Egypt: Intersection of East & West - A Curriculum Workshop

On Saturday, April 21, Dr. Barbara Cook, Asst. Prof. of English, and Shamim Rajpar, Reference Librarian, attended a day-long workshop at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. The workshop sessions highlighted the historical and contemporary significance of Egypt as a crossroads for the convergence of East and West and the impact on Egyptian society, throughout the ages, of this array of influences. Topics covered included an overview of Egyptian history from the Greco-Roman period to the present, the Egyptian Economy, Islam's Changing Identity, the Regime of Mubarak, and Egyptian music and humor. Presenters were all subject specialists; several of them were native Egyptians.

The backdrop to lunch, a delicious offering of Egyptian cuisine, was the movie Driving an Arab Street, a film that follows Egyptian taxi drivers as they navigate the streets of Cairo and share their diverse perspectives on American and Egyptian society, culture, politics, and the relationship between these two civilizations. The film was followed by comments from Moustafa Ayad, a staff writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette who was born in Egypt and educated in the United States.

Aside from gaining many new ideas for the development of curriculum materials, extensive bibliographies were provided to the participants.

The workshop was organized and presented by the Global Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh and CERIS, The Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies, a collaboration of academic, non-profit, and religious organizations in the tri-state area (Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.) CERIS facilitates program development and disseminates information on Islamic Studies to students, faculty, and the larger communities served. Islamic Studies encompasses many languages, literatures, and disciplines, and extends from the seventh century to the present and across broad geographical areas of the world. Through collaboration and the sharing resources among the 28 members, CERIS is able to bring more resources to member institutions in these fields of study, and to provide useful information including funding opportunities for scholarly research, guest speakers, film screenings, conferences, and course listings.

Mount Aloysius College is a member of CERIS. Please contact Shamim Rajpar, srajpar@mtaloy.edu, or visit the CERIS website, http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/ceris/about.html, for additional information.

Trial Database: Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition

Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Britannica Online has been thoroughly updated with new content and a more user-friendly interface that specifically addresses the needs of college and university libraries. Now called Britannica Online – Academic Edition, the site includes new content such as World Data Analyst, Gateway to the Classics, and Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Quotations as well as new functionality including advanced search capabilities and Britannica Workspace, a research organizer.

Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition is available to the Mount Aloysius College community on a trial basis until July 31, 2007, and can be accessed through the Library webpage by clicking Trial Databases or following this link:
http://www.mtaloy.edu/academics/library/trial_databases.dot

Comments/Questions: askalibrarian@mtaloy.edu

JSTOR Collection Announcement

One title with a moving wall of zero has had the most recent digitized issues added:

Environmental Health Perspectives (Health & General Sciences Collection)
Release Content: Vol. 114 (Issue 10), 2006
Publisher: The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
ISSN: 0091-6765

The following title has had previously missing issues added:

Environmental Health Perspectives (Health & General Sciences Collection)
New content: Vol. 102 (Supplement 8), 1994;
Vol. 102 (Supplement 9), 1994;
Vol. 112 (Issue 4), 2004;
Vol. 112 (Issue 5), 2004;
Vol. 112 (Issue 9), 2004;
Vol. 112 (Issue 10), 2004;
Vol. 112 (Issue 12), 2004;
Vol. 112 (Issue 14), 2004;
Vol. 112 (Issue 16), 2004
Publisher: The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
ISSN: 0091-6765

Comments/Questions: askalibrarian@mtaloy.edu

JSTOR | New Journals Added to Health & General Sciences

THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL AND SCIENCE NEWS TO JOIN JSTOR’s HEALTH & GENERAL SCIENCES COLLECTION

The British Medical Journal, one of the oldest and most widely read peer-reviewed medical titles, has begun collaborating with JSTOR to make their complete back files available through JSTOR, the not-for-profit online scholarly journal archive. The BMJ, founded in 1840, features past issues and articles totaling more than 350,000 pages. BMJ will be offered through JSTOR’s Health & General Sciences Collection and is expected to be available to JSTOR participants in late 2007.

A total of five of the BMJ Group’s public health and ethics journals will be offered through JSTOR’s Health & General Sciences Collection, including the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Tobacco Control, the Journal of Medical Ethics, and Occupational and Environmental Medicine, in addition to the BMJ.

JSTOR has also begun to collaborate with Science News to make their back files available to JSTOR participants. Science News is an award-winning weekly periodical covering important research in all science fields. Science News began in 1922 as the Science News-Letter, whose articles focused on “the early days of atomic energy, the beginning of modern genetics, and many other developments.” Their publisher, Science Service, has a mission to “advance public understanding and appreciation of science among people of all ages through publications and educational programs.” Science News will also be available through the Health & General Sciences Collection with an anticipated availability of late 2007.

JSTOR’s Health & General Sciences Collection, formerly the General Science Collection, originally featured several of the most important historical scientific journals published: Science, PNAS, and the publications of the Royal Society of London. The back issues included in this archive extend back to the seventeenth century and in total covers more than eight hundred years of journal publication. In September 2006, the collection was renamed Health & General Sciences to reflect the inclusion of journals in the health sciences, including important journals in nursing, epidemiology, and other health sciences topics.

Participation fees for the Health & General Sciences Collection will remain unchanged, and existing participants will have access to these new titles as soon as they are publicly available. There will be no overlap of content between the Health & General Sciences Collection and any of the multi-discipline Arts & Sciences Collections or the Biological Sciences Collections in JSTOR. Two titles from the Health & General Sciences Collection will continue to be offered through the Mathematics & Statistics Collection: Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences and Proceedings: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.