University Library Blogs

2009 Merl E. Reed Fellowship in Southern Labor History – Award Winners 

Three recipients were recently selected to receive the Merl E. Reed Fellowship in Southern Labor History:  

·         Matthew Dimick, graduate student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His research topic is “Labor Law and Union Democracy: A British-U.S. Comparison.”

·         Jordan Patty, processing archivist and librarian at George Mason University Libraries Special Collections and Archives. His research topic is “Public Transit, Ownership and Labor in the United States, 1935-1975.”

·         Benjamin van der Horst, recent graduate of Emory University’s Department of History (MA). His research topic is “Delta Air Lines and Eastern Airlines: a case study of deregulation in the airline industry.” 

Each of these projects will require substantial research using the collections in the Southern Labor Archives. This year’s winners were chosen by a review committee composed of Ian Fletcher (History Department, Georgia State University), Robert Woodrum (History Department, Clark Atlanta University), Traci Drummond (Archivist, Southern Labor Archives, Georgia State University Library), and Stephen Zietz (Head, Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library).

The Merl E. Reed Fellowship in Southern Labor History was established in 2000 to honor Dr. Merl Reed, professor, scholar and founder of the archives, for his many contributions to education and labor history. A fellowship of $250-$500 is awarded annually to individuals whose research in the Southern Labor Archives will lead to a book, article, dissertation, or other substantive product. In return, recipients will make a presentation about their research to the Georgia State University community within one academic year after receiving the award. Faculty members, graduate students, upper-level undergraduates, and recognized independent scholars and artists are encouraged to apply.

To be considered for the 2010 Merl E. Reed Fellowship in Southern Labor History, applicants should submit on or before November 30, 2009. Please contact Traci Drummond (tdrummond@gsu.edu) with any questions or for more information. 

During a system upgrade, ILLiad will be unavailable on Thursday, June 4, beginning at 9 a.m.

If you need to submit an urgent request while ILLiad is offline, please contact the Interlibrary Loan Office at libill@langate.gsu.edu or 404-413-2790.

The library recently purchased Latin American Newspapers, a collection from the World Newspaper Archive.  From the description:

Latin American Newspapers represents the initial result of the partnership between the Center for Research Libraries community and Readex, a division of NewsBank to systematically create an extensive Web-based collection of international newspapers. CRL will guarantee the long-term availability of this news content for the CRL community.

This groundbreaking online collection provides more than 35 fully searchable Latin American newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries. Featuring titles from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and elsewhere, Latin American Newspapers offers unprecedented coverage of the people, issues and events that shaped this vital region between 1805 and 1922.

Latin American Newspapers features such key publications as La Nacion, La Prensa and Vanguardia (Buenos Aires), Correio da Manha and Jornal do Commercio (Rio de Janeiro), O Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo), Mercurio (Santiago), La Prensa (Havana), El Guatemalteco (Guatemala City), Daily Chronicle (Georgetown, Guyana), La Revista de Yucatan (Merida, Mexico), La Patria, Mexican Herald and El Monitor Republicano (Mexico City) , El Dictamen (Veracruz Llave, Mexico), La Estrella de Panama and Star & Herald (Panama City), El Peruano and West Coast Leader (Lima), Port of Spain Gazette (Port of Spain), the Venezuelan Herald (Caracas) and more than a dozen others.

Latin American Newspapers now contains more than 425,000 pages of content.  New titles and issues will be released periodically on a rolling basis at a rate of nearly 100,000 pages per month, with an initial goal of one million pages by fall 2009.   The collection will contain potentially more than 1.5 million pages by the end of the project.

The library will be closed May 23 - 25 for the Memorial Day holiday. Please see our hours page for more details.

The library recently purchased 2 new JSTOR collections:

• Arts & Sciences V (current title list / upcoming titles)

This collection builds on previously introduced disciplines, adding important literary reviews and state historical journals. It will also widen the scope of core disciplines in the arts and humanities, such as philosophy, history, classics, religion, art and art history, and language and literature.

• Arts & Sciences VI (current title list / upcoming titles)

This collection will extend JSTOR’s coverage in disciplines across the social sciences, with clusters focused in economics, education, linguistics, political science, and area studies.

Additional information about the JSTOR archives is available here.

The library recently purchased 7 Gale Virtual Reference Library titles:

• The Encyclopedia of Islam
• Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedia of Bilingual Education
• Encyclopedia of the Social and Cultural Foundations of Education
• Encyclopedia of Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment, & Recovery
• International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers
• Encyclopedia of Food and Culture

In addition, the library purchased 7 Oxford Digital Reference Shelf titles:

• The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature
• International Encyclopedia of Linguistics
• Encyclopedia of Social Work
• Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895
• Oxford Classical Dictionary
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

The Kaleidoscopic Concern highlights the development of the myriad of issues surrounding racial and ethnic diversity in librarianship, and gives insight into concerns, goals, and strategies surrounding the recruitment, retention and advancement of librarians of color. This work contains over 80 years of the profession’s earliest training initiatives and more current best practices; and the evolution of the specific idea of affirmative action to the more nebulous concept of diversity can be traced as well. Additionally, the Kaleidoscopic Concern also covers new ideas and areas of study (gender issues, White privilege) with regard to racial minority and ethnic librarians. Books (and book chapters), dissertations, theses, articles, poster sessions, presentations, and multimedia objects are included, and various reports from professional library associations and divisions and ARL SPEC Kits have also been gathered and annotated in this work. A useful tool for researchers interested in any aspect of minority librarianship or racial and ethnic diversity in librarianship.

Online access: http://www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/digital/kaleidoscopic.pdf

Zotero has just released version 2.0 beta. Why is that a big deal? Because this version includes the ability to share references with other people online via the new groups feature. Get it from the Zotero home page. (And it’s never a bad idea to back up your library before installing beta versions.)

We’ll be updating the Zotero guide to explain the new features as soon as possible. In the meantime, if you’ve got questions, email Jason and we’ll figure them out together.

The library recently purchased Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Part II, which adds nearly seven million pages of content from close to 50,000 new titles to what could already be accessed through Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO).  The publisher states:

With content from an eclectic variety of materials, including books, directories, bibles, sheet music, sermons and advertisements, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Part II offers full-text search capabilities supported by comprehensive metadata. The materials in the collection support research in every academic discipline, including literature, history, geography, the social sciences, fine arts, medicine, science, religion, philosophy and law. Source institutions include The British Library, Oxford University, National Library of Scotland, University of Texas, and the Library of Congress.

This new content is available via the Eighteenth Century Collections Online interface.  For additional details about ECCO, see the library’s original announcement about its purchase.

The library now has access to The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online from Alexander Street Press.  From the publisher’s description:

The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online is the first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world’s peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, make this the most complete body of work focused on world music.

Each volume contains an overview of the region, a survey of its musical heritage, traditions and themes; and a description of specific musical genres, practices, and performances. Articles include detailed photographs that show musicians, musical instrument, and the cultural context of dances, rituals, and ceremonies. Other images include drawings, maps, and musical examples for further study. Since its first publication in 1997, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music has been the pre-eminent reference work for research in ethnomusicology.

A review of this resource is available here.