The Celebration of Purim

This post was originally published in 2016 and has been updated.

Hamantaschen, a traditional Purim sweet (CC image by Rebecca Slegel)

The observation of Purim begins the evening of February 25th

Purim is a holiday that represents a tangible victory over an enemy. Many things are done to commemorate this victory. The Book of Esther is read, people go around in costume to show their happiness, a festive meal is eaten, and charity is given to help those who otherwise couldn’t celebrate this occasion. People give out packages of food to friends (usually in the form of a dessert) to celebrate camaraderie.

For more on the history and celebration of this holiday, see “Who is that masked man?” Happy Purim!

Contributed by: Edward Shabes, Library Assistant, Midtown

Celebrating Faculty Publications in a New Way

Like so many events in 2020, this year the Faculty Publications event is virtual. Touro College Libraries created an asynchronous event webpage on our institutional repository, Touro Scholar, which features video messages from President Kadish and senior leadership. The webpage also includes the 2019 Faculty Publications Book, and a place for visitors to leave comments about their scholarship or scholarly works in general. Go to https://touroscholar.touro.edu/celebration

This annual event is hosted by the Touro College Libraries and is usually a warm, in-person reception to honor Touro College & University System faculty and staff whose creative and scholarly works are published. The event is an opportunity to enjoy the Faculty Publications Book, which is a bibliography of the previous calendar year’s publications, as well as a time to share research interests and projects. We look forward to resuming this event in-person in 2021, and encourage the TCUS community to utilize the Libraries’ staff and resources in their pedagogy and scholarship.

This post was contributed by Tim Valente, Scholarly Communications Librarian

ProQuest Research Companion

ProQuest Research Companion supports information literacy, writing, and research skills instruction, providing a companion to instruction sessions and allowing librarians and instructors to focus on teaching more complex research and writing principles.

A screenshot from ProQuest Research Companion

Developed by writing instructors and librarians, ProQuest Research Companion is comprised of ten learning modules and five interactive tools—all designed to automate the key elements of the research process.

Once you sign in with your TouroOne credentials, you’ll find videos, tools, and recommended resources to help you “Find Information,” “Evaluate Information,” and “Use Information.” The modules start by sharing how you can begin your research project and select a topic and progress through the steps to reflecting on your project and how you can improve.

Whether you are an experienced researcher or just starting your academic journey, ProQuest Research Companion can be a helpful tool.

Celebrating the Lunar New Year

This post was originally published on February 8, 2016 and has been updated

Chinese New Year celebrations in San Francisco (photo by Daniel Dionne)

Our enthusiasm for opportunities to start fresh has frequently made its way onto the blog, from the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), to the civil New Year, to the start of a new semester.

This week marks another calendrical reset: the Lunar New Year. Commonly known as the Chinese New Year for its largest group of celebrants, it’s the start of a calendar determined in part by the phases of the moon, rather than the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. Because of this, the civil date of the holiday varies from late January to mid-February.

According to former Touro Library Cataloger, Liping Wang, observations of the holiday often include cleaning the home, families gathering for a home-cooked meal on New Year’s Eve, fireworks, and “luck money” given from the older generations to the younger in red envelopes. In New York, you can normally participate in parades and other celebrations held in Chinatown, in Manhattan, and in Flushing, Queens. NYC public schools recognize the Lunar New Year as an official holiday, meaning no school for students. Alas, Touro classes are all still in session, but we wish you all a happy Lunar New Year!

What do students have to say about OER?

Open educational resources (OER) are “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.”

The NYSCAS Business & Accounting department has long been a champion of OER (we highlighted Professor Angelo DeCandia as a Textbook Hero on this blog in July). At the end of the fall 2020 semester, the chair of the department, Dr. Sabra Brock’s students shared their feedback on their OER textbooks with us — and they had a lot to say.

After reading what students have to say, are you interested in using OER in your courses? Contact the Libraries to learn more about how you can save your students money, keep them enrolled, and help them succeed!