Electronic journals A-Z list

On Friday, April 1st (and this is no joke), the Electronic Journals A-Z List will be offline for maintenance. All of the journals will still be accessible through the databases which index them ... it's just the list utility that will be unavailable.

Here is the link : http://atoz.ebsco.com/Titles.asp?id=12032&sid=226431087&lang=en

We are told that they intend to have this resource down for one day only.

Paula

New computers available

Four new computers have been installed four your use. Two are in the Reference Room on the right side as you come in through the primary entrance. Two more are now on the wooden podium in the center of the Atrium.

The Atrium machines are mainly for quick checking of the catalog or databases, so they have no special research software installed.

The two new Reference Room machines have access to BibleWorks 7.0 and the current MS Office suite, including Word. They also have Firefox as an alternate browser. The one thing they do NOT yet have is a connection to the networked printer/copier in the Microforms Room. Our IT staff have been working on this and we hope it will be ready as soon as possible.

Paula

Come for the special Rare Books Tour!

Tour of the Rare Book Collection of the Morton Library
March 23th (Wednesday), 2 pm.

Come and discover some of the most treasured books in the Morton Library! Our collection includes many items across time and geography that constitute the roots of biblical study and church history. You will be able to see up close the Great Bible of 1541, unique lifetime editions of John Calvin, gems of the 19th century Sunday school collection, and much more!

Ted Winter, Librarian for Special Collections, will be giving the tour in the Rare Book Reading Room of the Morton Library. Space is limited to 10 people only! To register, please e-mail
Irina Topping at itopping@upsem.edu.

Do not miss this exciting opportunity!

PSCE keepsakes display

In preparation for our Bicentennial, and for the Centennial of the founding of ATS/PSCE in 2014, we have moved one of our display cases into the Atrium near the front entrance. Some charming bits of memorabilia from the history of ATS/PSCE can be seen there.

The General Assembly of the PCUS acted to establish the Assembly's Training School in 1914, under the leadership of Walter W. Lingle, Professor of Missions, and Walter W. Moore, President of Union Theological Seminary. In 1959, the institution's name was changed to the Presbyterian School of Christian Education. It offered a complete residential program with shared meals, worship and full-time study on the beautiful campus on the west side of Brook Road.

For 82 years, ATS/PSCE provided women and men with a suitable learning environment and course of study to prepare them to serve the Church and the world as lay workers, educators and missionaries.

A history of ATS/PSCE called The First Seventy Years was written by Louise McComb in 1984. You'll find it in our collection : TX 69 X M129. I recommend it! And please stop by the display case to enjoy some of the objects from the school's rich past.

Paula

Sorry to interrupt you ...

Often when people come to the Reference Desk to ask a question, they apologize first for interrupting me. I hope I don't look that forbidding! Yes, I'm always doing something, but it can be something pretty boring, such as website use statistics. I'm happy to be interrupted while doing that kind of chore!

Please do come to the Ref Desk and ask. Sometimes, I won't be able to answer your question, though I'll give it my best effort. But very often, the problem that is obstructing your progress can be easily cleared up. It may be just an inefficient search technique, or using the wrong resource or index and getting unsatisfactory results. Or, you may have a vague research idea that becomes clearer if you can talk to somebody about it.

Don't hold back. Come to me if I'm here, or ask for help at the Circ Desk if I'm not. We'll do our best to help you.

Paula

Early American Imprints online

We are now able to offer access to the online edition of Early American Imprints, Series I. Evans (1639-1800), AND to Series II. Shaw-Shoemaker (1801-1814).

This resource includes the complete text of works cited in Charles Evans’ American Bibliography, as augmented by Roger Bristol's Supplement to Evans' American Bibliography, and the American Bibliography by Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker.

This searchable online collection provides the comprehensive set of books, pamphlets, broadsides, sermons, songs and many other documents published in colonial America and the early United States, and has long served as the definitive resource for research involving early American history, literature, religion, philosophy, and more.

Access to primary sources is always a challenge for scholars working with rare texts, locked up in archives and special collections in many cities and institutions. Here is a way to have a look at scans of the actual pages of thousands of these texts, and you have the option of downloading or printing PDF or TIFF files of the scanned pages. A very easy and effective search interface is provided. Sample the power of this amazing resource, and we guarantee you will find yourself wanting to spend hours poring over these exceptional texts.

To access this recourse online, please go to our Online Databases page, and choose Early American Imprints. Use your network user ID and password.

Paula