Alkek Library News

The 1st Colloquium on Latin American Thought, Culture, and History: Feb 2-3

The 1^st Colloquium on Latin American Thought, Culture, and History

2-3 February 2012

The Wittliff Collections (7th floor in Alkek Library)

Texas State University

 

Thursday, 2 February:

• 9:30a.m. James Maffie (Univ. of Maryland) Weaving the Aztec Cosmos: The Metaphysics of the Fifth Age
• 11:00a.m. James Cane-Carrasco (Univ. of Oklahoma) The Spirit of Science and the Science of Spirits
• 2:00 p.m. Amy Oliver (American University) Feminist Philosophy in Latin-America
• 3:30 p.m. Anaya Santory Jorge (Univ. of Puerto Rico) Not of this World: The Uncomfortable Relation of Philosophy and the Present

 

Friday, 3 February: 

• 10:00 a.m. – Noon: Roundtable on the Role of Universities in the Americas

 

Sponsored by: The Departments of Philosophy, History, and English, The College of Liberal Arts, The Honors College, The Center for Multicultural and Gender Studies, Multicultural Student Affairs, The National Endowment for the Humanities, the Wittliff Collections and the NEH Distinguished Teaching Professorship in the Humanities

Check Out Our Books on Study Skills

Here's a link to our books on study skills.

Books for active reading strategies, time management and information retention. Hint: get rid of your Xbox and Guitar Hero!

Visit The Wittliff Collections (7th floor) for Rick Riordan's World of Myth and Mystery Display

 

Located on the 7th floor of Alkek Library

RICK RIORDAN’S WORLD OF MYTH AND MYSTERY

New York Times #1 best-selling author Rick Riordan is creator of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, the Heroes of Olympus, and the storyline and first volume of the 39 Clues. He is also the author of the multi-award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults—set in his hometown of San Antonio. Recognizing his inspirational impact on readers young and old, this exhibition showcases the major Rick Riordan Collection at the Wittliff, to which the author has been donating since 2004. On view are Riordan’s early journals, unpublished manuscripts, and first rejection letter (received as an eighth grader), book proposals, story ideas, materials that illuminate his working process, and the original sword, “Riptide,” used in the 2010 film adaptation of The Lightning Thief.

May 2012: Riordan will be making an appearance at the Wittliff Collections: watch the Events page online for details.

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

Do you need to access a newspaper online? Check to see if the Alkek Library provides access to the newspaper you need through our Newspaper Databases.

One database in particular, Library PressDisplay, provides access to current 60 day content for many U.S. newspapers, including the Austin American Statesman. List of Newspapers in LPD. At the top right, you can Search for newspapers or in the pulldown menu find them By Country, By Language, or Alphabetically.

The Wall Street Journal is also accessible online via the Library. Click on the link for: ProQuest ABI/INFORM Global 2010 to present. (Embargo: ) Your Access: (Embargo:

 

Use Our Database AP Images for Copyright Cleared Images and Audio

Our Database AP Images is a good source to find copyright cleared (at least for educational purposes like using in papers) images.

AP Images contain photographs from 1826 to present and audio clips from the 1920’s to present.

This database is searchable by keyword or other parameters. A good place to find regular people doing ordinary things, as well as historical events and figures.

Welcome Back and How to Use This Library

Welcome back to another semester!

Here's a quick reminder that the library site links to subject research guides, appointments and online help with individual librarians, and social media teaching tools like YouTube and Facebook.

You will learn effective search strategies, which databases to use, and how to use special library services like interlibrary loan (for requesting material that we do not have).

Alkek Library closed today - January 16 - for Martin Luther King Day

Featured Author: Oliver Sacks

Featured author: Oliver Sacks.

Oliver Sacks is a neurologist and psychologist who writes both popular and technical nonfiction. Sacks is ferociously interested in life and disregards conventional wisdom in his pursuit of breakthroughs to problems deemed unsolvable. Whether ferns in Oaxaca, amnesia,the mysteries of memory or mathematical savants, Sacks brings his intellect and passion for life to his books.

Best known for his books Awakenings and The Man who Mistook His Wife for A Hat.

Awakenings is the true story of survivors of the sleeping sickness epidemic of the 1920s, which put victims into a multidecade long catatonic state. While many people wrote off the comatose patients, Sacks did not and used a controversial drug to bring them into full consciousness. Sadly however, many of the patients eventually slipped back into comas. (Yes, it was made into a movie with Robert De Niro and Robin Williams).

 

Library Research Grants Awarded

Fourteen faculty members have been awarded Library Research Grants for materials to support their research projects. Members of the Library Committee, the library’s faculty advisory group, reviewed the proposals and recommended grants to the following recipients:

 

Dr. Alejandro Barcenas Pardo, Department of Philosophy
Dr. Emily K. Brunson, Department of Anthropology
Dr. Kyong Hee Chee, Department of Sociology
Dr. Joseph R. Falocco, Department of English
Dr. Jean-Marc A. Gandonou, Department of Agriculture
Mr. Joshua F. Gonzales,Department of Respiratory Care
Dr. Jiyun Kang, School of Family and Consumer Sciences
Dr. Cristian H. Lieneck, School of Health Administration
Dr. Gloria Martinez-Ramos, Department of Sociology
Mr. Christopher J Russian, Department of Respiratory Care
Mr. Ronald C Ulen, School of Music
Dr. Shannon E Weigum, Department of Biology
Dr. Nancy A Wilson, Department of English
Dr. Ziliang Zong, Department of Computer Science

 

Congratulations to the winners!

More information about the library research grants, including application timeline, can be found here.

Cool Database: Speech Accent Archive

Here's a cool database: Speech Accent Archive. This database features speakers from almost every country, American state, ethnic group, age and educational level reading text.

For example, compare speech of two people of different age from the same region. Requires Quicktime.