Author Archives: nunezza2@illinois.edu

RBdigital

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The University Library subscribes to RBdigital, eAudio books from Recorded Books, which allows unlimited simultaneous users for each title. I tried the app out for the past few weeks, and I enjoyed using it. There are 5714 eAudio books from which a user can browse from, and the selections are pretty good, with many genres to chose from. I was lucky to find the newest Expanse novel on there, Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey. You can download the app on both Apple and Android phones/devices and on Amazon Kindle. Having the app at your fingertips on your phone is a really easy way to have access to audio books, and that it can be on both Apple and Android phones was a huge plus for me. At the time that I was trying the application out I was in between those two phones and using a tablet. The only big downside to this app was that the devices never synced together; I usually only got so far in one device by the time I moved on to the next, and the places where I left out where not automatically saved. I had to put a bookmark to save my place, which logically makes sense but I was expecting the application to just do that without any interference from me (sort of like Netflix or Hulu).
The layout of the platform is bordered by red with a background of black, which is a nice way for the covers of the books to be really seen and noticed. While browsing, the digital bookshelves allow you to see the covers of the books, along with the title, author and availability in plain text underneath them. You can search books by keyword, title, author or narrator while doing an easy search. There’s also an advanced search option that has genre, availability, or audience as search options (there will be dropdown menus for all of them with options to select from). You get to check out the books for three weeks, and as long as no one is checking that some ebook out, you can check it out again after those three weeks are over if you need more time. 
While listening to your books, at the bottom of your screen you will have 4 selections: the playback speed, chapter list, bookmarks and sleep timer. You have playback speed options from 0.5x to 2.0x, with 0.25x increments. Clicking on the chapter list tells you how long each chapter is, and allows you to move from chapter to chapter. The bookmarks lets you view and save multiple bookmarks. The sleep timer has the options of 15, 30, 45, 60 and 90 minutes before the app stops playing. 
Overall, I had a good experience using the app, and you should give at a try too. You’ll need to create an individual account to check out books. For more information on how to use this, you can use the following resource page: http://guides.library.illinois.edu/eAudio
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Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize Win

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One of the many covers of articles circulating the web, from CNN Money

A few days ago, the Pulitzer Prizes where announced, and one winner in particular surprised many people: Kendrick Lamar for his album Damn. I for one was not surprised at all because if you, like me, have listened to his amazing albums, you knew that this was coming. His lyrics in sweet tempo with his sound choices is so relevant and representative of today’s black culture that I am honestly surprised that this has not happened earlier. All of his albums have explored very similar themes, and have also recreated (at least for me) what poetry is. To Pimp A Butterfly at times reads more like a complex poetic piece exploring life than actual music, and is in his ability to create deep, and sometimes even, analytic pieces what makes Kendrick Lamar one of the best artists out there. It’s in his formidable capability to recreate the rough gang world from which he comes from and intermesh it with his feelings, contemplations, and most importantly, hope, that makes him so worthy of a Pulitzer and the public fame he is now under.

If you don’t believe me, or haven’t checked out his dope music yet, I recommend you do!

Here is where you can get To Pimp a Butterfly.
Here is where you can get Damn.
If you want to check out all that’s available by Kendrick, click here.
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“Idea to Project: Collaborative Humanities Research.”

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Overview:
From the moment a scholar embarks on a research project to its eventual point of completion or further continuation, she or he would have interacted with information professionals and fellow scholars in the field, worked with library and archival collections and a multitude of electronic resources and technologies. Although much is written about the end-result of such a journey, understanding the research process itself remains an exciting area of scholarship. Each Research Spotlight will highlight a scholar’s work and the author will discuss the work by addressing the following:

What factors and interests led to this research project?
What resources (people and materials) were critical to completing this manuscript?
What opportunities and challenges did the scholar encounter in the research process?
What suggestions does the scholar have for emerging scholars in this field of study?

Prof. Mara Wade (Germanic Languages & Literatures) and her research team will be the speakers.

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