trico libraries news and notes » What We're Reading

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:

The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the Week of May 12, 2008

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies: From 1897 to Present

Call Number: +REF PN1995.9 .S26 H38 2001

Recommended by: Amanda Watson, Reference and Instruction Intern

Science fiction fans and novices alike will find this encyclopedia worth browsing.  Part reference work and part highly opinionated movie review source, this book offers an overview of the genre, with entries on famous and not-so-famous movies.  Those looking for movie recommendations will find plenty, and those who already know the genre inside and out will get a kick out of author C.J. Henderson's reviews ("Watching people fall off the couch when the big dance number comes can make this one worth seeing," reads a typical entry).  Appendices include a list of science fiction movies adapted from literary works and a survey of science fiction at the Oscars.

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:

The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the Week of May 5, 2008

The Oxford Companion to Wine

Call Number: REF TP548 .O76 1999

Recommended by: Ed Fuller, Reference Librarian

If your idea of wine tasting is passing around a bottle in a paper bag with friends, perhaps The Oxford Companion to Wine will raise your oenological consciousness.  In an alphabetical arrangement, this large, well-illustrated  volume defines and explains almost everything about wine and wine making (how about a brief history of the corkscrew).  The editor, Jancis Robinson, has been on television with her own wine course, and this is an award-winning writer about the grape.  After reading this book, you won't whine about the food in the dining hall, but about the vulgar vintages served with dinner.

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:

The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the Week of April 28, 2008

Atlas of the Baby Boom Generation

Call Number: REF E169 .12 .H355 2000

Recommended by: Meg Spencer, Science Librarian

Want to figure out what makes your parents tick?  Check out this atlas that covers the lives of those Baby Boomers, defined as those born between 1946 and 1964.  Each chapter covers a post-World War II decade from the late 40's through "the future" and discusses the politics, social structures, entertainment and much more for each ten year span.  A good source of statistics as well as an overview of a variety of trends, both serious and fun. 

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:

The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the Week of March 31, 2008

A Visual Dictionary of Architecture

Call Number: REF NA 31 .C44 1995

Recommended by: Amanda Watson, Reference and Instruction Intern

Learn what's lurking behind the walls, literally, with this illustrated guide to key concepts in architecture.  The line drawings in this book take you from an overview of the architecture field to the structural elements of buildings to diagrams of how an architect renders three-dimensional spaces on paper.  Especially striking: the entry on houses, with illustrations that range from a cross-section of an igloo to a rendering of a Japanese house, the timeline history of architecture, and the entry on ornament, which shows decorative elements from all over the world. 

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

 
Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:

The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the Week of March 24, 2008

The MIPT Terrorism Annual 2006

Call Number: REF HV6432 .M57 2006

Recommended by: Anne Garrison, Humanities Librarian

This fascinating and timely annual is produced by the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, a nonprofit independent organization dedicated to disseminating information about research and development in counterterrorism.  The work examines trends in terrorist activites and provides graphs, data, and historical context for various terrorist techniques.  One section, for example, looks at the reasons behind the growing numbers of female bombers.  This is a somber but quick and informative reference book.  See also their highly regarded website at www.mipt.org for more information. 

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:

The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the Week of March 17, 2008

Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things

Call Number: REF AG6 .P37 1989

Recommended by: Ed Fuller, Reference Librarian

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:

The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the Week of March 3, 2008

The Order of Things

Call Number: REF AG105 .K57 1998

Recommended by: Ed Fuller

The subtitle says "How everything in the world is organized into hierarchies, structures, and pecking orders," and this is carried through with rigor and vigor.  Philosophy and sports (sumo wrestling ranks), types of bridges, the Seven Holy Sacraments, and the Kings of England (and rulers elsewhere) and much more are conveniently listed and well-indexed.  Perhaps dull to read, it is fascinating to flip through. 

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:

The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the Week of February 25th, 2008 

Financial Aid for Study and Training Abroad, 2006-2008

Call Number: +REF LB 2337.2 F576 2006/08

Recommended by: Daisy Larios, Mellon Fellow

If you are getting itchy feet and need a change of scenery after years of attending Swarthmore, look no further.  Just look in the Graduate Students section or head straight to the Geographic Index if you need help funding  your graduate school studies in some "exotic" locale, or head to the Subject Index to look up an academic program that interests you.  For those well-organized students who need to fit writing their applications into their busy schedules, there is also a Calendar Index that lists the various financial aid programs by filing dates. 

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:

The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the Week of February 11, 2008

Encyclopedia of Urban Legends

Call Number: REF GR105.34 .B78 2001 

Recommended by: Anne Garrison, Humanities Librarian

We've read them all online or told them to our friends: urban legends about alligators in the sewers and livers stolen from sleeping bodies; unbelievable stories that nonetheless are great fun to relate.  Stories like these have circulated throughout society for decades, and the Encyclopedia of Urban Legends provides a compulsively readable introduction to the scholarly side of urban legend studies.  The author, a very well-respected folklorist and urban legend scholar, includes in his tome cross references, plot summaries, and variations of an astonishing number of urban legends.  Although the focus is on American legends, there is good coverage of international tales.  So browse a bit and read about the 1950's legend "spiders in the hairdo" and how it connects to both a medieval prototype and a Gary Larson cartoon of the 90's.  Or sink your teeth into the very chilling "licking hand" legend, and learn its connection to the "aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light" stories that caused you such nightmares in junior high.

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:

The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the Week of February 11, 2008 

Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Photography

Call Number: REF TR462 .E5 2006 V. 1-3

Recommended by: Meg Spencer, Science Librarian

This 3-volume encyclopedia offers a comprehensive overview of one hundred years of an art form/technology that went from the invention of the Brownie camera in 1898 to the widespread use of the digital camera in the 1990s.  The encyclopedia covers the great photographers of the past century, plus entries on various photographic themes (feminist photography, conceptual photography, etc.), technological developments, and much more.  Each volume has a set of color plates, and most articles are accompanied by black & white images.

You'll find the Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Photography on display above the Reference Desk in McCabe Library. 

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

    Title:  My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student
    Author:  Rebekah Nathan
    Call Number:  LB3605 .N34 2005        

My Freshman Year stimulated the first discussion of Haverford’s new CIR Reading Group.  Published under the pseudonym Rebekah Nathan, the book is Northern Arizona University Professor Cathy Small’s account of the sabbatical year she spent researching undergraduate life by enrolling at her own university.  Small’s description of life at “AnyU” and the controversies surrounding its publication prompted the group to consider a range of topics:  

• How are Small’s observations descriptive of other American colleges and universities?
• How well do students and professors understand each others’ perspectives?
• What is the role of community or community-building in higher education?
• What is the balance between personal and academic growth in students’ lives? What should it be?
• How might identifying herself as an anthropologist/professor to the students with whom she lived and took classes have changed her study?
• Can her conclusions be generalized? Why or why not?

John Anderies, Vanessa Gorman, Betsy Griffith-Smith, Elizabeth Salmon, and Christa Williford participated in the discussion, which was led by Theresa Donahue.

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Interested in reading one of the titles recommended by Nathalie Anderson or Diane Downer Anderson in the most recent issue of The Gathering?  Check tripod to see if it’s available!

• A Matter of Opinion by Victor S. Navasky
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

You’ll find these and many more mentioned available to borrow!  Remember that if the book isn’t in our stacks, you can easily request it from Haverford or Bryn Mawr, or use our Interlibrary Loan services to request it from another library.

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

John Battelle's The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed our Culture (New York: Portfolio, 2005) is a rewarding and frustrating read. Rewarding for the historically minded because Batelle chronicles the development of "search" and how, as the subtitle indicates, it has changed both business models, especially those of advertising, and cultural expectations about information. His history is especially interesting in outlining the series of business and technical developments since the mid-20th-Century that made it possible for Google to become an eponym. Frustrating because it has a journalistic, breezily or chattily anecdotal insider chumminess (as opposed to the more formal name dropping of academic writing) and has a bloated quality that suggests it would have been better off in the hands of a strong editor as a series of journal articles (as opposed to the bloated quality of academic writing that suggests a book would have been better off in the hands of a strong editor as a series of journal articles).

Those knowledgeable about search technologies and their relationship to questioners and information sources will be able to read the last chapter, "Perfect Search," to get an idea of the themes and concerns that animate the book. This last chapter details how the author and others see search developing, and it got me to thinking about a college library's business model, that is, about the library as an organization that tries to "sell" resources to students and faculty. It also got me to thinking about the discussions we have been having about the future of the catalog, metasearch, the format of our collections, etc. Batelle makes a good case that new tools for divining questioners’ interests and intentions, like Google, and new tools for structuring and organizing knowledge add up to a new culture of information creation as well as information seeking, one that is modeled on but transforms the work of librarians and libraries. Ch. 8, "Search, privacy, government, and evil," is a useful exposition of the social issues raised by the availability of so much information for searching.

--Bob Kieft is Director of College Information Resources and Librarian of the College at Haverford College

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:
The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the week of April 10th, 2006

Directory of Historic House Museums in the United States
Call number: REF E 159.W29 2000
Chosen by: Laura Cass, Mellon Intern

Laura says:

“We all know about the big monuments and museums: The Smithsonian, Philadelphia’s Independence Mall, etc. However, beyond these famous sites, there is a whole world of little bits of history just waiting to be discovered. This is where house museums come in. Often, they’re a simple collection of artifacts placed in the home of the person who owned them. Behind their relative simplicity, though, lies hidden historic value. For example, what better place to learn about the life of a Revolutionary War soldier than by going to the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, right here in Philadelphia. This is just one of the many hidden historic gems around the US, and the Directory of Historic House Museums is definitely a good entry point into this exciting area.”

The Directory of Historic House Museums in the United States is on display above the McCabe Reference Desk for your browsing pleasure.

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring: The Reference Books of McCabe Library
Staff Pick for the week of March 27th, 2006

The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes
Call number: Ref PZ8.3 .O62
Chosen by: Jen Roth, Mellon Intern

Jen says:

“Did you know that “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” has four more verses?  Are you curious about the history of “Yankee Doodle?”  Is “Ring Around the Rosie” actually about the plague?  This book is filled with familiar rhymes and riddles (as well as plenty of unfamiliar ones), along with their histories, guesses at their real meanings, and other fascinating tidbits of information.”

The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes is on display above the McCabe Reference Desk.

Jen is a Mellon Intern at Swarthmore College Library.  The Mellon Internship program is designed to introduce students to the profession of librarianship.     

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:
The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the week of March 20th, 2006

Statistical Abstract of the United States
Call number: Ref Desk HA202 (earlier editions in Gov Docs)
Chosen by: Ed Fuller, General Reference Librarian

Ed says:

“The first place to look for any statistics about the United States. If over a thousand pages of well-indexed numbers isn’t enough, the Statistical Abstract also tells were more can be found.  The library also has the Statistical Abstract back to 1885 (shelved in government documents, call number C 3.134) as well as Historical Statistics of the United States. (call number Ref HA202 .H57 2006)”

You'll find the Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2006 edition, on display above the Reference Desk. 

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:
The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the week of February 27th, 2006

The MacMillan Visual Dictionary
Call number: Ref P361 .M28 1994
Chosen by: Ed Fuller, General Reference Librarian

Ed says:

“If you’ve looked at something and wondered what the name for it was or wondered what something looked like, the MacMillan Visual Dictionary has illustrations of thousands of things from animals with their parts labeled to ranked hands in poker in English, French, Spanish, and German. If bicycling through Germany, you could tell the mechanic that your Lenkstange (handlebars) needed repair by consulting this book. Unfortunately, it is too big to carry, but this large, well-indexed, full-color book is a very enjoyable reference work.”

You'll find the MacMillan Visual Dictionary on display above the Reference Desk in McCabe Library. 

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 1 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring: The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the week of February 13th, 2006

Good Fiction Guide
REF PN 3503 .G66 2001
Chosen by: Ann Wheeler, Reference and Instruction Intern

Ann says:  "Looking for a great read?  This book will help you find one.  Based on the idea that a good recommendation counts more than flashy promotion, this book contains 34 essays on different fiction subjects, each written by an avid reader in the field.  In addition to familiar genres such as crime, fantasy, romance, and science fiction, this guide includes intriguing subjects such as Australia and New Zealand, childhood, magic realism, and sexual politics.  Each essay concludes with a “Top Twelve” reading list representing the best of the genre.  Selections range in date from newer titles to the classics, and include both literature and popular fiction.  With such variety, everyone is sure to find something new and interesting to read!"

You'll find the Good Fiction Guide on display next to the Reference Desk in McCabe Library. 

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

While Ms. Didion’s book, The Year of magical thinking, has kept me interested and curious reading her memoir of losing her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, there’s something about her style that leaves me tepid, as if I am on some serotonin reuptake inhibitor, where emotions are compressed into that rather dull, but stable middle range. No highs, no lows, a perfect 5. And perhaps that is her intent. For Didion talks elegantly about grief, but fails to show it. She hides her trauma from the doctors, friends, and relatives, putting on a face of quiet competence in public, but running amok inside. While trying to write a piece on one of the 2004 presidential conventions, she experiences some sort of panic attack and flees. And yet, I didn’t feel the same panic, though I wanted to. Her numerous references to jetting off to Hawaii, to Paris, to L.A., create yet another barrier. Her privelege separates her even further. Several times she mentions that her husband, sometimes when they were fighting, would say to her, "Do you always have to be right?" And she wonders how that could be, because she never feels like she's right, like she knows the answer. Those moments were the closest I came to feeling more than middling.  She still had me held at arm’s length, away from the messiness, the memories, the joy, the grief, she was nonetheless letting me in to glimpse.

Her book made me recall how many years ago, I read Simone de Beauvoir’s A very easy death, and also Paul Monette’s Borrowed time, both of which are memoirs dealing with the death of a loved one. And both books devastated me. And I loved them for it.

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 1 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring:
The Reference Books of McCabe Library

Staff Pick for the week of January 23rd, 2006

Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things
Call Number: Ref AG6 .P37 1989
Chosen by: Ed Fuller, General Reference Librarian

 
Ed says:

 
"Did you know that chewing gum and Silly Putty began as substitutes for rubber, or that ketchup started before tomatoes, or how the hot dog got its name? This book is a trivia lover’s romp through the origins of hundreds of everyday objects and great fun to just flip through."

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

"You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination" by Katherine A. Harmon. Available at Cornell Library, Call Number: GA105.3 .H346 2004

 

Anna Headley showed me this amazing book.  If you like maps and secrets, check this out.  Through the eyes of these artists, you'll look at places you thought you knew in a whole new way, and travel to mythical lands that are yet to be discovered.

 

Read Anna Headley's blog post about it.

 

Have an opinion? Make a comment! ( 0 comments )

Curious, Useful, Edifying, Inspiring: The Reference Books of McCabe Library.
Staff Pick for November 7, 2005

Hunting the Snark, a Compendium of New Poetic Terminology
Call Number: PS 323.5.P49 1989

Chosen by Evelyn Khoo, Library Associate.

Evelyn says: "Don't be held hostage by the Norton Anthologies! In Hunting the Snark, Robert Peters snubs one ink-stained nose at the usual geographic or chronological format for most reference works, replacing them with hilarious and thought-provoking classifications like "academic sleaze", "poultry poems", "bent genes poems", "Disney poems", etc.

Each category has a bite-sized selection of poets, both classic and contemporary, which embody the spirit of each genre, tied together with Peters' sometimes scathing (but always witty) critical analysis.

One vivid example: "'Momentosity' occurs when a poet yanks a poem towards an easy metaphysics, into significance. Such a poet feels obligated, especially if he is well-known, to say Big Things - he becomes a sort of Shelleyan sky pilot for mankind."

Happy Hunting!

Each week, one of the library staff selects a favorite reference book. The featured book is displayed at the Reference Desk in McCabe Library.