Halloween Books and Movies

Posted on October 31, 2013 by QLB

Fellow UGLers, Halloween is here! Are you ready to dress up and stuff your face with candy? If you’ve decided to stay in, the graduate assistants of the UGL have provided a list of their favorite movies and books for the season. We’ve compiled the list here and hope that it serves as a guide for your Halloween night festivities.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Zoe recommends The Nightmare before Christmas. An animated movie directed by Tim Burton, this has been a popular one since its release in 1993. It is the story of the quirky and lovable pumpkin king who decides to bring the Christmas spirit to Halloween Town. A great movie for those who want to combine Halloween and the upcoming holidays. Grab your friends and some popcorn and spend the evening with the pumpkin king.

The Exorcist. Sure to give you a chill down your spine

If you want a good dose of fear this Halloween, Quetzalli recommends The Exorcist. This classic 1973 movie scared audiences all over the world. For those of who have not yet seen this classic film, based on a true story, it is the chilling story of a girl who becomes possessed and causes several gruesome deaths during her exorcism. Beware Club UGL, this movie is not for the faint-hearted.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Are you in the mood for some rock opera, awesome costumes, and a good ole horror movie? Holly’s favorite is The Rocky Horror Picture Show. After a couple of kids have car trouble, they are left stranded at the door of a Gothic mansion. They meet a host of strange characters, including Dr. Fran-N-Furter from the planet Transsexual. Whether it’s your first time watching this movie or you’ve already seen it a million times, this movie is a good excuse to sign along at the top of your lungs.

Looking for a good read this Halloween? The Haunting of Hill House is just the book for you

For those who want a quiet Halloween, but still feel the urge for a scary evening, Tad recommends The Haunting of Hill House written by Shirley Jackson. Hill House receives four visitors who are curious about the unexplained phenomena happening at the house. Some are there seeking knowledge and others want an adventure. Little do they know that Hill House has other plans for them.

For a quick, but fun read, Tad also recommends Halloween ABC. For each letter of the alphabet, a poem about Halloween and its festivities.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Some of us are not fans of this scary holiday, but don’t worry, Lily has a recommendation for you! The Disney movie, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is the choice for you. This movie recalls two famous stories, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.

From the Dust Returned

For those who want to enjoy a good book by the fireplace (or in college students’ case, the heater) while sipping on some hot chocolate, Christina recommends From the Dust Returned written by Ray Bradbury. It’s a story about the Eternal Family, who live in a legendary and mysterious house in upper Illinois. They are rarely seen during the daylight hours and are not like the other Midwesterners in the area. The house is being prepared for a family reunion that will bring together a mix of extraordinary and odd members.

Batman: The Long Halloween

For those who will be drowning in homework on Halloween, you can take a quick break and grab a comic book. Angeline recommends Batman: The Long Halloween. A serial killer nicknamed Holiday is on the loose. He’s killing once a month, but only on the holidays; Batman tries to stop this maniac.

Whatever your plans on Halloween or your interests, you have a variety of choices in front of you. In the mood for a movie? Grab a friend and make a night of it! Feeling like a night in? A good book and some candy corn just might be what you need this Halloween. Either way, have a safe and happy Halloween!

Spotlight on…Gale Virtual Reference Library

Posted on October 24, 2013 by HJL

Long gone are the days when you have to sift through a heavy encyclopedia to find background information (not to mention figuring out which one is best for your topic). Using the Gale Virtual Reference Library, you can find information about almost any topic, searching multiple resources at once, all from the comfort of your own computer.

Home page of Gale Virtual reference library with a search box at the top, subjects listed down the left column, and images of resources in the center

Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) is like librarian-approved Wikipedia. It has encyclopedias and other online reference books that cover a wide variety of subject areas, all in one place, so you can do one-stop-searching. You can also select to search in a specific subject area, choosing from subjects like art, biography, history, law, science, and many more.

To get there, start from the UGL’s homepage. In the dark blue bar that goes across the top of your screen, there will be a link for “Find.” Clicking on that link will take you to a page with tips and resources for finding all types of information. To get to GVRL, you’ll need to select “Background Information,” which will take you to the Library’s Online Reference Collection. You should see GVRL listed under the heading for “Starting Points” on this page.

Once you’re in GVRL, you’ll be able to see how many resources are available in this one place. (Hint: lots). To do a simple search, all you have to do is type your keyword(s) into the search box at the top of the screen. This will search all the resources available to you in GVRL.

image of easy search box on the top of the home page

Find this box at the top of your screen. It’s your gateway to thousands of resources!

You also have the option to search in a specific subject area. All you have to do is select the subject you want from the menu on the left on the homepage. You’ll be taken to a screen that lists the resources available in that subject area. There will be a box near the right-hand corner where you can search across all the sources for your chosen subject area.

image of the history subject page, highlighting the box to search within history in the right-hand corner

Once you’ve searched for your topic, whether you did a simple search or chose a specific subject area, you’ll see a screen listing the different resources you can access. If your search found too many resources, you can narrow what you’re seeing by using the options on the left on your results screen. You can choose a subject area, a type of resource (like a biography or topic overview), or a specific encyclopedia.

image of a search results screen, highlighting the options to limit results available in the left column

Don’t need 1800 results about yoga? Narrow it down using the options on your left.

GVRL is a great place to get started if your topic is related to multiple subject areas. With hundreds of encyclopedias at your fingertips, we’ll be surprised if you can’t find what you’re looking for. If that happens, though, you can always try another resource in the Online Reference Collection, or Ask a Librarian for help. That’s why we’re here.

Need ideas for other great library resources? Find more in our Spotlight on… series here.

A taste of fall

Posted on October 17, 2013 by HJL

With the rapidly changing weather come holidays that boast sweets and treats to make your mouth water. (Not to mention the desire to snuggle under a blanket with some hot cider and something freshly baked.) If you need to impress your friends with your stellar baking skills, check out these recipes from the UGL staff guaranteed to be easy and tiny-college-kitchen-approved.

This cake is crazy (good).

Even if you’re Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen, you may find yourself stymied by your tiny apartment or res hall kitchen, with no room for fancy cooking gadgets and nonexistent counter space. These college-friendly recipes are quick, easy, and tasty. And we’ve got something for everyone.

Love that it’s apple season? Try Zoe’s Apple Right Side Up Cake, or Lauren’s Apple Crisp. Need something other than apples to satisfy your sweet tooth? Jessica makes a Crazy Cake that’s crazy easy. Or consider whipping up some super Simple Shortbread Cookies, a favorite of David’s, or Holly’s Lemon Poppyseed Bread. If you’re craving sweet and salty, Susan puts bacon in her Rice Krispie Treats (and we promise you’ll love it).

Kick start your day with Quetzalli’s Microwave Breakfast Bars

Want something a little more hearty to share at your party? Lori has served up some Congri that’ll please the crowd. Or try Madeline’s Taco Salad Dip, which never seems to last very long. Have too many chips and not enough dip? Bernita makes a mean BLT dip and Gregg loves Gert’s Egg Paste that will dress up your crackers nicely.

Pam’s Snack Wraps will have you looking like a pro.

If none of these get you drooling (Are you sure?), check out our Fall Recipes Pinterest board to really stretch your cooking and baking muscles. We’ve also recommended cookbooks that you can find in UIUC libraries. And while you’re there, explore our other boards, especially the one pointing you to even more cookbooks to suit every diet and palate.

You can find all the recipes below if you don’t want to go to Pinterest…but we have lots of cool stuff on our Pinterest, so maybe you should. Just a suggestion.

: BLT Dip from Bernita

: Shortbread Cookies from David

: Egg Paste from Gregg

: Lemon Poppyseed Bread from Holly

: Crazy Cake from Jessica

: Apple Crisp from Lauren

: Congri from Lori

: Apple Cake from Zoe

: Taco Salad Dip from Madeline

: Maple Bacon Rice Krispie Treats from Susan

: Snack Wraps from Pam

: Microwave Breakfast Bars from Quetzalli

: Pumpkin Pastry from Angeline

Exercise your FREADom!

Posted on September 26, 2013 by CN

This year’s Banned Books Week is almost over – but there’s still time to learn about it, and to get your hands on a dangerous book. Here’s the low-down on what the week is all about, where you can find more information, and what you can do to get involved.

Artwork courtesy of American Library Association.

Banned Books Week is a 7-day event organized every year by the American Library Association to promote wider awareness of censorship and intellectual freedom. Basically, you have the right to read books of all kinds, and librarians, teachers, journalists, and other folks across the country want you to have access to those books. When schools, communities, or individuals attempt to restrict access to books by banning or censoring them, that makes us very unhappy. You might think book banning is a thing of the past, or something that only happens in dystopian novels, but people attempt to take books off shelves even now. For instance, just this month a school board in Ohio tried to remove Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye from curriculums, claiming that its content was pornographic and unsuitable for school-aged children. According to the ALA, between the years 2000 and 2009, there were a reported 5,099 challenges to books in the United States. Banning books is a very real phenomenon.

If the idea of being denied the right to choose what you read riles you up, what can you do about it? For starters, you can read our blog post from last year on the subject, or visit the official Banned Books Week website to get broader information about book challenges in the United States. If you want to know whether there have ever been book burnings at UIUC – your friendly neighborhood QB has the answer to that. You can find an event to attend, or stage your own virtual read-out where you record yourself reading aloud from a challenged book.

Possibly the most enjoyable way to celebrate Banned Books Week is to check out a banned book from the library and be happy that in most cases, attempts to remove books from shelves are unsuccessful. The ALA released a list of the 10 most challenged books of 2012 – and wouldn’t you know, all of them are available to you from your own UIUC library. Click on a link below to be taken to a book’s page in the catalog, where you can request it and then take it home with you.

The Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
50 Shades of Grey by E. L. James
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Beloved by Toni Morrison

If those top 10 books don’t float your boat (or if you’ve read them all already!), you can also peruse the UGL’s banned book suggested reading list or our banned book Pinterest board. Have a favorite banned book that you don’t see on any of these lists? Mention it in the comments so others can share in the enjoyment of the free exchanged of ideas.

Short and Sweet

Posted on July 15, 2013 by CN

Most of our reading recommendations here on the UGL blog have been novels and nonfiction. It can be immensely rewarding to invest your time and energy in a long read, and it can keep you entertained and stimulated for hours and hours. This week, however, we thought we’d recommend a different kind of reading experience: the pleasure of reading short stories.

Much has been said about the literary form of the short story. Noted short story writer and essayist David Sedaris has said that “A good [short story] would take me out of myself and then stuff me back in, outsized, now, and uneasy with the fit.” Rather than the dedicated effort that a novel requires, short stories allow you to quickly quickly immerse yourself in a new world, and reemerge just as quickly, perhaps with a new idea or new perspective about something. You know that feelings you get after you finish a good book, where you’re still wrapped up in the story and riding the high of the emotions it gave you? Good short stories let you have that feeling over and over again, in a single volume! That’s just a good value.

Here are some short story collections available from the library that can help you get your toes wet in the short story pool:

If none of the above seem like quite your cup of tea (or if they’re all checked out to voracious short story readers!), you can always find more by doing a search in the Library Catalog for books with ‘Short Story’ as a Subject. Like so:

Enter Short Stories into the catalog search bar, and select 'Subject' from the drop-down menu next to it.

You can also search in I-Share, of course, if you want even more options.

Once you have some results, you can narrow them down to your area of interest by using the Topic limiters that show up on the right-hand side of the results screen.

A list of topics within short stories, including stories from different countries.

And so on, and so forth.

If you have a favorite short story collection, let us know about it in the comments! We wish you happy reading, whatever format it takes.

Go 4th and Celebrate

Posted on July 1, 2013 by CN

This coming Thursday is July the 4th, also known as Independence Day. There are lots of fun ways to observe this US national holiday – here’s a round-up of resources to help you make the most of your celebration.

Just a quick note about hours – due to the holiday, all campus libraries will be closed on Thursday, July 4th. So if you want to check out a book or movie to get in the spirit of things, make sure you do it before Thursday! We’ll be back on Friday, July 5th for our regular summer hours.

Historical and Educational Resources
July 4th is a celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the full text of which can be found online via Credo Reference. There’s also an entry in the Encyclopedia of American Studies on the Fourth of July itself. For more information about the Declaration of Independence, the people who developed it, and the American Revolutionary War in general, you can check out some of the following books:
The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89 by Edward S. Morgan
Revolutionary America, 1763-1815 : a Sourcebook edited by Francis D. Cogliano
The Invention of George Washington by Paul K. Longmore
The Women of the American Revolution by Elizabeth F. Ellet
“Strong and Brave Fellows” : New Hampshire’s Black Soldiers and Sailors of the American Revolution, 1775-1784 by Glenn A. Knoblock
Founding Friendship : George Washington, James Madison, and the Creation of the American Republic by Stuart Leibiger
The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood

Cookbooks
As with many holidays in the US, food is a major part of July 4th celebrations. Grilling food outside and cooking over open flames are especially appropriate for the midst of summer – check out one of these cookbooks to get fired up about your July 4th feast. Just remember to be careful and observe fire safety rules!

Films
After you’ve got your plate heaped with food, you might want to kick back with a movie, whether it be related to American history, takes place on the 4th of July, or is just about baseball, America’s pasttime. The movies below all fall into at least one of these categories. If you took advantage of any of the books above, maybe you can spot some inaccuracies in the historical films.

And of course, don’t forget the best July 4th movie of all time: Independence Day.

Local Information
If you’re not throwing your own party, there are plenty of local events for you to attend instead. July4th.net is the online home of the Champaign County Freedom Celebration, which has information about a parade, an evening entertainment lineup, and a fireworks display. The Champaign County Park District will also have 4th of July festivities at the Sholem Aquatic Center, including face-painting and a watermelon eating contest. If you’re willing to travel a little, the Champaign County Forest Preserve is also having a Freedom Fest in Mahomet, Illinois.

Going to a public display is the best way to enjoy fireworks on the 4th of July – be safe and remember that using fireworks on your own could get you into a lot of trouble.

We hope this collection is helpful to you in your celebration! If you have any other ideas for ways to enjoy the holiday, feel free to share them in the comments, and have a wonderful Independence Day.

Good Times

Posted on June 10, 2013 by CN

There’s a time and place for everything, and summer on campus is the time for (among other things) relaxing with some movies from the UGL media collection. If you find yourself with time to kill between your summer classes, why not try watching a film on the theme of time travel? Here are a few we’ve picked out – let us know if we missed any good ones!

DVD cover: some men have built an ominous box

Primer
This movie focuses on the consequences of time travel and how difficult it might be to navigate the ethics of time travel. It’s written, produced, and directed by Shane Carruth, who also plays one of the main characters, and who also was formerly an engineer, so I think we can trust his technological insights. The movie won big time at the 2004 Sundance film festival.

DVD cover: Jean Claude Van Damme has a futuristic gun
Timecop
For those that prefer their time travel to be heavy on the action, this 1980s flick might hit the spot. Set in the distant future year of 2004, it follows a government agent tasked with combating time crime. He races back and forth through time periods, unraveling political intrigue and avoiding the schemes of the perpetrators. It might have some plot holes, but it could still be worth your time if you’re looking for pure entertainment.

DVD cover: young Keanu Reeves and friends in a telephone booth
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Two high schoolers travel back in time in a phone booth and meet famous historical figures in an effort to pass a history class. Should they fail the class, their fates will be altered and the future Utopian society based on their leadership will never happen. This is why you should spend your time wisely, and study.

The Time Machine DVD cover: a scientist looks distraught as a monster assaults a person
The Time Machine
H.G. Wells’ novel The Time Machine is the origin of the popular term…”time machine.” It’s a classic of science fiction that has stood the test of time and inspired countless derivative works and sequels. This film version is from 1960, and won an Academy Award for Visual Effects for its time-lapse photography.

The Time Traveler's Wife DVD cover: people are snuggling sideways
The Time Travelers’ Wife
Most movie time travelers make use of technology or magic to move through time, but the protagonist of this story travels due to an unexplained genetic condition. He is unable to control when and where he ends up, his love life suffers many unpredictable consequences. The film is based on the novel of the same title by Audrey Niffenegger, which you can also check out.

The Fountain DVD cover: figures perched on sci-fi landscape
The Fountain
The characters in this film may not actually travel through time themselves, but the viewer is transported to many different time periods, connected by a narrative thread: a couple in love try to cope with the reality of death. Heavy stuff, but it’s worth reflecting on how to cope when your time is up.

That’s all we have time for right now – pick these up from the UGL if they interest you, or let us know in the comments what time travel movies you prefer!

Summer Survival

Posted on June 3, 2013 by CN

Ah, summer. The time of year when temperatures rise, and nature simultaneously asserts itself as a source of enjoyment (Sunshine! Flowers!) and a force to be reckoned with (Sunburn! Bug bites!).

If battling the heat and summer classes have got you down, take a break and enjoy something from this reading list inspired by the age-old theme of People Versus Nature. Some of them are very suspenseful, and some are not – you can choose according to how adventurous you’re feeling. And all of them, of course, are enjoyable from within the air-conditioned luxury of the library. Stop in and pick one up!

The characters in Gilligan’s Island may be shipwrecked, but they really don’t have it that bad. It seems there is no problem they can’t solve using bamboo and coconuts. Enjoy all three seasons of their exploits, and if their craftiness inspires you, check out this book on Eco-Crafts; maybe you, too, can make something useful or fun from the things in your environment.

One step up from Gilligan’s Island is the classic adventure story of Robinson Crusoe. The main character still gets clever with his surroundings, but the stakes are higher, since cannibals and wild animals are everywhere. Don’t worry about him too much, though – in the end he gets rescued. For a contemporary spin on the shipwrecked loner theme, try the film Cast Away. It has a sadder ending, but 100% more anthropomorphic volleyballs.

If you’re ready to step away from the confines of fiction, pick up this autobiography of Bear Grylls, TV survival artist extraordinaire. What will this man not do to survive? He has, for instance, ” utilised the corpse of a sheep as a sleeping bag and flotation device.” I expect big things from a person like that. If things go really wrong, however, his support crew is never too far away, so he’ll make it out alright.

Cheryl Strayed might not have ever done anything ingenious with a dead sheep, but she did walk the entirety of the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail, alone, with no previous backpacking experience and no TV crew to help her. The experience helped Strayed cope with the disintegration of her personal life and come out ahead of many personal challenges.

Sometimes those who face the forces of nature don’t come out on top. Into the Wild is the story of an American hitchhiker who disappeared from civilization and attempted to live off the Alaskan wilderness, and who was eventually found dead in an abandoned bus. His motivations for undertaking such a dangerous expedition, and how basic preparation could have perhaps prevented his demise, have inspired much discussion, and even a movie version.

If reading these tales of humanity versus wilderness leaves you hankering for your own outdoor adventure, make sure you adequately prepare, so you can spend your time enjoying nature instead of struggling to live. Check out a book on outdoor skills, such as Hiking in Illinois or the Wilderness Survival Handbook, and get information about local destinations and regulations via Champaign Park District or the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Your favorite underground library will still be here to offer you shade and comfy chairs when you get back!

Spotlight on…American Fact Finder

Posted on April 25, 2013 by HJL

In these final frantic weeks of the school year, you may find yourself needing some stats for final projects and papers. If you’re not sure where to get started, we have a lot of resources to help, but if you know you need stats about American people, businesses, industries, or markets, then try American Fact Finder’s Guided Search tool to get exactly what you need.

Screen shot of American Fact Finder homepage shows many options for finding informaiton.
American Fact Finder is hosted by the U.S. Census and is a good source for data about agriculture, education, employment, health, law, etc. Their website features valuable links to other official statistical resources, both domestic and international. Using the Guided Search tool enables you to tell the database exactly what you’re looking for, in an easy, step-by-step format.

To get to American Fact Finder, you simply start at the UGL homepage, and click on “How do I?” in the top right corner:

screenshot: How Do I link is in top-most navigational menu on UGL homepage

From there, you’ll look for the heading for “Find Sources” and then click on “Statistics”:

screenshot: Statistics are listed under 'find other types of sources'

Finally, you’ll see a selection of databases designed for statistics, and you’ll click on “American Fact Finder”:

screenshot: on statistics page, American FactFinder is listed under 'starting points'

Once you’re in the database, you’ll see an option on the left side of your screen for “Guided Search.” Just select that option, and follow the link to get started.

screenshot: Guided Search is a good search option to start with if you're unfamiliar with the resource.

The guided search tool will now walk you through several steps to help you narrow the information you can access. You start with selecting what kind of information you want (like people, industries, housing, or a specific table or dataset). Next you’ll choose topic areas (like age, education, race, etc.), then location (or geography), and on until you can see results that match your criteria. You can add as many topics, geographies, etc., as you like.

screenshot: the guided search gives you many options to refine your search.

Then the database will give you tables and stats based on your criteria, and you can also easily see what census the information has pulled from, so you know how recent it is. Pretty nifty, huh? This is only one librarian-approved source for statistics. If you find yourself needing other types of stats, check out the UGL’s statistics guide for more great sources of information.

Find other posts in the Spotlight On… series here.

Crowdsource Your Reading

Posted on April 22, 2013 by CN

A bulletin board was entirely covered front and back with students' favorite books.

This does not come close to representing how many books you all posted.

Usually when reading recommendations get posted on our blog, it means a librarian sat down and thought about books for a while (as librarians tend to do) before making a list and posting it for your perusal. It’s fun for us and hopefully for you, too! That’s not how this post got made, however – this week, we thought we’d turn it over to you.

if you visited the UGL in person last week, you may have noticed a whiteboard just inside the doors of the upper level. The whiteboard wanted to know what books had influenced you the most, and as you can see the picture above, lots of you responded! The board stayed up for a few more days after this picture was taken, so even more people wrote down and posted their most influential reads as time went on. Book titles filled up both sides and even started creeping around the edges.

Since you were all so eager to share your recommendations with each other (and showed a lot of variety in your choices) we’ve made today’s readers’ advisory based on the books you posted to the board. If you saw an interesting title on the board, maybe you’ll find it linked below and check it out – and if it’s one of the many we missed, you can look it up in the catalog or ask a librarian to help you find it.

What book has influenced you the most, Club UGL?

Whew! That’s a load of good books right there, and it doesn’t even begin to cover it. If you contributed to the board (and therefore today’s post) thanks for you contributions. If you missed out, feel free to share your recommendations now in the comments, and keep an eye out for future whiteboard questions in the UGL!

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