Library News

New Database

The Dictionary of Old English Corpus covers the period 600-1150 A.D.and contains at least one copy of every surviving text in Old English, encompassing a rich diversity of records written on parchment, carved in stone, and inscribed on jewelry. The texts cover a wide range of literary genres and subject-matter.

The Dictionary of Old English Corpus is the textual databank on which the ongoing Dictionary of Old English (DOE) is based. The DOE is a companion to the Middle English Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary and is currently completed to the letter F (available in the U of W's microfiche collection in the Archives and Records Centre - PE 279 D53). Read more about the Dictionary of Old English.

New database

Candian Foreign Affairs Index is a consolidation and continuation of the print series A Bibliography of Works on Canadian Foreign Relations [REF Z 6465 C2P34]. It contains Canadian and foreign material on Canada's foreign relations, defence, economic relations, foreign aid, international law, and international environmental concerns for the period from 1945 to the present. Material types covered include journal articles, monographs, theses, research papers, book chapters, conference proceedings, unpublished papers, selected government documents, news releases, statements, and treaties. The index currently (as of May 2005) has over 49,000 French and English references. The Web edition is updated monthly.

The Arthurian Annals

"The Arthurian Annals are an unrivalled resource for research in Arthurian and Medieval studies, and for bibliographic research - offering a unique overview of literary developments and cultural fashions over 750 years.

Each entry contains full bibliographical information, an account of the Arthurian content of the work, and an overview of the work's publication or performance history. A separate index volume provides a range of ways of accessing and ordering the information in the Annals, with indexes of People: authors, editors, translators and illustrators; Titles; Characters; Forms and Genres; Cultures; Places; Themes; and Source Languages.

* Volume 1: Bibliography
* Introduction
* Using The Arthurian Annals
* THE ARTHURIAN ANNALS
* Volume 2: Indexes
* Using the Indexes
* Index of People
* Index of Titles
* Index of Forms and Genres
* Index of Characters
* Index of Cultures
* Index of Places
* Index of Themes, Motifs, Artefacts, and Events
* Index of Source Languages"

This information is from the Oxford University Press website.

eBooks for your PDA

manybooks.net provides eBooks in formats that can be read on PDAs, close to 10,000 titles now, all for free (small donation suggested). As with other free eBook providers, the books are already in the public domain, so don't expect to find the latest bestseller. Much of the content comes from Project Gutenberg.

Here are the six most popular titles that have been downloaded from the site. For more, see Popular Titles.

Relativity - The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein
Fanny Hill by John Cleland
Don Quijote (in Spanish) by Miguel de Cervantes
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Some of the popular formats supported by manybooks.net. For more see, Popular Formats.

PDF
eReader
Palm Doc
iSilo
Plucker
zTXT

Find out more about Belinda Stronach

In response to startling news that Belinda Stronach has defected to the Liberal party just days before a crucial budget vote in Parliament, here are two links to more information.

 

Google News: Belinda Stronach

Wikipedia: Belinda Stronach

 

New Directions for Teaching and Learning

The latest issue of New Directions for Teaching and Learning is dedicated to the subject of "Enhancing Learning with Laptops in the Classroom".

The editors, Linda B. Nilson and Barbara E. Weaver both from Clemson University note that "laptops indeed offer rich new opportunities to make classes more student-active, thereby enhancing student engagement and learning. Moreover, these benefits can accrue without compromising the quality of student-instructor interaction or increasing the student workload."

Though the editors also note that some recent laptop programs have failed, been canceled or scaled back. "It seems that, without help, faculty do not automatically devise intelligent ways for the students to use laptops in class."

Other articles in this issue are:

• Laptops in class: What are they good for? What can you do with them?
• Laptops in psychology: Conducting flexible in-class research and writing laboratories
• Appreciating music: An active approach
• Teaching statistics by taking advantage of the laptop's ubiquity
• Laptops in computer science: Creating the Learning Studio
• Teaching with laptops for the first time: Lessons from a social science classroom
• Incorporating laptop technologies into an animal sciences curriculum
• Using laptops in engineering courses for real-time data collection and analysis
• Laptops in the humanities: Classroom walls come tumbling down

Manitobia launch

Today at noon, librarians, archivists, historians, and educators from around the province gathered in the Reading Room of the Legislative Library of Manitoba to witness the launch of Manitobia: Life and Times, the website of the Manitobia.ca Project. Culminating from the efforts of a huge team headed by the Manitoba Library Consortium, the project is described as the “first major initiative of the … Consortium and its partners to gather and render accessible a wealth of historically significant documents and publications free of charge to Canadians, young and old.” The presentation by U. of W. University Librarian Mark Leggott, timed to coincide closely with Manitoba Day (May 12), went with hardly a hitch, although he joked at one point that he was stalling so the project’s developers “could do some more work on the site.” Although he downplayed his own role in the project, a source close to Leggott described the project as the realization of a long-time dream for him. It will make accessible — in a very attractive format — a vast and still-growing collection of newspaper and manuscript material for Manitoba history, biography, and culture. The content is enhanced with informative introductions commissioned from a professional historian.

Encyclopedia of Homelessness

Reference HV 4493 E53 2004

More than dry statistics and government policy, this encyclopedia puts many human faces on homelessness around the world. Covering such topics as street newspapers, cities including Toronto, Paris and St. Louis, literature and cinema of homelessness, and skid row culture, the encyclopedia also features a selection of primary source material from c. 500 CE to 2003 (for example, "How to Go to California without a Dollar" from the Hobo News, Spring 1937. Many of the signed entries are enhanced with excerpts from such literary masters as Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist) and George Orwell (Down and Out in London).

Read more about the encyclopedia from the publisher's website.

The Encyclopedia of Homelessness meets the needs of a broad audience, offering a rich history and the data, views, and perspectives of experts from different disciplines and perspectives, including

* Sociologists
* Anthropologists
* Economists
* Historians
* Social Policy Analysts and Planners
* Program Administrators
* Physicians
* Social Workers
* Lawyers who provide advocacy and services
* Journalists
* Students of history, social studies, and the social sciences in high school through graduate school

Appendices

In addition to the articles, the encyclopedia provides five carefully researched and compiled appendices which make this the key starting point for the study of homelessness:

* Homelessness in Popular Culture: Novels and Autobiographies
* Homelessness in Popular Culture: Film
* Directory of Street Newspapers
* Master Bibliography
* Documentary History—selection of primary source material from c. 500 CE to 2003

Missing Journals

Journal issues from 2004 are being taken from the Current Periodicals section of the Library and are being sent to be bound into volumes. This will occur throughout the summer with different titles going out at different times and it will take approximately 2-4 months before they get back to the shelves (in the "Back Bound Periodicals" section). The record will be updated in the catalogue, but there may be a lag at times with staff processing. If you notice that all issues for 2004 are gone for a particular title, try to see if the title is available electronically (if you have not already tried) or request the article through InterLibrary Loan and make a note that the journal is "being bound."

Library introduces new Journal Catalogue

The Library is pleased to announce the availability of a new catalogue of its serial holdings (journals, magazines, newspapers, etc.). Although this resource looks much like other pages on this site, it draws on data supplied by CUFTS, a journal listing system which is tightly integrated with our Interlending services. An important new feature is the ability to browse journals by subject.

CUFTS was developed at the Simon Fraser University Library for the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL), of which the University of Winnipeg Library is a member.

Wireless Beyond Your Library

More and more people are bringing wireless devices into the library (laptops, PDAs) and accessing our wireless network. You can find out how to do so by logging in to MyCybrary. You will need to know your library barcode (on your student card) and PIN # (Create a PIN).

When you are not in the library there are other wireless networks on campus that you can access. You may have already discovered the U of W Wireless Network, available in:

• Riddell Hall Cafeteria / Atrium


• 2nd Floor Duckworth Centre (South Lounge)


• 4th Floor Centennial Hall Buffeteria

This is an open wireless network (no passwords or WEP key required), but did you know that as a UofW student or faculty, you can also access an encrypted wireless network for confidential transactions such as banking?

For more information about the encrypted network, you need to log into MyUWinnipeg. You will need your computer account username and password. Claim your computer account here.

Even beyond the walls of the university people are starting to discover wireless networks in cafes, restaurants, bars and other public places that are providing free wireless to attract business. There is some very interesting work being done to map access points (or hotspots) that are publically available. For an example, go to WiFiWinnipeg. There are also lists of access points available by city, such as FatPort or Wi-Fi HotSpotList.com.

Finally, University of Winnipeg staff and faculty are spearheading a project to create a free downtown wireless network that would give public access to the internet from any location in the downtown area. An article in ITBusiness.ca outlines how students may soon be able to do their homework and access library resources from anywhere downtown. University Librarian Mark Leggott is part of the Learning CITI wireless network project. And we are excited to continue bringing you better ways of accessing learning resources.