In honor of National Library Week, Falvey is running a video contest! Submit a short video highlighting your favorite physical or virtual space in Falvey Memorial Library and why it is your favorite place. Do you see the library as a temple? A gaming location? Is it the first place you run to when looking for online resources? Or do you just love that new “Speakers’ Corner” on the first floor?

The winning video will be featured on our website. The submitter(s) of the overall best video will win fabulous prizes!

For the full set of guidelines, go to the Falvey Memorial Library Video Contest web page.

Due to software maintenance, our link resolver software may be unavailable between 8 and 9 P.M. this Saturday.

This means that you may be unable to access full-text articles through the   button  in library databases until the maintenance is complete.

We apologize for any inconvenience. If you encounter problems after the maintenance period ends, please contact library staff at circ@villanova.edu. We will respond as quickly as possible.

Demian Katz

The Department of Philosophy invites applications for a non-tenure track, annually renewable lecturer position beginning Fall 2012. AOS: open, AOC: teaching competence in history of philosophy. Four courses per semester, lower and upper division undergraduates, some split-level upper undergraduate/graduate courses. Summer teaching may be available. Some non-teaching duties. PhD required at time of appointment. Competitive salary, full benefits.

To be assured of full consideration, applications must be complete by March 23, 2012. To apply for this position, please visit. http://recruitment.franklin.uga.edu/philosophy and supply the requested information, including the names and email addresses of three references, at least one of whom should be asked to address teaching. References will be contacted to submit their letters through this website on receipt of application. The rest of the application should be uploaded as a single PDF file. It must include a letter of application, current CV, statement of teaching philosophy, writing sample and evidence of excellence in teaching.

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, its many units, and the University of Georgia are committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty and students and sustaining a work and learning environment that is inclusive. Women, minorities, and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. The University of Georgia is an EEO/AA institution.

by David Burke

1944 issue of the Villanovan

Falvey Memorial Library recently completed a major digitization project to make available online all 1,713 issues of the campus newspaper, The Villanovan, published between 1893 and 1995. On Feb. 23, the Library hosted a program to celebrate this accomplishment. The celebration was dedicated to the memory of longtime Villanovan faculty adviser, June Lytel-Murphy.

The program began with introductory remarks by University Librarian Joseph Lucia and University President the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA., PhD, ’75 A&S, who characterized the project as a history of “the voice of the student body.” Special Collections and Digital Library Coordinator Michael Foight, Library Technology Development Specialist Demian Katz and Research Support Librarian Susan Ottignon each addressed various aspects of the project.

Prior to 2011, The Villanovan was available only through bound volumes of issues or microfilm—neither providing an especially pleasurable experience for casual perusal. The scanning was performed by Internet Archive, a non-profit foundation creating an online library of all sorts of public domain documents. However, the returned files had some technical problems requiring some attention from staff here, especially regarding the OCR (optical character recognition—an important prerequisite for full text searching). Ottignon also provided subject access for each issue, adding that the project gave a great opportunity to see the social side of the University.

Kendra Davis

Next to speak was Kendra Davis, a current co-editor in chief of the newspaper, who remarked she had already used the digitized Villanovan in two class assignments. She described the current process for assembling the paper, from the initial meeting to determine the size of each section for a particular issue to the three rounds of editing an issue undergoes before it is sent to the printer. (more…)

Dr. Tracey Hucks

Africana Studies and Falvey Memorial Library invite you to celebrate Women’s History Month with a lecture by Tracey Hucks, PhD, associate professor of Religious Studies at Haverford College. Dr. Hucks will speak on her new forthcoming book, Poaching the African God: Yoruba Traditions and African-American Religious Nationalism, on Thursday, Mar. 15, at 4:30 p.m. in Speakers’ Corner.

Dr. Hucks will discuss women and religion in the African Diaspora. She has previously published an article on the topic, entitled “’I smoothed the way, I opened doors’: Women in the Yoruba-Orisha Tradition of Trinidad,” in Women and Religion in the African Diaspora: Knowledge, Power, and Performance (Johns Hopkins, 2006).

Other resources:

For more Women’s History Month resources, try the library catalog’s “Search by Subject” feature.  Subjects of interest could include “women and religion,” “women in Christianity,” or even simply “women and history.”

Here are some recent books and suggestions for further reading to help commemorate Women’s History Month:
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BioDigital Human is the latest in interactive, detailed maps of the human body available on the Internet. This free web tool centers around a static model of a human figure beginning with just a skeleton visible which can be rotated and scaled to view from any angle. You can control the visibility of not just the many top level systems (skeletal, digestive, nervous, cardiovascular, and many others) but also the individual components of those systems down to the individual muscles, organs, and nerves on the right and left sides.

Each piece can be highlighted, has a label of its full name with an audio pronunciation and an information window with links to related conditions from Medline Plus and further anatomical information from Wikipedia. A search box allows you to search for a structure by name so if you don’t remember where the pronator quadratus muscle is it quickly gives you the choice of left or right before making the muscle visible and zooming to its location.

The viewer also provides tools like “dissection mode” which allows you to remove structures one at a time, delving into the body from the outside in, an “x-ray” view that shows all structures transparently allowing you to see through them to what lies beneath, and isolation view that temporarily singles out a structure you have highlighted without losing your other visible structures.

Using these tools you can easily create your own personalized views with the exact choice of structures visible and angle of view. You can even “bookmark” these views for later and view bookmarks others have made public as well as take snapshots of interesting views that can be saved to your computer for later.

Today the BioDigital Human tool is in a free Beta testing mode and free for anyone to use. You can find it at http://www.biodigitalhuman.com using either the Firefox or Chrome web browser.

MORE NEWS: Falvey Membership to Hindawi Benefits Villanova Scholarly Community

Open Access Logo

Falvey Memorial Library is pleased to have an institutional membership to Hindawi Publishing Corporation. Launched in 1997, Hindawi publishes a growing number of open access journals in engineering, medicine and the sciences, and now includes Nursing Research and Practice, as well as social sciences titles such as Journal of Anthropology and Urban Studies Research. A complete list of current Hindawi titles is available at the company’s website.

So what is open access (OA)? In the words of SPARC researcher Peter Suber, “Open Access is a publishing model that provides immediate, worldwide, barrier-free access to the full text of research articles without requiring a subscription to the journal in which these articles are published.” (Read more about open access here.) Publication costs are usually covered by the authors, the author’s institution or research funds. The OA business model facilitates the rapid sharing of scholarly research. It also offers an alternative to traditional subscription-based journal publishing, whose ever -soaring costs threaten to consume academic library budgets.

Because of Falvey’s institutional membership, the processing fee will be waived for all Villanova University authors whose articles are accepted for publication in Hindawi journals. (Please note that this fee waiver applies to articles submitted on or after February 15, 2012, the starting date of the library’s institutional membership).

Articles submitted to Hindawi journals undergo the same rigorous peer-review process as those submitted to subscription-access journals. In addition, many Hindawi titles are part of the International Scholarly Research Network (ISRN), a series of peer-reviewed, open-access journals with a 28-day review cycle.

For a list of Villanova University scholars participating in Hindawi journals as authors, editors, and reviewers, visit http://www.hindawi.com/institutions/villanova.edu/

By Luisa Cywinski

The Learning Commons in Falvey was officially dedicated on Feb. 17 when library and University planners, architects, designers, faculty, staff, students and visitors gathered to celebrate the new home of the Falvey Research Center, Learning Support Services (LSS), the Math Learning Resource Center (MLRC), and the  Writing Center.

Upon his arrival, University President, the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, ’75 A&S, toured the Learning Commons, greeting each center’s director and asking about the new student lounge space, event rooms and special collections. Distinguished guests, including academic deans and administrators, were invited to the event. There were also lively reunions between current and former library staff, some of whom had retired or moved away.

Joe Lucia, University Librarian

University Librarian Joe Lucia opened the ceremony by expressing his pleasure at welcoming guests to celebrate the “realization of our dream.” The Rev. Dennis Gallagher, OSA, PhD, offered a blessing and prayer for our “academic community and all who will use this transformed space.” The Rev. Kail Ellis, OSA, PhD, complimented the aesthetics and remarked on the ease of access to offices in the commons.

Recounting the long process of inspiration that led to the learning commons project, Father Donohue remembered his first visits to the original locations of the Writing Center, the MLRC and the LSS, and described them as being in “places where no one else would want to go.” (more…)

Amherst, MA – The UMass Amherst Libraries will offer short-term residential fellowships to assist younger scholars in conducting research in Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) in the Du Bois Library.  Full-time graduate students, faculty, or independent scholars (with a PhD) are eligible to apply.  Fellows will receive a stipend of $2,500 for a four-week residency.  The deadline for applications is April 20, 2012.  For more information:  http://bit.ly/dubois_fellowship.
Among the approximately 15,000 linear feet of manuscripts held by SCUA are many valuable collections for the study of social change in the United States, including the papers of the most important exponent of the politics and culture of the twentieth century, W.E.B. Du Bois.  Fellows may come from any field and any perspective, and they may work on any topic, but their research should explore the major themes that characterize Du Bois’s scholarship and activism. This includes the history and meaning of racial, social, and economic justice; the problems of democracy and political inclusion; the role of capitalism in world affairs; and the global influence of African cultures.
In addition to the Du Bois Papers, the UMass Amherst Libraries house over three million volumes and a rich suite of electronic resources to support advanced research in the humanities.  Comprehensive, searchable guides and finding aids to SCUA’s collections are available online at http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/.
Fellows will be selected on a competitive basis from applicants interested in conducting original research in the Du Bois Papers and other SCUA collections. The criteria for selection will include the potential of the proposal to contribute to scholarship; its fit with Du Boisian themes; the need for the use of SCUA’s collections; and a letter of support.  The application will consist of a brief (up to three pages) description of the research project, curriculum vitae, and the letter of support.  At the end of their consecutive four-week residency, fellows will deliver a public talk on their research.
For more information, contact Rob Cox, head of Special Collections and University Archives, at rscox@library.umass.edu, or (413) 545-6842.

For many business research projects starting out with an industry report is highly recommended.  We have a variety of them that either define industries broadly on a global scope (such  NetAdvantage or Mergent Online) or rather narrowly by country or activity or product (such as Datamonitor, Freedonia or BMI via ReferenceUSA OneSource).  We  have a trial to IBIS World, a particularly deep depository of industry reports with over 700 industries in the U.S. and 65 global reports.

One may wonder why industry reports are so useful.  They explain how the defined industry operates in terms of finance, technology, regulation, and underlying economic conditions. Usually technical terms and jargon are explained and key professional and trade associations are referenced.  Trends and forecasts are typically provided as are statistical benchmarks relevant to the industry.  The major players are always listed and described if not analyzed in depth.  Given the aforementioned  list of sources for industry reports one may think  that business research material type is well covered at  Falvey Memorial Library.  However gaps persist because industries definitions are variable and the need is great.

The IBISWorld platform has another feature that I think job seekers and journalists will find valuable.  These are iExpert reports.  iExpert reports consist of an executive summary of the industry as a whole and then list internal and external trends specific to the industry and suggest intelligent probing questions around those issues.  What great tips for having a successful conversation with an industry insider!

The first time you use IBISWorld you will need to register with an email address in addition to authenticating with your Villanova credentials if off campus.  Let me know if IBISWorld is a keeper!