The Weinberg Memorial Library held its second annual Library Research Prize Reception yesterday afternoon to honor the winners of the 2012 Library Research Prize.  The prizes were given to one graduate, Colleen Achatz, and one undergraduate student, Stephanie Pisko, who demonstrated exemplary research skills and use of library resources.  The library also presented certificates to two  honorable mentions in the undergraduate category: Allison Carey and Ryan P. Pipan.  Read all about our winning students and their research projects. We are very proud of all of the essays that were submitted and look forward to next year’s Library Research Prize.  Please visit our Flickr page to view all of the photos from yesterdays reception.

Congratulations to Stephanie A. Pisko, a senior double major in History and Women’s Studies, whose submission, “Murder and Turmoil: Honor and Crimes of Passion in Two Nineteenth-Century Murder Trials,” was selected as this year’s winner of the prize in the Undergraduate category. Stephanie’s supporting faculty member was Dr. Susan L. Poulson in the History Department.

Stephanie wrote in her essay describing her research process:

Throughout the entire process, the library and the librarians helped me with all my questions, and there were many. [...] As an undergraduate I had never taken on extensive research like this before and their guidance was invaluable. From learning to use the microfilm machine to locating articles in a bound journal, the library was there every step of the way. The research skills I gained are as sophisticated and as numerous as those of a graduate student. I feel confident of how to research, how to evaluate scholarly sources, and how to integrate the sources. This research project would not have been of the same quality without the librarians’ extensive knowledge and constant assistance.

Congratulations as well to Colleen Achatz, a student in our Graduate Program in Occupational Therapy, whose submission, Part I: “Evolution of Sensory Integration with Children” and Part II: “Jean Ayres’ Impact on the Past, Present, and Future of Sensory Integration,” was selected as this year’s  winner of the prize in the Graduate category. Colleen’s supporting faculty member was Dr. Rita Fleming-Castaldy in the Occupational Therapy Department.

Colleen wrote in her essay describing her research process:

The resource in the library that most surprised me was the microfilm; I had no idea about it until I learned about it for this assignment. I did not know what the microfilm section of the library even was and I wound up using microfilm for a key portion of my research. The journals in the library were also very helpful. In the past I had only used the databases on the library website to retrieve articles from the American Journal of Occupational Therapy and other journals but it only goes so many years back. I was surprised to see how many years’ worth of journals were physically in the library. I never realized how extensive the resources, tools, and services the library had to offer until this assignment. [...] Through this assignment and the research process with the use of Weinberg Library’s resources and services, I learned a significant amount of knowledge in the methods and process of research as well as the importance of research in the profession of occupational therapy. This experience also helped me with my ability to more competently participate in my faculty mentored research course.

The Weinberg Memorial Library inaugurated the prize to recognize excellence in research projects that show evidence of significant knowledge in the methods of research and the information gathering process, and use of library resources, tools, and services. The prize is in the amount of $500 for the winning submission in each category: Undergraduate and Graduate.

In addition to our winners, two students were selected to receive Honorable Mentions in the Undergraduate category: Allison Carey for her submission, “Dynamics of Recent Trade Relationships with China,” and Ryan P. Pipan for his submission, “Much Ado about the Archer-Shee’s: Shakespearean Signatures in Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy.”

Winners will be honored at a reception and awards ceremony on Thursday, May 10, 2012 in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room.

• A new homepage for Digital Collections
• A new University History page where you can cross-search all of our University-related collections
• Improved browsing, searching, and viewing
• Easier ways to download and print photos and documents from our collections
• Tagging, commenting, and sharing

Take our new collections for a test drive, and then let us know what you think! There are still a few quirks we’re working out, so if you run into any problems, just let us know at digitalcollections@scranton.edu.

Photo courtesy of Film Movement

Join us for a presentation of the Norwegian thriller King of Devil’s Island at 7 p.m. Friday May 4, 2012 in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library.  Dr. Kathryn Meier and Professor Mark Meier will lead a discussion following the film.

Described by Film Movement as the true story of the infamous Bastøy Boys Home correctional facility in Norway, the movie begins with the arrival of seventeen-year-old Erling, a rumored murderer.  He clashes with the island facility’s governor (Stellan Skarsgård), who believes manual labor, rigid discipline, and harsh punishment are the only methods that can turn the boys into honorable members of society. Erling slowly rouses the rest of the boys out of their resigned existence, and encourages them to fight to lift their spirits. When tragedy falls at the hand of the cruel dorm master, Erling leads his comrades in a courageous and vicious rebellion that will bring them head to head with the Norwegian Army.

Directed by Marius Holst King of Devil’s Island is in Norwegian with English subtitles.

This free event is open to faculty, staff, students and the public. Seating is limited so please contact Sharon Finnerty at (570) 941-6330 or finnertys2@scranton.edu for reservations.

U of S Earth Day Fair 2010

Earth Day 2012: Sunday, April 22nd

Earth Day is only about a week away!  This list of U of S Earth Week events at https://foursquare.com/univofscranton/list/earth-week-events makes it easy to learn what environmentally themed activities are happening on campus starting with tomorrow’s annual Street Sweep.

Included in the list are Library activities like the opening reception for the Environmental Art Show, which will take place Monday at 7pm in the Heritage Room.  As part of this year’s Foursquare Frenzy,  there will be a special prize for the first students who check-in during the reception, and it’s not too late to submit artwork! Just bring in your submissions to the Library by Monday morning.

Want to learn more about how you can go green? Check out resources on sustainability in the Library Catalog or Research Guides.

You can also visit the Media Resources Center to watch one of the top sustainability themed films available at the Library:

1. The Age of Stupid- DVD- feature film
2. The Day After Tomorrow –DVD- feature film
3. Eating Alaska- DVD- documentary/educational film
4. King Corn-DVD- documentary/educational film
5. An Inconvenient Truth –DVD- documentary/educational film
6. No Impact Man-DVD- documentary/educational film
7. Flow: For Love of Water-DVD - documentary/educational film
8. Food, Inc. –DVD- documentary/educational film
9. The 11^th Hour- DVD- documentary/educational film
10. The Great Warming -3 parts VHS- documentary/educational film
11. Warnings from the Ice VHS- documentary/educational film

The Library is participating in several ways. Simply by checking in to the Library, with a photo of the inside or outside of the building, after midnight you can earn the Bookworm Bender Badge!

Are you the mayor of the Library? We are giving away the “Save Our World” water bottles to anyone who earns mayor status of the Library. There will also be a special prize for the first several people to check-in during the Environmental Art Show opening night reception!

Check-in! Play! Win!

Good luck Foursquarers!

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