Firework celebrations go back to 1000 A.D. China, where the firework was developed from military rockets and explosive missiles. The use of fireworks to celebrate military victories spread to Europe during the Middle Ages and persist to this day.¹ The colonists brought the tradition to America and since 1777, pyrotechnics have been used to commemorate the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.  The first organized celebration was held in Philadelphia in 1777 and resembled contemporary celebrations.  During the celebration, cannons were fired, one round for each state in the union.  There was ringing of bells, a dinner, music, toasts, a parade, fireworks, and draping of ships in the harbor with the colors of the American flag.²  Have a happy 4th of July! 

 

1) "Independence Day." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 3 July 2008. http://search.eb.com/.

2) Heintze, James R. "A Chronology of Notable Fourth of July Celebration Occurrences."  Fourth of July Celebrations Database. American University. 3 July 2008. http://www.american.edu/heintze/fourth.htm#Notable.

* Flora, Jim. The Day the Cow Sneezed. Harcourt Brace: New York, 1957.

Also known as the Summer Solstice, the first day of summer is the longest day of the year, and usually occurs on June 20th or 21st. This means that the North Pole is titled towards the sun, which happens only once a year (the opposite happens on December 21st when the South Pole is titled towards the sun, called the Winter Solstice).

  *

 

In the United States, there will be about 14 1/2 hours of daylight today, so get out there and make the most of it!

-------------------------- 

* Van H. English, "Solstice," in AccessScience@McGraw-Hill, http://www.accessscience.com.

  

Afraid to go out of the house this Friday?  You're not alone, many people suffer from Paraskevidekatriaphobia, a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th.  Others are affected by Triskaidekaphobia, the fear of 13. Not to worry though, June the 13th is the only Friday that falls on the 13th this year!

Now, on to your question, "Why is Friday the 13th so unlucky?"  The belief that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day is derived from two long-standing superstitions, the fear of the number 13 and a negative association with Friday itself. The two superstitions are part of a long and fragmented history making it difficult to pinpoint their origin. 

The unlucky 13 seems to have ancient origins giving room for plenty of speculation as to why the number came to be considered unlucky.  Some theories argue that there are mathematical reasons for the fear of 13, others believe that 13 came to be associated with unlucky events.  Whatever the reasons, it is clear that 13 shows up time and time again as the object upon which people have historically projected fear and uncertainty.  One of the first texts to reflect this view is Work and Days written by in 700 B.C.E. in which the Greek poet Hesiod mentions the 13th day of the month as an unlucky day for sewing seeds.  Unlucky 13 is incorporated in the story of the Last Supper at which Judas was the 13th guest.¹

Negativity towards Fridays can be traced as far back as the 16th century in western literature.  The term "friday-faced," meaning sad-looking, and "friday-look," meaning a solemn look, surfaced as early as the the late 1500s.  In 1592, Greene wrote, "The Foxe made a Fridayface, counterfeiting sorrow."  The expression was used again in 1681 by Robertson who wrote, "What makes you look so sad, and moodily? with such a Friday face."  Early in the next century Rowley spoke of a "plague of Friday mornings!" in Match of Midnight.²  Why there's a negative association with Friday is subject to speculation.   

It's unclear when the bad luck of 13 and supertitions of Friday coincided.  One historic event is often cited.  On Friday 13, 1307, members of the Knights of Templar were arrested and their leader was killed.  It came to be recognized as an unlucky date in the calendar.  However, according to Lachenmeyer, Friday the 13th didn't show up in lists of unlucky days until the 20th century.³ 

I hope this cursory history gives you just a taste of the superstitions surrounding this auspicious date.  If you're interested in learning more about the theories of the origin of Friday the 13th, check out 13: The Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition by Lachenmeyer.  It's located in the Lincoln Park Stacks at 133.3359 L137t 2004.  You can find other books on superstitions located in our library catalog. 

1)  Lachenmeyer, Nathaniel. "The Origins of Unlucky 13." 13: the Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition. Thunder Mouth's Press: New York, 2004.

2) "Friday." Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2008.

3) Lachenmeyer, Nathaniel. "The Rise of 13." 13: the Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition. Thunder Mouth's Press: New York, 2004.

*Hiironniemi, Mika. Stand. 2005. <http://www.flickr.com>.

First of all ... congratulations to this year's graduates!

The good news:

With your DePaul Alumni ID, you can still use all of DePaul’s online resources such as Books 24 X 7, Academic Search Premier, JSTOR and more, but you need to access them from the library computer labs, located near the reference desks at the Lincoln Park and Loop campus libraries. [Need directions? Hours?] You can also check out books, videos and music, renew online, and get the same great reference service (if we do say so ourselves...ahem). 

The even better news: 

You are automatically enrolled in the DePaul University Alumni Association upon graduation. All you have to do is get an Alumni ID; to do this, contact Alumni Relations:

• Online: [Requires DePaul alumni username and password]
• By telephone - (800) 437-1898

If you’ll be relocating to another city, most public libraries provide remote access to library databases. Also, bear in mind that many public universities allow on-site public access to online resources, since they are funded by taxpayers.

More information about Alumni library privileges is available at the Library Web site.

Once again, best wishes for a happy and prosperous future to all 2008 graduates, and we hope to continue to see many of you around the library! 

Q:  How much stuff do we have?

A:  Here’s the scoop. As of April 2008, our current holdings in books and other formats is:    

Books:
563,470   physical books in the DePaul General Libraries*
3,659   physical books in the Vincentian Studies Institute collection
22,799   electronic (i.e. Internet) books, mostly accessible through aggregator services like NetLibrary and Books 24x7
5,700   volumes on microforms (microfilm, microfiche)

Serials / Periodicals:
146,871   bound volumes   

95,003   volumes on microforms representing 9,373   journal titles that we currently receive or received in the past. 
Note: This figure for journal titles is tricky.  If a periodical changes its name, say from “Miller GAAP Guide” to “Miller GAAP Guide Level A” to “GAAP Guide Level A” this counts as 3 titles even though it’s essentially the same periodical.
25,779  electronic journal titles, accessible through aggregator services like ABI Inform

Visual images:
50,016   digital images in the joint database of the Library’s Digital Collection and the DePaul Art Gallery
88,792    film slides
5,253    digital images in the joint database of the Library and the Vincentian Studies Institute’s web-based metadata collection

Non-print media:
DVDs     2,597 items representing 2,059 titles (i.e. some titles have 2 or more discs, or we have more than one copy)
VHS     8,809 items, 6,118 titles
CDs   12,301 items, 9,403 titles

Older media formats:  
342   titles on CD-ROM and software discs (remember them?)
14   titles on 12” laser disc  (But we have dumped all our Beta tapes!)
1,098   items representing 278 titles on audiocassette tapes (mostly music)
4.974   items representing 3,489 titles on vinyl LPs

One of the most frustrating tasks about college-level writing is documenting your sources using correct citation style. The two most common styles are APA (American Psychological Association), used primarily in natural science and social science disciplines, and MLA (Modern Languages Association), used mostly in the humanities. There are several other styles, too. If your instructor does not specify which style to use, choose either APA or MLA accordingly.

Although some free Websites and research databases offer to format your citations automatically with the click of a mouse, be careful. This formatting is not always done correctly. It’s to your advantage to have a working knowledge of how properly formatted citations should look, so that you can make adjustments as needed.

Without the actual APA or MLA style manuals at hand, you can turn to the many basic citation examples that exist online to help you format your own bibliography. A listing of some of the most helpful sites appears here. If you have a source for which there is not a good example or are otherwise stuck, use the "Ask a Librarian" button located at the top of this screen.

I'd be happy to help! Once you've found articles in a database, you can determine if they are scholarly through a number of means. The first way is to take a look at the articles to determine if they are scholarly. They should meet the specific criteria of a scholarly article. For example, scholarly articles are written for an academic audience, not the general reader. They tend to be lengthier than magazine articles and list references. Scholarly sources often cite studies, statistics, or include other types of data. For a more thorough list of identifying features of scholarly publications visit:

http://library.duke.edu/services/instruction/libraryguide/scholarlyjournal.html

If you're still not sure if an article is from a scholarly journal, you can look it up in Ulrich's, a periodical directory available online in the library's A-Z database list.

I hope this helps and follow up if you have other questions.

Saturday May 3 is Free Comic Book Day!  Visit http://freecomicbookday.com for store locations and a sneak peek at some of the titles.

 

After you've grabbed your free comics, check out the Polish Constitution Day Parade.  Go to http://may3parade.org/ for more info.

To make your weekend complete, head out to Chicago's Cinco de Mayo weekend-long celebration. 

Cinco De Mayo Festival: An annual celebration of Hispanic culture featuring live music, food vendors, carnival rides and a parade (noon Sunday).

May 2: 3pm-10pm

May 3: 10am-10pm

May 4: 10am-10pm

The event is free!  

Event phone: 773-837-9738

Location: Douglas Park in the Lawndale Neighborhood

1401 S. Sacramento Drive  Chicago, IL 60623

 

Hope this gives you some ideas.  Enjoy the weekend!!!!

Q. Are carrots really good for your eyes?

A. Mom was right! Carrots are loaded with Vitamin A, which is an essential vitamin needed to keep eyes healthy. 

"You never see any rabbits wearing glasses!" says Dr Stuart R. Dankner, a pediatric ophthalmologist and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. "Seriously, carrots contain high concentrations of carotene and vitamin A, both essential ingredients for the retina to remain healthy."¹

 

But, carrots won't help you get rid of your glasses or contacts. You can also find high levels of vitamin A in milk and eggs, and spinach and broccoli are a good source of lutin, which is also great for overall eye health. 

 

  1. Cohn, Jessica. "Seeing and Believing." Current Health 2 34.2 (2007): 8-10.

Q: When is it apporpriate [sic] to capitolize [sic] the words "congress" and "president?"

A: You only have to capitalize "president" when it precedes a name.¹ For example, "President Bush." But you can say "The president arrived for the press conference." In the case of "Congress," you do capitalize it when you're referring to the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, but not for other groups that have "congresses."² For example, "Congress voted overwhelmingly against the bill." But, "Faculty and students formed a congress to examine the issue."

 

_1. "Civil Titles." The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

2. "Governmental and Judicial Bodies." The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.