Open, Controlled, and Limited Access

What does all this mean?

As Catherine pointed out in her last blog post, we’re not even close to everything being on the internet. However, because of the internet, we do have unprecedented access to books, journals, and a multitude of other information materials. Many of these resources we could never have seen or even found without the internet. Perhaps describing internet resources more specifically will help us to better evaluate and understand their usefulness for our research.

One way of classifying internet resources is by their accessibility. Internet resources may have open access, controlled access, or some form of limited access. A prime example of open access is our online catalog.

Anyone with internet access can see, manipulate and explore the SPST, Kansas City Cluster, and MOBIUS catalogs free of charge, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. The cost of these catalogs is paid for by the member schools of the MOBIUS library consortium.

Another type of open access information is the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). This is a collection of 7437 journals (and growing) intentionally published online, and for which there is no charge. There are 81 journals dedicated specifically to religious studies. DOAJ is where you will find Methodist Review, Homiletic, and the Journal of Religion and Society. Only 1351 of the 7437 journals are published in the US. Many, if not most, of the journals are published in English as well as the source language. Of course, the scholarly practice of critical review that applies to all materials is important when evaluating open access materials. Just think of the breadth of new thought the internet is enabling us to reach! Take a look and explore how these journals might impact the quality of your research.

Stay tuned for more on controlled and limited access resources and their role in your research.

What a Difference a Summer Makes!

If you have already been on the Library database selection page, or into the EBSCOhost databases, you will have noticed some major changes and additions.

But first, in case you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to the SPST homepage, and select “Database Login”  under the gray “Library” dropdown menu. If you get a security warning, go ahead and do what they warn you not to do – proceed to this site that we know and trust. For the username, enter only your last name. For the password enter the 13-digit number below the barcode on the front of your SPST ID card. This should take you to the online database selection screen for Dana Dawson Library.

When you scan the list, you’ll notice a new item – “ebrary”. This is a continually expanding collection of over 70,000 scholarly electronic books – e-books.  You can search for materials directly in ebrary, or all of the titles are also in the SPST / WILO online catalog with direct links to the ebooks. Just click on the link for the SPST holding and you will be prompted to sign in using the Database Login procedure as outlined above.

If you venture into the EBSCOhost database you will see new databases listed on the initial EBSCO screen including:

• Biography Reference Center
• Science Reference Center
• Consumer Health Complete

When you go into the EBSCOhost “Choose Databases” section, look below the familiar ATLA and Academic Search Premier. Browse the descriptions of the databases, some never before available to SPST students, faculty, and staff including:

• Child Development & Adolescent Studies
• Humanities International Complete
• Bibliography of Native North Americans
• Violence & Abuse Abstracts
• ERIC (Education Resource Information Center)
• MEDLINE

If you encounter any problems accessing these resources, contact John Oyler in the library or at joyler@spst.edu. We will be offering general database overview training as well as training and helps for each of these specific resources. Let us know what you think!

Things New and Old in the World Library!

The fall semester is clearly underway and no doubt much of your time is already spoken for. I would like to thank all in the community who have taken some time to send me purchase requests for the Dana Dawson Library in KC. I’m also very grateful for the recent spate of donations to the library and archives. Additions both New and Old are always welcomed and encouraged.

Let me encourage you to take a moment at the beginning of each month to look at the list of materials cataloged and made available to you in the month before. It’s easy. Here’s a url that will take you directly to the September acquisitions list for the KC Library: http://www.worldcat.org/libraries/1713. This link is also located near the bottom right of the Saint Paul Library blog page. Look for “Recent Acquisitions.” You can book mark the above link to visit it each month or even use RSS to subscribe to the feed. I’ll tell you how to do that in a future blog.

If you’re curious about urls, you’ll notice two things about the link.

First, our items are listed on WorldCat which is different from WILO and Mobius. WorldCat is an international/world online library catalog that makes it easy to find which library owns what items and to share those resources through interlibrary loan.

Second, the Dana Dawson Library is number “1713” among libraries on WorldCat. What do you think would happen if you changed the url from 1713 to 1712 or 1714? Two free books of your choice from the library sale table will go to the first responder who replies to this blog with the correct names of libraries 1712 and 1714. Even better yet: five free books from the sale table to a different person who can name library 2389.

Go WorldCat!

Logan

How We Got Here

Because our library is specialized in nature, many of the resources we collect are not among those that get mainstream attention.  One of our new books at the Dana Dawson Library is an exception, though:  Preaching with Sacred Fire:  An Anthology of African American Sermons, 1750 to the Present.  Among the advance press for this book are a Wall Street Journal review and an NPR interview with one of the editors, the Rev. Martha Simmons.  I hope the book will be popular here, too.  You can find it in our catalog or on the new books shelf–unless someone else gets there first!

Relating to “how we got here” geographically rather than culturally, our neighbors to the Kansas City campus, the Elmwood Cemetery Society, have a book launch and signing on Wednesday evening at the Kansas City Public Library.  The new book is Elmwood Cemetery:  Stories of Kansas City.  One person buried in the cemetery is particularly notable to Saint Paul:  Christian Schoellkopf (1833-1906).  A real estate developer and member of Grand Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church (now Grand Avenue Temple), Schoellkopf donated a 14-acre cow pasture to be the site of a training school for deaconesses.  Today it is our campus.

Four Basic Reading Questions

How to Read a Book

 

from How to Read a Book, revised and updated edition (1972) by Adler and Van Doren

Whether reading an article, a book, or a website, an assigned reading, or something of one’s own choosing, there are four basic questions (46-47) that will focus one’s reading.  Focused reading effectively prepares the academic reader to write an annotated bibliography, a book review, or a paper.  The reader must ask:  

1) “What is the book about as a whole?” – Discover the “leading theme of the book” and the “essential subordinate themes and topics.”  

2) “What is being said in detail, and how?” – Tease out the “main ideas, assertions, and arguments.”  

3) “Is the book true, in whole or part?” – Understand the author’s argument(s) and support to discern their validity.  

4) “What of it?” – So What? Why is the book important or useful?  What does the author suggest or imply is the next logical step?  

Answering the four basic questions precisely and accurately constitutes “the whole obligation of the reader.”  Answering the first two questions (content and argument) allows the reader to discern the book’s validity (truth).  Once the first three questions are answered, the reader can then assess a book’s significance.  Adler observes that learning how to ask all four questions “as you read” is the “art of reading.”

Reading with Intent

We all know how to read books, right? Open up a good book, begin at the beginning, and end at the ending. Simple – or is it? The answer depends on why we are reading the book. Reading for pleasure and reading with intent require different skills. 

How to Read a Book

 

One starting point for reading with intent is inspectional reading (How to Read a Book, 1972, by Adler and Van Doren, 32-36). Inspectional reading gives a sense of a book’s content, and its research value. It begins with gleaning information from the basic parts of the book. 

 First, look at the title page. Pay attention to subtitles and other comments. Read all prefaces, forewards, and introductions. These reveal the book’s subject, angle, and scope. 

Study the table of contents. The more detail, the better. An anthology may have a synopsis of each chapter, and the author’s name. 

Search the subject index for key terms. Read material surrounding your keywords. Scan the bibliography, works cited, and other reference tools. 

Examine the dust jacket and blurbs. The flaps often give a synopsis of the book’s content, argument, or unique contribution. There is often a biography of the author on the jacket. 

Revisit the table of contents seeking chapters pivotal to the argument. Skim these chapters reading the opening and closing paragraphs. 

Finally, wander through the book, “dipping in here and there” (35) sampling a few paragraphs. An author often summarizes the book in the conclusion. You should now be ready to include the book in your research, or look for better prospects.

Methodist digital archive expanding

If you’re at Saint Paul School of Theology, you may have heard of the topic American Methodism.  You may have even tried to find out more about it.  And you might be aware that Methodist librarians and archivists are trying to help you do that.

One project that’s been started recently is the American Methodism Project, hosted at the Internet Archive. This project is a collaborative effort to digitize items documenting Methodist history in the U.S. and make them available in one easy-to-find online place.  The collection is searchable and also browsable by subject/keyword, title, or author.

Conference journals

Topical studies

First-person accounts

So far the collection has over 250 items, but expansion is coming.  It’s estimated that digitization and lifetime storage costs about $30 for each volume (not counting the participating libraries’ original costs of acquiring and cataloging the print items).  The organizers are working to raise $7,000–after the Methodist Librarians Fellowship pledged $3,000 at last month’s meeting of the American Theological Library Association–in order to digitize and add 100 more volumes.  The plan is to expand around several themes:  Methodism and Native Americans, Women in Missions, and Methodist Periodicals.

In the meantime, however, check out what’s already there!  You can get automatic updates by RSS, too, when new items are added.

Preparing for Research: Looking for the soft spot in the line

In his book Research Strategies (3^rd edition) William Badke makes a distinction between research and false research (17-18).  Before we judge our own work as false or bad, let’s reframe how we begin research in a more positive and constructive manner.  Let’s call our initial efforts discovery.

Research Strategies, 3rd ed. by Badke

 The discovery process includes searching reference books, the library catalog, journal databases, and the internet to uncover the scope of information available on a given topic.  We are looking for data, facts, basic information, general and key ideas, and the range of research materials that may be available when we start the focused work of research.

 Badke (16) uses a football metaphor.  A running back carries the football approaching the scrimmage line, testing for a soft spot the front line has created in the defense.  If the defense is firm, the running back moves left or right, perhaps even reversing the original direction of the play. After moving laterally and testing the line again and again until a soft spot is found, the back can then run toward the goal creatively in a more open field.

 In discovery, the soft spot is often breached when you uncover a controversy or an unanswered question.  Then, you, the researcher, are able to run creatively in the open field before you.  Every touch down begins with discovering a soft spot in the defense.