You may have noticed that this blog has been silent for a few weeks. This partly has to do with the Thanksgiving break and workload at this time in the semester, but also to the huge amount of information I want to share – I am overwhelmed at the thought of writing (and asking you to read) so many posts!
As a start, I would like to share some of the great digital resources the library provides and that you might consider incorporating into your classes as you plan for next semester. To learn more about any resource listed here, stop by the reference desk or contact your library liaison.
- Kanopy: the library’s answer to Netflix! Make time over break to browse this amazing source of high-quality streaming documentary and feature films from such reputable sources as Criterion, California Newsreel, First Run Features and more. You’ll find films on topics such as Black Lives Matter, Transgender Stories, Asian American Studies, Immigration and Identity. Many films also include study guides. As if this weren’t enough, public performance rights are included so any film in the collection can be shown outside of class and open to the community!
- Have you looked at ARTstor recently? They continue to add amazing content, most recently 18,000 images from Condé Nast, including 3,000 cartoons from The New Yorker (including the cartoon above, without the watermark!). Other interesting and interdisciplinary collections include 53,000 photographs from The Museum of the City of New York, photographs of the AIDS crisis by Thomas McGovern, nearly 3,200 images of Andean ceramics from the Fowler Museum at UCLA, over 3,600 images of non-Western art from the Seattle Art Museum and more. ARTstor’s Subject Guides and Curriculum Guides are useful for navigating the collection.
- Want to immerse students in a different place or time period? Do you discuss music and culture? American Song includes music by and about Native Americans, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, cowboys and more. For a focus on Jazz music, Naxos Jazz Library includes over 45,000 tracks. Contemporary World Music contains 50,000 tracks from genres such as reggae, worldbeat, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing and jazz, and other genres such as traditional music – Indian classical, fado, flamenco, klezmer, zydeco, gospel, gagaku, and more. Classical collections include Classical Music Library and Naxos Music Library.