"Access to knowledge is the superb, the supreme act of truly great
civilizations. Of all the institutions that purport to do this, free libraries
stand virtually alone in accomplishing this mission."
-- Toni Morrison
In this issue:
Library Project Groundbreaking
The culmination of many years of planning will be celebrated at 4 PM on Tuesday, March 18 when the official groundbreaking ceremony will take place. The ceremony will include remarks from Steve Chadwick, Student Government President; Joan Brearley, President of the Library Association; Paul S. Doherty, President of the Board of Trustees; Rebecca Stafford, University President; and Jean Schoenthaler, Interim Dean of the Library. The remarks and groundbreaking ceremony will be part of a reception in the Guggenheim Library which will be renovated and restored during the project.
The project will be done in stages commencing with the building of the addition and the renovation of the exterior of the Guggenheim during the next 18 months. The third and fourth stages will be a complete renovation of the 1968 addition and the restoration and renovation of the Guggenheim interior.
Need HELP with your research?
Have you ever used a web search engine to do research for your class assignment, and the results for the terms you entered came back with thousands of hits? You end up clicking on one site after another and find information that’s not exactly what you need, so you go on to the next hit. Two hours later you’re still wading through these web sites and your assignment deadline is getting closer.
There has to be a better way! How do you find items that will actually be useful for your report? The library has more than 70 databases available for accessing journal articles on academic subjects and current events. The library has scheduled two workshops for students to improve research skills and to learn how to best navigate through the myriad of electronic resources available. The workshops will be held:
Guggenheim Library
Tuesday,
March 25, 2003 7:00 – 8:00 PM
Wednesday,
March 26, 2003 3:00 – 4:00 PM
For more information or to
sign up for a workshop, contact Eleonora Dubicki at extension 4402, e-mail
edubicki@monmouth.edu
or ask at the Library’s reference desk.
CQ Weekly: new online source for tracking information about the US Congress
Guggenheim Library now offers access to CQ Weekly, the electronic version of the weekly periodical published inside the Washington Beltway – Congressional Quarterly Weekly. Now you don’t have to be in the library, let alone inside the Beltway, to take full advantage of CQ Weekly !
Students and faculty might be most interested in reading the latest issues, containing full-text of all articles, or scanning back issues for information about the status of bills in congress or votes (with actual breakdown of participants). The CQ archive extends back to October 1983, the 98th Congress. For tracking legislative histories it can be helpful too, because all issues can be searched so the user can trace specific legislation from its inception. Using the search engine with key terms, and changing the drop-down menus to specify timeframes and specific congresses can produce fruitful results. An advantage to an online resource like this is that the entire past twenty years of CQ Weekly can be searched at once. But if the user does desire the paper version, the Guggenheim Library has issues back to 1998, housed in the Reference Room.
The search engine could benefit from having an advanced search mode instead of just a basic mode. In all stages of results however, results can either be downloaded to a disk or printed out. Unfortunately at this time there is no direct email link within CQ’s site, but it has been recommended.
The well laid-out and easily navigable CQ Weekly has an uncluttered
layout which makes it easier for first time users to find exactly what
they want. For “help”, click on FAQs, which provides more of an overview
of what CQ contains and is not context-specific for how to search. Helpful
search tips are found within the search screen itself.
Every new issue features an eye-catching colorful photograph which
can attract the general reader to prominent issues of the week. The
reader may even be able to access articles in the CQ Weekly before
they’re available in the paper issue.
So, check out this latest resource via the Library’s “Electronic Resources” link under the middle column of databases listed alphabetically. Use it to get informed and stay informed !
For more guidance on in-depth use of this tool and government publications
in general, please contact Government Documents Librarian Susan Kadezabek
at 732/263-5591.
National Parks Images on Display
Librarian Eleonora Dubicki, an avid photographer, currently has an exhibit of 12 of her U.S. National Parks and Monuments on display in the lobby of the Guggenheim Library. The photographs were taken during visits to more than two dozen parks spanning the breadth of the United States, from Maine to Hawaii. Eleonora enjoys taking photographs of the spectacular vistas and unique characteristics that each park has to offer. Among the images in the exhibit are the scenic red canyons and wilderness areas of the Southwest and the coastline cliffs of Maine's Acadia national Park. The exhibit will be on display through March.
The Faculty Assignment Alert, located on the library's main web page, has been met with interest and enthusiasm. Professors are invited to send details regarding student research assignments to better prepare librarians for the instruction that will be necessary for students to successfully complete the assignment. Librarians are also available to help develop research assignments and determine whether the appropriate books and articles are found in the Guggenheim's print and electronic collections. For further information, contact Dawn Popoff, Reference Coordinator, at 571-4403.
You can now renew your books online without carting them back to the library! Online renewal will only work if your library account is current and your books are not overdue. Go to the Library Homepage and click on "Circulation Department" and then click on "Patron Record". Follow the instructions from there.
Coming
soon -- Wireless Laptops! Wireless laptops
will soon be available for use in the library. For more information, please
check at the Circulation Desk.
A Reminder... The Guggenheim Library is part of the VALE Faculty Reciprocal Borrowing Agreement, which allows faculty and staff to borrow books from participating academic libraries. Applications are available at our Circulation Desk. For more information, go to the VALE Faculty Reciprocal Borrowing Homepage at http://www.tcnj.edu/~access/recbor.html or call the Circulation Desk at extension 3693.
Library Dean Meets with Noted Author
Legacies, landmarks and a life-long
love of local lore were the topics on the table when the dean of New Jersey
journalists met the Guggenheim’s interim dean over a meal in Madison late
last fall.
The occasion was an informal
homecoming for author John T. Cunningham and Monmouth University’s Jean
Schoenthaler.
Friends for more than a decade,
the two have long collaborated on regional research at the Drew University
Archives,
Schoenthaler’s former employer.
A Florham Park resident who, at age 87, was the subject of recent profiles
in the New York Times and New Jersey Monthly magazine, Cunningham
has always preferred his pressroom persona to the more
frequently-applied label “historian,” even though he once served as head
of the New Jersey Historical Society and the majority of the 45 books
and thousands of serial articles he has written chronicle the history of
the Garden State. He began his career as a cub reporter for the Morristown
Daily Record before making his mark as a feature writer for the now-departed
Newark News. Since 1963 he has focused on freelance work, dabbling in fields
from film to business as a means to pursuing his primary passion for crafting
factual narratives that appeal to a mass-market audience. The product of
a depression-era farm family that championed higher education—five
of his six siblings earned college degrees—Cunningham (Drew Class
of ’38) has often given generously of his time and resources to support
scholastic endeavors. His November meeting with Schoenthaler was
no exception, despite their relaxed conference setting. After
inscribing “best wishes” to the university community in copies of
his books from the Guggenheim’s New Jersey Collection, Cunningham
agreed to deliver a dedication this October when the Library hosts
its first alumni breakfast. That, too, will represent a homecoming
of sorts for the soft-spoken, avuncular author. Back in 1977, to
honor his lifetime achievements in journalism and letters, Monmouth awarded
him the title Doctor of Laws.
Using Electronic Library Resources from Off-Campus
Access
to more than 20 electronic databases licensed by the Library are
now available from off-campus. Many of these resources include select full
text of journal, magazine and newspaper articles as well as other important
research materials. To use this service you must have Internet access,
a web browser, and a Hawkmail account. Click on Remote
Access Help from the Library home page for detailed instructions on
how to configure your computer.
For
Professors: For many, Spring Break marks the transition into
research paper writing season. Please know that library instruction sessions
are still available to help your students make full use of the resources
open to them through the Guggenheim Library. Instruction is available for
both undergraduate and graduate level courses and can be taught in either
the library or your wired classroom.
Please
see the Instructional Sevices webpage at: http://bluehawk.monmouth.edu/library/gardner/instruc.html
for more information and contact Mike Banick at extension 4404 or mdbanick@monmouth.edu
to discuss program options or to schedule a workshop for your class.
For
Students: Please note the story above -- two open library
workshops are being offered this month, on Tuesday, March 25 at 7pm
and Wednesday, March 26 at 3pm. If you have questions about doing research
or about using the resources we offer, please come to one of these workshops
for an informative and demystifying 60-minute session.
Contributors to this issue:
Jean Schoenthaler, Eleonora Dubicki, Aurora Ioanid, Susan
Kadezabek, Dawn Popoff, Chris Ellwood, Sandi Epstein, Mike Banick and Sue
Stehle.
Questions or comments -
Please contact Rachel Gardner,
Associate Librarian, Information Services & Collection Development.