Archives for October 2017

On Trial : SPIE Digital Library

Interested in optics, photonics, energy, and imaging?  Focus in on the Ross Pendergraft Library’s newest database trial: SPIE Digital Library.

screenshot of the SPIE Digital Library

This database includes over 465,000 papers spanning biomedicine, communications, sensors, defense and security, manufacturing, energy, and imaging.  The most extensive research database available on optics and photonics, the SPIE Digital Library includes full-text access to not only peer-reviewed journal articles, but also technical papers, conference proceedings, and ebooks.  Coverage extends from 1962 to the present.

Unlike other scholarly article databases at RPL, SPIE also includes conference presentations—actual videos and presentation slides of the speaker.  The SPIE Digital Library includes 8,000 conference presentations, including many plenary and keynote presentations.

Screenshot of DE-STAR Planetary Defence conference presentation about blasting near earth objects with friggin laser beams

 

Users of the SPIE Digital Library will find many of the familiar options that other databases provide like Advanced Search and ways to limit search results by year, type of publication, keywords, author, or affiliation.

Search Results from SPIE DIGITAL Library

SPIE also offers clear tools to get citations into Refworks or another bibliographic reference manager.  Unfortunately, there is no direct connection to Refworks at this time, so you will have to download the citation and then import the reference manually.

You can also share the article via email, Facebook, and other social media platforms.  Just remember—this resource is only available to students, faculty, and staff at Arkansas Tech.

Take the SPIE Digital Library for a spin from now until December 18th, 2017.  If you like what you see with this resource, send us a message at Ask Us or alert the library liaison for your department.  Remember, we rely on your feedback to make future database purchasing decisions, so please drop us a line.

How the War Changed American Literature, Painting, Photography, and Film

Join us October 19th at 7:00 P.M. at the Ross Pendergraft Library as we welcome special guest Dr. Stanley Lombardo, professor of English at Arkansas Tech, to give a presentation entitled, “World War I Influence on American Literature, Painting, Photography, and Film.”  This free event will take place in RPL 300B–all are welcome.

Dr. Lombardo will be reading from the book, World War I and America: Told By the Americans Who Lived It, a publication from the Library of America.  In particular, he will discuss the war’s impact on American culture, particularly its influence on writers, painters, photographers, and filmmakers.

Attendees will be treated to a short reading from Ernest Hemingway’s story, “Soldier’s Home,” film clips from the movie The Big Parade (1925), as well as a discussion on some of the embedded artists of World War I and other American artists of the time.  In addition, Dr. Lombardo will also explore the post-war trend toward horror films using James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) as an example of how the war shaped filmmakers conception of horror.

The presentation is the latest in a special series which will run through November, featuring guest lectures and a first floor display commemorating the World War I Centennial.  The last presentation in the series will occur on November 9th and will feature an all veterans appreciation event and discussion panel on veteran’s issues.

You can read the full schedule here or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.  For more information about the World War I speakers and events, contact Luke Heffley at (479) 964-0546 or lheffley@atu.edu