Monday, November 26, 2007

The next CMRS colloquium will be held on Thursday, November 29th at 4:00 in STM 344B (with the presentation slated to begin at 4:30). And this one is special. "Frescoes, Fountains and Fizzy Water: Three Weeks in the Eternal City" is a presentation by the student participants in this past year's Rome Summer Program (Katrina Bens, Chantal de Medeiros, Becky Littlechilds, Sarah Ostafie, Felipe Paredes-Canevari, Nina Thurlow), who will discuss their experiences in Rome and the nature of the program. Since this will almost certainly not be the last Roman study-abroad opportunity offered by Professor Angela Kalinowski, there's all the more reason to see what the wildly successful first edition was all about.

While it might seem cruel [note from editor: it is cruel] to remind people in Saskatchewan in
late November of what Rome can be like in the Summer, this promises to be a highly entertaining and inspiring presentation. Everyone welcome.

Friday, November 23, 2007

While the current moratorium on library lending makes life undeniably difficult for all history students, the growing array of electronic sources does make life less difficult than it might otherwise have been. In addition to Historical Abstracts, Academic Search Premier, Early English Books Online, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, and various treasures you probably already know about, there are others you might consider.

For one thing, the library continues to roll out new offerings on a permanent or trial basis: you can see what's new for yourself at http://library.usask.ca:9003/eresources/archives/current_trials.html#001394#more

Don't forget to check out the History subject page in the library catalogue, which pulls links to most of the main electronic sources under one roof. When you click on the History link, it opens by default to the options for finding journal articles. https://library.usask.ca/subject/hist/articles

To see the offerings under books, click on the "Books & Theses" tab near the top of that page, and scroll down to check the options for "eBooks". You might get lucky and find just the tome you need, in its full searchable entirety.

One potentially useful option not presented on the library page is the University of California Press, a leading academic publisher that makes a surprising number of its books free to the universe via their "eScholarship Editions" web portal at http://content.cdlib.org/escholarship/
You can click on "View Public Titles" under the search box to filter out books that are not available for free. Note that the default for the simple search box on their site is a title search, so don't be surprised if your author search gathers zilch first time. Click here to see one especially useful book they offer free to everyone.

And don't forget that you can find amazing things at Google Books Search (not to be confused with a regular Google search), and Live Search Books. Both sites offer tens if not hundreds of thousands of out-of-copyright (but often still state-of-the-art) books that can be read and downloaded freely, and both sites also allow you the option of searching their entire holdings by keyword or a key phrase. That's a revolution. Both, and especially Live Search Books, offer access to significant portions of some brand new books, as well: don't assume that you won't find anything new there. Both sites are particularly valuable for finding 19th and early 20th century editions of earlier works, including diaries and editions of letters or public records that were never published in any other edition.

Enjoy!
We all know that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but it seems that sage advice does not apply to breakfast. Not, at least, if you are a student of the College of Arts and Science. Because if you move quickly and get your name on the list, you could get in on the following Breakfast Opportunity of a Lifetime (offered monthly).

Breakfast with the Dean, College of Arts and Science

Dean Jo-Anne Dillon
invites Arts and Science students to join her
for breakfast and conversation.

Time: 7:30 am
Date: Tuesday, November 27
Place: Faculty Club

The first 12 students to sign up will be reserved a place at breakfast.
Sign-up sheet is posted in the ASSU office.

Breakfast with the Dean will be held monthly.
An important announcement from the U of S Library:
For the duration of the CUPE strike, no loans (that is: check-out, interlibrary loans, laptop lending) are available at University Library branches.

However, through arrangements between the University and the USSU, photocopying in all University Library branches will be free to students while loan services are unavailable.

Photocopiers are also available in the Reserve areas of each branch library for copying Reserve materials. Also, a DVD/video player is now available in the Murray Library Reserve area for viewing DVDs and videos on Reserve in Murray while these items are not available for loan.

Fines have been suspended for the duration of the CUPE strike. However, books can be returned--if you do not need them, return them so others can use them in the Library. This also applies to Interlibrary Loan materials. Books that have been returned are being reshelved.

Although the STM Library Catalogue has been integrated with the U. of S. Library Catalogue, the STM Library is independent. Books can be borrowed from STM Library.

There are other collections on campus that are also independent. See "other Library Catalogues" on the Library's web site.

Note that books borrowed from STM or other campus libraries do need to be returned when due.

The Library's Electronic resources continue to be available as normal through the Library’s website.
Reference service remains available in Murray Library in most of the other branches when they are open. The AskUS Live (IM) (https://library.usask.ca/uask) services are available as normal.
Library hours are continually being revised, please see the website before making a trip to campus.
Bill Waiser has received two Saskatchewan Book Award shortlist nominations for two different books. In the non-fiction category, Everett Baker’s Saskatchewan (Fifth House Publishers) examines the photographic work of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool field man Everett Baker, who documented on film everyday people doing everyday things in Saskatchewan in the 1940s and 1950s. His colour photographs have been described as a national treasure.
Nominated in the Children's category, Tommy Douglas is a biography of Saskatchewan’s longest serving premier in Fitzhenry and Whiteside’s “The Canadians” series. The book is aimed at adolescent readers and represents Waiser’s first venture at writing history for a younger audience.

Allison Fairbairn, events coordinator at Saskatoon’s McNally Robinson bookstore, said, “Bill Waiser has the remarkable ability to choose topics that resonate deeply with prairie readers, and to make history both readable and immensely enjoyable. At McNally Robinson we know that a new book by Bill will be an instant bestseller.” The Saskatchewan Books Awards are now in their fifteenth year. The awards gala will take place at Regina’s Conexus Arts Centre on November 24. Good luck, Bill!
In the fantastically good news department, we here at What's Up would like to extend a belated Happy Birth Day to Shoshana Abigail Miller, and to welcome her to the history community. Shoshana was born at 4:02 a.m. on Thursday, November 15th, and weighed in 7 pounds 1/2 oz. Shoshana is the daughter of M.A. candidate Tenyia Miller and her husband David Miller. All the Millers are doing well. Very well, in fact.
Congratulations to Ph.D. candidate Merle Massie, whose article "‘Has Saskatchewan any History?’: Writing Provincial History in Saskatchewan 1913-2005 will appear in the Fall 2008 edition of Prairie Forum. The essay is an expanded version of the paper Merle gave at the Buffalo Province conference in Watrous in May 2007.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

This just in to the What's Up news desk, from our loyal HUSA correspondent, Margaret Robbins...

HUSA/HISTORY MOVIE NIGHT!


What: The Killing Fields
When: Tuesday, November 13 at 7 pm
Where: Neatby-Timlin Theatre (aka ARTS 241)
Why: Come here Professor Pam Jordan introduce the film and learn about this dark chapter of Cambodian history. The story is about an American in Cambodia during an 'ethnic cleansing' campaign.Whether you know a lot of or no Cambodian history this would be a super time to learn something new! The movie has a fantastic reputation and Professor Jordan will extrapolate on the history and the portrayal. It promises to be an informative and super interesting night!

Don't forget that the movie is FREE and there will be a small concession there for all your movie munching needs. Feel free to bring non-history students to this event because it is free for all. Hope you all can make it! Hooray!
Margaret Robbins