We're Back! Speed Blogs is back, and we are returning with a brand new series on the blog we're calling What is Your Professor Reading? Have you ever wondered what interests your professors have outside of class, or what they are reading other than the course reading list? On Speed Blogs, we are going to start featuring MC faculty from different departments and areas across campus who will be giving us a little insight into a book they are currently reading. You never know when your favorite professor might pop up on the blog! The first faculty member we are going to spotlight is Dr. Sara Kimmel from MC's School of Business. Enjoy! What is Your Professor Reading? with Dr. Sara Kimmel One of the perquisites of being a faculty member at a university is access to the library. The Leland Speed Library is a home away from home for me, from the research desk to the study rooms, to the browse shelf (which is where I can often be found if not in my office.) Almost every genre of literature is interesting to me, but I am NOT a fan of horror. Since we are near Halloween, I can share my reason for not reading horror. In college, a friend loaned me a copy of Stephen King’s 1977 classic The Shining, which I read in one night (owing to the fact that I was too scared to go to sleep!). Stephen King was correct in noting that as good as the movie was, the book is much better! The book I’m reading now, The Alchemist, was first published in 1993 to critical acclaim. The author is Paulo Coelho, a Brazilian writer who now resides in Switzerland. He is quite savvy with social media. You can read his blog here. The Alchemist is a novel that circles a young man’s quest for adventure, weighted with his sense of responsibility. The boy in the tale (Santiago) is a shepherd who has set his heart on marrying a local girl in the Andalusia province of Spain, but he thinks he is not worthy and should have more material wealth before she will consider him. He encounters a gypsy, a wise old man, an Englishman, chieftains, a series of ne’er-do-wells, and the alchemist. With each encounter he gleans more about the true desires of his own heart as he lives and creates his “Personal Legend”. One abiding theme in the book that I’m particularly fond of is Santiago’s sense of appreciation for what is going on in the present, even as he considers his future and his past. As an active participant in the story (though it is written in a third person narrative), Santiago embodies a spiritual grace as tragedy creates obstacles. The Alchemist appeals to my sense of adventure, too! There are camels, Moors, caravans, oases, monks, deception, sadness, and a happy ending! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have.
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Final Exams Begin Friday, April 27 Are You Ready? Final Exams are a stressful part of the semester, and your Reference Team at Speed Library is here to help you. Whether you are looking for a scholarly source, need help with citations, or are having problems navigating the library's website, we can help. Located below are a few reminders about the library's collection and services. If you need to Ask-A-Librarian a question directly, you can find our contact information at the bottom of this post.
We try to make it as easy as possible for you to Contact Us, and you can do so by texting, calling, messaging, or even visiting an on-call librarian at the Reference Desk on the library's second floor.
Are You an Early Bird or a Night Owl Did you know that the Library has been making buttons for several years?
Designing buttons for the Library is a fun way to do a little bit of outreach and just remind everyone that while we are serious about information literacy and scholarship we don’t take ourselves too seriously. In that vain, and with midterms still in memory and finals looming on the horizon, we are re-releasing our Early Bird and Night Owl buttons for a limited run. This is your chance to proclaim how you prefer to study, are you:
Either way, you can now proudly advertise your study habits by choosing to wear an Early Bird or a Night Owl button, which are freely available while supplies last. Pick yours up today at Speed Library's reference desk! You can now access five new databases on the library's website! The American Antiquarian Society's Historical Periodicals Collection contains more than 6,500 historical periodical titles dating from 1693 to 1877. There is a series of 5 separate collections, searchable through 5 separate databases accessible on Speed Library's Databases page. The databases are searchable just like any other EBSCO database, and even have an image search feature! So, what information does the AAS Historical Periodicals Collection contain? Series 1: Presents over 500 titles from 1691 to 1820 representing over two centuries of print culture from early colonial imports to titles published on American soil during the Revolution and early republic. The subject matter covered in Series 1 is broad in scope and covers all aspects of American society during this time period. Series 2: Offers over 1,000 titles dating from 1821 to 1837. The subject matter covered in Series 2 represents the Jacksonian Democracy era in history and is broad in scope and includes agriculture, entertainment, history, literary criticism, and politics. Series 3: Presents over 1,800 titles dating from 1838 to 1852. Themes presented in Series 3 reveal a rapidly growing young nation, where industrialization, the railroads, regional political differences, and life on the western frontier were daily realities. Subjects covered in the collection reach into every facet of American life, including science, literature, medicine, agriculture, women’s fashion, family life, and religion. Series 4: Offers over 1,100 titles dating from 1853 to 1865. While the Civil War is a focal point of the collection, we also find a diverse record of the continuance of daily life for many Americans—both leading up to and during the war. In Series 4, news from the battlefront can be found, in addition to the usual breadth of subject matter found in previous collections that include science, literature, medicine, agriculture, women’s fashion, family life, and religion. Series 5: Presents over 2,500 titles dating from 1866 to 1877. Themes presented in Series 5 reflect a nation that persevered through a most difficult set of circumstances: a bloody civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives; the incorporation of the recently-freed African Americans into American life; a population that rapidly expanded into the Western territories. Broad subject areas covered in the collection reach into every facet of American life, including science, literature, medicine, agriculture, women’s fashion, family life, and religion. Information found in the AAS Historical Periodicals Collection will be extremely useful for students and faculty in the History department, as well as those in English, Political Science, as well as other fields concerned with the history of their discipline. Go try these new databases that Speed Library has to offer today! And Remember, If You Have Any Questions, You Can Always Ask-A-Librarian!
Do You:
Want to Locate a Specific Topic within an Article more Quickly, - or - Need Help Finding Additional Articles on a Topic
If so, then you may be interested in learning about JSTOR Labs. Originally launched in 2014, JSTOR Labs creates digital tools for assisting students, teachers, and researchers in finding and utilizing sources in JSTOR's diverse and vast collection of more than 10 million titles covering 75 disciplines.
Some of these tools are magical, indeed! While JSTOR Labs currently has 8 active tools available, there are 2 tools in particular that we'd like to bring to your attention today that you may find helpful with your coursework at Mississippi College:
Topicgraph analyzes articles and books (in PDF form) and then creates a list of topics covered in that source. Each topic sits alongside a corresponding graph that indicates where the topic is discussed. Simply clicking on one of the graphs will take you directly to the page in the document where you can read about that topic!
Learn more about Topicgraph from the following video, produced by you Reference Team at MC.
Text Analyzer is a really helpful tool as well, especially if you're having difficulty finding relevant keywords or search results. When you upload a document into Text Analyzer, the program will analyze the text to find the key topics covered in the source as well as the terms used. But that's not all; Text Analyzer also finds similar content within JSTOR.
Learn more about Text Analyzer from the following video, produced by JSTOR.
JSTOR, along with your Reference Team at Speed Library, is curious about how useful students and faculty find these new tools. Please take a brief moment to answer the following questions, thank you!
Have you heard of the library's Technical Services Department? When students think of Leland Speed Library, they mostly think of using databases or the library's catalog for research assignments, checking out books at the Circulation Desk, printing documents, making copies, or even gathering with friends and classmates to study. In a nutshell, Tech Services is comprised of the Acquisitions and the Cataloging Departments. What does that mean? And, how does this department benefit students?
Tech Services provides many services that most users don’t think about. What’s important is that those resources are available when needed. Although Technical Services staff are not as visible as those in public services, they provide invaluable resources to the MC community by providing resources that are an extension of the classroom. For example, since April 2016, nearly 150,000 e-books were added to the collection, which allows students to access books from anywhere. A new service that the Technical Services Dept. provides is the downloading of MC students’ electronic theses and dissertations into the ProQuest database. This makes their work accessible to many, many people outside the parameters of MC. The Technical Services staff continually work on inventory and weeding (getting rid of or replacing damaged or outdated materials). If there’s a problem with a book, the Tech Services Dept. is usually the place to go. If a professor needs a book right away, staff make that book #1 on the priority list and it’s rushed through. Next time you’re looking for that obscure poem you’re going to need for your assignment,
think of Technical Services! Another round of final exams have, once again, descended upon us! Are you ready? Ready or not, final projects and final exams will soon be due, and Speed Library is here to help you. We provide an array of useful resources and services to meet your information needs, such as:
This week's blog post, although short, is dedicated to directing you toward those library resources that you may find helpful when preparing your final projects and final exams. Take a moment and browse the list of resources and links below to find the information you need to finish the semester successfully. Are you looking for a subject specific database? Select your subject from the following list to view a slideshow of appropriate databases along with a brief description. You are also welcome to view a similar slideshow of our multipurpose and reference databases.
*We're open 24/7 from Wedn, December 6 until Wedn, December 13 Are you a fan |
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Want to participate in producing MCTV,
or do you have a story to share?
or do you have a story to share?
Whether you want to participate as a member of the MCTV crew or you have a story you believe the MC community will be interested in, just send them an email, at:
This week the Mississippi Library Association (MLA) is having it's Annual Conference in Hattiesburg, MS, and your MC librarians are taking part by learning from and sharing with our fellow librarians from across the Magnolia State and beyond. Conferences are an important (and fun!) part of scholarship where we keep up with some of the newest trends in our discipline in order to bring them home to you.
The theme for this year's conference is "Tell Your Story," so we've collected a few comments from Mississippi Librarians about what the library is to them and compiled them into a brief video, which is located below.
We'll be home in time for
Homecoming this weekend,
and until then, remember,
if you have any questions, you can always...
ASK A Librarian!
Homecoming this weekend,
and until then, remember,
if you have any questions, you can always...
ASK A Librarian!
We are excited to announce that the Mississippi College and Hillman College yearbooks have been digitized. You can access them at: https://archive.org/details/mississippicollege.
In May of 1906, at a meeting of Mississippi College’s student body, it was decided that there should be an annual published for the 1906-07 school year. This annual was titled L’Allegro.
In May of 1906, at a meeting of Mississippi College’s student body, it was decided that there should be an annual published for the 1906-07 school year. This annual was titled L’Allegro.
It cost $4.00 to rent a typewriter for one month
Editorial in the first L'Allegro
For the 1924-25 school year the students decided it was time for a new name for their annual. The title was changed to the name it still has today, Tribesman.
For the 1924-25 school year the students decided it was time for a new name for their annual. The title was changed to the name it still has today, Tribesman.
Hillman College opened as Central Female institute in 1853 and was purchased and absorbed into Mississippi College in 1942. Hillman was an all female college and considered the sister school to MC. Their first annual, The Pioneer, was published in 1913. Some years they had their own annual and others their students were included in the MC annual.
All our annuals are now online. They are word searchable and downloadable.
You can access them at: https://archive.org/details/mississippicollege.
If you have any questions about the yearbooks or other aspects of Mississippi College's history contact our Special Collections Librarian, Heather Moore ([email protected]).
Hillman College opened as Central Female institute in 1853 and was purchased and absorbed into Mississippi College in 1942. Hillman was an all female college and considered the sister school to MC. Their first annual, The Pioneer, was published in 1913. Some years they had their own annual and others their students were included in the MC annual.
All our annuals are now online. They are word searchable and downloadable.
You can access them at: https://archive.org/details/mississippicollege.
If you have any questions about the yearbooks or other aspects of Mississippi College's history contact our Special Collections Librarian, Heather Moore ([email protected]).
AuthorS
The Librarians of Mississippi College's Leland Speed Library
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