Hilda C. Landers Library & Archives

Black Lives Matter Book Display

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On October 3rd, the Black Student Union and the SGA Programs Board held a special event called BLM @ St. Mary’s. Held to support the Black community at SMCM and to serve as a forum for discussion about racial injustice, the event featured speakers include the Department of Political Science’s Dr. Sahar Shafqat, and interim Chief Diversity Officer Kelsey Bush, as well as an open mic segment on the waterfront during which students shared creative works. In response to a request from the Programs Board and the BSU, the Library has put together a book display of materials related to racial justice issues, including systemic racism and police brutality, as well as highlighting works by Black authors. The display, located across from the Circulation Desk on the Library’s first floor, will be up for the rest of the semester, and all books are available to check out. Come visit the library and learn more about race and social justice!

Library BLM Book Display

The Library’s Black Lives Matter Book Display

ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States

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Mr. Cheese, one of the 69.9 million companion animals in the United States.

Mr. Cheese, one of the 69.9 million companion animals in the United States.1

The best know statistical reference publication in the country, published since 1878, the ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States is a single-volume reference source covering statistics on society, politics, and economics in the U.S. SMCM Library has access to both the print and electronic version!

Originally produced by the U.S. government, ProQuest began publishing the Statistical Abstract beginning in 2012 after the government announced that it would discontinue the title after 2011.

Collecting data from both public and private sources, the Statistical Abstract is published yearly with the most recent data available. As the name suggests, it’s primary focus is on the U.S., but it does include some international statistical information. On top of just being dang fun, the information in the Statistical Abstract can help you find data to enhance your research and track down elusive data sources.

The current print edition is available at the Reference desk in the “Ready Reference” section. Previous editions are available in the Oversized collection on the second floor, call number HA 202 .S72.

Electronic version is available under “S” in the A-Z Database List.

1American Veterinary Medical Association. (2015). Table no. 1253. Household pet ownership: 2011. ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2015 (p. 794). Lanham, MD: Bernan Press.

Films on Demand

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Film Reel

You can’t beat the convenience of streaming video, and thanks to our subscription to Films on Demand, you can stream thousands (YES, THOUSANDS) of documentaries and educational films. Covering a wide breadth of disciplines, from Anthropology to Women & Gender Studies to the Sciences, Films on Demand provides full films and segmented clips that can be streamed from anywhere and even embedded into Blackboard and shared with others.

These are high-quality films from producers like the BBC, ABC News, PBS (including Frontline), California Newsreel, Films for the Humanities & Sciences and National Geographic, among others. All films are licensed for classroom use. So whether you want to share a documentary with your students or classmates, or just need to get a documentary fix on a Saturday night, check out Films on Demand.

 

Library News You Can Use

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Students studying standing up.Happy New Semester!

Since I know everyone’s busy the first week of classes, here’s a round-up of library news & helpful links you can use to get off to a great start:

Working on an SMP? We offer a bunch a different services to help you! For example, did you know you can reserve a shelf in the library to hold all your SMP related research books?!?!

Battery forever at 10%? You can check out phone and laptop chargers at the front desk (and other things you might not know about the SMCM Library).

We also have three phone and tablet charging stations! Look for them around the library!

The second floor Reading Room is a designated Quiet Study Space!

And an oldie but a goodie – get your FREE access to the New York Times online.

As always, if you have a question about anything – don’t hesitate to Ask Us!

Welcome back and good luck!

Chronicle of Higher Ed and NY Times Access @ SMCM Library

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Chronicle of Higher Education

The Library maintains a College-wide subscription to The Chronicle of Higher Education. To access all articles, opinion pieces, and writing about academia you could ever want, just visit The Chronicle online and sign up for a free account using your St. Mary’s email address.

Also, all currently enrolled students, and SMCM faculty and staff can register for access to the daily NY Times and its online archive (we have a separate database for the Historical NY Times from 1851-2012 with a moving wall).

Writing Poetry

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Magnetic Poetry Set

image: Magnetic Fridge Poetry by Steve Johnson [cropped from original] / https://flic.kr/p/86i9j2

Celebrate National Poetry Month by dusting off your journal and putting down a few lines of verse.

Need help getting started? Check out (literally) this selection of books about writing poetry available in the SMCM Library collection!

Want more? Try searching poetry AND (creative writing OR authorship) OR poetics using the search for words in… subject dropdown option on the search page in the St. Mary’s Catalog.

Writing Poetry Books

How poems think by Reginald Gibbons. Ebook

Poem-making: ways to begin writing poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston. Call number: LB 1576 .L578 1991

Today you are my favorite poet: writing poems with teenagers by Geof Hewitt. Call number: PN 1101 .H46 1998

Helping students learn to write poetry: an idea book for poets of all ages by Joyce C. Bumgardner. Call number: LB 1576 .B889 1997

Next word, better word: the craft of writing poetry by Stephen Dobyns. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .D63 2011

The poetry home repair manual: practical advice for beginning poets by Ted Kooser. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .K66 2005

Twentieth-century American poetics: poets on the art of poetry edited by Dana Gioia, David Mason, and Meg Schoerke with D.C. Stone. Call number: PS 323 .5 .T87 2004

Thirteen ways of looking for a poem: a guide to writing poetry by Wendy Bishop.  Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .B58 2000

Blue notes: essays, interviews, and commentaries by Yusef Komunyakaa; edited by Radiclani Clytus. Call number: PS 3561 .O455 .Z463 2000

Rules for the dance: a handbook for writing and reading metrical verse by Mary Oliver. Call number: PE 1505 .O37 1998

Trying to say it: outlooks and insights on how poems happen by Philip Booth. Call number: PS 3503 .O532 .Z475 1996

Poemcrazy: freeing your life with words by Susan G. Wooldridge. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .W66 1996

A poetry handbook by Mary Oliver. Call number: PE .1505 .O35 1994

Writing poems by Peter Sansom. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .S36 1994

Getting the knack: 20 poetry writing exercises by Stephen Dunning and William Stafford. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .D86 1992

Poem-making: ways to begin writing poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston. Call number: LB 1576 .L578 1991

Writing light verse and prose humor by Richard Armour. Call number: PN 1042 .A7 1971

The sounds of poetry: a brief guide by Robert Pinsky. Call number: PN 4151 .P55 1998

Beyond JSTOR: Poetry Criticism Online

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Viewfinder logo for beyond jstorToday we’re launching a new series “Beyond JSTOR” where we’ll periodically highlight different databases available through the SMCM Library. Find out both the content as well as a few targeted tips and tricks through screenshot tutorials and expand your searching horizons.

 

 

 

Poetry Criticism Online

Note: SMCM Library databases are found by: 1. going to the library homepage (dev-library-smcm.pantheonsite.io/); 2. clicking the “Databases” icon; and searching by name or browsing by A-Z letter.

Accessible online through the Literature Criticism Online database, the Poetry Criticism series encompasses over 100 volumes, each volume featuring 3-6 poets and/or featured works from all eras and locations around the world.

Each volume has a standard format including:

  • a biographical essay with an image or portrait if available
  • a bibliography of poet’s work
  • selection of literary criticism on the poet and/or individual works with full, preformatted citations
  • source lists to direct additional research

The online version available through Literature Criticism Online, has powerful search, browse, and entry table of contents features highlighted below. Use the linked text to jump to the relevant screenshot sections.

How to…

Search

1. Limit your search to Poetry Criticism Online sources, by selecting it from the “by Product/Services” dropdown, under “More Options” in the search screen.

2. Forget to select it before starting your search? You can always limit search results to Poetry Criticism Online sources but selecting it under the “Publication Title” filter in the left column.

Browse

1. Browse the volumes of Poetry Criticism by following “What’s Inside” (on any page), and selecting “Literature Criticism Online”…

2. …then expand the list under “Poetry Criticism” to see all available volumes.

3. Browse volume by table of contents, search within a single volume, or search within all volumes of Poetry Criticism!

Entry table of contents feature

1. Easily view the available content on a poet by selecting “Entry Table of Contents” in the right hand column.

2. Jump to a specific section or critical work using the linked titles.

Limit your search to Poetry Criticism Online sources, by selecting it from the “by Product/Services” dropdown, under “More Options” in the search screen.
poetry_crit_search1

 

Forget to select it before starting your search? You can always limit search results to Poetry Criticism Online sources but selecting it under the “Publication Title” filter in the left column.

poetry_crit_search2

Return to top

Browse

Browse the volumes of Poetry Criticism by following “What’s Inside” (on any page), and selecting “Literature Criticism Online”…

poetry_crit_browse1

 

…then expand the list under “Poetry Criticism” to see all available volumes.

poetry_crit_browse3

 

Browse volume by table of contents, search within a single volume, or search within all volumes of Poetry Criticism!

poetry_crit_browse2

Return to top

Entry table of contents feature

Easily view the available content on a poet by selecting “Entry Table of Contents” in the right hand column.

poetry_crit_search3

 

Jump to a specific section or critical work using the linked titles.

poetry_crit_search4

Return to top

Poetry and Nature / Nature and Poetry

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Flowering trees in Spring at SMCM

Celebrate National Poetry Month’s Poem in Your Pocket Day (on April 21) AND Earth Day (on April 22) with a nature or environmental themed poem.

Need a suggestion? Check out (literally) this selection of nature/environmental poetry and criticism available in the SMCM Library collection!

Want more? Try searching poetry AND (nature OR ecology) using the search for words in… subject dropdown option on the search page in the St. Mary’s Catalog.

Poetry and Criticism Books: Nature and Environmental Themed

Sustainable poetry: four American ecopoets by Leonard M. Scigaj. Call number: PS 310 .N3 .S38 1999

Can poetry save the earth?: a field guide to nature poems by John Felstiner. Call number: PS 310 .N3 .F45 2009

Mountain home: the wilderness poetry of ancient China selected and translated by David Hinton. Call number: PL 2658 .E3 .M65 2005

Greening the lyre: environmental poetics and ethics by David W. Gilcrest. Call number: PS 310 .N3 .G55 2002

Black nature: four centuries of African American nature poetry edited by Camille T. Dungy. Call number: PS 591 .N4 .B49 2009

Urban nature: poems about wildlife in the city edited by Laure-Anne Bosselaar. Call number: PS 595 .N22 .U63 2000

Wild song: poems of the natural world edited by John Daniel; illustrations by Deborah Randolph Wildman. Call number: PS 595 .N22 .W55 1998

Poems for a small planet: contemporary American nature poetry edited by Robert Pack and Jay Parini. Call number: PS 595 .N22 .P63 1993

Pterodactyl Rose: poems of ecology by William Heyen. Call number: PS 3558 .E85 .P74 1991

Rivers to the sea by Sara Teasdale. Ebook

A chime of windbells: a year of Japanese haiku in English verse. Translations with an essay by Harold Stewart. Call number: PR 6037 .T4645 .C5

The haiku anthology: haiku and senryu in English edited by Cor van den Heuvel. Call number: PS 593 .H3 .H34 1999

Black History Month: A Mini-Bib of Children’s Books

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Black History Month Children's Books

For our last Black History Month post, we’ve got a mini bibliography (what we’re calling a mini-bib) of children’s books in the SMCM Library collection. Grab one (or a stack) and take a break from those scholarly sources!

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, call number: PZ7.K2253 Sn

The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy, call number: PZ7.F667 Pat 1985

Aunt Martha and the Golden Coin by Anita Rodriguez, call number: PZ7.R6188 Au 1993

The Faithful Friend by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Brian Pinkney, call number: PZ8.1.S227 Fai 1995

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears: a West African Tale retold by Verna Aardema, pictures by Leo and Diane Dillon, call number: PZ8.1.A213 Wh 1978

Research Spotlight: Octavia Butler

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Butler signing

image by Nikolas Coukouma [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

For Black History Month, we’re shining our first ever Research Spotlight on Octavia E. Butler’s life and works. Learn more about Butler – the first science-fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Foundation award (aka the Genius Grant) – through the reference works, books, and article databases highlighted below.

Learn about Octavia Butler’s life in Credo Reference

Looking for some background information on Butler? The Credo Reference database provides online access to a number of high quality reference encyclopedias and dictionaries with entries on Butler.

Using the entry in the Encyclopedia of African-American Writing found in Credo Reference, can you name the prestigious science-fiction writing awards Butler won during her lifetime?

Read Octavia Butler’s novels, find them with the St. Mary’s Catalog

Experience Butler’s award winning sci-fi novels, featuring African-American female protagonists, first hand by checking them out of the SMCM Library!

Contained in one volume, Parable of the Sower; Parable of the Talents; and Kindred, three of Butler’s most well known works are available for check out. The first two works, which make up the Parable series, are set in California in the 2020s and present a dystopian future where corporate greed and lack of environmental stewardship lead to political and social collapse. The stand alone novel Kindred follows a 20th-century African-American woman who travels back in time to 19th century Maryland, where she meets her ancestors.

Find this collection under call number PS 3552. U827 P37 1999 in the second floor Stacks.

Want more? Search the USMAI catalog to borrow other Butler books from other Maryland libraries!

Research the scholarly response to Octavia Butler’s works in MLA International Bibliography and Project Muse

Maybe now you’ve learned a little about Octavia Butler’s life, read a couple of her novels, and are interested in doing research in the literature for a paper or project. While you might start you research using OneSearch (or *cough*googlescholar*cough*), how about giving a more targeted subject specific database like MLA International Bibliography or Project Muse a try?

Produced by the Modern Language Association (of MLA citation style fame) the MLA International Bibliography contains over 1.8 MILLION citations for books, journals, dissertations and theses, dating back to 1926! A search for “Octavia Butler and Kindred” turned up 38 highly relevant results. As the name suggests, results the MLA International Bibliography are mainly citations, but you can access the full text – if available – in one of the library’s other databases, or through Interlibrary Loan.

Looking to get your hands on full-text sources right away? The Project Muse database has full-text sources from over 400 titles. A search for “Octavia Butler and Kindred” turned up 117 full-text articles from journals ranging from literary criticism to women’s studies!

 

Homepage image credit: Containment Zone by L.E. Spry (CC BY 2.0) via flic.kr/p/3d9TcK

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