It’s a commonly held image that “cool” people prefer Macs while “conservative” types prefer PCs. Do you agree with this assumption? Which would you rather use at school? If you could buy any computer for personal, academic, and business use, which one would you buy and why?
Tell us in the comments!
Charles R. Taylor, Ph.D., will discuss the societal and managerial implications of the portrayal of Asian Americans in advertising on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 1:00 p.m. in Falvey Memorial Library’s first floor lounge. Dr. Taylor received the University Outstanding Faculty Research Award in 2009.
According to Dr. Taylor, the Asian American population is often depicted as the “model minority”; they are reflected in advertising as hard-working, technologically-savvy, business-oriented, successful and well-assimilated. While many of these stereotypes appear to be positive on the surface, in reality, some unsettling results can ensue when they are reinforced with the public.
This program seeks to deepen society’s understanding of cultivation theory, which states that repeated exposure to a stereotype in the media will lead people who are not members of that group to start expecting the stereotype to be the reality. (more…)
Trial Available Until February 19th, 2010
You can take eMarketer, a leading provider of research and analysis on digital marketing, for a test drive. We think this resource will be very helpful for practice oriented projects that incorporate elements of mobile, video, search, or social web marketing. This database offers in depth reports, news, statistics, and interviews with marketing innovators.
To take advantage of the trial, go to this link and register with your Villanova email address: http://totalaccess.emarketer.com/Extranet.aspx?villanovademo09 You will receive an email confirmation. Let me know what your thoughts about the product are. Linda.hauck@villanova.edu
Rev. Dennis J. Gallagher, O.S.A., Ph.D., University archivist, celebrated his 45th anniversary of priesthood on January 30. He was ordained in the St. Thomas of Villanova Church on the University campus.
An anniversary mass will be celebrated on this occasion at St. Catharine’s Church, Spring Lake, New Jersey.
Father Gallagher also serves as a librarian liaison to philosophy, theology and humanities. For Father Gallagher, who has been associated with Villanova University since 1975, “life is a journey - ever ancient, ever new.”
The Library recently received a generous donation of the collection, “100 Books for Understanding Contemporary Japan,” from the Nippon Foundation, an independent, non-profit organization that supports projects both in Japan and overseas. Of the list of English language books selected by ten experts with extensive knowledge of Japan, Falvey added about one-third of the titles which were not already part of our holdings.
The Foundation donated these titles promoting a greater understanding of the true face of contemporary Japan to selected university, special and public libraries that have an interest in Japan.
The titles can be located in the library catalog by searching the key word phrase “Nippon Foundation.” Subjects included range from religion, history, economics, commerce, education, political science, literature and the art and science of Japanese robots. A catalog of the “100 books” is also held by the library.
Falvey was alerted to the program by A. Maria Toyoda, Ph.D., chair, political science department, and Yukie Yoshikawa, a fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.
The Nippon Foundation funds activities in three areas: domestic social welfare and volunteer support; maritime research and development; and overseas cooperative assistance.
By Merrill Stein
Donato De Simone, a WWII survivor, educator and author of a compelling memoir, Suffer the Children: Growing up in Italy during WWII, will share vivid stories about events that occurred while he was growing up during the war. De Simone’s appearance is part of the Alfred F. Mannella and Rose T. Lauria-Mannella Distinguished Speakers Series.
This featured talk will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 1:30 p.m. in Falvey Memorial Library’s first floor lounge.
De Simone was born in 1932 in Fossacesia, a small town on the Adriatic coast in Abruzzo, Italy. In writing his memoirs, he established a number of fundamental themes, such as how children, the elderly and the handicapped are the real victims of war and that there are no victors in war– only losers.
The author recollects the events he experienced as a child and evaluates them from an adult perspective. Though his memoir speaks of disturbing events, it makes the readers realize that the one element that is never present in a war situation is justice, because, in his opinion, if justice were present there would be no war.
De Simone also discussed how the Italians secretly harbored thousands of Jews without being recognized for their bravery.
At 28 he earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in English from Villanova University and a master’s in Italian from Rutgers University. He is fluent in English and Italian, and has taught French and Classical Greek. After learning English, De Simone taught the subject to American students in both high school and college.
De Simone has been married to his childhood sweetheart, the former Anna Maria Fantini for over 50 years. They have four children and three grandchildren.
The event is open to the public. Copies of Donato De Simone’s book, Suffer the Children: Growing up in Italy during WWII will be available for purchase.
By Akua K. Adoo, Publications & Communication intern, and Natalie Tomasco
Falvey Memorial Library welcomes author Mahbod Seraji to campus to discuss Rooftops of Tehran, this year’s selection for the University’s One Book program. Seraji’s visit on January 26 will begin at 1 p.m. with a one-hour community book signing in the Falvey first floor lounge.
Seraji will appear in the Villanova Room, Connelly Center, at 7:30 p.m.
Faculty:
Now is the perfect time to schedule your classes to come to the library for some specialized library instruction. Our space is limited so schedule early!
The research strategies for our huge selection of specialized subject databases, web site evaluation, library catalog searching and citation software are just a few of the skills we teach. Sessions can be held during normal class meetings or at any other time, in the library’s state-of-the-art classroom or your usual meeting place. These sessions are tailored to the needs of each course and assignment. Bring your students in and give them the research edge.
Don’t have time to devote a full class period? Consider having a librarian come by for a 15 minute library preview at the beginning or end of a class or consult with a subject specialist to have a custom resource page on the library web site. (more…)
The overall feedback from the recent Faculty Survey on questions relating to library services and collections was remarkably positive, but faculty respondents also made many critical comments about the library facilities.
Nearly a third of Villanova’s full-time faculty participated in the survey. According to over 90% of survey respondents, library resources and services are ‘more important’ or ‘as important’ today as they were five years ago. Books (85%) and e-journals (86%) ranked at the top as ‘essential’ or ‘very important’ library resources. (Read more…)
Read a short summary of the results online. The Library will conduct follow-up focus groups with faculty during the spring semester and is still looking for interested faculty volunteers. Please contact Jutta Seibert (ext. 9-7876) if you would like to participate.
Posted on behalf of Jutta Seibert; photograph by Chris Barr
Q - Does Falvey Library have the textbook for my course?
A - The Library does not purchase textbooks for current courses unless the titles are specifically ordered by faculty.
Reason #1 - Expense: New editions are often published in a year or so, rendering the textbook we would have purchased obsolete.
Reason #2 - Competition: The Library doesn’t want to compete with the University Shop.
Please search the library catalog. If the textbook you need is not in Falvey’s collection, you may be able to borrow one from another library using the E-Z Borrow system. (Your “Patron ID” to log onto E-ZBorrow is your 16-digit Wildcard number.) E-Z Borrow libraries may occasionally be willing to lend a textbook, but Interlibrary Loan guidelines discourage libraries from lending textbooks.
Professors may place textbooks on reserve for their courses.
~Gerald Dierkes and Luisa Cywinski
