Free Lee Documentary

While you are waiting to get your hands on Harper Lee’s latest novel, Go Set a Watchman, satisfy your Atticus Finch cravings with the pre-release of a new documentary called “Harper Lee: From Mockingbird to Watchman,” available online and streaming through the Kanopy collection for one week only.   Kanopy Streaming Video is the Arkansas Tech Library’s latest partner in online films.   Director Mary McDonah Murphy sifts through the facts and speculation surrounding Lee and both her novels.  It includes interviews with Lee’s older sister, close friends, and literary admirers, from Oprah Winfrey to Wally Lamb.

To watch this documentary, available from today until July 20th, click this link: https://libcatalog.atu.edu/login?url=http://atu.kanopystreaming.com/node/110173 or search our library catalog for this film, other streaming films, and old fashioned books by and about Harper Lee.

 

Shift & Change

The first floor of the Ross Pendergraft Library is undergoing some substantial changes this summer.  In order to modernize our collection, add more study space, and create a more attractive environment, we’re weeding, shifting, moving, and condensing many of our book collections.  Here are just a few of the changes already happening or soon to begin on the first floor:

Law Books Are Going…Going…Gone

The first floor of the library used to be the home of many legal materials from the Pope County Law Library.  However, most of those books are now out of date, difficult to search, and available online through our LexisNexis database.  Therefore, we have removed those items from our library.  We still have the Arkansas Code, Acts of the General Assembly of the state of Arkansas, West’s Arkansas cases, and other locally important legal volumes in our Reference Collection.  For help locating legal resources, please see the helpful staff at our Reference Desk.  Be aware, however, that we do not provide legal advice.

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Oversized Books Have Moved Upstairs

The library’s super-sized books, which used to be behind the Reference Collection on the first floor, have moved upstairs to the second floor in the Compact Shelving Area, next to Periodicals.  Our regular book shelves just can’t handle these monster-sized behemoths, and so they have to be moved to a separate area.   Compact Shelving offers deeper shelves to accommodate the sizes and closer proximity to the rest of the book collection.  You’ll find many of our larger art books or graphic novels in this area, but almost any book over 30 centimeters will be found here.   In the catalog, these books will appear as the location “OVERSIZED” in the online catalog.  Here’s a handy map, pointing the way to their new home:  http://library.atu.edu/help/AZ/2-compact_shelving.php

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Library employee Darren Dunn grapples with his bibliophobia through exposure therapy

 

Reference Inches Backwards

We are currently shifting the Reference Collection back where the Pope County Law Library Collection used to reside.  These are on the first floor, just around the corner from the Reference Desk.  Our Reference Collection contains almanacs, thesauri, specialized encyclopedias, guidebooks, and other items designed to serve as a quick reference and general overviews of most subjects.  These books can be used in the library, but they cannot be checked out.  This shift is still in progress, so if you can’t find what you are looking for, just ask the friendly (and mostly stationary) staff at the Reference Desk.

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Periodicals Consolidated

Since many of our paper periodicals have transitioned to online only formats, searchable in our e-resources page, we have started to consolidate titles closer together.  This will allow us to remove the excess stacks in order to expand casual seating.   Look for these changes later in the summer.  Stay tuned!

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For questions about these changes, or about anything else in the library, email your friendly neighborhood librarians.  We’ll be here all summer, during our usual summer hours.   Keep checking back for more updates as we continue to make changes to the library.

 

Up All Night

Beginning Sunday, April 26th, the library will open at 2:00 P.M. and will not close until Friday, May 1st, at 6:00 P.M.  That’s right—24 hour service for finals is BACK!

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Here’s a little Q & A about finals week:

Q. Will there be coffee again?

A. YES!

Q. Will there be food, too?

A. YES!

Q. Will there be highly caffeinated librarians answering your frantic, last-minute questions at 3:00 a.m.??

A.  Oh, you know there will be!

Some of you may recall the library inaugurated its first 24 hour service period last semester.   During that week of finals, the library averaged 74 people a night between the hours of midnight and six in the morning.  On one particularly busy night, we had 187 people in the library at midnight—having group meetings, finishing up papers, & occasionally falling asleep in chairs.  You can read more about last semester’s trial run here.

To stay on top of announcements, or to share your photos, comments, and random thoughts at 4:00 a.m., follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

We plan to offer the same services as last semester.  Keep in mind, however, the Music Lab, Inter-library Loan service, and some circulation services will not be available.  We will still be able to offer basic check-in/check-out, but no fine repayments or new library applications after midnight.

But if you just need a quiet place to study, a table to gather around, some emergency citation help, or just a cup of coffee during the wee hours of finals, come join us in the library.  Don’t worry, we’ll leave the light on.

 

We’re Open!

Since the inauguration has moved to Tucker Coliseum on Friday, April 17th, the library will remain open during our regular hours, from 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. After you finish attending the inauguration, come by the library and check out our new arrivals…literally!

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Here’s a brief snapshot of the titles most recently inaugurated into our collection:

FICTION BOOKS

 NON-FICTION BOOKS

FILMS

Want to stay on top of new items?  Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.  You can also check out our growing list of new items by clicking the “Open Your Mind” logo in the top right corner of the library homepage.  We also have a breakdown of new titles by department & month on our Libguide for new books (including e-books).  If you happen to be in the library, proceed immediately to the first floor, south entrance where you’ll find the latest & greatest new books:

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Keep checking back for more new stuff, new “news”, as well as old, awful puns.

On Trial

The Library is currently sampling a buffet of new databases.  Feast on the following collections:

  • RILM Abstracts of Music Literature: This comprehensive music bibliography covers many subjects such as ethnomusicology, composition, dramatic arts, music librarianship, music pedagogy, music therapy, performance practice and popular music studies.  Content spans from 1967 to the present, and includes over 800,000 records in 171 different languages.  This trial ends June 30th.
  • SPIE Digital Library: This database contains the world’s largest collection of optics and photonics research with over 400,000 papers from conference proceedings, peer-reviewed journals and eBooks, with content spanning 1962 to present.  Includes full-text, images, multimedia, abstracts, and more.  Browse the topic collections to quickly catch up on the latest research in fields ranging from Astronomy to Sensors.  Explore this resource soon before the trial expires on May 12th.

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Like what you see?  Have other databases you want us to trial?  Let us know at askalibrarian@atu.edu.

Party at the Library

The Library is throwing a party, and you’re invited.  Come visit us on Tuesday, April 14, at 11:00 to celebrate National Library Week and the Library’s 90th year as a federal depository for government documents.  

PS: there will be free cake. 

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National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association to celebrate the contributions of libraries and to promote library use and support.  Libraries around the country are hosting their own celebrations, raising awareness about their importance and calling attention to their sometimes endangered status.

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At Ross Pendergraft Library, we’re using this as an opportunity celebrate our own milestone: 90 years as a federal depository library.  The Federal Depository Library Program was established by Congress nearly 200 years ago to ensure the American public has free and unrestricted access to information published by the government.  The Government Printing Office distributes this information, in both paper and electronic formats, to selected libraries around the country.

Since 1925, the ATU Library has participated in this program, and today, we currently hold over 119,000 federal documents.  To find government publications including the Budget of the United States Government, the Code of Federal Regulations, the Statistical Abstract of the United States, and much more, search our online catalog. 

Most of our documents are located online, but we also have many publications in print located in the US documents section on the second floor of the Library.  For additional help locating these important resources, contact our esteemed government documents librarian, Frances Hager

For all other inquiries about National Library Week, the Federal Depository Program, or the flavor of the cake, send us an email at askalibrarian@atu.edu.  You can also be the first to know the next time we throw down by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.  See you at the party!

 

Libflix

Netflix not enough?  Try grabbing a movie or a television series from the Ross Pendergraft Library Music Lab.  We have new releases, award-winning documentaries, hit TV shows,  as well as foreign and independent films you cannot find on most streaming movie sites.  Start your search with our revised Music Lab website.

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We now have a new way to browse movies using our DVD Collection page.  Browse the latest DVDs by language or category.  Our collection includes animated, action & adventure films, musicals, romantic comedies, horror, science fiction, and more.

You can also browse ALL our newly acquired DVDs at the New DVD Titles page.  Binge watch the latest seasons of Game of Thrones, Sons of Anarchy, Homeland, Modern Family, True Blood, & the Walking Dead.  Skip the Red Box and check-out new releases like the Fault in Our Stars, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Cosmos, the Lego Movie, Maleficent, & Warm Bodies for free from the Library. Search our Online Library Catalog for specific titles, directors, actors, keyword, or subject.

Can’t make it out to the library?  Check out our new Video Streaming Collections page.  Each link contains collections of streaming video, short films, television shows, interviews, and clips.   Enjoy award-winning documentaries from PBS Video Collection, travel back in time through the Archive of American Television, or attempt to stomach the surgical videos available from the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons.

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Have a video or video collection you want to suggest for the library?  Send us your flick picks at askalibrarian@atu.edu.

Have it all with CINAHL

nurse buttonNursing students: are you tired of zero results?  Tired of submitting ILL requests for articles you needed yesterday?  Tired of wandering endless result pages, looking for full-text?  Look no further than our new and improved CINAHL Plus database with full text.

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Recently acquired by the Library to help bolster a growing Nursing Department at Arkansas Tech, this update to our older version of CINAHL includes more full text to nursing and allied health journals and deeper indexing to include allied health literature and bio-medical resources dating back to 1937.

What does this mean to you?  With an expanded index, you have a greater chance of finding articles relating to your topic, no matter how obscure.   In addition, available full-text coverage expanded from 70 journals to 700.  While not every article you find will include full-text, a greater number will, including articles from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses’ Association publications.

In addition, this database offers access to health care books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of practice, audiovisuals, book chapters and more.

For example, the expanded database also includes 134 Evidence-Based Care Sheets which provide concise overviews of diseases and conditions and outlines the most effective treatment options.

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Want to find Evidence-Based Practice articles?  Scroll down from the advanced search screen to limit your results.  You can also limit by Clinical Query type, Peer-Reviewed, Nurse authored, age group, randomized controlled trials, region, and other variables.

If you find yourself still lacking in relevant results, use CINAHL Headings to select appropriate heading terms for your topic.

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There’s so much you can do with CINAHL, you might need a tutorial to explore all of the features.  But a dedicated team of friendly neighborhood librarians are standing by to help if you have any questions.  Give it a try today—we promise, it won’t hurt a bit.

Remembering MLK

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In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center will be closed Saturday through Monday, January 17th-January 19th.  While we’re closed, take a look at a selection of resources relating to Dr. King and the dream of equality to which he devoted his life.

  • The King Center

    The definitive resource for digital resources pertaining to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the King Center hosts nearly one million documents relating to his life and his work.  Find speeches, telegrams, scribbled notes, and photographs of the civil rights leader throughout his life.

  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service

    In 1994, Congress designated the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday as a national day of service and charged the Corporation for National and Community Service with leading this effort.  The MLK Day of Service is the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service – a “day on, not a day off.”   It calls for Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems.  This website include toolkits and project registration to organize other volunteers to join in a national day of civic service.

  • Civil Rights History Project (Library of Congress)

    Includes video interviews from a number of people sharing their experiences and impressions of Dr. King, including their reflections on his assassination, and the civil rights movement in general. Some of the participants include other civil rights activists of the time, friends, and colleagues who worked closely with Dr. King.

  • Martin Luther King, Jr. [FBI file].

    Collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this free, government resource contains pages of government information relating to FBI surveillance of King during the 1960’s, as well as documents relating to his assassination investigation.

When the library re-opens on Tuesday, January 20th, check-out these additional resources:

  • Citizen KingB0006Z2L5G.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_

    Produced by PBS, this documentary pushes past the myths that have obscured King’s story to reclaim the history of a people’s leader.  Using the personal recollections, diaries, letters, and eyewitness accounts of friends, family, journalists, law enforcement officers and historians, this film brings fresh insights to King’s difficult journey, his charismatic — if at times flawed — leadership, and his truly remarkable impact.  Available for check-out in the Music Lab, 2nd floor.

  • contentA testament of hope : the essential writings and speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.

    Includes the speeches, writings, interviews, and excerpts from five of Martin Luther King’s books.  Presented in chronological order within topical groupings.  Available in the Stacks, 2nd floor.

  • 1600248500.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_Martin Luther King, Jr. : the essential box set, the landmark speeches and sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

    This audiobook box set includes readings of all the landmark speeches of the great orator and American leader Martin Luther King, Jr. from his inspirational “I have a dream” to his fiery “Give us the ballot.”  Available in Audiobooks, 1st floor.

  • 0446524123.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_The autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

    First-person account of the extraordinary life of America’s greatest civil rights leader. With thousands of King’s essays, notes, letters, speeches, and sermons at his disposal, the author has organized King’s writings into a posthumous autobiography.  Available in the Stacks, 2nd floor.

Be More With PBS Video

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The Ross Pendergraft Library is thrilled to announce the recent acquisition of the PBS Video Collection.

Stream quality documentary films and programs produced by the leading educational video producer in the country.  The collection includes over 400 documentary films and programs, and each one can be streamed over any device with an internet connection.  Save yourself the trip to the library (or the store), and watch any of these videos on demand.

Included in the collection are some of the rich documentaries produced by Ken Burns, long-established programs like Nova and Frontline, and other educational films from a variety of disciplines.  Most of the available programs were produced in the last ten years, giving you more up-to-date content to use in classroom instruction.

Every film comes with a full transcript which is searchable across the database.  You can also send videos to a tablet or phone, share them via email, or embed them in a web platform like Blackboard.  If you want to create clips of videos or a playlist of clips, there are easy-to-use tools within each video for just that purpose.

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Do you have questions about this collection?  Want to know how to clip videos, create playlists, or embed videos into Blackboard?  Email us at askalibrarian@atu.edu.  For videos not in the PBS collection, try searching among the thousands of videos located in the Music Lab collection on the Library’s second floor.