New Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences database!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has recently created the Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections, which provides free online access currently to a growing collection of over 3,000 items, including correspondence, photographs, early release fliers, full issues of rare periodicals, sheet music and movie star ephemera. The digital collections also include complete copies of more than 250 Academy publications, dating back to the founding of the organization in 1927, and provide access to significant items including selections from the Alfred Hitchcock papers and the Cecil B. DeMille photographs, as well as the annual Academy Awards programs.

Access these collections via links for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collections on the following Library web pages:

• Databases A-Z
• Film & Image Databases
• Mass Communication - Specialized Databases
• Music - Specialized Databases 
• Theatre/Dance - Specialized Databases

As always, if you have questions please contact the Research Center desk (x4204) or your liaison librarian.

New foreign language library database!

The Library now provides online access to Powerspeak, an online foreign language learning program that supplements the study of Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, and Inglés (ESL). As noted by Choice:

"Powerspeak Languages is not a substitute for classroom learning, but it provides an excellent opportunity to dive into a language to prepare for a summer experience or a trip abroad. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, professionals, and general audience." --CHOICE, January 2012

Powerspeak is available to anyone in the University Community via the Library's Databases A - Z page and related pages, or it can be accessed directly via this link: http://navigator-bloomu.passhe.edu/login?url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/pl1928?db=PWSP . For a tutorial on how to use, click here. If you have any questions, please contact your librarian liaison, the Database Coordinator, or the Research Center once the semester begins.

Check out our new database, PolicyMap!

PolicyMap is an online GIS mapping tool that gives users access to over 10,000 indicators including census data, crime statistics and city crime rates, health data, IRS migration data, mortgage trends, real estate data, school performance scores, unemployment, and more. It's listed on the Library website > Articles/databases > PolicyMap. Check out the PolicyMap blog for ideas and examples of how to use.

PolicyMap is funded by a 2-year grant from the Department of Community & Economic Development of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, beginning Feb. 2012.

As always, if you have questions please contact your librarian liaison or the Research Center.

New Library Database!

The Library has just acquired the The Washington Post (1877 - 1992), a ProQuest Historical Newspaper offering full page and article images with searchable full-text. It is available on the Databases A-Z page and at the preceding link. As always, if you have any questions, please contact a Reference Librarian.

(Please note: The database cannot be searched in combination with ProQuest non-historical databases.)

APA Style Guide to Electronic Reference

The APA Style Guide to Electronic References is now available on the Library Web site via the Databases (A-Z) page and the Find Articles & More > Reference Sources page, it is also available under Citing Sources. The Guide (an e-book in pdf format) updates and expands upon the Electronic Resources section of the Publication Manual of the APA (5th ed.)