New(s) @ Axe

News and Events of the Leonard H. Axe Library, and of the
Kansas Technology Center Library - Pittsburg (KS) State University

Friday, January 30, 2009

New Economics Journals For 2009

Axe Library has for several years subscribed to the Journal of Economic Literature and American Economic Review, both published by the American Economic Association. Axe Library strives to subscribe to journals and magazines which support the curriculum and research needs at Pittsburg State University. Beginning immediately, the Library will be providing electronic access to all of the following journals from the American Economic Association.

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics

American Economic Review

Journal of Economic Literature

Journal of Economic Perspectives

Access to two other journals, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy and American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, will begin later in 2009.

As with all of Axe Library’s journals, you may search for them in Serials Solutions by going to the Axe Library home page and clicking on “Serials Solutions”. You may search for a specific journal title, title words, or browse by subject. Alternatively, you may search the Library’s online catalog by journal title or subject. In addition, if you are searching another database and find an article that you would like to access, click on the Article Linker and then click on Article. Whether the item is available electronically or in print, the source will be displayed in Article Linker.

If you wish to access the content of an online journal and you are off-campus or using a laptop with wireless access, you will be prompted for your GUS ID and PIN when accessing the content.

If you have any questions or comments about journals or databases, please do not hesitate to contact Axe Library at ext. 4884 or 4894.

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Axe Digital Provides Online Access to Two Major Collections

Axe Library is digitizing many of its leading photograph and manuscript collections to form the Axe Library Digital Collections. At present there are two collections available for public view. The Ira Clemens Photograph Album is a collection of over 250 photographs and postcards compiled by Ira Clemens in 1923 to document mining communities and towns in Crawford and Cherokee Counties in Kansas, and Barton County, Missouri. The collection includes images of schools, churches, union halls, miner's homes, and downtown business districts. The Pittsburg part of the collection in particular contains many beautiful color postcards of Pittsburg buildings and streets in the early twenties.

The Gordon Parks Collection consists of 82 photographs taken in 1968 on the set of his autobiographical film, The Learning Tree, filmed in Bourbon and Linn Counties in Kansas. Most of the images feature Gordon Parks directing the film, setting up shots, and conversing with the cast and crew.

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From the Ira Clemens Collection:

Color post card of the Masonic Temple in Pittsburg, KS.


Crawford County Community School, Cherokee, KS.


From the Gordon Parks Collection:


Parks admires the Bearded Lady while shooting the Carnival scene in the film The Learning Tree, 1968.


Actor Dana Elcar chatting with Gordon Parks while filming The Learning Tree. Elcar played "Kirky", the sheriff.


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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

John Edgar Tidwell presents the “Gordon Parks’ Learning Tree Experience”


“Gordon Parks’ Learning Tree Experience”


To be presented by:

John Edgar Tidwell, PhD
Professor of English, KU

Thursday, February 19, 2009, 4PM
Crimson & Gold Ballroom, Overman Student Center, PSU
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Dr. John Edgar Tidwell, who has been a professor at the University of Kansas since 1993 specializing in African American authors, will deliver his lecture “Gordon Parks’ Learning Tree Experience” in the Crimson and Gold Ballroom in the Overman Student Center, Pittsburg State University on Thursday, February 19th at 4PM.

The talk will discuss Gordon Parks’ autobiographical novel The Learning Tree (1963) and the film, shot on location in Fort Scott in 1968, which Parks made based on this novel. This talk is in honor of African American History month and will be jointly sponsored by the PSU Tilford Group, The Friends of the Leonard H. Axe Library, and the Kansas Humanities Council. All members of the public as well as the PSU Community are invited and refreshments will be served.

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Gordon Parks is an awe inspiring figure. He grew up in segregated Fort Scott, Kansas, the youngest of 15 children, lost his wonderful mother at age 15 and was sent by his father to live with his married sister in St. Paul, MN. In a matter of weeks his brother-in-law threw him out and he found himself homeless, out of school and working numerous odd jobs to support himself. Not exactly a recipe for success. But Gordon always remembered his mother’s advice to never use his color as an excuse for failure. And from this time until his death in New York at age 93, he never stopped working, finding success and distinction in several different careers.

He has often been called a Renaissance man, who started out by working a variety of odd jobs, including a porter, piano player, singer, waiter, semi-pro basketball player and laborer for the Civilian Conservation Corps. His professional career as a photographer started out when he read magazines discarded on the trains he worked on as a porter.

His new career took off after he bought his first camera in a Seattle pawn shop. Starting out as a portrait artist, he branched into fashion photography, including celebrity and high society work as well as controversial photo essays of slum life in Chicago, New York, and other major cities. He worked for high end fashion magazines (Vogue), popular pictorial magazines (Life), for the United States Government (the Farm Security Administration and the Office of War Information), and for Standard Oil of New Jersey. He also did free lance work.

But he wasn’t content to be just a photographer. He became a composer (he didn’t have time to learn conventional music notation, so he invented one of his own.), editor (He helped found Essence magazine and was its editorial director from 1970 to 1973.), writer, choreographer (a ballet based on the life of Martin Luther King, for which he also composed the music), filmmaker (The Learning Tree, Shaft), etc. And when he undertook a new profession, such as writing, he attacked it in his same Renaissance man style, becoming not only a novelist, but a poet, memoirist, journalist, screenwriter and technical writer (two practical manuals on photography)

He attacked the profession of filmmaking with the same gusto and enthusiasm. In 1963, Gordon had written a very sensitive novel about his Kansas boyhood, The Learning Tree. In 1968, he shot the film on location in his home tow
n of Fort Scott, KS. He then contributed to the very popular “blaxploitation” genre with the films Shaft, Shaft’s Big Score and Supercops in the early seventies. He then made the biopic Leadbelly, which was a commercial failure due to distribution problems. After this, he retired from Hollywood filmmaking and made films for television (The Ordeal of Solomon Northrup, 1984) as well as pursuing his usual activities writing fiction, poetry and exhibiting his stunning photographs.

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Friday, January 09, 2009

Axe Library now offers Document Delivery

The Axe Library will now offer a Document Delivery service to the PSU community using the Interlibrary Loan "ILLiad" system. This system will allow patrons to request journal articles owned by the Axe Library in paper or microform formats, and have them delivered to their desktop online. Here is a copy of the Axe Document Delivery FAQ:





What Is Document Delivery?

The ILLiad Document Delivery Service (DDS) is a trial service offering you the ability to request and receive scanned copies of journal articles owned by the Axe Library in print or microform.


Who Is Eligible To Use ILLiad Document Delivery?

Anyone with an active ILLiad account may use Document Delivery.


What Can I Request Through ILLiad Document Delivery?

With ILLiad/Document Delivery, you may simply request journal articles that you need. If we have it in-house, we will scan and upload the articles to your account. If the Axe Library does not own the item, we will request it from another library using our Interlibrary Loan service.


What Cannot Be Supplied Through ILLiad Document Delivery?

  • Axe book titles are not available. Those must be checked out in person at the Circulation Desk.
  • Journal articles already available for you to download, such as our Full Text subscriptions.
  • Articles over 50 pages.

Before you use Document Delivery, please check Serials Solutions to find out what may available online.


How Many Articles Can I Request?

There is currently no limit on the number of articles you may request at one time, however, we may limit the number we process per day during peak times of the semester.


How Do I Place a Request?

Start by using:


Look for “Article Linker” in the article citation. If the item is not available in Full Text format, click on the “Click Here to Request Item on Interlibrary Loan” link. You will be taken to the ILLiad logon page.

If you have used our ILLiad Interlibrary Loan service, you already know what to do. If you do not have an account, you may create one. Community users may contact the Interlibrary Loan department to set up an account.

You may also log in and use the ILLiad “Photocopy” request form, available in the sidebar.


How Soon Will I Get My Articles?

We try to fill or respond to requests within two working days.


How Do I Access My Articles?

They are available in your ILLiad account as soon as they are uploaded. Log in to ILLiad, and select “View Requests > My Articles” in your account sidebar.


How Long Will My Articles Stay Web-posted?

ILLiad articles remain in your account for 21 days after posting. Please check to see that all pages are copied and you can read all of the pages scanned. You may print or save the Adobe Acrobat PDF files.


What If I Have Trouble Accessing My Documents?

Have the latest version of Adobe Reader installed on your computer. Some files may be quite large, and take time to load. If you can view the PDF version of this document, you should be ready to go.

If you have any problems or questions, please contact the Interlibrary Loan department using the information at the bottom of this page.


Related information may be found on our ILLiad FAQ, and ILLiad Electronic Delivery FAQ.

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