Monday, October 31, 2005

Business Library Research Seminar on Thursday, November 3

The Library will be offering an hour long training on Thursday, November 3 from 3 to 4 p.m. in 204 Boyd Science Center. Business Source Premier, Business and Industry, and LexisNexis - Business will be discussed. You will have the opportunity to follow along and practice searching the databases. All interested students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.

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Literary Criticism (Reference Resources Spotlight)

Literary criticism provides you with critical commentary and background information on authors, their works, and major themes in literature. The Library owns three literary criticism series that cover different time periods.

Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism (REF PN761 .N5) covers authors of the nineteenth century, including poets, novelists, playwrights, and philosophers of the period. Every fourth volume of this set focuses on a specific literary topic including movements, themes, reaction to historical events, significant eras, and the literature of overlooked cultures. Topics from the most recent volume include: censorship of the press in 19th century, the new woman in the 19th century, and 19th century western literature in Japan.

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (REF PN94 .T83) covers critical interpretation of authors who died between 1900 and 1999. Every fourth volume focuses on specific themes. Topics from the most recent volume include: angry young men, depictions of Islam in modern literature, and futurism.

Contemporary Literary Criticism (REF PN771 .C59) covers authors who are living or who died after December 31, 1999. (Note: From 1973-1999 this set included authors who died after December 31, 1959).

Using literary criticism is easy.
  1. If your author is still alive, start with Contemporary. If your author is dead, when did he/she die? Pick Nineteenth or Twentieth based on the year of the author's death.
  2. Use the Author Index in the back of the most recent volume in the Reference collection. The index is cumulative and will cross-reference to other volumes in other series.
  3. Find the volume(s) given in the index
  4. Locate the analysis of the author, work, or topic in the volume(s) and read the critical commentary.
  5. Use what you have learned to write your paper based on your professor's instructions.
  6. Remember to cite your sources! Each volume includes examples of how to create reference citations based on using the literary criticism sets.


Tuesday, October 25, 2005

October Author Talk Podcast Available

Did you miss the October Author Talk? Good news! You can stream or download the talks given by Dr. Taylor Stults and Dr. Robert Burk. Dr. Stults spoke about his experience writing his book on Cold War primary documents. Dr. Burk spoke about his experience writing and researching his book on baseball labor relations.

You will be prompted to install the Apple QuickTime browser plugin if you don't have it to stream the talks. You can also use iTunes to subscribe to the Library's podcast service and automatically download the talks to your desktop and iPod.

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Monday, October 24, 2005

AccessScience (Reference Resource Spotlight)

Need to know more about an esker, a bordetella, a positronium, and a trihedron? Then check out AccessScience | [off-campus access] an on-line version of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 9th edition. This reference resource contains articles on various topics in biology, chemistry, geology, mathematics, and physics. You will find the full-text of the articles along with graphics and bibliography from the print version. The site is keyword searchable. Muskingum owns the 20 volume 8th edition, which is shelved in the reference collection (REF Q121 .M3 1997).

Friday, October 21, 2005

English Library Research Seminar on Thursday, October 27

The Library will be offering an hour long training on Thursday, October 27 from 3 to 4 p.m. in 204 Boyd Science Center. MLA International Bibliography and literary criticism resources will be will be discussed. You will have the opportunity to follow along and practice searching the databases. All interested students, faculty, and staff are invited.

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Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Mozilla/Firefox Catalog Search Plugins

If you are using Mozilla or Firefox to surf the web, you can now install search plugins for the Muskingum Catalog and the OhioLINK Catalog. To use these plugins after installation, simply select the catalog you want to search, enter your word(s), and then hit enter. Both search plugins will execute a keyword search and return your results sorted by date. You can delete a plugin by finding the *.src and *.gif file in the \Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins directory on your hard drive. Contact a Librarian if you have questions.

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Monday, October 17, 2005

Education Library Research Seminar on Thursday, October 20

The Library will be offering an hour long training on Thursday, October 20 from 3 to 4 p.m. in 204 Boyd Science Center. Education Abstracts, ERIC, and INFOhio resources will be will be discussed. You will have the opportunity to follow along and try searching the tools described above using the lab computers. All interested students, faculty, and staff are invited.

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Put me in Coach, I’m ready to be a jelly doughnut!*

Puzzled? Well, that what happens when we try to be witty and mix together analogies to sports and international politics...

Our library Author Talks continue for the 2005-06 year. Our first in the series of five will take place Thursday, Oct. 20 at 3:30 p.m. in the library reference area. Emeritus Professor of History Dr. Taylor Stults, and Dr. Robert Burk, recipient of the Arthur and Eloise Barnes Cole Distinguished Professorship in American History, will be our speakers. They both have hot topics: Baseball, and the Cold War, that closed chapter in the never-ending story called foreign policy.

Dr. Stults will discuss his book, Fifty major documents of the twentieth century, 1950-2000, which examines the tumultuous history of the second half of the 20th century through its most formative documents. Dr. Burk is the author of the award-winning baseball history, Much More than a Game, and other books which discuss labor relations in baseball and its effects on the development of the game and industry we know today.

Please join us for a great discussion of these topics There will be time to ask each author about his writing experience. Refreshments will be served. However, jelly doughnuts may not be on the menu.

Other talks will be in November, February, March, and April. They always start at 3:30p.m. and end at 5p.m., on the third Thursday of the month. All are welcome!

*By the way, it's an urban legend that President Kennedy declared himself to be a jelly doughnut when he said, "Ich bin ein Berliner", on June 26, 1963. Read more about the urban legend at about.com and Wikipedia.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Biology Library Research Seminar on Thursday, October 13

The Library will be offering an hour long training on Thursday, October 13 from 3 to 4 p.m. in 204 Boyd Science Center. Biological Abstracts and other key biology library resources will be discussed. You will have the opportunity to follow along trying searches using the lab computers. All interested students, faculty, and staff are invited.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Items added to the collection in September

A number of new books and videos were added to the Library collection in September, including 59 new juvenile fiction and non-fiction titles. You can view the complete list on the Library's web site. Below are just a few of the new titles added in September. Feel free to stop by and browse the new item shelf located directly behind the Reference Desk on the main floor of the Library.

A day in a medieval city
Frugoni, Chiara, 1940-
D134 .F7913 2005

The female offender : girls, women, and crime
Chesney-Lind, Meda.
HV6046 .C54 2004

Early reading instruction : what science really tells us about how to teach reading
McGuinness, Diane.
LB1139.5.R43 M34 2004

Fargo rock city : a heavy metal odyssey in rural Nörth Daköta
Klosterman, Chuck, 1972-
ML3918.R63 K56 2003

The superhero book : the ultimate encyclopedia of comic-book icons and Hollywood heroes (REFERENCE)
Ref P96.H46 S87 2004

I [heart] Huckabees
DVD PN1997 .I33 2005

Polymer characterization : physical techniques
Campbell, D. (Donald), 1937-
QD139.P6 C36 2000

Super size me
DVD RA645.N87 S87 2004