Tech Yearbooks Online

Posted on October 14, 2013 Written by

Travel back in time 100 years to the very beginnings of Arkansas Tech University through the pages of the yearbook, Agricola—newly digitized and now available through the Library’s website:

http://libguides.atu.edu/research/tools/othercollections/agricola

The Agricola was published from 1912-2006, as Arkansas Tech University’s yearbook.   Each yearbook features images and scenes of daily life, clubs and organizations, faculty members, athletics, and the buildings of Arkansas Tech when it was  known as the Second District Agricultural School (1909-1924).  Several include poetry, short stories, schedules of school events, and advertising from local businesses in the surrounding communities.

The online PDFs for the years 1912-1915, 1918, 1922-1924 can be full-text searched as individual PDFs, and a number of the original covers are also available online.

The physical copies of the yearbooks are currently housed at the Library, and most from 1912-2006 are still available for browsing and check-out.  Search our  online catalog for more details.  While not all of the yearbooks have been digitized, we have plans to add more to this collection as the year goes on.

In the meantime, travel to these first few years of Arkansas Tech history as told through the photographs, writings, jokes, and hairstyles of the students who were living it.  No Tardis necessary.

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From Agricola, 1915, page 89.

Filed Under: Library

The Shutdown Breakdown

Posted on October 2, 2013 Written by

If you are currently conducting research using government-provided statistics, reports, articles, images, or other information, you might hit some roadblocks due to the U.S. Government shutdown.  Effective Oct. 1, many of the government websites and databases we take for granted are now unavailable or available in a more limited way.  This could impact your research, as well as the research of faculty and students across the country.  Here’s a short list of some government-based databases and websites affected by the shutdown.

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Government websites unavailable:

  • ERIC — The Library has four different interfaces for this important educational database supported through the federal government.  The interfaces through OCLC, EbscoHOST, and Proquest will provide article searching to find citations.  However, full text is unavailable from the actual ERIC.gov site, and the direct interface at the ERIC website is completely offline at the time of this post.  We have selected older ERIC documents available on microfiche, and some will be available in other publications at Tech Library by selecting the “Linksource” icon in the citation.  The friendly librarians at the Reference Desk will also be able to assist you in finding these resources from other sources, and Interlibrary Loan can also help provide you with documents during the shutdown.
  • Census.gov — Census websites are now closed, and all services associated with them.  This includes American Fact Finder, Federal Statistics, and other government statistical websites.
  • Bureau of Economic Analysis
  • Business.gov
  • CDC Wonder — a comprehensive on-line public health information system of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Data.gov
  • Disability.gov
  • FCC (Federal Communications Commission)
  • FTC (Federal Trade Commission)
  • NASA
  • National Center for Education Statistics
  • National Parks Service
  • USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)
  • United States Copyright Office

Government websites with limited functionality or limited updates

Government websites with full functionality:

  • THOMAS — This government website contains a fully searchable database of congressional bills and legislation.  The site continues to be updated as events in Congress unfold.
  • Statistical Abstracts of the United States (via Proquest)–A comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
  • HealthCare.gov–This site features information for the new national health insurance program provided by Affordable Healthcare Act.  The first day to sign up for the service was October 1st, and while there have been reports of glitches and crashes, the site appears to be functioning…for the moment.
  • All websites and information necessary to protect lives and property.
  • Most of the direct-links to government documents as found in our online catalog.

Some Arkansas-related websites and places affected by the shutdown include all of the national parks within the state, the Clinton presidential library, and other nationally funded museums and historic sites.

For more information about the government shutdown, visit the USA.gov site which describes in more detail the  ramifications of the government shutdown on national services and agencies.

As the list grows or shrinks, we’ll keep updating this post as we are informed.  If you have problems locating information, contact the librarians here at Ross Pendergraft Library at askalibrarian@atu.edu, and we’ll help you find the work-arounds to the shutdown.

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Filed Under: Library Tagged:

Banned Books

Posted on September 20, 2013 Written by

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Every year in the United States, books are challenged, banned, and removed from school and public libraries.   Banned Books Week is the national book community’s annual celebration of the freedom to read.  Since 1982, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country have drawn attention to the problem of censorship by creating displays or exhibits of challenged and banned books.

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First floor display of the ATU Library.

This year, Banned Books Week is Sept. 22-28th, and to highlight this event we have created banned book displays on the first floor of the library.  You’ll be able to view some of the frequently challenged or banned books, and discover the reasons why they were or, in some cases, continue to be removed from libraries.

You can find seven of the top ten most challenged books of 2012 right here at Ross Pendergraft Library:

  1. Thirteen reasons why : a novel by Jay Asher.   Reasons:Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group
  2.  Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James.   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
  3.  And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.  Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group
  4. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.   Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
  5. Looking for Alaska, by John Green.  Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
  6. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz.   Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence
  7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison.  Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence

While a book may be banned from a library in the United States, governments around the world ban and punish the sale, writing, publishing, and even ownership of certain books.  For more information about banned books around the world, visit Beacon for Freedom of Expression, an international database of nearly 50,000 titles of censored works.  It also includes literature about  censorship and freedom of expression.

Celebrate your freedom to read–visit the ATU Library to learn about banned books weeks or take home one for yourself . . . if you dare!

Filed Under: Library Tagged: ,

Avast ye mateys!

Posted on September 19, 2013 Written by

September 19th is National Talk Like A Pirate Day, and to celebrate, we’re highlighting our new language learning tool Mango Languages to help you brush up on your Pirate speech.

Mango features five chapters on Pirate, including cultural notes, Pirate grammar, and conversational Pirate–as spoken (presumably) by real pirates.

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First time users to Mango Languages will have to create a login username and password to use the system, as well as to save progress through the courses.  After that, it’s smooth sailing.

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Mango Languages offer 60 other language course in addition to Pirate such as Spanish, French, Latin, Chinese, and Arabic.  So once you become fluent in Pirate, you can try your hand at other languages.

If you want additional practice in conversational Pirate, see our selection of Pirate movies available on DVD from the Music Lab on the second floor:

For more Pirate-culture materials, check with the land-lubber librarians over at the Reference desk or send a message via parrot or email to askalibrarian@atu.edu.

 

 

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New Additions

Posted on September 13, 2013 Written by

Calculator announcement pngIIIBreaking news: we now have graphing calculators for check-out at the Ross Pendergraft Library!  They are available at the Circulation Desk in three flavors: TI-82 , TI-83 Plus, and TI-84 Plus Silver.  You can check them out for 2 hours at a time, but they cannot leave the library.  However, you can renew them if you need them longer.

Just bring your Tech ID to the Circulation Desk to check one out.  Don’t let high calculator prices keep you away from such an integral part of most college-level math courses.

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Lost in the Library?

Posted on September 5, 2013 Written by

If you’re new to Tech or just new to the Ross Pendergraft Library, we want to invite you to our Library Resources Workshop on Friday, Sept. 6th.  We are hosting two workshops that day:

  • Student Workshop at 1:00 in room 334
  • Faculty Workshop at 2:00 in room 334

These are hands-on workshops designed to teach you how to get the most from Library services, databases, and other collections.  If you are struggling with research or just want to know what tools we have to make your academic library easier, pop in for a quick demo of some our most useful services and collections.

Can’t make it to one of our workshops?  No problem–we have video tutorials on our library catalog, online resources, the Dewey Decimal system, and ILL.   We also have some research guides geared towards particular subjects and classes.

Still lost?  Contact your friendly neighborhood librarian: askalibrarian@atu.edu.  We can also schedule individual consultations, as well as classroom instruction for faculty members.

 

Filed Under: Library Tagged: ,

Changes

Posted on August 30, 2013 Written by

For many of you, this week is all about change–a change in lifestyle, a change of address, and a change in sleeping patterns.  The Library has made some changes, too.  Here’s a summary of some of the new things we’ve added, along with some of changes we’ve made to our existing collections over the summer break:

New Databases

We added two new databases to our collection that is sure to appeal to anyone interested in current events, international studies, foreign languages, or just about anyone trying to brush up on their Spanish.  Mango Languages is our new language-learning system which can help you learn over 60 different languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, or even Pirate.   Library Press Display is a digital newspaper database featuring newspapers from around Arkansas, the United States, or from 97 other countries around the world.   Learn more about both services from our summer blog posts from July 12 and July 17.

New Research Guides

The Librarians have been hard at work this summer creating new study guides for various subjects and courses to get you prepared for researching using Library resources.  This summer, we added research guides for Art, Biology, Distance Learning, E-Tech 101, and many more.  You can view them all by directing your browser guns here: http://libguides.atu.edu/.  They can also be found under the Help menu from our homepage.

New Mobile Site

Get help from Library whenever and wherever you are with our new mobile site: http://library.atu.edu/m/.  Get quick access to our databases, online catalog, and our contact information from any mobile device.

Audiobooks Moved To the 1st Floor

We’ve moved the Audiobooks to the east of the Reference Desk, in the first section of shelving.  Last year, they were in the Music Lab, which made it difficult to browse for your favorite titles.  Now they are on the shelves near the Reference desk, available for check-out and browsing any time the library is open.

Youth Moved To the 1st Floor, Too

The Youth collection, comprising books for children and young adults, has moved to the first floor as well, directly across from the Periodicals section in the “short” shelves.

Reference and Index were shifted

Looking for a familiar book in a familiar place in Reference?  Can’t find it? Never fear–we have shifted the Reference and Index collections so not everything is in their usual place anymore.  If you still can’t find it, it is possible the item is missing or was removed from the collection.  If so, tell us about it: askalibrarian@atu.edu.   We might be able to acquire another copy for the library.

So how do you like the changes?  Let us know by commenting below, on Facebook, or send us an email.  It’s your library–what would you change?

 

Filed Under: Library Tagged: , , ,

Live Music!

Posted on August 28, 2013 Written by

Kick off the fall semester with a concert in the Library Thursday night, August 29th, at 7:00 P.M. in room 300 as we host the musical group HARMONY.  The concert is part of a month-long recognition of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, featuring special guest speakers and exhibits.  HARMONY will be playing Civil War era music for both history and music enthusiasts.

For more Civil War history, be sure to check out the traveling Civil War Exhibit panels and display case in the Library lobby.  You can also read more about the exhibit and find other Civil War resources in our Civil War 150 resource guide: http://libguides.atu.edu/civilwar150

Questions? Call (479) 964-0569 or send e-mail to askalibrarian@atu.edu

 

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Backyard cannonballs

Posted on August 23, 2013 Written by

On Thursday night, Ross Pendergraft Library hosted an evening with history.  We were joined by panelists Paul Slaton, David Vance, and Michael Whitaker to discuss how the Civil War played itself out in our own backyard.

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Panelist Paul Slaton, owner of The Emporium in downtown Russellville, discussed some of the local skirmishes around Dardenelle which occurred “almost on a weekly basis” during the Civil.   Audience members also learned about attacks on Union army steamships by Confederate troops along the Arkansas river, and the local artillery outposts used by the Confederates to rain bullets and shells on federalist troops.  One of the many examples of cannon balls and artillery pieces he brought to the discussion were found in his own backyard.

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Michael Whitaker described the “Record Caves” where the Pope County official records were hid during the Civil War since a common practice for union troops upon arrival into a  town was to burn the courthouse.  As a result, he says, Pope County is one of only nine counties which still contains county records from before the Civil War.

David Vance brought an extensive knowledge of Civil War currency and Arkansas banking history, as well as a large collection of Arkansas Treasury bonds and other currency issued by this state and other confederate states during the Civil War.

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Join us next Thursday, August 29th, for more Civil War history when the musical group HARMONY will be playing authentic Civil War era music in room 300 at 7:00 P.M.

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Filed Under: Library Tagged: ,

Tonight!

Posted on August 22, 2013 Written by

Join us this evening at 7:00 P.M. as we host a panel discussion on the Battle at Dardenelle and other skirmishes in Arkansas, presented by historians Wayne Phillips, Paul Staton, and Michael Whitaker in the Ross Pendergraft Library & Technology Center, room 300.

Civil War 150 Traveling Exhibit

The guest lecture is part of our month-long recognition of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, featuring speakers, musicians, and a traveling exhibit called, Civil War 150: Explaining the War and Its Meaning Through the Words of Those Who Lived It.

The exhibit panels, located near the south entrance to the Library, depict events and primary source documents from the Civil War such as newspaper headlines, portraits, and photographs.

In our exhibit cases at the north entrance, you’ll also find a collection of Civil War era artifacts including a sword, confederate currency, bullets, a powder horn, and other antiques loan from Paul M. Slaton, owner of The Emporium in Russellville.

Don’t miss our final guest performance next Thursday, August 29th, when we feature the musical group HARMONY, performing music from the Civil War era at 7:00 P.M. in room 300.

Read more about the exhibit and find other Civil War resources in our Civil War 150 resource guide: http://libguides.atu.edu/civilwar150

Questions? Call (479) 964-0569 or send e-mail to askalibrarian@atu.edu

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