John Dillinger was killed as he left Chicago’s Biograph Theatre after attending the gangster film Manhattan Melodrama on this date (July 22nd) in 1934.
You may have seen the currently-playing film Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp (I did!), which was partially filmed in Wisconsin. It’s based on the book Public enemies: America’s greatest crime wave and the birth of the FBI, 1933–34. The book is available to UWW students and staff from other UW campus libraries by using the free Universal Borrowing service (requested materials arrive in 2-4 weekdays). Other titles, such as Dillinger: The untold story, are also available.
More information is available from Library article databases and reference materials, such as full-text newspaper databases including NewspaperARCHIVE or ProQuest Historical Newspapers – The New York Times.
Other article databases provide access to articles such as Public enemies keystone cops (American History, Aug. 2009, vol. 44:no. 3, pp. 34-39).
You can also read a 20-page entry (with several photos) on Dillinger in the 2nd-floor Reference Collection title Bloodletters and badmen (Ref HV 6785 .N37).
And check out The FBI: A Centennial History, 1908-2008 which details Dillinger and other gangsters as well as other intriguing cases encountered by the FBI in its history. It’s in our 2nd-floor Federal Government Documents collection (call number J 1.14/2:C 33/3) and available online at http://fbi.gov/book.htm. Dillinger is on the cover. Can you spot him?
Please ask a librarian for assistance in finding materials.
The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!
I just heard on the news Monday morning that Pulitzer-Prize winning author Frank McCourt passed away on Sunday, July 19th.
If you are interested in reading his work, Andersen Library has his memoirs Angela’s Ashes (3rd-Floor Main Collection, E184.I6 M117 1997) as well as the movie adaptation (2nd-Floor Browsing DVDs, Feature Film, Ang).
The continuation of his memoirs, ‘Tis, is available from other UW campus libraries to UWW students and staff via the free Universal Borrowing service, as well as being available in area public libraries including the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library in Whitewater.
More information about Frank McCourt is available from the Biography Ref Bank Select database (WilsonWeb): his entry in Current Biography 1998 (select the “Biography Ref Bank Select” database and then search for McCourt, Frank).
Actor Karl Malden passed away on Wed., July 3rd. I enjoyed watching Mr. Malden in television’s The Streets of San Francisco with a young Michael Douglas, but he also appeared in many movies. Andersen Library has a couple of movies if you’d like to see some of his best work: On the waterfront from 1954 (2nd-floor Browsing DVD, Feature Film, call no. “On”) and A Streetcar named Desire from 1951 (2nd-floor Browsing VHS, call no. PN1997 .S74x), both starring Marlon Brando, by the way.
You can obtain biographical information about Mr. Malden in the database Contemporary Authors, or look for his book, written with his daughter Carla Malden in 1997, When Do I Start?: A Memoir. Andersen Library does not have a copy, but UWW staff & students can request it from other UW campus libraries using the free Universal Borrowing service.
OK, we also lost some other well-known people recently. The Library has a movie Farrah Fawcett made with Robert Duvall in 1997: The Apostle (2nd-floor Browsing DVD, Feature Film, call no. “Apo”) and books about Michael Jackson, including Moonwalk written by the King of Pop himself (3rd-floor Main Collection, ML420 .J175 A3 1988).
If the Fourth of July celebrations aren’t enough for you this weekend, check these out and enjoy.
The Library’s Browsing collections of feature movies in VHS or DVD formats includes 96 of the titles on the American Film Institute’s “AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies” 10th anniversary list. Most of them are available in DVD format.
This list has something for everyone, including sci-fi classic Blade Runner (one of my personal favorites), Casablanca (go ahead and hum “As Time Goes By“), and Bringing Up Baby (it’s not every day you see the subject “Leopards as pets” in the Library Catalog).
When you search for a movie title in the Library Catalog, click on “Full View” to see more information such as plot summary, original motion picture date, stars, and running length. You can also get additional information from web sites such as Internet Movie Database and Rotten Tomatoes.
Of course, the Library has movies that are not on the AFI list too. Try a title search in the Library Catalog if you’re looking for something specific. Feature films in DVD format are on the shelf alphabetically by title, so you can browse too. Looking for videos on a topic or titles appropriate for children? There are ways to search the catalog, such as a keyword search for “juvenile films” or “children’s films” with the “Quick Limit” video collection. Please ask a librarian for assistance.
UWW & surrounding communities are taking part in “The Big Read” featuring the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Events are scheduled throughout April at sites such as local libraries and museums, and in the UWW’s Young Auditorium. See the blog http://youngauditorium.wordpress.com/
Andersen Library has the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning movie (2nd-floor Browsing DVD, Feature Film Collection) and will show it on the 2nd floor on April 1st. The novel is available in Andersen Library’s 3rd-floor Main Collection (PS3562 .E353 T6).
Free copies of a reader’s guide, bookmarks, and an audio guide CD will be distributed starting April 1st. Andersen Library also is raffling off 5 free t-shirts — drop off your name and contact info at the Circulation Desk for the drawing.
More information about author Harper Lee, along with an analysis of her novel, is available via the MagillOnLiterature database, and there are many other relevant resources in the Library, such as an early review in the New York Times (July 13, 1960, p.33) available from the ProQuest Historical Newspapers database. Please ask a librarian for assistance in finding additional information.
So I’m just getting around to reading last week’s Royal Purple and I see that there is a film being shown every Wednesday for the next three weeks (it started Feb. 4) in honor of Black History Month. The movies start at 6:30 p.m. in the UC Summers Auditorium. Here’s the line-up:
If you missed Malcolm X (like I did), the University Library has it in VHS format (Browsing VHS, 2nd floor, PN1997 .M348 1993). Spike Lee directed and Denzel Washington starred in it, so you know you can’t go wrong. University Library also has the book on which the film is based, The autobiography of Malcolm X (3rd-floor Main Collection, E185.97 .L5 A3).
If you miss Freedom Writers you can get that from the University Library too (2nd-floor Browsing DVD, Feature Film, Fre). That’s based on the book The Freedom Writers diary: how a teacher and 150 teens used writing to change themselves and the world around them (3rd-floor Main Collection, HQ796 .F76355 2001).
The other two films in the series are not part of UWW’s video collection, but may be available to UWW students and staff from other UW libraries by using the free Universal Borrowing service. Requested materials arrive in 2-4 weekdays.
New for Spring semester: The Library’s “Browsing” collections on the 2nd (main) floor. When you enter the Library, walk straight ahead into the Browsing collections, which include:
Browsing DVDs: Popular feature films have been separated and are arranged by their titles for easy browsing (some of these are still in process, getting their labels). The rest are still arranged by call numbers.
Browsing VHS tapes: These are arranged by call numbers. We are still in the process of moving them from the 1st-floor Media Center to the 2nd floor, so bear with us. Everything is listed in the library catalog, of course.
Browsing Books: This set includes recent print fiction and non-fiction, audio books, and graphic novels, as well as the New Book Island, which contains books received in the last 2 months.
In the future the Browsing are will include the CDs (also in order by call numbers). Right now they are still in the 1st-floor Media Center.
There is also comfortable seating, and the newest issues of newspapers and several magazines are at hand too. The Food for Thought cafe is available nearby for a snack and beverage.
Coming soon: a large-screen TV that can play DVDs or cable channels like CNN.
You are invited to join us…relax, get the latest news, find something enjoyable to read, listen to, or watch. Let us know how you like it! And if you have any questions about finding anything, please Ask a Librarian for help.
I saw the movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” over the holidays. I enjoyed it, but it was long, and the premise required significant suspension of disbelief (I mean, how would it be physically possible to grow younger?!). But I enjoyed it enough that I hope to read the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story upon which it is based, which is available in a book called The short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: a new collection (3rd-floor Main Collection, PS3511 .I9 A6 1989).
When I first saw this movie advertized I thought it was based on a 2004 novel by Andrew Sean Greer called The confessions of Max Tivoli. I was very impressed with this book because I thought it had a fresh, unique idea about someone born aged and growing younger… and how often do you read something with a storyline that isn’t just a variation on a theme? Well, of course I was much less impressed when I learned the Button movie was based on an older story with the same idea! But the novel was a very good read anyway, and while we don’t have it at UW-Whitewater, UWW students and staff can borrow it from another UW library by using the free Universal Borrowing service.
I just saw the new Nicole Kidman/Hugh Jackman/Baz Luhrmann epic movie Australia, and enjoyed it very much. Critics seem to be split almost 50-50 on it. I wasn’t expecting it to be almost 3 hours long, but I didn’t notice until it was over because it keeps moving along.
Now, if you’re inspired to learn more about Australia, your University Library has materials for that, including In a sunburned country by Bill Bryson (3rd-floor Main Collection DU105.2 .B83 2000), which I thought was very fun reading. Other titles have more to do with the serious topics in the movie, such as Australia at war, 1939-1945 (3rd-floor Main Collection, D767.8 .R63 1981) and Stolen generations (1st-floor Media Center Videos, GN666 .S87 2001 – VHS format), a film about the Australian policy of removing Aboriginal children from their parents that was in effect from the 1930s until the 1970s.
There is also the web site of the Australian Human Rights Commission, which includes the 1997 report Bringing them home: Report of the national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.
In case you haven’t heard, we have movies that you’d actually want to watch outside of the classroom, not just in school. We just received a second batch of popular titles, such as V for Vendetta, The Big Lebowski, Anchorman and Blood Diamond, all ready to go home with you. They’re available for checkout for two weeks.
You can find these movies two ways:
- Browse the New Book Island on the second floor and the Center Media Collection on the first floor in the call number sections PN 1997 and PN 1997.2.
- Search in the catalog for “feature films” AND DVD – and use the ‘Videorecording’ quick limit.
