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Archive for September, 2010

Need Help Finding Articles on Literature or Film?

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

Do you need to find “scholarly” articles and books about an author or literary work? Did your professor tell you not to include anything that was found using Google? Literature Resource Center and MLA International Bibliography can help.

Literature Resource Center is a portal to full-text scholarly articles, essays, and biographical sketches on authors worldwide (including selected filmmakers) and their works from every time period and literary discipline.

MLA International Bibliography is a database of citations to scholarly journal articles, books, and book chapters on literature, film, and related topics.

Learn the basics of using these two important databases for your research. No previous knowledge is required for these introductory workshops.

Dates:

  • Literature Resource Center, Wednesday, October 20 : 4:00-5:00
  • MLA International Bibliography, Thursday, October 21 : 4:00-5:00

Location:

  • Library Classroom (main/1st floor of the library)

Questions? Contact: Patricia Mardeusz

Upcoming Workshops on Endnote and Zotero

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

All workshops are free and open to all UVM students, faculty, and staff. No registration is required.

EndNote Workshops

Learn how to use EndNote (desktop software) to keep track of research information and insert citations into your papers.

  • September 28 (Tuesday): 4-5pm, Bailey/Howe Room 123
  • October 27 (Wednesday): 4:30-5:30pm, Bailey/Howe Room 123
  • November 18 (Thursday): 4-5pm, Bailey/Howe Room 123

Zotero Workshops

Learn how to use Zotero (a browser plug-in) to keep track of research information and insert citations into your papers.

  • September 30 (Thursday): 4-5pm, Bailey/Howe Room 123
  • October 19 (Tuesday): 4-5pm, Bailey/Howe Room 123
  • November 17 (Wednesday): 4:30-5:30pm, Bailey/Howe Room 123

Learn more about citation software on our page: Introduction to Managing Information.

Mobile Version of Library Catalog

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Check out the mobile version of our library catalog on your handheld device and let us know what you think.

Bookmark it for easy, on-the-go access to the million and a half items in the Libraries collection!

What We’re Reading & Watching

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

We asked Ana Banu, a student who works in Bailey/Howe Library, to share some of her favorite books and movies from our collection and she delivered an eclectic mix of film, fashion, fiction, and art. Get them while they’re hot!

Here are her recommendations:

Yves Saint Laurent by Jéromine Savignon and Bernard Blistène

YSL is a brilliant fashion designer, although I could just call him a brilliant artist, without any further ado. He is also an inspiring individual not only for people who are intrigued by fashion. This book talks about his life in almost an intimate manner and presents it from different points of view, including his and the peoples who he worked with. You get to learn about his ways and also see how a character can become lovable through his actions, creations and way of living, right in front of your eyes. YSL dedicated his life to making women, and later on men, feel comfortable, powerful and stylish.

Zen in the art of archery by Eugen Herrigel

This book is one the shortest books, yet helpful and insightful, I’ve ever read. It is about Zen and it is about Archery. It is also about how the two go together in creating an awareness of the moment that is beyond words. Things, in general and in particular, begin appearing a lot simpler and natural after taking in what Eugene Herrigel says. And the way he says is accessible enough to keep you going.

Camera lucida : reflections on photography by Roland Barthes

This is one other short(er) book, but so intense and powerful that every paragraph could be developed into pages. In Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes talks about his own system of viewing and interpreting photography, beauty, history. It is both playful and academic and it explains things that are not easily explained, like why we get emotionally involved when looking at a photograph.

L’ećume des jours (translation: Froth of the Daydream) by Boris Vian

L’ećume des jours is a novel for the French speakers, only because it is in French, not because the story wouldn’t survive a broader audience. I, personally, read it in a different language and loved it. The images described in the book are so powerful and visual that they transcend language. Reading it in French might add some nuances to the strange and creative ways of telling Colin and Chloe’s story.

Malcolm X – Directed by Spike Lee

Based on The autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X is a movie directed by Spike Lee. It truly embodies both historical accuracies and the director’s admiration for the person that Malcolm X was. The story is brought to life by Denzel Washington, Spike Lee’s fetish actor, and probably the best choice for playing this character.

Bubba Ho-tep

I postponed watching this movie, because it seemed to have that silly and distasteful air some movies have. But it is not distasteful, nor silly. It is the story of an old “Elvis”, who may or may not be the Real Elvis, and a black old man (Ossie Davis) who thinks he is JFK, in fighting an Egyptian mummy trying to steal some souls. And as “Elvis” says: Ask not what your rest home can do for you. Ask what you can do for your rest home.

Tommy DeFrantz Discusses Kake Walk

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Kake Walks and Dance Competitions: Race and Performance in American Popular Culture

Monday, October 4, 2010
7:00 PM – Royall Tyler Theatre

Dr. Thomas DeFrantz

Former Alvin Ailey dancer and MIT Professor of Music, Theater Arts, Comparative Media Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies Dr. Thomas DeFrantz will situate UVM’s Kake Walk in the broader context of American performance history. His most recent book is titled //Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance and Dancing//. His most recent creative works include /Queer Theory! An Academic Travesty/ commissioned by the Theater Offensive of Boston and the Flynn Center for the Arts & “CANE,” an immersive environment dance theater experience that explores black sharecropping after the Civil War. He created historical choreography, including a Juba Dance, for the second iteration of the New York History Workshop’s award-winning exhibition /Slavery in New York/ on display at the New York Historical Foundation since 2007.

Part of the launch announcing Kake Walk at UVM, the newest digital collection from the Center for Digital Initiatives.

UVM’s Kake Walk, a synchronized dance competition during the annual Winter Carnival, featured fraternity brothers in blackface and kinky wigs high-stepping to the tune “Cotton Babes.” The event, abolished in 1969, occupies a controversial position in the university’s institutional memory; it is, for some, a hallowed tradition and for others, overt racism.

To read more about student contributions to the digital collection, see this recent story in UVM Today.

Keeping the Peace

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

We know it gets crazy around here – sometimes too crazy. We know because you’ve told us!

We’re trying hard to accommodate all the different ways you use the library: to meet up with classmates for a group project, to edit video, to grab a quick cup of coffee, to seriously hunker down and study for a test without interruption.

Please help us protect the second and third floors as quiet study space. This means no prolonged conversations, no conversations above a whisper, and no cell phones.

In fact, we ask that you turn your cell phone to vibrate and limit phone conversations around the building to the first floor lobby and/or Cyber Café.

Take a look at our full Expectations of Library Patrons policy and let us know what you think (leave a comment or email selene.colburn@uvm.edu). Will these policies help you get more out of your time here?

SHH by Elizabeth Welsh used in accordance with Creative Commons.

A Conversation about the John Dewey Collection

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Wednesday, September 29 at 5:30 pm in the Special Collections Reading Room, Bailey/Howe Library

David Conrad, Professor Emeritus, College of Education and Social Services, will lead a conversation about John Dewey, the esteemed philosopher and educational theorist who graduated from UVM in 1879 . Professor Conrad will illustrate the conversation with items from the library’s collections of Dewey papers, photographs, publications and other items. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 802-656-1493 or email uvmsc@uvm.edu

Dewey envelope

New Book Highlights

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Ain’t nothing like the real thing : how the Apollo Theater shaped American entertainment edited by Richard Carlin and Kinshasha Holman Conwill

“The Apollo Theater has provided a stage for performers and a setting for the creativity of black American music that has hugely influenced American music in general. Recognizing the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Apollo Theater, this book offers essays by entertainment historians, critics, and journalists chronicling the legacy of the storied theater.” –Booklist

How to grow a school garden : a complete guide for parents and teachers by Arden Bucklin-Sporer and Rachel Kathleen Pringle

“In this groundbreaking resource, two school garden pioneers offer parents, teachers, and school administrators everything they need to know to build school gardens and to develop the programs that support them.” –Publisher’s information

Sayyid Qutb and the origins of radical Islamism by John Calvert

“Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) was an influential Egyptian ideologue who established the theoretical basis for radical Islamism in the postcolonial Sunni Muslim world. Lacking a pure understanding of the leader’s life and work, the popular media has conflated Qutb’s moral purpose with the aims of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. He is often portrayed as a terrorist, Islamo-Fascist, and advocate of murder. An expert on social protest and political resistance, John Calvert rescues Qutb from misrepresentation and follows the evolution of his thought within the context of his time.” –Publisher’s information

Three sisters by Bi Feiyu ; translated from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin

“In a small village in China, the Wang family has produced seven sisters in its quest to have a boy; three of the sisters emerge as the lead characters in this remarkable novel. From the small-town treachery of the village to the slogans of the Cultural Revolution to the harried pace of city life, Bi Feiyu follows the women as they strive to change the course of their destinies and battle against an “infinite ocean of people” in a China that does not truly belong to them. Yumi will use her dignity, Yuxiu her powers of seduction, and Yuyang her ambition—all in an effort to take control of their world, their bodies, and their lives.” –Publisher’s information

Library Catalog Gets a New Look

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

If you’ve been searching for books, journals, DVDs, or any of the other myriad things described in our library catalog, you may have noticed some changes. The catalog looks a bit different, and is hopefully a little easier to navigate.

There are a few functional changes as well:

  • The catalog does a better job remembering your previous searches and can even record your search history (if you log in).
  • Records can be exported to EndNote (coming soon!).
  • All results and searches can be bookmarked for future reference.

Additionally, we’ve improved the catalog’s ability to do things like sort records and automate requests.

We hope the improvements make it easier for you to find great things in your campus libraries. Let us know if you have any feedback: selene.colburn@uvm.edu.

Virtual Hair Makeover by Patrick Q used in accordance with Creative Commons.

Bamboozled, Kake Walk, & Blackface

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

BAMBOOZLED the movie

KAKE WALK the tradition

BLACKFACE the issue

Join us as we examine blackface and UVM’s once popular minstrel tradition Kake Walk through a film screening of Spike Lee’s Bamboozled. A pre-screening presentation will include a brief history of Kake Walk, an exploration of racist visual vocabulary, and a look at the resurgence of these themes. A discussion will follow the film.

7:00 PM – THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2010 – Lafayette 108

Organized by the Center for Digital Initiatives, the Fleming Museum, and the Center for Cultural Pluralism. The CDI’s forthcoming collection Kake Walk at UVM will featured digitized archival material, and will launch on September 16th.
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