Blueprints: Falvey Library

• Is there evidence for a Hebrew goddess? Judith Hadley discusses The Cult of Asherah at the Falvey Faculty Book Talk

• Today's Undergraduate Students and the Modern Academic Library

• Please present your WildCard when entering the library

• Dr. Timothy Feeman featured in Falvey Faculty Book Talk

• Also contributing to this issue...

By Darren G. Poley

It was standing room only in Falvey Library's conference room for Dr. Judith M. Hadley's Faculty Book Talk on November 14 at noon. An associate professor of Hebrew Bible and archaeology in Villanova University's department of theology and religious studies, Dr. Hadley kept the attention of the audience, which extended out into the hallway, with the description and discussion of her latest book. The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess is a substantial reworking of her dissertation written when she earned her Ph.D. from Cambridge University (England) in ancient Israelite religion. Cambridge University Press published Dr. Hadley's book in 2000.

The publisher admits they have sold out of Dr. Hadley's book and Amazon.com claims at the time of writing this that they only have "one left in stock." This academic masterwork is a "dense weave," as University Librarian Joe Lucia said at the talk, but, as the sell out print run demonstrates, there is no lack of interest in a book that explores the evidence of a "Mrs. God" in ancient Israel.

As most are aware, the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament, is full of passages which exhort and cajole the ancient Israelites to a monotheistic religion away from the worship of a variety of deities which includes a "top-goddess," Asherah. In fact, Asherah, as Judith Hadley pointed out, is specifically mentioned in the Old Testament 40 times, but never in positive terms.

This led many Scripture scholars to accept the idea that the people of God were constantly fighting the encroachment of idols into their religion of the one true God who delivered the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt. Hadley's work shows not only the possibility of accepted polytheism in early Israel, but reviews the large and growing positive archaeological evidence of goddess worship, including Asherah, by the ancient Hebrews.

The radical monotheism in the Hebrew religion was rather a late development, according to Dr. Hadley, certainly after the Babylonian exile of the Israelites in 587 BCE. One particular instance cited by Hadley in her talk was the lack of an attack on Asherah worship by Hosea, an 8^th century BCE Hebrew prophet who spoke vehemently against worship of the god Baal. More importantly, Dr. Hadley made her point by explaining a handout of iconographic and inscription illustrations which pair the God of Israel with the goddess Asherah, or at least her symbol, a stylized tree.

Dr. Hadley's book on Asherah worship in ancient Israel represents a "hot topic" in academic circles. The intellectual shift has moved away from Astarte, another ancient goddess who is depicted on the book's dust jacket, to focusing on Asherah. One cannot help but believe that Judith Hadley, who has been at Villanova for thirteen years, has influenced this change in thinking by her archaeological and written work.

Dr. Hadley's discussion of The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah drew an audience of interested listeners from the wider campus and community, as well as many from the theology department and Falvey Library's staff. Joe Lucia introduced the speaker and the subject at this first Falvey Memorial Library Faculty Book Talk of the academic year. He said he was glad Dr. Hadley agreed to be the first faculty member "up to bat" for one of Falvey's research/book talks since his arrival as University Librarian.

I would say Hadley did not disappoint. Her presentation, which was laced with great insight and humor, made understandable a subject which is not an easy one to comprehend, particularly given the accepted notions most of us have about the early Hebrew religion. It was a home run.

Darren G. Poley is a reference/catalog librarian and the theology and religious studies department co-liaison.

By Barbara Quintiliano

Index, database, scholarly journal, citation, holdings record, bound periodicals... For those of us who assist students with research assignments, these terms are just part of our everyday vocabulary.  However, to first and second year undergraduates especially, these terms form a bewildering "librarianese" that makes them want to run straight to "Dogpile" (a popular Web search engine).

Librarians and faculty members exchanged ideas on how to turn the complicated research process into a more positive experience for students at "Food for Thought" lunch sessions organized by Dr. Carol Weiss of VITAL (Villanova Institute for Teaching and Learning) on November 20 and 21.  

Stimulated by Barbara Fister's very perceptive article, "Fear of Reference," published in the Chronicle of Higher Education (14 June 2002), participants reflected on the complexities of today's hybrid world of print and electronic resources, trying to see the research process from the perspective of the befuddled undergraduate. For instance, the librarian who glibly explains to the students how to search the databases, write down the most relevant citations, and then check periodical holdings in VUCat, probably loses them after the word "search."

While attempting to choose the most appropriate database for their topic by reading descriptions provided on the library homepage, students may begin to see phantasmagoric characters such as these dancing across the screen:
 

When students come to information literacy sessions believing that they already know how to "use the library," librarians find their level of attentiveness similar to that in the illustration below:
 

First-year student: "I learned how to use my library in high school."		Librarian: In today's library workshop you'll learn how to locate information on controversial topics for your persuasive speech.
Sophomore: "I already had a library class last year....(Wonder what's on Friends tonight....)"

However, all is not the fault of the overconfident undergraduate. While the one-period instruction sessions provide students with hands-on database practice under the guidance of a librarian, the sessions cannot truly simulate the iterative, trial and error nature of academic research or convey the patience required even in today's computer-mediated atmosphere. Confronted by a bewildering choice of databases, non-intuitive search interfaces, and the challenge of distinguishing full text from print availability, students turn to the tantalizingly easier world of the Web search engines. Their resulting research papers reflect the often poor quality of the Web sites they find.

With Carol's facilitation, faculty and librarians at the "Food for Thought" sessions shared suggestions for breaking down the research process into simpler components. Some instructors require students to submit a preliminary bibliography for evaluation and then send them to the reference desk for guidance by librarians in finding scholarly journals.  Another instructor suggested letting students search the Web for information on a topic prior to attending an instruction session. With their Web results in hand, the students can compare the quality of information found on the Web with that of sources retrieved through the library's subscription databases.

Participants agreed that today's students need all the help they can get in developing the selection and evaluation techniques crucial to navigating the universe of electronic information.  

Barbara Quintiliano is the information literacy coordinator and a reference librarian

At the beginning of the 2003 spring semester, Falvey Library will be strictly enforcing the requirement for all students, staff, and faculty to present a Villanova WildCard upon entering the Library. This policy is in accordance with University policy and supported by the Public Safety Office. The procedure, instituted at the end of last semester at the suggestion of Public Safety, has helped to provide a safer study environment and has significantly reduced petty theft in the library.

Please take a moment upon entering to show your WildCard.

Policy information can be viewed at the website below:

http://library.villanova.edu/services/about_falvey/hours.html

By Liz Natale ‘03

Dr. Timothy Feeman was the guest speaker for the Dec. 3 Falvey Memorial Library Faculty Book Talk.  Feeman presented his ideas and research regarding the publication of his book Portraits of the Earth: A Mathematician Looks at Maps to an audience of Villanova faculty and staff.  Feeman is currently a professor of mathematics at Villanova and has been teaching here since 1986.  In addition to his teaching, his research interests include operator theory, spaces of analytic function, and mathematical cartography.  His research and ideas on these topics also have appeared in several publications.

In his book, Feeman states, “Every map is a tool, a product of human effort and creativity, that represents some aspects of our world or universe. . .”  Feeman believes that this book helps students think logically and analyze the technical information that they encounter in every day life.  Some topics that Feeman presents in his book are about the shape and size of earth, basic spherical geometry, the design of numerous map projections, distortions and modifications on maps, and how to make maps using Maple® software.

At the book talk, Feeman spoke about his reasons for creating the book.  Originally having an office near a colleague in the geography department, Feeman became curious about maps and how they are related to calculus and geometry in his own line of study.  He developed a course for Liberal Arts students who were interested in mathematics and computers but did not want to focus on calculus.  Feeman created his book to accompany the course lectures.  By using the book and computer programs, the students were able to learn more about maps and create their own maps in a mathematical context. 

Feeman showed the audience transparencies of different maps that have been created by both mathematicians and philosophers throughout history.  He explained different aspects of the maps and how they are created.  He stressed that an individual map can only accurately preserve certain properties of what is being mapped.  For example, some maps preserve angles or the physical shapes of things while others can show actual areas in relation to each other.  Because no map can show everything without some degree of distortion, there are different maps for specific needs.  He also took into account different aspects of map making such as resizing and stretching, creating the map’s center at a specific location on the globe, and transposing maps on surfaces other than a globe.  In addition, Feeman explained his experiences with the production of the book and the efforts he put forth to make the publication how he wanted it.  To conclude the talk, the floor was opened for faculty and staff members to voice their questions and interests in the subject.

Also contributing to this issue of Blueprints: Laura Hutelmyer, Judy Olsen, Jackie Smith and Merrill Stein. Photography: Donna Blaszkowski, Graphics.