What is the AEU Library?
The AEU Library is a library in the traditional sense. It is a collection of mostly written materials (but, increasingly, of materials in other media types like videos). Whereas in the centuries old traditional "brick and mortar" library, the books were systematically arranged in shelves while, at the same time, referenced in a card catalog, the AEU Library is a digital (cyber) version of that system.
What is IN the AEU Library?
Before they were assembled in this system, the materials of the AEU Library were scattered in various websites of the AEU, most of them posted in static web pages. This system provides a unified environment to all these (present and future) mterials, preserving their unique identity coupled with a robust, scalable, and dynamic system to manage them.
How are the materials in the AEU Library cataloged?
Each item in the Library is classified by its title, author, date of publication, and category (article, book, newsletter, etc.). In addition, a brief description of an item is used in this classification to do primitive searches and to inform the reader as to the nature of its content. Items in the Library may be delivered as HTML, PDF, and other Web friendly formats. The entire system is stored in a relational database.
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On the main menu, what do "by author," "by title," and "by date" mean?
If you know what you are looking for, then the options "by title," "by author," and "by date" may be the quickest route to finding the article or book you seek. Once clicked, each of these options provide you with a list of items. By title will expose all items in the Library listed alphabetically by title, with name of author, year of publication, and description, if available. Each entry in the listing is highlighted by a colored square bullet representing the category the item belongs to (see color codes at the bottom of left menu column). The other two options work in a similar fashion. All three options either list the alphabet or the beginning year of a decade which, when clicked, will display only a portion of the items.
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What are the other entries on the main menu?
The other options on the main menu (except "search" and the ones below the separation line), are part of a growing list of options which produce specialized lists of articles from the assets of the Library. Some of this options ("collections" and "tags") are yet to be developed. Some, like "religious ed" exposes an article of importance to the equally important Religious Education Committee. The other menu options, once clicked on, produce lists of reports (Ethical Action Reports from the Ethical Action Committee), Dialog (the official newsletter of the AEU), books (still in its infancy), book reviews (a special project led by members of the Movement), and Resolutions (a fairly extensive collection of official manifestations of the AEU, or some of its Committees, about issues of National scope).
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How do I search the Library?
Currently, we provide a simple search engine capable of finding the materials of the Library using single words (or part of a word) or simple phrases. The search engine is activated from the menu option on the left. In the entry field, you type a word or phrase representing your intended search. The search is done on the titles, year, and on the description that accompanies most items. The result of a search is a list of titles each of which can be clicked upon to expose its content. This search engine is provisional, its improvement will depend on whether we further develop it or adopt a service such as Google to do internal searches on the site.
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Finding and reading (listening, viewing) content from the Library.
Once you find an item, through a search or a listing from the menu options, a click on the title of the item will cause the browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome, etc.) to display (render or execute) the item. Items saved in HTML format are rendered directly in the browser inside the framework of the Library. PDF documents are rendered by the Adobe Reader, a program that must be installed on your computer. These PDF documents are sometimes embedded in the framework of the browser, sometimes launched in a new window. Audios and Videos come in a variety of formats, each of which requires that you have a compatible program (plugin) installed in you computer in order to execute them. Like PDFs, these plugins are sometimes embedded in a web page (like uTube videos), sometimes they run in separate windows.
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Can I refer to content that is in the AEU Library?
Yes, you can (and we encourage you to) refer to any document, or portion thereof, in accordance with current copyright laws or fair use practices as they may be currently in use. See next topic on how to link to documents in the Library
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How do I refer (link) to content in the AEU Library?
Each and every item in the Library has a unique web address, or URL (Uniform Resource Locator). The URL of an article appears in the address field of the web page when the document is open. You can highlight the URL and do a copy/paste operation into another document or email message. The URL can also be "picked up" by right-clicking on the title of the document when that is made into a link. In Firefox, right-click on the title, click on "copy link location" and paste it into another document or email message (in IE, right-click, copy shortcut). A properly copied/pasted URL always begins with "http://," followed by the web name of the site as in http://aeu.org, followed by unique information that fully qualifies it as a unique web address. In summary, you copy a URL and paste it somewhere else, another web page, a blog, an email, etc. to provide a direct link to the article being referenced.
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Can I copy an article from the AEU Library?
Under acceptable "fair use practices" you can copy a document or a "resonable" portion of a book for your own private use. Articles that are formally copyrighted (©) must be treated as such and permission to copy must be granted by the copyright holder. Lacking formal copyright notice, items of the AEU Library are published under a Creative Commons (cc) License as expressed in the document behind the link below.
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