Monday, April 24, 2006

Summer reading, anyone?

Most of you are probably swamped with "end of the semester" issues at the moment. Please remember to check out the "new book" section of the library when you start contemplating your summer reading. This section of books is one of the first things you see when you enter the library.
Some suggestions are:
"Flying Through Midnight" by John Halliday (DS558.8.H36 2005)
"First Man - the Life of Neil A. Armstrong" by James Hansen (TL789.85.A75H36 2005)
"Winning" by Jack Welch (HF5386.W384 2005)
"The Painted Drum" by Louise Erdrich (PS3555.R42P35 2005)
"The Beatles" by Bob Spitz (ML421.B4567 2005)

More JSTOR!

We have added four new collections to our JSTOR content.

Biological Sciences Collection - This will include at least one hundred journals when completed at the end of 2007. Coverage in this collection offers greater depth in fields such as biodiversity, conservation, paleontology, and plant science, in addition to introducing new areas such as cell biology and zoology.

Arts & Sciences III Collection - Focused on the arts and humanities, the Arts & Sciences III Collection contains 150 titles. The collection makes available additional journals in language and literature, as well as important titles in the new fields of music, film studies, folklore, performing arts, religion, and the history of art and architecture.

Arts & Sciences IV Collection - The Arts & Sciences IV Collection will include a minimum of one hundred journals when completed at the end of 2006. The collection features titles in the disciplines of business, education, health policy, law, psychology, and public policy and administration.

Arts & Sciences Complement - The Arts & Sciences Complement allows participants to seamlessly add journals related to the core Arts & Sciences I, II, III, and IV Collections. For the Arts & Sciences Complement, journals may be focused in any of JSTOR's more than thirty arts, humanities, and social sciences disciplines. JSTOR's aim is to introduce important titles not included in earlier collections and to capture journals that cross discipline boundaries. A minimum of 150 journals will be added over five years, concluding by the end of 2008.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

PsycBooks & PsycExtra

Your library now provides full text access to more content than ever from the American Psychological Association. Check out PsycBooks to find access to 600 titles from the APA + 1500 entries from the Encyclopedia of Psychology. PsycEXTRA is a "gray literature" database which supplies a wide variety of credible information in psychology, behavioral science, and health most of which is written for professionals and disseminated outside of peer-reviewed journals in documents such as newsletters, technical and annual reports, government reports, consumer brochures, and more. Links for these databases can now be accessed on the Psychology Research page.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Charles Johnson visiting campus tonight for the Heart River Writers' Circle

Award-winning author and cartoonist Dr. Charles Johnson will appear at Dickinson State University on Wednesday, April 5 at 8 p.m. in Beck Auditorium located in Klinefelter Hall as part of the Heart River Writers’ Circle. A reception and book signing will follow the reading.

During his presentation, Johnson will read from and discuss “Soulcatcher and Other Stories.” In this collection of 12 short stories, Johnson presents life during the era of African-American slavery. Writing from the perspective of a dozen different individuals in American history was an interesting assignment for the experienced author, who was asked to write the stories based on the PBS series “Africans in America: America’s Journey through Slavery.”

“Rarely is a writer given the opportunity (like an actor) to climb into the skin of both Frederick Douglass and Martha Washington, to descend into the fetid hold of a slave ship and join a nineteenth century slave revolt, to play Jefferson’s consul to Haiti and inhabit the psyche of both a runaway slave and his pursuer,” he wrote in his preface.

Johnson, who published his first novel in 1974, gained prominence when his novel “Middle Passage” won the National Book Award in 1990. Born in Evanston, Ill., Johnson began his career as a cartoonist and saw his work published by the time he was 17 years old. His two published collections of cartoons were acclaimed for their subtle but pointed satire of race relations and their success led to “Charlie’s Pad,” a 1971 series on public television that Johnson created, co-produced and hosted.

Johnson’s presentation is co-sponsored by Dickinson State University’s Theodore Roosevelt Honors Leadership Program as part of the Heart Rivers Writers’ Circle. The Writers’ Circle is sponsored by Stoxen Library and the Dickinson State University Department of Language and Literature through the use of university fees. The Circle brings in significant contemporary writers whose work interests a wide range of readers in the west river area. The group also involves faculty members, students, and area community members in follow-up discussions of books by featured writers.

Dr. Jim McWilliams, associate professor of English at DSU and author of “Passing the Three Gates: Interviews with Charles Johnson,” will lead a follow-up discussion on Johnson’s book of short stories April 20 at 7 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at Stoxen Library.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006