September 2009 Archives

The VCU Libraries is pleased to announce the availability of more than 150 electronic health sciences books from multiple publishers through the new R2 Digital Library. The new collection provides access to digital books from the fields of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and allied health. In addition, each individual title is cataloged and linked from the VCU Libraries Catalog. The R2 Web site can be browsed by category or discipline, and keyword searches can be performed across the entire collection of books. Users can create a personal account to save images, searches, references, and other files. Bibliographic citations can be exported to RefWorks and titles can be linked from Blackboard courses. Other features include a drug index of concise information from mobilePDR and the ability to e-mail sections of content. Titles from key health science publishers are available, including American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychiatric Publishing, F.A. Davis, McGraw-Hill, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Springer, and many others.  Electronic book collections such as the R2 Digital Library are indicative of future publishing trends in Science, Technology and Medicine disciplines.

The R2 Digital Library will be celebrated as the 2,000,001st addition to the VCU Libraries during VCU's 2,000,000th volume ceremonies on October 2, beginning at 2 p.m. in Cabell Library. The event will be simulcast at Tompkins-McCaw Library on the MCV Campus.

The library's Web team has been hard at work on a redesign of the VCU Libraries homepage, but we need your help before we go live. Please take a moment to review the redesigned site by clicking on the image in our redesign blog, then answer a few short questions for us.

The VCU Libraries is pleased to announce the 2,000,000th addition to the library collections: Marvel Comics "Amazing Spider-Man, #583." This collector's edition of the Amazing Spider-Man, written by Zeb Wells and illustrated by Todd Nauck and Frank D'Armata, includes a variant cover drawn by Phil Jimenez featuring President Barak Obama giving the thumbs-up to his favorite superhero. In the story set in Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day, Spider Man battles his old foe the Chameleon, who threatens the swearing in ceremony by posing as President-Elect Barak Obama. Spider Man saves the day in "Spidey Meets the President." Marvel Comics undertook the publication of the special issue when they learned of Obama's childhood interest in comic books. The issue sold out immediately. The fifth printing (currently available) includes the original variant cover with the Lincoln Memorial in the background. The VCU Libraries' copy of "Amazing Spider-Man, #583" is a first printing and will be housed in Special Collections and Archives at James Branch Cabell Library as part of its Comic Arts Collection.

"Amazing Spider-Man, #583" is especially appropriate as the 2,000,000th addition for the VCU Libraries. It highlights the historic election of the 44th President of the United States, celebrates VCU's proud tradition of diversity, and represents another significant addition to the Comic Arts Collection. The VCU Libraries' Comic Arts Collection is one of the largest of its kind in North America, with over 125,000 items, including comic books, graphic novels, manga, editorial cartoons, comic strips, memorabilia, comic journals, fanzines, and a broad array of reference materials. It also includes the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Archive, awarded each year to outstanding expressions of comic art and recognized as the "Oscars" of the comic world.

The "Amazing Spider-Man, #583" will be celebrated as the 2,000,000th addition to the VCU Libraries during the Two Millionth Volume celebration on October 2nd beginning at 2 p.m. in Cabell Library. The event will be simulcast at Tompkins-McCaw Library on the MCV Campus.

Visit the VCU Libraries Two Millionth Volume Blog to learn more.

The VCU Libraries is delighted to announce the release of a new addition to the VCU Libraries Digital Collections: the Edward H. Peeples Prince Edward County (Va.) Public Schools Collection. From 1959 to 1964, Prince Edward County, Virginia, chose to close its public schools rather than integrate them. Through photographs, documents, and maps, this collection explores the history of Prince Edward County segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. Dr. Edward H. Peeples, Emeritus professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, photographed over 100 images of schools in the county and environs in 1962 and 1963, documenting the disparity between African American and white facilities. Also included are contemporary images of the schools and events surrounding the anniversary of the 1951 student strike and other occasions, as well as additional published and unpublished materials on the topic.

The Edward Peeples Collection will be celebrated as the 1,999,999th addition to the VCU Libraries during VCU's 2,000,000th volume ceremonies on October 2, beginning at 2 p.m. in Cabell Library.  The event will be simulcast at Tompkins-McCaw Library on the MCV Campus.

Visit more projects at the VCU Libraries Digital Collections.
 

VCU Libraries will celebrate the acquisition of its two millionth volume at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2. In just 16 years, the VCU Libraries' collection, including books, journals, media and electronic resources, has doubled in size. To mark this milestone, the VCU Libraries will recognize the 1,999,999th, 2,000,000th and 2,000,001st additions to the collection in ceremonies at Cabell and Tompkins-McCaw libraries. Details will be announced soon.