Epistolary Literature

The latest from the BBC’s In Our Time podcast is a session on epistolary literature:

From its first appearance in the 17^th Century with writers like Aphra Behn, epistolary fiction, fiction in the form of letters, reached its heyday in the 18^th Century . . . So why was letter writing so important to 18^th Century authors? How did this style aid the development of the novel? And why did epistolary literature fall out of favour? . . . From the  In Our Time website

Contributers to this session include:

John Mullan, Professor of English at University College London
Karen O’Brien, Professor in English at the University of Warwick
Brean Hammond, Professor of Modern English Literature at the University of Nottingham

Listen by visiting the In Our Time website and downloading the podcast here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/

eBrary: Books from your desktop

We’ve recently subscribed to a large collection of online books: eBrary.

eBrary is an enourmous resource, and includes over 3200 online books in the “Language and Literature” category alone. To use the collection you’ll need to download the eBrary Reader from the eBrary home page. Books from eBrary will be included in the LRC’s catalogue in the near future. For now, you can search directly through the eBrary catalogue.
If you have any questions about this resource, please contact me!

City Centre LRC Renovations

As you may be aware, the renovation and expansion of the CCC LRC is scheduled to occur in two phases: May to August 2007 and May to August 2008.

When completed, the CCC LRC will accommodate a significant expansion of the library collection and provide increased student seating, study, and computer work space. In addition, there will be improved access to service desks; separation of traffic flow from student use areas; a new library instruction lab; and wireless access throughout the facility.

To create an LRC that will meet the needs of MacEwan students and faculty will require concentrated periods of renovation and construction. We have been working with Facilities to develop a plan to provide services during the renovation period.

Attached is an overview of our proposed service operation from May to August 2007. Please share this information with faculty who are scheduled to teach at City Centre Campus in the spring or summer 2007 terms as access to the LRC will be limited during this period.

As soon as we know the exact construction schedule, we will finalize this plan and publicize it to the college community. Facilities will also post maps and signage throughout the campus showing the exact location of LRC service points.

See below for more detail 

Shakespeares after Shakespeare and other new ref titles

I often find myself trying to convince students of the value of our reference collection as an important place to begin the research process. Checking out some of the new titles arriving this week in the LRC, I’m reminded myself of some of the treasures that this underused collection houses.

We’ve just received an excellent 2 volume encyclopedia called Shakespeares after Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture This set documents the huge assortment of adaptations and reinventions of Shakespeare’s work, from comic strips to film adaptations to pop songs. This set also contains some good overview essays introducing each major section. You can find Shakespeares on Shakespeare in the Reference collection at PR 2880.A1 S48 2007.

More LHCADL databases

The Lois Hole Campus Alberta Digital Library has finished its negotiations with Proquest (a vendor of several databases). I’m happy to announce that we’ve received 4 more new database subscriptions from Proquest, including Literature Online (LION). More info about this database can be found at http://il.proquest.com/products_pq/descriptions/literature_online.shtml, and I can forward on a title list of journals to anyone interested. You’ll soon be able to access LION through the alphabetical database list on the LRC’s website.