Alkek Library News

Fax Available at Alkek Library

FAX service –  is now available at the Circulation Desk in the Alkek Library!  This service is currently a PILOT service…to see how it goes.  The service is only for Texas State students, faculty, and staff.  The cost of the service is $1.00/page.

Video Cameras Available for Checkout

Video cameras – several video cameras are now available for check out at the circulation desk.   

Cameras may be checked-out for 4 days, with 3 renewals. 

Too see if a camera is available and camera specs, see http://catalog.library.txstate.edu/record=b2317038~S1a or http://catalog.library.txstate.edu/record=b2317061~S1a or http://catalog.library.txstate.edu/record=b2317037~S1a.

Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), Author of Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe was one of the first generation of African writers. Achebe wrote about colonialism and Africa from an African perspective.

His most notable book, Things Fall Apart, shows the impact of European colonialism on a Nigerian village. 

All Chinua Achebe books here.

A way more in depth article about Achebe from Literature Resource Center here.

 

Audiobooks on CD Are Great For Commuters

Check out one of our audiobooks on CD titles.

You can search here and limit to audiobooks or walk up to the third floor and browse the titles (they are in the upper right hand of the floor, or ask to be shown the area).

We have everything from ancient history to psychology to recent works like this title from Erik Larson (In the Garden of Beasts).

Because we all love classic rock, but haven't we heard those songs on the radio before?

Books on Reality Television

Here are some of our books on reality television. Let's concede that reality television is inherently unreal. It's edited, and the shows have an artificial hook - i.e. you must betray others to win, lose weight in a certain kind of environment, etc...

What's going on here? Some great critics in these books take on hidden meanings and assumptions of these shows.

Discover New Short Stories

Discover new voices in the best short story magazines.

All American new short story mags here (small university presses, regional presses, The Atlantic and big names too).

Analog has published some of the sci-fi ever. In print and online here: http://catalog.library.txstate.edu/record=b1247622~S1a

Francis Ford Coppola project Zoetrope in print here

 

Featured Author: Joe Nickell on Historical Forgeries

You should check out author Joe Nickell - he got started as a forensics investigator and then moved on to investigate historical document forgeries and real-life X-files (always with a skeptical mind of course).

Here's the table of contents for his book Real or Fake?

pt. I. Documents -- Investigating documents -- Diary of Jack the ripper -- Novel by an American slave -- Lincoln's lost Gettysburg address -- An outlaw's scribblings -- Out of the archives -- pt. II. Photographs -- Photo sleuthing -- A second photo of Emily Dickinson -- Likenesses of Lincoln -- Assassin or look-alike -- From the album -- pt. III. Other artifacts -- Authenticating artworks and other artifacts -- Lost icon found -- Jefferson Davis's musket -- Debris from the Titanic -- Off the shelf.

Highly recommended for the historian's thought process. Clues reside in the strangest places: a turn of phrase, hairstyle, kind of stamp, anachronisms, as well as technical analysis of ink, paper, handwriting styles and more. 

 

How to Find Primary Sources

Primary sources are documents that are direct records of an event, raw data, documents, magazines or newspapers from the time, photos or other material created at the time of an event. Even audio recordings, buildings, or just about anything could be considered primary sources.

Our historical primary source databases are located here.

Again, if you're working in the field of history, you can search our catalog for published collections of primary sources.

Our history maven Margaret Vavarek suggests the searching the following key words in the catalog: Correspondence, Description and Travel, Diaries, Interviews, Personal Narratives, Sources, Letters or Speeches

Another way to identify primary sources is to go to Dissertation Theses Full Text, find relevant dissertations (they are fulltext online) and read their bibliographies.  You could then search to see if we our other libraries have the primary sources mentioned in these bibliographies. 

Primary sources in other disciplines can mean studies, experiment results or original research. These can be found by searching the appropriate databases and finding articles that contain primary research results.