Haggadot Display

Because of its ancient roots, inspiring content, and ongoing relevance, the haggadah is an especially beloved Jewish ritual. Since the days of Amram Ben Sheshna Gaon and Rashi, it has attracted a vast number of commentaries and supercommentaries as well as translations into many languages. Moreover, the fact that each participant in the Seder must have his or her own copy led to artistic embellishment of the haggadah on a grand scale, often for the participating women and children. Richly illuminated haggadot were commissioned by wealthy Jews of the Middle Ages, great care being lavished on both the illustrations and the text (an entire page sometimes being devoted to one theme or word). Separate artistic traditions developed in Muslim Spain and Christian Germany and Italy; and a growing number of the finest illuminated manuscripts are now available in facsimile editions. The first printed haggadot came from Spain (c. 1482) and Italy (1505), but the oldest surviving illustrated edition was that printed by Gershom Cohen in Prague (1526). Since then, it is estimated, more than 2,000 editions of the haggadah have appeared in print, and new ones are still being published.

"HAGGADAH." The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. New York: New York University Press, 2002. Credo Reference. Web. 01 April 2010.



Stop by the library and check out the many haggadot that Dr. Joseph Rubinstein has on display. Arrangement and display commentary by Brandy Roscoe.

Student Research Symposium Poster Exhibit

Student Survey Winners

The staff at the Coker library would like to thank the many students who took time to answer our survey! We had record participation this year, and many of your comments and suggestions will lead improvements to your library!

The winners, drawn randomly from an original LITC construction hat, are as follows:

Louchi's $25 gift certificate: Gregory Rogers

Midnight Rooster $25 gift certificate: Jessica Smith

Bow Thai Cafe $25 gift certificate: Adrienne Kennedy

$50 Grand Prize: Nicole Thompson

Thank you again! Look for follow-ups to your suggestions in this space in the weeks to come.

Goin' Mobile

With apologies to the Who and Pete Townsend, the library will be goin' mobile. We will be gradually rolling out mobile device-friendly versions of many of our popular resources.

The first, from EBSCOHost, will include several of our most popular databases: Academic Search Premier, SocINDEX with Full Text, Business Source Premier, PsycArticles, PsycInfo, Literary Reference Center, and ERIC, to name a few.

The mobile platform is designed specifically for hand-held devices and has the following features:

• Basic Searching


• HTML and PDF Full Text


• Search Modes


• Limiters


• Image Quick View


• E-mailing articles


• Preferences


• Multi-database Searching

Check it out here: EBSCOHost Mobile

One sided printing in 40 seconds

If you've ever wondered how to configure MS Word to print on one side here in the library, this brief video will show you the way to better printing.

We'll be making other instructional and tutorial videos using Camtasia Studio. Stay tuned!

Resource Review: Credo Reference

Those Coker students that have had a library instruction class or have had one of our one credit courses (LIB 101 or 301) know we librarians really like reference resources. Reference resources, whether they come from our traditional reference section or as an e-resource, are excellent places to begin research. But why?

1. These resources provide overviews of a topic, which serve to get the researcher into the mindset of that topic or subject matter
   
2. They provide search terms and ideas to broaden or widen your research
3. Most reference resources provide a bibliography or works cited list, doing some of your research for you.

With these ideas in mind, we will be taking a look at one of our newer e-resources: Credo Reference.

Credo Reference features (at this writing) 463 separate reference books containing over 3,000,000 entries. These titles are automatically updated with newer versions (if available) and new works are added frequently.

Above is the current homepage for Credo. As you can see, the basic Search is the default search type, providing simple access to the entire collection.

The next tab over features an Image Search, perfect for art students looking for specific examples of an artist's work. There are plenty of art resources including the National Gallery of London's collection and the Bridgeman Art Library Archive (to name a very few).

Advanced Search brings you a more powerful set of search parameters, such as phrase searching, Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT), and date range limiters.

Find a Book, miraculously, allows you to search for a specific book in the collection. Note that if you roll your mouse over a title, you will get a picture of the book cover and a brief description of the book's contents (Click on the picture to make it larger):

Concept Map is a (relatively) new way of looking at information visually. Enter a search term, and Credo will output a map of concepts and terms, with your search term usually in the middle:

Each one of those terms is a separate entry in Credo Reference, and can be previewed by holding your mouse over the phrase or term (See picture above, click to enlarge).

Concept mapping is a great information discovery tool, especially in subject areas that are either new or unfamiliar to us.

Finally, the Gadgets tool offers unique information access:

This unique tool can be dragged to any part of your screen or opened in a new window or tab to be used even after leaving Credo Reference. The Gadgets provide some of the quick answers that you would expect from Google -- except these answers come from a trusted resource.

All in all, Credo Reference offers a great range of e-reference resources that are easy to use and access.

Saturday Hours

The Library will open at 10:00AM this Saturday, February 6. Come on in and enjoy a few more hours of academic pursuits.