Trout Library Blog

Well, the pivotal 2020 election is upon us. Many of you already might have voted early or voted by mail. If you have, that’s great! If not, there are still options that we encourage you to exercise. Be sure to consult my Election 2020 Guide, which is available through a link under General Topics on our Library Guides page, for detailed information about how to proceed.

The dates for registering to vote in this election and for requesting an absentee or mail-in ballot have now passed. If you have a mail-in or absentee ballot and have not yet returned it, please do so as soon as possible. Be certain that your ballot is placed into the security envelope and that the security envelope is placed into the outer envelope. Then sign and date the outer envelope as directed. If you fail to use the security envelope or to sign the outer envelope, then your ballot will not be counted.

At this point, it would not be a good idea to place your ballot in the mail. Instead, deposit it into a drop box in the county in which you vote before 8pm on Tuesday, November 3. For those registered to vote at Harcum, there is a drop box at Ludington Library that you can use. Click to find the hours along with other drop box locations in Montgomery County.

If you have not requested a mail-in or absentee ballot, then you should vote in person on November 3. The polls in Pennsylvania are open from 7am until 8pm.

If you are registered to vote at Harcum, the polling place for in-person voting is:

First Presbyterian Church of Ardmore

5 W. Montgomery Avenue

Ardmore, PA 19003

If you are voting at a polling place for the first time in Pennsylvania, which presumably would apply to Harcum students using a campus address, then you need to present a form of ID. Student IDs are acceptable. Click here for more information on ID requirements and acceptable forms of ID. Also, click here for information on how to use the in-person voting system in Montgomery County.

For those of you not voting from a Harcum address, use the following site to determine where your polling place and nearest ballot drop box are located:

I WIll Vote -- Find out where you can vote

Enter your home address and zip code, click the red Search button, and then choose DROP-OFF or ELECTION DAY. An address and map are included.

The following site will present a description of how to use the in-person voting system in your county:

VotesPA -- Learn about your county’s voting system

In the Election 2020 Guide, find tabs that provide information about the races on the ballot in Harcum’s precinct as well as other races throughout the region. Also be sure to consult our News, Politics & Current Events Guide to keep track of the latest news. The guide features tabs containing news feeds, timely articles, and election polls and results. Remember as well that Harcum students and staff have free New York Times access once you set up your account as described in last week’s blog post. The Philadelphia Inquirer is also available through NewsBank. Links to both publications can be found on our Databases page.

If you have any questions about the election or any other matter relating to the Library, please never hesitate to contact us by email at library@harcum.edu or through our chat service during the hours posted on the Library’s homepage.

So much is happening in the news these days. How do you stay informed? Did you know the library subscribes to news sources you can access if you are currently a student, faculty or staff member? Let's look at how you can access the news through the library.

The New York Times

Everyone with a @harcum.edu email address can access the digital version of The New York Times. To set up your account go to The New York Times edu pass page. Create your account with your Harcum email address. We have a guide with further details on the account creation process. Once you have an account you can log into NYTimes.com with your new credentials and read full articles. You can also access The New York Times through the apps for iOS and Android. 

NewsBank

NewsBank is a database that collects newspaper articles from 2,848 news sources from around the country. You can run keyword searches on any topic. You can read full newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer. To do this, log into NewsBank (the username/password are in Harcum Hatch; see this step-by-step guide on how to find the database passwords) and scroll down the page to the blue buttons on the right of the screen. 

You will be able to read the most recent articles from The Philadelphia Inquirer as well as a full archive going back to 1981.

The real power of NewsBank is in the organization of Suggested Topics, Special Reports and Hot Topics. You can explore specific topics of interest by clicking on the Suggested Topics buttons. I really love the curated collection of articles found under Special Reports and Hot Topics. Special Reports are well-organized guides to various topics. They have linked keyword clouds, background data,  images, suggested search terms, websites and of course, lists of news articles that cover specific topics. It would be a very useful tool for exploring possible research topics or gathering background information or learning the vocabulary of a research topic.  While Special Reports is for retrospective and current events, Hot Topics is a useful tool for exploring trending topics. The NewsBank editors create a list of trending topics with a recent article as well as a suggested search phrase. This is very useful for finding the right terms to research a current event. It really takes the guesswork out of searching and gets you on the correct search path quickly. 

We hope you will use The New York Times and NewsBank to keep current in U.S. and world events and use them in your research. As always, contact the library for research help. 

Roxanne Sutton

Reference and Special Collections Librarian

rsutton@harcum.edu

610-526-6022

Harcum College, “Unidentified students processing down Montgomery Avenue, Bryn Mawr (no date),” Trout Library's Digital Archives & Special Collections, accessed October 6, 2020, https://harcumarchives.omeka.net/items/show/268.

This time of year between Founder's Day and Homecoming we tend to turn our minds to the College's past. This week we bring our attention to the digital archive collection. The digital archive contains digitized photographs, documents, and physical items found in the archive collection at the Charles H. Trout Library. The digital archive is open and available for all to see at any time. 

If you are curious about Harcum College history there are a few digital exhibits currently on the digital archive. The first is a newly digitized student newspaper called The Harcum Herald. The Harcum Herald was a student run newspaper published between 1979 and 2003. It published three to four times a year between September and May. It is an interesting look at campus life over that period of 24 years. Student journalists reported on topics important to them. The topics ranged from national elections to class attendance requirements to placement of speed bumps around campus. Students also expressed themselves in editorials and cartoons about student life at Harcum College. 

The Scrapbook exhibit is another interesting way of looking at Harcum's past. Each of these scrapbooks in this collection was created by a female student at Harcum College between 1938 and 1963. The scrapbooks are an eclectic collection of artifacts, newspaper clippings, photographs and documents related to the creator's personal experience at College. 

We would love to collect your photographs and memories of Harcum. Especially if you do not see yourself or your experience represented in the archive. You can dictate how your donation is viewed. You may restrict your documents for a period of time if you would like to keep them private for a while. It is not uncommon for people to contribute documents and restrict access to them for 25-50 years. If you are interested in making a donation please call the library at 610-526-6022 or message us at library@harcum.edu. You may also make fast submissions of electronic documents and photographs through the digital archive at any time. Making a contribution to the Harcum College Archive Collection is a wonderful gift to future generations of Harcum students.

Roxanne Sutton

Reference and Special Collections Librarian

rsutton@harcum.edu

610-526-6022