Author Archives: Library Systems Admin

Announcing the Publication of PLCS 38-39: O Ensino das Literaturas em Português

We are pleased to announce that Portuguese Literary & Cultural Studies (PLCS) 38-39, “O Ensino das Literaturas em Português,” is now available! You can find this issue as well as all back issues available for free on the journal’s website.

Cover image of PLCS 38-39

PLCS 38/39 Não há pensamento sobre o ensino da literatura sem a pergunta recorrente e provocatória: “Para que serve, afinal, a literatura?”. O presente volume pretende refletir sobre o ensino das literaturas em português, considerando os eventuais dilemas éticos e políticos subjacentes à prática pedagógica dos professores. Os artigos e recensões aqui reunidos procuram dar espaço à indagação sobre as aulas de literatura nos diversos níveis de ensino e em diferentes geografias, quer sejam de língua oficial portuguesa ou outras. Contamos ainda com uma antologia de textos literários dedicados à experiência, ao mesmo tempo comum e extraordinária, de se aprender e de se ensinar literatura.

The Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture’s Tagus Press publishes its electronic version of PLCS on the library’s journal hosting platform.

Access Over 2,500 Books Online Through MIT Press Direct to Open

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

The Claire T. Carney Library has joined more than 250 libraries participating in MIT Press’s new Direct to Open initiative. This publishing model will help to fund the publication of nearly 90 open access books per year. Open Access (OA) is a set of practices and principles that allows publications to be shared online without cost to the reader or other access barriers. This effort supports equitable access to scholarly material and enables authors to publish open access without additional fees and regardless of their institutional funding.

As an added benefit for participation, our campus has access to an archive of over 2,500 titles that would otherwise be gated. These titles cover a variety of disciplines such as psychology, artificial intelligence, graphic design, neuroscience, and more. Browse the collection and gain full access to download or read these books online.

Nancy Godleski to be the new Dean of Library Services

We are excited to announce that Nancy M. Godleski will be the new Dean of the Claire T. Carney Library, effective August 1. We look forward to working with Dean Godleski to enhance existing library services and resources. She joins the library at an exciting time of technological changes and opportunities, positioning the library to pursue innovative ways of supporting our students, faculty, and staff!

Last week’s campus press release summarized of Dean Godleski’s professional experience: “Godleski comes to UMass Dartmouth from Vanderbilt University, where her most recent position was Associate University Librarian for Collections and Core Services. In this role, she led the strategic direction and resource management for seven library employee units and collections services for nine libraries across the university. During her tenure at Vanderbilt, Godleski oversaw access services, acquisitions and e-resources, cataloging and metadata services, preservation, remote storage, interlibrary loan, collection development and analysis, government documents, and library technology and digital services. As a member of the library’s senior leadership team, she advocated for librarian advancement and established a collections council with representatives from each campus library and library unit to build understanding and consensus. Her responsibilities within Vanderbilt also included serving as interim director of the Eskind Biomedical Library and Stevenson Science and Engineering Library.” Read the full press release at: https://www.umassd.edu/news/2023/new-dean-claire-carney-library-appointed.html

Limited Computer Access during New Student Orientation

New Student orientation will take place at the Claire T. Carney Library on the following days:

First-year Session I: June 15 – June 16
Transfer Session: June 20
First-year Session II: June 22 – June 23
First-year Session III: June 26 – 27
First-year Session IV: June 29 – 30

New students will have priority access to library computers as part of their orientation. If you plan to visit the library during Student Orientation, please be aware that Carney Library staff may not have a computer for you to use. That said, the library will remain open to the public and you are welcome to bring your own laptop or mobile device. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you have any questions, please contact Library Administration.

Retirement of Allison Cywin, Art Education, Art History & Media Studies Librarian

Allison Cywin Spring 2023

Allison Cywin joined UMass Dartmouth in the summer of 2004 and has served as the Director of the Visual Resource Center (VRC) in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. During her tenure, she transformed the VRC from a traditional slide library to an image and multimedia digital repository.  Her role has been to generate and manage digital assets and disseminate these resources for the purpose of classroom instruction and research campus wide.

Cywin began her career as the curator of the Newport Art Museum. Over ten-years in this position, she curated many contemporary exhibitions featuring works by well-known artists: Andy Warhol, Howard Ben Tre, Tom Patti, Stephan Brigidi, and Chris Van Allsburg, among others.  

In the early 1990’s, Cywin became the Graphics Curator at the Rhode Island Historical Society’s research library. The graphics collection represents three-centuries of iconographic materials that included photography, prints, drawings, architectural drawings, cartography, and 16mm television newsfilm collection.  Before leaving the Society to join UMass Dartmouth, she established an in-house digital lab to digitize and preserve the Society’s nineteenth-century glass plate, nitrate, and acetate negative collections.

Allison has completed numerous digital projects in her career at UMass Dartmouth, and most recently, along with Art Education, Art History & Media Studies Professor Anna Dempsey, Cywin created an interactive tour of UMass Dartmouth which focuses on the brutalist aesthetic, and the work of renowned architect Paul Marvin Rudolph. This tour is available through the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth website at https://prudolph.lib.umassd.edu,  https://www.umassd.edu/virtual-tour/architecture and www.umassbrut.org. It is approximately 45 minutes and includes thirteen video stops as well as links to arts and cultural organizations and tourist designations to encourage visitation and commerce in the region.

The UMD librarians wish Allison the best in her retirement and many adventures with her family! She has been an asset to UMass Dartmouth and CVPA.

Academic Video Online Trial Now Active

The library has activated a trial to the streaming video service “Academic Video Online” through Proquest/Clarivate. This trial will be active until May 31, 2023. 

Academic Video Online is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary video subscription that supports the entire range of curriculum, from anthropology to zoology. It includes a variety of video material available with curricular relevance: documentaries, interviews, feature films, performances, news programs and newsreels, and demonstrations.

Access the trial through ProQuest Trials.

If you have any questions, contact our Electronic Resources Librarian.

New York Times access now available

Access to the current and historical New York Times (1851-present) is now available through the library from https://www.nytimes.com, no longer through ProQuest. This change provides readers with real-time access to articles and content that was missing from the ProQuest database.

Students, faculty, and staff must register for an account using an @umassd.edu email address. To activate your account, go to www.accessnyt.com and follow the prompts. For full instructions, see this video. Once created, you can also use your account to access content through the NYT app.

If you need assistance or more information, please contact the Electronic Resources Librarian. We are happy to help!

Webinar: The US COVID-19 County Policy Database: A novel resource to support pandemic-related research

Did you know that the Carney Library’s subscription to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) also provides access to free informational webinars?

Join ICPSR for a webinar with Dr. Rita Hamad, where she will discuss the U.S. COVID-19 County Policy (UCCP) Database, a NIH- and PCORI-funded project. The database aims to systematically gather, characterize, and assess variation in U.S. county-level COVID-19-related policies. The study recognizes that policies have played a critical role in both alleviating and exacerbating the health and economic consequences of the pandemic. While prior research has focused on federal and state policies, there has been limited systematic evaluation of variation in U.S. local (i.e., county) COVID-19-related policies. Dr. Hamad will describe the data collection methods and some preliminary results. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about the UCCP database and its potential impact on COVID-19 research.

Date: March 23, 2023 at 3 p.m. EDT

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdfNEFWrtHijCt57qA6VBL4YG9LgmerWrJ3mDARTZBfh27NFw/viewform

Questions? Contact our Electronic Resources Librarian.



Open Education Week 2023

It’s Spring Break, and this week (March 6-10) is also the observance of Open Education, an innovative and effective approach to teaching and learning. Open Education is the practice of incorporating tools and materials that are free of financial and technical barriers in the classroom. These resources can be shared and adapted in the digital environment. Examples include free, openly licensed textbooks from Openstax or OER Commons. Here are a few ways you can explore Open Education and get involved in OER this week and beyond:

  • Panel Discussion: Using Open Educational Resources – Thursday, March 9th, 3pm – 4:30pm
    MA Department of Higher Ed and MASSPIRG will partner on this virtual event to celebrate Open Education Week. Reach out to our UMD MASSPIRG Campus organizer by email for the link to join: UMass Dartmouth – MASSPIRG Students
  • Nominate a Faculty Member for the OER Olympics! – Do you know a faculty member who uses free materials in the classroom? All currently-enrolled undergraduate students, faculty, staff, and administrators at Massachusetts state colleges and universities can nominate Massachusetts public higher education employees who have had a compelling, positive impact on open educational resources (OER) either within or outside of their institution.

For questions about the hub in OER Commons or about Open Educational Resources (OER) more generally, please contact our Scholarly Communication Librarian.

Three Librarians Recognized for Years of Service

Three librarians were recognized at yesterday afternoon’s Chancellor’s Years of Service event. Congratulations to Kari Mofford (15 yrs), Bela Gupta (5 yrs), and Jessica Almeida (10 yrs). (Pictured below – left to right)

Kari is the Health Sciences & Engineering Librarian, and Bela is the Metadata & Cataloging Librarian. Both work at the Claire T. Carney Library. Jessica is a Public Services Librarian at the Law Library. We thank them for all their contributions to the University’s teaching, learning, and research activities!