Results tagged “Media” from Iwasaki Library Blog

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.

The Duke University Libraries, well known for its digital collections, has released thousands of historic TV commercials for free through a new resource called AdViews. The collection features ads for over 70 products and is neatly arranged into albums on iTunes U, the section of the iTunes Store full of free educational materials. This fantastic collection continues to grow and will eventually contain ads through the 1980's.

For now, ads range from the bizarre 1960's Crest campaign in which Bill Cosby stars as "Mr. Tooth Decay" and pals around, amid a pair of humongous teeth, with a karate master named "Bac Teria"; to the classic "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down!"; to the ridiculous Hardees ads from the 1970's, in which a boy and a girl voraciously devour hamburgers, get highly gendered toys from a "Fun Machine" (girl gets ring, boy gets plastic spider, both are thrilled!) , and barely notice that a cape-wearing, burger-loving villain named "Super Mouth" is on the loose and plotting to eat all of the juicy burgers.

If you enjoy vintage ads, you will easily become addicted to AdViews. You'll also probably enjoy geeking out with The Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising and The Encyclopedia of Major Marketing Campaigns, both of which are available in the Library's Reference collection.

Happy National Library Week! Here are some ways to celebrate:

Leisure Reading List
Check out suggestions from students, faculty and staff on display throughout the Library and on the Library's website.

READ Posters
View a special edition of the Library's READ posters. Each poster features a student and a recommended library resource related to his or her major. Students were selected by the Library Committee.

Fine Amnesty
Return overdue circulating books and have up to $5 of late fines waived upon request. This offer is valid for circulating books returned during 4/12/2009 - 4/18/2009.

Movies
Watch a movie featuring librarians or libraries from our Media Collection. Stop by the Media Desk for recommendations.

Chocolate
Visit the Reference Desk and enjoy free chocolate while librarians help you find the information you need.

Recommendation
Bitter Victory by Nicholas Ray
Shock Corridor by Sam Fuller

Response
Your wish is our command--both titles will be added to the Library Media Collection. Look for them in the online catalog sometime next week. They will be an excellent resource for film studies students, and anyone with an interest in American film. Thanks for your suggestions!

Well, my library colleagues have requested that I do a post about websites that I think are pretty freakin' sweet. Why you ask? Well, I'm not sure if you know this about the library staff, but we're all a bunch of nerds. Here's a short list of websites that I think are neato:

Sorted Books: Artist Nina Katchadourian's Sorted Books project involves arranging books on shelves to create sentences, poems, or just funny phrases.

Big Picture: Boston.com's Big Picture is just that, a bunch of high-resolution, beautiful photographs, emphasizing photojournalism. As the site says: "News stories in photographs." Updated daily.

Shorpy: The 100 year-old photo blog. Every picture reveals a little something about life in American in them olden' days. Oh yeah, and every single picture is amazing.

Vintagraph: I think this site is brought to you by the same people as Shorpy, but this time the focus is on historic American posters.

ArtStor: Available through Emerson's library databases. You can check out and search all sorts of pictures.

Now why would you need any of this? Like I said before, it's fun! Who doesn't like pretty pictures? But also, things like posters from WWI or advertisements from the 50s can say a lot about the visual communication and values from those times.

Welcome back! We're happy to tell you about several exciting changes that happened over the summer:

New Group Study, Media Viewing and Quiet Study Areas
The Library has expanded upwards, with three new levels of space for study and media viewing. A designated quiet study area featuring 20 study carrels equipped with outlets and data jacks is located on the 6th floor. The 5th and the 4th floor contain a total of 10 new group study / media viewing rooms. Each room seats 4-6 people and includes a wall-mounted LCD panel display that can be used for collaborative work or to view DVDs or VHS tapes from the Library's media collection. To reserve a room, stop by the library's Reserve Desk on the third floor or call 617.824.8668.

Set From Will & Grace on Display
The Library now has one thing that no other library in the world has, the original set from the hit television sitcom Will & Grace. One of the show's creators, Max Mutchnick is an Emerson alum, and he donated the set so it could be displayed in the Library. We hope that it serves as a bit of inspiration for today's Emerson students.

Media Collection Now Located in the Library
The media collection is now located across from the Library Reference Desk. Once located on the third floor of 180 Tremont, over 4000 DVDs and VHS tapes are now available in the Library. Items from the Media Collection can be viewed in the media viewing rooms on the 4th and 5th floor.

New Copy Machines

You've asked for them many times, and we are pleased to provide three brand new photocopiers in the Library. All copiers accept cash and ECCash, and are supported by the Emerson Print/Copy Center.