Library Reference Databases
by Jon Ritterbush, Associate Librarian

For decades, a library’s reference collection represented the most up-to-date print publications on any given subject – dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other scholarly works. Reference works can provide useful and authoritative background information on many research topics; some will also include helpful bibliographies – lists which point to other related books or articles on a subject.

Today, more and more of these resources are becoming available to online library users. One such resource now available at Regent University Library is Blackwell Reference Online. This database includes the searchable full-text of over 200 scholarly titles in the humanities and social sciences, including the following:

Another helpful tool is the Oxford Reference Online database, which contains definitions, multilingual dictionaries, clever quotations, and detailed encyclopedia entries on a wide range of subjects. As with Blackwell, users may search by keyword topic or browse the contents of entire reference books online.

A list of other library databases containing full-text reference sources is available at: http://tinyurl.com/yvo92h, including links to Encyclopedia Britannica Online, the Oxford English Dictionary, the Gale Virtual Reference Library, and xReferPlus.

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Regent Libraries Celebrate National Library Week
by Harold Henkel, Assistant Librarian

From April 15 to April 21, the University Library and Law Library celebrated National Library Week, an annual observance drawing attention to the contribution of libraries in the cultural and civic life of our country. As in past years, the Library created its own version of the American Library Association’s celebrity READ posters, featuring the recommendations of selected Regent faculty. The posters are still on display in the Library lobby. Continuing a Regent tradition begun in 2003, National Library Week was also “Amnesty Week,” during which all patrons returning overdue books had their fines waived.

This year the Library kicked off its scheduled events on Monday with a pizza lunch in the popular reading section. Members of the Regent community enjoyed lunch and fellowship with the Library’s faculty and staff. On Wednesday, the Library offered a luncheon with local historian Dr. Stephen Mansfield as guest speaker. At the luncheon, Dean Sara Baron also announced the winners of the Library's essay contest.

Dr. Mansfield, Professor Emeritus of History and Director of Archives at Virginia Wesleyan College, treated the audience to a 45 minute whirlwind tour of the 400 year history of Virginia Beach. In his lecture, Dr. Mansfield, author of Princess Anne County and Virginia Beach, a pictorial history, explained that, after making landing at Cape Henry in April 1607, the colonists sailed inside the Chesapeake Bay and up the James River as a precaution against possible Spanish raiders. The need for security meant that Jamestown would be founded, not on the relatively healthy coastline, but in the malaria-prone environment of the lower James River. For most of its history our area was a sparsely-populated, agricultural region, known only as Princess Anne County. The first recorded instance of what would become the city’s name came in the 1870’s with plans to develop “Virginia Beach” in order to take advantage of the new social development we now call “tourism.” Enhancing his lecture were several historic documents Dr. Mansfield brought from the Virginia Wesleyan archives.

On Thursday afternoon, CBN international correspondent George Thomas spoke to an audience in the Library auditorium about his life and travels to many of the world’s most dangerous places. Seasoning his lecture with a generous pinch of humor, Mr. Thomas recounted his childhood in Zambia living under a political dictatorship. While the young George dreamed of Spiderman comic books, his father had him reading and writing summaries of articles in illegal copies of The Economist. After the family had finished with this and other contraband publications such as Newsweek, they would pay a visit to their public library and surreptitiously leave the magazines where they could be found and read by other patrons. Many of Mr. Thomas’s most interesting insights came during the question and answer session that followed his prepared remarks. Asked about his most interesting or difficult assignment, Mr. Thomas told the audience about his trips to Baghdad, now so dangerous for reporters that he only travels there alone, hiring local Iraqi cameramen to help him report back to CBN. When asked what important stories the mainstream media in America is not reporting, Mr. Thomas named two: the many postwar success stories throughout much of Iraq outside Baghdad and the Sunni Triangle, and the seriousness of the threat posed by radical Islam. To illustrate the ambitions of jihadists living in the West, Mr. Thomas recounted a conversation he had with a graduate of MIT, who confidently told him that he would live to see the banner of Islam flying over the White House and 10 Downing Street.

Following the lecture, Mr. Thomas joined the audience on the Library balcony for conversation and refreshments, bringing the Library’s 2007 National Library Week events to a happy conclusion.

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Counseling Student Wins Library Essay Contest
by Harold Henkel, Assistant Librarian

As part of National Library Week observances, the University Library sponsored an essay contest. Regent students were invited to submit essays of not more than 250 words on the topic, modified from the American Library Association’s 2007 theme for National Library Week:

Come together @ your library: How does the Regent University Library or Law Library 'come together' with your academic endeavors?

Seventeen students submitted entries for a chance to win $200 cash for first place, $50 cash for second place, $25 cash for third place, or a $10 Regent Ordinary gift certificate for honorable mention. Judging the essays were Library Dean Sara Baron, Dr. Mark Gatlin of the School of Undergraduate Studies, Leanne Hillary of the Law Library, and Harold Henkel of the University Library.

All essays were read blind and judged on the basis of development of the topic, creativity, and style. Nearly all entries demonstrated a high level of accomplishment in all three criteria. Following a spirited discussion, the judges came to agreement on this year’s prize winners:

1st place: George Wadzita, Master of Arts student in the School of Psychology and Counseling. George is in the Community Counseling program.
To read the winning essay, click here.

2nd Place: Lorry Perez, Ph.D. student in the School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship

3rd Place: Sara Wood, Master of Arts student in the School of Psychology and Counseling. Sara is in the Community Counseling program.

Honorable Mention: John Earle Tyler, School of Law

The University and Law Libraries would like to thank all the contestants and judges for making the essay contest a success.

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Undergraduate Research
by Harold Henkel, Assistant Librarian

Start Your Research with an Encyclopedia

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Collection Spotlight--The Selected Poems of Li Po translated by David Hinton.
Reviewed by Hsiang-Yen (Julie) Shen, Reference Assistant

Li Po (A.D. 701-762) was one of the greatest poets in Chinese literature and history. Nearly all Chinese around the world have learned some of his poems. Li Po lived during the Tang Dynasty, the most advanced in China’s history. The period in which he worked is now as referred to as “High Tang” for the flowering of the arts that occurred during this time. In his introduction, David Hinton describes the Tang capital, Chang-an (Xian) as “perhaps the most cultivated and cosmopolitan city in human history.”¹

	Tang Dynasty calligraphy by Huai Su, friend of Li Po

Li Po was born in Central Asia, possibly in what is now Kyrgyzstan. According to legend, his mother was not Chinese, but Turkish, to which contemporaries credited his wild and romantic personality. Friendship, travel, and wine exerted a powerful influence on his work. Li Po’s great contemporary and friend Tu Fu wrote that “for Li Po, it’s a hundred poems per gallon of wine, then sleep in the winehouses of Chang-an markets.”²

Li Po was strongly influenced by both traditional Taoism as well as Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism, which had become influential in the High Tang. Li Po gave poetic expression to Tao and Ch’an teachings, with their emphasis on living in harmony with the eternally changing earth and acting with selfless spontaneity. Extravagant imagery and romantic ideas are also qualities in Li Po’s verse. In his own time he received the appellation “Banished Immortal,” which referred not so much to the exile he suffered as a result of internal power struggles, but to the legend that he was a celestial spirit sent from heaven to earth.

Translator David Hinton demonstrates deep understanding of Chinese art and philosophy in his introduction to Li Po. He communicates well how Taoism and Ch’an influenced the poet’s life and work. Helpfully, a map of Tang Dynasty China is also included to help orient readers to places mentioned in the introduction and poems. Hinton divides his selection of poems into three sections corresponding to major periods of Li Po’s life: “Early Years (A.D. 701-742),” “Chang-an and Middle Years (A.D. 742-755),” and “War, Exile, and Later Years (A.D. 755-762).”

For the English reader wishing an introduction to Chinese poetry, this book would be an excellent start. However, much of the original savor does not survive translation out of Chinese. One problem that afflicts any English translation of Chinese poetry is that Chinese is generally not as precise as English. One word can have many meanings, especially in ancient poetry. This is why even short poems have profound associations for Chinese readers. In addition, Chinese poetry is a visual as well as verbal art, since the Chinese characters themselves also carry linguistic reverberations. When translated into English, Chinese poetry can seem like merely a description of scenery. It requires imagination on the part of the reader to get a sense of the original depth of the poem. Some acquaintance with Chinese culture and philosophy is also invaluable, and David Hinton’s outstanding introduction will provide the reader new to Chinese literature with some of the tools necessary for appreciating the incomparable Li Po.

¹Li Po and David Hinton, The Selected Poems of Li Po, (New York: New Directions Pub. Co., 1996), xviii.
²Ibid., xiii.

Hsiang-Yen (Julie) Shen is a graduate assistant at the Library reference desk. She has a Bachelor degree in Chinese literature and is a candidate for the Ph.D. degree in the School of Communications.

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