Monday, November 29, 2010

Extended Hours for Final Exams

We are pleased to announce that this semester, the entire library will be open overnight for several days during the final exam period. Overnight access will be limited to current students from Notre Dame and Loyola; all students will be required to show their institutional ID to enter.


Extended hours will begin on Friday, 12/10:

  • Friday, Dec. 10: 8am – 10pm
  • Saturday, Dec. 11: 8am – 10pm
  • Starting Sunday, Dec. 12 at 10am, the entire library will be open continuously until 10pm on Saturday, Dec. 18.
  • LNDL will reopen at 10am on Sunday, Dec. 19 and will remain open until 6pm on Tuesday, Dec. 21.

On Wednesday, Dec. 22 we will be open from 8am - noon, at which point the library will close for the holidays, and reopen on Monday, Jan. 3.

Please check the website for more information about library hours.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Thanksgiving Hours

Thanksgiving will be here soon and we wanted to get the word out about our hours that week:

Tuesday, Nov. 23: 8am-5pm
Wednesday, Nov. 24 - Friday, Nov. 26: Closed
Saturday, Nov. 27: 10am - 8pm

Regular hours will resume on Sunday, November 28. Information about extended hours for final exams will be released in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

Edited 11/22: We just realized there was an error on our Saturday hours -- we are open loger than was initially posted. This has been corrected in the information above.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Student Exhibit: Painting: Color

We're pleased to host an exhibit of paintings created by students in SA 314 - Painting: Color, a Studio Arts class at Loyola taught by Prof. Christopher Lonegan. In this course, students look at color relationships and the historic context of color, through observation, research and by creating their own paintings. Come by and take a look at samples of their work this semester, paired with some of the research that inspired them. The assignments highlighted include The Renaissance Triptych, The Gothic Page and Painted Mosaics.

You'll find the exhibit on the Second Level, across from the elevator up from the Ferguson Gallery.

Guest Access During Final Exams

Due to final exams, from Wednesday, December 1 through Wednesday, December 22, only students, faculty and staff from the College of Notre Dame and Loyola University will be admitted to the Library. Students from other institutions, as well as the general public, will not be admitted. We apologize for any inconvenience, and appreciate your understanding.

Monday, October 25, 2010

The Saint John's Bible: Faculty Forum

As a part of our exhibit The Saint John's Bible: Inspiration and Illumination, we are pleased to host a Faculty Forum on Monday, November 8 at 4:30pm. The event will feature members of College of Notre Dame’s Religious Studies Department and Loyola University’s Department of Theology, who will speak about Isaiah 53, one of the passages on display for the exhibit. A reception will follow. This event is free and open to the public -- we hope you will join us! RSVPs are appreciated; please contact Alison Cody at acody3@loyola.edu / acody@ndm.edu or (410) 617-6835.

From the College of Notre Dame of Maryland:
Dr. Lyle Weiss, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
Dr. Henrietta Wiley, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

From Loyola University Maryland:
Dr. James Buckley, Professor of Theology
Dr. Angela Christman, Professor of Theology
Dr. Adam Gregerman, Affiliate Faculty Department of Theology, and Jewish Scholar at the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Saint John's Bible: Inspiration and Illumination


The Loyola/Notre Dame Library is honored to announce the installation of a new exhibit in the Ferguson Gallery. The Saint John's Bible: Inspiration and Illumination will run from October 25 through December 3. The exhibit is free and open to the public during library hours.

The St. John's Bible is a handwritten, hand-illuminated Bible. It was commissioned by the Saint John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minn., in 1998. Renowned calligrapher Donald Jackson coordinated teams of artists in Wales and scholars in Central Minnesota. Together, they created The Saint John's Bible, in which calligraphy and illumination bring the Word of God to life in an exquisite and inspiring blend of art and theology. Our exhibit features four books from the Heritage Edition, a fine art reproduction of the original.

In addition to the exhibit, the Library will host a faculty forum on Monday, November 8 at 4:30 pm. Please see our announcement about the Forum for complete details.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Text an LNDL Librarian

In December 2008, we debuted a new service -- you could send us a text to ask a question. The hack we used to capture and respond to text messages was buggy and difficult for customers to use, and over the summer we decided to try something new.

You can now text the Research Assistance desk at (410) 929-6876. You might notice this isn't quite a campus number -- that's because we're using Google Voice to provide this service. This is still a hack, rather than a fully-supported system, and so it's not perfect. The back-and-forth can be slow, and if we're closed you won't get a message back telling you that. But, we hope that it's at least easier to use!

Please keep in mind that we can only answer texts when the Research Assistance Desk is open. That's until 9:30pm, unless the whole library closes earlier that day. And remember that this is a text-only number. If you'd like to call us, you'll want to dial (410) 617-6802.

Please note that your carrier may charge you for text messages sent and received, and that the library is not responsible for these charges.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

National Visionary Leadership Project

The Loyola ▪ Notre Dame Library is pleased to announce the donation of tapes and transcripts of interviews of many notable African American Visionaries that were recorded by the National Visionary Leadership Project. The subjects of these interviews have shaped American history in many different ways and come from all walks of life; some of these Visionaries are nationally recognized leaders, while others are known primarily in their local communities. LNDL is cataloging the materials and placing them on reserve for use by students, including those taking courses in Loyola’s new African and African American Studies minor.

The library’s holdings include videos of full-length interviews with Quincy Jones and Coretta Scott King (see clips below), among many others. Transcripts of many of the interviews are also available. The interviews cover everything from their thoughts on leadership and the civil rights movement, to anecdotes from childhood.

In addition to the acquisition of this collection, the faculty of the Loyola African and African American Studies minor are co-sponsoring an inaugural lecture by Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of NAACP, on September 29. For details and to RSVP, please visit the website for the AAAS minor.

Coretta Scott King on her childhood:


Quincy Jones on America’s racial future:

Friday, September 3, 2010

Medical Baltimore: A Visit with Dr. Paul McHugh

Join us for the first in a Baltimore authors lecture series, sponsored by the Friends of the Loyola ▪ Notre Dame Library. Our first speaker is Dr. Paul McHugh,
Distinguished Professor and long-time Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. McHugh, a dynamic lecturer, will speak on his book “The Mind Has Mountains: Reflections on Society and Psychiatry” followed by questions, discussion and a reception.

The lecture will be held in the Loyola ▪ Notre Dame Library’s Ridley Auditorium on Monday, October 4, 2010 at 4:00 pm. Light refreshments will be available. RSVP to Alison Cody at (410) 617-6835 or acody3@loyola.edu / acody@ndm.edu.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Change to Alumni & Community Borrowing

Beginning October 1, in order to borrow books, alumni and community borrowers will be required to obtain a library card by joining the Friends of the Loyola ▪ Notre Dame Library. A one-year membership begins at $25, and will enable you to check out up to 10 books for 6 weeks. It will also give you access to a variety of cultural programming throughout the year. For details and to obtain a card, please visit the Friends of LNDL webpage or stop at the Customer Services desk.

This change will not affect current students, faculty or staff of College of Notre Dame or Loyola University; nor will it impact students at local colleges and universities with whom we have reciprocal borrowing agreements. To check if your school offers reciprocal borrowing priveleges, please visit our Other MD Libraries contact page, and look to see if your institution is starred.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Course Reserves for Fall 2010

It is now time to plan reserves—both print and media—for your fall classes. Please try to submit your reserve requests to the by Library by August 16. Material requested by this date will be available to your students by the first day of classes. The beginning of the semester is busy, and reserve requests are handled on a first-come/first-serve basis. As the semester progresses, you may add material at any time, and we can make it available to students within 24 hours.

Reserve requests can be submitted through campus mail or via the Library Home Page. For detailed information about submitting requests for media items, books, electronic reserves, and reserves delivered through Blackboard, please see our Faculty Resources page. If you have any questions or concerns, contact Linda Tanton for print reserves (x6823—or ltanton@loyola.edu) or Pat Turkos concerning media reserves (x6822—or ppturkos@loyola.edu)

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

New Resources on the Renaissance

We are pleased to provide access to three new resources through Iter's Gateway to the Middle Ages & the Renaissance. Those researching the Renaissance and Middle Ages can now make use of:

Iter Bibliography
Secondary source material pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700), including citations for books, journal articles, dissertation abstracts, conference proceedings, festschriften, encyclopedias and exhibition catalogues.

Iter Italicum
Iter Italicum is a finding list of previously uncatalogued or incompletely catalogued Renaissance humanistic manuscripts found in libraries and collections around the world. It is a tool for any scholar working in the fields of classical, medieval and Renaissance studies.

Renaissance and Reformation/Renaissance et Réforme
Renaissance and Reformation/Renaissance et Réforme is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes articles and reviews on all aspects of the Renaissance, Reformation and Early Modern world: literature, geography, history, religion, art, music, society and economics.

You'll find Iter Bibliography and Iter Italicum listed in the Databases by Title list on the library homepage. Both of those, as well as Renaissance and Reformation, can be found on the appropriate subject guides on the Research Wiki. If you have any questions about these new resources, just ask!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Problems with the "Find E-Journals" search

We're currently experiencing some technical difficulties with the search that powers the "Find E-Journals" section of the homepage. Some patrons are being presented with a login screen instead of search results. In talking with people who have experienced this problem, we have determined that trying your search three times in a row will get you past the login screen, at which point you can proceed as usual. We realize this is an unorthodox approach, but while we work to diagnose the problem we wanted to share information about this workaround.

If you are experiencing this problem and you have a moment or two, we'd appreciate it if you could answer the following questions via an email to Charles Lockwood, our Digital Services Librarian (clockwood@loyola.edu):

  1. Are you using a PC or a Mac?
  2. What browser are you using? Explorer? Firefox? Something else? What version? (You can usually find this information in the "Help" menu by selecting the "About this browser" option.)
  3. What is the computer's IP address? (Just visit WhatIsMyIP.com.)
  4. Does this happen every time you try to access a journal this way, or just for a certain title? If so, please let us know which title.
  5. Have you tried deleting cookies from the browser? If you have, did it solve the problem? (If you're not sure how to do this, search the help menu in your browser for instructions.)
If you encounter this problem and can't work through it, please don't hesitate to contact the Research Assistance Desk at (410) 617-6802.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

New Database: PsychiatryOnline

We are happy to announce that we now have online access to the DSM-IV-TR, and the Handbook of Differential Diagnostics! This comes as part of the addition of a new database to our collection: PsychiatryOnline. In addition to the DSM, this also gives us online access to several other psychiatry textbooks and reference books, as well as five scholarly journals (American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, Academic Psychiatry, Neuropsychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences, Psychosomatics) and Psychiatric News, the newsletter of the American Psychiatry Association. (Full-text is available for a limited date range of these publications.)

We're still working on getting the links to these new resources in the library catalog and database list. For now, you can access everything from our subject guides, which are linked on our homepage. In the "Articles & Other Resources" section, use the subject menu and chose either Psychology or Pastoral Counseling. Click into the databases page, and you'll see PsychiatryOnline listed with the rest of our resources.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Summer Book Delivery Schedule

If you're taking a summer class, please make a note of this important information!

In the summer, the book delivery service provided by MIC -- the group of libraries with which we share our catalog (more here) -- is scaled back. This affects books that you find in our library catalog and request using the "Make a Request" link. Here is this summer's delivery schedule:

  • Through Friday, June 18: Tuesday & Thursday only
  • June 21 through July 9: Daily Monday through Friday (no delivery Monday, July 5)
  • July 12 through August 20: Tuesday & Thursday
  • Starting August 23: Daily Monday through Friday
If you have questions about what day a request you have made will arrive at your requested pickup point, please call the LNDL circulation desk at (410) 617-6801.

If you find yourself in a jam, don't forget that you can always go directly to the college that holds the book you need. You can also check the catalogs of other area libraries that offer LNDL patrons the ability to borrow material (they're the starred ones). And don't forget that the Enoch Pratt Free Library has extensive holdings that might just include what you're looking for. Get in touch with the LNDL reference desk if you need help figuring this out.

The regular delivery schedule -- daily, Monday through Friday -- will resume in the fall. We'll keep you posted!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Colm Tóibín lecture online

Did you miss Colm Tóibín's visit to the library last week? Well, you're in luck! We recorded his reading and lecture at the library and you can now watch it online at your leisure. The video is a little over an hour long and encompasses the entire presentation. The sound level of the recording is a little low, so you will want to turn up the volume on your computer's speakers before you begin. We hope you enjoy it!

Contemporary Catholic Writers Series - Colm Tóibín

Monday, April 19, 2010

Extended Hours for Final Exams

Once again, the main lobby area of the Loyola/Notre Dame Library will be open overnight on several days during finals. The rest of the library (book stacks, etc.) will remain open until 2am but will be closed off for the overnight hours. Overnight access will be limited to current students from Notre Dame and Loyola; all students will be required to show their institutional ID to enter. For security reasons, at 2am the entire building will be cleared, and those who wish to stay will have to show their IDs. (Think of it as a chance to stretch your legs and pick out a new seat!)

On the following days, the Ferguson Gallery at LNDL will be open from 2am - 8am:

Tuesday, April 27 - Saturday, May 1
Monday, May 3 - Thursday, May 6
Monday, May 10 - Thursday, May 13

This means that at least a portion of the building will be open continuously from:
8am on Monday, 4/26 through 8pm on Saturday, 5/1
and again from
10am on Sunday, 5/2 through 2am on Friday, 5/7
and finally, from
noon on Sunday, 5/9 through 2am on Friday, 5/14

In addition, the library will be open from 8am - 10pm on Friday, 5/7; 10:30am-8pm on Saturday, 5/8; and 8am-5pm on Friday, 5/14. (Please check the website for more information about library hours.)

Monday, March 29, 2010

Contemporary Catholic Writers Series: Colm Tóibín

The Loyola/Notre Dame Library is proud to announce the second lecture in our annual Contemporary Catholic Writers Series: Colm Tóibín, the award-winning author of Brooklyn.

Tóibín’s previous novels include The South and The Master, which won the 2006 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Most recently, Brooklyn was named the winner in the novels category of the 2010 Costa Book of the Year awards.

Colm Tóibín will be joining us on Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. in the library’s Ridley Auditorium. A reception will follow.

Space at the lecture is limited. Contact Alison Cody to reserve a free ticket: (410) 617-6835 or acody@ndm.edu/acody3@loyola.edu.

Friday, March 26, 2010

LNDL On the Go!

Ever wished the library website worked better on your smartphone? Well, we're happy to announce the debut of a mobile site made just for smartphones and other mobile devices — iPhones, iPod Touches, Android phones, Blackberries and more! The site is made to fit on your device’s screen, and presents the library’s crucial information right at your fingertips – hours, directions, events, contacts, the library catalog, and even mobile versions of some (but not all) research databases!

If you’re not taken to the library’s mobile site automatically on your mobile device, just click on the "mobile site" link at the top left corner of the library’s main page, or point your browser to http://mobile.lndlibrary.org/ to access the site. For your convenience, we've also provided a link to the full library site at the bottom of the mobile site. Check it out, and get access to the library’s services wherever you are.

We've tested this out on a few different devices, but if you try it and have any problems, please let us know! Send any comments, information on technical difficulties, or questions to askemail@loyola.edu.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Currently on Exhibit: Artesanos Don Bosco

This semester at Loyola University Maryland, two of Dr. Tom Ward’s Spanish classes have been engaged in a service-learning project with Artesanos Don Bosco, a Baltimore non-profit organization. Artesanos Don Bosco sells hand-crafted furniture and religious art that is made in Peru by locally trained artisans who are able to receive fair pay for their work without having to leave their country. Their work is shipped to Baltimore and to Italy, where it is sold; all of the profits go directly to the carpenters and artists.

As a part of this collaboration, the Loyola/Notre Dame Library is pleased to host an exhibit of some of the furniture sold through Artesanos Don Bosco. The pieces on exhibit will not be for sale, but one chair will be raffled off at the opening reception on Thursday, March 25, from 5:00pm-8:00pm in the library's Ferguson Gallery. We hope you will be able to join us!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Celebration of Faculty Scholarship -- Second Panel

The sixth annual Celebration of Faculty Scholarship will be held on Tuesday, March 23, from 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. We are happy to announce the second faculty panel, taking place at 3:15pm and featuring two philosophers discussing their research and the publications being highlighted in this year's Celebration of Faculty Scholarship:

Desiree Melton, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, College of Notre Dame of Maryland, will discuss "The vulnerable self: Enabling the recognition of racial inequality," a chapter in the book Feminist Ethics and Social and Political Philosophy: Theorizing the non-ideal."

Nadja Germann, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Loyola University Maryland, will discuss her articles "Signification and truth: epistemology at the crossroads of semantics and ontology in Augustine's early philosophical writings" and "Philosophizing without philosophy? The concept of philosophy in Ibn Tufayl's Hayy Ibn Yaqzan."

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Celebration of Faculty Scholarship -- First Panel

The sixth annual Celebration of Faculty Scholarship will be held on Tuesday, March 23, from 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. We are happy to announce the first faculty panel, taking place at 2:30pm and featuring three historians discussing their research and the publications being highlighted in this year's Celebration of Faculty Scholarship:

Charles Ritter, Professor of History, and Susan Barber, Associate Professor of History, both of College of Notre Dame of Maryland, will discuss "Physical abuse . . . and rough handling: Race, gender, and sexual justice in the occupied South," a chapter in the book Occupied women: Gender, military occupation, and the American Civil War.

Matthew Mulcahy, Associate Professor of History and chair of the Department of History, Loyola University Maryland, will discuss his article "The Port Royal earthquake and the world of wonders in 17th century Jamaica," published in the journal Early American Studies.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Limited Hours for Library Guests: Spring 2010

Beginning on Monday, April 5, 2010, and continuing through Friday, May 14, 2010, the Loyola/Notre Dame Library will be limiting access to the library. After 2:00 p.m. each day only students, faculty, and staff from the College of Notre Dame and Loyola University will be admitted. This will enable us to maximize the study space available to students of the two institutions during the final exam period.

Students from other institutions as well as the general public will be admitted only before 2:00 p.m. each day. In addition, priority use of library computers and study rooms will be given to students from Loyola University and College of Notre Dame.

These restrictions do not apply to students, faculty and staff of Loyola University and College of Notre Dame.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Celebration of Faculty Scholarship

The sixth annual Celebration of Faculty Scholarship is coming up later this month! This celebration will highlight the wide variety of publications authored by faculty of Loyola University Maryland and College of Notre Dame of Maryland, focusing on those published from July 2008 to June 2009.

The Celebration will take place at the library, in the Ferguson Gallery and the Ridley Auditorium. Please join us here on Tuesday, March 23, from 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. for an exhibit of publications, refreshments, and presentations by several faculty members, who will discuss their research and the publication process. For additional information, please visit our Faculty Publications page.

UPDATE 3/15: Our faculty panels have been set! Join us at 2:30pm for a panel of historians, and at 3:15pm for a panel of philosophers.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Closed on Sunday, Feb. 7

LNDL will remain closed on Sunday, Feb. 7. All online resources are still available; for research assistance, please use the 24/7 Chat service.

Updated information about any additional changes to library hours will be posted to the library homepage.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Survival Skills Workshops

Have you taken a look at your syllabi and started wondering how you're going to find the information you need for your papers and other projects? If it doesn't look like your professor is bringing your class to the library for a workshop, you can drop in on one of our Survival Skills Workshops. In our General Research classes, we'll help you figure out the best way to get the research materials you need for your topic*. Come to a RefWorks class to learn about a tool that can help you track and manage the references for your projects, and can take some of the tedium out of making a list of works cited.

*We're holding a class with a special focus on social sciences research -- Saturday, March 13 at 11:30am.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Ever check the web from your cell?

We're working on creating a mobile version of the library website, and we'd like to know if you ever go online with your phone (or any other mobile device). What parts of the library website would you most like to be able to access from your phone? Take this survey and let us know!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Currently on Exhibit: The City That Reads

Stop by the library through February 11 to enjoy our latest exhibit -- The City That Reads: Novels in Baltimore. The exhibit displays final projects created by students in the Fall 2009 section EN 367: The Novel in America, a course taught by Loyola Associate Professor Jean Lee Cole. Students were asked to examine reading practices in the Baltimore area, either through interaction with members of the community, or through archival and secondary-source research.

The exhibit also includes an online component, so if you can't make it to the library you can view the projects online.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

New year, new software

While students and faculty were working on final exams and enjoying the holiday break, LNDL librarians have been implementing some changes to library software. As a result, you may have noticed that the look and feel of the library catalog and E-Journal Locator have changed: The library catalog has been upgraded to a new version, and we have changed to a completely new E-Journal Locator system. In both cases, you will see some new features that we hope you find useful. The library catalog will be displaying book covers for many items, and features a more modern look. The E-Journal locator has an improved search results page, as well as an option to explore our e-journals by loose subject categories.

We are still working on fully implementing all of this software. Please bear with us as we continue to make changes and tweaks, and be sure to contact the Research Assistance Desk if you have any difficulty with either system, or if you have questions about the new features.

In addition, those of you who make frequent use of the Research Wiki, LNDL’s subject guides, may notice that we’re making some changes there as well. The Research and Instruction Team is working on updating and standardizing the pages, so you will have a more consistent experience as you click through the resources. We’ll also be updating links that take you to LNDL’s catalog – the change in the catalog software means that each link from the Research Wiki to the catalog must be updated. We plan to complete this work by January 14. In the meantime, if you need help accessing something you find on the Research Wiki, please do not hesitate to contact the Research Assistance Desk.

Lastly, due to an increase in the volume of spam that was being posted, anyone who makes contributions or edits to the Research Wiki will now be asked to create an account and log in. The login system for the Research Wiki is separate from the rest of the library systems, so you may use any combination of username and password that you like. If you would prefer not to make an account but have changes that you would like made, please send them to your library liaison or to the Research Assistance Desk (askemail@loyola.edu) and we’ll get them posted for you.