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More Great Graphic Novels from the Stacks

In anticipation of our Second Annual Graphic Novel Event, Superheroes and Scholars, on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, we asked a few University staff members to tell us about their favorite graphic novels.

Shawn Proctor, University Communications staff writer, on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:

Step aside, Batman and Spider-Man. What if characters from your favorite novels could join forces to battle evil? In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore’s (V for Vendetta, Watchmen) high adventure graphic novel, a quintet from classic literature does just that.

Mina Harker of Dracula, Allan Quatermain of King Solomon’s Mines, Dr. Jekyll of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Captain Nemo of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Invisible Man from his eponymous novel defend all of England from Fu Manchu, even enlisting the aid of Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis Professor Moriarty. It’s thrilling stuff—not to mention there’s a climatic airship battle.

Moore’s rollicking, imaginative storyline gives avid readers new twists on old characters, but people unfamiliar with Harker, for example, will still enjoy the ride. Add in Kevin O’Neill’s anxious illustration of Victorian London and, unlike the mediocre film adaptation, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel easily stands up to many readings.

Be warned though: the story—like all of Moore’s work—contains mature themes.

(more…)


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Scholarship@Villanova: Ron Chadderton on Dam Failures in "Flood City"

This year’s Scholarship@Villanova endowed chair lecture features Ronald A. Chadderton, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, the Edward A. Daylor Chair in Environmental Engineering. Dr. Chadderton will speak at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010, in the Falvey Memorial Library first floor lounge.

Dr. Chadderton, a professor and chair in the department of civil and environmental engineering, will investigate and reconstruct historic floods in the Johnstown, Pa. area, caused by dam failure. He points to the historic nature of the floods, especially the “Great Flood” of May 31, 1889, as a major point of interest.

“As a faculty member at Penn State,” he explains, “I was involved with a study of one of the Johnstown floods. It was a mathematical modeling project. Also, as a ‘history buff,’ I had read various articles about the 1889 flood.” The disaster resulted in the single largest number of civilian deaths at the time and the first major disaster relief effort handled by the American Red Cross.

Johnstown is often referred to notoriously as “The Flood City.” Subsequent laws, taxes, music, art and literature related to its flooding have been created. Several historians have written about the Great Flood; in addition, fiction authors such as Catherine Marshall and Caitlín R. Kiernan have used the historical event as inspiration. Additionally, Bruce Springsteen mentions the Great Flood in his song “Highway Patrolman.”

“The lecture,” Dr. Chadderton notes, “will include some history, some general engineering ideas and some results of my mathematical study of an historic flood event. Hopefully, it will have some content of interest to listeners with differing backgrounds.”

The event is free and open to the public. (Click this link to watch a video of the event.)

Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons


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Research strategies: Relics, pilgrimages, indulgences and holy years of jubilee

by Darren G. Poley

With the relic of Saint Don Bosco recently completing its North American tour, and with Pope Benedict XVI, along with millions of other pilgrims, visiting the Shroud of Turin during its public exhibition earlier this year, many people have been wondering about relics and pilgrimages. Aren’t these things of the past? This topic guide discusses answers to those questions.


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Access World News

  • Posted by: Jutta Seibert
  • Posted Date: November 5, 2010
  • Filed Under: Library News

newsbank

Are you looking for the latest regional or international news?  Access World News includes a wide variety of local, national, and international news sources such as the Main Line Times, Le Monde (France) and the Irish Times.  Among the over 2,500 U.S. titles are major newspapers such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal as well as well-known regional dailies such as the Philadelphia InquirerAccess World News includes close to 2,000 newspapers and news wires from all over the world.  The Library has access to this resource on a trial basis until the end of the fall semester.

Please note that the content of foreign language newspapers is only available in English language abstracts, but not as full text in the original language. Selected domestic titles such as the Wall Street Journal are ‘abstracts only’ as well. Click on the title of the news source to determine its coverage. Few titles will go back farther than 2000 and the coverage of some newspapers does not include current content.

Please feel free to get in touch with us, if you have any questions or comments .



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Waterhouse Family Institute

 

Congratulations to the Communication Department on the launch of the Waterhouse Family Institute for the Study of Communication and Society!

Excited about the work of the WFI?  Let the library help you with your research!  For instance, if you saw the screening of Coming Off the DL and are interested in learning more about the representation of disabled people in  film and the media, check out The Problem Body: Projecting Disability on Film or Framed: Interrogating Disability in the Media.

Excited for Dr. Emory Woodard’s research on the ethical implications of society’s YouTube searches?  Take a look at these titles on YouTube and Internet videos: An Examination of the Uses and Gratifications of YouTube (thesis) or Video Cultures: Media Technology and Everyday Creativity.

Explore this quick list of books that may be of interest to fans of the Waterhouse Family Institute.

Looking for scholarly journals related to the work of WFI?  Try the Journal of Information, Communication & Ethics in Society or New Media & Society.  For more titles of interest, see this list.

To keep up with current events, check out specialized news services such as Ethnic NewsWatch or GenderWatch.

For socially conscious documentaries, definitely take a look at FreeDocumentaries.org – stream full length documentaries for free!

As always, see the Communication Subject Guide for even more great resources!

_____________________________________________

Kristyna Carroll
Research Support Librarian
kristyna.carroll@villanova.edu
610-519-5391


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Bartley Business Info Hours 9-noon Thursday Nov.4th


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New online exhibit featuring Augustine’s Confessions

November is Augustinian Heritage Month here at Villanova and there are many events going on. One of the events is a marathon reading of Augustine’s Confessions, which began here in the library’s coffee shop at 9am this morning and will continue until about midnight. Stop by if you have the chance!

But if you can’t make it, don’t worry! The Digital Library has launched an online exhibit of editions of the Confessions held in Special Collections. The exhibit is called “Tolle lege: The Confessions of St. Augustine”.

Engraved title page of an edition of the Confessions from 1646.
Engraved title page from a 1646 edition.

Editions are arranged by century, with items that are particularly noteworthy and/or available in the Digital Library getting their own sub-pages. Each edition has at least one image associated with it and brief notes where applicable, creating a sort of visual bibliography of holdings of the Confessions in Special Collections.

This is not a complete listing of our holdings, but additional items will be added over time, so be sure to check back.


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Falvey Celebrates the Graphic Novel with 2nd Annual Event

2nd Annual Graphic Novel Event logo

Last year, comics went to college. This year, Falvey Memorial Library, in partnership with the Villanova University Writing Center, invites you to discuss superheroes and scholars at our Second Annual Graphic Novel Event, on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. in the first floor lounge.

Graphic novel writer and Philadelphia resident John Arcudi will give the keynote address. He is best known for developing The Mask for Dark Horse Comics, and his work served as the basis for the 1994 film starring Jim Carey. He has also written for both DC and Marvel Comics, taking on superheroes like Superman, the Flash and Wonder Woman.

Arcudi recently tackled the superhero genre from a more cynical perspective in his original graphic novel, A God Somewhere (Wildstorm, 2010). The story charts the loss of faith and reason in Eric, an everyman who emerges from a deadly accident with superpowers. Publishers Weekly calls the graphic novel “harrowing,” and USA Today says it is “a bold and risky book that dares to offer a challenging new take on what it would be like to be a super-man.”

But that’s not all! Falvey offers an abundance of graphic novels — too many, in fact, to cover in a single event. So for the next two weeks, we’ll share some of our staff members’ favorites from the stacks. (more…)


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Saint Augustine’s “Confessions” Exhibit

Celebrating Augustinian Heritage Month and coordinating with the marathon reading of the Confessions on Nov. 3, Bente Polites, Special Collections librarian, has mounted a small exhibit, “Rare Editions of Saint Augustine’s Confessions from Special Collections.” The exhibit, which will remain on view until November 8, is housed in two cases on the first floor of Falvey.

Two very special books will be on display only on Wednesday, the day of the Confessions marathon reading. One was published in 1482. The other work, a manuscript of the Confessions, written in Florence, c.1456-1480, was the 500,000th volume added to Falvey’s collections.

In the left case are five books, four from the 1500s and one from 1646; the four small volumes are open to their illustrated title pages.

In the center is a large book, printed in Dillingen, Germany, in 1569 and open to display its text. Be sure to examine carefully the large capital Q at the beginning of the left page; it contains a tiny scene with a man on horseback in a landscape. This type of inhabited letter derives from the time when manuscripts were handwritten.

In the right case are an additional six books, all but one open to a title page or an illustration. The open books are all from the seventeenth century.

In the top center is the only closed book and the only one created after the 1600s. This volume is a limited edition of 400 copies published in London in 1900. Of particular interest here is the binding made by Cedric Chivers; it is vellum (calf skin) with applied gold and mother of pearl inlays.

Visit the online Confessions exhibit as well.

By Alice Bampton


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EBSCO Problem Corrected

As you know, there has been a problem with EBSCO databases (Communication & Mass Media Complete, Communication Abstracts) defaulting to Business Source Premier.  This problem has been corrected.

If you continue to experience this problem, please contact me and let me know your operating system, the browser you were using, and which database you were trying to access.

Thank you for your patience!

___________________________________________

Kristyna Carroll
Research Support Librarian
610-519-5391
kristyna.carroll@villanova.edu


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Last Modified: November 1, 2010

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