The University of Scranton’s football team may no longer be around (in fact, it’s famous on campus for being “undefeated since 1960″), but at the Weinberg Memorial Library, UofS football is back in a big way.  This week, the Library is proud to announce the University of Scranton Football Collection, a digitized version of our football archives.

The collection includes over a thousand photographs of University of Scranton (and St. Thomas College) football teams, players, coaches, and games – as well as photos of the cheerleaders and marching bands who cheered them on.  The collection also features a set of football game programs.  The programs, produced for each home game, have team rosters, statistics, and game analysis.  Most of the materials come from the years 1900 through 1960, when the varsity football team was disbanded.

This collection isn’t just for UofS football fans, though.  The game programs in particular are a rich resource for researchers interested in the history of Scranton and its surrounding area.  The programs were sponsored by local businesses (like the Hotel Casey), so the booklets serve as miniature “time capsules” showing slices of Scranton life over time.

We invite all students, staff, alumni, and community members to browse and search the collection at www.scranton.edu/library/football.  You may also want to take a look at our brief history of University of Scranton football.

P.S. While we have identified many of the photographs, some are still mysteries.  If you recognize a player, please let us know!  You can contact the Digital Services department at 570-941-7003.

Many thanks to librarian Kay Lopez, library systems specialist Jennifer Maher, and digital services assistant Kevin Pheasey, who all dedicated many hours of hard work to this project.

At the end of Saturday’s Distinguished Author event, award recipient William Bernhardt read one of his poems, titled “Scratches,” to the audience.  The attendees loved it, and so many people wanted a copy that we asked Mr. Bernhardt if we could post it here on Infospot.  He agreed – so here, in its entirety, is “Scratches.”

Scratches

This is how it begins;
scratches on signs, on blocks
on a white page. Then the
scratches start to dance.  They
recombinate, they collect sounds
they call your name.
Like so much in childhood
they are ciphers, full of secrets
but once you learn the dance
the secrets of the world
and more, are revealed.
You learn to read.

You learn:
manners from Goldilocks
curiosity from George
gluttony from Peter
the importance of nonsense from Alice.
You set sail with Jim Hawkins, raft with Huck
row with Mole.
You learn that love is eternal, from Catherine
but so is madness, says the first Mrs. Rochester.
Jeeves helps you laugh
poetry helps you cry
Atticus shows you how to do both, with courage.

Not only have the scratches shaped the world
they have shaped your world.
They have taught you how to see.
Now you need never be afraid.
Now you will never be alone.
In the darkest night
in the deepest solitude
the scratches will call to you.
You will open the covers.
They will reach out their arms and say
“Hey! You thought you were the only one?
You’re not.”

Copyright 2009 William Bernhardt

William Bernhardt, “master of the courtroom drama,” came to campus this Saturday to receive the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author award.  Bernhardt gave a reading and several comments on his latest publication, Capitol Offense, and also made time to sign books for attendees.  The event benefitted the Friends of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library Endowment Fund, so many thanks to all who participated!

We’ll be adding photos as we get them to our Flickr page.

Tagged: denaples, Distinguished Author Award, Friends of the Weinberg Library, nepa, scranton ]]> http://wmlinfospot.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/distinguished-author-william-bernhardt/feed/ 0 kristenyt WilliamBernhardt http://wmlinfospot.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/systems-down-in-am-saturday-1114/ http://wmlinfospot.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/systems-down-in-am-saturday-1114/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:51:22 +0000 Donna Mazziotti http://wmlinfospot.wordpress.com/?p=1295 ]]>

We were just notified that a number of University systems will be down this Saturday, 11/14, from 7-10 am. This is due to some needed electrical upgrades which will be made to the University’s main data center.

The systems that will be down for the upgrade include Library services that require authentication (i.e. logging into My.Scranton) including the article databases, ANGEL, and university email.

If all goes well, these systems will be back up and running by 10 am that morning. Thank you, library users, for your understanding and patience! Please plan accordingly!

This Thursday, November 12, the Schemel Forum is hosting a lecture and book signing by University of Pennsylvania professor Thomas Childers, author of Soldier from the War  Returning: The Greatest Generation’s Troubled Homecoming from World War II.

The lecture will be held at 7:15pm on campus in Brennan Hall, Room 228, but you can also join Dr. Childers at a cocktail reception from 6-7pm at Catlin House (232 Monroe Avenue, Scranton) prior to the lecture.  Both the cocktail reception and lecture are free of charge.  For more information, contact Schemel Forum director Sondra Myers at myerss2 (at) scranton (dot) edu.

P.S. The Weinberg Memorial Library doesn’t have a copy of Soldiers from the War Returning quite yet, but you can borrow it from another library using Interlibrary Loan.  We do have some of Dr. Childers’ other books available in our own stacks, including The Formation of the Nazi Constituency, 1919-1933 and The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1933.

Last Spring, we received feedback from grad students regarding their loan period for books. Our grad students are heavy researchers, and they made their case to us that the nature of their research requires a loan period of longer than 30 days. They pointed out that most grad level research assignments are semester-long, and so they would need their books for the length of the entire semester without the renewal period running out on them.

As a result, we have extended the loan period on books for graduate students to meet this need.

As of March of this year, the loan period for graduate students is always, at most, an entire semester. This means, when a graduate student checks out a book, it will always be due at the end of the current semester. One renewal is allowed though, which would then extend the due date to the end of the following semester.

So, to all of our grad students — happy researching!

Our next Technology on Your Own Terms  workshop is coming up on Thursday, October 29, from 11:30am – 12:30pm in WML room 306. If you are a University faculty or staff member doing research–this workshop is for you.

In “Stay Alert! Keeping Your Research Up-to-Date,” Bonnie Oldham will explain how to set up e-mail alerts and use Rss Feeds to gather scholarly information.

Seats are limited, so be sure to register (under Special Events).

We’ve just added some old photographs of the amusement park at Nay Aug Park in Scranton to our Flickr collection.  Please take a look and either help us date/describe them, or just post some of your memories of Nay Aug!

The photos were contributed by Weinberg Memorial Library Associate Director Bonnie Strohl, whose father and uncle owned the park (called Nay Aug Amuseument Company).

The Technology Support Center just announced that the software upgrades intended for this weekend have been postponed.  This means that email, Angel, and my.scranton will be available over Fall Break.  Library online resources (databases, catalog, interlibrary loan, course reserves) will all be accessible as usual, though the building will still be closed over the weekend.

Here’s the official notice from the Support Center:

The hardware and software upgrades scheduled for October 9 – 12 have been postponed. These upgrades will be rescheduled at a later date. University enterprise computer systems will be available as normally scheduled. As always, information technology questions or problems can be directed to the Technology Support Center can be reached at x4357 or techsupport@scranton.edu

Also, the Library building will be closed from 4:30 pm on Friday 10/9, and will reopen at 8:30 am on Tuesday 10/13 for Fall break. The 24 hour Pro Deo room will be open this weekend. Have a great break!

Our next Technology on Your Own Terms workshop is coming up next Tuesday, October 13, from 12pm-1pm in WML room 306.   If you’re a University faculty or staff member who has trouble keeping track of all of your favorite websites – this workshop is for you.

In “Really Simple Steps for Managing the Web: An Introduction to RSS,” we will explain how RSS feeds and RSS readers can help you manage the abundance of information available on the web. You’ll create a Google Reader account and will learn to import, organize, search, and share up-to-date content from your favorite websites.

Seats are limited, so be sure to register (under Special Events).

Tagged: ctle, google reader, information literacy, technology on your own terms, web2.0, workshop ]]> http://wmlinfospot.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/really-simple-steps-for-managing-the-web/feed/ 0 kristenyt RSS