Cowles Library Blogs

Professor Teri Koch of Cowles Library, along with Cyd Dyer of Simpson College and Pam Rees of Grandview University, made a presentation at the international Charleston Conference on November 6, 2014 titled: “Good Things Come in Small Packages: Getting the Most from Shared Print Retention & Cooperative Collection Development with a Small Group of Libraries.” The presentation covers the groundbreaking work of the Central Iowa Collaborative Collections Initiative (CI-CCI). Learn more about the evolving shared collection among Iowa academic libraries at the ci-cci.org website.

With the new outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, there has been much misinformation and speculation in the media.  If you are interested in looking at reputable resources that will provide you with factual and up to date information on signs and symptoms, transmission, new research, news, and diagnoses etc, you can view the five websites listed below:

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/index.html CDC – Ebola

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ebola.html MedlinePlus Ebola

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/united-states-imported-case.html  CDC – Cases of Ebola Diagnosed in the United States

http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/ebola_2014.html#a11 USDHHS Ebola Outbreak 2014: Information Resources

http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/ebola  University of Iowa LibGuide

The online version of Cowles Library’s 2013 – 2014 Annual Report is now available. This report covers the period from July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2014.

Claudia Frazer, Coordinator of Digital Initiatives at Cowles Library, will be teaching four sessions on Primary Sources for the Study of Civil Rights in Iowa with David McCartney, University of Iowa Archivist, as part of the Leadership & Legacy in History: Iowa’s Role in Freedom Summer workshops sponsored by the State Historical Society of Iowa. This two-day event for 6th through 12th graders and their teachers initiates the 2014-2015 National History Day contest season. Professor Frazer’s talks will focus on using primary source materials in research at both Cowles Library and other archives in Iowa.

Lyrasis, a non-profit organization of libraries, museums and cultural heritage organizations provides information management, collections and technology primarily focused on digital content.

Professor Teri Koch, Collections Development Librarian, has been selected to serve on the newly created Academic Advisory Committee to provide guidance and advice to Lyrasis as it works with potential vendors, gains a deeper understanding of evolving academic library licensing needs and on future directions for the organization. Professor Koch is widely recognized as a leader in the development of electronic resources, innovative patron driven collection development application, and in establishing a cutting-edge shared collection model among five Iowa private and academic libraries.

The ability of the Library to purchase and license electronic resources is enhanced through participation in a variety of library consortia such as Lyrasis. Find out more about Lyrasis.

Cowles Library hosts a look at Food Insecurity from Global, National, and Local Perspectives

Click for details of the panel discussion in Cowles: 7 October at 7 p.m.

Download brochure for all programming

Cowles Library announces another database trial: Early English Books Online (EEBO) is the definitive online collection of early printed works in English, and works printed in England, making digital copies of over 125,000 titles from before 1700 discoverable through an interface tailored for early modern scholars.

No other resource for early modern scholarship is as comprehensive as Early English Books Online. Users can explore complete, digitized images of all the works listed in these key bibliographic records of English literature: The Short-Title Catalogue (Pollard & Redgrave, 1475-1640); The Short-Title Catalogue II (Wing, 1641-1700); The Thomson Tracts; and the Early English Books Tract Supplements, as well as original almanacs, pamphlets, musical scores, prayer books and other intriguing primary sources.

The trial runs until 10/18/14. Access is available only from on-campus.

Cowles Library is pleased to announce a trial for Adam Matthew’s Apartheid South Africa, 1948-1966 archive collection. Due to terms of the trial, this database can only be accessed from on-campus.

Apartheid South Africa 1948-1980

Apartheid South Africa makes available British government files from the Foreign, Colonial, Dominion and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices spanning the period 1948 to 1980.
The launch of National Party apartheid policies in 1948 heralded 40 years of white dominance over South African business, politics and society. Punitive restrictions placed on travel, education, work and political activism instigated the formation of organisations such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), saw support increase for the Communist Party and fuelled the growth of international anti-apartheid organisations.

These previously restricted letters, diplomatic dispatches, reports, trial papers, activist biographies and first-hand accounts give unprecedented access to South Africa’s apartheid regime. Files explore the relationship of the international community with South Africa and chart increasing civil unrest against a backdrop of waning colonialism and mounting world condemnation.

This resource is being released in three sections over the next six months: 1948-1966 (available now), 1967-1975 (coming December 2014), 1976-1980 (coming March 2015).

Rod Henshaw, dean of Cowles Library at Drake University, is now serving as president for the Affinity Academic Libraries Group—a group of 33 private academic libraries representing master’s level institutions from across the United States. Read More