WVU Libraries

The WVU Libraries are committed to providing access to information resources and services to all WVU students, staff, and faculty on an equal basis. In cooperation with WVU Disability Services and Academic Computing, the WVU Libraries provide users with adaptive and assistive technology workstations to give patrons with various disabilities access to the library and its resources. Students registered with the Office of Disability Services are allowed to use the workstations.

These include three workstations at the Downtown Campus, Evansdale, and Health Sciences Libraries. There are several types of adaptive and assistive technology available at these workstations. Equipment includes a text enlargement reader, a computer with software for users with visual impairment or learning disabilities, a color flatbed scanner, large monitor, and a laser printer. A closed caption television magnifies text and images in black and white or color (users may also adjust brightness and choose between many colors of text and background for their individual needs). The tables are adjustable to suit users with different needs for physical access. The equipment helps the Libraries to comply with ADA and campus wide standards.
 

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WVU researchers now have online access to a digital collection containing images of more than one thousand periodicals published between 1741 and 1900.  WVU Libraries recently purchased APS Online (American Periodical Series Online) and are making it available for research through the Library Web site at http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/databases/.

This unique and valuable collection contains digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals that originated between 1741, when Andrew Bradford’s American Magazine and Benjamin Franklin’s General Magazine were launched, and 1900. APS Online features over 1,100 periodicals spanning nearly 200 years-from colonial times to the advent of American involvement in World War II. Titles range from America’s first scientific journal, Medical Repository, to popular magazines like Vanity Fair and Ladies’ Home Journal.

American Periodicals Series Online chronicles the development of America across 200 years. The journals in this collection cover three broad periods:

89 journals published between 1740 and 1800 offer insights into America’s transition from a British colony to an independent nation. The journals support research for a range of academic fields. Titles include Massachusetts Magazine, which published America’s first short stories, and Thomas Paine’s Pennsylvania Magazine, which reported on inventions. One of the first mass printings of the Declaration of Independence, a letter by George Washington on the crucial Battle of Trenton, and the thoughts of Benjamin Franklin are among the highlights of content from this period.

More than 900 titles from the first 60 years of the nineteenth century showcase “the golden age of American periodicals.” General interest magazines, children’s publications, and more than 20 journals for women are among the historically-significant content that also includes the serialization of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in National Era. Like most great literary works of the nineteenth century, this piece first appeared in a magazine. Also available are hard-to-find materials, such as Edgar Allan Poe’s contributions to the Southern Literary Messenger, as well as the first appearances of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s stories in New England Magazine, and Margaret Fuller’s contributions to the Dial.

118 periodicals published during the Civil War (1861-1865) and Reconstruction (1865-1877) eras reflect the nation in turmoil and growth, and titles from the 1880s through 1900 capture the settling of the West and the emergence of modern America. Early professional journals, including Publications of the American Economic Association and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Proceedings, popular titles such as Scribner’s Monthly and Lippincott’s issued by publishing houses, celebrations of Americana in Ladies’ Home Journal, thoroughly-researched investigative journalism in McClure’s, and the incisive political and social commentary of Puck illustrate the variety of the American experience. Titles like Forum (1886-1930) and Forum and Century (1930-1940), and Littell’s Living Age (1844-1896) and Living Age (1897-1941), expand the range of primary source material in APS across 200 years.

Because the database contains digitized images of periodical pages, researchers can see all of the original typography, drawings, graphic elements, and article layouts exactly as they were originally published.

Access to APS Online is available to WVU students, faculty and staff.  Research assistance is available from the Downtown Campus Library Reference Desk by phoning 293-4040 x4040.  Researchers may also email their questions to Penny Pugh at ppugh@wvu.edu.

The Library Faculty Assembly Awards Committee is currently seeking nominations for the Outstanding Librarian Award.  This Award is given every three years to a librarian who has provided innovative and enduring service to WVU Libraries and its patrons.

Please take the time to nominate a librarian who has demonstrated excellent and sustained accomplishments through any of the following: improving library user education; facilitating faculty research and teaching; managing and delivering library services; selecting, organizing, or improving access to library resources; or providing leadership for the WVU Libraries, the University, or the library profession.

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West Virginia University played a key role in helping Marshall University rebuild its football program after a plane crash took the lives of 75 football players, coaches and community members in 1970. WVU again played an important role in the retelling of the saga in the upcoming movie We Are Marshall.

Charged with the task of training a team composed mostly of new players, MU coaches Jack Lengyel and Red Dawson turned to then WVU Football Coach Bobby Bowden for guidance.The pair made a trip to Morgantown to learn the veer offense from Bowden. Lengyel and Dawson sat in an office at the old Mountaineer Stadium and watched black and white game films to study the plays.

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The Libraries recently added the Sage Criminology Collection, 23 e-journals covering the subjects of criminal justice, juvenile delinquency, juvenile justice, correctons, penology, policing, forensic psychology, and family and domestic violence.  Some of the journals have content back 23 years.

A sample of the titles include: Child Maltreatment, Feminist Criminology, Homicide Studies, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and Youth Justice. 

A complete list of titles and access to the journals is available on the Library Electronic Journals page at http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/ejournals.

There will be no access to the WVU Libraries Web site or to Library computers Tuesday morning because of work to upgrade the WVU Libraries’ network switches.

The Libraries will remain open during the upgrade, however users will not be able to log on to library computers. Also, there will be no remote access. Frances O’Brien, Dean of Libraries, expects the work to be finished by early afternoon.

Readers who want to peruse the newly published history of the WVU Libraries can now flip through the pages online.

The WVU Libraries’ Web Team has created an E-Book version of The Charles C. Wise Library: A Retrospective by WVU Law student Luke Boso. The digital book is available through Mountainlynx or at http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/history/wise.pdf.

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This weekend, the WVU Libraries will remain open on Friday and Saturday evenings and will open early on Sunday. 

On Friday, December 8, and Saturday, December 9,  most Libraries will be open until 11 PM.  They will reopen at 9 AM on Sunday and remain open until 2 AM Monday morning. 

You can find a complete list of Libraries and hours at http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/hours.

Best wishes from the Library faculty and staff for a successful exam week and a great semester break!

West Virginia University Libraries recently hosted a day of activities in conjunction with the Changing the Face of Medicine exhibit currently on display in the lobby of the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center.

The day began with a tour of the exhibit by its curator, Manon Parry of the National Library of Medicine. After the tour, Terry Ottosen of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine presented a talk titled “Resources for Consumer Health” in the Erickson Alumni Center.    

  Exhibit Curator Manon Parry leads the audience through the traveling display.

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A West Virginia University alumna will return to her alma mater for a book reading as part of the Helen Coast Hayes Lecture Series.

Dr. Dixee Bartholomew-Feis will speak at 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, in the Robinson Reading Room of the Wise Library on WVU’s Downtown Campus. She will read an excerpt from her new book, “The OSS and Ho Chi Minh: Unexpected Allies in War Against Japan.” The event is free and open to the public. The reading will be followed by a short question-and-answer session and a book signing opportunity.

Dr. Bartholomew-Feis is a native of Monongalia County and a graduate of Clay-Battelle High School. She is currently an associate professor of history at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa.

She is a 1987 summa cum laude graduate of WVU’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences with a bachelor of arts degree in history, international relations (Asian emphasis) and French. She was also Phi Beta Kappa at WVU. She earned a master of arts degree in secondary education from The College of William and Mary in 1989. She graduated from The Ohio State University in 2001, with a Ph.D. in history. Her major field of study was Asian history, and her minors included military and modern Middle Eastern history.

Her book, “The OSS and Ho Chi Minh: Unexpected Allies in the War Against Japan” was published in 2006 by the University Press of Kansas. It explores the once-cooperative relationship between the United States and Vietnam War enemy Ho Chi Minh.

“It is a special delight to welcome Dixee back to campus where she began as an outstanding undergraduate student and now returns as a important young scholar with a distinguished first book,” said Jack Hammersmith, a professor of history who taught Bartholomew-Feis as undergraduate at WVU.

The Helen Coast Hayes Lecture Series was established in 1998 by an endowment that provides permanent support for annual lectures on peace studies. The series explores a variety of topics in the humanities that affect peace, including the literature, history, sociology, psychology and philosophy of peace.

For more information, please contact Dr. Jack Hammersmith at Jack.Hammersmith@mail.wvu.edu or at 304-293-2421, ext. 5235.

Dee Dee Strimel, the regional PEIA Pathways to Wellness coordinator, announced today that the WVU Libraries is the November Worksite of the Month.  She lauded the Libraries’ wellness program for coordinating activities and being responsive in the administration of programs.  She also praised the Libraries’ employees for their extensive participation.  Recent programs include a nutrition activity called “5 a Day;” a stress reduction series called “Stress Less, Be Your Best;” and a walking program called “Walk 100 Miles in 100 Days.”   Each activity is coordinated by a Wellness Committee member:  Sherry Steadman, Barbara Lagodna, Susanne Rasmussen, Carroll Wilkinson, Kristi Truban, and Linda Blake.  The Libraries’ staff benefit from these health and wellness activities thanks to the support of Myra Lowe, Associate Dean of Libraries, and Frances O’Brien, Dean of Libraries. 

Submitted by Linda Blake