The Freshman Writers Toolbox is the starting point for students in the English 102 course in preparation for the Library Instruction session they will attend during the 3rd or 4th week of classes. Visit the Toolbox for an overview of research tools available through the library.

All English 102 students are requested to view the online Library Research Skills tutorial (in Powerpoint) prior to their scheduled library class:

• Part One: Introduction

• Part Two: Scholarly Information
• Part Three: Database Searching
• Part Four: Finding Full-Text
• Part Five: A Database Searching Exercise

Congratulations to the grand prize winner of the Hagerty Library Bookmark Café Raffle: Charles Andrada! In honor of the Grand Opening of the new 24/7 study space and café held February 13th, Charles won a $50.00 Gift Certificate to Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Additional prize winners have been contacted by email.

Keep an eye out for more raffles and prizes to come in the near future!

At right, Jane Bryan, Director of Libraries, congratulates the lucky winner.

Construction crews working on the 3rd floor of Hagerty Library have begun dismantling the existing duct work. Sawing through the metal ducts is going to be very noisy; this work is expected to continue until about 2:00 pm each day.

We apologize for this inconvenience — this is an unavoidable part of the renovation process, but should be completed well before the beginning of the exam period. As always, disposable ear plugs are available at the Circulation Desk to help minimize the distraction.

The new compact shelving area in Hagerty Library’s lower level, is now open for browsing. The library materials moved to this area include Juvenile and Teen books, national bibliographies (i.e, The National Union Catalog, Historical Records Survey, Monthly Catalog of United States Documents, etc.), oversized books, and all print journals remaining in Hagerty Library.

Compact shelving allows us to maximize study space in the library by condensing print collections in to a smaller area; the compact shelving installed in this one small section of the lower level is the equivalent of nearly a full mile of shelving. Shift the rows of shelves to create an aisle where needed by turning the large handles on the ends of each section of shelving; the shelves move very easily on tracks set in to the floor.

Library staff will be happy to assist you if you need help finding items in this area.

Ann Keith Kennedy, Librarian for Media Arts and Design, is pleased to announce that we have added another streaming audio service from Alexander Street Press to our collections. Alexander Street Press are also the producers of our popular Classical Music Library.

American Song is a history database that will contain 50,000 tracks that allows people to hear and feel the music from America’s past. The database will include songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers, and cowboys. Included in the database are the songs of Civil Rights, political campaigns, Prohibition, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, anti-war protests and more.

The first release includes music from many labels, including Rounder Records, McNeil Music, Native Ground Music, Rebel Records, County Records, Smithsonian Folkways, and Document Records. American Song will become the definitive source for American roots music and pre-1960 American popular music. It encompasses the great American musical genres including country, folk, bluegrass, Western, old time, American Indian, blues, gospel, and shape note singing – combined with powerful recordings by artists such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger, Si Kahn, Lead Belly, Sleepy LaBeef, the New Lost City Ramblers, Otis Clay, Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater, Nanci Griffith, The Lilly Brothers, Merle Travis, and many others.

It is linked on our Databases by Title page, the Databases/Article Indexes for Performing Arts, as well as the Music/Music Industry Research Guide.

Or, for quick immediate access:

http://www.library.drexel.edu/cgi-bin/r.cgi?url=http://amso.alexanderstreet.com/