Summer Books and Movies, Round One

summer reading.

summer reading. by Charley {like, the girl way} on flickr

We hope you have a little more time to catch up on fun movies and books over the summer — it’s when us library folks have a little extra time to breathe and read, too.  We’ll be releasing a series of book and movie picks from students and staff all over the library, but here’s a few titles to get us started.  Do you have big summer book or movie plans?  Let us know in the comments, below!

Adapted from a Philip K. Dick story, a re-make with Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Bryan Cranston will be released in August 2012. Be sure to see the 1990 original with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone, or read the Philip K. Dick short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale“: the re-make promises to be very different than the Verhoeven version.

“Its great magic is in making the worn-out story of Henry and his many wives seem fascinating and suspenseful again… [not] nostalgic, exactly, but it’s astringent and purifying, stripping away the cobwebs and varnish of history, the antique formulations and brocaded sentimentality of costume-­drama novels, so that the English past comes to seem like something vivid, strange and brand new. — New York Times

“It is an extraordinary work, both realist and visionary, a historical-lyrical recreation of early encounters between black and white on the south coast of Western Australia… That Deadman Dance is a novel to read, recite, and reread, to linger over as Scott peels back layer after layer of meaning, as he slides unapologetically across time and between cultures and ways of being, seeing and understanding. — Sydney Morning Herald

“Part of Morrison’s longstanding greatness resides in her ability to animate specific stories about the black experience and simultaneously speak to all experience. It’s precisely by committing unreservedly to the first that she’s able to transcend the circumscribed audience it might imply. This work’s accomplishment lies in its considerable capacity to make us feel that we are each not only resident but co-owner of, and collectively accountable for, this land we call home.” — New York Times

“Alison Bechdel is still not the household name she deserves to be… Well, rectify that without delay because her latest volume of ravishingly drawn, brilliantly written autobiography is her biggest crowd-pleaser to date…. [T]his deceptively light book is in fact a serious excursion into the meaning of identity and how our selves are created through early interactions with our mothers.” — The Telegraph

  •  2312 / Kim Stanley Robinson

“His boldest trip into all of the marvelous SF genres—ethnography, future shock, screed against capitalism, road to earth—and all of the ways to thrill and be thrilled. It’s a future history that’s so secure and comprehensive that it reads as an account of the past.” — Slate

 

NU Athletics: If you can play, you can play.

In partnership with the organization You Can Play, Northeastern University Athletics has recently recorded a PSA supporting equality in sports. Northeastern student- athletes, coaches, administrators,and fans came together to express their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender athletes, promoting their message that sexual orientation has no bearing in sport: if you can play, you can play. In their partnership with You Can Play, NU Athletics is been committed to creating an open, inclusive and supporting culture at Northeastern for LGBT athletes and students.

The cast of Triangle Theater Company’s “A Night Out with the Boys,” 1983. Archives Photo.

Supporting the LGBT community at Northeastern more broadly,the Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department highlights LGBT groups as part of the social justice collection strategy. Community members can view collections from organizations such as: Archives collections include materials such as documents, newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, and articles allow the Northeastern community to learn and gain an understanding of the history of the LGBT community and support for it in Massachusetts. These collections and others and be viewed in the library’s Archives and Special Collections Department located at 92 Snell Library.  

Open Access supporters petition the White House (Updated)

[Update] On June 3rd, the petition supporters reached their goal of 25,000 signatures! This year, the Obama administration has been actively considering the issue of public access to the results of federally funded research. The administration is currently considering which policy actions are priorities that will it will act on before the 2012 presidential election season begins in earnest. Supporters of  open access to research results hope to demonstrate a strong public interest in expanding the NIH Public Access Policy across all U.S. federal science agencies. As a supporter of open access to information, I agree with them. On Monday, a petition calling for public access to federally funded research was posted on the White House’s “We the People” site.  If the petition garners 25,000 signatures within 30 days, it will be reviewed by White House staff, and considered for action. I’ve signed the petition, and so have over 7,000 other people as of today. For more information on open access issues and initiatives in the library, see the library’s information page, the subject guide, or this recent 3Qs with Dean Will Wakeling from news@Northeastern.

Harvard open memo says major journal publishers’ prices are “untenable”

On April 17, 2012, Harvard University’s Faculty Advisory Council on the Library issued an open memo to the Harvard community stating that “major periodical subscriptions cannot be sustained” due to high prices and unreasonable publisher practices. If this topic sounds familiar, it’s because it’s already been in the news recently – in January, mathematician Timothy Gowers-Lee blogged about these issues specifically as they relate to publishing giant Elsevier. In February, a website was created where scholars could sign on to a boycott of Elsevier; as of today over 10,000 signatures have been gathered. The Harvard memo avoids mentioning specific companies, instead  referring to “certain publishers” that receive close to $3.75 million per year from Harvard for its subscriptions to their journals. Harvard’s expenses for online journal content from just two major providers has increased 145% over the past six years. The memo states, “The Faculty Advisory Council to the Library, representing university faculty in all schools and in consultation with the Harvard Library leadership,  reached this conclusion: major periodical subscriptions, especially to electronic journals published by historically key providers, cannot be sustained: continuing these subscriptions on their current footing is financially untenable. Doing so would seriously erode collection efforts in many other areas, already compromised.” Harvard University is certainly not alone in struggling with rising subscription costs – it’s been discussed in the professional literature since the 1990s, when publishers introduced the “big deal” pricing model of requiring libraries to subscribe to less important journals along with their subscriptions to essential titles. Only recently, though, have the mainstream media begun reporting on publishers’ questionable practices. Although it’s too soon to say whether the Harvard memo will have any direct impact on the industry, it’s definitely increasing public awareness of an issue that  not only affects Harvard but is jeopardizing the financial sustainability of academia as a whole. Recommended reading: ⇒ Full text of the Faculty Advisory Council Memorandum on Journal Pricing ⇒ “Harvard Now Spending Nearly $3.75 Million on Academic Journal Bundles,” The Atlantic, April 23, 2012 ⇒ “The wealthiest university on Earth can’t afford its academic journal subscriptions,” io9.com, April 24, 2012 ⇒ “If Harvard Can’t Afford Academic Journal Subscriptions, Maybe It’s Time for an Open Access Model,” Time, April 26, 2012 ⇒ “Harvard panel pushes benefits of free journals,” The Boston Globe, April 28, 2012  

Celebrate May Day!

Let’s celebrate labor! Yesterday was May Day, internationally celebrated as a day of recognition for labor and the working class. To learn about labor and labor history, you probably know to search NUCat for books and other items in our collection, and use our library home page discovery search box to add journal articles to your search.  In addition, here are some other, perhaps lesser-known, collections and items related to labor that we have to offer in the NU Libraries. You may have heard references in the media to Northeastern’s Center for Labor Market Studies, an applied research unit that focuses on employment and unemployment in New England and nationwide.  Center for Labor Market Studies reports are collected and published in IRis, Northeastern’s digital archive of university scholarship.

Coop student files papers, circa 1940. Courtesy of NU Archives and Special Collections

The Archives and Special Collections help you go back in time to learn about the history of labor and labor relations in Boston. Their unique documents include Gay and Lesbian Labor Activists Network records from 1987-2001, which illustrate that organization’s campaigns against homophobia in the labor movement, and their support for benefits for domestic partners and nondiscrimination. Our Archives and Special Collections also help you learn about labor history and union advocacy in Boston’s immigrant community organizations, such as the Chinese Progressive Association and El Colectivo Puertoriqueño de Boston. The Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) is another advocacy organization, started in 1986 to promote women leaders in the Massachusetts labor movement; their records, including photographs, negatives and slides, are also available in our Archives and Special Collections. For the most up-to-date information about labor, try our research databases. Factiva (with Wall Street Journal articles) and Lexis-Nexis help you find up-to-date news, while Business Source Complete and EconLit have scholarship and research articles. For a country-by-country view of labor practices, try EIU Country Reports. Don’t forget that the library has videos!  1-800-INDIA: Importing a White-Collar Economy, available streaming, is a great example–a fascinating look at how outsourced white-collar jobs have affected family relations, urban landscapes, women’s lives, labor practices, and economic development in India.

Courtesy Smithsonian Global Sound

Finally, celebrate May 1 by listening to some old-time labor songs. Here’s labor organizer Florence Reese, followed by Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers, with the heartfelt “Which Side Are You On?” from the album Classic Labor Songs (Smithsonian Folkways).