Rate Your Library: Tell Us How We're Doing!

Ship Library is looking to Level Up!

Ship Library is participating in a PASSHE-wide Library evaluation survey using LibQUAL+ (a nationally normed and validated survey instrument) which asks about three perceived "expectation levels" covering various library services and resources.
Respondents will be asked to indicate their minimum-acceptable service level, their desired service level, and their percieved service-received level.

I've tried the survey on a computer, tablet, and phone -- I like the mobile interface better Please click the link or scan the code  to Tell Us How We're Doing.

Survey Runs from November 1st to November 20th 2015

Here's the link:

Please take our Rate Your Library survey!

Thanks for your participation and feedback!

For more information about this & about possible prizes, check the Library Survey page

TBT in the Archives 10/29/15: Halloween 100 Years Ago

Halloween is just around the corner! Do you have your costume ready? These Ship students certainly did for their "Hallowe'en Social" in 1917. Students met in the chapel on campus and "formed a grand march to the dining room" where the dancing commenced. Life, however, was not all fun and games for these Ship students. What was ruining their good time? If you guessed World War I, you earn your history gold star for the day! Now think a little harder...what else? Let's look to the yearbook for some clues.

1919 Cumberland yearbook

The 1918 Hallowe'en Social was pushed to November 16 of that year due to a "vacation" students received that October thanks to the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. Also known as the Spanish Flu, the global outbreak killed tens of millions of people (estimates differ). From a local perspective, the Flu hit Ship's campus hard enough to cancel school and send forty people to the infirmary. Class of 1918 alumnus Harley Bleasdale Surface lost his life on this very day in 1918, after contracting the Spanish flu on October 4th. The Ship Archives has his memorial service pamphlet and copies of his poetry.

1918 "In Memoriam" pamphlet of Cumberland Valley State Normal School alumnus Harley Bleasdale Surface

The Spanish Flu wreaked havoc until 1920, leaving a legacy of devastation and postulation about its origins. The fact that students carried on with their Halloween dance amidst a World War and influenza epidemic shows that social events served as an escape during this difficult period. When you head out to your Halloween parties this weekend, just be glad you don't have a pandemic to worry about!

Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Contact Archives & Special Collections via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.


Sources Consulted:
1919 Cumberland. Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections. Shippensburg, PA.

Halloween Dance photograph. RG30.8. Folder 25. Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections. Shippensburg, PA.

Harry Bleasdale Surface memorial pamphlet. Class of 1918. Memorabilia 1916-1920. Shippensburg University Archives & Special Collections. Shippensburg, PA.

US Department of Health and Human Services. "Influenza Strikes." Flu.gov. Accessed 29 October 2015. http://www.flu.gov/pandemic/history/1918/the_pandemic/influenza/

Vergano, Dan. "1918 Flu Pandemic That Killed 50 Million Originated in China, Historians Say." National Geographic. 24 January 2008. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140123-spanish-flu-1918-china-origins-pandemic-science-health/

Ship Resources: Environment Complete

One of the new databases available this academic year through Lehman Library is Environment Complete. The search interface for this resource is very similar to many of the others provided by our library because it comes from one of our most used vendors, Ebsco.

According to Ebsco, “Environment Complete contains more than 2.4 million records from more than 2,200 domestic and international titles going back to 1888 (including over 1,350 active core titles) as well as more than 190 monographs. The database also contains full text for more than 920 journals.”

Here are some examples of subjects available to research in Environment Complete:

Agriculture

Ecosystem ecology

Energy

Environmental law

Environmental technology

Geography

Marine & freshwater science

Natural resources

Pollution & waste management

Public policy

Renewable energy sources

Social impacts

Urban planning

And many others...

To access this new database, click on the "Databases A to Z" list on the library website.

Comments about this resource? Please give us your feedback below!

Witches, Ghosts, Vampires, Trick-or-Treating, & Jack-o'-Lanterns

by Niki Nowell

Halloween, which dates back to Celtic rituals thousands of years ago, has long been associated with images of witches, ghosts and vampires. Today, Halloween has evolved into a celebration characterized by child-friendly activities, such as costumes, trick-or-treating and carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns.

• Do you know what states in the U.S.A. produces the most pumpkins?
• Do you know Pennsylvania is among the top six pumpkin-producing states in the U.S.A.?  
• Do you know what those six states are?

Where can you find the answer?

Clue: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service(pdf), Page 9 and 38

Halloween Mood: 

Where to Spend Halloween?

Some places around the country that may put you in the Halloween mood:

Tombstone, Ariz. (estimated population 1,322)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates
<http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPANNRES/1620000US0474400>

Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. (estimated population 10,208)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates
<http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPANNRES/1620000US3667638>

Kill Devil Hills, N.C. (estimated population 6,931)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates
<http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPANNRES/1620000US3735720>

Yellville, Ark. (estimated population 1,181)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates
<http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPANNRES/1620000US0577330>

Transylvania County, N.C. (estimated population 33,045)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates
<http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPANNRES/0500000US37175>

Slaughter Beach, Del. (estimated population 225)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates
<http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPANNRES/1620000US1067050>

Casper, Wyo. (estimated population 60,086)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates
<http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPANNRES/1620000US5613150>

Scarville, Iowa (estimated population 71)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates
<http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPANNRES/1620000US1971040>

Truth or Consequences, N.M. (estimated population 6,103)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Population Estimates
<http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/PEP/2014/PEPANNRES/1620000US3579840>

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Facts for Features, Halloween: Oct 31, 2015

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2015/cb15-ff21.html

Research Consultations: Get Your Research Going

Welcome to Fall Semster Week 10! 

The leaves on the trees are changing color. Starbucks is selling pumpkin spice lattes. And your professors are assigning research papers, reports, presentations, debates, annotated bibliographies, and more.

We're two-thirds of the way through Fall Semester; hopefully you've already completed all the research you need to do for your big end of semester assignments.

What's that?
You haven't started your research and/or you're feeling stuck? You are not alone!

If you're working on a research assignment and want some extra help, schedule a research consultation with a librarian. Research can be challenging. Sometimes you find too much information. Sometimes you find too little. Or maybe you don't even know where to start.

Librarians can help you refine a research topic, find sources, and show you how to cite your sources. Scheduling an individual meeting with a librarian can be the best way to learn how to use databases you're unfamiliar with, or find sources for a particularly tricky topic.

To schedule a research consultation, go to the library homepage, and click the Research Appointment link in the Ask us Anything box (in the lower left-hand corner of the page).

Don't wait until it's too late. Your paper that's due in December may seem like it's a long way off, but it'll be finals week before you know it. Schedule your research consultation today!

Did You Know? November is National Novel Writing Month

To celebrate the National Novel Writing Month and promote creative writing, Lehman Library organizes a special lecture by Neil Connelly.  A winner of the 2014 Molly Ivors Prizes for Fictions, novelist and professor of English at Shippensburg University, will talk about his experiences in writing his first seven novels.  

Date: 11/12/15Time: 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.Library 205

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)' s event began in 1999, and in 2005, National Novel Writing Month became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

The programs included in National Novel Writing Month,November are Camp NaNoWriMo, the Young Writers Program, Come Write In, and the “Now What?” Months.  Since 2006, roughly 100 NaNoWriMo novels have been published.  Some notable titles include:

• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, published by Doubleday
• Persistence of Memory by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, published by Delacorte Press
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, published by St. Martin's Press
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, published by Dutton Juvenile
• The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough, published by Del Rey Books
• The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi, published by HarperTee

TBT in the Archives 10/22/15: The Fountain

Recreate this vintage Ship photo!

Did you know that Ship is running a monthly photo recreation contest through SU's social media accounts? We will be releasing a vintage photo from the University Archives collection every month for the next year. This month's photo features the iconic fountain outside Old Main. To enter the contest, gather some friends and snap a photo recreating the scene above. Sign on Twitter to and tweet your photo @shippensburgu, or post it on Instagram @shippensburguniv with the hashtag #SUOld2New. At the end of each month, a panel of judges will choose a winner and those pictured will win a prize! For Homecoming 2016, all 12 winning photos will be showcased side-by-side with the original images in an exhibit in the library. Doesn't that sound fun? We thought so too. All members of the Ship family are welcome to participate, so gather some friends, have fun, and win prizes!

Because we're the Ship Archives, and Ship history is what we're all about, we thought we'd provide you with some background information on this month's photo. Our university's beautiful fountain was a gift from the class of 1896. In an acceptance speech of the gift, Hon. S. M. Wherry, president of the Board of Trustees, said that the fountain was: "a recognition not only of what has been done by us in the past to make this one of the first training schools in the State, but it is a perpetual testimony of your faith in what we and our successors shall do in the time to come." The fountain was repaired in the 1960s and rededicated in 2012. Over the years, the fountain has served many purposes for students, whether frolicking in the water, posing for graduation photos, or asking that special someone out on a date.

Whatever the fountain means to you, we challenge you to recreate the Ship scene above! Don't forget to tag your photo #SUOld2New

Did You Know? Lehman Library Added New Databases

The Lehman Library added the following new databases this Fall, the majority of which are due to cooperative purchasing agreements through the Keystone Library Network and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. We are very thankful to our colleagues who spearhead these purchasing agreements for the benefit of students across the State System.

New Databases:

                Digital Theatre Plus

                America History & Life with Full Text

                Art Source

                Business Book Summaries

                Business Source Complete

                CINAHL Complete

                Communication Source

                eBook Business Collection

                Education Source

                Environment Complete

                Gender Studies Database

                Historical Abstracts with Full Text

                Humanities Source

                Library & Information Science Source

                Medline Complete

                Nursing Reference Center

Lehman Library, in partnership with faculty in related departments, is running two resource trials this Fall to the following resources:

                eMarkter.com - Reports & Analysis, Searchable Data Library, Industry Benchmarks, Subject Matter Expert Interviews, Downloadable Charts & Presentations.

                psychotherapy.net – “provides access to "over 200 videos covering a wide range of modalities, theoretical approaches, and populations."

Links to access all of these resources and more can be found on the Databases A to Z page from the library website.

TBT in the Archives 10/15/15: Homecoming

We are currently in the midst of Homecoming week! Many of you are probably gearing up for the football game on Saturday, so we thought it would be fun to spend this Throwback Thursday looking at Ship's football programs from years past.

Ship football game, November 1977

This program is the oldest in the collection! Shippensburg vs. Millersville, November 6, 1926

Shippensburg vs. Indiana, November 14, 1942

Shippensburg vs. Slippery Rock, November 18, 1950

Each program cover is a product of its time. On the cover above, a young woman is accompanied by a man smoking a cigarette. Cigarette advertisements were very common during the 1950s, and can be found in many university publications of the era.

Illustrated covers were the norm until the 1960s when photographic covers emerged, triggering a shift in printing and editorial practices. Many covers still used illustrations through the 1970s, or blended the two forms into a collage.

1972 program depicting collage style cover

Shippensburg vs. Edinboro, November 9, 1985

Covers in the 1980s were more experimental, as graphic artists manipulated photographs through color change and effects. In the 1990s and 2000s, action shots began to take center stage.

Shippensburg vs. California, November 6, 1999

Go Red Raiders! We hope everyone has a fun Homecoming weekend!

Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Contact Archives & Special Collections via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.

TBT in the Archives 10/8/15: American Archives Month

October is American Archives Month! Since 2006, this month has been dedicated to promoting the work of archivists, individuals who collect and preserve items of enduring value. Archivists play a vital role in making these materials accessible to you, the public. Without archivists and archives to preserve the unique records of institutions and individuals, the past would be forgotten. Shippensburg's own University Archives and Special Collections, located on the upper level of the Ezra Lehman Memorial Library, exists for these reasons--to collect materials of importance related to the university and make them available. These collections hold a plethora of stories that may aid in research papers and projects, learning more about family alumni, or just feed the curiosity of an inquisitive mind. We thought that we would highlight some of our more interesting items and who knows, maybe you will be inspired to pay us a visit!

Underground Newspapers

Have you ever wondered what campus was like during the social movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s? We have a collection of underground student newspapers that cover protests against the Vietnam War (Shippensburg Free Press), as well as activism for racial and gender equality (The Black SSCene and Sisters for Liberation, respectively). Whipper Snapper can fulfill your counter-culture curiosity with its trippy artwork and information on local music, record stores, and coffee shops. You can read more about the Black SSCene, an African American student produced newspaper, here.

Scrapbooks

Scrapbooks are a fun and eye-catching display of history. We have a collection of scrapbooks that range from 1891 to 1984. Check out a previous post about scrapbooks to learn more about the collection.

Sports Information

Go Raiders! Even if you aren't a football fan, it's interesting to flip through old advertisements and photographs in the vintage football programs. Homecoming 2015 is only a week away! Stay tuned for next week's Throwback Thursday post to learn more about the history of Homecoming...

Oral History Collections

Oral history interviews provide more intimate recollections of the past and offer a first-hand perspective. We currently have several oral history collections that were created by Ship History students. If you would like to hear personal stories about the civil rights and women's movements, African American student and faculty experiences, or what it was like to live on campus throughout the years, our oral history collections would provide great insight.

Artifacts

Perhaps the most bizarre object we have is the stereoscope. With this device, two identical images are viewed through a view finder and merged together to  create a 3D image. This one was patented in 1907. Modern versions of this would be the Viewmaster, a popular children's toy. Of course we have other artifacts as well, such as Ship memorabilia, trophies, LPs, and more.

Photographs

Students have fun during All College Week (late 1970s)

We have a large collection of photographs that chronicle student life, sports, faculty, architecture, and much more. If you need something special for a paper, project, or presentation, we can scan and send them right to your email!

Whether you're interested in sports, fashion, or car-culture, the Shippensburg University Archives is bound to have something for you! Email specialcollections@ship.edu or call 717-477-1516 for more information!

Ship Resources : psychotherapy.net Resource Trial

Psychotherapy.net provides access to over 200 streaming videos related to the field of psychotherapy, psychology and social work. 

Watch interviews, group therapy sessions and other training videos and learn from the experts. 

This resource includes information on a variety of topics from addiction to depression to family therapy with resources for working with specific populations like children, veterans, older adults or those with developmental challenges and everything in between.


You can enter search terms into the search box or browse by approach, issue, expert, or population. 

Trial access to this resource runs from October 1-31, 2015. If you find psychotherapy.net useful, please let a librarian or professor know. 

You can access psychotherapy.net by visiting the Databases A to Z list on the library website.

TBT in the Archives 10/1/15

Did you know that the Pennsylvania Turnpike officially opened on this day (October 1) in 1940? Although it only stretched from Carlisle to Irwin (near Pittsburgh) when it opened, the Turnpike experienced many expansions and improvements throughout its history. Highways like the PA Turnpike signified a shift in American culture, as automobiles soon replaced trains as the dominant form of travel. For today's Throwback Thursday post, the early history of student travel and automobile culture at Ship is examined.

Students in parking lot (circa 1970s)

Today, resident students having cars on campus is the norm, but prior to the 1948-1949 school year "boarding" students were not permitted to have cars on campus. Commuters back then were called "day students" and parked in designated lots just like today. Many students who attended Ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries traveled by train and arrived at what was then called Normal Station, a small train station at the edge of campus. No mention of automobiles appeared in the student handbooks until the 1933-1934 school year. Students and faculty were assigned their very own parking spaces until 1948. Wouldn't that be nice?

Trains went right through campus! You can see Old Main in the distance of this early campus photo from 1899.

Students board a train bound for Washington DC at Normal Station in 1913.

As of the 1948-1949 school year, boarding students were allowed to have cars on campus, but they had to be registered with permission from the Dean of Men. Beginning in the 1952-1953 school year, female boarding students had to obtain permission from and also had to keep their keys with the Dean of Women. In student handbooks each year thereafter, the "Automobile" section was updated, revealing that the university had to keep up with an increasing number of student drivers by revising parking regulations. By comparing the two maps from the early 1950s below, you can see that parking lots were added behind Gilbert Hall and by the library in 1955 to keep up with the demand for student parking spots.

Campus map from the student handbook, 1951-1952.

Camps map from the student handbook, 1955-1956.

Beginning in 1957, Ship began to include a note in the student handbook that stated that student parking was a "privilege granted by the College" and in 1960 parking regulations and penalties began to be listed. These changes bring us to the parking situation we are now familiar with: certain lots assigned to students and faculty and regulations regarding who can park where and when.

Are you curious about a specific topic in Shippensburg University history? Let us know in the comments! Your suggestion could be featured on a future Throwback Thursday in the Archives!

Want to learn more about Ship's history? No need to wait for the next Throwback Thursday! Contact Archives & Special Collections via e-mail: specialcollections@ship.edu or phone: 717-477-1516.