EIU Booth Library

Study rooms can now be reserved!

Posted on January 8th, 2020

Students: You asked, and we delivered! Over the years Booth has had many patron requests that our fourth-floor study rooms be made available by reservation. We now have a system in place to do that.

Study rooms may be reserved by groups of two or more people for up to two hours per day. Unreserved study rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please note that our study rooms are intended for group use; rooms cannot be reserved for individual use.

Only current EIU students with a valid Panther Card may reserve a room. Reservations for a group study room can be made up to two weeks in advance.

Rehearsal and viewing rooms on the fourth floor also can now be reserved.

To reserve a study room, click here.

 

American History in Video

Posted on December 12th, 2019

One of Booth Library’s resources available to all students and faculty is called American History in Video. This is an extremely helpful tool for history students, or those who want to learn more about American history through the medium of media. Through this database, Booth Library has access to thousands of primary and secondary sources.

Getting to Grove Music Online from Booth’s homepage is easy. Click on the database option in the “Articles” tab. (Above)

Then scroll down to “History” in the drop down menu to get to the history databases. After that, it is as simple as scrolling down and clicking on the link to go to Grove Music Online. (Below)

There are different filters that are available to search through all of these films, videos, documentaries, and other formats! These six different filters include areas like Subject, Publisher, Person, Content Type, Language, and Release Date. (Below)

Within these catagories are many other sub-divisions to narrow your search to what you are looking for. Subjects range from airplanes and war, to sports and politics. Even further catagories are given until the specific film you are looking for has been found. The same is with all of the other filters as well in finding specifc things.

When clicking on a specific video to watch, there are a few options available. (Below) Viewing the video in fullscreen is fairly self-explanatory, but there are other features of this database that help make research a breeze. The transcript option provides a full transcript of the video as well as time stamps for the dialog. There is also an option for searching within the transcript to find certain words or phrases.

One of the other panels that opens up when watching a video is the details tab. This tab is very nice because of how specific it is to the information about the video. For example, in this political advertisement about Dwight Eisenhower, it gives the detail about things like the release date, duration, publication type, field of interest, and others. (Below)

Overall, American History in Video has a lot of very interesting features that can be helpful when students are researching. Their interface is easy to use and very detailed to give the person looking, exactly what they want. In addition to having documentaries and other secondary sources, they also have raw film footage, newsreels, and many other primary sources to search through. This helps make this database an important asset to Booth Library in having many different resources available for faculty and students alike.

The Ups and Downs of NFL and College Football

Posted on December 4th, 2019

Football is sometimes considered the new American pastime. When people think of football, they usually think of November and December. So here at Booth library, we have plenty of reading to catch up on before the bowl games and the Super Bowl this season.

Many of these books have great athletes remembering their time in football, or other books talking about how to watch it. There are books that talk about the controversies revolving around football and how it has effected the players both in college and professional. Also at the table are great photographs from across the years of EIU alumni who made it big in the NFL as well as big names that come from the state of Illinois. Come check out the table on the third floor corrider of Booth library.

Celebrating Jewish Book Month @ Booth

Posted on November 19th, 2019

Jewish Book Month, an annual tradition dedicated to promoting Jewish literature, originated in 1925 through the efforts of Boston librarian Fanny Goldstein. It first began as “Jewish Book Week,” and in 1943, the celebration expanded to a full month.

Sponsored by the New York-based Jewish Book Council (jewishbookcouncil.org), it takes place each year during the thirty days leading up to Chanukah. This year, Jewish Book Month is held between November 22 and December 22, 2019.

Please visit the 3000 South corridor of Booth Library to check out Jewish-themed books on a variety of subjects: history, biography, fiction and literature, religious and cultural traditions, and more. The official Jewish Book Month poster features artwork by Claudine Eriksson.

Access to Kanopy streaming videos limited

Posted on November 11th, 2019

Booth Library has moved to a mediated access model for Kanopy streaming videos. This model will allow only faculty to request films for course-related viewing. Films already licensed by the library will continue to be available until their license expires.

Kanopy has been extremely popular with the EIU community. Unfortunately, the annual expenditure for Kanopy has tripled in the last fiscal year, and the expected increases make providing unlimited campus-wide access unsustainable.

We regret having to make this change mid-semester. This has been a difficult decision, but many other libraries are facing the same issue. Duke, Stanford, and Harvard, among others, have also recently had to limit their use of Kanopy.

How mediated access with Kanopy will work:

• Faculty who need a Kanopy film for course-related purposes can contact the head of Acquisition Services, Janice Derr, at jmderr@eiu.edu.
• Only films required for courses will be licensed from Kanopy.

Our library has a number of other streaming video collections for your use. We also encourage patrons to explore the library’s extensive DVD collection. We are happy to work with you to meet your curriculum-related needs. Faculty can request library DVDs for delivery to their offices by filling out this form. Faculty can also contact their department’s Instructional Support Specialist (ISS) for assistance with using video content in D2L.

For additional questions about using Kanopy, or how to request films for classroom use, please contact Janice Derr at jmderr@eiu.edu.

November is Hunger Action Month

Posted on November 5th, 2019

This month at EIU, it’s Hunger Action Month, and Booth Library is getting involved! Throughout the third floor corridor of the library are resources and events to check out going on all this month. There are also events going on all around campus if you would like to learn more and get involved. Booth Library is also participating in the “Coin Wars” to raise money for Hunger Action Month. Learn more about Hunger Action Month and folllow @EIUVolunteers Twitter feed or their Facebook: Civic Engagement and Volunteerism. Below is a calendar of events and facts about hunger. Booth has many resources to help your research and to learn more about food insecurity and the issue of hunger all over the world.

Naxos Music Library: Resources

Posted on November 5th, 2019

In continuation of the Naxos Music Library article, there are other expanded tabs that hold a lot of useful information. The Resource tab is very useful for both the everyday listener or to the music major. It has numerous resources available including practical ones like a music dictionary, aural training, and analyses of works.

The music dictionary is a great tool to use. Most definitions have an audio example of what is being defined in addition to the meaning of the word. This can be very helpful if someone is reading music and does not understand what something means. It is also nice for the average listener who wants to know more about the technical side of music.

Aural training is very helpful to train and develop your ear to become a better listener to music and understand what is going on in different recordings. This tab is easy to use and accessible for many. There are eight different levels of training that each have their own questions regarding different recordings and answers to check your work (below). The music knowledge differs from level to level. It is helpful for anyone who wants to develop a better listening ear.

Work analyses are selected works from different composers and breaking them down and analyzing them. So far, there are nearly 30 composers who have had some works analyzed. Each article goes into detail as to what the composers was attempting to accomplish and what the music is saying. These analyses are helpful to people who want to know more about certain works by some composers, or are doing research on a music analysis.

Guided Tours is another feature of the resources for the Naxos Music Library (above). These are guides of the different classical eras like Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Nationalism in the Romantic era, and 20th Century. They take you through different composers of the era and briefly describe them while showing selected, notable works. This can be helpful for people who may be unfamiliar with classical music and wish to go deeper into different styles.

The study guide section of the Naxos Music Library is for students from all over the world that more or less coincide with their curricula about music theory and history (below). The curricula are from six different countries. In the United States, it follows the k-12 system, while other countries follow their standard curriculum. This would help student teachers prepare for teaching kids about music from ages 5-18.

There are other interesting sections in the Resource tab as well (all below), like the junior section. The junior section has resources like learning what different instruments are, music for kids, etc. Another option is looking at different synopses and the libretti of an opera, which is the text of what is spoken. There are other helpful tools, like the pronounciation guides for artists, composers, and musical terms. Finally, the ABRSM, OMEA, and Trinity/Guildhall Music exams also have study guides on Naxos. Overall, Naxos Music Library has a lot of information and a lot resources available for all types of students.

Naxos Music Library: Classical

Posted on October 23rd, 2019

Booth Library now subscribes to Naxos Music Library, a music streaming service that has both classical and jazz genres. Naxos has collected over 2.2 million classical tracks from almost 150,000 albums that students can stream. Naxos Jazz Music Library has over 200,000 tracks from over 9500 CDs. We will focus on the classical genres today, but another Naxos post will explore the Jazz collection.

Getting to the Naxos Music Library from Booth’s homepage is easy. Click on the database option in the “Articles” tab.

Then click on the “N” to get to databases starting with “N”. After that, it is as simple as scrolling down and clicking on the link to go to Naxos Music Library. (Below)

Naxos Music Library has many different resources and ways to sort through their extensive collection. The Naxos Music Library homepage has featured albums on it, which may include newly added or recently released albums.

Many of these new albums can be found on the left side of the page under “New & News.” This tab has both recent additions, but also new classical releases sortable by record label or by category. This can be very helpful to find a recent recording of classical works from all over the world. Finally, the smaller tab that says “News” has small updates and additions of record labels that have recently joined Naxos.

The music can also be sorted by artists and composers under the “people” tab. In addition to this, there is an option to search through these artists and composers to find a specific name. There is a “categories” tab as well. This helps you find certain subgenres of music within the classical realm like Orchestral, Vocal, Instrumental, Ballet, etc. Finally, in the next tab, there is an option to sort by record label that the music was released on, alphabetically.

If you are searching for a specific piece of music, there are a variety of different methods to accomplish this. One effective method is to use the search box. If you wanted to listen to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, you might type into the search box in the upper right corner of the webpage “Mahler No. 5.” One of the results is that recording by the London Symphony Orchestra. (Above)

After clicking on it, there are many different options to consider. On the left hand column, there are options to view the front and back cover of the CD as well as the booklet inside. It also goes into specific details about the albums information, such as the category of music, composer, artists performing, etc. To listen to the album, just click the play button on the right side of the screen. If there are specific tracks you wish to view, then simply click on the checkbox and again click the play button.

Naxos Music Library has many different resources beyond what is talked about here. Even the diverse classical music selection and functionality of the website is easy to use for the everyday college student, a music major, or someone who simply enjoys classical music. In addition to this, Booth Library has access to many different musical recordings and scores. With Booth Library and Naxos, classical music is easy to access and listen to.

Jazz: An American Art Form

Posted on October 16th, 2019

At Booth Library this month, we’re celebrating Jazz. The style of jazz most focused on in the list below is of the bebop, post-bop, and modal jazz genres emblematic of the mid-twentieth century decades of the 1940s-1960s. Timeless artists like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Charlie Parker, “Cannonball” Adderley, and more populate the discs and literature in this display. Bebop, post-bop and modal subgenres consist of wailing fast, exciting, flowing bebop tunes like “Night in Tunisia” as well as slow, unique, personal modal charts like “So What.” The books tell the stories of these musicians and their personal struggles, but also the highs from innovating and playing jazz.

You can find playlists of the essential jazz playlist here as well as the top jazz artists here.

The selected titles discs and LPs are on display on the third floor corridor and all are available for checkout:

You may also peruse our large collection of films about Jazz both on DVD and streaming.

October is Energy Awareness Month

Posted on October 1st, 2019

Several titles are on display and are available for checkout on the third floor corridor through the month of October. The titles were selected by graduate students from the Master of Science in Sustainable Energy program eiu.edu/sustainable/  from the School of Technology and are intended to help raise awareness for sustainable energy and good energy conservation practices. Associated with the Energy Awareness Month display will be a workshop on energy conservation. The workshop will be held on October 15, 2019 from 3-5 pm in the Edgar room of Booth Library.