On March 30th in 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House news secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer (nytimes.com).
On March 29th in 1973, the last United States troops left South Vietnam--ending America’s direct military involvement in the Vietnam War (nytimes.com).
When putting together a set of tried-and-true electronic resources for your research needs, we recommend you consider the following (some require a TWU username and password):--Jimmie Lyn Harris
On March 28th in 1979, America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurred inside the Unit Two reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa. (nytimes.com).
All Ebsco databases are currently unavailable. The situation has been reported and efforts are underway to rectify the problem.--Brandy Klug
Spring--traditionally a time of rebirth and renewal--is upon us, and with it comes the opportunity to renew our commitment to our most important asset--our health.
Collection development--as part of TWU Libraries' quest for continuous improvement in the quality of its collections--is an important and ongoing task. In February 2012 alone 256 new titles were added. The new materials represent a variety of subjects and include a substantial number of books in the field of nursing.--Aubrey James
On March 27th in 1958, Nikita Khrushchev became Soviet premier in addition to First Secretary of the Communist Party (nytimes.com).
After months of planning and testing, TWU Libraries are proud to announce the official launch of TWUniversal Search, their powerful new all-in-one search tool. A one-stop search using TWUniversal Search covers not only TWU Libraries catalog holdings--but articles and other database content, digital collections, journals, web pages, streaming video, course reserves and more.
On March 26th in 1979, the Camp David peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the White House (nytimes.com).
Women's History Month is a worldwide celebration of the contributions and accomplishments of women across the globe, past and present. Because pictures are worth at least 1,000 words, Reference Librarian and Women's Studies Subject Librarian Jimmie Lyn Harris with the Blagg-Huey Library on the Denton campus of TWU has compiled a list of selected videos on the lives and experiences of women from varied times and places.
On March 23rd in 1994, Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's National Hockey League (NHL) career record with his 802nd goal (on-this-day.com).
On March 22nd in 1972, Congress sent the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification. It fell short of the three-fourths approval needed (nytimes.com).
On March 21st in 1965, more than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. began their march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama (nytimes.com).
The TWU Library Blog wishes you a safe and happy Spring Break. We'll catch you again when classes resume on Monday, March 26th.
On March 20th in 1995, in Tokyo, 12 people were killed and more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the poisonous gas sarin leaked on five separate subway trains (nytimes.com).
TWU Libraries reviews and ultimately purchases many books on women, women’s history and women’s rights, many in electronic form. TWU Libraries' e-books, accessible by all TWU students, faculty and staff, do what electronic resources do best--provide the content you're looking for in a convenient, widely-accessible format.
We invite you to expand your knowledge of women’s history--and the accomplishments of women past and present--by perusing a listing of electronic publications on women and women's history included in TWU Libraries collections.
A sampling:
After the V
ote Was Won: The Later Achievements of Fifteen Suffragists by Katherine H. Adams and Michael L. Keene
Because scholars have traditionally only examined the efforts of American suffragists in relation to electoral politics, the history books have missed the story of what these women sought to achieve outside the realm of voting reform. Though Stanton, Anthony and Mott are the best-known figures of the woman's suffrage movement, all were dead more than a decade before women actually achieved the vote. Women like Alice Paul, Louisine Havermeyer and Mary Church Terrell carried on their work, putting their campaign experiences to work long after the 19th Amendment was ratified. This book tells the story of how these women made an indelible mark on American history in fields ranging from education to art, science, publishing and social activism.
The Mad
ame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science by Julie Des Jardins
Why are the fields of science and technology still considered to be predominantly male professions? The Madame Curie Complex moves beyond the most common explanations—limited access to professional training, lack of resources, exclusion from social networks of men—to give historical context and unexpected revelations about women's contributions to the sciences. Exploring the lives of Jane Goodall, Rosalind Franklin, Rosalyn Yalow, Barbara McClintock, Rachel Carson and the women of the Manhattan Project, Julie Des Jardins considers their personal and professional stories in relation to their male counterparts—Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi—to demonstrate how the gendered culture of science molds the methods, structure and experience of the work. With lively anecdotes and vivid detail, The Madame Curie Complex reveals how women scientists have often asked different questions, used different methods, come up with different explanations for phenomena in the natural world--and how they have forever transformed a scientist's role.
derwood's Civil War Diary by Josie Underwood and Nancy D. Baird
Some 
Liked It Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928-1959 by Kristin A. McGee
Women have been involved with jazz since its inception, but all too often their achievements were not as well known as those of their male counterparts. Some Liked It Hot looks at all-girl bands and jazz women from the 1920s through the 1950s and how they fit into the nascent mass culture, particularly film and television, to uncover some of the historical motivations for excluding women from the now firmly established jazz canon. This well-illustrated book chronicles who appeared where and when in over 80 performances, captured in both popular Hollywood productions and in relatively unknown films and television shows.
Want t
o Start a Revolution?: Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle by Dayo F. Gore, Jeanne Theoharis and Komozi Woodard
From Rosa Parks and Esther Cooper Jackson to Shirley Graham DuBois and Assata Shakur, a host of women demonstrated a lifelong commitment to radical change--embracing multiple roles to sustain the movement, founding numerous groups and mentoring younger activists. Helping to create the groundwork and continuity for the movement by operating as local organizers, international mobilizers and charismatic leaders, the women whose stories are profiled in Want to Start a Revolution? help shatter the pervasive and imbalanced image of women on the sidelines of the black freedom struggle.
Enjoy.
--Jimmie Lyn Harris
On This Day . . .
● The Sunshine Week website has a page of Freedom of Information Resources that provides information, reports and analysis on a broad range of freedom of information and open government issues.
● The CIA Electronic Reading Room provides the public with an overview of access to CIA information, including electronic access to previously released documents.
● The Citizen's Guide to Using FOIA and the Privacy Act of 1974 to Request Government Information.
● The Department of Energy OpenNet System is a service developed by the Department of Energy to provide easy, timely access to recently declassified documents, including information declassified in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. The database is updated regularly as more information becomes available.
● The FAS Project on Government Secrecy was developed by the Federation of American Scientists. The FAS Project on Government Secrecy works to challenge excessive government secrecy and to promote public oversight.
● The Freedom of Information Act Guide 2009 (U.S. Department of Justice).
● The National Security Archive (The George Washington University). An independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University, the Archive collects and publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. See also: How to Use the Freedom of Information Act (GWU).
● U.S. Department of State Declassified/Released Document Collections Department of State collections of declassified foreign policy and affairs documents that have been released to the public.