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New
Opac Enhancements
by
Katy Roe
There
are a few new enhancements on TOPCAT that should help make
your searching easier. In the basic search key, an author/creator
sorted by title search has been added. If you are searching
by a specific author’s name, select this option, type
in the name, and it will give you a list sorted by titles
of that particular author. This is a good way to see exactly
what this library holds from that author.
The series/uniform title search has been added as well. This
may not be used as much by the public as it will be by staff
and faculty, but it allows us to see how our series are showing
up in TOPCAT, and it should be easier to search for series
titles using this particular option.
These two can be found under the basic search key, but under
the guided keyword search drop down box, there is a new search
option, table of contents. This is a key word search, and
will be very beneficial to those searching if they are looking
for a particular title of a story, or chapter, or even a song.
This search will search the 505 field in the MARC record,
and will display the table of contents for that particular
item you are looking for. These new enhancements should be
most beneficial to everyone, not just faculty and staff, but
students and the general public as well.
WKU
Libraries' Recent Acquisition of Online Databases
by Bryan
Carson and Jue Wang
Western
Kentucky University Libraries is always striving to provide
the most up-to-date information to our users. During academic
year 2004 - 2005, the library has managed to add the following
databases to our online database collections:
- Biblical
Archaeology Society Online Archive – contains
the editorial content of each issue of the Biblical Archaeology
Review (1975 to 2003), Bible Review (1985 to 2003), and
Archaeology Odyssey (1998 to 2003).
- BIOSIS
Previews – indexes and abstracts articles in
the life sciences and biomedical sciences from Biological
Abstracts.
-
CAB Direct – covers research and development
literature in the fields of agriculture, forestry, human
health, human nutrition, animal health and the management
and conservation of natural resources.
- CQ
Researcher – contains in-depth, non-biased coverage
of political and social issues, with regular reports on
topics in health, international affairs, education, the
environment, technology and the U.S. economy.
- Literature
Online – contains the full text of over 350,000
works of English and American poetry, drama and prose, along
with 136 full-text literature journals, and other key criticism
and reference resources.
- Marquis
Who's Who – features comprehensive profiles on
over 1 million of the most accomplished individuals from
all fields of endeavor including: government, business,
science & technology, the arts, entertainment and sports.
- Mediamark
Reporter – Contains demographic, lifestyle, and
product usage information taken from surveys with over 26,000
consumers.
- Naxos
Music Library – a comprehensive collection of
online classical music including the complete Naxos, Marco
Polo and Dacapo catalogues of over 85,000 tracks, including
Classical music, Jazz, World, Folk and Chinese music. Naxos
also includes notes on the works being played as well as
biographical information on composers and artists.
- ScienceDirect
– provides full text access to science E-Journals
published by Elsevier.
- SciFinder
Scholar – provides indexing and abstracting from
Chemical Abstracts and MedLine to articles from over 9,000
journals, patents, conference proceedings, dissertations,
technical reports, and books in the field of Chemistry from
1907 to the present. The database also covers chemistry-related
information in the fields of biology, engineering, and medicine.
- TeachingBooks
– contains book guides, author interviews, book readings,
thematic booklists, information on book awards, and links
to websites in 25 categories.
- Testing
& Education Reference Center - contains information
on private high schools, undergraduate and graduate programs
and executive education programs, searchable by location,
major, tuition, sports and more. The database also features
interactive online practice tests for preparatory examinations
including entrance exams and certification and licensing
tests.
- Value
Line Investment Survey – contains information
and advice on approximately 1,700 stocks, more than 90 industries,
the stock market, and the economy.
- The
Vanderbilt Television News Archive – contains
over 30,000 individual network evening news broadcasts from
ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, and more than 9,000 hours of special
news-related programming including ABC's Nightline since
1989.
- Wiley
InterScience – provides full-text access to electronic
journals published by Wiley.
New Stamp Honors Kentuckian Robert Penn Warren
by Jonathan Jeffrey
Using a photograph of Robert Penn Warren from his personal library housed in the Kentucky Library & Museum, the United States Postal Service has issued a stamp honoring the Kentucky native. The stamp, designed by San Francisco artist Will Wilson, features a profile of Warren based on the 1948 photo. The background art recalls a political rally scene from Warren's most noted novel, All the King's Men (1946). This book won the Pulitzer Prize and inspired an Academy Award-winning film. It is currently being re-made into a major motion picture.
The stamp was unveiled on the centennial of Warren's birth, April 24, 2005, in his hometown of Guthrie, Kentucky. Hundreds of local citizens joined dignitaries, students, and Warren scholars in purchasing first day cancellations of the new stamp, which is the 21st in the Postal Service's Literary Arts Series. The stamp is available nationwide at post offices and Philatelic Centers and online at http://www.usps.com/shop.
Robert Penn Warren received scores of awards for his writing, including two additional Pulitzer Prizes for poetry (1958 and 1979) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was also selected the nation's first poet laureate (1986-1987). He taught at Vanderbilt, the University of California, the University of Minnesota, Yale and at Oxford. Over the course of six decades he wrote 16 volumes of poetry, 10 novels, a collection of short stories, and important non-fiction textbooks on fiction and poetry.
Kentucky Library and Museum Fellowship Granted
by Jonathan Jeffrey
Kelley F. Wright, a doctoral student at the University of Cincinnati, has received the Kentucky Library and Museum Fellowship for 2005. Wright's work at WKU will assist her in completing her dissertation: "Coloring Their World: Americans and Color in the Nineteenth Century." "My dissertation," Wright said, "focuses on the diffusion of color into the everyday lives of Americans living in the nineteenth century. Specifically, I am interested in the social changes both brought on by, and reflected in, average Americans' application of color to what had previously been a more or less homespun world. The goal of my research is to describe the social historical significance of the popularization of color images, textiles, advertising and decorative arts over the course of the century."
Reviewers favored the application because Wright will use
a variety of sources in the Kentucky Building. She will be
examining printed material such as 19th century books, magazines,
newspapers, and ephemera in the Kentucky Library. In Manuscripts,
she is specifically interested in the Shaker collections but
believes that other collections, such as household account
books, will provide information about furnishings, interiors,
china, and quilts. The Kentucky Museum offers vast resources
for Wright in her resources, particularly the quilt, furniture
and textile collections. Wright has a bachelors degree in
psychology from the College of William and Mary and a masters
in American history from the University of Cincinnati.
Each year the Kentucky Library and Museum offers one to two fellowships of between $250 to $500 for scholars to use for travel and/or copying expenses when they visit the facility. Applicants must provide information about how the Kentucky Library and Museum's collections will benefit their study, and should show how the completed research will aid in the completion of a thesis or dissertation or result in a publication. |
