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Libraries, Media/Music Collections, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library, Science

Wild Animals on Video

Summer is a great time to learn about the lives of animals. Here are three selections you will find in the Music and Media Collections on the first floor of the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library.

Bat City USA is a short film by Laura Brooks documenting the struggle to save a Mexican Free-tailed bat colony in Austin, Texas. Merlin Tuttle, one of the world’s leading experts on bats, leads the charge, working tirelessly to save the colony from extermination.
Call #: QL 737 .C54 B3 2013 DVD

For a quick look at a slow-moving creature, watch Hanging with the Sloth. This 30-minute documentary gives an in-depth look at this unique and highly specialized mammal as well as its conservation.
Call #: QL 737 .E22 H3 2006 DVD

Cracking the Koala Code is an eye-opening documentary that dispels so many myths about this fascinating marsupial. Watch the koalas grapple with the urbanization of Brisbane, Australia, and learn about their communication and social structure.
Call #: QL 737 .M384 C7 2012 DVD

By Sarah Pavey

July 11, 2018 by

Libraries, Media/Music Collections, Music, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library

Indigenous American Music Selections

Experience Ojibway Music from Minnesota, a recording featuring tracks dating back to 1899. Ethnomusicologist Thomas Vennum, Jr presents a rich variety of voice and drum music that shows the diversity of traditional Ojibway music.
Ojibway Music from Minnesota. call# M 1669 .O45 1997 CD

Talking Spirits brings us the social dance music from the Hopi, Zuni, Laguna, and San Joan Pueblo tribes. These 14 tracks capture the spirit of the Southwest, featuring The Garcia Brothers, Chester Mahooty, and Roger Mase.
Talking to Spirits. call# M 1669 .T34 1992 CD

If you’re looking for more music from the plains check out Pow Wow: Music of the Plains Indians. This excellent recording offers ceremonial and social drum music from Oklahoma tribes Pawnee, Ponca, Quapaw, and Kiowa.
Pow Wow: Music of the Plains Indians. call# M 1669 .P69 1986

The Music and Media Collections on the first floor of the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library houses hundreds of music CDs in addition to our extensive DVD collection. Everyone is welcome to stop by and check out some fantastic titles!

By Sarah Pavey

June 26, 2018 by

Libraries, Media/Music Collections, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library, Science

Octopus Hunt Video

If you’re looking for an underwater adventure The National Film Board of Canada is a great place to start. Bernard Devlin’s 1965 short documentary Octopus Hunt follows a zoological expedition to capture an octopus specimen for the Vancouver aquarium. Or, dive into a feature-length documentary like St. Lawrence: Stairway to the Sea and watch famed French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau explore the Great Lakes.

https://www.nfb.ca/film/octopus_hunt/
https://www.nfb.ca/film/st_lawrence_stairway_to_the_sea/

Additionally, our DVD collection boasts some stunningly filmed documentaries about life under the sea. BBC Earth’s Great Barrier Reef doesn’t just capture the beauty of this natural environment but examines how it functions and the delicate balance that keeps this incredible ecosystem alive. For a wider look at the ocean, Visions of the Sea features Al Giddings’ remarkable underwater photography and an innovative soundtrack as you learn more about the world beneath us.

Great Barrier Reef: QE566 .G7 G7 2013 DVD
Visions of the Sea: QH91 .V57 2009 DVD

By Sarah Pavey

June 15, 2018 by

Libraries, Media/Music Collections, Music, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library

Le Sacre Du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) by Igor Stravinsky

Celebrate the warm weather with Igor Stravinsky’s exciting and innovative 1913 ballet The Rite of Spring! During springtime rituals, a maiden is chosen to dance as a sacrifice to the new season. Although a short ballet, only 40 minutes, this work of theater is packed with energy and spirit. The performance challenged the forms of classical ballet to such an extent riots broke out in the theater the evening it premiered. Our copy features exquisitely replicated costumes and set designs from Nicholas Roerich’s original designs and performed by the Mariinsky Orchestra and Ballet.

Call # M1520 .S9 Z5 2009 DVD

We encourage you to visit the Music and Media collections this summer and explore our vast music selection. In additional to our classical and operatic CDs and DVDs, we also have titles about music history, bluegrass, rock, jazz, and many more!

By Sarah Pavey

May 30, 2018 by

Business & Economics, Database Highlights & Trials, New Materials

UST libraries will cancel Nexis Uni, and replace it with Westlaw Campus Research

The University of St. Thomas Libraries subscribe to databases and electronic materials based on curricular needs and faculty requests. We are continually watching for products that address these needs with relevant, easy-to-access content. One long-standing need is legal information for students who are not in law school. For example, students studying business or social work may require primary and secondary legal information on a variety of topics in their disciplines. Lexis Nexis, now known as Nexis Uni, has long been our database for that type of legal information, as well as providing national and international news sources and public company information. However, this database has never been easy to search or navigate, so we have been looking for another database that can provide the same information. We have finally found one, Westlaw Campus Research.

Westlaw is a reputable database, and a staple in law libraries across the country. The Westlaw Campus Research is designed for academic research across the disciplines. Along with legal materials, it also contains thousands of full-text news sources, and information about public companies. The decision to cancel Nexis Uni and replace it with Westlaw was made after careful consideration and a trial of the database during which librarians gathered feedback from students and faculty. The response to Westlaw was positive, especially around the interface and ease of searching. We understand that this is a big change and are committed to working with you to make that transition as easy as possible. Our subscription to Nexis Uni will end on July 1, 2018. Access to Westlaw Campus Research is expected to begin by June 2018, so you will have some time when both are available. And for current local and international news sources updated daily, the UST libraries subscribe to Access World News and ProQuest Global Newsstream. Both databases provide access to thousands of news sources that can be searched by topic, Access World News can also be searched by region. If there is anything that your subject librarian can do in order to assist you in using these databases, or to understand the materials in Westlaw, please let us know.

May 7, 2018 by Andrea Koeppe

Art, Libraries, Music, News & Events, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library, Political Science

May 1 noonartsound: Vietnam

Please plan to attend the May 1 noonartsound in the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library, Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at noon. All are welcome and, of course, refreshments will be provided.

Andy Scheiber and Bernie Brady are this month’s featured noonartsound presenters, sharing their perspectives on the music and art of the Vienam era, featuring street art, protest music, and photojournalism.

Dr. Scheiber will sing a few Vietnam-related songs — mostly “protest” songs from people like Pete Seeger, Country Joe McDonald, and Tom Paxton. He may add some reminiscences of his own. (He was subject to the military draft, and was within weeks of being called when they suspended military conscription in the early 1970’s.)

April 26, 2018 by

Higher Education, Services

Reduce Course Materials Costs: We’ll Help

Textbook prices have been increasing at a greater rate than the Consumer Price Index for the last three decades, but the rate of increase has itself taken a dramatic upturn in the new century as shown in this graph based on Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census data:

Comparison of textbook costs to the Consumer Price Index over time

This dramatic increase is leading to students deciding not to purchase course materials, which negatively impacts student learning. According to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) study, Fixing the Broken Textbook Market:

The average student spends $1,200 on textbooks per year.
65% of students said that they had decided against buying a textbook/coursepack because it was too expensive.
82% of students felt they would do significantly better in a course if the textbook/coursepack was available free online and buying a hard copy was optional.

The future doesn’t have to be bleak. There are a couple of options to reduce or even potentially eliminate course costs for students for a course:

Open Educational Resources (OER) – There are a wide variety of freely available textbooks and other open courseware that can be customized, repurposed, or used as-is for a course. The library suggests places to find these on the Textbook Alternatives Research Guide.
Resource Lists Canvas Add-on – Since January, the University Libraries and STELAR have worked together to offer a Canvas add-on that allows instructors to create, manage, and deliver lists of course materials in Canvas. This system can be utilized to make course materials more affordable because the Resource Lists system filters the readings through existing library holdings which have already be licensed or purchased by the library. Learn more about Resource Lists, see the how-to documentation, or contact Greg Argo at gargo@stthomas.edu if you’re interested in using it for an upcoming course.

April 25, 2018 by Greg Argo

Archbishop Ireland Library, Charles J. Keffer Library, Libraries, Media/Music Collections, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library, Science

Docuseek2 Streaming Video

As winter in Minnesota drags on, many of us are hoping for warmth and sun. If you’re looking to explore exotic lands without leaving the comfort of your dorm, the video streaming service Docuseek2 is a great place to start. Travel the world and the see people and cultures from around the globe through documentaries on art & architecture, anthropology & archaeology, cultural & ethnic studies, environment, geography, social studies, and world regions. Ranging from quick informational videos that are only a few minutes long to feature-length documentary films, Docuseek2 has a great variety of documentary and social issues films.

By Sophia Wolf

April 4, 2018 by

English, Libraries, Media/Music Collections, O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library, Science

Ambrose Video Collection

The Ambrose Video Collection has over 400 titles available for streaming for students, faculty, and staff at UST. It covers the subject areas of American history, American literature, world history, ancient history, geology, biology, theology, art, sciences, and all the Shakespeare plays that were produced by the BBC.

Below are a few suggested titles that show the broad range of media available from streaming through The Ambrose Video Collection:

Julius Caesar: Watch this classic Shakespeare play come to life through the work of BBC Productions. Julius Caesar is a highly ambitious political leader in Rome whose aim is to become dictator. Caesar is assassinated due to the plotting of Marcus Brutus and Cassius, who meet their inevitable defeat and plunge the country into civil war.

Glaciers: The most powerful geologic force on the planet – glaciers. Glaciers can dominate an entire continent or reshape a continent’s surface features in the blink of a geologic eye. All the spectacular mountain peaks that inspire us have been shaped by glaciers. This thirty-minute short documentary includes interviews with leading glacial experts from around the country.

Great African American Authors: 1761-1901: From pre-Revolutionary War poetry and sermons, to anti-Civil War slave narratives, to Jim Crow Era segregation and discrimination issues, the Civil Rights period, to the Black Artists movement and to the Black New Wave of the 21st Century, this breakthrough eight-part series, Great African American Authors, tells the amazing story of the evolution of the African American literary tradition in the United States. This first section celebrates authors born out of slavery and the African oral tradition who gave voice to the struggles of African Americans in the early days of this nation. Program one examines the beginning of African American Literature through the authors Jupiter Hammon, Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Booker T. Washington.

By Sophia Wolf

March 20, 2018 by

Latin America, Libraries, Modern Languages, News & Events

1st International Film Festival on Campus

All are cordially invited to attend a first of its kind on the St. Thomas campus International Film Festival 2018. This collaborative effort represents five departments (Modern & Classical Languages, St.Thomas Libraries, Office of Student Affairs, Student Diversity & Inclusion Services, and Film Studies) who have chosen the theme Cultural Placements and Displacements: Perceptions and Self Perceptions of a Cultural Identity.

The opening film, “Faces Places” was nominated for an Oscar this year in the Best Documentary – Feature category.

Schedule of Events – all films will be shown in the OEC Auditorium beginning at 6:30 pm
Thursday, March 15     “Faces Places”   from France    (Opening Reception follows)
Thursday, March 22     “Who is Dayani Cristal?” from Mexico
Thursday, April 12         “Shun Li and the Poet” from Italy
Thursday, April 19        “North Face” from Germany     (Closing Reception follows)

Discussion sessions will be held after most films.

The St. Thomas International Film Festival 2018 is free and open to all. The entire university community and the general public are welcome and encouraged to attend. Please plan to join us!

OEC Auditorium Building # 5 https://www.stthomas.edu/media/campusmaps/stpaul2Dalpha.pdf

The O’Shaughnessy Educational Center (OEC) Auditorium is on the University of St. Thomas campus at 2115 Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. The nearest cross street is Cleveland and Portland.

Parking: Morrison Ramp #18 https://www.stthomas.edu/media/campusmaps/stpaul2Dalpha.pdf

March 5, 2018 by

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