Walter J Ong, SJ, Center for Language and Culture

Saint Louis University has established a new center of excellence with the creation of the Walter J. Ong, SJ, Center for Language and Culture. The Ong Center honors the work of Walter J. Ong, SJ (1912–2003), an internationally renowned scholar who spent his career in teaching and research at Saint Louis University, where he was Professor of English and of Humanities in Psychiatry, and later University Professor. He was also president of the Modern Language Association. Fr. Ong was a prominent scholar of Renaissance literature and rhetoric before expanding his own work—and the field itself—to cover cultural theory, literacy studies, and the impact of technology on human consciousness. Among his most influential and widely read books is Orality and Literacy: Technologizing the Word (1982).

The mission of the Center, which will be located in Pius XII Memorial Library, is to promote interdisciplinary research and scholarship in these areas of study, and it will be host to a resident research scholar, an annual memorial lecture, fellowships, research seminars, and conferences. The Center is guided by a national advisory board of distinguished scholars and has already received generous support of $100,000 from the ICF Foundation. In partnership with the Ong Center, the Department of Special Collections in Pius XII Memorial Library will make available to researchers the unpublished papers, manuscripts, lectures, correspondence, audio recordings, and other materials of Walter Ong, both on site and through the Internet (see http://libraries.slu.edu/sc/ong). This material forms a unique and invaluable resource for the study of Walter Ong’s thought and for the advancement of research in the fields he helped to develop.

The Department of Special Collections is directed by Gregory A. Pass, Ph.D. The Ong Center is directed by Sara van den Berg, Ph.D., chair of the English Department at Saint Louis University.

For more information, contact Sara van den Berg (314-977-3010) or Gregory A. Pass (314-977-3096).

Podcasts Are Now Available!

Listen as Nick, the student voice of Pius Library, explains what’s new in the library and also offers quick tips on finding your way around Pius.

http://www.slu.edu/libraries/pius/podcasts/index.html

University Libraries and Parks College: A Digital Partnership

The University Libraries and Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology are pleased to announce a new digital partnership. The purpose of this partnership is to digitize select materials from the Parks College archives collection for the College’s 80th Anniversary to be celebrated at Saint Louis University throughout the 2007-08 academic year. Parks has partnered with the University Libraries to acquire the appropriate equipment to digitize items, store them for future use as well as make them viewable to current students, faculty, and alumni.

Parks is planning to build a Tribute Timeline in the honor of the legendary contributions of Parks and Institute of Technology (IT) alumni, faculty, and staff. Photographs, text, and 3-D models will create an information-rich environment that immerses the audience in the history of Parks and IT, and it will provide a sense of the breadth and the depth of their collective contributions to the advancement of a range of industries and to the society. “The digitized videos, available through multiple kiosks, will bring the Tribute Timeline to life” says Dr. Manoj S. Patankar, interim dean of Parks. “Our alumni are really excited about this project, and we are deeply grateful to John Waide, Dr. Randy McGuire, and Dr. Staines for their support.”

“One of our goals is to increase access to unique and rare materials,” says Dr. Gail M. Staines, university librarian. “With the support of Parks College, the University Libraries will be able to digitize films and other media related to the history of the College and use this equipment to digitize other collections of significance.”

The goal of this phase of the project is to digitize approximately 220 pieces of Parks College-related media. This collection includes rare footage of aircraft operations at the old campus and airport in Cahokia, IL.

The University Libraries at Saint Louis University create dynamic learning environments for the intellectual community of the University to discover and develop new ideas by providing both virtual and physical spaces where information and the resources for scholarship are readily available. SLU libraries include the Pius XII Memorial Library, the Vatican Film Library, the Medical Center Library, and the Omer Poos Law Library.

Park College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology was founded in 1927 by Oliver “Lafe” Parks as America’s first federally certified school of aviation. Today, Parks has an international reputation for their aviation and aerospace engineering programs, and is emerging as a leader in electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, engineering technology, and mechanical engineering.

For more information, contact Susan Bloomfield at 314-977-8431 or blooms@slu.edu
Or Gail Staines at 314-977-3100 or gstaines@slu.edu

Trial is now available for Religion Resource.

Religion Resource is browsable by book title, alphabetical entries from all books, or by subject (select Religion only-the others are not available for this trial). Use the Advanced Search to search the full text or for people in headings or bibliographies or works in bibliographies.