Category Archives: General Information

Urban Fiction: It’s new, it’s popular, and it’s here!

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Urban fiction is a fairly recent literary phenomenon which has been termed hip-hop, gangster, street fiction or ghetto lit as well. With urban areas as the setting, this literature is especially popular with younger African-Americans as the demand for novels authentically conveying the urban experience increased. For example, crime stories generally revolve around the often tragic choices and journeys some young men and women make into the less savory side of life. Yet, reading about the tragic lives of others can be a cautionary tale to those who wish to avoid suffering the same fate, and there are sub-genres such as Urban Christian fiction.

Many titles are controversial and considered risqué for younger readers.   Decide for yourself!   Experience the rich and diverse lives of friends and families, even strangers, as they struggle and thrive in the urban environment.  A full list of titles available through the University Libraries can be found by searching for the subject “Urban Fiction” in our library catalog.

The University Libraries will feature a display on Urban fiction during the first few weeks of Fall semester.  Please stop by the Carlson Library Information Commons to see what we have.  The Urban Fiction Brochure from the display has more information about the genre.   Books in the display may be checked out.

Faculty & Staff: Library Seminars just for you!

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The University  Libraries is pleased to announce a new series of library informational sessions  for UT faculty and staff entitled Connection Sessions!

These 30 minute sessions will run from September through December at both the Carlson Library on Main Campus and the Mulford Library on the Health Science Campus.  All sessions will be taught by faculty in the College of University Libraries and Academic Support.  All sessions are offered from 12-12:30pm on the following dates.  Feel free to bring your lunch or a snack!

Designing Effective Library Assignments:  Get tips on creating great assignments for your students that incorporate the use of library resources.
9/1 – Carlson, room 1009
9/2 – Mulford, room 420

Accessing Full-Text Articles: Download articles from library research databases and online journal collections with the click of your mouse!
10/6 – Carlson, room 1009
10/7 – Mulford, room 520

Using OhioLINK and Interlibrary Loan:  Request items from other libraries in the state, across the country or around the world.
11/3 – Carlson, room 1009
11/4 – Mulford, room 520

Using EndNote:  Save yourself time and frustration by formatting your manuscripts with EndNote, a bibliographic management software program available to you as a free download via myUT.
12/1 – Carlson, room 1027
12/2 – Mulford, room 520

For more information, ask a librarian!

UT Authors & Artist Exhibit: March 29 – April 30

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The 2010 University of Toledo Authors and Artists Exhibit will be displayed March 29 through April 30 in the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections on the fifth floor of Carlson Library.

The exhibit will feature the works of nearly 200 UT faculty who have published books, journal articles or conference papers or have produced creative works in the past two years.   Begun in the 1950s, this annual exhibit allows the community a chance to see a large portion of the scholarly and creative output of our university faculty in one place.

photo courtesy of UTNews

The British are Here! on DVD

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Carlson Library is currently displaying some well-known British literary works which have been adapted for film and television on DVD.   Also included are a number of British television series on DVD. The theme is “The British are Coming Here,” to demonstrate the increasing influence of British television and movies on American culture. It is located near the Information Desk and will run through the end of March. DVDs are located in the Microform & Multimedia Department on the 3rd floor of the library.

Some of the DVDs available are:

Television series:

And others:

Spring Break Building Hours

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During Spring Break, Carlson Library will be open from

  • 8 a.m. through 12 midnight, Monday – Thursday,
  • 8 a.m. through 8 p.m. on Friday
  • 9 a.m. through 8 p.m. on Saturday
  • and 12 noon through 12 midnight on Sunday.

(These are the regular hours of the upper floors, except that we open at 8 a.m. instead of 7:30 a.m.)

Not all service and information desks will be open their regular hours during spring break, however, so service levels may be reduced in some collections.

WiFi Upgrade in Carlson Library, March 8

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At the beginning of Spring Break week, the WiFi (wireless) system in Carlson Library will be upgraded throughout the day.  As wireless network points are being replaced, there will be intermittent wireless outages in different parts of the building.  All work is expected to be completed by Tuesday morning.  We apologize for any inconvenience, but you should still be able to find ‘live’ WiFi coverage elsewhere in the building while the upgrade is being done.

CC License, Some Rights Reserved

Celebrate Women’s History through Rare Books

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University Libraries celebrates Women’s History Month with a look at rare books and manuscripts documenting women’s social history from the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections.   For 30 years, the Canaday Center has collected printed and manuscript materials documenting the social history of American women. The materials focus mainly on the period 1840-1920 and concern the nature of domestic life and the struggle of women for equality.   Why not take a trip back to the past to see how the social position of women has advanced, as documented in the books in our rare book collections?

Link from Library Catalog to More Resources

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When you do a search in the library catalog, you can often link out to more resources on the same topic.  Just do a search like you normally would, and then click on the ‘More Resources’ button to the right of the title.

This will bring up a menu of additional options based on the item you’re looking at, such as:

  • Searching for the same subject or title in our Research Databases to find articles.  (While the catalog can tell you what books, videos, and other items we have, it cannot find individual articles on a subject.)
  • Looking in online reference resources including encyclopedias
  • Finding e-books on the topic
  • Connecting to a Library Guide developed by our own librarians for more research ideas.

Use the ‘More Resources’ button to expand your research today!

Faculty invited to submit work to Authors & Artists Exhibit

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The deadline for submitting materials for the 2010 University of Toledo Authors and Artists Exhibit is Friday, Feb. 12.  Faculty and staff members who have published books, articles and conference papers since February 2008 are encouraged to submit these materials for inclusion in the exhibit.

The exhibit will be on display in the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections on the fifth floor of Carlson Library from March 29 through April 30.

Faculty with works in the exhibit will be honored at a reception Monday, March 29, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Dr. John Murray, UT professor of economics, will present opening remarks.

Faculty authors on Main Campus should send or e-mail their publications to Suhasini Kumar, Government Documents Department, Carlson Library, mail stop 509. Faculty members on Health Science Campus should send or e-mail their publications to Jolene Miller, Mulford Library, mail stop 1061. Faculty in the Department of Art with works for the exhibit will receive notification in late January of procedures for displaying their artwork.

Those submitting works are asked to provide a complete bibliographic citation for each publication to assist with the preparation of the exhibit catalog.

For more information, contact Barbara Floyd, director of the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections, at 419.530.2170.