Friday, May 19, 2006

Library News - Finals Edition

There's still time - but not much - for students to submit papers to the library for the second Patricia Lindell Research Paper prize. Any paper written for a class in any discipline this academic year or last that utilizes primary or secondary sources (print, electronic, or both) may be submitted for consideration so long as we get it by May 23rd. The winner will receive a $400 award and the paper will be posted on the library's Website. If submitting a paper include the name of the course and instructor and an address where you can be reached next fall. This prize is made possible by the generosity of our stellar friends group, Gustavus Library Associates - which, by the way, you can join for a mere $35 membership that goes straight into the library's acquisitions budget. Hint, hint.

In addition to our usual list of new books, the library has just added a few more. Actually, 100,000 more, thanks to our new subscription to EEBO: Early English Books Online. This incredible database reproduces the full content of "virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700 - from the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War." An amazing cultural resource that should be of interest to students in any number of courses.

And that's not all! With this issue of Folkelore, you also get the new subscription to the Historical New York Times. Every article from every issue from 1851 to 2003 is searchable online, and they come with pictures and full page context. This will make many microfilm-phobic students very happy next fall.

Trying to figure out whether the NSA is breaking the law or not by collecting phone records? The Congressional Research Service has just issued an analysis. This research service of the Library of Congress provides non-partisan reports to Congress on a variety of issues. Though they don't publish them on their own Web site - they're written at the request of memers of Congress for specific issues - the Center for Democracy and Technology has over 10,000 of them available to the general public. Your tax dollars, hard at work.