Alkek Library News

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.

Criterion Collection Movie Exhibit

The Criterion Collection Movie Exhibit is on the 2nd or main floor of Alkek Library in the display cases near the elevators. The exhibit is a selection of international movies from the Criterion Collection arranged by country. The Criterion Collection is a series of almost 500 significant classic and contemporary films on DVD. For more information about what the Criterion Collection is and for a list of movie titles included in the exhibit please see the Criterion Collection Movie Exhibit page. The movie title list includes links to the library catalog record for each movie and links to the movie information on the Criterion site. Several of the movie pages on the Criterion site include clips of the movie.

Please see the circulation desk about access to the movies included in the exhibit. Movies from the Criterion Collection, not included in the exhibit, are located on the 3rd floor of Alkek Library in the DVD shelves. You can physically browse the collection or you can use the library catalog to search for movies by keyword or title. If you just aren’t sure what you want to see,  search by keyword and use "Criterion and horror”, for example. You will get a list of horror movies within the Criterion Collection with information about each one.

The Criterion Collection Movie Exhibit will be on display now through January 2010.  As the movies rotate in the exhibit, the list of titles on the Criterion Collection Movie Exhibit page will be updated as well. Enjoy the movies!

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

Welcome to the "New" 3rd Floor

Come see our DVD and CD collections on the “new” 3rd floor Reserves, Periodicals, and Media area or for short, RPM. We have a lot of great resources some folks in the university community may be unaware of. For example, did you know about these?

 Attention movie lovers!

We have recent titles like Slumdog Millionaire and Rachel Getting Married, along with classics in our Criterion collection and a lot of other favorites. Come on up and browse the shelves or search the catalog, choosing “DVD” under Material Type. You can search by title, year, actor’s name, key word, or if you want to browse everything we have in the collection, just type an asterisk (*) in the search box. You can check out up to 4 DVDs at a time.

Attention commuters! Did you know we have CD’s: Music, audio books, and language courses?  

We have lots of great audio books on CD, both educational and entertaining. Listen to Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery, the “Blockbuster Bestseller,” Everything She Ever Wanted by Ann Rule, or how about a hearing a lecture about the Story of the Human Language? Search “Audiobook on CD” under Material Type in the catalog or browse the shelves yourself, behind the reserve counter.

Music choices include Bach to Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Tejano collections. Search “Music on CD” under Material Type in the catalog, or browse the shelves yourself, behind the reserve counter.

Want to learn a new language or practice what you’ve learned? We have CD language sets for Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and many others. Come and browse behind the reserves counter.

Stay tuned for more from the 3rd floor! Next: Popular magazines and newspapers

Kay Hetherly, RPM & Bindery Assistant