St. Stephen's School in Rome: Library

Welcome to the Edward C. Carter Library Webpage.

Edward C. Carter was a former faculty member, parent, Trustee, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and long time supporter of the school. He was the librarian of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania.
St. Stephen's library was dedicated to Ted for his service to the school.

Introduction

The library serves the educational, research, and literary needs of the St. Stephen's School community. It makes available traditional sources, such as books, as well as the many possibilities provided by the Internet. In conjunction with providing sources, the librarian and her staff teach research techniques, evaluation of sources, and the importance of academic honesty. The library has over 13,000 books (in English, Italian, and French), many CD-ROMs, videos, DVDs, and audio cassettes. All this material is available for loan. The library subscribes to many print newspapers and magazines as well as several on-line databases and reference sources that can be used from home. There are eight computers with Internet connection in the library and many more across the corridor in the Computer Room. Students can also use their personal computers as the library has wireless internet coverage. Two printers are available for students to use. The automated library catalog is accessible from most computers in the school and allows for flexible information searches for library items and some cataloged websites. The system also permits library users to check out their own books and other items using a scanner, library card and the barcodes on the items.

Opening Times

Monday to Thursday:
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Friday:
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Librarian:
Sarah Yates
Bill Ayres
Piermaria Chapus

Contact the Library:
[ library@ststephens-rome.com ]

General Research Advise

• A good place to start is by using general reference sources, such as encyclopedias. (For instance, try the print encyclopedias World Book and Encyclopedia Britannica, or use Encyclopedia Britannica or the science encyclopedia through the Virtual Library website. Other online reference suggestions are in the ENCYCLOPEDIAS and ALMANACS sections of this website.
• When using the Internet be sure to use worthwhile sites. For further information see the sections GENERAL REFERENCE SITES, SEARCH ENGINES and WEBSITE EVALUATION.
• If you find a useful site during your research that you would like to share with others, tell the librarian, and it can be added to the appropriate lists here.
• Remember that different search engines are organized differently and the search strategies that you need may vary. Read their instructions and use their Help menus. Often it is better to use a category or subject menu on a search engine than to use a keyword search.
• Researching a topic on the Internet is not easy; if you need help, the librarians are here to assist you..

.Reading List

Looking for a good book? Check out the annotated reading lists. the lists include both novels and works of non-fiction, in English, Italian, and French.

Click on book to view the Recommended Reading Lists

SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT - ENGLISH: GRADE 9 TO 12 click HERE

Almanacs & Encyclopedias
Concise Columbia Encyclopedia www.encyclopedia.com

Encyclopedia Britannica www.vlibrary.org
This can be accessed from the Virtual Library site in the "Encyclopedias" section (see Subscription Databases for more information)

Access Science www.vlibrary.org
This is a comprehensive science reference work. It can be accessed from the Virtual Library site in the "Encyclopedias" section (see Subscription Databases for more information)

Fact Monster www.factmonster.com
An almanac with the student user in mind. It has useful advice on organizing your studies and assignments, and on improving your test taking skills.

Infoplease www.infoplease.com/almanacs.html
A good almanac with standard statistical general information.

.General Reference Sites
BUBL Index www.bubl.ac.uk/link
10,000 links grouped by subject, using the same Dewey Decimal organization as our library. Reviews all sites it catalogues.

Virtual Salt www.virtualsalt.com/search.htm
This site reviews and links to different search engines and directories, bookstores, news sites, graphics, reference sources, and more.

World Wide Web Virtual Library www.vlib.org
Note: This is not the Virtual Library that we have a subscription to.
Large index, organized by subject, with helpful links for research.: Library Spot http://libraryspot.com
Links to a wealth of current information.

Dictionaries and Thesauruses
Oxford English Dictionary www.vlibrary.org
A detailed dictionary that also gives the historic use of words. It can be accessed from the Virtual Library site in the "Dictionaries" section (see Subscription Databases for more information)

Cambridge Dictionaries http://dictionary.cambridge.org
Gives you access to a high-quality standard dictionary, and also to specific dictionaries such as a Dictionary of American English, Dictionary of Idioms, and Dictionnaire Cambridge (in French)

Merriam-Webster Dictionary www.m-w.com/dictionary
Another well-known standard dictionary.

One Look Dictionaries www.onelook.com
Links to many dictionaries from one site.

Visual Thesaurus www.visualthesaurus.com
A multi-lingual dictionary and thesaurus. It enables you to look at words in more than one language simultaneously. See: Subscription Databases for more information.

Roget’s Thesaurus http://thesaurus.reference.com

Bibliography & Citation Guides
To access the Guidelines to Giving Credit to Sources click here

Duke University Guide www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/within.htm
Excellent help for how to do internal citations.

Easy Bibliography Guide www.easybib.com
One of the most user-friendly, helpful bibliography guides available. Compiles citations for you but you will have to edit them slightly to conform to the School’s Guidelines (see above)

Long Island University Guide www.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citation.htm
Offers not only very good help with MLA-style bibliographies and internal citation, but also gives the choice of other bibliography/citation styles, such as Turabian and APA. Also links to many interesting sites from the library homepage.

University of California, Berkeley Library. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/citations.html
This site gives examples of citations for a great variety of sources.

Magazines & Newspapers
Virtual Library www.vlibrary.org
Thousands of full text magazine articles are available at this site. Choose “Periodicals”
and search in WilsonSelect. See Subscription Databases for more information.

Find Articles www.findarticles.com
Access to magazine articles by subject categories. Choose “free articles only” from the drop down dialog box.

Magazine Portal www.magportal.com

ABYZ News Links www.abyznewslinks.com
Newspapers from all over the world.

BBC News (British) http://news.bbc.co.uk

CNN (International edition) http://edition.cnn.com

Corriere della Sera www.corriere.it

Financial Times www.ft.com

International Herald Tribune www.iht.com

New York Times www.nytimes.com
See Subscription Databases.

News Search Engines www.searchenginewatch.com/links/news.html
This site has short reviews of different Internet news sites.

The Onion www.theonion.com
U.S. satirical online newspaper.

Timothy McSweeney’s Quartley Concern www.mcsweeneys.net
Literary magazine with a difference.

Maps
MapQuest www.mapquest.com
Specific street maps available from exact addresses.

National Geographic Maps www.nationalgeographic.com/maps
Excellent quality maps of various types.

Public transport in Rome http://www.atac.roma.it
Detailed maps of Rome and it will also calculate bus and metro routes from one place to another.

Quotations
Quotations Page www.quotationspage.com

Bartlett’s Quotations www.bartleby.com/66
One of the classic collections of quotations.

Quoteland www.quoteland.com
Very user-friendly.

Grammar, Usage & Writing Style

Dictionary.com Guide http://dictionary.reference.com/writing
A guide to grammar, usage, and style.

Elements of Style www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html
The classic still valuable guide by William Strunk.

Library Spot www.libraryspot.com/grammarstyle.htm
An excellent collection of basic grammar and writing guides with their online links.

Specialized Subject Sites

Encyclopedia Mythica www.pantheon.org/mythica
An encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and legend, including Greek, Roman, Asian, aboriginal, and more.

Internet History Sourcebooks Project http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/
Excellent source for primary material.

National Center for BioTech Information www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Human Genome Project info, and more.

NASA SeaWiFS Project http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SeaWiFS.html
Global Ocean Monitoring Mission, and images of Earth from space.

Ocean Planet Smithsonian Exhibit http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/ocean_planet_overview.html

Periodic Table www.chemicool.com

Scientific American magazine www.sciam.com
We also have access to the archives through our subscription. See the librarians for more information.

Search Engines

Google is not the only way to search the Internet. There are many other search engines available. Some access a collection of other search engines simultaneously. These are called mega or meta search engines. Search engines do not all work the same way or give the same results. To use them effectively read the “Help” page provided by each search engine. Below are some links to different search engines and directories.

For further information see :
Major search engines and directories by Danny Sullivan which links to his How search engines work page. http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2168031

Infopeople Best search tools http://infopeople.org/search/tools.html
Gives a selection of search engines and subject directories with a helpful chart (see bottom of the page) which gives a profile of each one.

• Some Mega/Meta Search Engines (access many engines at once)

Vivisimo www.vivisimo.com
This meta-search engine does something original and helpful: all your search results are placed into clusters by sub-topic. Try it and see.

Mamma www.mamma.com

Dogpile www.dogpile.com

Excite www.excite.com
Has versions in many languages (see bottom of the page)

Metacrawler www.metacrawler.com

Internet Research Skills

To use the Internet effectively requires a combination of knowledge and skills, but most of all it requires you to THINK about what you are looking for and why. For more information on searching see the section SEARCH ENGINES. The section WEBSITE EVALUATION links to sites that help you judge what you have found. Below are links to tutorials that give practical guidance in both these areas as well as helping you THINK about the research process.

Internet Detective www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/index.html
My all time favorite on-line tutorial. It is comprehensive and fun to do. It takes about an hour to complete but does not need to be done in one go.

Reference Desk www.refdesk.com/newsrch.html
Has links to several search engine tutorials.

Yahoo Search Directory

http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/Searching_the_Web/

How_to_Search_the_Web/
Links to a wide variety of tutorials and information about the Internet.

Website Evaluation

Evaluation Criteria http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html
Clear information, well-structured site.

Questions for Evaluating Sites http://jhss.wrdsb.on.ca/library/html/evaluate/evalinfo.htm
Questions to help you judge the quality of online information.

Website Evaluation www.ithaca.edu/library/Training/hott.html
Attractive helpful site.

Economics

Economics for I.B. students www.cr1.dircon.co.uk/TB/contents.htm

Bized: I.B. resources www.bized.ac.uk/learn/ib.htm

International economics study center http://internationalecon.com

Europa: Gateway to the European Union http://europa.eu

CIA world fact book www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

IMF: materials for students www.imf.org/external/np/exr/st/eng/index.htm

Wikibook: I.B. economics http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/IB_Economics

Economics Dictionaries

Economics Dictionary http://economics.about.com/od/economics glossary

Online glossary of research economics http://econterms.com

Directories of Economics resources on the Internet

RFE http://rfe.org

WebEc http://www.helsinki.fi/WebEc Note: not maintained after May 2007