Iwasaki Library Blog

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!

If you're looking for reviews of old television programs, don't just sit there and pull your hair in frustration - turn to the new Television Review Indexes and Sources information graphic compiled by Emerson librarians.

And don't forget that there's a similar review-finder for film.

Coming soon, another review guide for theater and performance reviews!

Library adds Encyclopedia of Journalism to collection!
Librarians go wild, students in awe

Manny Paiges, Library Beat

Boston, Mass. - Just ask your friendly librarian, and she'll tell you: not all encyclopedias are created equal.

Within the last few weeks, on an undisclosed date, the Iwasaki Library acquired the 2009 Encyclopedia of Journalism, a one-of-its-kind six-volume scholarly behemoth that experts say is the encyclopedia to end all encyclopedias. Several of the librarians there have been observed in recent days whispering and shaking their hands in presumed delight while using the new reference work.

"It's kind of a big deal," exclaimed an anonymous source within the library.

With over 360 signed entries in the first four volumes alone, this attractively designed book leaves little to the imagination. This reporter noticed that each of these entries featured "further readings," and each of the volumes also included an index for the entire set.

"We're very pleased, that's all I can say at this time," said another unnamed source within the library, as she trembled and embraced one of the six volumes.

One of the librarians was eager to point out that volume 5 contains key documents in the field, including laws, court cases, codes of ethics and standards, educational statements, and data on the profession. Volume 6 appears to have even more information in the form of appendices that list journalism awards, country ratings of journalism freedom from Freedom House, and a guide to recent literature.

One student interviewed was clearly pleased by the new set. Hugh Tabb Lloyd, a 3rd year journalism student, pored over one of the volumes, smiling widely. "This thing might just save my ass," he said.

The Media Librarian had the opportunity to chat with filmmaker Katrina Browne, when she was in the production phase of this documentary. When Ms. Browne explained that the film was the result of a personal discovery that she had made--that her Rhode Island family had been part of the biggest slave-trading operation in U.S. history--the M.L smiled sympathetically, and said she was so glad HER ancestors had been poor Yankee farmers, who certainly had nothing to do with the slave trade. "Well, they probably supplied produce to the ships that sailed to Africa," Ms. Browne said.
After viewing the completed film, the M.L agrees that the network of commercial activities linked to the slave trade involved much of the Northern population, and her seventh grade history book's assertion that the American South was solely responsible for slavery was a pleasing fiction.
If Traces of the Trade had simply documented the complicity of North and South in the slave trade, it would have been an important film. But Browne and nine of her family members traveled to Ghana and Cuba, to experience for themselves the sites of the Triangle Trade. Back home, they talked and argued about their legacy--and the legacy of white America. What history do white Americans inherit as individuals and as citizens? How does Northern complicity in slavery complicate things? Who owes who what for the sins of their fathers?
Watch this DVD if you're interested in American history, in family dynamics, or simply in the qualities of a documentary that moves viewers to self-examination.

Suggestion: You should allow students to reserve group study rooms online.

Response: Believe us when we say we'd LOVE for students to be able to book study rooms online. Unfortunately, our current booking system, EMS, can't make online reservations, but we're hoping that in the future this option might become available.

No, it's not just you - it is getting hot in here! Cool down with Climate Change: A Reference Handbook, one of many volumes in the Contemporary World Issues series. Each book in this fantastic reference series contains an overview, chronology, biographical sketches, facts and statistical data and/or primary source material, a directory of organizations, a list of other reference sources, and a glossary.

The 2006 Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change commissioned by the British government warned that a failure to strongly and promptly reduce carbon emissions "could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century." And despite the now firmly established scientific consensus on global warming, a recent national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press revealed a disturbing decline in the proportion of Americans who (1) believe that there is solid evidence of a rise in global temperatures and (2) say global temperatures are rising as a result of human activity.

Use this week's "pick" to educate yourself on this most urgent matter.

This ain't your mother's dictionary folks, it's the real deal! Hey performing arts students, it's the Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis!

More properly called an encyclopedia, this indispensable work is a must-use for any researcher grappling with the often elusive and squirmy antagonist of theatre and performance theory. The Dictionary features an illuminating thematic index, which groups entries into those concerning Dramatugy, Text and Discourse, Actor and Character, Genres and Forms, Staging, Structural Principles and Aesthetic Questions, Reception, and Semiology. Consisting of brief to mid-length entries with references, and authored by Patrice Pavis, a French expert in the field, this book may just become your new hero!

To research or not to research? There can be no question. Don't be a fool - consult this masterly tome when the demands of theory are upon you.

Introducing the latest addition to the Library's print reference collection, The Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society!

With nearly 600 entries written by 376 experts and scholars, this new multidisciplinary encyclopedia is an excellent first stop for any research question that touches upon racial or ethnic topics. It contains more than 120 entries on specific groups in the United States, and over 100 essays treating race and ethnicity in other countries, making it relatively comprehensive in its scope. Don't forget about the very handy "Reader's Guide," a thematic table of contents in the front matter, or the appendix of related historical statistics for the United States.

From "Health Disparities" to "Higher Education: Racial Battle Fatigue" to "Hip-Hop," there's something in here for everyone at Emerson. Enjoy!

Comment:
The stapler situation is ineffective this semester for two reasons: (1) there is no room to sort and staple where they are now (near printers); (2) there is usually a line of people waiting to print blocking the way to the staplers. Can we have a stapler in the computer lab/classroom? And could you put a flat table next to the printers for us to use to staple and sort pages? It would help a lot.

Response:
Thank you for your comment. Limitations of space and material are keenly felt by all. Unfortunately, complications related to the Pharos print management system make it impossible for print jobs to properly collate, necessitating manual sorting, and staplers are provided as an extra service. Please feel free to bring a personal stapler to the library or print in many of the various locations across campus. We will consider placing an extra regular stapler in the classroom. Thanks!

The Library Media desk staff hears this question often: "Can I take this video home?" and until now, the answer has always been, "No, students have to watch videos in the Library." Starting today, thanks to a generous gift from an alumni donor, students CAN check out selected DVDs, up to 3 at a time, for 7 days.

Now, a little bit about the man who made this possible. Dick Beebe graduated from Emerson College, and Yale School of Drama. After Yale, he went to Los Angeles, where he became a successful writer for film and television. His credits include The Lazarus Man, a TV series with Robert Urich, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, "Only Skin Deep", from season 6 of the HBO series Tales from the Crypt, and the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill.

As might be expected from a writer who specialized in horror, his video collection is strong in this area. In addition to the classics, it includes unusual items like Charles Crichton's British horror anthology, The Dead of Night, Richard Stanley's cult opus Dust Devil, and Benjamin Christensen's history of witchcraft, Haxan. (This is probably a good place to note that not all of Mr. Beebe's collection is part of the circulating collection. Titles the Library didn't already own will become part of the teaching collection. That said, the circulating collection features plenty of very scary movies--from Alien to Carrie to The Wicker Man to the aforementioned Haxan--and just in time for Halloween.

Another collection highlight reflects Mr. Beebe's interest in television. Starting with The Honeymooners, his collection samples every era--from the 1950's Have Gun, Will Travelto contemporary shows like The Wire.

Sadly, Dick Beebe died June 20, 2008, from complications associated with brain cancer. We feel privileged that he decided shortly before his death to share his love of movies with his alma mater.