The annual Ida B. Wells Lecture brings to Villanova’s campus leading scholars, writers, and public intellectuals to share their insights with the University community.

The 2024 Ida B. Wells lecture will be given by Dr. Yaba Blay on Wed., April 17, at 5 p.m. in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner. Dr. Blay’s research explores the interconnected nuances of skin color politics and Black racial identity and challenges narrow perceptions of Blackness as both an identity and lived reality.

This event, sponsored by Africana Studies and co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science, Global Interdisciplinary Studies, the Department of Sociology and Criminology, the Department of Communication, and Falvey Library, is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Dig deeper and explore some of Dr. Blay’s work:

• One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race (Blay, 2021) *eBook
• Blackberries and Redbones: Critical Articulations of Black Hair/Body Politics in Africana Communities (Spellers, R. E., & Moffitt, K. R., et al., 2010)
• Professional Black Girl (YouTube)
• Dr. Yaba Blay (official website)

Happy first day of spring, Wildcats! Ready for some warmer weather? Check out a few springtime reads available at Falvey Library.

• Middlemarch by George Eliot
  • Middlemarch (DVD)
  • Middlemarch (Television series, 1994)
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  • Pride and Prejudice (DVD, 2006)
  • Pride and Prejudice (DVD, 1995)
  • Pride and Prejudice: A New Musical (2020)
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
• A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
• Flush by Virginia Woolf
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  • Alice in Wonderland (DVD, 2010)
  • Alice in Wonderland (Television series, 1986)
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

What’s your favorite spring read? Explore Falvey’s Popular Reading Collection in Speakers’ Corner (on the first floor) for more titles. Enjoy the sunshine, ‘Cats!

Photo courtesy of the Villanova Digital Library.

Coffee is a staple on Villanova’s campus, especially in the Connelly Center! Throwing it back to the 1992-1993 academic year, campus coffee shops were a great place to find confections and cappuccinos!

What’s your go-to Holy Grounds order?

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. Her go-to Holy Grounds order: a shot of espresso. 

Please join us on Tuesday, April 9, from 3-4 p.m. in Room 205, Falvey Library, for a talk by Ed Sion, PhD, Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at Villanova University. Dr. Sion will present a talk titled “Accreting White Dwarfs: from Exoplanetary Probes to Classical Novae and Type Ia Supernovae” in honor of his recently published book of the same name (Institute of Physics Publishing, 2023). This event is part of the Scholarship@Villanova lecture series, which is dedicated to recognition of the scholarly publications, ongoing research, and other intellectual contributions of faculty members from all five colleges of Villanova University.

The white dwarfs (WDs) are the terminal evolutionary state of 96% of the roughly 200 billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. They are extremely dense because they contain the mass of an average star (like the Sun) compressed into a volume the size of a rocky, metallic planet like Earth. They show us what the Sun will become in the future, the history of star formation in our Galaxy, and a lower limit to the age of the universe. Accreting white dwarfs provide the white dwarf supernovae (Type Ia) that tell us that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating, leading to the discovery of dark energy. Their spectra contain the chemical fingerprints that reveal whether the exoplanets that orbit other stars are made of the same material as our own, or not.

This ACS-approved event, co-sponsored by the Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Falvey Library, and the Office of the Provost, is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Merrill Stein, former Social Sciences Librarian.

“Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not…We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.”  —Saint John Henry Newman 

For the last 34 years, that quote remained a prominent fixture at the desk of Merrill Stein, Social Sciences Librarian, who retired in January. Finding facts and making them accessible to the Villanova community informed every facet of Stein’s many capacities at Falvey Library. Stein came to Falvey Library after previous positions at Drexel University, Saint Joseph’s University, and the non-profit organization Lyrasis. 

Supporting scholarship at Villanova, Stein was the liaison to political science, psychology, public administration, geography, and naval sciences. The social sciences representative on the Collection Management Committee, he served as leader of the social sciences team. Actively involved in numerous Library and University initiatives, Stein co-organized many events and instruction workshops. 

Reporting for the Library blog or offering research help, Stein was eager to assist others in the discovery of information. “We’ve made so many things available to the Villanova community and beyond. I enjoyed helping students and faculty while learning alongside them.”

Margot Accettura, STEM Librarian.

Margot Accettura joined Research Services & Scholarly Engagement (RSSE) as the STEM Librarian. From Morristown, N.J., she earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Skidmore College and a master’s degree in imaging science from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Currently enrolled at PennWest Clarion University, Accettura will receive a master’s of science in library information science this year. Previously working for her undergraduate library and the Phoenixville Public Library, Accettura feels her role at Falvey perfectly integrates her STEM experience and passion for libraries.

“As a member of the RSSE team, I will be working with students and faculty to support them with their learning and research goals. I will be working with the astronomy, biology, chemistry, computing sciences, environment science, mathematics, and physics departments. I will provide outreach to these departments, showing them the services that Falvey provides. I will also be providing information literacy instruction to courses.” Having a STEM background, Accettura feels she can connect with students in their collegiate careers at Villanova. “I understand what STEM students are going through…There are a lot of ways I think having a better knowledge of what the library had to offer would’ve helped me in my research and I’m hoping to share that with Villanova students and faculty.”

In her free time (when she’s not reading), Accettura enjoys running. She is part of a local running group in her town. “I also like to do archery and my new year’s resolution this year is to reignite my passion for piano which I played for 8 years in my youth.” Her reading recommendation for Falvey patrons: Circe, by Madeline Miller. “She writes re-imaginings of Greek mythology and I like all of her work.”

“I’m very excited for this opportunity and am looking forward to working with my liaison departments and the broader Villanova community,” she says. Accettura’s office (room 220) is on the second floor of Falvey Library. Email margot.accettura@villanova.edu; (610) 519-8129.

Join us for the Publishing, Copyright, and Scholarship Series! Check out the list of spring 2024 events below:

Publication for Students 

Considering publishing as an undergraduate? Join us on Wednesday, March 13, from 4-5 p.m. for a virtual workshop on how to navigate that process and why you might want to, along with some tips about copyright and authorship with Veritas as an example. This event, co-sponsored by Falvey Library and the Center for Research and Fellowships, is intended for undergraduate students. Co-hosted by Librarians Nancy Foasberg, Nicole Daly, and Gray Kidd, one of the Editors-in-Chief of Veritas.

REGISTER HERE

But Is It Fair Use? A Copyright Discussion and Q&A 

Fair use is a very useful – but often confusing – exception to copyright. Join us on Wednesday, March 20, from 12-1 p.m. for a virtual Q&A discussion that will include an introduction to fair use, along with discussion of its history, hot topics in fair use, and most of all, your questions about fair use. Have a project or a use in mind? Bring your questions! This event, co-sponsored by Falvey Library and Villanova University General Counsel, is intended for undergraduate and graduate students. Panelists will be Laz Szabo and Mark Hewlett, Associate Generals Counsels, Villanova University; Michael Foight, Director of Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement, and Librarian Nancy Foasberg. Hosted by Shawn Proctor.

Falvey Library Service Desk Hours: Spring Break 2024

Sunday, March 3: Service desk and book stacks closed.

Monday, March 4 through Friday, March 8: 9 a.m.—5 p.m. (book stacks close at 4:30 p.m.)

Saturday, March 9: Service desk and book stacks closed.

Sunday, March 10: 12 p.m.—8 p.m. (book stacks close at 7:30 p.m.)

Semester hours resume on Monday, March 11. 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 break, Wildcats!

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library. Her Spring Break reading recommendation: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. (Available in Falvey Library’s Popular Reading Collection.)

Happy (almost) Spring Break, Wildcats! Whether you’re headed home to see the folks, traveling with friends, or relaxing on campus, Falvey Library wishes you a safe and restful week!

Photo courtesy of the Villanova Digital Library (Belle Air, 1969). #TBT

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

Congratulations to the 2024 Falvey Data Visualization Competition award winners! From left to right: Nicole Daly, Social Sciences Librarian, recognizing Shealyn Murphy, Amanda Wagner, Melissa Wright, and Jonah Miles Gavino. Check out their award-winning projects here.

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