Library Resources

Library Resources

Media Literacy Week

Media Literacy Week

Media education is the discipline that teaches people how messages are created to influence and persuade others, and how to analyze and critique those claims dispassionately. It also empowers people how to craft their own messages to be best received by others, through any medium. Poor media literacy leaves a person vulnerable to manipulation, whether benign or malicious, from any organization trying to influence opinion through imagery, sloganeering, advertisement, or more subtle reinforcement. Media literacy frees a person from (or at least mitigates) this influence, encouraging thoughtful reflection and critique of the ideas and claims that might otherwise go unexamined. There are, of course, safeguards. Have you seen a pharmaceutical ad on television in the last few years? Drug companies … Continued
Peer Review and How to Find It

Peer Review and How to Find It

As a scholar, you will likely be asked to find a lot of very specialized information for your assignments, papers, and projects. Some of this is the type of material – use a certain number of books, articles, and websites. Sometimes you’ll be looking for primary sources – those created by the participants themselves. Other times it will be multimedia, like documentaries, interviews, or television news broadcasts. And other times it will be for peer reviewed material. Peer review isn’t complicated – it is a work of scholarship, usually a journal article, which other experts in the field read before it is published, and who attest to its veracity or academic value. A journal that is peer reviewed is generally … Continued
Building from ideas and research

Building from ideas and research

Construction is in the air at IU East! The new Student Events and Activities Center is taking shape! New buildings are always a welcome barometer of progress. IU East has grown from just Whitewater, to include Hayes, Middlefork (later renamed Tom Raper), and Springwood Halls. It is worth noting that all of those things were built from pieces. Some of the pieces were physical – lumber, pipes, wiring, drywall. Others were conceptual – ideas, plans, vision. Research is like that, too. First you have an idea – a topic you’re interested in, or a question you have. And you think about it, refining it and making choices about what would make a good paper, project, or experiment. Then, when it … Continued
Latino Americans: 500 Years of History hosted by IU East

Latino Americans: 500 Years of History hosted by IU East

Latino Americans: 500 Years of History is a public programming initiative produced by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA), and is part of an NEH initiative, The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square. Indiana University East is the proud recipient of a $10,000 ALA/NEH which will enable us to host a variety of programs throughout the 2015-16 school year. http://www.iue.edu/latinoamericans/ We kick off our theme year on September 8th with the first of six episodes of the critically acclaimed PBS series Latino Americans. Films will be shown alternately at the Morrison Reeves Library and at IU East. Film discussions will be led by Dr. Christine Nemcik, who serves as the program … Continued
Latin American Resources

Latin American Resources

The United States is undergoing a massive demographic shift, as immigration again changes our national character and makeup. But in recent decades, the influx of people has not been from Europe but from our own hemisphere – Mexico, Central, and South America. And like generations of previous immigrants, these new Americans bring their own vibrant culture, interweaving it with the multifaceted tapestry that is already here. Richmond seems far away from the southern border, but almost all of us have still been touched in some way by Hispanic culture – neighbors, friends, coworkers, and colleagues. Perhaps you’re curious about these cultures, and want to know more. The library has plenty of tools to study Latin American and Hispanic culture – … Continued