As someone new to the IU East library I decided it would be good to do some exploring in the library’s different databases and learn what resources are available to the community I will be serving.  What I found was interesting, surprising, sometimes odd, and even fun! Here are just a few samples of some resources you might enjoy.  And who knows, maybe one of them will spark some ideas for an interesting research paper or proposal. 

Now I don’t remember much from the sixties; this may be because my father was five in 1960 and I wasn’t even a spark in his eye, or for a completely different reason, who knows, but after checking out The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives I am pretty sure even those who were there don’t remember it. This fun resource provides newspapers, journals, diaries, government documents and more which deal with anything from student activism and the sexual revolution to the Civil Rights movement and law and legislation. 

 For those of you out there who have a friend who always quotes movies but never gets the line exactly right perhaps you can send them over to American Film Scripts Online.  This database contains over one thousand film scripts, including popular titles such as 2001’s Ocean’s 11.  A great resource for us film fanatics out there. 

 If you have ever thought the FBI was following you around you are probably mistaken, but to make sure those fears don’t go away anytime soon check out the Archives Unbound database and read about Federal surveillance of African Americans from the 1920’s all the way up till 1984.  These resources include actual FBI reports on influential figures such as the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Malcolm X.

 These are just a few of the multitude of interesting databases available to you through the IUE Library.  Be sure to check out these and others like WhoNamedIt, American History in Video, and Ethnographic Video Online.  Can you guess which one has a video of a Yanomamo axe fight?  I’ll give you a hint, it’s not WhoNamedIt!

 Have you used one of the library databases to broaden your mind?  Did you find a bit of information you didn’t even know you were looking for?  Tell us about it on our library Facebook page!