7th International Film Festival

 

 

Tonight kicks off the 7th International Film Festival presented by the Ross Pendergraft Library and the English and World Languages Department. The film is Undine (2020), a German film with English subtitles, about a historian lecturing on the urban development of Berlin who is faced with an unpleasant situation with the one she loves (IMDB).  The film will be shown at the Doc Bryan Auditorium at 7:00 pm.

The purpose of the festival is to offer a glimpse into other cultures and ways of life, to foster an open-minded global cultural identity, to enjoy talented actors and directors from around the world, and to extend sociology, anthropology, and language courses.  The festival was created by  Dr. Lowell Lybager and Philippe VanHoutte librarians at the Ross Pendergraft Library.  Since then it has been supported by members of the English and World Languages Department and organized this year with the help of Dr. Nelson Ramirez.  Title selections were made by the faculty of World Languages. 

The festival includes 8 films, 7 languages, and 3 weeks of viewing pleasure.  A sample of upcoming screenings include the 1954 Japanese language version of Godzilla and the wildly popular Spirited Away (2001). Other languages featured are French and Spanish. For a full schedule and information about all the films go to http://filmfest.atu.edu

This event is part of Tech’s On Track program as part of the Global Focus track.  All films are free and open to the public and will be shown at the Doc Bryan Auditorium.  

 

Gifts from Japan

The Ross Pendergraft Library wishes to say “Domo arigatou gozaimasu” to the Read Japan Project for the donation of 162 books about Japanese studies to the library’s collection.  The books were received last week from the Nippon Foundation through the Japan Science Society as a token of friendship between the United States and Japan.

Dr. Kae Hashimoto Reed stands next to Philippe Van Houtte with award letter from the Nippon Foundation

Philippe Van Houtte, Systems librarian and visiting French instructor, applied for the book grant with Dr. Kae Hashimoto Reed, visiting instructor of music and Japanese.  Together, they worked on a proposal which highlighted Arkansas Tech University’s current efforts at showcasing Japanese culture to the Nippon Foundation by including examples such as the International Film Festival and the Light the Night Festival.  Their efforts culminated in the recognition of the Ross Pendergraft Library as a recipient of the Read Japan Project.

The books cover a wide range of subjects including literature, art, science, history, economics, and culture.  Most of the volumes are in English, though a few Japanese language titles were also included.  This collection is meant to promote the understanding of Japan around the world through the donation of books.

A row of books on Japanese history and culture

As books are added to the library, they can be searched in Find It by using the phrase “Read Japan Project”.  You can also find a list of some of the donated titles at the Nippon Foundation website: https://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/en/what/projects/readjapan/.  Once the books are processed, they will be available to the entire campus community for borrowing.

For more on Japanese culture, be sure to check out the next installment of Dr. Kae Hashimoto Reed’s Manga Lecture Series: “Demon Slayer” on November 15th at 7:00 P.M. in RPL 300A.

 

 

Unjudge Someone: Human Library Coming to RPL

people on a book shelf like booksThe Ross Pendergraft Library and the Social Movements class are working together to bring a Human Library to Tech. This is happening at the library in room 300B on Thursday, November 4, 2021. This will be the fifth Human Library to take place here since 2015.  Our inaugural event included one of the first Black students at Arkansas Tech, Barbara Lackey. Zach Stone who titled his book Zach the Deaf Trans and Bshaer Ahalrazi, an international student who lives with physical challenges, were also “books” at the first human library at Tech. 

You may be wondering what a Human Library is. It is an event where the “books” are people. People who have defied stereotyping. People that you may not get to meet and talk to every day.  The “readers” are the people like you who attend the event and “check out” a book. The book then talks about their unique experiences in life as part of a subculture or marginalized community.  There is time at the end of the session for the reader to ask questions.  The purpose of holding this event is to promote inclusion by getting people, that may not ordinarily sit down together, to talk in a safe environment.  The Human Library provides a place for open conversations about sometimes difficult subjects. 

The very first Human Library or “Menneskebiblioteket” as it is called in Danish, was held at a festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. After the success of the first event one of the founders, Ronni Abergel, realized the potential of such a feat and subsequently formed the Human Library Organization (HLO).  The non-profit organization lends its name and provides guidance to other groups interested in hosting a program. Over the last 19 years, Human Libraries have taken place in 85 countries and 6 continents.  We are honored to be part of such a positive experience. 

Stop by and check out a book.  This event is FREE and open to the public. 

 

Echoes of the River Valley

 

Echoes of the river valley logo

Echoes of the River Valley is a series of events that celebrate, explore, and preserve traditional folk arts of the Arkansas River Valley. From music to social dancing to hand quilting. Come and experience these activities as they have been done for centuries.  All these programs are FREE and open to the public as well as to all skill levels.  We will kick off this year’s events with a quilt workshop. Sindy Devereux, a fourth-generation Arkansas quilter, will demonstrate and teach the technique of attaching a shape of fabric to a quilt top. This method is called needleturn applique. Kits will be distributed so registration is required. 

Music will start the following week. Third Thursdays will be the day for old-timey jams. Come along with your acoustic instrument and take a turn going around the circle to pick the tune for all to play.  Followed by third Fridays with contra dance.  This is a kind of social dance done to live music with a caller who teaches each dance before done.

The last Saturday of the month will bring us a Spin-in with the Ozarks Fiber Group. This is an event where people using various techniques get together to spin yarns and in some cases share the final product.  Some of these talented people are also weavers, knitters, and crocheters while some raise their own livestock for raw materials. Come for the live demonstrations and see the different stages of the process. This is a fun and interesting event to attend. 

September Calendar:

Saturday Sept. 11, 9am – noon – Needleturn Applique

Thursday Sept.16, 4pm – 6pm – Old-timey Jam

Friday Sept. 17, 7pm – 9pm – Contra Dance

Saturday Sept. 25, 9am – 4pm – Spin-in

For more information go to http://libguides.atu.edu/echoes or contact Sherry Tinerella (479) 964-0571 stinerella@atu.edu

 

Starting Out Normal?

next, new, normal Starting Out Normal?
Welcome and welcome back! Here’s to starting a new academic year in a more traditional way than last year. Hopefully, things can remain normal, whatever that may be. However,  we are prepared to serve your needs whether your classes are online or face-to-face. We’ve got you covered. One good thing to come out of our experience in dealing with the instant onset of remote learning is that we now have laptops for students to check out. These are available at the circulation desk and can be borrowed for a week at a time. That’s not all, we have headsets and webcams to lend as well.

We also have most of the general education course textbooks on reserve at the circulation desk. This means that you can check one out for 2 hours to use in the library. You can make use of our free book scanner to create a pdf of the pages you need to get you started before you can get your books. Other items that you may not know we have for you are scientific calculators. There is a wide variety of  Texas Instrument models required for various classes.

We have many items for your recreational pleasure such as an eclectic DVD collection of over 6,000 titles that you may borrow for free. Oh, but you don’t have anything to play it on? No problem. We also lend DVD & BlueRay external drives. And that’s not all. We have a growing collection of board games and popular reading.

keep calm & ask a librarianMost importantly, the library is great at helping you out. Just AskUs!
Stop by the reference desk, find the AskUs link to virtual help on the library homepage at:

http://library.atu.edu

Text: 479-802-4876 or call the Reference Desk: 479-964-0570 

The Time of Your Life

Are you experiencing FOMO watching all your friends travel to distant places for their summer vacation?  Too broke or too busy to fly?  The library has just purchased two first-class tickets to the most exotic and hard-to-reach destination of all: the past.  Travel back in time with our new archive collection: Time Magazine Archive and Life Magazine Archive.

These two American magazines covered news events, popular culture, and daily life for Americans during most of the twentieth century.   They were the most popular weekly news and entertainment magazines of their time, and both were noteable for their award-winning photography and writing.

Cover of Time Magazine featuring portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cover of Time Magazine, January 3rd, 1964.

Time Magazine began in 1923 as a weekly magazine, and may be familiar to many for their most famous feature story: “Person of the Year.”  It is still in print today, but the archive database provides full cover-to-cover PDFs for every issue published between 1923 and 2000. Between its pages, you’ll find interviews from the most famous celebrities, world leaders, authors, scientists, and thinkers of the past 100 years.

 

Photograph of navy sailor kissing woman in a nurse uniform on VJ day, 1941 in Times Square

“Victory Celebrations.” Life Magazine. August 27, 1945. p. 27

Life Magazine, published from 1883 until 2000, is best known for its photographic excellence in documenting American life and world events during the 1930s through the 1970s.  If you’ve ever seen the iconic World War II victory photograph of a nurse being kissed by a sailor, it was first published in Life magazine.

That photograph and many others are fully searchable and delivered through the archive database.  You can browse and keyword search all available issues from 1936-2000.

The landing page for both databases features the familiar search box of an Ebscohost Database.

Screenshot of main search box for the database, featuring "Arkansas Tech University" as a search term in quotation marks

You can search by keyword, author, subjects, or article title.  You can limit results by illustrations, as well as date and subject.  If you would rather browse issues by date, click “Publications” at the top of the search page in the blue border.  Then click the title of the magazine to navigate by issue.

Screenshot of a browse publication menu for Life magazine, list all available issues.

If you search for “Arkansas Tech University” in the Life Magazine Archive, you’ll find a feature story on the university published February 3rd, 1941.  The magazine was photographing a farewell party the university organized for 104 students who were leaving for National Guard training—not knowing at the time if they would be sent to the war raging overseas.  Pearl Harbor had not yet been bombed, and the article remarked, “Of all sections, the South is ready to fight Hitler, readiest to risk war to save Britain.”

Photograph of students in 1941 dancing a jitterbug

Unlike other article databases that only display text in html, results for Life Magazine and Time come complete with fully rendered PDFs of the original pages—ads and all.

Photograph of students sitting in football bleachers from 1941 beside an advertisement for Vicks inhalers, featuring an illustratrion of a 1950's man and woman holding what looks like lipstick containers to their noses.

A photograph of a group of male students dressed in military uniform sitting on the grass, gazing at female student standing under a tree. From 1941.

Want to learn more about these databases and others?  Ask Us via chat, email, phone, text, or some ancient form of letter writing.  Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to learn about more new collections or events as we return to our present destination on the sacred timeline.

Safe travels this summer—wherever or whenever you go!

photograph of Neil Armstrong on the moon wearing full astronaut suit

“A Giant Leap for Mankind.” Life Magazine, July 20, 1969, p. 7

Like Us? Love Us? Want Us to Do Better? Tell us!

If you haven’t had a chance to take the Library survey, take three minutes and help us, help you: Take the Library Survey.  Available until Friday, April 16th, the annual library survey is your chance to suggest changes, recommend new services or collections, and/or lodge complaints about the temperature.    

Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation television show is seen at his desk with a coat and hat, visibly cold and uncomfortable

Because of your input, we’ve made the following changes to the library:

  • Extended hours, including later hours during the week, on Fridays, and a 24 hour opening period during finals.
  • Stayed open during the entire pandemic to provide in-person, masked and socially distant service.
  • Increased number of study rooms
  • Added computers to the study rooms
  • Increased number of computer stations
  • Provided laptops, web cameras, and microphone headsets for check-out
  • Increased number of journals and databases to support sciences, nursing, and other STEM fields.
  • Added multiple platforms for streaming video like Swank, Kanopy, and Academic Video Online.
  • Extended check-out times for calculators and DVDs for students
  • Replaced all chairs from the late 1990’s (in progress)
  • Purchased more board games and graphic novels.
  • Changed policy to allow drinks
  • Traveled back in time to 1992 and brought back a fax machine for general student use.
  • Unlocked the balcony on the 3rd Floor
  • Purchased many of the required General Education Textbooks for check-out and/or for viewing online as ebooks.
  • Made this annual survey shorter

As you can see, we’re eager to make the same changes, and your comments and input help us advocate for your needs. While we always try to improve what we can, there are always a few requests we get almost every year that we have not been able to make happen:

  • Allow Food – Nothing makes students hungrier than late-night studying. Unfortunately, where food happens, pests follow, and the last thing we need are well-educated mice trying to take over the world.
  • Maintain the Perfect Temperature for Everyone–While have made great strides in upgrading our central AC/Heat, it is not always going to be optimum for everyone at all times of the year. But let our staff know if you are too cold or too hot–we might be able to make adjustments or at least give you tips on low-price cardigans.
  • A Quieter Library--The library used to be a silent refuge from a noisy world, but learning can sometimes make sounds, especially group-learning. That’s why we have designated the 1st floor as low noise and the 2nd floor as a quiet zone. But since we cannot be everywhere all of the time, we have implemented a Text-A-Librarian service you can use to a summon shushing librarian to quiet things down. We do our best, but we need your help.
  • Open 24 Hours All The Time–This convenience and procrastination fuel is sorely needed on campus, we agree. However, until the funds, the security, the staffing, and the coffee are available for such a service, it will remain just out of reach.  In the meantime, we will continue to offer 24/7 service during the first part of final exams week.
  • More Monster Trucks–This is an actual comment.

Even if there is a limit to what we can do, there is no limit to how hard we will work to help you succeed academically. Tell us how best we can help: https://techlibraries2021.questionpro.com/

In the meantime, stay up to date on all library events and happenings, including our upcoming 24 hour schedule for finals on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

6th International Film Festival Begins March 3rd

If you have longed for the experience of sitting in a movie theater and watching a great film on the big screen again, then look no further than the International Film Festival, set to kick-off March 3rd.

Screenshot of the logo of the 6th International Film Festival At Tech

The Ross Pendergraft Library and the Department of World Languages have teamed up to bring the campus and community a sample of the finest films from around the world.

Each film will be shown in Doc Bryan Auditorium at 7:00 P.M.  While the university remains in Phase 1, attendance will be limited to 30 people on a first come, first serve basis.  Each film is registered as a Global Focus On Track event.  Admission is free and open to the public.

Take a trip and never leave the university with these eight films from Germany, Argentina, Japan, Cuba, and France:

Wednesday, March 3rd – El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes)

This crime drama from Argentina tells the story of a retired legal counselor writing a novel and hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior – both of which still haunt him decades later.  This film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009.

Thursday, March 4th – Sanjuro

A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.  This 1962 action-packed comedy was directed by Akira Kurosawa, and it is the sequel to Yojimbo.  It is in Japanese with English subtitles.

Tuesday, March 9th – M

When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.  This German language thriller from 1931 was directed by Fritz Lang and stars Peter Lorre as the serial killer.  It is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time.

Wednesday, March 10th – Ernest et Célestine

This animated French language comedy from 2012 features the story of an unlikely friendship between a bear, Ernest, and a young mouse named Célestine.  The film has won numerous international film awards, including the Magritte Award for Best Film.  It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Thursday, March 11th – Una Noche (One Night or Until Two Friends)

In Havana, Raul dreams of escaping to Miami. Accused of assault, he appeals to Elio to help him reach the forbidden world 90 miles across the ocean. One night, full of hope, they face the biggest challenge of their lives.  This 2012 Cuban-set Spanish language thriller has won numerous international film awards, including best actor, cinematography, and new director honors in the Tribeca Film Festival.

Tuesday, March 16th – Miss Hokusai

This 2015 animated film portrays the life and works of Japanese artist and ukiyo-e painter Katsushika Hokusai, as seen from the eyes of his daughter, Katsushika O-Ei.  Hokusai is the artist responsible for one of the most recognizable works in Japanese art—the woodblock print of The Great Wave off Kanagawa, also known as The Wave.  This Japanese language film includes English subtitles, and it is based on a Manga series of the same name.

Wednesday, March 17th – Barbara

A doctor working in 1980s East Germany finds herself banished to a small country hospital in this 2012 German language drama.

Thursday, March 18th – Jeux d’enfants (Love Me If You Dare)

This 2003 French language romantic comedy features best friends Julien and Sophie who continue the odd game they started as children — a fearless competition to outdo one another with daring and outrageous stunts. While they often act out to relieve one another’s pain, their game might be a way to avoid the fact that they are truly meant for one another.

For more information about the film festival or the films, contact the event coordinator Philippe Van Houtte at pvanhoutte@atu.edu.  This event would also not be possible without the World Languages faculty who selected these films and the other organizers of the festival: Dr. Nelson Ramìrez, Associate Professor of Spanish and Coordinator of World Languages and Dr. Lowell Lybarger, multimedia librarian and instructor of music.

We hope to see you at the movies!

Borrow Laptops, Webcams, Headsets, and More at RPL

The Ross Pendergraft Library is here to help you with virtually everything virtual in the spring 2021 semester.  We are now offering laptops, webcams, and headsets for free checkout to all students at the Russellville campus.  Here is a rundown on the new services we are offering to help students stay connected during the crisis:

  • Laptop Checkout – 1 week
  • Webcam Checkout – 4 hours, in-house use only, with the ability to renew for 4 more hours
  • Headset Checkout—Microphone and headphones for 4 hours, in-house use only, with the ability to renew for 4 more hours.

Laptops are being provided by the Office of Information Systems.  The first time you borrow a laptop, you will be asked to sign a user agreement acknowledging the policies of OIS and the replacement costs before you can borrow the equipment.  Each laptop is a Dell laptop running Windows with a built-in camera and microphone.

Laptops will be offered first come, first serve, but if we run out, you can place a hold request on a laptop to be notified when one is available signing in to your library account.  To learn how to do this, watch this quick video demonstrating how to find the availability of our laptops and how to place a hold request.

The library has also recently installed computers in all of the study rooms except 128.  If you need to reserve a quiet room to attend class, conduct an interview, or record a video, you can book a room for 1-hour intervals, up to two hours per day at our Book It link: https://bookit.atu.edu/booking/studyrooms/

Image of a study room with a desktop computerKeep in mind, due to social distancing protocols, only one person is allowed in most study rooms.  Check capacity before you attempt to hold a group meeting.  We have also added two additional study rooms to cope with the current demand for quiet, enclosed spaces due to the pandemic.

 

In the meantime, stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask, and fight on!

Stream Into Fall 2020

The Ross Pendergraft Library is preparing for the fall by finding more online resources for whatever the future brings.  In anticipation for a potential online environment for some classes, we have added a new collection of streaming films from Swank Digital Campus.

A row of film movie posters such as 3:10 to Yuma, Amelie, the Big Sick, Blade Runner

An initial collection of fifty Hollywood films have been added to the platform and reflect films slated to be taught and discussed for the fall 2020 curriculum.  These include international films, class films, and critically acclaimed films from a variety of genres.  Search for individual films in the search box or browse by genre for comedies, horror, crime films, drama, and more.

To access the films, go to the library’s homepage and select A-to-Z Databases.  From there, navigate to Swank by browsing our alphabetical list of databases or searching for Swank in the search box.

If you are off-campus, you may be first prompted to login with your Tech Username and Password.

If this is your first-time accessing Swank, you may be asked whether to enter as a student or login as a faculty member.  If you select “Student”, it takes you right to the main browse page.  If you select “Faculty,” you will be asked to create a separate account that enables you to request new movies for your class.  However, as a faculty member, you can always contact your librarian liaison to request new streaming films.

If you select a film, you can watch it immediately in the browser window, copy a permanent link, or copy an LMS link that you can use to embed directly into Blackboard:

A film description for "Do the Right Thing" highlighting the copy direct link and copy lms link

Each film includes the ability to display or hide subtitles.  If you want to watch on a mobile device like a phone or tablet, download the Swank Media Player from your app store.  Then navigate to the library’s Swank website on your device.

Swank Media Player app information, including logo that looks like a film reel.

If you need a bigger selection than Swank, the library has three other streaming video platforms from which to choose films and documentaries:

  • Academic Video Online – A large collection of over 13,000 films, documentaries, news reels, tutorials, interviews, and archive footage on a variety of subjects. Search for individual films or browse by channels.  Most of the content will be educational or documentary films.
  • Kanopy – A small collection of individual films requested by faculty for specific courses, for a limited duration.
  • Digital Theatre Plus – A specialized collection of full-length films of Shakespeare plays, modern dramas, and musicals. There are behind the scenes clips from theatre makers and study guides to help students understand plot, character, language, etc. Audio plays from the LA Theatre Works have now been added.

We also have an extensive collection of physical DVDs to check out whenever the library is open.  All are searchable via our online database, Find It.

During the break, we hope you stay safe, stay socially distant, and stay entertained with Swank Digital Campus.  The library is still open, and the librarians are still available to help you with research as well as our preferred ranking of all James Bond films.  Just reach out and Ask Us!