Intrigued by an article that appeared in the October 2008 Rolling Stone Magazine by David Lipsky about the life of the novelist David Foster Wallace, I decided to check out one of Wallace’s books. I was looking forward to having some extra reading time over the long Thanksgiving weekend, and Lipsky’s description of Wallace’s life, works and early death were enticing.
I was late leaving work that Tuesday night but made a quick trip to Falvey’s fourth floor to retrieve Wallace’s The Broom of the System (PS3573 .A425635 B7) and, on a whim, Girl with Curious Hair (PS3573 .A425635 G5). I was especially interested in reading The Broom of the System (named after a saying from Wallace’s grandmother about the benefits of eating an apple) because Wallace had written it in 1984 to fulfill a thesis requirement for graduation from Amherst College, and it was good enough to be published as a novel in 1987. I also knew Wallace had written this following a period of depression that had caused him to withdraw from school to be institutionalized for a while.
I took the books to the first floor circulation counter, hoping not to have to wait since I was already late for a scheduled appointment. There were seven people ahead of me, doing things like checking out laptops, requesting study rooms, asking for help with microfilm and even checking out books needed to complete assignments over the long holiday weekend. I almost put my books on the counter, prepared to leave empty handed, when I spotted the SelfCheck machine. Wildcard in hand, I proceeded to the machine to see if I could save some time. (more…)
A group of Swarthmore College librarians, members of the college’s marketing team, visited Falvey Memorial Library on January 13. When Pamela Harris, outreach and instruction librarian at Swarthmore College, met Jutta Seibert, Falvey’s coordinator for academic integration, at a meeting of the Association of College and Research Libraries, Delaware Valley Chapter, she asked if a group of Swarthmore librarians could visit to learn about Falvey’s marketing and outreach activities, especially the “VUCat search box, game night, and nifty ways to advertise online reference materials.” (more…)
The CQ Press Voting and Elections Collection is organized into six categories of presidential elections, congressional elections, gubernatorial elections, campaigns and elections, political parties and voters and demographics generally covering from 1789 to the present. Includes candidate and office histories, seat status and competition, special elections, maps, bibliographies, encyclopedic information, chronology, definitions and sources and web links. Supports scholarly research in political science, particularly American Government, campaigns and elections, Congress, the presidency, and American history.
- Presidential Elections includes explanations of the presidential electoral process, analyses and data for historical and modern presidential elections, modern voting behavior, key events and issues, and biographies.
- Congressional Elections provides explanations of the congressional electoral process, including reapportionment and redistricting; data for historical and modern congressional elections; analyses of modern congressional elections; modern voting behavior; modern district profiles; key events and issues; and biographies.
- Gubernatorial Elections presents explanations of the gubernatorial electoral process and data for historical and modern gubernatorial elections.
- Campaigns and Elections explores the American system of voting and elections, electoral process and reform, media, interest groups, and the impact of money.
- Political Parties covers the party system in America, including party strength and control, and profiles Democratic, Republican, and third parties.
- Voters and Demographics covers expansion of voting rights, voter turnout, voting behavior, modern county census data, and modern district profiles.
If Tuesday’s inauguration of the first black president has sparked your interest in past presidents, check out these resources available from the library:
The American Presidency Project from the University of California, Santa Barbara, which has the text of all the inaugural addresses but also an audio/video index to listen to speeches of Presidents from Hoover to George W. Bush. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/inaugurals.php
The library has books by Obama such as Dreams from My Father , a story of race and inheritance, and The Audacity of Hope. Two titles about him are being processed, Barack Obama : the Voice of an American Leader by Joann F. Price and Obama : the Historic Campaign in Photographs by Deborah Willis and Kevin Merida. Many current issues of magazines in the Current Periodical shelves on the first floor also feature articles on President Obama.
If you want to know more about politics, you may want to consider checking out the library’s Subject Guide on Political Science for a listing of our databases, books, other web sites and more.
A full listing of inauguration day events can be found at USA.gov.
Cambridge Histories Online brings the familiar and well respected history reference works from Cambridge University Press to your desktop. This new digital collection includes 250 histories published since 1960.
Among the titles currently available online are:
- the Cambridge History of the Bible (3 vols.)
- the Cambridge Ancient History (19 vols.)
- the Cambridge History of the English Language (6 vols.)
- the New Cambridge Modern History (14 vols.) to name but a few.
