Welcome to Fall 2007!

There are so many exciting things happening at the library it is hard to list them all. Stop by for a sneak peak at the emerging Information Commons on A-Level (official opening in January but you can give it a try now). Enjoy the Jewish Literature Lecture Series with Prof. Jim Bloom serving as our discussion leader. And finally, visit with our excited librarians and staff to find out about new displays, increased Information Literacy programming, tours and fantastic new services both online and in the library. Whether you are looking for a quiet place to get some research done (the newly carpeted C-Level), or a stimulating place to spark a curious conversation (check out the expanded current periodicals reading are on A-Level), we are working to provide you with the spaces, resources, and services needed for all styles of learning.

Best wishes for a great kickoff to your fall semester.

--Joyce Hommel, Library Director

Calendar of Events at the Library

"Text at Trexler": A New Way to Find Full Text

The world of journal publishing is a fractious one, even in an electronic age. Publishers don’t talk to one another, and neither do vendors or databases. That can make locating the full text of an article difficult.

Enter "Text at Trexler," operating on 360 Link software. Trexler Library has invested in this software to help you locate full text wherever it is.

Suppose you are searching in the MLA database or Academic Search Premier, and you see a citation, but no full text. The Text at Trexler link adjacent to the citation will allow you to view all your options at once for locating the full text of the article, wherever it may be.

If the full text is available in another database, Text at Trexler will take you there. If we have the full text in print in the library, Text at Trexler will give you the details. If the full text is freely available on the web at such sites as Directory of Open Access journals,Text at Trexler will find it on the web. If the text is unavailable through means known to Text at Trexler, you will then be directed to interlibrary loan.

To test out Text at Trexler, visit our list of databases. Most library databases now feature Text at Trexler in the search results.

***NOTE: Text at Trexler is a work in progress.***

--Kelly Cannon, Outreach and Scholarly Communication Librarian, Humanities and Business Subject Specialist

Library Book Exchange

Trexler Book Exchange is a new program on C Level Terrace. It’s a great way for the campus community to share the joy of reading. The concept is simple-Choose a book you would like to read and leave another in its place for a fellow bookworm to choose. No checkout, no due date, and no library fines! There is no fee or obligation to take advantage of this service. This program is dependent on your participation, so get the word out to increase selection of materials. Come see what books are available or donate your books for others to enjoy. You never know what you might find on the shelves of the Trexler Book Exchange.

Accepted Items

• Arts and Photography
• Best Sellers
• Cookbooks
• Health and Wellness
• Home and Garden
• Large Print
• Literature and Fiction
• Mysteries
• Nonfiction
• Outdoors & Nature
• Sports
• Travel

--Gina Kelchner, Public Services Assistant

Meet the New Staff: Gina Kelchner, Reference Assistant

The Trexler Library is pleased to introduce Gina Kelchner who began working in April 2007 as a Reference Services Assistant. Gina works evenings and weekends so please make a point of stopping by the Information Services desk to meet her.

Gina has an Associates Degree in Education from the Lehigh County Community College, and a Bachelors of Science in Library and Information Services from the University of Maine, which included an internship at the Library at LCCC where she assisted in a weeding project. She is working on her second bachelors in Art History from Mansfield University where she is currently enrolled in a summer course on Oriental Art. Her future goals include a Masters Degree in Library Science.

Some of Gina’s responsibilities include the Book Exchange, maintenance of the New York Times collection, library bulletin boards, safety officer for the library, assistant in the Interlibrary Loan office and general support to the reference librarians and patrons.

Gina is happily married with two preschoolers, two stepchildren, a bird and an iguana.

--Kristin Brodt, Interlibrary Loan Manager

Meet the New Staff: Cathy Hodge-Bodart, Cataloging and Metadata Librarian

Cathy Hodge-Bodart comes to the Trexler Library after seven years at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries as a member of the American Geographical Society Library (AGSL) Recataloging Project. The AGSL is one of North America’s premier cartographic libraries, with holdings ranging from Giovanni Leardo’s 1452 mappa mundi (medieval map of the world) to the most current electronic GIS materials. The goal of the Recataloging Project was to bring the AGSL’s card catalog, dating from 1851, online so that it can be searchable by researchers and by the public. As part of the recataloging team, Cathy’s responsibilities included cataloging monographic and cartographic materials in multiple formats and languages. She also trained map catalogers new to the project and served as the team’s Slavic language specialist.

Cathy received her MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Information Science in 1999. Prior to that she was a high school English and Remedial Reading teacher in West Allis, Wisconsin, during which time she earned a MS in Reading from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. From 1986 through 1994, Cathy served in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a Cryptologic Technician (Interpretive) following intensive Russian language training at the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California, and Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo, Texas.

An Exciting New Database:

Trexler Library is pleased to offer the SAGE Journals Online database.  SAGE Journals Online offers over 450 peer-reviewed titles, with full-text access from 1999 to the present (where available).  Indexing of articles stretches further back, in many cases for each journal's full publication run. 

Access premier publications from many disciplines, including: Communication, Education, Psychology, Political Science, Anthropology, Sociology, Public Health, Medicine, Neuroscience, Biochemistry, Music, and more. 

Enter SAGE via the article database list from the library website or go directly to the database.  All SAGE Journals Online titles are also included in the library catalog.  Search by journal title to access individual publications.  (Note that off-campus users will be prompted for name and ID number.)

Questions about SAGE?  Contact Jen Jarson at jarson@muhlenberg.edu.

--Jen Jarson, Information Literacy and Assessment Librarian, Social Sciences Subject Specialist

A Grant to Talk about Great Books

Earlier this year, Trexler Library was awarded a competitive grant to host a reading group that would bring together campus and non-campus participants in a conversation about great books. To date, the program is over-enrolled with nearly 40 participants, and additional participants are now being placed on a waiting list. To sign up for the waiting list, call x3602. We plan to apply for a second grant to run additional programs in the future.

Library staff were advised that a successful program would revolve largely around 3 things: 1) selecting a theme (and books) that would resonate with the local community, 2) inviting a local scholar to lead the discussion, and 3) finding local sponsors for matching funds and promotion.

Jim Bloom kindly agreed to lead the book discussions during his sabbatical, on Sunday afternoons, 3:30-5 p.m., meeting in the library’s periodicals reading room. The theme chosen was “Sex and Love in Jewish Literature.” Five books are to be discussed through fall semester, as follows:

• Sept. 9, Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
• Oct. 7, The Little Disturbances of Man by Grace Paley
• Nov. 11, A Simple Story by S.Y. Agnon
• Dec. 9, The Lover by A.B. Yehoshua
• Jan. 20, The Mind-Body Problem by Rebecca Goldstein

Local support has come from several generous sponsors, in the form of money and advertising. Hillel, IJCU, and Project Yachad have been strong supporters; we have also received support from Jewish Studies and the local ELCA synod.

The grant itself came from two organizations with a keen interest in promoting reading of critically-acclaimed literature: the American Library Association and Nextbook.

--Kelly Cannon

Staff Video Pick

The Wedding Party
A TLA Releasing, C2007
After Dark Collection

The Wedding Party is a great example of Germany’s dark comedy films and a look at the country’s shared cultural sense of humor. I did not find the movie hard to follow in German and of course it offers English subtitles.

The film opens with a lot of dialog and you have to be careful to catch a few important phrases that are pivotal to the plot. I admit the translated subtitles were very accurate and unless you’ve lived in Germany, you won’t miss a joke.

One of the nice things about this movie is how it gently rolls along without feely hurried. There isn’t the need for a continuous barrage of one-liners or cheap jokes. Also, unlike American dark comedies, this film does not attempt to imbue a message or offer us a sense of higher morality.

In the end, I enjoyed this film very much and was left to ponder one question. Was the shrimp really spoiled?

--Mike Colarusso, Public Services Assistant