Academic Commons News - Research Guides at Thomas Jefferson University

Walk your way into June by checking out the 25 new eBooks added to the Jefferson Libraries' digital collections. Book topics range from fashion and textiles to clinical support to urban development. Browse our complete eBook collections at the Jefferson–Center City Campus/Scott Library, Jefferson–Dixon Campus/Library, and Jefferson–East Falls Campus/Gutman Library.

Recent Posts

EBSCO’s New Interface

The EBSCOhost platform recently updated its interface, which the Jefferson Libraries use to provide access to A-Z Databases, from Academic Search Premier and the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) to World Textiles. The cleaner, modern look should provide a more intuitive research experience for undergraduates and occasional users. A few changes include: Filters, previously in the left column, are now located as buttons under the basic search boxThe search history is now found under recent activityBulk export of up to 25,000 records is available after logging into a MyEBSCO accountBusiness searching gets its own, new interface. Try it with Business Source Premier. The new EBSCO interface moves filters below the search box, the search history under recent activity, and offers bulk export up to 25,000 results once signed into your MyEBSCO account. Product updates will continue over the coming months. Some features, like citation counts, are not yet available. Advanced searchers such as those conducting systematic reviews may have more questions. Please reach out to your librarians with feedback and questions....

LISTEN NOW: The Learning Curve Podcast Highlights Teaching & Learning Trends in Conversations with Jefferson Faculty

If you’re looking for fresh insights and practical teaching strategies from fellow instructors at Thomas Jefferson University, check out The Learning Curve – a new podcast brought to you by the Instructional Design team in the Academic Commons at Jefferson. Stream The Learning Curve at academiccommons.jefferson.edu/thelearningcurve or find it on your favorite podcast platform like iTunes and Spotify. Each episode of The Learning Curve features in-depth conversations with Jefferson faculty and researchers. From cutting-edge teaching practices to student engagement strategies, the podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look at what works in the classroom—and why. What to ExpectCandid interviews with faculty and researchers Trends and innovations in teaching and learning Tips and tools for student engagement Reflections on the evolving role of educators Episode HighlightsEpisode 1: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Join Dr. Elif Gokbel, Instructional Design Specialist, as she explores how research and reflection can transform classroom practice and enhance student outcomes. Episode 2: The Art of Self-Reflection in Teaching Dr. Barry Burton, Assistant Professor of Emergency & Disaster Management, shares how self-reflection has shaped his teaching journey and offers advice for educators seeking to grow and adapt. Episode 3: Engagement Tools and Virtual Reality Dr. John Milligan, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, discusses how to utilize virtual reality and other tools to improve student engagement. Listen now on our website or on your favorite podcast player. ...

The Jefferson Libraries Celebrates Pride Month with 10 Library Resources

Pride Month is in June in recognition of the Stonewall Riots, when, on June 28, 1969, police violently and unjustly raided a gay bar in New York City. This event is frequently referred to as the beginning of the modern queer rights movement, as it brought the struggles of LGBTQ+ rights to the public. Philadelphia has its own mark on LGBTQ+ history, too, with the Dewey’s Sit-Ins and Annual Reminders during the mid to late 1960s, being some of the first large scale queer rights demonstrations in the nation. Today, June is celebrated as a time to publicly honor the heroic bravery of LGBTQ+ activists who came before our time, and it is a period to bring awareness to issues the LGBTQ+ community still faces. The Jefferson Libraries and Academic Commons would like to honor Pride Month and the significance many people hold for it with a list of resources on LGBTQ+ topics. For additional reading, check out the library’s Diversity and Inclusion page. Articles The interplay of familial warmth and LGBTQ+ specific family rejection on LGBTQ+ adolescents’ self-esteem “The liberation of LGBTQ+ will also liberate heterosexuals”: Heterosexual feminist women's participation in solidarity‐based collective action for LGBTQ+ rights eBooks Love after the end: an anthology of two-spirit & indigiqueer speculative fiction Others of My Kind: Transatlantic Transgender Histories Trans bodies, trans selves: a resource by and for the transgender communities Queer in Africa: LGBTQ identities, citizenship, and activism Queer social work: cases for LGBTQ+ affirmative practice Videos Identifying the Unique Needs of Generation Z Students Who Identify as LGBTQ+ Within Higher Education Opinion | Corporations love to profit off Pride. But they can't protect LGBTQ people Portrait of a Lady on Fire ...

STAFF PICKS: Reading Recommendations from the Jefferson Libraries Staff

The Center City Scott Memorial Library and East Falls Gutman Library have many types of resources for students, staff, and faculty to enjoy. In addition to academic pieces, we also have leisurely bestseller books, cookbooks, graphic novels, magazines, and more! Check out the list below to see what reading materials some of the library staff recommend. Timber Weber: Collections TechnicianDopesick by Beth Macy Dopesick does a wonderful job of taking the human faces of the opioid epidemic in one small town and unfolding their stories alongside the larger backdrop of what the U.S. opioid epidemic has become—and how it came to be. Macy’s portrayal of the forces fueling this crisis, as well as the raw emotions she gets across from so many Americans left mourning or struggling as a result, even inspired a miniseries on Hulu. It’s truly an eye-opening read. Dot Berenbrok: Senior Librarian, Acquisitions & Collection ManagementThe Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton Great for fans of mysteries AND science fiction, this story follows a small, isolated community on an island after the rest of humanity has been wiped out. They are surrounded by a deadly fog that is kept at bay with technology by three scientists who also oversee the townspeople. One of the scientists is killed, the safeguards fail, and the fog starts moving closer. An uncharacteristically curious woman from the town is tasked with solving the murder and saving the people. I really liked the twist at the end.Jim Copeland: Access Services TechnicianUnmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines by Joy Buolamwini Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines, a memoir written by Joy Buolamwini, Ph.D., tells the story of her contemporaneous academic pursuit and scholarly contributions in the field of information science while in graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This fascinating book also discusses the challenges of doing important research in the field of an emerging technology. If you are interested in the fair application of either artificial intelligence or biometrics, this book is for you. Made Free and Thrown Open to the Public: Community Libraries in Pennsylvania from the Colonial Era through World War II by Bernadette Lear Recently, I completed reading Bernadette Lear's seminal history of Pennsylvania libraries. How uncanny that a few days after finishing Lear's book—which focused on the past—I walk by a bookstore and spot in the shop's display window a forward-looking "coffee-table book" on new and reimagined libraries!? This book, Reading Room: New & Reimagined Libraries of the American West, covers several new or renovated libraries. The book and the libraries covered therein look spectacular and inspirational! Ashley Moore: College of Humanities and Sciences Librarian Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry Great Big Beautiful Life is a bit of a breakaway from Emily Henry’s typical style – but is no less captivating. Vibrant characters flesh out dual story lines, as the readers learn about Margaret Grace Ives - a former tabloid princess of decades past, who is now aged and wants to tell her story as a memoir – and the two young authors vying for the opportunity to write the memoir itself. Henry’s depiction of the rise and fall of Margaret’s family’s media empire and the damning secrets it created along the way compels the authors to look at their own lives and relationships through a new lens, and makes them realize what they truly want from each other. Great Big Beautiful Life has officially become my new favorite of Emily Henry’s books. John Vance: Library Coordinator Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller Is that the book from Seinfeld? The one incurring the wrath of Joe Bookman from the classic third-season episode The Library? Why yes. Yes, it is. That and so much more besides. This behemoth of a semi-autobiographical novel was written in early 1930’s Paris. Artists, writers, poets, and bohemians of all stripes came to the city in this period and created a cultural milieu that would go on to influence art for a generation or more. Go to any cocktail lounge today and you can order yourself a “Paris Between the Wars.” What the drink lacks in flavor, it makes up for in nostalgia. Sip away and dream of this imaginative era. Watch Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and James Joyce rub elbows with Picasso, Dali, and Max Erst. See the birth of Art Deco. Hear Django Reinhardt and Josephine Baker redefining jazz. Cafe culture explodes, the absinthe flows, the arts blossom. Presumably attracted by all of this, the struggling American writer Henry Miller came to Paris sometime around 1930. He was broke, or close to it, and found himself living in streets, hostels, and filthy hotels. He began recording his life and struggles at the time. A pessimist might see these writings as the ramblings of a lunatic, but this was the seed of what would grow into my favorite book. Eventually, Miller found a wealthy patron and promising muse. This patron took Miller in and gave him access to a typewriter, food, and a bed. He began turning these ramblings into something more digestible. After a great deal of fictionalization and embellishment, the result was Tropic of Cancer, a book that would go on to inspire as much as it would offend. The original printing from Paris was quickly banned in the United States after being deemed too obscene for an American audience. Later in 1961, the independent Grove Press in New York published the first American edition which led to an obscenity trial. Long story short, this trial ended up in front of the US Supreme Court, but not before a Pennsylvania Court Justice referred to Cancer as “A cesspool, an open sewer, a pit of putrefaction, a slimy gathering of all that is rotten in the debris of human depravity.” Eventually, the US Supreme Court overruled the earlier decision and allowed Grove to publish the book. In the meantime, it had become widely read in the United States and had gone on to influence another generation. The great Beatnik writers of the 1950’s were largely obsessed with this work, and most took influence from it. From Burroughs to Kerouac to Ginsberg, show me a Beatnik and I’ll show you a Miller fan. So, what was all the fuss about? Are the themes in this book capable of eroding the moral character of society? Well, no. And certainly not by modern standards. Which is not to say there are no problematic themes in this book. There are. But perhaps it’s time we call this what it really is: an often-misunderstood masterpiece. Gail Leone: Administrative AssistantThe Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen and The Judgment of Yoyo Gold by Isaac Blum Full disclosure - Isaac is my son-in-law, so I don't feel I can give an unbiased review of these books, but I can tell you that these YA novels are funny, heartwarming, and heartbreaking. Please give them a read, as they deal with the timely, important topic of Antisemitism in our country. Here is an unbiased blurb from Authors Unbound: "The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen is his debut novel and was longlisted for the National Book Award. The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen is a wry, witty debut novel about a deeply important and timely subject in a story of hatred and betrayal—and the friendships we find in the most unexpected places. Isaac’s newest book, The Judgment of Yoyo Gold, is a smart and powerful story set in the Orthodox Jewish community about what it means to fit in, break out, and find your own way." ...

25 New eBooks for June: Wearable Technology, Teaching Models, and More