Online, FULL text, FREE books! Through Google Books, Project Gutenberg, or Hathitrust

If you are looking for literary works or primary resources that are in the public domain, you can probably find the full text online at Google Books Advanced Book Search , Project Gutenberg

or Hathitrust

Q: What is Public Domain?

A: Public domain = Not protected by copyright law. Basically, if it is a U.S. government document published at any time, or if it is a text was published in the U.S. before 1923, it is in the Public Domain. Here is a chart that explains it.



Link to video

video & outreach & librarians

Eric and I were talking about our library and wrote a blog entry on how we think our library is doing in terms of outreach. When you type it all out, we are not doing too badly!

The importance of videos in library outreach and instruction is something that seems to be getting more and more important, with the rise of YouTube as the second most popular search engine as well the likely increase in distance education.

Anecdotal support for the importance of video in libraries (which is point number 4 here):

• I have been recognized by students who have seen one of our library videos of their own free will! (Not even in a classroom setting.) They came across our videos when they happened to be doing a YouTube search on 'UT Arlington' or 'UT Arlington libraries.'
  
  
• This mention of our videos in this post on teaching through video at In the Library With a Lead Pipe.
  
  

  The University of Texas at Arlington has started a series of “Librarian vs. Stereotype” videos that are engaging and informative while still getting their message across.

What is a Catalog? What is a Database? What kind of resources will you find in each?

This diagram explains what you will find in our catalog! Clink on image to embiggen.

This diagram explains what you will find in our databases! Click on image to embiggen.


Here is a clickable link to our complete list of databases.

I used bubbl.us to make these digrams, and I really found it useful. Also, Embiggen is totally a word

Why can’t I just search Google or Google Scholar for articles? What does Peer Review or Refereed or Scholarly Article mean? Also: Open Access?

This video has a really good explanation of why ONLY searching Google or Google Scholar is not the best idea when you are looking for scholarly articles.

• Short reason: Copyright issues
• Slightly longer explanation: You will miss out on a lot of stuff that is either: not indexed by Google because the publisher said NO!, OR it is indexed by Google but the publisher wants $$ to let you read it.
• Longer explanation: Watch the video below.

If you just want to jump to the explanation of what exactly is a scholarly article (also called peer-reviewed or refereed) watch 0:23-1:00 of the video below.

Open Access 101, from SPARC from Karen Rustad on Vimeo.

After watching this video you might say: Wait! This video seems to be implying that the current way of publishing scholarly articles is not the best! Everything should be publicly indexed and available and I should be able to use Google Scholar or some other index to find and read articles! And I would agree with you, that is what it is arguing, but we are so far from that, so for now, use the library databases.

Sometimes you are just not sure how a journal is classified,and you want to double check what kind of journal it is (popular, trade, scholarly, etc) .

• Here are some ways to tell if an article is popular or scholarly from UTAustin.
• You can also use the Ulrichsweb database to find that information. Search for the journal by title and the results will tell you how that journal is classified (is it peer reviewed or not)

How to find a Journal that covers [insert specific topic in field of literature studies here]

1. Go to the MLA International Bibliography which you can find on the English Subject Guide
2. Watch the video below, try what it says.
   
3. If you are having any issues, contact me.
   

These are not directions on finding the most relevant articles in this database, these are directions on how to use MLA International Bibliography to find out what journals are covering specific topics, and how to find those journals at UT Arlington Library.


Curious abut how to use the Thesaurus, MLA Directory of Periodicals, or Names as Subjects links near the top of MLA International Bibliography? Watch this video!

P.S. Click on the Maximize button to be able to see the full screen!!!

Moving Images Archive = free movies and primary sources online!

Oh, Archive.org, you are totally non non non heinous. (Note: Use Urban Dictionary at your own peril. It is a really good resource for current slang, but some things, once learned, CAN NEVER BE UNLEARNED. You have been warned.)

Okay, on to the Moving Images Archive -- the amount of content here is pretty incredible from a research perspective -- or even possibly, maybe, the perspective of entertainment. I must admit I cannot really take a look at an ephemeral film and not MST3K* it in my head.

Remember, copyright law is still in effect for most newer releases, but if a film is in the public domain, or it was created by the U.S. government, or if it was released under a Creative Commons license it can be in this archive. (Click here for the FAQ)

Here are just some of the collections (descriptions taken from the site):

Film Noir: "Expressionistic crime dramas of the 40s and 50s: tough cops and private eyes, femme fatales, mean city streets and deserted backroads, bags of loot and dirty double-crossers."

Animation & Cartoons: Contains "classic cartoons from a bygone era, Brick Films made with your favorite building toys, Machinima patched together from video games, or the artful computer animations selected for the 2001 SIGGRAPH competition"

Cultural & Academic Films: "This library of academic and cultural films features collections from the Academic Film Archive and the Media Burn Independent Film Archive, as well as a selection of documentaries created by Dorothy Fadiman." ...and more!

News & Public Affairs: "An analysis of news and public affairs independent from traditional corporate media is available from this diverse video library. From Democracy Now's daily news program, to three days of TV news coverage following the 911 attacks, to Mosaic’s timely clips of Middle East newscasts, to UCSF's Tobacco Industry Videos"

There are also collections focused on: sports, spirituality & religion, arts & culture, computers & technology, home movies, The Prelinger Archives, videogames, youth media...and more.



* Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) was a GENIUS SHOW. We don't have any DVDs of episodes at the library, but we do have an academic text on it! (at least, one of the chapters is on it)

This is one of my favorite MST3K clips that dealt with a ephemeral film. If car commercials were still like this, I might be more interested in cars.




AND! UT Arlington library has EVEN! MORE! resources. Take a look at our Film Studies Guide which lists resources like Pop Culture Universe

WordCat (Specifically, the FirstSearch version, and how to use it to find publisher, translation, etc. information)

Ok, first you want to go to FirstSearch WorldCat. There are also links to it on the English and Textual Histories guides.

WorldCat is a union catalog - what that means is that not only does it have the records from UTArlington library, it also has the records from many, many other public and academic libraries worldwide (over 32 million records).

FirstSearch refers to the specific interface. There are other ways to access WorldCat (for example there is a free public version) but the directions I am going to give apply specifically to the FirstSearch interface.


Link to video
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

Octavia Butler's papers! (and other authors, in CA.)

This library sounds like it has a really impressive collection of authors papers and manuscripts! They just got Octavia Butler's which should be accessible in about a year. Octavia Butler is one of my favorite science fiction authors, but I can only read so much of her at a time, because it is so well written and sometimes depressing (sort of how I view Battlestar Galactica, though her works are much more internally consistent. Also, I finish books by Butler. I am stuck on season 4.5 of BSG, and apparently I am never, ever going to finish.)

The Huntington Library is in California, so that could be an issue and you have to submit an application but their collections look amazing. They have papers from Jack London, Christopher Isherwood, W.H. Auden, Langston Hughes, and Charles Bukowski. If you can't make it out there, it looks like you can request reproductions here.