Chat with a Librarian

We’re expanding the ways that we’re available to students and have made instant messaging available on selected subject guides. Please check out these pages in the Sciences, Humanities, and Social Sciences.  IM is available through Meebo, so the only thing that you need to do is type your question in the box! If the librarian isn’t online, please leave a message with your contact information.

This day in film … April 20, 1926

Don’t get me wrong, I love the era of silent film. Unencumbered by the distractions of sound, I look at silent films differently; I pay more attention to scenes, props, poses, and facial expressions. But today’s not about celebrating the silent. Today I want to give a shout out to early talkies.

Eighty-one years ago today, Waner Bros. studio announced their development and release of the Vitaphone sound-on-film process. “Vitaphone Talking Pictures,” as Warner Bros. called it, excited audiences because, unlike other competing sound-on-film technologies, it had great amplification and a high fidelity to the original sound. As Wired writer Tony Long said in his article commemorating the anniversary, this technology rung “the death knell for silent films.” And audiences could actually hear it this time…in phonograph if not surroundsound.

The first film to use Vitaphone was the 1926 feature, Don Juan (Video A2856), starring the ever-impressive John Barrymore, but, arguably, the most popular Vitaphone talkie is The Jazz Singer (Video A451). We have a few other Vitaphone movies on DVD and VHS. Check ‘em out.

Sheridan Libraries Book Collecting Contest Winners

The winners of the book collecting contest sponsored by the Friends of the Libraries have been announced.  Thanks to everyone who participated!

Springtime Birds

It’s spring and the birds are returning. Have you ever wondered where they go during the winter? How far they fly? How many eggs they lay? Well, the Birds of North America Online is a spectacular resource for finding answers to those sorts of questions. This resource provides tons of information on each species, including behavior, nest building, migration, food, and distribution. There are lots of photographs, audio clips, sonograms, and some video.

National Library Week

It’s National Library Week!  Here’s a selection of ways to celebrate:

Consult with a subject specialist librarian about a project you’re working on.

  Use your laptop to read or print articles on reserve for your class.

Check out “The Sopranos” on DVD. 

Read a book printed in 1492 in Special Collections.

Have materials delivered to your campus office or emailed to you.

Borrow books and articles from other libraries around the world.

Work on your class project in a group study room.

        Read the latest Patricia Cornwell in the McNaughton Collection of popular fiction and non-fiction on M-Level.

           Search the full text and images of the New York Times and other newspapers back to their first issues.

Get a double tall iced mocha.    

      Find out the chemical structure of caffeine.

Use mapping software to create custom designed maps of demographic or other data.

Learn about the university’s history in the Archives.      

Search for patents.

Find career resources or information on a company for an upcoming job interview.

   Read a newspaper from your hometown or country.

Want to know more?  Just ask us!

The Magic Object: Prosperity and Protection in Antiquity

Please join us today from 3 pm to 6 pm for refreshments on Q-Level to celebrate the opening of the new M-Level exhibit, “The Magic Object: Prosperity and Protection in Antiquity.” The reception is hosted by Drs. Henry and Eunice Dauterman Maguire and students in their course, Creating a Museum Exhibition: The Magic Object. The students researched and curated the show, and assisted with the installation under the guidance of the Libraries’ conservation staff.

This collaborative effort between the Libraries and the new Museums and Society program is invaluable for the students as it gives them an opportunity to experience every aspect of creating an exhibition for display in a public setting.

The exhibit will run through September 30, 2007.

In memoriam … Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

I woke this morning to the news that author Kurt Vonnegut died last night at the age of 84. Needless to say, I was, and still am, a fan. Like Mark Twain, Thomas Pynchon, and Philip Roth, Vonnegut used wry humor to probe serious moral, political, and social topics. While his 14 novels all seem to be studies of a deep abiding pessimism, you can’t help but feel an underlying determination to believe, despite all evidence to the contrary, in the potential of individuals. The title character in his novel God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater (I can’t believe we don’t have it; I’ve already ordered it this morning) says it best:

“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’ ”

At 13, I was fortunate enough to hear him, along with Joseph Heller, speak at Tulane University in New Orleans. In a room filled with poets, novelists, readers, and war veterans, a curly haired, bedraggled Vonnegut spewed curses and quoted poetry all in the same breath. He was sharp, crass, funny, and shameless. Expect the same from his fiction. We have a selection of books by Kurt Vonnegut in MSE Library, if you’d like to read one of his works. I’ll be rereading a few of them myself.

Thank you, Mr. Vonnegut, for all you’ve given us. You’ll be missed.

The HUT Closed for Spring Fair

The HUT will close at noon on Friday, April 13 and reopen at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, April 16. Gilman Hall is locked during Spring Fair, which requires the HUT to close as well.

Wireless Printing… @ Your Library

  

Just a reminder that wireless printing is available at the Eisenhower Library.  Details about how to set up your computer are available at http://www.jhu.edu/printing/.

Film Fridays

Hello all of you film fanatics. Today, I was looking at all of the amazing DVDs that were purchased for the library this month. It’s quite a motley collection: documentaries, foreign films, Academy Award winners, classics, and avant garde releases. Unless you regularly check our online catalog or get the skinny from the helpful students who work in the AV Center on A-Level, you might not know the most recent movies we’ve added to the collection, all of which you can check out.

So the first Friday of each month, I will blog about what’s new in the AV Center. I’ll choose one or two movies to review (today, it will be Jesus Camp), but I will also include a list of new movies and their call numbers. Continue reading Film Fridays…