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Blueprints: Falvey LibraryContents: March 2002
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Those of you who are familiar with the print equivalent of these titles will be pleased to access them electronically in your offices and amazed by the ease with which you can search for citations
To try them out, simply go to the Library home page (library.villanova.edu) , select Databases A – Z, and then click on S. You will see both titles listed separately, but they can also be searched together. Access at any one time is limited, so if you cannot log in, try again later.
For those of you not already familiar with these research tools, SCI and SSCI index every article and other significant items from more than 6000 journals in a variety of disciplines in the sciences and social sciences. And although you can look for article references by topic, what makes these resources unique is that you can also search by "cited reference." This means you can search for articles that have cited a particular work since its publication. In this way you can follow an area of research as it develops through time, or you can determine an author’s impact on later works. The citation indexes are the only tools that provide this capability.
SCI and SSCI also have other unique tools built in that can help you find articles on a specific topic that you may miss using standard search techniques. For example, from a full bibliographic record in these databases you can link to the "Cited References," or bibliography, of the article. The full record will also include a "Times Cited" link, which gives the total number of times the article has been cited by others since publication, and links to the citations of those citing works.
In addition there is a button labeled "Related Records" which will search for all other papers that share at least one reference with the original article. These three tools are not available in any other bibliographic database, and they make SCI and SSCI very powerful resources in your search for relevant literature.
According to Dr. Jacqueline Webb, associate professor, biology department, "This is an incredible resource! ... It is extremely useful for students so they can see how scientific research builds upon prior knowledge." Dr. Todd Jackman, assistant professor, biology department, agrees: "This resource is the best way for students to find the most current references to classic research. It is also a very good way for me to discover who is interested in my work."
This points out another valuable use of SCI and SSCI: Faculty can use these databases to discover how often their publications have been cited and who has been citing them, leading to possible contacts in their field. In closing, Dr. Webb notes, "This is an invaluable resource, no matter what the cost."
(Note: The Arts and Humanities Search database provides cited reference searching capabilities for those doing research in the humanities. See Databases, A - Z on the Library home page.)
Teresa Bowden is the librarian liaison to the biology department and a reference librarian.
by Jutta Seibert
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March is Women’s History Month, a time set aside to remember the achievements and contributions of women. This year’s National Women’s History Month has the theme Women Sustaining the American Spirit. Those honored in 2002 are six women whose lives exemplify the "American Spirit": the Olympic athlete Alice Coachman, the civil rights leader Dorothy Height, the labor and human rights activist Dolores Huerta, the historian and author Gerda Lerner, Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink, and the oral cultural historian Mary Louise Defender Wilson. |
The honorees were selected by the National Women’s History Project.
Falvey Library continues its tradition of celebrating Women’s History Month with an exhibition that showcases the achievements of women in a given area. Last year’s theme was Women in Science.
Women in Literature is the theme of this year’s display, which can be seen on the first floor of Falvey Library during the month of March. It was prepared by Lorraine Williams (IMS), Joe Houser (IMS student assistant), Katy Lee (IMS student assistant), Lisa Pittenger (IMS student assistant), and Jutta Seibert (reference/cataloging).
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This year’s display features twelve contemporary female writers, among them the 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri and two authors invited to this year’s Villanova Literary Festival, Fae Myenne Ng and Debra Spark. All twelve writers are well known for their short stories and novels, and some write poetry, children’s books and essays as well. First and second generation immigrants, such as Lahiri, Ng, Gish Jen, Edwidge Danticat, Julia Alvarez and Ana Castillo are represented as well. |
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Two of the authors, Louise Erdrich and Susan Power, are Native American, and Allegra Goodman describes the Jewish experience in her books. The two African-American authors featured in the exhibition, Bebe Moore Campbell and Diane McKinney-Whetstone, are both native Philadelphians. |
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The sheer number of contemporary women writers in the United States points to the important role women play in the field of literature today. However, this also means that many equally talented and exciting authors had to be omitted. The display does not and cannot cover the whole spectrum of contemporary female authors; it can only give us a glimpse of the diversity of literature created by women today. |
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Come to Falvey Library to find out more about these authors. Check out their books and experience the many different facets that make up the American spirit and the American way of life. Falvey Library has books by all of the authors featured in the display.
Jutta Seibert is a catalog/reference librarian.
Did you know that in 2001 more than 15.2 million taxpayers filed federal-state returns electronically? This year 45 million taxpayers will use the e-filing system, according to IRS estimates.
Falvey's home page has links to the federal, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware revenue departments’ web sites under For Your Information / Tax Information, where you will find tax forms and instructions to help you file electronically, if you wish.
Through the Pennsylvania site you can find out if last year’s federal tax cut sent to us as a refunded amount of $300 or $600 is taxable on your federal and state income tax returns. Also there is information on how non-residents are taxed by Pennsylvania. The New Jersey site has information on the property tax relief program, "New Jersey Saver Rebate."
The IRS has a fact sheet describing important changes for 2001 including reduced tax rates and capital gains rates, increased child tax credits and student loan interest deductions, increased alternative minimum tax exemptions and individual retirement account deductions, higher standard mileage rates for business and moving expenses, and an exclusion for restitution payments to Holocaust victims.
Falvey Library has some federal paper tax forms, including the non-resident tax form which many of our students use.
The telephone number to order federal forms is 1 800 829-3676 and to ask questions is 1 800 829-1040.
Jacqueline Mirabile is government documents librarian and interim head of the Reference department.
Constantine’s Sword: the Church and the Jews: a History
by James Carroll (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001)
Reviewed by Susan Markley
[Call number: BM535.C37 2001 / 2nd floor, Circulating collection]
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In Constantine’s Sword, James Carroll, a former Paulist priest and now a writer for The Boston Globe, traces the 2,000-year history of anti-Semitism within the Catholic Church. Carroll writes that it is not by accident that the Jews have been maligned and persecuted throughout history. He attempts to explain that this hatred and violence was often based on the Christian belief that Jewish suffering was proof of their sin in rejecting Christ.
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Although 20 popes, over four centuries, officially issued orders not to harm the Jews, in reality, he points out, when their proclamations and edicts were delivered from the pulpits, it encouraged the completely opposite effect. Church sanctioned violence produced devastating results, including the massacre of thousands of Jews living along the routes followed by the Crusaders on their way to the Holy Land and the forced conversion and murder of Spain’s ancient Jewish community during the Inquisition.
Perhaps most disturbing was Carroll’s description of the Church’s behavior in the years leading up to and during World War II. While the Jewish community frantically sought help to escape a deadly fate, the Church refused to take a strong stand against Nazi statements and actions. With the exception of a few brave clergy, little was said or done, even when Italian Jews were openly rounded up and detained for deportation in a building next to the Vatican. In effect, the passivity of the Church hierarchy and the population in general became collaboration.
While most of Carroll’s revelations are known to the Jewish community, often Catholics are unfamiliar with this disturbing co-existence between Catholics and Jews. By reading Constantine’s Sword, Christians may better understand why the Jews have a deep historic distrust of the Catholic Church. Carroll concludes that the Church is making an effort to eradicate this painful history, but the Vatican is "still reluctant to confront the horror done to the Jews in the name of Christian faith."
While garnering generally favorable reviews from the mainstream and Jewish press, such as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Commentary, and Cross Currents, which praised Carroll for doing "an awesome amount of homework and legwork" and for giving an account that is "clear and compelling," the Catholic press was more critical. The Catholic Historical Review noted that Carroll was an excellent writer with an "engaging narrative," but that he "has little grasp on the complexities of Catholic study he seeks to summarize and sit in judgment upon."
He was also criticized for "projecting his personal life-narrative into the book" and for involving himself in internal Church politics, advocating for reform, with a call for a Vatican Council III. However, as several reviewers noted, any flaws or skepticism about Carroll’s reform agenda should not detract from his overall message on this "shameful story that needs to be retold at length and in detail."
Susan Markley is head of the Periodical Department.
Also contributing to this issue
of Blueprints: Bernadette
Dierkes, Judith Olsen and Jacqueline Smith.
