IMPORTANT: Collection "boxing" dates

To ensure that renovations of the main floor of Reeves can happen on-schedule, the print and other physical collections are going to be unavailable for borrowing a little before the end of the semester.

The children's collection will be closed for boxing on APRIL 25. Make sure to borrow any kids' materials that you will need by April 24 at the very latest.

The rest of the physical collections will be closed for moving on MAY 1. Make sure to borrow any books, CDs, DVDs, et cetera no later than April 30.

To make this possible, we'll be happy to renew materials for you over the phone whenever necessary. Please check out anything you anticipate needing for the end of the semester and for finals week before the boxing dates. Faculty, please also borrow anything you expect to need for the beginning of the summer. We hope to have the collection available with a minimum of downtime, but we are unsure exactly how long it will take for the new shelving area to be available.

We realize that this is going to be a significant inconvenience and we are trying hard to minimize the disruption as much as possible. With all changes come some growing pains, so please grin and bear them with us as we take these necessary steps to a shiny new learning commons for the coming year.

Reeves, it is a-changin'

If you are just joining us, here's a quick rundown of what you need to know:

• Reeves is being renovated and adapted into a learning commons. What does that mean? Well, in addition to librarians and books, it's going to house other departments focused on student success, as well as flexible space, study rooms, and more. 

• To make this possible, the book collection is going to be moved downstairs onto really cool collapsible shelving. 

• Getting from here to there is going to be a bit of a process, and we appreciate your flexibility and patience as we go through some growing pains. Anyone who's ever been part of a construction project knows that unforeseen things pop up and timelines are approximate, but here's a general idea of what will be happening when. We'll keep you updated as we learn more. 

• The children's room will be closed to new borrowing on April 25, and the rest of the physical collections on May 1. More info here. 

• To stay up to date, follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook. We'll be posting all of our news there. 

While things upstairs are being readied for changes, a few areas downstairs are starting to come together! Harlan Gallery is being revamped into a reading room, and it's looking good.

Watch This: Sholay

A bi-weekly series featuring a recommendation of a movie available in the Reeves Memorial Library DVD collection

Sholay (1975)
Directed by Ramesh Sippy

A train pulls into a remote station in rural India and a uniformed man debarks.  He is met at the station by another man, and the two proceed on horseback through the dusty, mountainous landscape to an estate outside a small village.  Upon their arrival, they are beckoned inside by a man in a long cloak, whose carriage and appearance suggest he is a figure of some authority and distinction.  We find out that the uniformed man is a jailer, and that he has been called here by the man in the cloak, whose name is Thakur Baldev Singh, to fulfill a request.  The jailer is eager to comply.

"Just name it, whatever it be," the jailer says.

"I need two men," replies Thakur.

So begins the plot of Sholay, a sprawling, action-packed epic that masterfully blends elements from a wide range of genres.  The film is a prime example of a sub-genre known as the "curry western," a type of Indian film that borrows heavily from the spaghetti western genre.  The film is also a buddy film, a comedy, a romance, a revenge thriller, and even a musical (viewers are treated to the lively,
colorful song-and-dance sequences for which Bollywood films are known).

The two men that Thakur Singh wants are Jai and Veeru (portrayed by Indian megastars Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra, respectively), two convicts that he encountered in his past work as a police officer.  In exchange for their release from prison and a hefty reward, he hires them to capture a notorious bandit named Gabbar Singh, who murdered Thakur's family and is wanted by the authorities.  Jai and Veeru travel to the village, where they thwart Gabbar's men in an extortion attempt, and later fight off a bandit attack during a religious festival.  They also find the potential for love, as Jai becomes attracted to Thakur's widowed daughter-in-law Radha, and Veeru falls for chatty horse-cart driver Basanti.  Veeru and Basanti are eventually captured by the bandits, and Jai's rescue attempt leads to a thrilling final showdown.

Much of the film's plot and visual style can be traced to Hollywood westerns and Italian spaghetti westerns.  Certainly the notion of outlaws protecting a village from bandits is reminiscent of The Magnificent Seven (1960), and the film's rural, mountainous setting presents a striking match to the American frontier seen in countless Hollywood films.  However, these familiar tropes are imbued with a number of thematic elements and other characteristics that make the film distinctly Indian.

The film is a trove of memorable scenes and great performances.  The final showdown and the train robbery shootout sequence are terrific action set pieces, and the prison scenes are incredibly funny.  The two lead actors turn in lively, affecting work, lending emotional power to Jai and Veeru's gradual humanization and embrace of community.  Sanjeev Kumar brings an air of gravitas and a quiet ferocity to the role of Thakur Baldev Singh.  The real standout, though, is Amjad Khan's charismatic turn as the sadistic, ruthless Gabbar Singh.

Sholay is, by many estimates, the most popular Indian film ever made, and its reputation as one of the best Indian films of all time is well deserved.  The film has a thematic richness that is lacking in most comparable westerns and revenge films.  Thakur's decision to use criminals against the bandits blurs the traditional moral line between right and wrong, and suggests a dissatisfaction with existing institutions of law and order.  The film's message about the worthlessness of violence as a way of life is tempered by the story of the villagers' realization that it is sometimes necessary to stand up against  terror and lawlessness.  Of course, with a running time of nearly 3 1/2 hours, Sholay has ample time to develop its themes and characterizations.

For many American audiences, the closest they have come to Indian cinema in their moviegoing experiences has been English filmmaker Danny Boyle's surprise 2008 hit Slumdog Millionaire.  For these viewers, Sholay provides a wonderfully entertaining introduction to the Bollywood style.

A note: The film's spoken dialogue and song lyrics are in Hindi, with English subtitles.  Sadly, the version of the film available on the library's DVD copy does not include subtitles for the songs.

Old magazines up for grabs!

Literary Digest is an older popular magazine which is available free online. Therefore the library is discarding a number of random issues from approximately 1915 through 1940. They are in good condition, so feel free to stop by the library and take what you would like. They are in the office, so just ask a library staff person to be directed to them. 

Research Award reminder!

The application deadline for the Undergraduate Research Award is THIS SUNDAY at midnight. Get those entries in and wow us with your research prowess!

There are two $250 prizes up for grabs, so get your research projects in by Sunday night for your shot at riches and glory. 

Watch This: Best in Show

A bi-weekly series featuring a recommendation of a movie available in the Reeves Memorial Library DVD collection

Best in Show (2000)
Co-written and directed by Christopher Guest

"A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people have dangerous ones."
--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

One of the many joys in watching Best in Show, a faux-documentary (or "mockumentary") which follows the owners of five show dogs as they travel with their competing canines to Philadelphia for a prestigious dog show, is how well the film's makers seem to understand the truth of the above quotation.  The owners (and handlers) of each of the five dogs exhibit a range of quirks and personality types, and each dog seems perfectly suited to its owner(s), mirroring many of the qualities that make each owner such a compelling, endearing character.

The film begins as each of the dogs and their owners are introduced before preparing for the journey to Philadelphia and the competition itself.  Bickering yuppies Hamilton and Meg Swan (Michael Hitchcock and Parker Posey) have a Weimaraner who becomes as neurotic and upset as they are as a result of their overinvolvement with her.  Gerry and Cookie Fleck (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara) are a Florida couple whose scruffy terrier exemplifies their appeal as normal, everyday folks who struggle to finance the trip.  North Carolina fishing shop owner Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest) extols the virtues of the hound dog, displaying the type of loyalty that he values so much in his bloodhound, Hubert.  Eccentric New York gay couple Scott and Stefan (John Michael Higgins and Michael McKean) exhibit a flamboyance matched by their stylish shih-tzus.  Lastly, there is buxom, airheaded trophy wife Sherri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge), whose focus on superficial appearances is reflected by her elegantly-coiffed, clipped white poodle.

As the owners check into the expensive Philadelphia hotel and the various dogs begin to compete for the top prize, Best in Show builds a tension that may be unexpected in an outright comedic film.  Viewers may find themselves surprised by how strongly they may be rooting for one dog or another (or one owner or another, since it is the owners who are really the film's focus).  One of Best in Show's biggest achievements is that it is more compelling than most actual competition documentaries, a sub-genre of the documentary that is perhaps best exemplified by the superb 2002 film Spellbound, which chronicles the adolescent competitors in the 1999 National Spelling Bee.

Best in Show works so well because it is so expertly-crafted, coming from the brilliant creators of the mockumentaries This is Spinal Tap (1984) and Waiting for Guffman (1996).  The script is terrifically funny from start to finish.  The cast is uniformly outstanding, creating fleshed-out, true-to-life characters out of roles that could easily have devolved into caricatures.  If the actors were not well-known, it could be easy to mistake the characters for real people.  Perhaps the film's most important asset is that, although its characters are certainly of recognizable types, and although the film often pokes fun of those types, the humor is never malicious or overtly critical.  Each character is very lovingly written and portrayed.

If this film has you sitting up and begging for more, check out the filmmakers' follow-up mockumentary effort, the folk music-centric A Mighty Wind (2003), which is also available in the Reeves Memorial Library DVD collection.

Spring Break Hours

We hope you're going somewhere warm! We'll be here if you need us.

Spring Break Hours:

March 8 & 9: CLOSED
March 10-14: 8:00 am - 4:50 pm
March 15 & 16: CLOSED