Employment may lag in a recession, but yours doesn’t have to.  Excellent opportunities for growth and development exist at small or local businesses and nonprofits that don’t routinely recruit at colleges.  They can be sought out by taking advantage of Library and Career Services resources.  The library has a guide to Finding Potential Employers and Career Services offers instruction on using ReferenceUSA, an excellent business directory for employers both large and small.

A thoughtful search of our catalog will turn up both humorous and serious books that will enrich your job search and career exploration.    For instance, if you’re interested in finance as a career Monkey Business is an hilarious must read.  Practioner guides especially those that are conveniently online, such as The Complete CFO Handbook, offer more serious fare for pre-interview preparation.

Make an appointment with a research librarian to learn more about how to use these and other resources for gathering background on potential employers.

Posted for: Audrey Hamelers, Digital Library Intern, Spring 2010.

The Barry-Hayes collection, housed at the Independence Seaport Museum, includes the naturalization certificate of Patrick Hayes, the adopted son of John Barry. This certificate, issued on April 8, 1822, provides an interesting example of the naturalization requirements in Pennsylvania and the United States at that time.

Part of the certificate.

According to his naturalization certificate, Patrick Hayes applied for United States citizenship at the Supreme Court in the City of Philadelphia “having on his solemn oath declared, and also made proof thereof by competent testimony, that he had resided within the United States upwards of two years, and within the State of Pennsylvania upwards of one years immediately preceding his application.” This was on September 2, 1794, meaning that the naturalization process underwent by Patrick Hayes was that decreed by the Naturalization Act of 1790, which lists a residency of two years in the United States among its requirements.

However, Patrick Hayes was not issued this certificate of naturalization until 1822, thirty years after the listed date of application. One reason for this may have been that the 1790s saw naturalization law change not once, but three times. This certificate of naturalization may give us an idea of the experience of gaining citizenship in a young country, whose laws were still being developed.

Witnessed by William Atlee in 1822.

Just a few months after Patrick Hayes applied for United States Citizenship, the Naturalization Act of 1795 was passed in January of that year. This act, which replaced the 1790 law, states that a person seeking naturalization must “declare an oath or affirmation, before some one of the courts aforesaid, that he has resided within the United States, five years at least, and within the state or territory, where such court is at the time held, one year at least.” In addition, this act adds a required waiting period of three years between an application for naturalization and receiving citizenship.

Three years later, the Naturalization Act of 1798 increased the residency requirement from five to fourteen years, and increased the waiting period from three to five. This act, which was one of the controversial and short-lived Alien and Sedition Acts passed by a Federalist Congress, attempted to disenfranchise potential immigrants who might support their rival Democratic-Republicans. This act was repealed in 1802, at which time the law reverted back to the Naturalization Act of 1795, which is still used as the law of naturalization in the United States today.

It’s not clear whether Patrick Hayes’s status as a naturalized citizen of the United States was affected by these changes in the law, or whether there is some other reason for the date discrepancy. More complete information might be discovered through further perusal of the Barry-Hayes collection.

A star-shaped seal that appears on the certificate.

This year, it’s not just about the books. We’re celebrating National Library Week at Falvey by introducing green service initiatives that allow us to reduce paper waste by using cutting-edge technology. Document delivery services are provided to all students, staff and faculty who require scanned images of Falvey-owned journal articles or limited sections of library books. This service is provided via the ILLiad request system that we currently use to process interlibrary loan requests. Another service we will begin to offer is the direct scanning of books, journals, and other materials that faculty wish to place on electronic course reserve. This eliminates the need for faculty to submit photocopied materials, which was formerly a requirement for scanning. Once the items are scanned, they will be returned to the professor and the files will be uploaded to Blackboard, the University’s course management system. We are making National Library Week at Falvey a segue to Earth Day events on campus.

Join us in the National Library Week celebration by trying our Earth-friendly services!

Image courtesy of the American Library Association Green Libraries Community

The 12th annual Villanova Literary Festival  presents Ange Mlinko reading her poems on Tues., April. 13, at 7:00 p.m. in Falvey Memorial Library’s first floor lounge.

Ange Mlinko, who was born in Philadelphia, has taught at Brown University, Naropa University and Al-Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco.  Her poems are about urban life, about language and its failings, about the things we see and do not see.

Ange Mlinko is the author of two books, Matinées (Zoland Books, 1999) and Starred Wire (Coffee House Press, 2005) which was a National Poetry Series winner in 2004. She has a new book coming out this year, Shoulder Season (Coffee House Press, 2010).

 This event, co-sponsored by the English department and Falvey Library, is open to the public.

Submitted to the news blog by Akua K. Adoo, Publications & Communication intern

Posters throughout Falvey Library’s first floor display poems submitted by students hoping to become the 2010 Senior Class Poet.  The poetry posters will remain on display throughout April, in celebration of National Poetry Month. A Philadelphia area poet will anonymously judge the contest, which was open to Villanova seniors.

The nominees and their posted poems include “Mud Girl,” by Emily Southerton; “At This Hour,” by Sean Vitka; “Crossing the Bar (Reprise),” by Chris McKay; “Water Lilies,” by Samantha Ronan; “Dance of Bacchus,” by Christina Pellegrini; “To be tested,” by Zachary Hayes; “Freedom Song: (Version 3),” by Latishia James; “Where to Begin,” Lauren Welles; “Kingussie Bound,” by Cayce Lista; and “The Coda,” by Jayne Ziemba.

Daisy Fried, a poet herself and adjunct English professor, worked with Gerald Dierkes and graphic designer Joanne Quinn to assemble the Senior Class Poet posters.

The Senior Class Poet will receive an award certificate, a $100 honorarium, and an invitation to read his or her work at the English department awards reception on Fri., April 30, where the winner will be announced.  The Senior Class Poet will also be honored by reading his or her winning poetry at the College of Arts and Sciences Recognition Ceremony on Sat., May 15.

Falvey Library and the English department sponsored the annual open mic poetry reading on April 8 in the library first floor lounge. Participants included students who published work in Arthology, Villanova’s student journal of art and writing; Senior Class Poet contestants; and other students, faculty and staff who enjoy and write poetry.

By Akua Adoo, Publications & Communication Intern

Obtain tax forms and information from the following Web sites:

Federal: http://www.irs.gov/

Delaware: http://revenue.delaware.gov/

New Jersey: http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/

Pennsylvania:http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/revenue_home/

Among the many DVD’s acquired by the Library this year is one stand-out, Eastern State: Living behind the Walls. This documentary, written and directed by Tony Alosi, gives a brief history of Eastern State Penitentiary, followed by a description of life in the prison during its final decades.
When it opened in 1829, Eastern State was viewed throughout the western world as a major innovation in penology, bringing visitors from around the world (including Charles Dickens in 1842). Through the nineteenth century, it emphasized personal reflection within solitary confinement as a key component of rehabilitation, a philosophy finally dropped when too many prisoners developed insanity. The video also gives some details to Al Capone’s incarceration (who continued to run the Chicago mob from his cell) and the prison’s one successful jailbreak carried out by Clarence Klinedinst and Willie Sutton. The penitentiary closed in 1972.
The film gives an honest look at life within Eastern State as detailed through interviews with former staff and inmates. They provide some frank descriptions of the violence and rape the prisoners regularly endured, both from each other and from the guards. Former inmates describe how they turned their individual lives around. The film ends with scenes from a reunion of inmates and staff thirty years after the prison closed. Interspersed throughout the film are shots of the decayed prison as it appears today.
Of course, if you find the film interesting you can visit the prison itself in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia. The program director is a Villanova Alumnus—Sean Kelley (class of 1991).
David Burke

Watch the film trailer on YouTube or read B. Belbot’s short article on Eastern State Penitentiary from the Encyclopedia of Prisons & Correctional Facilities.
Film website

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments that you may have.

Posted for Jennifer Pilling, Spring 2010 Digital Library Intern:

Situated between two major rivers, Philadelphia finds its rich history formed by a bustling merchant trade shipping industry. The document collection of Barry-Hayes offers a first-hand account of trade practices in the 18th and 19th centuries. Commodore John Barry, founder of the United States Navy, began and ended his career as a merchant ship captain, sailing the globe. Toward the end of his service to the industry, Barry brought his adopted son Patrick Hayes on a journey to China, which marked the beginning of Patrick’s maritime career. Quite fortunately, Patrick Hayes kept an extensive journal of his journey, giving us a glimpse into the adventurous life of a sailor.

Hayes practices his seafaring skills by tracking his latitudinal and longitudinal location upon The Asia, while en route to each port for trading, making note of the wind directions:

“Longitude 17° W then we met the SE trade wind which blew mostly betweene SSW and SSE from the account nav-igation gives of them we expected to meet fresh breeze at SE if those accounts are true then winds have shifted Considerably within those few years the weather betweene the Equator and the tropick of Capricorn is very ples ant”

Many of Hayes’s entries also note his experience on board, not all of which were as pleasant as the weather. Early on in the voyage, Hayes learned a tough lesson about the darker side of seafaring when one of the sailors took his life with a shot of his pistol through his heart. The man left no note behind to explain his suicide, and he was committed to the sea, a sailor’s funeral. Later, Hayes notes after an abundantly successful fishing endeavor that “in a few Days fresh fish became nauseous to us all” and “in a day several of our people was poison-d by eating some of those fish that lay in the sun moon all night which was attended with no foul Consequences”.

As instructed, no doubt, by Barry, Hayes also kept notes while in port. The ship’s first stop was Cape Town, a Dutch settlement at the time. Hayes describes his observations:

“the people are general-ly well dressed [agod] complexionce the Town is well fortifyed the dutch always keep a large body of troopes in the Town the small Sword and Cockade complats the dress of every Man who wishes to appear like gentleman they take a great deal of pains to kepp their Houses Clean and el-egantly furnished and well painted”

Hayes’s journal is an excellent resource for understanding a worldly view from the early American perspective. It is a glimpse into the life of a sea merchant, and is well worth a closer look. This journal represents only a small portion of resources available about American trade in the 18th Century. The Independence Seaport Museum hosts artifacts and documents that remind us of this nation’s independent embark into international trade. One document, a letter from congress introducing an American captain to the Chinese government, depicts an abundant display of respect in an attempt to show their dedication to international trade. Another series of documents from Captain John Green documents tips on how to trade in Asia, and with whom.