Library Resources

Library Resources

Public Health and Climate Change

Public Health and Climate Change

, Library Resources, outreach
Earlier this semester, students from the Animals and Earth Club at IU East and faculty from the Sustainability Council, including Assistant Librarian of Access Services Beth South, had the opportunity to attend the Indiana Sustainability and Resilience Conference (ISRC) on February 9th at IU Indianapolis. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about sustainability efforts happening in Indiana and regionally from presenters that included architects, city planners, engineers, non-profit organizers, state park employees, social workers, business leaders, public policy advocates, and educators. It’s impossible to attend every session, but a common theme that emerged from many of the presentations, including from keynote speaker Michelle Moore, CEO of Groundswell, and former White House official during the Obama administration, is that … Continued
The Archives of Traditional Music

The Archives of Traditional Music

, , Library Resources
On wax cylinders, aluminum and lacquer discs, open reel tape, wire and cassette tape, Chinese folk songs commingle with Native American narrative songs and Sea Islands protest songs.  Here the works of Hoagy Carmichael rub shoulders with traditional songs of the Ainu, a people native to the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan.  With over 120,000 audio recordings spread out over 4000 collections, the Archives of Traditional Music is one of the country’s most important repositories of recorded music history.  This blog will dive into a handful of the collections available there. The Lawrence Gellert Collection Collector Lawrence Gellert (born 1898, disappeared 1979) possessed a sincere, if homegrown, interest in Black folk music.  His family immigrated to the US from … Continued
Space, The Final Frontier

Space, The Final Frontier

, , Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
Looking up at the vastness and seeming timelessness of space, people have always sought to understand what lies beyond the Earth.  Ancient people struggled to explain phenomena like moon phases, shooting stars, comets, blood moons, meteors, and even eclipses.  It was a source of interest, though – ancient megalithic structures and cave paintings are thought to show astronomical awareness. Lacking the development of scientific methods, myth was built by every culture to help explain the unexplainable structure of the universe.  The sun was rationalized as the Greek god Helios who rode a blazing chariot across the sky.  Lunar eclipses were seen as Dewi Ratih, a Hindu lunar goddess, who was devoured by the floating head Kala Rau but always safely … Continued
Get Inspired with General Reference Resources

Get Inspired with General Reference Resources

, , , Library Resources
INSPIRE is a collection of academic databases and other information resources provided by the Indiana State Library and is accessible to all Indiana residents. As a public Indiana institution, the IU East Campus Library can share access to these resources from IUCAT as well as our A-Z List to IU East students, whether they live in Indiana or not. What are “reference” resources? The type of information you find in the reference section of a library would be resources such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes, directories, atlases, biographies, and bibliographies. While not usually in depth, these resources often provide a general overview of a subject and can be a great place to begin exploring a topic, place, or person. For regular … Continued
Leap Years Through History

Leap Years Through History

, Jesse Whitton, Library Resources
Every four years, we have a leap year that adds an extra day to our calendar on February 29th. This helps keep our calendar in sync with the time it takes for the Earth to orbit around the sun, which is about 365.25 days. Even though we may not notice this extra day, some interesting events have taken place in history on Leap Day. The date was February 29, 1940. All the stars in Hollywood were gathering at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel to witness the 12th Academy Award ceremony. After petitioning to even be allowed to enter the segregated Cocoanut Grove, Hattie McDaniel, the sole African American present, took her place at a table along a … Continued