Zombie literature abounds. There’s even a rumor that Jules Verne authored the first zombie book ever written. That’s not really true, though. We only have a small amount of zombie-related literature. Yet, at this time of the year, some people ask, “Where can I get good zombie literature in my discipline?” (I said some people.)

Well for starters, the business bestseller rack holds, Zombie Banks: How Broken Banks and Debtor Nations are Crippling the Global Economy. Folklore or literature more your style?  Try Better off Dead: the Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human, the excellent Zone One: a Novel, Feed and Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead. There are even those that associate zombies and politics. Check out Theories of International Politics and Zombies. The Library has graphic novels too, like the ever popular The Walking Dead series. And remember the ever more popular Shaun of the Dead film and recent creations like I Am Legend and ParaNorman.

Back pack full? Try an e-book: Zombie Economics How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us or Preparedness 101 Zombie Pandemic (see also Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Even grad students can learn to survive a zombie apocalypse, as evidenced in The Chronicle of Higher Education articles, “Dawn of the Grad: Rules for Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse and Your First Year at Grad School” and “The Zombie List.”

Of course we always hear about the limits of science, as in Man, Beast, and Zombie: What Science Can and Cannot Tell Us About Human Nature. However, no need to lose sleep over the idea of zombies. They can’t really exist. At least that’s the premise in Zombies and Consciousness, arguing against the possibility of zombies’ existence.

Actually, there’s a symbolism going on here – as a search of “living dead” titles will attest to.  In fact, “It is probably no surprise, then, that much of the imagery of zombie movies is borrowed, consciously or unconsciously, from Dante’s Inferno … who eerily resemble the description of the damned that Dante gives as he begins his descent into hell: they are ‘the suffering race of souls who lost the good of intellect.’” – (Gospel of the Living Dead, Paffenroth, p. 22).

And the idea of personal, zombie librarians is just a myth also. Of course, since it’s also a crunch time of year for research, real librarians can meet with you in person or assist you via chat or the online question form.

Happy Halloween and happy researching, from your frighteningly good academic library.

Merrill Stein is team leader of the Assessment team and liaison to the Department of Political Science.

In March 2013, the Falvey Satisfaction Survey was administered through the University’s Office of Planning and Institutional Research (OPIR) to a random sample of 669 full-time and adjunct faculty members. The aim was to learn how their teaching and research activities interact with Falvey Memorial Library resources and services.

Results included responses from 14 academic administrators and chairs, the College of Engineering, College of Nursing, the Villanova School of Business, and a majority of responses from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences – humanities, social sciences, and sciences.

We are grateful to every one of you who took the time this year to tell us what you think. Some highlights appear below. A full report about library services and collections, e-book usage, students’ use of information, data indicators and written comments are linked below. The report is accompanied by an appendix of selections from a U.S. faculty survey.

Library Services & collections

The library website remains one of the best ways to learn about library events, services or resources along with Campus Currents Newswire, email and the liaison librarian. An average of 83% of full-time faculty knows one or more of their liaison librarians, a slight increase over the past survey. More than half of adjunct faculty responding know one of their liaison librarians, a significant increase since our last survey.

The interlibrary loan/E-ZBorrow services ranked essential or very high in importance for fully 95% of respondents, followed by research consultations for faculty and students, walk-in reference help, library website content, liaison librarians, and library online subject, course and topic guides.

“I have never been without what I need. If Falvey does not have it, ILL [interlibrary loan] has been great.”

See the full report here.

Merrill Stein is team leader of the Assessment team and liaison to the Department of Political Science. Other members of the Assessment team include Dennis Lambert, Kathleen O’Connor, Susan Ottignon and Barbara Quintiliano. 

Try Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) (available until Sept. 28)

Background

In 1998, the systematic digitization and online publication of Declassified Documents Reference System (DDRS) was initiated by Gale Cengage Learning.  The process involves indexing, abstracting, and capturing on microfiche a large selection of U.S. government documents obtained from presidential libraries. These libraries receive declassified documents from various government agencies, including the White House, the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, and others. As researchers visit these presidential libraries and request documents, the libraries photocopy and provide for filming. The result is a collection of more than 75,000 documents, consisting of more than 465,000 pages, that has literally been built by researchers themselves for nearly two decades.

Searching

DDRS supports basic and advanced searching.  Basic search includes keyword and full-text searching.  Advanced discovery provides for searching by keyword/subject, title/abstract, source institution, and full-text, including the use of Boolean logic. Searches can be limited to a range of issue dates, a range of declassified dates, document type (such as bill, agenda, cable, airgram), source institution (such as agency, department, Supreme Court, Warren Commission), sanitized or unsanitized, completeness, number of pages.

Search history can be accessed during a search session. An InfoMark at the top of any page indicates that the URL of the page is persistent and can be bookmarked or copied for future reference.  Help links and search tips are also available.

Document facsimiles can be viewed as electronic text.  Document facsimiles can be scaled for ease of viewing, by choosing a size percentage. Facsimile documents can be viewed or printed as a PDF version but due to some excessive sizes cannot be emailed. Electronic texts of the documents can be emailed and printed.

Questions or comments? Contact me directly (merrill.stein@villanova.edu) or post your comments online.

Find out about the parties, political movements and their platforms. Check these websites for an overview of information: Democratic Party, Republican Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party, Reform Party, Democratic Socialists of America and the Tea Party Movement.

Some websites and blogs will attempt to help you sort out the issues. For a sampling, check CQ Politics (maps, ratings, columns, blogs, videos), Politico.com (providing news and opinion on the 2010 elections), C-Span.org (cable TV supported live Congressional coverage and information), CNN Election Center Basics (Cable News Network election center information), CNN Politics – politicalticker (CNN latest posts and up-to-date midterm elections news), Smart Voter (unbiased election information from the League of Women Voters), Dave Leip’s election atlas (election information begun in the 1990s), and LegiStorm (blog and website reporting salary, trip, financial disclosure, foreign gifts and earmark information about senators and congressmen).

Campaign finance and election issues can be checked at websites like the Federal Election Commission (FEC) (administering and enforcing federal campaign finance laws), the Campaign finance reports and data (from the FEC) and American National Election Studies (ANES) (producing data about voting, public opinion and political participation for social scientists and students). (more…)

Access to CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online, one of IPSAportal’s top 300 websites for political science, is now available.  Visit the library homepage, under Databases A-Z, or at http://www.library.villanova.edu/Research/Databases#C.

CIAO is a resource that aggregates dispersed content about theory and research in international affairs. CIAO includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, full-text journal articles and policy briefs, and teaching materials including original case studies written by leading international affairs experts, course packs of background readings for history and political science classes, and special features.

Search results can be sorted by date and relevance. CIAO also supports advanced searching capability, provides links to international affairs Internet sources, and offers a monthly “focus” feature containing resources and links about a current topic in the news.  All sections of CIAO are updated monthly.

A brief user guide is available at http://www.ciaonet.org.ps2.villanova.edu/_media/CIAO_BrochureLetter.pdf.

A broad overview of CIAO content is available at http://www.ciaonet.org.ps2.villanova.edu/help.html.