Pop culture on research

There's a discussion unfolding right now on one of the email discussion lists I follow. Someone asked for pop culture references to research, and people are coming up with quite a lot.

Book-Bella's research skills are vastly inferior to those of Movie-Bella, as explained in one fun blog post. (Bella's information literacy is possibly all that improved in the transition to film!)

Here's a paper about the information-seeking behavior of characters in The Big Lebowski.

Other researching heroes (I haven't seen most of these, but I'm sure Adam has!):

• Lots of library research in Harry Potter (just how many times did they sneak into the Forbidden Section?)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a classic example often mentioned in libraryland
• Supernatural is another show that frequently features research
• The movie Seven (though apparently Morgan Freeman violates patron privacy by going into circulation records...)
• Veronica Mars had a loose respect for the privacy of certain records, too, but she also used newspapers and subscription databases
• Someone uses microfilm in The Ring!
• ER characters frequently mention MEDLINE searches

Any others? 

 

Announcing...

Our new announcements screen.

Look for it behind the circulation desk (where you check out books).

Coming soon to a library near you!

We are excited to announce the addition of approximately 1300 new DVD and Blu-ray titles to our video collection, made possible by a donation from Seton Hill faculty member Dr. Mike Atherton. This donation comes from the collection of his brother, R. Patrick Atherton. This generous addition to our film collection will provide our students, faculty, and staff with a wide variety of choices to meet their entertainment and learning needs.



The donated collection includes an eclectic mix of mainstream and art films from global cinemas as diverse as the United States, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, England, India, Japan, China, and Korea, and covers practically every conceivable genre.

Lovers of American cinema can enjoy contemporary hit films such as the Terminator series, Pulp Fiction, The Sixth Sense, or The 40 Year Old Virgin, while those who prefer the classics can opt for Citizen Kane, Ninotchka, The Asphalt Jungle, or Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

For those of you who don’t mind subtitles, you can experience the beauty of other languages by watching films in Spanish, French, German, Czech, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Bengali, and more. For those of you who don’t like subtitles, you’re missing out.

Immerse yourself in the entrancing world of Japanese cinema with the epic action of The Seven Samurai, the intergenerational conflict of Tokyo Story, the almost tactile beauty of Woman in the Dunes, or the notoriously disturbing horror of Audition. Check out French actor Jean Gabin in classics such as Port of Shadows, Pepe le Moko, and Grand Illusion, and see why he can rightfully challenge Steve McQueen and Humphrey Bogart for the title of King of Cool. Watch the gripping true story of the Nazi regime’s last days in the German film Downfall, with Bruno Ganz in a harrowing portrayal of Adolf Hitler. Or experience the stylized, moody melancholy of Wong Kar-Wai’s romantic masterpiece In the Mood for Love.

We have films spanning the careers of American filmmakers like Buster Keaton, Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese, and the Coen Brothers, French directors Jean Renoir and Alain Resnais, India’s Satyajit Ray, and Japan’s Akira Kurosawa and Shohei Imamura.

While not all of the donated items have been added to the collection, every title mentioned above is currently available, and more are being added every week.

So whether you’re a devoted cinephile or a casual viewer, there’s something for you in our growing collection. Stop in and take a look!