Library News

Comics go to college? What are graphic novels and why have they appeared on this university campus?

Join us on Wednesday, Nov. 11, as an award-winning comics writer, a college professor who teaches graphic novels, a writer-illustrator, and a grad student / comic book writer talk about the world of graphic novels. For those interested in browsing, comics and graphic novels will be on display.

The thought-provoking panel discussion will take place from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Falvey’s first floor lounge. Panelists include Jonathan Maberry, a multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author and Marvel Comics writer; Mary Beth Simmons, M.F.A, director, Villanova Writing Center and ACS faculty member; Matt Phelan, writer and illustrator; and Brian A. Lynch, graduate student, communication department, and amateur comic book writer.

As English professor Karyn Hollis describes her current English course on the graphic novel, “From Superheroes to Manga Plus,” “The graphic novel, an original American art form like jazz, has returned to the literary limelight. From movies, to showcase events and international conferences, the genre is KA-POPPING up all over!” (more…)

Stephen Spatz, assistant Outreach and Support librarian, recently attended the Catholic Research Resources Alliance annual meeting at Loyola University, Chicago. While there, Stephen presented information on VuFind and Falvey Memorial Library’s Digital Library.

He demonstrated what Falvey’s VuFind open source software can do for the Catholic Portal, an internet search engine designed by the CRRA. The portal intends to “create easy, effective and global discovery of Catholic research resources” and to provide “access to rare, unique or infrequently held materials in academic libraries’ and seminaries’ special collections and archives.”

Villanova University is a new member of the CRRA. Representatives from other institutions - Notre Dame University, Marquette University, Boston College, Catholic University of America, Georgetown University and Seton Hall University - also attended.

The attendees resolved to implement a pilot project with a test database to experiment with data ingestion. The portal, using VuFind, is currently being reviewed by scholars to assess its usefulness for researchers.

By Alice Bampton

Learn how to organize your research and never type a bibliography again with RefWorks.  MLA, APA and other styles supported. Open to faculty, staff, and students in all disciplines.

When? Nov. 5 & 12

4:00-5:00pm

Where: Driscoll Hall, Room 221

MUST BRING YOUR OWN LAPTOP!

Contact: Barbara Quintiliano, Instructional Design Librarian (telephone: ext.95207)

ENROLLMENT LIMITED TO 20 PERSONS.  PLEASE CONTACT BARBARA IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND.

Jonathan P. Doh, Ph.D., will discuss his recent research on the role of multinational enterprise, governments, and nongovernmental organization on the process and outcomes of development, as part of the Endowed Chair Lecture series.

Dr. Doh, professor of management and operations at the Villanova School of Business, will review the recent developments related to the changing balance of global economic influence and the emergence of developing countries as major players in the world economy.

This featured talk will take place on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 1:00 p.m. in Falvey Memorial Library’s first floor lounge.

In the past, human societies across the globe established economic ties with neighboring countries. Lately, the pace of global integration has significantly increased and has encompassed a range of social, political and economic changes. Dr. Doh will conclude with some implications of his research findings for public policy, corporate strategy and civil society. (more…)

Using the Lifestyle Market Analyst was de rigueur for every single student that took Management Essentials, a core course in the previous Villanova School of Business curriculum.  Because this reference book was in such great demand, it was held at the front desk of the library, so we knew VSB students were visiting Falvey, and often. With the advent of the new VSB curriculum, Management Essentials is no longer offered. Would this mean demand for the Lifestyle Market Analyst would evaporate and, with it, VSB students at Falvey?

The new VSB curriculum is as rigorous as the previous one.  Students taking VSB 2020, Competitive Effectiveness, have an even greater need for a reference work providing market, lifestyle and consumer profiles, but they no longer need to check out the print Lifestyle Market Analyst. Now  this essential source is online SRDS, renamed Local Market Audience Analyst. (more…)

The library recently purchased a Kindle e-reader for the use of students, staff, and faculty. We also made it possible for all Villanova students to use the document delivery service, which provides digitized copies of articles from our print collection. Last fall, we opened a new computer lab/classroom on the first floor. We also added a self check out station.

If you have used any of these new services, please post your feedback.

We’d love to hear from you!

Don’t have time to pull and photocopy a journal article at Falvey? In addition to many online e-journals and full-text databases, Falvey Memorial Library now offers document delivery services to Villanova students, staff and faculty who cannot take the time to retrieve and photocopy articles from the print collection in Falvey. Using ILLiad, the same request and delivery system that is used to satisfy requests for materials from other libraries, we are able to digitize and deliver articles from the Falvey print and microfilm collection.

The digitized articles are delivered to your ILLiad account as electronic files and can be uploaded and saved to your desktop. The files remain active for 30 days.

We will process up to five requests per day, per patron, and can usually deliver the articles within 72 hours, depending on the volume of requests. (Incomplete or incorrect requests can delay the document delivery process.)

If you have any questions, please call the Information Desk at 610-519-4270 or contact a Research Librarian at 610-519-4273 or at ref@villanova.edu. As with all interlibrary loan and document delivery requests, copyright restrictions apply.

It’s the week before midterms and you have to find a book for a paper that is due in a few days. You’ve always liked Jack Kerouac and were hoping to find The Subterraneans on the shelf. You like the way Kerouac weaves together reality and fiction and this has inspired you to write your paper in the same fashion. Unfortunately, you find that the library’s print copy is checked out.

You approach the desk to ask the librarian for help. She checks the catalog, but isn’t able to find another print copy. Suddenly, she has an idea! She suggests downloading Kerouac’s book to the library’s Kindle e-reader for you. Having never used a Kindle, you’re not sure how it works, but in the spirit of Kerouac, your adventurous nature urges you to give it a try.

The above story is true, based on a student’s real need that led to his discovery of the Kindle. Similar stories have been reported by Bartley patrons. The 14-day loan period gives patrons time to read the books and incorporate their findings into a research project or paper. The device is light (about the weight of a Kerouac paperback novel).

Be adventurous! Use the Bartley Kindle request form or the Kindle@Falvey request form to book a Kindle.

By Luisa Cywinski and Laura Hutelmyer

Dr. Suzanne Zamerowski (l.) and Barbara Quintiliano at the NLN Education Summit (Not pictured: Dr. Marcia Costello)

Barbara Quintiliano, M.L.S., M.A., instructional design librarian, presented the poster session “A Collaborative Approach to Population Assessment,” with College of Nursing faculty colleagues Marcia Costello, Ph.D., R.D., L.D., and Suzanne Zamerowski, Ph.D., R.N., at the National League for Nursing Education Summit, held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, on Sept. 24 and 25.

The poster illustrated the collaboration between the instructional librarian and the course faculty that led to the creation of a matrix with hypertext links to important data sources.  The population assessment matrix enabled students in the capstone Nursing 4102 course, “Nursing and Health Promotion,” to locate online international, national, state and local health data quickly and efficiently, affording these students more time to interact directly with the populations being assessed.

The data collected for the population assessment projects helped to guide the students’ clinical experience as they developed and implemented public health education strategies for national and international communities.

On October 27, Falvey Memorial Library will host the inaugural lecture in the “Alfred F. Mannella and Rose T. Lauria-Mannella Distinguished Speakers Series.” Richard Juliani, Ph.D., sociology department, will describe his four decades of research on the Italian experience in Philadelphia, highlighting both challenges and future opportunities. His talk will begin at 7 p.m.

Alfred S. Mannella

In 1996, Falvey Memorial Library’s friend and supporter Alfred S. Mannella, ‘58 VSB, established two endowed library funds to support the purchase of books and other research materials as memorials to family members.

Now one of those funds will also support a lecture series.

The Speakers series honors Mr. Mannella’s parents, Alfred F. and Rose T. Lauria-Mannella. His father, the son of immigrants, was born in Philadelphia in 1904 and established himself as a tailor. An avid sports fan, he developed an interest in Villanova football starting in the 1930s when Maurice J. “Clipper” Smith was the coach.

His mother was the grandchild of immigrants and grew up in south Philadelphia. (more…)