About Falvey: Newsletter: September '98

Contents: September 1998
 

by Barbara Quintiliano and Judith Olsen

A unique "quest" awaits this year's freshmen. In the Quest logo, the dragon resting on a stack of books and encircled by an uppercase letter Q represents the pursuit of knowledge and the first phase of the students' journey toward information literacy. To guide them on this daring expedition the librarians at Falvey and the faculty of the Core Humanities Seminar program will equip them with an innovative and engaging online tutorial, Quest.

Although other university libraries have online tutorials, Quest is unique because it involves a collaborative effort between Falvey Library, the Core Humanities, and the Honors Interdisciplinary Humanities seminar programs. Students will choose topics submitted by the CHS faculty, such as Gothic architecture or creation myths, which refer to themes taught in these courses.

Information Literacy Committee faculty members also felt it important for the students to visit Falvey in person to use a print subject encyclopedia. The Information Literacy Committee includes professors John Doody, Gaile Pohlhaus, Earl Bader, Kim Paffenroth, Marylu Hill and librarians Louise Green, Barbara Quintiliano, Michael Foight, David Burke, Merrill Stein, Susan Markley and Judith Olsen, chairperson.

The Quest online tutorial can be accessed at any networked PC on campus, in the student dorms or other public or departmental computer sites. Students living off campus who subscribe to the Remote Access Service can also connect to Quest. Links to Quest appear on FLASH (the Falvey home page at www.villanova.edu/library), the Core Humanities home page, and the course description web pages of several Honors faculty members teaching Core Humanities or Interdisciplinary Humanities courses.

During their first Core Humanities seminar, freshmen will complete the Quest exercise at their own pace, retrieving data from both print and online sources and will transmit their answers electronically to the librarians. The exercises will be corrected and then forwarded to the students' Core Humanities instructors. By completing Quest students will gain expertise and confidence in using important information access points of their library, including specialized encyclopedias, VUCat and online periodical databases. Also, they will choose from a series of more academically oriented World Wide Web sites and apply strategies for evaluating these sites.

Freshmen will no longer be lost and confused by a seeming wilderness of information. With each step they will be guided through the information gathering process and provided with criteria to help them evaluate what they discover. At the end of his or her Quest, the student will begin to lay claim to the treasure trove of information available at Falvey Library.

More advanced research strategy programs are planned for the Core Humanities for second semester and for specific disciplines in the future.

You are invited to continue your "quest" with Falvey Library's Special Collections. A number of rare books reflecting Quest topics are displayed this semester in two exhibit cases on Falvey Library's first floor. While Quest itself is necessarily an electronic tool, this exhibition lends an awareness of the special heritage that the manuscript and the printed word bring to the history of scholarship and one's own tradition.

The highlight of the exhibition is a fifteenth century manuscript of St. Augustine's Confessions,which is featured prominently on the initial "Welcome to Quest" web page. Among the printed books (from the Early European Imprints Collection) you can examine is a 1533 edition of Cicero's Rhetoricum printed in Venice at the famous Aldine Press. A 1676 edition of Erasmus' Colloquies has a beautifully illustrated title page, while, from the Curiosa Collection, an illustrated edition of Homer's Iliad is also on display.

Anyone interested in Ralph Waldo Emerson and Transcendentalism will want to take a look at a first edition of Emerson's Fortune of the Republic (1878) and at an issue of The Dial, considered the most important journal of the New England Transcendentalists. Other books displayed refer to the Vikings (The Northmen in Britain from the Joseph McGarrity Collection) and illustrations of French cathedral windows from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Fr. Donald X. Burt's Augustine's World is exhibited, representing Falvey Library's effort to place one copy of any book written by Villanova faculty in Special Collections.

The exhibit continues on the second floor of Falvey. Here you will find facsimile editions of Gospel books such as The Book of Durrow, The Lindisfarne Gospels, and The Books of Kells. A facsimile of The Gutenberg Bible is also on display.

The exhibition was created by Special Collections Librarian Bente Polites with graphics design assistance from Bernadette Dierkes and Steven Dixon.

by Louise Green

Over the summer Falvey Memorial Library instituted a "user authentication" procedure for accessing the electronic databases to which we subscribe. When a database is chosen from any database screen, all public stations throughout the library prompt you for a last name and Villanova WildCard ID number. You may change databases and go back and forth between VUCat and a database for an hour without having to reenter your ID.

Our subscription fees are based on our student enrollment or on a limited number of simultaneous users. To honor our agreements and to insure that our students, faculty, and staff do not have to compete with non-Villanova users for simultaneous access we must authenticate our users. Access from offices, computer labs, dormitories, and remote access does not require authentication.

Please carry your Villanova WildCard ID. You need it to enter the library after 5:00 p.m. weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday. In addition to using it to borrow books, to check your borrowing record and to print, you must have it to search such subscription databases as DowJones, Lexis-Nexis, Humanities Abstracts, BIOSIS and PsycInfo.

Web Access: The Library is pleased to announce that ATLA Religion Database, Biological Abstracts, and Zoological Record, previously only available on CD-ROM in Falvey, are now available on the web through FLASH.

New Databases Available from the Library's FLASH Homepage :

Ethnic NewsWatch: In support of Villanova's strategic goal to "be a community, diverse in race, gender, religion, ethnicity, culture and socioeconomic background," Falvey Library has subscribed to Ethnic NewsWatch, a collection of full-text articles from 200 publications of ethnic and minority presses in the United States. It includes approximately 120 newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and a few journals such as Black Enterprise, DOMES: Digest of Middle East Studies and Israel Studies. Its unique perspective from outside the mainstream press should be valuable to students and faculty in a variety of disciplines such as communication arts, political science, and sociology. (Available on the All Databases, News and Social Sciences database lists.)

HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index indexes articles, book reviews, documents and literary works about Latin America, the Caribbean Basin and Hispanics in the U.S., from more than 400 social science and humanities journals published since 1970. (Available on the All Databases, Arts, History, Literature, Philosophy/Religion and Social Sciences database lists.)

ITER: Bibliography of Medieval and Renaissance Europe from 400-1700 is a research project with the goal of "increasing access to all published materials pertaining to the Renaissance (1300-1700) and, eventually, to the Middle Ages (400-1500), by creating online bibliographies. The Journals Bibliography includes more than 100,000 records from secondary materials published in more than 280 journals, with publication dates eventually spanning from 1700 to the present. The bibliography mainly covers the cultural aspects of the Renaissance in Christian Europe from 1300-1700, but will eventually include all aspects of the Renaissance and Middle Ages (400-1500)." A book bibliography is currently being constructed. (Available on the All Databases, Arts, History, Literature, Philosophy/Religion and Social Sciences database lists.)

CollegeSource is a collection of over 7,800 full-text catalogs from two and four-year, graduate and professional schools. Each catalog is in PDF (Portable Document Format), so it retains the formatting of the original publication. (Available on the All Databases, Education and Counseling and Reference databases lists.)

by James L. Mullins

This fall will see the inauguration of two new programs offered by Falvey Memorial Library. On September 9 the first of the Falvey Memorial Library Distinguished Lecture Series took place when Clive James, noted British writer and television personality, discussed his writing career and his latest book The Silver Castle. On November 10, Dr. David Barrett, Associate Professor, Political Science, will give the first Book Talk at Falvey when he discusses the research and publication process of his recent books: Uncertain Warriors: Lyndon Johnson and his Vietnam Advisers and Lyndon B. Johnson's Vietnam Papers: a Documentary Collection.

The goal of the Falvey Library Distinguished Lecture Series will be to emphasize the link between libraries and creative and intellectual endeavors. The Lecture Series will feature speakers who have published outstanding works or who have been recognized for their professional achievements. Through their presentation, they will help us understand the human situation better, whether it is through theology, literature, the arts, science, history, technology, the health sciences, philosophy, business, economics or other fields represented at Villanova. The Lecture Series will bring to Villanova writers, artists, scientists and business people who have a special insight into their chosen field. Over a period of several years, speakers representing the spectrum of these diverse areas will share their vision through the Lecture Series.

The Falvey Memorial Library Distinguished Lecture Series will add to the intellectual and scholarly environment of Villanova, allowing students to learn from notable people outside academia, thus preparing them to seek similar opportunities later in their lives, providing them with a richer lifelong learning experience.

The primary audience for the Lecture Series will be the Villanova community, students, faculty and staff, and interested people from the Main Line and Philadelphia area are invited to attend as well. The Lecture Series will not only enrich the learning atmosphere of the Villanova community but will also reach those who welcome and appreciate the opportunities afforded by Villanova.

Initially two lectures will be offered during the academic year, one in the fall and one in the spring. Future plans include an advisory council to the Director of Falvey Memorial Library to help identify potential speakers, which could feature Villanova graduates who have published or achieved recognition in their field.

The "Book Talk at Falvey" will focus on the research and publication process that members of the Villanova faculty have experienced. The thesis and content of their book will be discussed as part of the presentation, but primarily the emphasis will be on

• How the faculty member became interested in the topic.

• Initial steps in the research process (problem definition and information gathering).

• How and where research was undertaken (particular archives, libraries, primary data gathering sources)

• Challenges and surprises encountered in the research.

• The publication process, including finding a publisher, working with an editor, the printing process, such as reviewing galley proofs.

• Useful observations (or anecdotes).

• For more information consults the "Lectures and Exhibits" link on FLASH, the Falvey Library home page (www.library.villanova.edu). We welcome your participation, your comments and suggestions.

by Dennis Lambert

For some years there has been a system of faculty liaisons to Falvey Library. That person may be any one of the faculty, the chair of the department or a program director. He or she has communicated collection needs to the library. Faculty liaisons have also solicited order requests from their departments or programs and submitted them to the library.

To parallel the faculty system, there is also a designated librarian who serves as the liaison to a department or program. This librarian helps to communicate information about library programs and policies, and to answer questions about the library. Questions from departments and programs may concern electronic resources, approval plans, standing orders, firm (one-time) orders and periodicals. Or there may be more general questions about library functions like reserves, circulation policies or Instructional Media Services. This avenue of communication about curriculum changes, between academic departments and librarians, will help Falvey Library plan to meet campus needs. The liaison librarian may also be available to demonstrate electronic or print resources to departments, groups of faculty or to classes, in conjunction with the library's instructional program.

These are the current librarian liaison assignments, as of August 1998:

Accountancy	Michael Foight	ext. 96371 or 94273
Africana Studies	Susan Markley	ext. 94277
Arab and Islamic Studies	Sue Ottignon	ext. 94273
Art and Art History	Dr. James Mullins	ext. 94290
Astronomy and Astrophysics	Dennis Lambert	ext. 97966
Biology	Judy Olsen	ext. 94273
Business Law	Michael Foight	ext. 96371 or 94273
Chemical Engineering	Louise Green	ext. 94283
Chemistry	Taras Ortynsky	ext. 94282
Civil and Environmental Engineering	Louise Green	ext. 94283
Classical Studies	Bente Polites	ext. 94273
College Ethics	Dennis Lambert	ext. 97966
Communication Arts	Michael Hoffberg	ext. 94264
Computing Sciences	Kathy O'Connor	ext. 94158
Core Humanities	Dennis Lambert	ext. 97966
Criminal Justice	Michael Foight	ext. 94273
Economics	Michael Foight	ext. 96371 or 94273
Education and Human Services	Barbara Bores	ext. 94281
Electrical and Computer Engineering	Louise Green	ext. 94283
English	Judy Olsen	ext. 94273
Finance	Michael Foight	ext. 96371 or 94273
General Arts	Dennis Lambert	ext. 97966
Geography	Merrill Stein	ext. 94272
History	Dennis Lambert	ext. 97966
Honors	Dr. James Mullins	ext. 94290
Irish Studies	Dennis Lambert	ext. 97966
Latin American Area Studies	Dennis Lambert	ext. 97966
Management	Michael Foight	ext. 96371 or 94273
Marketing	Michael Foight	ext. 96371 or 94273
Mathematics	Susan Markley	ext. 94277
Mechanical Engineering	Louise Green	ext. 94283
Modern Languages and Literatures	Sue Ottignon	ext. 94273
Naval Science	Dennis Lambert	ext. 97966
Nursing	Susan Markley	ext. 96729 or 94277
Peace & Justice	David Burke	ext. 94282
Philosophy	Bente Polites	ext. 94273
Physics	Dr. James Mullins	ext. 94290
Political Science	Lisa Stillwell	ext. 97778
Psychology	Jackie Mirabile	ext. 94273
Russian Area Studies	Taras Ortynsky	ext. 94282
Sociology	David Burke	ext. 94282
Theatre	Jackie Mirabile	ext. 94273
Theology & Religious Studies	Fr. Dennis Gallagher	ext. 94133
Women's Studies	Dennis Lambert	ext. 97966

Lisa Stillwell, the new electronic resources / reference librarian, was previously reference librarian at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. She completed her master's degree in Information and Library Studies at the University of Michigan and did her undergraduate work in Latin American Studies at Oberlin College.

Barbara Quintiliano was recently appointed information literacy coordinator / reference librarian, a new position reflecting the increased emphasis on information instruction.

Also, Darren Poley assumed the position of part-time reference librarian. He is the reference librarian at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

In Instructional Media Services, Peter Deming is the new instructional media technician, while Steven Dixon was hired as assistant graphic artist. Page Flannery is the Circulation Department's new shelver.

Other people with new titles and responsibilities include Roberta Rosci, collection database technician, and Laura Hutlemyer, periodical staff supervisor.

Miriam Sullivan, technical services library assistant, retired after nineteen years at Villanova.Catherine McGowan, interlibrary loan department, completed her master of science in Library and Information Science at Drexel University in June, and Bernadette Dierkes, Instructional Media Services, graduated in May with a master's of science degree in Human Resource Development.