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Cosmic 'Caturday

Star Wars Cat

Darth Santa, a.k.a. Teddy

This cat is so relaxed and you will be too when you attend the stress buster event at the Library on Dec. 10! Don’t miss the games, free food, hot drinks, Star Wars selfies, cootie catchers, and a special appearance by Will D. Cat! The next day, on Dec. 11, you can visit with therapy dogs, attend a yoga session, make your own stress balls, and more! See the poster below for all the details!

(According to the Pinterest post, Teddy, or as I like to call him, Darth Santa, “was awesome and completely chill” about wearing this costume.)

Stress buster poster


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Extended Study Hours

To provide students with additional late night study facilities, the main Library will have extended hours beginning Monday, Dec. 7th. We’ll be open most nights until 3:00 a.m.

As always, you can use your Wildcard to swipe into the 24/7 lounge, Falvey Hall lounge and Reading Room after hours. Take advantage of our cozy and inspirational spaces for quiet study. Check the Hours link on the library homepage for a full listing of extended hours.

From everyone at Falvey, good luck on your papers and final exams!


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Library Special Access Gate Repaired

Will D Cat cardAfter an unexpected and prolonged malfunction of the special access gate at the library entrance, it has been repaired.

As you may know, Villanova faculty, staff and students swipe or tap their Wildcard in order to enter through the turnstiles, whereas the special access gate is activated by Villanova students who have proxy access cards or by library staff who grant visitors or tours access to the facility.

Thank you for your patience as we addressed this equipment issue!


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Hispanic Heritage Month: Dulce de Leche

hispanic heritage month 2015The inspiration to make dulce de leche for Hispanic Heritage Month came from reading articles and books about Jorge Bergoglio, who enjoyed cooking for his family and for his fellow Jesuits before becoming Pope Francis. Dulce de leche means “milk jam” and essentially calls for only two ingredients, milk and sugar, but other variations exist. The dessert is said to originate in Argentina, the Pope’s home country, and is also popular in other Latin American countries and in Europe.

Legend has it that, in the early 19th century, a cook who worked for General Juan Manuel de Rosas, an Argentine dictator, left a pan of milk and sugar on the stove unattended during a particularly chaotic day and when she returned found that it had converted to a creamy, thick brown syrup. Apparently, she convinced one of the soldiers to taste it.

If prepared with goat’s milk, as with the version described below, it is known as cajeta. It is also referred to as manjar in Mexico when prepared with vanilla or as cortada when made with soured milk in Cuba. It can also be prepared using a can of sweetened condensed milk, a process that is also described below. No matter which method you choose, it can take up to three hours and requires your full attention, so keep a close eye on the stove. Your patience will be rewarded.

Dulce de Leche (homemade)

1 quart goat milk (whole)

1 cup sugar

½ vanilla bean

¼ tsp. sea salt

¼ tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. water

Using a medium to large, preferably tall, non-stick pot, combine milk, sugar, and sea salt. Start warming the milk mixture slowly on the stove. Cut the 1/2 vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and put the seeds and the scraped bean into the milk mixture.

Turn the heat up and bring the mixture to a healthy simmer, but don’t let it boil. Mix the baking soda and water together in a separate dish. Remove the pot from the stove and add the baking soda & water mixture. It might foam a little if you’re using goat’s milk so hold it over the sink, just in case.

dulce de leche simmerPlace the pot back on the stove and simmer for an hour, stirring every 5-10 minutes. Once it starts turning a light brown, stay at the stove and stir every 5 minutes or less to keep the mixture from sticking. Do this for another hour. If you’ve got studying to do, this is the perfect time to multi-task. Prop your book up and read while you stir.

The dulce de leche will start to thicken and darken. Keep stirring. You can remove it from the stove before the end of the second hour if it has reached the right caramel color and gooey consistency.

dulce de leche jarUse immediately as a topping on ice cream, crepes, apple pie, toast, or just eat it with a spoon while you study. If you have any left, store in a closed glass jar and let cool completely before placing in the refrigerator for storage. It will keep for a few weeks.

My first batch hardened as soon as I poured it into the jar. I had to microwave it for a few seconds to soften it up before serving.

Dulce de Leche (with a can of condensed milk)

Here’s a quick and easy way to make dulce de leche with only one ingredient: a can of sweetened condensed milk. Fill a large pot, preferably a tall pot, with water. Remove the label from the can of condensed milk and place the can on its side at the bottom of the pot. Make sure the water level is at least one inch above the can. Bring to a rolling simmer. Cook for 2-3 hours.

October 5 2015 104IMPORTANT: Keep checking the pot every 15 minutes to ensure the water level is always at least one inch above the can. Let the can cool completely before opening, otherwise it could explode, resulting in a big mess and possible injury.

Serve as noted above.

 

Additional fiction and non-fiction resources (sampling below) on dulce de leche are available through E-ZBorrow or Interlibrary Loan. You can also contact the Romance Languages & Literatures librarian, Susan Ottignon for scholarly Hispanic or Latino cultural resources. There is also a Villanova University Hispanic Initiatives site that promotes resources and events on campus.

dulce de leche books

 

LuisaCywinski_headshot thumbnailHispanic Heritage Month food blog by Luisa Cywinski, editorial coordinator on the Communication & Service Promotion team and team leader of Access Services.


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The Highlighter: Falvey’s Tips & Guides connect you with the research-paper help you need

HIGHLIGHTER-PRO

Just one page on Falvey’s site helps you learn whether a library resource is scholarly or popular, primary or secondary. That one page also shows you where to find help citing sources, help with your research, or help with your writing.

Discover that one page: Falvey’s Tips & Guides

(Enable Closed Captioning for silent viewing):

For additional “How to” videos, click the “Help” button on Falvey’s homepage.


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Pope Francis: Weekend Library Hours

pope a delphia

Robert Indiana, AMOR, 1998, Polychrome aluminum painted red and blue, 72″x72″x36″, © 2015 Morgan Art Foundation, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

For the duration of Pope Francis’ visit to the area, the regular library hours will remain unchanged.

The library will offer basic circulation services. Some processing delays may be experienced by library patrons.

Friday, Sept. 25: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 25: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 26: 12 p.m. – 12 a.m.

A librarian will be on-call Friday, Sept. 25, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be reached via the Ask a Librarian chat on our homepage.

We will also have a librarian on call Sunday, Sept. 26, from 1 to 8 p.m., also via the Ask a Librarian chat.

Holy Grounds @ Falvey will maintain the following hours:

Friday, Sept. 25: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 26: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 27: 1 p.m. – 8 p.m.

 

 


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The Curious ‘Cat: What would you change? What would you keep?

Curious Cat

This week, the Curious ‘Cat asks Villanova students, “If you could change one thing about the Library, what would it be? What about the Library do you hope never changes?

RS9938_DSC_0270-scrWilliam Turbett—“Better access to the ability to print at late times of the day: I was [in the library’s 24/7 study lounge] a week ago, it was later in the night … the rest of the Library was closed … and I realized my professor had told me I had to scan something and email it to him. I had a tough time figuring out how to do that because I had no access to the scanner and the printer at that time of night. … Printing for me is not as much of an issue; I do have a personal printer. But it doesn’t have a scanning option. The [library’s] scanner is very helpful: I use it a lot for a lot of different classes. … That is one thing I’d change: access to that in the 24-hour lounge.

“The general hours of the Library: I like that you can almost always show up here and get stuff done. The 24-hour lounge itself—that being available at all times just as a study space—helps me from time to time. I know I don’t work very well in isolated spaces; it’s cool for me if other people are around. It’s generally a place where it’s not distracting, but there are other people there and that dynamic really works well for me.”

RS9941_DSC_0273-scrCara Coalo—“More tables for studying.

“I wouldn’t want to change the café area. If anything, I’d make that bigger. That’s just because I like studying with some noise. There’s not always enough space in there.”

 

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Srujanee Pradhan—
“I don’t think there’s anything I would change about the Library. I really like it. It’s very quiet here, so if one wants to study it can be done. And it’s also nice that there are white boards here so people can form study groups and they can work here. I really like the layout, too: The way that there’s the café, Holy Grounds, over here there’s computer labs, there’s these awesome chairs. So yeah, I don’t think there’s anything I would change.”

RS9947_DSC_0279-scrAlexus Reynolds—“The first thing I would change is the amount of [electrical] outlets and accessibility. Sometimes I have trouble finding outlets so that I can charge my devices, like my laptop and my phone.

“And then more group-study rooms because there are not that many group-study rooms. Sometimes my friends and I have a hard time finding places in the Library to do group studies.

“One thing I wouldn’t change is the Writing Center because it’s really helpful.”

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Nazelie Doghramadjian—“I would say the whole thing should be 24 hours. The whole library should be 24/7, but that’s very farfetched.

“I don’t think they should ever take the Holy Grounds out. That should not cross anyone’s mind, ever.”

 

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Sabina Williamson—“I would change—on the first floor the soft chairs don’t have any [electrical] outlets in the floor, so whenever my laptop goes dead I have to move. And I’m always so comfortable that I don’t want to move.

“I like the floor setup the way it is. I like that on the first floor I can be social with my friends and study and feel comfortable. And on the second floor there are rooms I can go into that are a little more private but I can still be social. And I like that if I am more serious about my studying I can go to the third or fourth floor.”


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The Highlighter: Top Ten Things to Know About Falvey

 

HIGHLIGHTER-PRO

Heading to the Library? Here are a few things you need to know.

1. Bring your Villanova University Wildcard: to enter the Library; to check out books, DVDs, library laptops and reserve readings; to use a group study room; to print and much more. RS6922_100_0605-scr

2. The Falvey home page is your gateway to rich resources, collections, links to our social media accounts and services.

3. Check the library catalog for print and web holdings: books, magazines, DVDs, audio books, new fiction, popular reading and more. The catalog links you to articles too!

4. Use the public workstations for paper writing, research, email and other applications. Other services: wireless connectivity, printing, photocopying and scanning.

5. Need a late-night place to study? Try Falvey’s 24/7 study lounge. When the Library is closed, enter by swiping your Wildcard at the exterior lounge door. Meet here during the day for coffee and special events.

Next door, the Falvey Hall lobby and its adjacent Reading Room, on Falvey Hall’s second floor, provide additional 24/7 study spaces.

6. Library materials have Library of Congress (LC) call numbers, not Dewey Decimal, so items are shelved alphabetically by the first letters of the call number, and then numerically (LA229.P34). There are two floors of circulating books above the main floor and three floors of circulating books in the Falvey West stacks.

7. Some current issues of magazines, newspapers and journals are available for browsing on the main floor. Many are online, so check Journal Finder or the library catalog. Print back issues are in our off-site collection. You can ask us to retrieve them or scan them by linking to Interlibrary Loan on our home page. This will take you to the ILLiad patron login screen where you can request electronic delivery of articles from the Falvey or off-site collection.

8. Can’t find what you need? Use E-ZBorrow and Interlibrary Loan to borrow items not owned by Falvey—at no cost to you.

9. Need a good job? Falvey hires student employees in many departments, such as Scholarly Outreach, Access Services, the Digital Library and Resource Management. Check the Student Jobs Directory on Villanova’s Office of Financial Assistance site.

10. Need help? Ask at the Information desk, call 610-519-4270, or use Live Chat. Need help with research? Ask a research consultation librarian, make an appointment, call 610-519-4273 or email your query.

Above all, please ask for assistance. We are here to connect you to the information you need, regardless of format or location. We are committed to your success!



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Librarians Welcome New Faculty at Annual Breakfast

FACREC MONT2

 

Falvey Memorial Library was again proud to host the traditional continental breakfast for Villanova University’s New Faculty Program, which took place Monday, Aug. 17. The program is hosted by VITAL, the Villanova Institute for Teaching and Learning, and tailored to support the needs of new faculty members by easing them into their new teaching positions, answering questions and introducing them to campus resources. The library’s Learning Commons meeting rooms provided a bright, spacious environment for the new professors to network with subject librarians and begin their Villanova experience.

Gabriele Bauer, PhD, and Director of VITAL also introduced the new faculty members to Falvey’s newest entrant, Millicent Gaskell, University librarian and library director, who began here in May.


Photos by Alice Bampton.

 


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Falvey Memorial Library welcomes new faculty members to Villanova

Falvey Memorial Library welcomed all new faculty members to Villanova to a breakfast reception this morning. If you are a faculty member who was unable to attend, we’re reprinting the general handout that was provided here, which gives a brief rundown of key contact information and services (double click graphic for expanded view). Contact us anytime if you have any further questions or suggestions for library staff.

FACULTY SERVICES INFOGRAPHIC3

 


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Last Modified: August 18, 2015

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