural and features more than 145 longer essays. The articles focus on institutions, movements, and ideas. More than 150 authors contributed to this work, weaving biographical sketches into their articles to give them a more personal and humanizing quality, and to recognize the women responsible for the gains made over the centuries. The work contains 150 black and white photos. Explore this online reference work during National Women's History Month!

Access the Dictionary of Women Worldwide Anytime, Anywhere

2008-03-10T09:56:00.003-05:00

March is National Women's History Month, and this month we are profiling online reference sources about women that the St. Mary's University community can access through the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

Noted by the American Library Association's chief academic book and electronic resource review publication, Choice recognized the Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages as an Outstanding Academic Title in 2007. A synopsis of each woman's life and her accomplishments or historical importance is included with each entry, often followed by bibliographic information. Also included are 85 genealogical charts, and chronological, geographical, and occupational indexes. The dictionary includes many women outside the United States.

Explore current controversial issues through CQ Researcher

2008-02-11T20:37:00.000-06:00

CQ Researcher Online is a wonderful resource for providing background and multiple perspectives on current controversial topics, particularly for lower level undergraduate courses. Recent reports have covered the immigration debate, student aid and the cost of higher education, consumer safety, racial diversity in public schools, domestic poverty, wounded veterans, and more.

Each report provides an overview, background, chronology, current situation, statements from opposing positions, and bibliography. This product contains engaging, insightful, unbiased analyses of the most pressing issues in the news. Features include Citenow! which generates citations in multiple formats, and helpful tools are provided such as “Next Step” and bibliographies that guide students to sources for further research. CQ Researcher Online has been recognized for editorial excellence, and is produced by Congressional Quarterly Press.

CQ Researcher Online is available through the Blume Library home page, where it's located under Databases Listed Alphabetically.

Register now to vote in the Texas primaries

2008-01-29T08:53:00.000-06:00

If you want to vote in the March 4 Texas presidential primaries, and you're not already registered, you'd better get busy! You must be registered 30 days before an election, and our primary is on March 4. That makes this Monday the deadline for registration. Get a voter registration form from the Texas Secretary of State's website. Then, if you're a Bexar County resident, follow the directions on their elections website. If you want to register in another Texas county, follow these directions on the Texas Secretary of State website.

Have another state as your residence? You can find out how to register there and what the dates are for your primaries at this website.

Once you're registered, you want to be sure you can cast an informed vote. You can get good information on the candidates at Project Vote-Smart. The University of Michigan also has a comprehensive collection of links related to the elections and the candidates. The local League of Women Voters has good, non-partisan information on local candidates and issues.

More information about registering, voting, and being an informed local citizen, can be found on this Local Government and Politics page.

With both the Democratic and Republican presidential fields still relatively wide-open, Texas' primary might actually be important this year! Make your voice count, and vote.

Undergraduate Research Award 2008

2007-12-13T16:30:00.000-06:00

Are you entering a project in the Undergraduate Research Symposium?

Consider applying for the
Second Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award

First Prize: $200
Second Prize: $100

The Award recognizes student researchers who demonstrate skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project.

You must enter the Undergraduate Research Symposium (deadline Friday, March 7, 2008) to be eligible for this Award.

Research Award application deadline: Monday, March 17, 2008

Photo of 2007 Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award winning project posters.

National Intelligence Report on Iran

2007-12-04T10:00:00.000-06:00

The unclassified part of the National Intelligence estimate that has been in the news lately, dealing with Iran's nuclear weapons intentions and capabilities, can be found here. It is a nine-page summary of the reports conclusions. (If you have trouble with this link, try the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's home page. The full title of the report is "National Intelligence Estimate Key Judgments.")

Other important intelligence and assessment reports on Iraq were discussed in previous In Blume posts: see them below.

Celebrate American Indian Heritage Month at the Blume Library!

2007-11-13T10:06:00.001-06:00

Join us in celebrating American Indian Heritage Month this November. The Blume Library, in partnership with the St. Mary’s University Native American Student Association, is displaying Native North American artifacts this month. The display includes decorative, ceremonial, and other items from several Native American tribes. I encourage you to visit the library during November to see these fascinating artifacts!

The display also includes books of history, anthropology, and current events relating to the indigenous peoples of North and South America. When you visit the library, think about checking out one of these titles. You can also read online over 500 books on Native North Americans and many books on indigenous peoples of South American and Central America via the library's netLibrary database.

Finally, for a unique experience with Native American culture, check out the upcoming powwow sponsored by the StMU Native American Student Association. The powwow will be held this Saturday, November 17th from 10am-4pm in the Pecan Grove. Check out the St. Mary’s online calendar for more information.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-26T14:15:00.000-05:00

Think about this while you're carving your Halloween jack-o-lantern: the U.S. produced 1 billion (that's with a "b") pounds of pumpkins in 2006. And that's just the total of the major pumpkin-producing states. Which, in case you're curious, are Illinois (#1), California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The value of all this yummy, scary, orange stuff? $101 million, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

And speaking of Halloween, don't forget about Boo Bash, on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 , starting at 5:30 pm. The Blume Library is happy to be one of the trick-or-treating stops for the Boo Bash kids.

Learning about Darfur

2007-10-16T14:58:00.001-05:00

This fall, St. Mary's students, faculty, and staff have been exploring the issues surrounding the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

In September 2007, Caesar Ricci and Victoria Smith from the San Antonio Interfaith Darfur Coalition presented their experiences working in the Darfur refugee camps in Chad. They discussed the causes of the Darfur crisis, talked about the refugees’ ongoing health and social problems, and encourage listeners to take action to stop the genocide. The Blume Library hosted an exhibit of Ricci and Smith’s photographs which they took during their visits to the camps.

Next week, the Fall 2007 President’s Peace Commission program will focus on the crisis in Darfur. The PPC program, “Genocide in Darfur: Responding to Their Cries”, will be held from Monday, Oct. 22nd to Thursday, Oct. 25th in the University Center. Speakers from campus and beyond will continue the dialogue about the situation in Darfur and talk about what we can do to help.

But, what if you want more information about the situation in Darfur? The library’s research collection is the place to look. You can find hundreds of articles on Darfur by searching Academic Search Complete. You can also find online government documents and e-books on Darfur in the library’s online catalog. If you need more information, get in touch with a librarian.

To change a problem you must understand the problem. Use the library's research collections to become knowledgeable about the Darfur crisis. And, of course, take advantage of the upcoming PPC program to discuss your questions and thoughts about Darfur.

(image from the International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; linked at http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ierh/images/Darfur_sm.jpg)

Entertaining new government blog

2007-10-03T10:04:00.000-05:00

I know, using the words "entertaining" and "government" in the same sentence may make you doubt my sanity. But this new blog from the folks at USA.gov really is fun to read. Plus you can learn about some useful and interesting websites that YOUR tax dollars are already paying for.

For example, September 27's post tells you where to find all kinds of (usually) copyright-free images on government websites. Other recent posts deal with saving energy, saving money, eating right, and preserving classic sound recordings.

Governments always get a lot of bad press, but here they seem to have done something right!

General's and Ambassador's Reports on Iraq

2007-09-12T12:38:00.000-05:00

The much-anticipated reports by General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. Ambassador there, have been released. The news has been full of their testimony before Congressional committees the last few days. You can see the reports for yourself at the House Foreign Affairs Committee's website: Gen. Petraeus' report | Amb. Crocker's statement.

Another important report on Iraq

2007-09-07T14:46:00.000-05:00

The government keeps churning out reports on the situation in Iraq. Of course, next week, we'll have the Big One, delivered by General David Petraeus on the success or failure of the troop surge. But leading up to that major event, we have this report of the Iraqi Security Forces Independent Assessment Commission, delivered by retired General James L. Jones. The Senate Armed Services Committee has made this report, mandated by a law passed in May, available from its website.

For links to more of the recent reports, see the post below.

Several government reports in the news

2007-08-24T12:38:00.000-05:00

If you watched the Daily Show from Aug. 23, you saw a very interesting interview with a gentleman who helped write the Army's Counterinsurgency Field Manual. This is a book you can actually buy, or, if you're curious about it, you can view an online version, made available from the Government Printing Office.

Other government publications have been in the news lately. The latest National Intelligence Estimate came out this week, and an unclassified summary entitled "Prospects for Iraq's Stability: Some Security Progress but Political Reconciliation Elusive" is available from the Director of National Intelligence.

This week also saw the release of a report from the CIA's Inspector General—"OIG Report on the CIA Accountability With Respect to the 9/11 Attacks"—that has received much media attention. This link is to the unclassified executive summary of the report.

For more links to Government Information in the News, check this page on the Library website.

Converting documents to another format—inexpensively and easily

2007-07-31T18:21:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wanted to share a file with someone, but you’re not sure that the person who will receive your document has the software necessary to view it? Or perhaps you’d like others to see your document, but you don’t want changes made to it. Converting your file to portable document format—or .pdf—is often a good solution for these types of situations. But what if you don’t have software on your computer, like Adobe Acrobat, to convert your files?

There are several free file conversion services that could provide your solution. One service, PDF Online (http://www.pdfonline.com), walks you through a 3-step conversion process where you select your file, name the converted file, and enter your email address, so the converted output file can be emailed back to you.

Another free online file conversion service, Zamzar (http://www.zamzar.com/) offers even more options. Video and audio format conversion is possible with this service. The process is similar to the PDF Online conversion process, except that you also select the output format you would like.

Of course these services don’t provide as many options as software you might purchase can offer, but for quick and simple file conversions, these services provide inexpensive and convenient solutions.

"Family Jewels" now belong to the whole family

2007-06-27T08:37:00.000-05:00

The "Family Jewels" papers, over 700 pages of CIA responses to a request for identification of "activities they thought might be inconsistent with the Agency's charter," were released by the Agency June 26. Another collection of historical documents, known as the CAESAR, POLO, and ESAU papers, which deal with the Soviet Union and China, were also released.

You can find the documents several places on the web, including:

--the CIA FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) page: http://www.foia.cia.gov/
--the National Security Archive at George Washington University : http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/index.htm
--National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11417938.

2007-06-19T08:51:00.000-05:00

In response to the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech University in April, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Justice were directed to meet with educators, mental health experts, law enforcement, and state and local officials to discuss the broader issues raised by these events. The officials have summarized their findings in this "Report to the President on Issues Raised by the Virginia Tech Tragedy".

There is also a link to the report on our "Government Information in the News" page on the Library website, where you can look beyond the headlines and find links to other official reports you might see/hear/read mentioned in the news.

Those Urban Legends Email Messages

2007-06-04T14:35:00.000-05:00

Do you ever wonder if that email message that has been forwarded to you by a friend or colleague is true? One place to check out the authenticity of a message that has been forwarded from email address to email address is at the Urban Legends Reference Pages at snopes.com. (Snopes is the surname of a family of characters who appear throughout the works of American writer William Faulkner. See the Faulkner Glossary for more information about the Snopes family.) Barbara and David P. Mikkelson have maintained the Urban Legends Reference Pages since 1995. Entries usually summarize the email claim in a sentence, indicate the true or false status, include a significant portion of the email message, discuss the facts pertaining to the message, and provide additional references for further exploration. The Urban Legends Reference Pages can help you critically evaluate information and determine whether or not to incorporate it into your personal knowledge base.

2007-05-23T10:47:00.000-05:00

Hurricane season officially begins next week, on June 1 (and ends November 30)—although we've already had a named subtropical storm, Andrea, which formed in early May. You can keep up to date with the status of this year's storms and warnings, find out how to protect yourself and your property from hurricane hazards, and learn about past hurricanes at the National Hurricane Center's website. The Center's parent agency, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, has a hurricane portal page with links to all kinds of related information.

The Weather Channel's Hurricane Central page predicts an above-average season and provides that important list of names for this year's storms, in both the Atlantic and Pacific.

Graduation just around the corner!

2007-04-30T09:14:00.000-05:00

With graduation coming up fast, here are some interesting statistics pertaining to college graduates, as reported by the National Center for Education Statistics:

In 1999-2000 (the most recent period reported) 84% of graduates with bachelor's degrees were employed one year after graduation, but only 52% had jobs closely related to their fields of study.

Average annual salary of bachelor’s degree recipients employed full time 1 year after graduation, in 1999-2000, was $37,800. By field of study, the highest average annual salary reported was earned by engineering graduates: $51,100.

Finland had the highest proportion of college graduates in 2003 of any country: 55.8 bachelor's degree recipients per 100 persons of the typical age of graduation. Australia had 54.8, and the U.S. had 33.4. Of the countries reporting, Mexico had the lowest total at 14.3, but the Czech Republic didn't do much better at 17.3.

Whatever the numbers say, we want to say Congratulations to our Graduates! We're very proud of you and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Congratulations to 1st Annual Undergraduate Research Award recipients

2007-04-16T17:10:00.000-05:00

On Friday, March 30, 2007, the recipients of the First Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award recipients were recognized at the Eighth Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.

The awards recognize student researchers who demonstrate skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project.

The First Place Award of $200 was granted to Lucia Sobreviñas for her project, “The Role of High-Tech Industry Clusters in the Face of Globalization: Analyzing Austin and Guadalajara’s Journey Towards Siliconia.”

The Second Place Award of $100 was given to Claudia Lizbeth Valladolid for her project, “College Preparedness of Minorities and St. Mary’s University.”

Congratulations to Lucia and Claudia!

Good news and bad news for access to government information

2007-04-12T11:59:00.000-05:00

The mission of the National Archives is to "...serve(s) American democracy by safeguarding and preserving the records of our Government, ensuring that the people can discover, use, and learn from this documentary heritage." And since these records are increasingly available only in electronic form, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) conducts regular harvests to capture this data for preservation. Their latest harvest of House and Senate public web sites happened between November 11 and December 11 of 2006. The more than 4,000,000 pages (42 GB) of information can be browsed or keyword searched at the NARA website.

In the bad news category, one might wonder if future historians might have trouble doing their research. Last month the AP reported that: "More than 1 million pages of historical government documents — a stack taller than the U.S. Capitol — have been removed from public view since the September 2001 terror attacks, according to records obtained by The Associated Press. Some of the papers are more than a century old. In some cases, entire file boxes were removed without significant review because the government's central record-keeping agency, the National Archives and Records Administration, did not have time for a more thorough audit."

Be Poetic in April!

2007-04-03T10:18:00.000-05:00

Join us as we celebrate the beauty, music, and truth of poetry during National Poetry Month! Each April, schools, libraries, bookstores, publishers and individuals join the Academy of American Poets to celebrate poets and their poems.

The Academy of American Poetry, online at poets.org, offers several great ways to focus on poetry. For example, you can search poets.org any day of the year to find complete poems and short biographies of American and international poets. However, my favorite feature on poets.org is Poem-A-Day, a service where you sign up to receive a new poem by email each day of April.

The Blume Library offers online access to poetry as well. You can find complete poems when you search either the 20^th Century American Poetry database or 20^th Century English Poetry database. There are also hundreds of books of poetry and poetry criticism in our NetLibrary e-book collection.

For those of you who like to hold a book in your hands…the library also has a large print collection of poetry which can be located by searching the library catalog.

So take a little time to experience poetry this spring. And don’t forget to smell the roses too!

Gale Virtual Reference Library

2007-03-22T13:45:00.000-05:00

The Blume Library now provides access to the Gale Virtual Reference Library. Titles currently available include:

New Catholic Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia of Religion

Encyclopedia of Bioethics
Gale Encyclopedia of Science

American Women Writers
Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion
International Directory of Film and Filmmakers

Encyclopedia of World Biography
Encyclopedia of World Cultures
Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations

These fulltext reference works are now accessible 24/7 and via remote access to you wherever you and your computer are located. Articles can be emailed or printed.

All Gale Virtual Library titles can be searched at the same time or you can restrict your search to individual titles. The online format provides expanded search capabilities for difficult-to-find material.

Links to the Gale Virtual Library are available in the Blume Library's Catalog and on the library's website.

Free Access to New York Times Times Select information

2007-03-20T09:32:00.000-05:00

The New York Times is now offering free access to the Times Select portal to students and faculty at colleges and universities in the U.S. Along with free access to the current daily paper, you will be able to access the following resources via Times Select (description from the NY Times):

The Archive
Explore The Times archive dating back to 1851. Access 100 articles per month.

Op-Ed & News Columnists
Get exclusive online access to The Times's Op-Ed columnists.

Multimedia
Go beyond the written story with the sights and sounds of video, audio, slide shows and interactive graphics.

Times Preview
Be the first to read selected articles before they are published in Sunday's Times.

News Tracker
Receive personalized e-mail alerts on the topics that you choose.

Talking Points
Learn more about the issues the editorial board has been tracking.

Times File
Save and file any article from NYTimes.com or from around the Web. Access Times File from any computer with an Internet connection.

You can sign up for free Times Select access by going to http://www.nytimes.com/gst/ts_university_email_verify.html.

Women's History Month stats and facts

2007-03-01T08:19:00.000-06:00

March 1 begins Women's History Month. But how long has this been so? International Women's Day was first observed in 1909, but it wasn’t until 1981 that Congress established National Women’s History Week during the second week of March. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month.

The Census Bureau presents the following interesting stats about women and their status in the U.S.—

As of November 1, 2006, there are 152 million females in the U.S., as opposed to 148 million males

The median earnings of full-time women workers over the age of 16 in 2005 was
$32,168 (77% of the earnings of male workers)

As of 2005, 85.4% of women 25 or older had completed high school (as opposed to 84.9% of men)

There were nearly 6.5 women-owned businesses in 2002, up 20% from 1997. These businesses generated $939 billion in 2002.

As of September 30, 2005, there were 203,000 women serving in the military on active duty. 35,000 women were officers, and 168,000 were enlisted personnel.

And don't forget to check out the Library's Women's History Month display of favorite fictional female characters!

Become an investment guru by using Morningstar at the Blume Library

2007-02-23T16:26:00.000-06:00

If you have an interest in investing and investment topics, you should take a look at the Blume Library’s most recent database acquisition: Morningstar.

Morningstar offers detailed information on over 20,000 stocks and mutual funds. Morningstar is famous for the quality of its mutual fund analysis. For mutual funds, you can read analysis on the fund’s performance, examine the fund’s performance over time, find out the fund’s current top five holdings, and get fund purchasing information. For stocks, the database includes detailed information such as analyst reports, ratings, prices, company financial statements, annual financial filings, and dividend and return information.

Morningstar also includes more sophisticated features. You can use the Screeners feature to build customized lists of stocks and/or mutual funds based on a variety of performance, ratings, cost, and management data. The database also offers a neat feature called the Portfolio X-Ray. With the X-Ray, you can enter investments from your own portfolio (or investments you are interested in) and get an idea of the portfolio’s strengths and weaknesses.

Morningstar is available online from the Blume Library website. Students, staff, and faculty may access the database both on-campus and off-campus.

Invest wisely…by using library resources like Morningstar.

Undergraduate Research Award

2007-02-15T12:16:00.000-06:00

Are you entering a project in the Undergraduate Research Symposium?

Consider applying for the
First Annual Louis J. Blume Library Undergraduate Research Award

First Prize: $200
Second Prize: $100

Recognizes student researchers who demonstrate skill and originality in the application of library and other information sources in a research project

Symposium application deadline: Friday, March 2, 2007
Research Award application deadline: Friday, March 9, 2007