| A Newsletter of the Reference Services Division, Olin·Kroch·Uris Libraries, Cornell University | |
| Volume 9, no. 4 | Fall 1999 |
LION, Massive Collection of Literary Texts, Now Available
Scholars and students interested in Shakespeare, the Bible, and a broad range of English and American literary works will welcome Literature Online, or LION, a major full text database the library has added to our growing list of networked resources. LION is a very large collection of literary works originally arranged in twelve databases. The latest version of LION integrates the databases listed below into one interface that allows you to limit your search by genre and by literary period or search across the entire collection.
The direct URL for this resource is http://lion.chadwyck.com/. LION is also available through the Library Gateway. To search an individual database use the Individual literature collections link on the LION home page. Individual databases in LION are also searchable on CD-ROM in the Electronic Text Center (ETC) as noted.
African-American Poetry (1750-1900) Nearly 3,000 poems written by African-American poets in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Also on CD-ROM in the ETC.
Twentieth Century African-American Poetry (1901-1998) A continuously growing collection of poetry written by the most important and influential African-American poets of the twentieth century. Presently includes over 6,000 poems from over 100 complete editions by 46 poets, including Rita Dove, Robert Hayden, Audre Lorde, Sherley Anne Williams, Bob Kaufman, and Langston Hughes. Also on CD-ROM in the ETC.
American Poetry (1600-1900) Over 40,000 poems by more than 200 American poets from the Colonial Period to the early twentieth century.
Twentieth Century American Poetry (1901-1997) An ever-growing database of modern and contemporary American poetry from the early twentieth century to the present. Presently includes 12,000 poems drawn from 130 volumes by 103 poets, including Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Denise Levertov, Wallace Stevens, Langston Hughes, and Cathy Song.
The Bible in English (990-1970) Twenty different versions of the English Bible from the tenth to the twentieth century, including 12 full Bibles, 5 New Testament texts, 2 versions of the Gospels only, and William Tyndale’s translations of the Pentateuch, Jonah and the New Testament. Also on CD-ROM in the ETC.
Early English Prose Fiction (1500-1700) Over 200 complete works in fictional prose from the period 1500-1700.
Editions and Adaptations of Shakespeare (1591-1911) Eleven major editions from the First Folio to the Cambridge edition of 1863-6, twenty-four separate contemporary printings of individual plays, selected apocrypha and related works and more than one hundred adaptations, sequels and burlesques from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Also on CD-ROM in the ETC.
Eighteenth-Century Fiction (1700-1780) Seventy-seven complete works in English prose from the period 1700-1780, by writers from the British Isles. Includes a scanned version of Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, and two different editions of Richardson’s Clarissa and Pamela and of Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.
English Drama (1280-1915) A combination of Chadwyck-Healey's English Verse Drama and English Prose Drama full text databases. It includes 4,000 plays by 1,200 authors from the late thirteenth century to the early twentieth century.
English Poetry (600-1900) Essentially the complete English poetic canon from 600 to 1900. Over 165,000 poems by more than 1,250 poets drawn from nearly 4,500 printed sources.
Modern Poetry (1972-1997) Contains the works of 54 poets published by Carcanet, 15 poets published by Oxford University Press, 42 poets published by Enitharmon and the works of Lavinia Greenlaw.
In addition to these databases, you can also search an extensive index of secondary sources including literary criticism indexed in the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature from 1920 forward and Literary Journals Index Full Text from 1998. A searchable version of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged is also available in LION. It is linked from the Individual literature collections page.
Michael Engle, Electronic Texts Coordinator
New Hours Extended for Uris Library
To better serve the needs of the campus community, we are pleased that Uris Library has extended its hours. Uris now closes two hours later on weeknights and opens two hours earlier on weekends.
The hours in Uris Library during the fall and spring semesters are Monday through Thursday: 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Friday: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday: 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Library hours are adjusted during breaks in the academic year and during the summer. Current hours for all library units can be found at
http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/about/hrs.html.
The extended hours in Uris come in response to repeated requests from students for safe, late night places to study and for more access to library facilities. In a meeting with the Student Assembly's Committee on Information Technologies and through user surveys and focus groups conducted last spring, students strongly expressed their desire for full access to library services in a late night facility. Thus, all of Uris Library's resources will be available during the extended hours, including full access to reserve materials; the stack collection; recordings, films, and videotapes in the Media Center; and the computer labs on the gallery level. Circulation staff will be on duty at all times, and a specially trained student reference assistant will be available to assist patrons in using the library's information resources.
Spearheading the effort to extend Uris hours was University Librarian Sarah Thomas. Funding for the increased operating expense associated with the extended hours will be provided by a special allocation from the Provost's Office. According to Provost Randel,"Late access to study space has been a steady preoccupation recently, and I am very pleased that, with some additional resources, the library staff has been able to provide it."
Speaking of the planning process, Sarah Thomas said "Everyone involved put the interests of the students as a priority, and worked amicably and constructively to develop an integrated support system that enables expanded hours." The Cornell Police were included to ensure that the Blue Light Escort Service would accommodate an anticipated increase in late night travelers. CIT is a partner with the library in operating the computer labs in Uris, both of which will remain open on the new schedule.
For the past three academic years, Willard Straight Hall has provided 24-hour study areas. With the extended hours in Uris now in place, John Ford, Dean of Students, notes "Now that full service, late night study is available in Uris Library, we don't know whether there will still be a need for the late night space in the Straight." To help in the transition and to provide an opportunity to evaluate the need, Ford said, "The Straight will continue to be accessible 24 hours a day, Sunday through Thursday, through the end of the fall 1999 semester. If usage declines, the service may be discontinued."
Paul Constantine, Head, Reference Services Division