-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
The Lamont News-List lamontnews-list(a)fas.harvard.edu
November 23, 2004 http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Worth checking out: **ebrary Academic Complete,** Harvard's newest
collection of electronic books. It's here:
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:ebraryxx
*********************************************************
IN THIS ISSUE:
-- Cool Tools on the Harvard Libraries E-Resources Page
Three great places to go for biographical information!
-- Power Searching Tip
no. 2: Truncating your searches in HOLLIS
-- Lamont Library Hours During the Thanksgiving Break
When we're open, when we're not, and what to know about course
reserves
-- The Farnsworth Room
The story behind a very special place on Level 5 in Lamont
-- Tempting titles on our Farnsworth shelves
Perfect to take with you for the holiday weekend!
*********************************************************
COOL TOOLS FOR FINDING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
These three resources will save you labor and time!
While the HOLLIS catalog can be an excellent place to uncover the life
stories of world leaders, historical figures, thinkers (and so on), not
everyone who is news- or note-worthy has been the subject of a
book-length biography.
In fact, for lots of biography-related questions (and lately, it seems,
we've been fielding quite a few), Lamont librarians will turn first not to
HOLLIS, but rather, to specialized resources like the three we've
highlighted below.
All three databases are available to you right from
the Harvard Libraries E-Resources page
(http://lib.harvard.edu/e-resources). Just type the name into the "Go to
any E-Resource" box and you'll be on your way!
You can also link to them directly, from the URLs that we've supplied
below. However you choose to get there, we recommend that you add these
databases to your research repertoire. At Harvard, they'll come in handy
more times than you know!
** BIOGRAPHY AND GENEALOGY MASTER INDEX (BGMI)
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:biogrgmi
_Biography and Genealogy Master Index_ is an amazingly useful resource,
and a longtime favorite of Lamont Reference librarians. It's often THE
place to start, and, sometimes, it's the ONLY place where information on
individuals who are not well-known or who have faded into obscurity is
likely to turn up. As an "index," BGMI will identify (that is, it will
point you toward) biographical material published in close to 3000
English-language sources. According to some estimates, BGMI has citation
information on close to 13.6 million biographical sketches and essays;
compare its numbers to the HOLLIS catalog (14.5 million), and you get some
idea of its great size. Another strength of BGMI is its wide range: it
includes information on individuals from most countries, all professions
and all time periods.
We like to think of BGMI as the world's largest bibliography of biography.
You won't find links to full-text here, but you can count on Harvard
owning most of the publications that a BGMI search turns up. Chances are
even good that when you search for these titles in HOLLIS, you'll find
many that are in Lamont!
** AMERICAN NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY (ANB)
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:amnatbio
[also in print: Lamont Ref. Room CT213 .A68 (24 volumes) ]
_The American National Biography_ (ANB) is the largest and broadest
resource of biographical portraits of individuals from the United States.
Like Biography and Genealogy Master Index, the ANB provides information on
persons from all walks of life. Unlike BGMI, however, the ANB's nearly
20,000 entries only profile people who are **deceased.**
ANB is a full-text database, and biographical entries are substantial--750
to 2500 words. All have brief bibliographies appended to them--a boon for
students who are looking for further research leads. ANB allows you to
search by dates, by ethnicity, or by place of birth; you can also choose
to search from a list of "Occupations" and "Realms of Renown."
When it's thesis time, ANB can even help you identify which institutions,
archives, or organizations hold the manuscripts, papers, or personal
collections of individuals who are important to your research.
** BIOGRAPHY RESOURCE CENTER
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:bioresce
Like _Biography and Genealogy Master Index_, the_ Biography Resource
Center_ database draws its information from a wide variety of sources,
pulls them together, and makes them searchable in one place. But
_Biography Resource Center_ offers you this information in full-text.
Here you're offered options tailored to different research needs:
thumbnail sketches (for tracking down a fast fact), more detailed
biographical profiles, and a selection of articles drawn mainly from
newspapers or general interest magazines. Occasionally, you'll even be
given links to related web sites that the producers of BioRC consider
particularly good.
The individuals who are covered in BioRC are generally famous (or
fairly well-known), which gives it a narrower "reach" than the BGMI
described above. It's a comparatively smaller database, too.
But like BGMI (and unlike the ANB) BioRC covers individuals and
personalities from all time periods and from across the globe. And
(thankfully!) BioRC does something else the ANB does not: it includes
information on people who are still alive.
Colin Farrell and (the real) Alexander the Great, Sonny Bono and U-2's
Bono have entries in BioRC. So do Steven Biko, the "Red Baron," Charles
M. Schulz, and Man Ray. In fact, BioRC puts about 400,000 biographies at
your fingertips, and more are being added all the time.
BioRC offers you other nice features as well, including the ability to
search by ethnicity, nationality, place of birth (or death), date of
birth (or death), and occupation.
*********************************************************
POWER SEARCHING TIP
no. 2: Truncating your searches in HOLLIS and other online databases
Sometimes you'll need to have strategies on hand for widening or extending
the reach of your HOLLIS searches. When your run into the problem of
turning up too few results (and when you just know that "more" has to be
out there), TRUNCATION is a technique we recommend that you try.
TRUNCATION is a way of using a word root or word stem to retrieve variant
forms of a term. In the HOLLIS catalog, the truncation symbol is the
question mark (?).
MAGIC?, for example, will retrieve catalog records containing such words
as "magic," "magical," and "magician." TIME? will retrieve "time,"
"times," "timely," and "timeless" (among others).
You can construct more complicated searches with truncation, too. GLOBAL?
AND DISEASE? will look for words like "global," "globalism," "globally,"
"globalization," or "globalisation." Then it will combine whatever
variant it finds with words like "disease" or "diseases" or "diseased."
GLOBAL? AND DISEASE? AND MEDIC? would add words like "medical" or
"medicine" to the mix.
Think of truncation as shorthand for using "or" between lots of similarly
spelled terms. Truncation not only saves keystrokes, but also increases
the inclusiveness--and thus, the comprehensiveness--of a search. You'll
often be surprised at how much good information truncation turns up (and
how much you might have missed without it).
AND BY THE WAY: Truncation is a feature that most online databases
support. The truncation symbol may vary from resource to resource,
although the most common form is the asterisk (*). Ask a librarian if
you're not sure which one to use or can't find the information easily in a
database's HELP files.
Here are examples of acceptable truncation symbols for some of the
most heavily used databases on the E-Resources page:
-- EBSCO databases (e.g., Academic Search Premier, PsycInfo, MLA, ERIC,
Religion Index): * [asterisk]
-- LexisNexis: ! [exclamation point]
-- CSA databases (e.g., Worldwide Political Science Abstracts,
Sociological Abstracts, Index Islamicus): * [asterisk]
-- OVID databases (e.g., EconLit, PAIS): $ [dollar sign]
-- PubMed: * [asterisk]
**********************************************************
LAMONT LIBRARY HOURS DURING THANKSGIVING RECESS
DID YOU KNOW? Except for last or single copies, Reserve Books checked out
after 2 p.m. on Tuesday, November 25 are not due until Monday, December 1
at 9 a.m. So take advantage of the opportunity to catch up, get ahead, or
just review course readings in between turkey sandwiches, visits with
friends, and football games.
Wednesday, November 24 8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Thursday, November 25 CLOSED
Friday, November 26 8:00 a. m. - 4:45 p.m.
Saturday, November 27 8:00 a. m. - 4:45 p.m.
Sunday, November 28 Noon - 12:45 a. m.
**********************************************************
THE FARNSWORTH ROOM
The origins of our leisure reading collection on Level 5
Rooms at Harvard tend to acquire rich and significant histories--some
because of the personalities who once occupied them (like FDR or JFK),
some because of the events that happen in them, some because of the
objects they contain, and still others because of the ideas (or ideals)
they represent. Our Farnsworth Room, tucked away in the west corner of
Level 5, is no exception, and if you haven't yet discovered it, maybe it's
time to find your way up to this special place.
Originally located on the main level of Widener, the Farnsworth Room moved
to its present quarters shortly after Lamont opened in January 1949. The
Room had been a gift from the family of Henry Weston Farnsworth
('12)--newspaper correspondent, world traveller, adventure-seeker, avid
reader, and member of the French Foreign Legion--who was killed in action
at Bois Sabot in France in September 1915. It was dedicated on December
5, 1916, four full months before the United States officially entered the
Great War, making it quite possibly the country's first memorial to an
American who lost his life in WWI.
But the Farnsworth Room marks a milestone at Harvard--and in the history
of libraries more generally--for quite another reason. It has the
distinction of housing the very first extracurricular reading collection
at an American college or university. The books on its shelves were
designed to be those "such as any undergraduate might have bought" for
himself or would be "apt to read" if he happened upon them. The
Farnsworth Room never pretended to offer the "'best' reading"--just "a
good collection in which to browse, where an hour may be passed with
pleasure and a chance of profit." "All that is hoped," Professor A. C.
Coolidge remarked in his dedication speech, "is that this room will add
year by year to the pleasure with which some men look back upon their
undergraduate days, because they, like Henry Farnsworth, learned to fill
in their leisure with reading, in or out of the trenches."
Thanks to the detailed documentary record that has come to us from Mrs.
Florence Milner, the librarian who oversaw the Room from 1916 to 1937, we
know that the Farnsworth Room succeeded brilliantly in this mission. It
was well-used (and well-loved) by generations of Harvard students. Alumni
often returned to it to look again for their favorite Farnsworth books;
novelist Thomas Wolfe remembered it as the place where he'd learned most
as a Harvard undergraduate. The Farnsworth Room also became a model of
innovative library service for academic institutions across the country.
Many soon followed Harvard's example by establishing undergraduate
browsing rooms of their own. No wonder, then, that William Farnsworth
told his daughter, Ellen Loomis, that "Henry's Room" was probably the best
thing he had done with his life.
Our ongoing research into the Farnsworth Room is helping us reconstruct a
great deal about what "recreational" reading has meant to Harvard students
at various times. It's also helped us understand why and how the
Farnsworth collection has evolved. There are interesting reasons for the
abundance of travel books, mysteries, biographies, literary bestsellers
and science fiction we keep in the Farnsworth Room.
There's also an important role for you to play in building the collection,
so that Farnsworth books continue to reflect the things that Harvard
students are most interested in reading about. We'll tell you more in
future issues of the _Lamont News-List_.
**********************************************************
TEMPTING TITLES ON OUR FARNSWORTH ROOM SHELVES
Just in case you're still looking for some holiday weekend reading!
A sample of recent additions to the Farnsworth collection is available
here: http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont/whatsnew/farnsnew.html
To see even more titles from our Farnsworth collection, point your browser
to: http://tinyurl.com/6fqcb
*********************************************************
HAVE A TOPIC you'd like to see us cover in a future issue of the Lamont
News-List? A research question you need answered? A tip you want
to pass along to other Lamont News-List readers? All suggestions welcome!
Send your thoughts and comments to sgilroy(a)fas.harvard.edu.
*********************************************************
You received this email because you subscribed to the Lamont News-List.
If at any time you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, point your
browser to http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/lamontnews-list.
Directions for unsubscribing are at the bottom of the page.
**********************************************************
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
The Lamont News-List lamont(a)fas.harvard.edu
November 9, 2004 http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Did you know? Lamont Library maintains a "Harvard Lingo" page. If you've
ever wondered how the Kroks got their name, what the "Statue of Three
Lies" is, or where the "Whispering Arches" are, you'll find your questions
answered here: http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont/resources/lingo.html
*********************************************************
IN THIS ISSUE:
-- Power Searching Tip
no. 1: Searching for films in the HOLLIS catalog
-- Language Dictionaries
Easy ways to track them down on our Reference Shelves
-- Cool Tool for Finding Articles
A great first stop for research in just about any academic
subject
-- The Visiting Committee Prize for Undergraduate Book Collecting
Calling all bibliophiles!
*********************************************************
POWER SEARCHING TIP
no. 1: Searching for films in the HOLLIS catalog
Last year, the College approved a new film studies concentration. Over
the summer, Morse Music & Media--which contains, among other things, a
really fine collection of films--moved from the 4th floor of the Hilles
Library to the 2nd floor of Lamont. Both events have meant that Lamont
librarians are fielding more and more questions about tracking films down.
A few recent examples from our Reference Desk:
"I'm trying to find a movie version of _Macbeth_. But when I do a
title search in HOLLIS, I get more than 300 results."
"Does the library have any films that show healing ceremonies or ritual
trances or spirit possession?"
"My TF told me that Harvard might have films of Nelson Mandela giving
speeches. How do I look for them?"
"Can I really get the entire 4th season of _The Sopranos_ here?"
There's an easy solution to each of these questions: limit your HOLLIS
search to VISUAL MATERIALS. Here's how:
1. Open the HOLLIS catalog. But before you do anything else, click on
the EXPANDED SEARCH link at the top of the search screen.
2. Now enter one or more terms in the search boxes that display.
3. Under the "Limit Search to" options, look for FORMAT.
5. Select "visual" from the format menu list. Now click on the SEARCH
button.
And by the way: you can indeed get DVDs of _The Sopranos_, and videos
which capture the healing rituals of indigenous peoples. You'll even find
several Macbeths this way--including Akira Kurosawa's adaptation,
_Throne of Blood_, Roman Polanski's famous 1971 movie, and a 1948 film
version starring Orson Welles.
Interested in finding film reviews or film criticism? Lamont Library has a
handy online guide:
http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont/resources/guides/film.pdf
*********************************************************
LANGUAGE DICTIONARIES
Easy ways to track them down on our Reference shelves
Dictionaries of all kinds--including English language ones--are among our
most requested items in Lamont, but students aren't always sure how to
locate them quickly on their own.
One solution to the problem, of course, is to construct a keyword search
in HOLLIS: just combine the language name with the word "dictionaries."
In Lamont, however, there's an even simpler way to proceed. Next time
you're working here and find yourself suddenly in need of a good
dictionary, think REFERENCE ROOM first. Then think "P."
The call number system we use in Lamont groups language materials
(including dictionaries) in the P-PM range. But in order to help you
better target what you're after, we've also posted charts in this area of
the Reference stacks. They list call number sequences in more detail, so
you can identify which particular language dictionaries are where: French
and Spanish in the PCs, for example, English in the PEs, Hindi in the PKs.
Reference books can't be checked out, although you can take them to your
workspace while you're in the Lamont building. But here's a tip: to find
out if Lamont has a language dictionary that you can borrow, go to the
same call number range in the regular ("circulating") book stacks.
*********************************************************
COOL TOOL FOR FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES
A good first stop for research in just about every academic subject!
Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost)
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.eresource:ebscoasp
Research projects will frequently require that you use journal articles to
support your claims. Academic Search Premier is an online resource that
helps you track this information down. You can access it directly, at the
address listed above, or link to it from the "Quick Jump" list on the
Harvard Libraries E-Resources page (http://lib.harvard.edu/e-resources).
Academic Search Premier is a periodical database, which means that it
compiles and makes searchable the contents of several thousand scholarly
journals and general interest ("popular") magazines. In doing so, it
offers you access to a kind of information that the HOLLIS catalog does
not supply. HOLLIS will only help you determine which journal titles
Harvard owns (and in which library to find them).
Academic Search Premier, on the other hand, provides details about the
articles inside them: what topics they cover, who wrote them, in what
issue they appeared, on what date, and so forth. Many of the articles in
this database, especially those that were published in 1990 or after, are
available in full-text.
Lots of the online resources you'll use at Harvard will focus deeply on a
single academic field and the literature about it. Academic Search
Premier, by contrast, covers the whole spectrum of knowledge. Its
multi-disciplinary emphasis is, in fact, its strength.
A database of such breadth is an excellent starting point for research in
just about any area of the sciences, humanities, and social sciences
(and everything in between). Current, quality magazine and journal
information at your fingertips: Academic Search Premier delivers this--and
more!
Another tip: you can use Academic Search Premier to locate specific kinds
of articles. Book and movie reviews, editorials, obituaries, and even
transcripts of some speeches are included in its mix.
*********************************************************
THE VISITING COMMITTEE PRIZE FOR UNDERGRADUATE BOOK COLLECTING
An annual Library event for bibliophiles of every kind
Do you collect books of a certain type, on a particular topic or theme, or
for a special reason? If so, you should consider entering this year's
Undergraduate Book Collecting Prize Competition. First Prize is $1000;
Second Prize is $750; and Third Prize is $500. Winning collections in
past years have centered on the Berlin subway system, ocean liner books
and memorabilia, antique cookbooks, autographed books, and "labyrinthine"
literature.
Last year's winning collections are displayed in the exhibit cases on
Level 5 in Lamont.
More detailed information about the Visiting Committee Prize, including
rules for applying, can be picked up in Lamont, Hilles or Cabot or from
House Masters, House Librarians, Senior Tutors, and Freshman Deans.
You'll can also find out more online:
http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont/vcbookprize/flyer.htmlhttp://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont/vcbookprize/rules.html
If you're interested in entering the Competition, you should notify
Heather Cole, the Librarian of Lamont, of your intention to apply by
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2004.
The deadline for submitting an essay and annotated bibliography
describing your collection is FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2005.
*********************************************************
HAVE A TOPIC you'd like to see us cover in a future issue of the Lamont
News-List? A research question you need answered? A tip you want
to pass along to other Lamont News-List readers? All suggestions welcome!
Send your thoughts and comments to sgilroy(a)fas.harvard.edu.
*********************************************************
You received this email because you subscribed to the Lamont News-List.
If at any time you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, point your
browser to http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/lamontnews-list.
Directions for unsubscribing are are the bottom of the page.
