Here’s your daily dose of library-oriented speed-reads to start your day!

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SAVE THE DATE…

Thursday, December 10th
Library Open House
1-6 pm, First Floor
Sponsored by Falvey Memorial Library
Highlights: Free food, hot drinks (and hopefully games with VEEC and an appearance by the Wildcat- still working on this!)

Friday, December 11th
Stress Free Happy Health Hours
10 am-4 pm, Room 205
Co-Sponsored by the Office of Health Promotion, POWER and Falvey Memorial Library
Highlights: Each hour will feature a stress-relieving activity! Adult coloring books, make-your-own stress balls, game hour with board games and puzzles, snack and hydration hour, and more. And not least, there will be dogs from Comfort Caring Canines Therapy Dogs!

Contact person: Kristy Sillay (kristy.sillay@villanova.edu ), Coordinator of Peer Education Programs and Community Standards,  advisor of POWER (Peers Offering Wellness Education and Resources). FYI: POWER Peers provide health education and programs across campus.

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30 YEARS AGO…

Jefferson Starship’s We Built This City was #1 on the Billboard charts. Also named #1 on the “Most Awesomely Bad Songs….Ever” list by VH-1 and now defunct magazine Blender, WBTC, shockingly, was written by Elton John’s collaborator, Bernie Taupin, who also wrote Your Song, Tiny Dancer and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Proving that we all have our off days! 🙂 Co-written as well by a guy named Dennis Lambert, but not the one who works here at the library.  😉

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NEW MEDIA NEWS
Speaking of building cities, you may be interested in this new ebook from Springer. From the publisher: From Smart City to Smart Region: Digital Services for an Internet of Places offers a fascinating exploration of the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and spatial planning, expanding the concept of “urban smartness” from the usual scale of buildings or urban projects to the regional dimension. The book is a source of valuable insights for both scholars and local administrators and operators involved in smart city projects.

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NEED A STUDY BREAK?

Find out what the top baby names were last year, or the year you were born! See where your name ranks in popularity. From this site, you can view the changes in popularity of baby names, sort popular names by decade and state (in U.S. territories), and learn the top five names over the last 100 years. Shout out to Sue Ottignon, our research support librarian (who’s always a good place to start!), for providing this link. Turns out that the year the name Susan was most popular is 1960. In that year, the number of births is 39201, which represents 1.885 percent of total female births in 1960.

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WE BUILT THIS EARWORM
You have enough on your mind these days without it being colonized by the Jefferson Starship. (Sorry about that.) Fortunately, researchers at the University of Reading in the UK have come up with a easy way to eradicate those annoying earworms – you know, those songs that get stuck in your head. Just pop a stick of gum in your mouth! According to the researchers, chewing gum allows you to shift focus and get past the tune. Want to read more about the study? Here it is, straight from the horse’s mouth.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

It’s the first week of Advent, which might be hard to believe but here we are (wasn’t it just summertime!?). Advent is a period of preparation leading up to Christmas, and you can probably relate, with finals on the horizon and study guides accompanying you to breakfast, lunch and dinner. Try not to forget your inner life this December. Remember what Advent is all about – spiritually preparing for a great moment.

 

“The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.”  – Frederick Buechner

23 days until Christmas!

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HAVE A GREAT DAY!

If you have ideas for inclusion in The 8:30 or to Library News in general, you’re invited to send them to joanne.quinn@villanova.edu.

It’s Thanksgiving week and to celebrate the holiday, this article was written by Kallie Stahl, graduate assistant on the Library Events & Outreach team. She is currently pursuing her MA in communication at Villanova University.

 

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Happy Thanksgiving! It’s that time of year again, the day we all take a moment to appreciate the blessings in our lives: family, friends, the ability to pursue dreams at Villanova and much more! As you reflect during this day of thanks (while watching football and eating pumpkin pie), don’t forget about the little things, those small everyday moments that are easy to take for granted. That being said, keep in mind the hardworking staff at Falvey Memorial Library who are here to assist you during your academic journey.

Give thanks to the Library for providing these helpful resources!

24 Hour Study Lounge and Reading Room

Are you a night owl or an early riser? Do you enjoy studying in calming silence or amongst the conversations of others? Have no fear – whatever your study habits, the Library has a space for you. The first floor lounge (perfect for studying with a group of friends) and the reading room (great for reflection and concentration) are open 24 hours for your convenience. Whether you’re finishing a research paper or studying for finals, be sure to take advantage of these locations!

Research Assistance

No matter what stage you’re at in the research process, the librarians at Falvey are here to help. Have a question? Stop by the Library! Your subject librarian can assist you in accruing the right sources for any assignment. If you prefer working from your dorm, visit the library’s website to live chat with a librarian. There are many helpful tips and tools available through Falvey, many of which are accessible online.

Holy Grounds

You never know when hunger will strike (and it usually does at the most inconvenient times … i.e. when you have no food). Rushing to get to class? Forgot to go grocery shopping? Have no fear, Holy Grounds is open all day. During a study session, grab yourself a bagel, sandwich, pretzel or salad and keep working! The greatest gift of all is the distribution of that marvelous caffeinated beverage. Coffee is brewed fresh all day – need I say more?

Free Printing

You can print for “free” at the Library with a valid Wildcard (if you stay under your VPrint limit, as determined by your college). Don’t waste unnecessary funds on printer ink and paper. Save yourself time and effort, exploit the library’s printing (and scanning) resources.

Movies

Everyone needs a study break, and while Netflix is pretty awesome, the website may not provide the movie(s) you are searching for. Call me old fashioned, but there’s something nice about watching a DVD, plus who doesn’t enjoy the special features? But when you finish watching a movie on DVD, it sadly does not suggest and provide similar movies to view. Some might view this as unfortunate, but a DVD may help you stick to your study schedule. Drop by the Library in your free time to check out a variety of novels, films and music.

Be thankful for your collegiate adventure and those that are helping you achieve your goals. Happy Thanksgiving, Wildcats!

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Here’s your daily dose of library-oriented speed-reads to start your day!

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SAVE THE DATE…

Reading Villanova: The Global and the Interdisciplinary ‘Diversity.’ Tuesday, December 1 at 4:30 p.m. in Speakers’ Corner. Camille Burge, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Political Science;Brighid Dwyer, PhD, director, Program on Intergroup Relations, Multicultural Affairs; Katina Sawyer, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Psychology will share their thoughts with us at this event, which is the final event in the Reading Villanova series. ACS Approved!

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NEW MEDIA NEWS

This is hot off the Nursing blog! Have you ever wondered who has cited your work? Barbara Quintiliano, Nursing liaison librarian, tells you how to find out who is citing articles you’ve written. Visit Barbara’s blog to get tips on Science Citation Index Expanded, Scopus, and Google Scholar.

 

 

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DIGITAL LIBRARY CONTENT ROUNDUP!

The Digital Library has uploaded new performances by Gerald Trimble from the 1989 Philadelphia Ceili Group festival, circa 1989. Get those headphones ready!

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

On this day in 1889, the first jukebox made its first… juke? Back then, though, they weren’t called jukeboxes. They were simply coin-operated music boxes or player pianos. It wasn’t until 1940 that they were branded jukeboxes. FYI, the word “juke” is derived from a Gullah word meaning disorderly and rowdy.

 

“It is a curious emotion, this certain homesickness I have in mind. With Americans, it is a national trait, as native to us as the roller-coaster or the jukebox. It is no simple longing for the home town or country of our birth. The emotion is Janus-faced: we are torn between a nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known.” – Carson McCullers

image via Wikimedia Commons

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HAVE A GREAT DAY!

If you have ideas for inclusion in The 8:30 or to Library News in general, you’re invited to send them to joanne.quinn@villanova.edu.

I’m Michelle Callaghan, a second-year graduate student at Villanova University. This is our column, “‘Cat in the Stacks.” I’m the ‘cat. Falvey Memorial Library is the stacks. I’ll be posting about living that scholarly life, from research to study habits to embracing your inner-geek, and how the library community might aid you in all of it.

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It’s just about that time in my second year of graduate school – yep, thesis prep is well upon me – and you better believe I’m compiling and reading mountains upon mountains of research (and being careful not to make multi-page docs of urls with no explanation). With the magnitude of my stacks searches increasing daily, I feel like I’m getting very attached to certain research tools. Last week, my Thankfulness Month post focused on thankfulness as an emotional state, on expressing gratitude for being here and for having this opportunity. This week, it’s all about the research tools I’ve grown to cherish. Frankly, a good research moment feels like Christmas morning–oh. Too early. You’re right. Thanksgiving first! These are the three library tools and tricks I am endlessly thankful for lately.

 

I’ve geeked about Zotero before, and while my Zotero library has grown tenfold since then, I am not too much more proficient than I was to begin with. Le sigh.

Oh? What’s this? Yonder this handy dandy guide awaits our joint perusal. Go forth and use the Zotero.  

 

Log into your account at library.villanova.edu and then look up anything in our catalog. Go ahead, look. Anything. I used “dogs” for this example.

See the yellow star to the right of the listing? Click that little guy. BOOM. Lists! On the Falvey website!

I’ve survived two and three-quarters semesters here without using this tool. I don’t think I’m ever going back to the Stone Age.

As librarian Nikolaus Fogle informed us a few weeks ago, JSTOR has a ton of e-books (35K+) for all your research needs and Falvey has special access. You know, when this was first announced I thought well, okay, that’s cool and all. But what are the chances they’d even have a book I’d ever need? I got my answer last week: they had a piece by the first author I popped into the search bar. Just be sure to use JSTOR’s search function and not Falvey’s for now – and make sure you’re logged into your Villanova account first!

Zotero, Falvey account lists, JSTOR books – this week and every week until May, I’m thankful for you. Cheers.

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Article by Michelle Callaghan, graduate assistant on the Communication and Service Promotion team. She is currently pursuing her MA in English at Villanova University.

 

Careers in International Development Day at the Connelly Center is not your usual job fair – it’s a symposium designed for career exploration and a perfect event for students interested in pursuing careers that address global poverty and related issues. Lindsay Coates, Executive Vice President of InterAction, an alliance of 190 International Non-governmental agencies will open the day at 1:30 p.m. in the Cinema with an overview of the changes, challenges, and opportunities in the field. From 2:30-4:30 p.m. in the Villanova Room, professionals representing a variety of career paths, including the UN, USAID, Social Entrepreneurship, Impact Investing, Global Health and others will meet students in roundtable breakouts (repeating every 30 minutes) to share their professional experience and offer advice on what students need to get a foot in the door. In the Villanova Room Market Stall area, students can meet one-on-one with representatives from graduate programs, post-graduate overseas internship and volunteer opportunities and relevant VU curricular and extra-curricular programs from 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Catholic Relief Services organized and will host the event in partnership with Villanova University, the College of Nursing Center for Global and Public Health, the Villanova School of Business, the VSB Center for Global Leadership, the Career Center, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering, the Office of Mission and Ministry and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Consortium for Higher Education.

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Dig Deeper

The library’s collection includes many books, article databases and statistical sources about international development. For the policy wonk, Columbia International Affairs Online includes full-text  case studies, policy briefs, scholarly articles and books. Public Affairs International  Service (PAIS) is an article database covering similar territory. Because international development is truly interdisciplinary, academic research on international development can be found in many specialized databases, such as  PubMed for health, EconLit for economics, and  Compendex or Inspec for engineering.

Since 1990 the United Nations has published the Human Development Report, which identifies trends in development, and the Index, which is a tool used to assess country level development in terms of life expectancy, education and income. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development publishes numerous books and statistical series on development in many dimensions all available in the OECDiLibrary. AidData.org takes a data driven approach to improving outcomes by publishing datasets, visualizations and reports.

Villanovans across the disciplines are engaged in research on various aspects of development aid. Suzanne Toton, EdD, writes about Catholic relief, world hunger and social justice. The writing of Kishor Thanawala, PhD, explores economic development and justice. Latin American Development is the area of expertise of Satya Pattnayak, PhD. Jonathan Doh, PhD, is a prolific researcher on nongovernmental organizations and global corporate responsibility. Christopher Kilby, PhD, is a thought leader on the economics of foreign aid. Ruth McDermott-Levy, PhD, is a practicing nurse, educator and researcher on international community health.

Careers in International Development Day speakers represent a variety of organizations, all with interesting web sites well worth exploring with links below:

Alliance to End Hunger
InterAction
United States Agency for International Development USAID
Doctors Without Borders
Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Center
Catholic Relief Services
Uhl & Associates
TriLinc Global
Oiko Credit
Village Capital

 

Acumen
Amigos de Jesus
Augustinian Volunteers
Catholic Volunteer Network
Catholic Relief Services
Jesuit Volunteers
Maryknoll Lay Missioners
Mennonite Central Committee
Mercy Volunteer Corps
Peace Corps
Profugo
Unite for Sight

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Article by Linda Hauck, MS, MBA, business librarian and team coordinator for the Business Research team.

 

I’m Michelle Callaghan, a second-year graduate student at Villanova University. This is our column, “‘Cat in the Stacks.” I’m the ‘cat. Falvey Memorial Library is the stacks. I’ll be posting about living that scholarly life, from research to study habits to embracing your inner-geek, and how the library community might aid you in all of it.

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The weather’s really warm around these parts this week, huh? Maybe warm enough for a little surfing? Citation surfing, that is. What? You don’t know that that is? Pfft. Only the coolest sport out there for students during November crunch time. Don’t believe me? Give it a try, dude. I’ll teach you.

How to Citation Surf
…a Step-by-Step Guide

One! Find an article or book that was somewhat helpful for your research topic.

Two! Find the bibliography and choose a source of interest to you.

Three! Find that source.

Is that source good? Yay! Repeat step two and go to that source’s bibliography. Find your next source!

Now you’re surfing. An entertaining* way to accomplish your tasks at hand.

So is this just a fairly basic research method? Looking at bibliographies for good sources? Well, yeah. But calling it surfing makes it infinitely more entertaining. And in the interest of full disclosure: I didn’t citation surf as an undergrad. It didn’t even occur to me as a method. I always had good research – but no one ever gave me the bibliography tip! It’s obvious now, but it wasn’t obvious then. Lesson learned – and now, lesson shared. Never assume that we students should pop out of the womb knowing this “basic” stuff, and don’t be afraid to come to the library for help. You’re here to learn!

*This of course depends on your definition of entertaining, but certainly this method will help you accomplish a lot of effective reading!

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Article by Michelle Callaghan, graduate assistant on the Communication and Service Promotion team. She is currently pursuing her MA in English at Villanova University.

It’s Open Access Week, a time set aside to advocate for access to scholarly research free of price barriers and most copyright and licensing restrictions. In recognition of open access initiatives, Falvey Memorial Library created the SOAR (Scholarship Open Access Reserve) fund. To date, one application to cover an article processing charge (APC) has been granted to a faculty member. A second is pending. The Library has also received inquiries about how we will vet open access journals eligible for APC reimbursement and, more generally, for advice on how to identify high quality open access journals. We’d like to share the answers to these questions more broadly.

The Falvey Memorial Library Resource Council has devised a checklist for ensuring due diligence in reviewing SOAR requests. Our approach to evaluating journals is holistic, taking into consideration a range of attributes with no single criterion automatically leading to acceptance or rejection.

– We note whether the journal has an ISSN, when the …journal started, how closely the journal has conformed to a …publication schedule, and publisher reputation.

– We verify credentials and participation of named editorial …board members.

– We look for clear statements on editorial processes, …research misconduct, conflict of interest and data access …policies.

– We check Beall’s List to make sure the journal or publisher …is not included among identified predatory publishers.

Inclusion in the Directory of Open Access Journals signals that the journal has passed an independent evaluation.

Similarly, indexing in recognized
databases, differing by discipline, is a barometer of value. We gather journal level metrics, such as Impact Factor, SCImago and Eigenfactor. Additionally, we look at article level metrics, indicative of quality scholarship and influence, for a sampling of published papers.

Authors seeking to identify quality open access journals in their field may also use several other tools.

The most widely known is the Directory of Open Access Journals. The DOAJ is a membership organization devoted to promoting open scholarship by encouraging transparency and best practices in peer reviewed publishing. A newer directory going by the acronym ROAD, a service of the ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) issuing agency, is a bit broader than DOAJ in that it includes not only journals but also conference proceedings, monographic series and even scholarly blogs. The advanced search allows you to search by keyword, topic, publication type and index coverage. This directory does not screen journals for quality indicators. Think. Check. Submit. is a new website, largely sponsored by open access publishers and advocates, to help authors identify trusted journals.

As open access has become more commonplace, traditional journal tools have added “open access” check-offs. Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities, covering nursing, psychology, business and education-related disciplines, has an advanced search that supports specifying green, gold or hybrid open access models. Cabell’s is designed for selecting journals by quality indicators, such as editorial policies, acceptance rates, journal metrics and time to publication. InCites, the new Journal Citation Report from Thomson Reuters covering science and social science disciplines, has an open access check-off within its interface, too—and  only journals with impact factors are covered through InCites. Scopus, the Elsevier interdisciplinary database, added an open access check-off in its browse feature. Both Scopus and InCites define open access journals in conformity with the generally recognized definition of gold open access journals, which provides readers with immediate, paywall-free access to all content.

Many still view open access journals with trepidation, fearing that they aren’t peer-reviewed, that they pollute scholarly discourse with poorly designed and executed or falsified and fraudulent results, and that they prey on scholars eager to publish within a tight timeframe. The Library hopes to dispel these fears by sharing our tips and tools for evaluating open access journals (equally applicable to subscription model journals, we might add). Given the proliferation of funders’ requirements for public access to funded research, the spreading adoption of institutional open access policies, the resistance by university libraries to exorbitant journal prices, the international recognition of the value of freely-exchanged scholarship, and the authors’ appreciation for enhanced impact, open access—be it through open access journals or repositories—will only continue to grow.

Open Access Week logo via openaccessweek.org

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Article by Linda Hauck, subject librarian for business.

We’re pleased to announce that more than 35,000 e-books are now available through Falvey on the JSTOR platform. The Library is participating in a “demand driven acquisition” program with JSTOR, which means that all of their e-books are accessible to us and we purchase only the ones that get repeated use.

The collection includes books in all disciplines, but humanities and social science fields are particularly well represented. You’ll find a wealth of high quality scholarly sources in history, philosophy, religion, languages and literatures, sociology and political science.

Since the content is on JSTOR, you can search for book chapters at the same time as you search for journal articles and primary sources. To see only book results, click on the Books tab after entering your search:

Unlike other e-book platforms, there are no restrictions on downloading and printing JSTOR e-books. Read chapters online, or download PDFs to print or read later.

 

Currently these books can only be found by searching the JSTOR interface, but soon we’ll have records for each of them in the catalog, and chapters will appear individually in the library’s “Articles & more” search.

Titles are available from a large number of highly respected publishers, including:

· American Schools of Oriental Research
· Berghahn Books
· Boydell & Brewer
· Columbia University Press
· Cornell University Press
· Edinburgh University Press
· Fordham University Press
· Harvard University Press
· Liverpool University Press
· Manchester University Press
· Marcial Pons Ediciones de Historia S.A.
· MIT Press
· Oxbow Books
· Princeton University Press
· Purdue University Press
· Rutgers University Press
· University of California Press
· University of Massachusetts Press
· University of North Carolina Press
· University of Pennsylvania Press
· University of Virginia Press
· Yale University Press

Remember to access JSTOR through the library’s website in order to get access to these books, as well as other Falvey-only content.

We’d love to know if you have feedback on JSTOR e-books. Send your comments to: nikolaus.fogle@villanova.edu.

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Nikolaus Fogle maintains the Philosophy blog and is the Philosophy, Theology and Humanities team coordinator. Nik can be reached by email or phone at 610-519-5182.

The Vietnam War started in 1955 and ended 20 years later in 1975. In the midst of the War, Villanova students and faculty here in the States were not idle. Many issues of The Villanovan contained reports of their activity and responses to the War. Below are two images from the Oct. 8 and Oct. 15, 1969 issues of The Villanovan that highlight the campus response to the moratorium to end the war.

Rev. Robert J. Welsh, OSA, STD, was University president from 1967-1971 and wrote “We must work and pray that the way to a just and lasting peace may soon be found.”

As noted on the Villanova Digital Library search page, issues of The Villanovan “are fully searchable from the Library Catalog and are in PDF format for easy reading, printing and downloading. Search the fulltext in the … Digital Library search box or in the library Search tab.”

 

‘Caturday blog by Luisa Cywinski, editorial coordinator on the Communication & Service Promotion team and team leader of the Access Services team.

I’m Michelle Callaghan, a second-year graduate student at Villanova University. This is our column, “‘Cat in the Stacks.” I’m the ‘cat. Falvey Memorial Library is the stacks. I’ll be posting about living that scholarly life, from research to study habits to embracing your inner-geek, and how the library community might aid you in all of it.

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Sometimes we work in ways that are a little, well, unsmart. It’s not that we are unsmart, it’s that we don’t know how many options and tools exist that might keep us from working unsmart.

This is particularly true of the library’s website.

I was extolling the virtues of our Falvey online catalog the other day, unprompted, and was told that my excitement is probably blog-worthy. (I promise I’m not writing on commision.) Since we’re heading into fall break – and fall break is, for many, fall research week – I’m going to point out the really simple things I overlooked during my first year researching with Falvey that are now freeing up so much of my time – and more time is a happy thing.

I’ve mentioned this before, but the “cite this” button. Every listing you come across through Falvey’s catalog comes with a list of citations in APA, Chicago, and MLA. Click “cite this” It’s best to just compile this information right off the bat when you find a source of relative interest, instead of hoarding documents with nondescript links. You live, you learn. 

Every time a librarian tells you to try Zotero, do it. Listen to them. I am no expert, and in fact, I’m pretty sure I know 0.5% of the capabilities of Zotero, but all know is I was able to pop in a big list of ISBNs this weekend and came out with a list of MLA-cited books. It was like Christmas morning.

ILL and E-Z Borrow. You can have all the books. All the books. WorldCat what Falvey doesn’t have, and Falvey shall provide.

Librarian chat.  You know how sometimes you go on a company’s website and a little chat box appears with a prewritten greeting — Hi, I’m Samantha and I’m here to help! — and you click out because, well, chances are there’s no Samantha there, and the box is sort of annoying. Guess what? Not the case with our live librarian chat. If you see green, there’s a librarian at a computer somewhere, prepared to help you. No need to even leave your room. And no need to feel awkward making an appointment or drafting a full-blown “sincerely yours” email for a very quick question about citations or book renewal. Your librarians are all ears.

 

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Article by Michelle Callaghan, graduate assistant on the Communication and Service Promotion team. She is currently pursuing her MA in English at Villanova University.