Photo courtesy of Shawn Proctor, Communications and Marketing Program Manager.

To the Class of 2023—Enjoy your last week on campus!

Photo courtesy of Kallie Stahl.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour began last night at Lincoln Financial Field. Performing for sold out crowds Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Swift’s tour “marks the stadium’s second three-night residency; the first was Bruce Springsteen, naturally (and his dates weren’t even consecutive).” Born in West Reading, PA., and spending time in Wyomissing, PA., and Stone Harbor, NJ, Swift has many ties to the Philadelphia area. This weekend marks Swift’s first time performing in South Philly since 2018.

Whether you’re a Swiftie, or just interested in learning more about the cultural phenomenon surrounding the pop star, check out the Falvey Library resources below:

• Weekend Recs: Red (Taylor’s Version)
• The Words and Music of Taylor Swift (Perone, 2017) *eBook
• Taylor Swift (Olson, 2021) *eBook
• Taylor Swift (Peppas, 2011) *eBook
• Taylor Swift: Superstar Singer and Songwriter (Schwartz, 2019) *eBook
• Taylor Swift: Country Pop Hit Maker (Nelson, 2013) *eBook
• Taylor Swift: Country & Pop Superstar (Houser, 2012) *eBook

Local resources:

• “Philly (Taylor’s Version) — Here’s all of our Taylor Swift coverage in one place” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
• “How Philly Is Celebrating Taylor Swift in May 2023” (Visit Philadelphia)
• “Taylor Swift mural unveiled on South Street in time for the singer’s Philly concerts” (PhillyVoice)
• “Swiftadelphia’: Excitement building for Taylor Swift’s concert at Linc” (CBS)

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. Her favorite Taylor Swift album is Folklore (pictured above). 

Falvey Library: 2023 Summer Service Hours

Monday, May 15—Tuesday, May 30

• Monday—Thursday: 9 a.m.—5 p.m. (book stacks close at 4:30 p.m.)
• Friday—Sunday: Service desk and book stacks closed.
• Memorial Day (Monday, May 29): Service desk and book stacks closed.

Wednesday, May 31—Monday, July 31

• Monday—Thursday: 9 a.m.—7 p.m. (book stacks close at 6:30 p.m.)
• Friday—Sunday: Service desk and book stacks closed.
• Juneteenth (Monday, June 19): Service desk and book stacks closed.
• Independence Day (Tuesday, July 4): Service desk and book stacks closed.

Tuesday, August 1—Friday, August 11

• Monday—Thursday: 9 a.m.—5 p.m. (book stacks close at 4:30 p.m.)
• Friday—Sunday: Service desk and book stacks closed.

Saturday, August 11—Friday, August 18

• Monday—Friday: 9 a.m.—5 p.m. (book stacks close at 4:30 p.m.)
• Saturday—Sunday: Service desk and book stacks closed.

Villanova students, faculty, and staff may enter the Library building 24/7 with a valid Wildcard. Library services are available to the University community during posted service hours. Electronic collections (articles, e-books, and more!) are accessible through the Library’s website 24/7. For a full listing of service hours, visit our website.

Have a relaxing and safe summer, Wildcats!

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library.

Happy Friday, Wildcats! Falvey Library is delivering you another semester of Weekend Recs, a blog dedicated to filling you in on what to read, listen to, and watch over the weekend. Annie, a graduate assistant from the Communication department, scours the internet, peruses the news, and digs through book stacks to find new, relevant, and thought-provoking content that will challenge you and prepare you for the upcoming week. 

Photo by Dino Reichmuth on Unsplash

Happy end of the semester, Wildcats! Summer break is finally here! For the last Weekend Recs of the semester, I decided to go with some summer-themed recs to help kick off summer vacation, whether you’re enjoying some R&R, traveling to exciting places, or continuing to work hard. Regardless of what your plans are for the next three months, I hope you’re able to enjoy the nice weather and some quality time with your friends and family.

If you have 3 minutes and 43 seconds…and need a song for a summer drive with the windows down, listen to “Jackie and Wilson” by Hozier. As a big Hozier fan, I’m definitely biased, but I think this song radiates good vibes and a little bit of nostalgia.

Bonus: for more summery vibes, check out Spotify’s collection of summer playlists to suit your taste. This 2000s playlist is my personal fave.

If you have 22 minutes…and love The Office, watch “Beach Games” from season 3, available in Falvey’s DVD Collection if you’re still on campus. While this Survivor-inspired episode is sometimes forgotten, it’s perfect for the summer.

Photo by Marko Kelecevic on Unsplash

If you have 1 hour and 48 minutes…and want to belt your heart out to Abba, watch Mamma Mia!, also available in Falvey’s DVD Collection for those on campus. What’s better than a movie that features ABBA hits, Meryl Streep, and a summer in Greece? Arguably, nothing.

If you have 1 hour and 55 minutes…and need some ’00s nostalgia, watch High School Musical 2, the ultimate summer break movie. I might be biased as a 2000s kid, but this is arguably the ultimate summer break movie.

If you have 2 hours and 30 minutes…and are a Marvel fan, watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in theaters. Even though this series closer is set to pack a punch (probably right to your heart, if you’re a fan), the Guardians movies are known for their well-incorporated humor and amazing soundtracks, which is certainly perfect for the summer.

If you have 7 hours…and are a fan of Grease, watch Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, the new prequel series. The series takes places 4 years before the events of the original and introduces a new set of Pink Ladies into Rydell High (with some fun familiar names and nods to the original).

Bonus: if you want to watch the original first, watch Grease, available in Falvey’s DVD Collection.

If you have 9 hours…and like the coming-of-age genre, read Hula. Set in Hawai’i, his 2023 recent release is a generational coming-of-age tale that centers Hawai’ian culture and family. It’s also a great way to celebrate National Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Annie Stockmal is a graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

For all the mothers and the mothers-at-heart, thank you for your care and kindness. Happy Mother’s Day!

Mother’s Day Luncheon, 1947

Mother’s Day Program, 1952

Mother’s Day is an unlikely popular tradition of Villanova history. From the early 1900s, Mothers were invited on campus to celebrate Mother’s Day with their child. The day’s events would include tree-planting ceremony, corsage giving, mass, luncheon, games, and entertainment. Mother’s Day activities were incorporated into Junior Week festivities which began in 1935. By the 1950s, more than 400 Mothers and Grandmothers would visit marking it as one of the largest events each year. Parents Weekend overtime replaced Mother’s Day traditions. Though having Mothers partake in Junior celebrations bolstered the idea of Villanova’s community representing families of students too.

Tree Planting, 1949

An especially long-standing tradition, that started long before it was incorporated with Mother’s Day activities, was the Junior tree-planting ceremony. The tree-planting ceremony was considered the class tree, a precursor to more elaborate class gifts. Typically, the event was held after Mass and students would walk in a parade to plant the tree. With time, the tradition evolved to include Mothers participating in the planting ceremony.

More about Mother’s Day and Junior Week can be found in Blazers and Class Rings digital exhibit and Digital Library.

Photo courtesy of the Villanova University Digital Library.

May 11 is National Twilight Zone Day! Honor Rod Serling’s television series by reading a dime novel from the Villanova University Digital Library. The “Czech ‘dime novel’ – roughly translated as ‘Adventure World’ – (pictured above) covers stories of science fiction and adventure. Starting in 1927 and running until 1938, this was a popular Czech title for adults and children.” Skim the Dime Novel and Popular Literature collection here.

Looking for more sci-fi adventures? You can stream The Twilight Zone on Paramount+ and Amazon Prime. If you’re looking for some recommendations, Entertainment Weekly ranked 30 of the “best” Twilight Zone episodes. You can also check out the Falvey Library resources below:

• The Twilight Zone (Grant, 2020) *eBook
• The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia (Rubin, 2018) *eBook
• The Twilight Zone FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Fifth Dimension and Beyond (Thompson, 2015) *eBook
• The Twilight Zone and Philosophy: A Dangerous Dimension to Visit (Rivera, 2019) *eBook
• Philosophy in The Twilight Zone (Carroll, N., & Hunt, L. H., 2009)
•  A Dimension of Sound: Music in the Twilight Zone (Wissner, 2013)
• “The Fast Draw: The Twilight Zone” (CBS, 2009) *Academic Video Online

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library.

The Digital Scholarship Lab will have reduced hours for summer starting on Monday, May 15. The Lab is open by reservation-only during the following days and times, except during Villanova holidays and closures:

Mondays: Closed
Tuesdays: Closed
Wednesdays: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Thursdays: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Fridays: Closed

The Digital Scholarship Lab is designed to support Villanova faculty, students, and staff who are working on creating digital projects and/or are experimenting with digital media, digital humanities, and data-intensive research and teaching. The Lab offers an expanded range of software covering a variety of digital methods and tasks, including but not limited to geospatial mapping, data visualization, text and data mining, and multimodal publishing.

Please visit the Digital Scholarship Lab webpage to learn more about software, technology equipment loan offerings

If you need assistance with a digital project you are working on or have questions about specific software, you are encouraged schedule a consultation.

Contact us at digitalscholarship@villanova.edu or reach out to Erica Hayes, Digital Scholarship Librarian at erica.hayes@villanova.edu to schedule a consultation.

By Ethan Shea

Photo by Fatih Kopcal from pexels.com

After 70 recurring blogs and two years at Falvey, this will be my final “Cat in the Stax.”

This particular blog is special for a number of reasons, but the creative freedom that comes with being the Cat in the Stax has been the most valuable for me. When I first took on the role, I wondered how I could possibly come up with a new topic every week, but after two years of writing, I feel like I have just begun.

My creative process for this blog has remained relatively simple. I pinpoint whichever niche topic currently piques my interest, and I write about it. Whether it’s outer space or reality television, with the Library’s endless resources, Falvey is always relevant to the conversation.

Photo from Falvey’s doughnut-filled stress buster

Despite my passion for the “Cat in the Stax,” my time at Falvey cannot be defined by a single blog. Rather, one of my favorite parts about working in the Library is the excitement in-person events never fail to bring.

Whether it’s a lecture by a world-renowned academic, or a stress buster involving hundreds of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, you never know what you may encounter when you enter Falvey. My favorite recurring event involves the Pals for Life therapy animals who always brighten up my day. You can check out photos from their most recent visit to Falvey in last week’s Foto Friday blog.

In addition to the “Cat in the Stax,” with the help of fellow Graduate Assistant Annie Stockmal and undergraduate student worker Anna Jankowski, I’ve also taken great pleasure in perfecting Falvey’s new “In Case You Missed It” (ICYMI) YouTube series and rejuvenating the classic “Curious Cat” blog with video content.

My time as Falvey’s Cat in the Stax has also taught me a lot about theatre. Thanks to Villanova Theatre’s magnificent productions and generosity toward Falvey’s Graduate Assistants, I’ve been able to both attend and write about several shows performed in Villanova’s very own John and Joan Mullen Center for the Performing Arts.

This may be my final “Cat in the Stax,” but it is certainly not the last Falvey will see of me. Without a doubt, I will be back to reminisce on the past and take in the big changes to come for the Library and our campus community.

Thank you to everyone who has read these blogs over the years, and a special thanks to everyone on the Communications and Marketing Team for all your support!

I’ve always said I’m a dog person … but now I’ll always be a cat at heart.

Ethan Shea is a second-year graduate student in the English Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

The Spring 2023 issue of Mosaic is now available in the Digital Library. For those with visual accessibility needs, an optimized, accessible PDF is also available on the same page.

In this issue, learn more about the many technologies and services available in the Digital Scholarship Lab, catch up with a Falvey Scholar, celebrate a milestone with Performance Studies, and hop in the wayback machine to see Villanova’s on-campus radio station though the decades.

Thanks to the many departments across the Library for sharing news, and special thanks to Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement for hosting the digital version of the publication.

By Linda Hauck

Falvey now has access to premium data on the Sports Business Research Network (SBRnet), which conducts twice yearly consumer surveys of a representative sample of U.S. consumers 13 years and older.  The surveys include questions about sport and team fandom by demographic characteristics (gender, age, income, geography, and education), media usage (social media, device usage, and channels watched), spending on merchandise, sports travel behavior, and select food and beverage consumption patterns and insurance, banking, and credit usage.

This new content compliments the news, directories and additional data sets in SBRnet. There are directories for sports venues, marketing agencies,  sport associations and team and player performance sites.  Its a one-stop shop for sporting goods spending, participation, attendance, fan demographics, and media usage data, downloadable in Excel format. Use it to keep up to date on business developments on everything from baseball to fantasy football, sports gambling, pickleball, and sports law to name just a few topics.

SBRnet is a top pick for sports analytics, marketing and management students.

Linda Hauck, MLS, MBA is Business Librarian at Falvey Library.