Iwasaki Library Blog

March is Women's History Month. Did you know...

• In 1960, Lois Rabinowitz was sent home from traffic court by a male judge because she was wearing pants.
• In the 1960s, United Airlines' "executive flight" from New York to Chicago was reserved for male passengers only. Stewardesses on the flight were unmarried young women.
• Until 1972, women were not allowed to run the Boston Marathon.
• Up until 1986, the New York Times used only "Miss" or "Mrs." and not "Ms."
• In 2006, the majority of TV news reporters, news producers, and news writers were women. Almost 80% of the news directors were men.

Read more about the recent history of women in the United States in Gail Collins' fascinating book When Everything Changed: the Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present.


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• Library_Spotlight
• Women's History Month

If, like the Media Librarian, you are particularly interested in the documentary film awards, you can check out two of the nominated films--we have The Cove and Food, Inc. in both the teaching and the Beebe circulating collections.
The Cove is the story of how Richard O'Barry, the animal trainer behind the television show, Flipper and animal rights activist Louis Psihoyos recruit and deploy a crew of filmmakers and environmentalists to expose the Japanese town of Taiji's annual dolphin roundup and slaughter. The crew is monitored and under threat of arrest, so they set up infra red and underwater cameras, in defiance of the local authorities. O'Barry's transformation from animal trainer to guerilla activist, and the suspense-filled situation, give this doc a depth that sets it apart from conventional advocacy documentary.
Food, Inc. is a disturbing expose of how food is produced and distributed in the United States. Interviewing investigators, journalists and farmers, filmmaker Robert Kenner shows how almost everything we eat is produced and distributed by a very few huge multinational corporations, such as Monsanto and Tyson, and that quality of nutrition is secondary to production cost and corporate profits. Yes, you know that already, but trust the Media Librarian, once you see the film, it all becomes too real, and you will change your eating habits!!!

Need somewhere to study that's warm and out of the snow? The library stays open for normal hours even when classes are canceled due to snow.

Wednesday, February 10: close at 11
Thursday, February 12: open at 7:45; close at 11

The results are in for the Paramount Contest, and the grand prize winner was Stacey Yesenosky who submitted a near-perfect contest entry form. What was the key to her success?

"I've always had a strong interest in theater, so when I saw this contest advertised, I took it as an opportunity to learn more about something I already love," Yesenosky said. She started her research following the hints on the library's Twitter feed. "Eventually I got stuck, so I went to the Reference Desk."

From the Reference Desk she received more contest hints and more information about helpful resources. The Emerson College Archives proved to be a valuable source of research material. "The archives were actually really helpful. I should have gone there first." Archivist Christina Zamon noted that Yesenosky was the only contest participant to take advantage of this resource.

Yesenosky hails from New York City originally and is studying Arts Management at Emerson, "a major that has yet to be created," she explains. Her interest in theater and the arts motivated her to work on the Paramount Contest. "I got a little obsessed with it, I admit," she said. "Once I started, I just had to finish it."

Prior to beginning the contest, Yesenosky had only been familiar with some of the more notable early American actors on the Paramount wall, such as Charlie Chaplin and Harry Houdini. To complete the contest, she explored many research opportunities. "The most fun was finding the NYPL [New York Public Library] Digital Library," she said. "I'm from New York and I go to the library all the time and I never even knew that existed. I found several images from plays I loved with people from the contest in them. It was a great experience."

Congratulations again to our winner, Stacey Yesenosky! And many thanks to all who participated! To find out who's who on the actor's wall, head over to the Paramount Center in the near future when the key will be displayed.

And the Library Media collection has it on DVD, in both the teaching and the circulating collections. On Saturday the Director's Guild of America awarded its top prize to Kathryn Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker, and since the D.G.A. winner has gone on to win the best-picture Oscar in 54 of 60 years,it's possible that Ms. Bigelow may become the first female director to win an Oscar. (She is the first woman to nab a D.G.A award.)

On the morning of Tuesday, 2/2, our faithful friend the groundhog will emerge from hibernation to tell us which films are worthy of consideration for the 82nd Academy Awards - or something like that. In preparation for this historic event, we invite you to consult Pop Culture Universe, a new database providing full-text, lengthy encyclopedic entries on the history of popular culture and those who have contributed to it through their fame or infamy. What's the relationship of Henry, Bridget, Peter and Jane Fonda? What's a concise history of political films, or musicals? We've had Battlestar Galactica on TV again, the A-Team is coming to the big screen, what else is ripe for a remake? Where do modern attitudes and cultural concepts come from?

The content of Pop-Culture Universe comes directly from "401 books, 5,577 book chapters, 19,272 encyclopedia entries, and 8,352 images." While film, television, radio and history are covered prominently, substantial content also reflects Fashion, Business & advertising, Literature, Sports, Technology, Music, and much more. We'd be pleased to hear what you think of this new resource, and what you find in it that's worth sharing.

The Paramount Center Actors Wall challenge has closed. An announcement of the winning entry will be made in the first week of February. Thank you for your participation!

The opening of the Paramount Center provides Emerson with a unique bridge between the past and future. To celebrate the opening, the library has created a contest, featuring a wall with images of notable performers of Boston's theater past. Click HERE to access the entry form. Entry forms are also available at the library reference desk or at the Paramount Center across from the actors wall. For hints and advice in completing the form, follow EmersonLibrary on Twitter, and for additional help in the process of identifying these stars of yesteryear, visit the Iwasaki Library Reference Desk.

Grand prize: $100 (and all the glory)
Contest Entry Form - turn in at the Paramount Center or at the Library Reference Desk by Friday, Jan 29. No entries accepted after 4pm, 1/29/10

"Hollywood is a place where people from Iowa mistake each other for stars." - Fred Allen

In addition to Films on Demand mentioned below, we are pleased to announce access to Theatre in Video, a streaming collection of nearly 250 plays, with interviews and documentaries about theatre production. You can find Theatre in Video in the Performing Arts database list.

Among the featured performers and directors are hundreds of notable figures - including Sidney Lumet, Laurence Olivier, Elijah Moshinsky, Jenny Agutter, Betty Aberlin, and more. Search by title, playwright, performer, director, theatre, and publishing company. Have you seen Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author? (You should, when you can!) How about Lee J. Cobb & Gene Wilder in Death of a Salesman? Let us know when you discover any other treasures in this new collection!

And we didn't even add any shelving.
These new titles are part of a streaming video collection from Films Media Group, that allows you to view educational videos in dozens of subject areas, anytime, and anywhere!
Just go to the Library webpage, click on Media Collection, then on Films On Demand. You'll see programs from ABC News, the BBC, and 152 Bill Moyers interviews! (The Media Librarian has noticed that Bill Moyers is a favorite of Emerson faculty).
Instructors can present these programs to their classes, students can use them for research (citations are thoughtfully provided, in your choice of MLA or Chicago style), you can email them to your friends (provided they are part of the Emerson community), or embed links to them in your class management software.
Here's just a tiny sampling of the range of materials available--so go ahead and explore the Films on Demand--and get in the habit of checking "recently added videos" on the Films on Demand homepage-- new films are continually added to the collection!
Truth or Fiction? Photography and Ethics
Expressing the Inexpressible: Shirin Neshat
Brain and Nervous System: Your Information Superhighway
What to Write
Part 1: Time for School-The Global Education Crisis

That's right, you heard it here first: the same folks who brought you the nifty film review and television review guides have now done the same for theatre and performance reviews.

Use these comprehensive guides to identify the date of release, performance, or publication and then determine which indexes, databases, and full-text reference sources have coverage during the given year. Although it's easy to simply stop at the full-text databases, we encourage researchers to make use of both print and online indexes and sources. Not only is there variation in date range coverage, but each source - despite sometimes considerable overlap - indexes a given set of periodical titles (and even books in certain cases).

We hope that these graphic guides make the review-searching process easier. Enjoy, and let us know what you think!