Alkek Library News

Video Tutorial For The New Discovery Tool (pictured above)

Here's a tutorial on the Discovery Tool - a new way to search many of Alkek Library's databases and multiple formats of sources (books, articles and more). Note: Discovery does not search all of our holdings, so you might want to visit the databases page for more results.

Bloomberg Terminal Available in the 4th Floor Computer Lab

The Alkek Library and the 4th Floor Computer Lab are proud to have a Bloomberg Terminal available for use. It is located just outside the glass wall lab, and you do have to sign in to use it. It is first come, first serve.

Bloomberg terminals are dual screen, professional grade trading platforms. Many brokerages ask for new hires to be proficient in their use. They are notoriously expensive, and you are not getting access to one in your private life (well, probably.)

And no yelling BUY and SELL in the work area!

Find that International Stat in World Development Indicators

Would you know how to find the following statistics for different countries? Arable land, cubic feet of annual freshwater flow, cell phone use, foreign investment, pupil-teacher ratio, number of migrants, and the real interest rate?

World Development Indicators will tell you and more - it is located inside the World Bank database. We recommend that you browse the indicators once you are inside.

Recommended for business, public health, social scientists and more.

New Research Tool Available!

The University Library is pleased to announce that our new research tool is active and featured on the library’s home page.

This culminates 2 years of investigation and evaluation on the part of the Discovery/Federated Search Implementation Team.

Web-scale discovery services offer Google-like searching of thousands of LIBRARY RESOURCES. They change the way students do research, and consequently the way library staff do research assistance and instruction.

Please let us know what you think about the search box and research tool. Each tab of the search box has it's own unique function. There is a short description beside the box and changes with each tab selected.The first TWO tabs are searching the new research tool and the other tabs search the catalog, periodical list, and reserve.

This search box is the first step in the redesign of the library's home page. More information will be posted soon about how you can participate in focus groups related to the redesign.

Comments about the new search tool can be made directly to this blog post or you can send an email to library@txstate.edu.

 

 

 

 

Alkek Library Staff Art Show

Alkek Library Staff Art Show

The Alkek Library Staff Art Show (runs through March 29) exhibits photography, paintings, screenprints, and jewelry, glasswork, and more. Exhibit is located on the first floor of Alkek Library.

The artists featured in the exhibit are Julie Johnson, Kenneth Fontenot, MistyHopper, Liz Ackert, Gaye Wood, Tara Spies, Heather Crouch, Selene Hinojosa, Karen E. Cowen, Emily Feller, Hithia Davis, Debangana Banerjee, Chris Zurovich, Leslie Fatout, and Katie Salzmann.

Come by and check out these talented artists!

Featured Author: Journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski

Interested in writing nonfiction, international journalism, or some of the best reportage ever put on paper?

Check out our Rsyzard Kapusckinki books (yes, we have them in English).

Kapusckinki wrote about colonialism in Africa, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Soccer War in Central America (my personal favorite and you'll have to get the book to get the whole story).

Often travelling outside the major cities, Kapusckinki regales us with stories of lemonade stands in Central Asia, the circular logic of policeman at an African road checkpoint, mountains of frozen ice from perpetually broken pipes in Siberia, and his comical attempts to navigate a city during a wartime blackout. 

Graphic Novels Exhibit Now On Alkek Main Floor

Come check out the Graphic Novels exhibit on the main floor of the Alkek Library (just to your right as you walk in). Exhibit in place until February 29!

Graphic novels combine art and storytelling for a unique experience (be sure to visit the Graphic Novels research guide here).

Using graphic novels from our library collection, art librarian Tara Spies Smith highlights some of the most notable writers and artists of this genre. 

Features work by Charles Ware, Harvey Pekar, Jaime Fernandez, R. Crumb and more.

Walter Dean Myers | Named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

In recognition of February as Black History Month the Library's 6th Floor Juvenile exhibit showcases works by young adult author Walter Dean Myers, who was named 2012-2013 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2012/12-001.html

The Alkek Library offers a number of his books in the Juvenile Collection on 6th Floor; in addition to books by Walter Dean Myers, the exhibit cases are displaying some of the newest books awarded and honored with the Coretta Scott King Award and well-known African-American authors:

Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly
BP223.Z8 L5765 2000

Malcolm X:  By Any Means Necessary  
BP223.Z8 L5764 1993
Coretta Scott King Award. Honor Book: Author (1994).

At Her Majesty’s Request. 
DA565.F67 M94 1999 

Now is Your Time! The African-American Struggle for Freedom  
E185 .M96 1991
Coretta Scott King Award winner. Author (1992).

One More River to Cross:  An African American Photograph Album 
E185 .M97 1999

I’ve Seen the Promised Land; Martin Luther King
E185.97.K5 M936 2004

Ida B. Wells, Let the Truth Be Told
E185.97.W55 M94 2008

Toussaint L’overtoure: The Fight for Haiti’s Freedom
F1923.T69 M94 1996 

Antarctica
G863 .M94 2004

The Greatest:  Muhammad Ali
GV1132.A44 M94 2001 

Hoops  
PS3552.U7255 H66 1997

Brown Angels:  An Album of Pictures and Verse  
PS3563.Y48 B76 1993 

Harlem  
PS3563.Y48 H37 1997
Coretta Scott King Award. Honor Book: Illustrator (1998).

Blues Journey
PS3563.Y48 B58 2003 

Here In Harlem: Poems in Many Voices
PS3563.Y48 H47 2004

Bad Boy: A Memoir
PS3563.Y48 Z47 2001

Slam! 
PZ7.M992 Sl 1996
Coretta Scott King Award winner. Author (1997).

Monster
PZ7.M992 Mon 1999     
Coretta Scott King Award. Honor Book: Author (2000).       

The Beast
PZ7.M992 Be 2003 

The Dream Bearer
PZ7.M992 Dr 2003

Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam
PZ7.M992 Pat 2002 

Fallen Angels  
PZ7.M992 Fal 1988
Coretta Scott King Award winner. Author (1989).

The Glory Field  
PZ7.M992 Gl 1994 

Somewhere in the Darkness  
PZ7.M992 So 1992
Coretta Scott King Award. Honor Book: Author (1993).

Scorpions  
PZ7.M992 Sc 1988 

The Young Landlords
PZ7.M992 Yo 1989
Coretta Scott King Award winner. Author (1980).

Motown and Didi: A Love Story  
PZ7.M992 Mot 1984
Coretta Scott King Award winner. Author (1985).

Mojo and the Russians  
PZ7.M992 Mo 1977 

Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff  
PZ7.M992 Fas
Coretta Scott King Award. Honor Book: Author (1976).

Sunrise Over Fallujah
PZ7.M992 Su 2008     

What They Found
PZ7.M992 Wgr 2007

Harlem Summer
PZ7.M992 Har 2007

Street Love
PZ7.M992 Str 2006

Lockdown
PZ7.M992 Lo 2010
Coretta Scott King Award. Honor Book: Author (2011).

145th Street: Short Stories
PZ7.M992 Aae 2000 

The Blues of Flats Brown
PZ7.M992 Bn 2000

Autobiography of My Dead Brother
PZ7.M992 Au 2005 

The Dragon Takes a Wife
PZ8.M987 Dr 2000 | On Exhibit

Jazz  
PZ8.3.M9954 Jaz 2006 | On Exhibit
Coretta Scott King Award. Honor Book: Illustrator (2007).

ZipGuides Features Local Plant and Animal Lookup, Poisonous Species ID, Bird Call Audio and More

What's that in your yard? Using Audubon nature guide data, Zipguides/ENature helps you identify local trees, endangered species, local animal species, listen to bird call audio, and more according to your location.