Ohrstrom Blog

Lura Sanborn October 29th, 2009

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

The Eighties in America edited by Milton Berman, Salem Press, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 973.927 B45E

Almost 700 essays span this 3-volume set.  Essays focus on important people, ideas, and innovations of the 1980s.  Volume three also contains several lists pertinent to the 1980s including: Major films, Academy Awards, Broadway plays, TV Shows, Legislation, and Best-Selling Books.  Following this selection of  lists is a year-by-year breakdown of key events that occurred during this decade.

Read about: Fax machines, The Empire Strikes Back, Cyberpunk literature, Nintendo and the 1980’s Environmental Movement.

Helpful for research and fun for browsing!

Access the online version of this Reference set  (and the 1960’s decade version as well) by clicking  HERE.

Helpful for: Humanities IV, Humanities IV Research Paper, Popular Culture, Topic Finding

Tags: 1980s, American History, fax machines, Humanities IV, Humanities IV Research Paper, New Reference Book, popular culture, reference, Research

• History , Humanities , Research , Social Sciences
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Lisa Laughy October 26th, 2009

Lisa Laughy – Library Web Services

There are many ways that greener thinking has changed our awareness and helped to improve the eco-footprint of the St. Paul’s School community. There has been an effort to reduce the amount of paper used, with some School publications being distributed online in PDF file formats instead of being printed. This helps us all see that even small changes can make a difference, especially when multiplied by many people being mindful about the environmental impact of their actions.

One small change in thinking that could help in the larger picture is to stop and think before printing. It’s not just thinking about whether you really need to print something or not (which is the best way to save paper), but also about taking a few extra seconds to be sure which printer you are sending your print job to.  There are many times when a printer is found at the end of the day with a stack of unclaimed pages in the tray, sometimes with multiple copies of the same print job.  If you send your print job to the wrong printer you may think it hasn’t printed at all and try again, but if you are printing a  fifteen page journal article from JSTOR and are unknowingly sending it multiple times the wasted paper piles up fast.

So next time you need to print while at Ohrstrom, pause, and look at the destination in the print dialogue box.  Or if you have sent something off to print but it isn’t showing up in the printer you expected, open up the print dialogue box again and see which printer is selected. Then check the printer to see if your pages are there before printing again.

Think, then print.  The Library staff will thank you, the SPS community will thank you, and the trees will thank you.

Image courtesy of yewenyi under this Creative Commons license.

Tags: eco-footprint, green, paper, print, think, trees

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Lura Sanborn October 22nd, 2009

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

The Facts on File Companion to British Poetry before 1600 by Michelle M. Sauer, Facts on File, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 821 F11B

This volume, the first of a projected four volume set, presents essays about poems and poets from Middle English and Early Renaissance British Isles. Examples include: Beowulf, Anglo-Saxon Riddles, The Faerie Queene, Alfred the Great and Arthurian Literature.

Helpful for: Humanities III, Humanities IV, Renaissance Studies, Poets

Tags: Beowulf, Humanities, Humanities III, Humanities V, Literature, New Reference Book, poetry, poets, reference, Renaissance, Research

• History , Humanities , Literature , Research
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Lisa Laughy October 20th, 2009

Lisa Laughy – Library Web Services

Three new research guides are now available through the Ohrstrom blog – just in time to help with current research projects.

Ms. Sanborn has put together research guides for Middle Eastern Voices, the Humanities V Renaissance Artists research project, and the Latin I class.  The research guides contain helpful lists of Reference books, catalog search topics for  finding circulating books, citation examples, and database search tips.

You can access the research guides through the links in the Ohrstrom Blog sidebar to the left of this post (see image above) or through the main menu of the Ohrstrom Library website (ie., Research > Research Guides > Latin I).  Each research guide has a link to a PDF version of the guide for printing or downloading to your computer.

Tags: Humanities, Humanities V, Latin I, Middle Eastern Voices, Renaissance art, Renaissance Artists, research guides

• Humanities , Language , Library News , Web Resources
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Lura Sanborn October 15th, 2009

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

What People Wore When: A Complete Illustrated History of Costume edited by Melissa Leventon, St. Martin’s Press, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 391 L57W

Presented geographically (Egypt, Italy, India, et al.), area fashions are then presented chronologically, often spanning several centuries.  Color drawings are included throughout.

Images are accompanied by brief text descriptions including: Knights, 11th Century [England]; Campaign Wig [France, 1650-1780], Samurai Woman, [Japan, 19th Century].

The final 30 pages of the volume is divided into two sections.  The first focuses on Western clothing details (sleeves, doublets, hose, et al) from 1300-1800.  The second section focuses on Western accessories (footwear, belts, hairstyles, et al.).

Helpful for: Humanities IV, Humanities V, Fashion Enthusiasts, Art

Tags: Art, Clothing, costume, Fashion, History, Humanities IV, Humanities V, New Reference Book, reference, Research

• Fine Arts , History , Humanities , Research
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