Find Streaming Videos and other Multimedia

This was a previously published post on the JSRCC Library Blog last year, but I thought it should get another mention:

Are you wasting your time trying to find videos, audio clips, or pictures for a class lesson, assignment, or presentation?  Look no further!  The library has developed an online Multimedia Resources guide containing a wealth of links to video clips, audio clips, and pictures on the Internet.  To access the guide from the library’s home page, click on Subject Guides, then Multimedia Resources.   Here is just a sampling of resources available from the guide:

• American Rhetoric
  Includes audio clips of American speeches, sermons, lectures, and interviews.
• Annenberg Media – Video on Demand
  Includes a wide range of instructional video programs in a variety of disciplines.
• FreeFoto.com
  Large collection of free photos available for non-commercial use on the Internet.
• Internet Moving Images Archive
  Contains thousands of videos which range from classic full-length movies, to daily news alternative broadcasts, to user-uploaded videos of every genre.
• NYPL Digital Gallery
  Access to over 520,000 images from the New York Public Library.  Includes manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books and more.
• Vincent Voice Library
  A collection of speeches, performances, lectures, interviews, and broadcasts from over 50,000 people and recorded over the last 100 years.

Before downloading or using any media, check for any copyright and usage restrictions.  For more information on this guide or assistance in locating multimedia resources, please contact the Reference Desk.

Check out our Newest Online Guides

Check out JSRCC Library’s two newest online guides:

• Ready Reference
• Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management

The library’s online subject and course guides serve as great starting points for research in a particular topic and will save both faculty and students valuable time. 

Each guide includes links to:

• print books in our catalog
• online books in our NetLibrary database
• the most appropriate databases to search for periodical articles as well as database search tips
• reviewed web sites

If you would like the library to create a subject or course guide for a particular curriculum or class, please contact the Reference Desk.

View Rare Books in 3D Online

Check out some of the British Library’s rare books on its Turning the Pages web site.  Created in partnership with the Armadillo Systems, this interactive application uses Adobe’s Shockwave Player which allows you to open a book on your desktop and leaf through the pages with your mouse in a 3D environment. Turning the pages of these online books gives the illusion that you are viewing or reading the actual physical book. 

Other neat features of this web site include:

• Zooming in and panning around each of the pages
• Listening to the actual story and/or notes explaining the significance and beauty of the book. 

Some of the rare books in this collection include:

• Diamond Sutra – Hidden for centuries in a sealed-up cave in north-west China, this copy of the ‘Diamond Sutra’ is the world’s earliest complete survival of a dated printed scroll. It was made in AD 868.
• Sforza Hours is one of the most beautifully decorated Renaissance books of hours in the Library’s collection.
• Alice’s Adventures Under Ground is one of the most famous of all the British Library’s literary manuscripts. It is Lewis Carroll’s hand-written and illustrated version of the work later published as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865).
• Leonardo DaVinci’s Notebook is a collection of Leonardo’s manuscripts written between 1478 and 1518 and but together in a notebook after his death.
• Sultan Baybars’ Qur’an – The most magnificent of the British Library’s Qur’an collection, each of its seven volumes is written in gold . It was made in Cairo between 1304 and 1306 for a high-ranking court official who later became Baybars II, ruler of the Mamluk Sultanate.
• Mozart’s Musical Diary - Includes entries from some of Mozart’s best-known works, such as The Marriage of Figaro, the clarinet concerto, the fourth horn concerto, and the Jupiter symphony.

Click here to check out these awesome books.

Tips to get you through Exam Week

Need some studying and test-taking tips to help get you through exam week?  Check out the library’s print and online books as well as other resources listed in our online Study Skills & Academic Success guide.  

Also check out these web sites that provide a wealth of tips on preparing for and taking exams:

• Academic Tips – Exam Hints
• Final Exam Week: Five Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• How to Survive Exam Week
• Study Tips for Mid Terms and Finals
• Studying for Tests
• Test Taking and Anxiety
• Test Taking Strategies, Skills, & Techniques
• Tips for Better Test Taking
• Tips on Test Taking

It’s Still April…It’s Still National Poetry Month!

Read about poetry in the Commonwealth using the National Poetry Map from the Academy of American Poets. Click on Virginia to find local poets, poems, events, literary journals, writing programs, poetry organizations, and more.

Need more information about April literary events in Virginia? Try the Literary Calendar for April from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

JSTOR Database – Newly enhanced features

JSTOR recently launched a new and improved database platform to better meet user needs.  Newly enhanced features include:

• More user-friendly search interface and easier navigation
• Ability to run recent searches
• Ability to search within results 
• Thumbnail images of pages
• Simplified printing and improved accessibility for PDFs
• Create a MyJSTOR account to save, email, and manage citations

With your My JSTOR account, you can:

• Save selected citations on JSTOR which can be viewed later on.  Citations will be stored in your account file for an indefinite number of days.
•  Email citations to your self and others.
• Export citations to your bibliographic management program such as EndNote, ProCite, Reference Manager, and RefWorks.

JSTOR will continue to make changes and improvement to the new system.  Ongoing efforts are already underway to include the following MyJSTOR features:

• Folders, providing users the ability to organize saved citations on different search topics.
• The ability to save searches beyond a single user session.
• The ability to create email alerts.

For more information or assistance in using the JSTOR database or creating a MyJSTOR account, contact the Reference Desk.

Some Library Humor to Celebrate National Library Week

Who says librarians don’t have a sense of humor?  In honor of National Library Week (April 13-19), the American Library Association has released some entertaining video clips. Play the one below or check the others out at AL Focus.

 

April is National Poetry Month

The Academy of American Poets started National Poetry Month in April 1996 “…to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.” This year April 17 has been designated “Poem In Your Pocket Day”. Browse the Poets.org website or the poetry books  available at our campus libraries to find a poem for your pocket! 

Recommended Readings & New Titles for April

Check out the library’s Recommended Readings for April as well as our current list of New Titles in the Library.  If you would like to suggest a purchase for the library, please click here to make your suggestions.