Library News

This Day in History: Disney and Miramax Split

On March 29, 2005, after  a yearlong negotiation, the Walt Disney Company ended its relationship with Harvey and Bob Weinstein of Miramax Films. Miramax was founded by the Weinstein brothers in 1979, and was soon established as an up and coming distributor and producer through movies such as Pelle the Conqueror (1989), sex, lies and videotape (1989), and The Crying Game (1992). In 1993, the Weinsteins sold Miramax to Disney for $80 million in order to gain greater financial stability. It seemed to be an odd pairing due to Miramax’s history with edgy, adult-oriented content and Disney’s family-friendly reputation. However, it began well with the $108 million grossing Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994). Movies like Good Will Hunting and Shakespeare in Love followed as Disney and Miramax continued to work together. However, discord began to brew after a few unsuccessful films and when the Talk magazine project tanked the New York Times published an article announcing the split between the two companies. According to the NYT article, the split was decided when Disney refused to distribute Michael Moore’s politically charged Fahrenheit 9/11, financed by Miramax. The controversy developed in the middle of contract negotiations, which ended with Disney as the retainer of the Miramax name and the Weinstein’s with Dimension Films, which produced hits such as Scream and Scary Movie as well as $130 million to start a new film production company. Interested in further research on Disney, Miramax, or animation in general? Check out some of Snell’s resources on the subjects: Walt Disney: Conversations edited by Kathy Merlock Jackson Dimension Films and the Exploitation Tradition in Contemporary Hollywood by Bradley Schauer (information for this blogpost was referenced from history.com)

Freedom House Collections featured in The Scout Report

Established in 1949 by two African American social workers, Muriel S. and Otto P. Snowden, Freedom House was created to centralize community activism in Roxbury, MA, a middle-class, racially mixed neighborhood. The hope of its founders was to link community members to existing services and to create new services in areas that were lacking by focusing on neighborhood improvement, good schools, and harmony among racial, ethnic, and religious groups. Eventually, archives from the Freedom House came to Northeastern University and were digitized creating the Northeastern University Libraries’ Freedom House Collection consisting of 2,265 photographs, negatives, and slides. These images document a variety of topics including the organization’s early activities to create an integrated Roxbury, to initiate citizen participation in the urban renewal of Roxbury, and the early oversight of Boston Public Schools desegregation.  The images also include representations of well-known figures like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator John F. Kennedy. More recently, on March 18, 2011, the The Scout Report listed NU Libraries’ Freedom House Collection as a featured research and education source. The article can be found here. The The Scout Report is a weekly publication that provides information on new or newly discovered online resources of interest to researchers and educators. To sign up to receive the The Scout Report in text or HTML format go to: http://scout.wisc.edu/About/subscribe.php To find out more about Northeastern University’s Digital Collections go to http://www.lib.neu.edu/archives/digital_collections/

LibX Plug-in Updated for Firefox 4

Everybody’s favorite browser plug-in, LibX @ NU, (version 1.5.6) has been updated to be compatible with Firefox 4! If you’re already using LibX, you may be prompted to update the plug-in sometime in the next few hours. This version also works in Internet Explorer. If you use Chrome, there’s now a Chrome version too! LibX for the NU Libraries offers: • An optional search bar at the top of the browser window for NuCat, Nexpress, and WorldCat Local • The ability to highlight any text in a web page and drag it to the search bar (see video) • Right-click highlighted browser text and search in NuCat, Nexpress, WorldCat or Google Scholar (see video) • Click the embedded N in Amazon, WorldCat, Google, and more, and search in NuCat or Tour (see video) • Right-click a web page or URL, including Google Scholar, and log in from home with Library/myNeu login (see video) • Click any isbn, issn, doi, or PMID on the web, and link to NuCat or full text (see video). • Get links to COINs, a standard for creating citations (see a video of how it works in Wikipedia) The plug-in helps you avoid frustration and save time, and brings you access to the library’s content where you are on the web. Try it out! Download LibX for NU Libraries here

Happy Birthday Houdini

Many of you may have noticed today that Google is honoring the 137th birthday of Harry Houdini! So, in the spirit of the great illusionist, I thought I would see what we could uncover on the subject. Here’s what I discovered: Born as Erik Weisz, Houdini immigrated from Hungary when he was four years old. His most famous tricks involved making mind-boggling escapes from potato sacks dangling from bridges or glass cases filled with water. One of his most famous tricks is known as Metamorphosis. Houdini would be tied into a sack and locked into a trunk, a curtain would close and when it would reopen, Houdini would be on the stage and his assistant would be in the trunk. All of these facts, and many more can be found by searching “Harry Houdini” in the journal/article discovery search on the library’s website. Or search NuCat for books and resources on Houdini.

Did You Know Snell Has Laptop Locks?

Laptop locks are now available for use on ten of the group study tables outside of the InfoCommons on the first floor of Snell Library. Hooks are located on the corner edge of each table and locks can be signed out at the Circulation Desk for up to three hours (one renewal allowed per usage). For more information please contact the Circulation Desk on the 1st floor of Snell Library at 617.373.8778.