Alkek Library News

Video Stream Shakespeare Plays Through Alkek

Watch streaming video BBC productions of all of Shakespeare's plays here. No DVDs to return!

100th Anniversary of Tennessee Williams Birth

Saturday, March 26, 2011 will be the 100th anniversary of Tennessee Williams birth. Awarded four Drama Critic Circle Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Williams was one of the greatest playwrights in American history. Born in Columbus Mississippi, he later moved to New Orleans where he placed the scene of one of his great plays, A Streetcar Named Desire. Williams won critical acclaim but also condemnation for realistically depicting somewhat taboo human emotions in a realistic light. Many subjects such as mental illness, homosexuality, drug and alcohol abuse, and dysfunctional families were considered morally corrupt. But his honesty in telling these stories has left us with a body of work that stands the test of time and emit the same emotions today as when they were written. Williams died in a hotel room in New York City in 1983 after years of drug and alcohol abuse.

The Alkek Library has a good collection of plays, videos, stories, criticism and correspondence related to Williams. To find materials in the library catalog, search by author or by subject: Williams, Tennessee.

NEW Streaming Media Database: Films on Demand

Alkek Library is excited to share the news about adding Films on Demand a streaming media database. Video collections include Career & Job Search, Technical Education, Guidance & Counseling, Family & Consumer Science and a growing collection of individually selected titles in various fields. Many titles are purchased and some are available via the subscription to the database for 3 years when at that time we wil review the most heavily viewed videos to determine whether or not to purchase.

At this time there are over 160 purchased titles that can be found by searching the catalog. Here is the list.

Facuclty & Departments can help the library develop a strong streaming media collection by submitting requests for more titles at the selection site:  http://films.com/digitallanding.aspx. The search interface allows you to limit to streaming media type. Submit new titles by using the Collection Development order request form.

You can also Create personal login to save favorite video segments or playlists with custom URLs for use in lesson plans or TRACS. See the User Documentation for more information.

Films dealing with the following subjects are included in the database:

• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Area Studies
• Art & Architecture
• Communication
• Criminal Justice
• Education
• English & Language Arts
• Geography
• History
• Music
• Philosophy & Religion
• Political Science
• American Government
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Social Work
• Women's Studies
• World Languages

Alkek Closed for Holiday Break December 19, 2009 - January 3, 2010

Finals are over, students have returned home, and Alkek Library is closed for the holiday break. The library will re-open on January 4, 2010.  We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.

Remember it is still possible to access many of the library resources remotely.  Most of the research databases are accessible online with much of the information available full-text. The library catalog indexes many e-books. E-books can be found by searching the catalog by title or keyword and limiting your search by e-books.  You can also browse e-book collections by viewing this webpage.  Interested in viewing streaming media? Alkek has a limited collection of streaming video available too as part of the Counseling and Therapy in Video from Alexander Street Press.

The Ask-a-Librarian service is also closed, but you can send an email question to us. The email questions will be monitored and you will receive an answer to your question within a couple of days. 

On behalf of Alkek Library, have a Happy Holiday break!

Alkek Library Completes Criterion Collection Films

The Criterion Collection releases a continuing series of the greatest films from around the world and publishes them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and unique original supplements to accompany the films.

The Alkek Library has acquired the complete Criterion Collection of nearly 500 films, and will continue to supplement as more films are published. In order to find this DVD collection you may either search by Keyword and quotes: "Criterion Collection" in the catalog or browse the DVD shelves on the third floor under the call number: PN1997 .A1 C75 1998. The Criterion Collection offers numerous treasures such as the films of Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Luc Godard, David Lean, Orson Welles and many others.

Each film is presented uncut, in its original aspect ratio, as its maker intended it to be seen. The supplements offered enable viewers to appreciate the films in context, through audio commentaries by filmmakers and scholars, restored director’s cuts, deleted scenes, documentaries, shooting scripts, early shorts, and storyboards. Be sure to check out this unique and fabulous collection.

Misty Hopper, Non-Book Cataloging Librarian

Internet Archive and The Librarian

I haven't been to the Internet Archive website for a while and didn't realize how much has been added in the past years. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine is still an interesting tool to see the evolution of websites, some as far back as 1996. Alkek Library's evolution goes back to 2003 under the Texas State name, and under SWT.edu you can see our very first website. Usually the pages aren't complete due to images no longer existing and the links sometimes don't work, but it is interesting to see what has changed and what is still the same. Enter a URL into the search box to be taken back to the archived internet pages.

What brought me to the Internet Archive most recently is a colleague sent a link to the video that's included in this post. The Internet Archive is actally a digital library and since it began in 2002 has grown to include moving images (147,000+ movies), live music archives (over 62,000 with a Grateful Dead Collection), audio (322,480 recordings) and texts (well over a million texts including many historical and literary favorites.)

The National Film Registry Picks includes favorites such as the Fall of the House of Usher (1928), The Phantom of the Opera(1925) and many more.

The Librarian is part of The Prelinger Archives which includes many educational, advertising and industrial films. I loved The Librarian which was a vocational guidance film. It shows the work of library personnel circa 1947. Its amazing how so much has changed, yet so much is the same.

Movies anyone? The Alkek Library Movie Collection

Feel like watching a movie? Alkek Library has a pretty impressive movie collection with almost 20,000 titles, including popular feature films, great documentaries and educational films. We have the entire Criterion Collection, a series of almost 300 significant classic and contemporary films on DVD. You can use the library catalog on the library’s home page, to search for movies by keyword or title. If you just aren’t sure what you want to see, limit the “Search by Collection” menu to “Videos” and search by keyword like “suspense”, for example. You will get a list of suspense movies with information about each one. If you only want DVDs, click the “more search options” link on the library catalog page and then limit the “Any Material Type” menu to “DVD”.

After you find one that sounds good, write down the call number and take it up to the 4^th floor near the reserves desk. The catalog will tell you if your movie is on the shelves across from the reserve desk or behind the reserves desk. If it is at the reserve desk or you need assistance locating a movie in the shelves, just ask one of the reserve staff to help you. Happy movie watching from Alkek Library!