Library Resources

Library Resources

Around the World: A virtual tour

Around the World: A virtual tour

Jules Verne’s character Phileas Fogg resolved to travel Around the World in 80 Days  but for those of you who are enjoying a summer “stay-cation” instead, you can travel the world in eight-teen (not 80) databases.  It’s like a passport to fun, without those terrible pictures!  Before you start your journey, if you’d like to know more about the History of the U.S. of A. and what life was like from “back then” til now you can visit America: History & Life.   It contains literature and indexing covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present.   From here it’s a quick trip over to Caribbean Literature, a searchable collection of poetry and … Continued
Money can’t buy ya love…

Money can’t buy ya love…

…but it can buy us reliable resources to make your research more productive and easy (really!) It’s the time of year when invoices for databases and online reference sources fill the inbox so we wanted to share with you some of the “oldies but goodies” renewed for your continuing research pleasure.   Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context Information about current social and political issues includes pro/con essays, topic overviews, primary source documents, biographies of social activists, court-case overviews, statistics, podcasts and images. OV can help you research, analyze and organize a variety of data for research assignments, debates, presentations and more.   Biography and Genealogy Master Index Provides coverage of nearly 5 million contemporary and historical figures from authors to … Continued
How Can We Discover Who We Really Are?

How Can We Discover Who We Really Are?

“We who are born in America absorb our images of self and culture basically through western eyes… Under such circumstances, how can we possibly discover who we really are?” – David Henry Hwang  May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (http://asianpacificheritage.gov), an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments Asian Pacific Americans have contributed to the nation.   The library has several books on the subject, such as Version 3.0 Contemporary Asian American Plays, Extraordinary Asian Pacific Americans, and Orientals: Asian Americans in Popular Culture, and also has several other resources to assist you in learning more about these fascinating cultures.  Excellent plays written by Asian Pacific Americans are located in the Asian American Drama database.  You can learn about Asian Pacific culture … Continued
What’s Your Financial I.Q.?

What’s Your Financial I.Q.?

As the Great Recession has shown, being financially literate is an important skill to help us create the lives we have always dreamed of.  How can we obtain the knowledge that will assist us in becoming financially independent?  Fortunately, the IU East Library can provide many useful resources.   How about a convenient e-book? We have Your Money and Your Life, Wall Street Journal Complete Money and Investing Guidebook, Net Worth Workout : A Powerful Program for a Lifetime of Financial Fitness, Degunking Your Personal Finances, or even Personal Finance for Dummies. You can locate more e-books on the topic of finances in IUCAT by searching for words like “personal finance” (be sure to limit the location to “world wide … Continued
Music Greats

Music Greats

Last week Marc Rossi, professor of piano at Berklee College of Music, graced IUE with a number of music presentations.  In just 3 days Rossi, a classical music composer; jazz pianist-composer; and practitioner of Indian music, lectured on Indian music; led a jazz workshop; performed at the Gennett Mansion; and led a composition master class. Whew! During the lecture on Indian music Rossi played tracks from Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar while clapping out the time and discussing their individual styles as well as the influences of North and South Indian culture.  Rossi also gave listeners a taste of his own tune “Jazz Impressions of a Kriti” available here while students thumbed thru the score and measured the meter … Continued