Merry Christmas!

The Library staff wish a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all staff and students of St. Pat's. May 2009 be good to you!

24-Hour Loans Extension

From Monday, December 15th all of our 24-hour loan items (including DVDs) will be issued until Monday, January 12th.

Human Rights Day Exhibition

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights..."

Today is International Human Rights Day, 60 years to the day since the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To mark the occasion, at the entrance to the main Library we have a display of the Declaration itself and a collection of our titles relating to some aspect of human rights. Our thanks to Brian Ruane for his help with the display.

Come up and have a look!

2008 Theses Now Available

Final theses of our most recent graduates from the Masters and Doctorate programmes are now available on 3-hour loan in the Library.

You can browse our full theses holdings by subject on our website here.
They can also be searched for by author or title on the Catalogue - simply select 'SPD Theses' in the Collections drop-down box.

Christmas Opening Hours

The Library closes for Christmas at 5.30pm on Friday, December 19th. We re-open on Monday, January 5th at 9am for normal opening hours.

You can see our full opening hours on our website here.

Quiet Please!

As numbers increase in the Library in the lead-up to exams we remind all our users that talking is not permitted.

This is not for the benefit of Library staff but rather for that of your fellow Library users.

Thanks for your co-operation.

DVD Collection

You can now see our ever-expanding DVD collection listed alphabetically by title on our Website as well as through the Catalogue.

The discs are held behind the Issue Desk - simply make a note of the shelfmark of the one you want and give it to a member of staff.

Those watching DVDs on their laptops must use headphones when in the Library. Unfortunately popcorn is not permitted...

Library Closed on December 8th

The Library will close on Monday December 8th for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. We will reopen for normal term-time hours on Tuesday December 9th.

See our full opening hours here.

Lost in Journal-land?

If the journal you're looking for isn't on our library shelves, there's a good chance it may still be available online.

Using SerialsSolutions, available to us through DCU Library website, you can quickly find out!
Simply enter the title of the journal you're looking for and click 'search'.

In the blink of an eye SerialsSolutions will cross-search all of our databases and give you direct links to where its available along with information on the online holdings.

The site can also be linked to from the journals A-Z page on our own Library website. Happy searching!

Congratulations!

Bard of Erin: The Life of Thomas Moore by our very own Ronan Kelly continues to receive high praise and recognition in literary circles.

In the past week it has been included on both the Times Literary Supplement and Irish Times 2008 Books of the Year lists, selected by Paul Muldoon in the former and Barry McCrea in the latter.
McCrea describes the book as "unfailingly witty and captivating...[it] moves between an individual and his epoch, making Moore and his time feel both far away and very close."

Our congratulations to Ronan on his continued success!

Exam Papers Archive Updated

Exam papers for the 2007-08 academic year are now available (along with previous years) for students to read or print on the Exam Papers section on our website.

Book of the Month

"One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies."

This month we're shining a light on a wonderful new addition to our Junior Books collection: The Gift of the Magi, an Edwardian Christmas story by the celebrated American short story writer O Henry (real name William Sydney Porter) first published in 1909.

This new edition published by Walker Books is stunningly illustrated by the renowned Irish artist P.J. Lynch, bringing new charm to a classic story for both young and old. You can see a selection of Lynch's magical drawings in the book on his own website here.

The Gift of the Magi tells the tale of Della and Jim, a young couple in love but too poor to buy gifts for each other for Christmas. Have a look and get into the Christmas spirit, Edwardian-style!

Library Seminars

The Library is running seminars for college staff in the following areas:

• Navigating the Library Website
  (Dec 1 & 3 @ 1pm )
  
  
• Refworks Online Referencing Software
  (Dec 9 & 10 @ 1pm)
  

The seminars will be take place in E218 and will last hour approximately. Those interested in either seminar need only attend one or other of the dates offered - the same material will be covered on both dates.

All staff of the college are welcome to attend.
If you do wish to attend please confirm by email to libinfo@spd.dcu.ie or in person to Ben or Ronan at the Library Information Desk.

New Music Resource

Grove Music Online is now accessed through of Oxford Music Online, newly available to us through the IReL initiative.

Our users can now access all the resources that Grove Music contains along with two new databases, The Oxford Dictionary of Music and The Oxford Companion to Music. The three databases can be searched individually or collectively.

These are all accessible through the databases page on our website, along with all our other online resources.

Tá an DORAS ar oscailt!

DCU Library have launched DORAS, their new online research access service which provides free open access to scholarly research publications and theses from the University. It is a fantastic resource and the current collection includes much material in humanities and social sciences which will be of interest to researchers in St. Patrick's College.
DORAS is part of a HEA funded initiative - the IReL-Open project - which will see all universities in Ireland develop open access repositories similar to DORAS.

IMPAC longlist announced

The longlist for the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award was announced this week. It is the world's most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction with the winner picking up €100,000. The nominations are voted for by selected libraries throughout the world. This years nominations include Irish writers Anne Enright and Joseph O'Connor.
See the full list here.

Attention Music Lovers!

The Library has acquired access to Naxos Music Library on a trial basis for the month of November.

To access it simply go to www.naxosmusiclibrary.com and enter NMLNov08114 in both the Username and Password fields in the top right hand corner of the screen.
There is also a link from our website in the trial databases section.

This web-based resource streams over 350,000 tracks, all fully indexed and searchable by composer, artist, period, year of composition, instrument or genre.

It is the most comprehensive collection of classical music available online. Other genres from Contemporary Jazz to Chinese Music and everything in-between are also well represented. So whether you want to bop to Louis Armstrong's trumpet, unwind to Mozart's symphonies or march to Woodie Guthrie's protest songs you'll find it here!

While this is only on a trial basis we think it would be a worthwhile addition to our online resources. Let us know what you think!

Graduation

The Library will be closed on Friday and Saturday, November 7 and 8 due to College Conferrals. We will re-open on Monday November 10.

New E-book

Students and staff of St. Patrick's College now have access to the New Catholic Encyclopedia in e-book format through the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

The Encyclopedia is prized for its scholarly presentation of persons and subjects related to Catholicism and the humanities. This 15 volume, second edition features revised and new articles. Among the 12,000 entries in the encyclopedia are articles on theology, philosophy, history, literary figures, saints, musicians and much more.

It is accessed simply by clicking here.
Happy browsing!

Book of the Month

“The fact is, the whole of Australia despises my father more than any other man, just as they adore my uncle more than any other man. I might as well set the story straight about both of them...”

This month we are giving the Library thumbs-up to A Fraction of the Whole the hilarious debut novel of Australian writer Steve Toltz which was shortlisted for the 2008 Booker Prize. Though it missed out on the main prize, Toltz's quirky prose has seen him compared to writers such as John Irving and DBC Pierre.

It's a hefty work coming in at over 700 pages but don't let it's size put you off. As The Guardian put it "it is a fat book but very light on its feet… it is brilliant.'
We agree! Check it out and judge for yourself...

JSTOR: The Ireland Collection

JSTOR has launched The Ireland Collection, a stand-alone collection within the JSTOR database devoted entirely to Ireland, with materials spanning from the 1780s to the present in all areas of the humanities and social sciences.

This wonderful resource is available to staff and students of St. Patrick's College through the IReL initiative and is an exciting development in the digitisation of Irish materials.
At its expected completion in 2009, it will contain a minimum of 2,500 manuscripts, 200 monographs, and 75 ceased and currently publishing journals

You can click here to access the current collection or here to find out more about what else will be available in the coming months.

Have a look around and let us know what you think!

Every Child Matters - SLARI Conference 2008

SLARI, the School Library Association in the Republic of Ireland is holding its Annual Conference on 15th November from 9.30am to 3.00pm at Tallaght Library, County Hall, Tallaght, Dublin 24. This year’s theme is Every Child Matters: Inclusion in the School Library.
There is further information on presentations and speakers as well as booking detailsavailable at the Library Information Desk or you can e-mail SLARI Secretary Katherine Ryan at kryan@st-andrews.ie.

Booker Prize Winner announced - do you agree?

Aravind Adiga was the suprise winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize for his debut novel The White Tiger. Adiga is the fourth first-time novelist to win the prize and was highly praised for the book's unromantic portrayal of contemporary Indian society.

The full 2008 shortlist, which included Dubliner Sebastian Barry is below and all six titles are now in stock in the Library. Check them out (literally) and make up your own mind!

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (Winner)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant
The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher
A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz

'Symmetry & Art' Exhibition

"[Man] has tried through the ages to comprehend and create order, beauty and perfection"

Hermann Weyl (1885-1955)

As part of the College's participation in National Maths Week (Oct 11-18) the Library is exhibiting a selection of books and images detailing the relationship between symmetry and art through the ages. Authors/artists covered include M.C. Escher (above is a detail from his work Metamorphosis III), Joseph Gallian and Hans Kuiper.

The exhibition is situated just inside the entrance to the Library. Our thanks to Sinéad Breen in the Mathematics Dept. for organising the material.

For other Maths Week events going on throughout the College click here.

October & November opening hours

The Library will be closed on the following days in October and November:

Monday Oct 27 (Bank Holiday)
Saturday Nov 1 (All Saints Day)
Friday & Saturday Nov 7 & 8 (Conferring)

On all other days we will be open for normal term-time hours.

Congratulations!

Library staff member Ronan Kelly has been shortlisted for the Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards 2008, for his book Bard of Erin: The Life of Thomas Moore.

Close to 350 books were submitted by book publishers from both Ireland and the UK for inclusion in the competition, which has a total prize fund of €45,000. Ronan is nominated in the biography/non-fiction category and is also in the running for the overall award.

Congratulations to Ronan on his fine achievement. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed on the 10 November 2008 when the winners are announced!

Welcome New Students!

The Library would like to welcome our new students to St. Patrick's College and wish them every success for the year ahead. Library tours and inductions are available at the beginning of term. B.Ed's and Postgraduate students will have time slots allocated to them in the first few weeks while B.A. students can come to the Information Desk in the Library to book a slot for themselves.

Please ask a member of Library Staff for help if you need it - it's what we're here for!

DVD Collection

"Hamburgers. The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast..."

The Library launches its DVD collection this term thanks to funding from the Quality Promotion Awards. We were delighted at the interest shown by different Departments in placing orders, and as a result our collection ranges from Pulp Fiction to Alive-O!

The DVDs are available on 24hr loan and are held at the Library Issue Desk.

Library Guides

If you're a new arrival at St. Patrick's College you should make sure to pick up one of our new Library Guides which are fresh off the press and contain all you need to know as a library newbie. They are free to take and can be picked up from beside our Information Desk at the entrance to the main library.

Attention Researchers!

Students and staff of St. Patrick's College now have access to Refworks online referencing software.

In the course of your work you will need to keep a record of hundreds or even thousands of book and journal references. RefWorks can make this a lot easier.
Save references directly from academic databases or web pages to your personal online RefWorks account. Your account can be accessed from any computer with internet access.
When writing a paper in MS Word, you can use RefWorks to insert citations. At the end of your paper, RefWorks will create your reference list and bibliography in seconds, correctly formatted in your chosen style (Harvard, MLA etc.).

If you would like to know more about this tool please ask at our Information Desk, or email libinfo@spd.dcu.ie.

Book of the Month

"Oh, what did you see, my blue eyed son?"

On this blog we will frequently be drawing attention to interesting new titles to be found on the library shelves.

First time out, we're throwing the spotlight on
Hard Rain: Our Headlong Collision with Nature, by Mark Edwards.
This book contains a collection of stunning photographs taken by Edwards over 40 years, detailing environmental and humanitarian concerns, and marries them with the lyrics of Hard Rain, written by Bob Dylan during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
The collection was exhibited in the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin during the summer. The book also contains essays by Robert May, John Elkington, Geoff Lye, Jonathon Porrit and David Bohm.