Why Have a Subject of the Month Guide?
For years, the display in the Purdy/Kresge Library highlighted books from the print collections on a unique topic every month. However, the WSU Library System has a rich collection of eBooks, Online Journals, and Databases, too. In addition, there is an electronic universe of high-quality, freely available online resources that includes websites, videos, and blogs. This Research Guide for the Subject of the Month was developed in an effort to gather these resources together and make them available to a wider audience -- reaching students, faculty, and the online community at large.
January-June 2014
Selector: Karen Liston
We invite you to explore the beautiful variety and history of Islamic art and architecture. Wayne State University's library collection includes both online and printed volumes that showcase the splendor of individual pieces and explain the processes, influences, and development of genres as varied as pottery, glasswork, tilework, mosaics, painting, ceramics, embroidery, textiles, metalwork, jewelry, calligraphy and the very architecture and layout of Muslim cities themselves. The most challenging aspect of this display was deciding what to include; so be sure to look through the volumes I've selected and discover the beautiful treasures revealed in their pages. Online images from our own Detroit Institute of Arts -- as well as museums all over the world -- are also available for your exploration and delight!
Check it out here!
Selectors: Anne Hudson and Samantha Downes
The theme for this year's Black History Month is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. We hope you enjoy the resources that we have selected to commemorate this very important event.
Check it out here!
Selector: Rhonda McGinnis
This collection demonstrate the depth and richness of the history and Culture of Ireland. From it's Celtic roots through its early Christian and Viking eras, from the Norman invasion and subsequent English occupation through to the founding of the Irish Repbublic and the Troubles in Northern Ireland; Irish history is a fascinating area to explore! Culturally, Ireland has produced beautifully illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells, stunning pieces of early medieval goldwork, and glorious etched Waterford Crystal. She has also given the world numerous thought-provoking authors and poets, entertaining playwrights, and lively music to dance to.
Check it out here!
Selector: Dr. Joan E. Beaudoin
This month’s topic, digital preservation, is a relatively recent addition to the knowledge landscape. As our lives (i.e., work, entertainment, education, government, socializing, etc.) have increasingly moved to the online setting, there is a need to be aware of where our digital things are stored and how they are being preserved for future use. Digital content, and the devices used to create and store them, are fragile and prone to failure and so we need to be particularly diligent in our preservation efforts. This subject guide brings together books, journals, articles, websites, webinars and tools on the topic of digital preservation. Some of these are geared towards coping with digital content at the organizational level, while others are aimed at helping individuals. Wherever your digital preservation needs fall on this spectrum, the hope is that you will find practical steps that you can take to help ensure that our history and culture do not become lost to the future.
Check it out here!
Selectors: Steven Putt and Samantha Downes
This month's topic delves into the world of opera. The physical display, located on the first floor of the Purdy/Kresge Library, focuses on five important and prolific composers of opera. These composers are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gioachino Rossini, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini. This guide supplements with other important composers as well as videos of well-known arias and famous opera performers.
Check it out here!
Selectors: Veronica Bielat & Rachell Weeks
Candy and Children's Literature have gone hand in hand since the Grimm Brothers began sharing their fairy tales with the world. Full of life-sized gingerbread houses, gooey gum drops, candy apples, chocolate factories, marshmallow clouds, sugar plum fairies and runaway gingerbread men, it isn't a long stretch to suggest that candy and confection seem to do well with children and storytelling as a means of delivering a moral, a theme or a fantastical background. As you peruse through the Libguide think about what books you read as a child that featured candy. Did they influence your sweet tooth?
For more information about the Juvenile Collection and Children's Literature, see our Guide to Children's Literature.
Check it out here!
July-December 2014
Selectors: Lori Rinaldi & Rachael Clark
America's National Parks System springs from an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most precious portions of the land should be preserved, not for royalty or for the rich, but for everyone, for all time. From the world's very first National Park-Yellowstone, in 1872- to the most recent -Pinnacles, in California, in 2013-our National Parks System has been the guideline for the rest of the world in preserving important areas of land for our future generations to enjoy. With 58 National Parks; 109 National Monuments; 2,532 National Historic Landmarks and 596 National Natural Landmarks to choose from-there are endless possibilities for you to explore! What are you waiting for? Let's start planning your next trip!
Check it out here!
Selectors: Katrina Rouan & Samantha Downes
The word “harvest” may bring to mind a number of things including farms and farming, cultural celebrations, local markets and social movements. Whether you are interested in the machinery involved or curious about organic farming, this Harvest Month collection explores all facets of process of growing and gathering crops for our use.
Check it out here!
Selectors: James Van Loon & Rachael Clark
Physics and Astronomy are the focus of this month's Subject of the Month display in the Purdy/Kresge Library. Browse books, eBooks, and web resources on String Theory, Fractals, Optics, Nebulas, and more, including many items from the Juvenile Collection. The display complements a traveling exhibit, Here, There, & Everywhere.
Check it out here!
Selector: Nina Fawaz
Additional contributor: Alex Hanner
“If you're too young to remember the Time Before Pong, then you probably can't appreciate the momentousness of its arrival. Bear in mind the game emerged in a very different world. It was a time before home computers, cable television, cell phones, game consoles, the Internet--everything we take for granted today. For many of my formative years, we still watched TV in black and white, and had to get up to change the channel. This was the technological Dark Ages. Had we been less culturally enlightened, we would have denounced Pong as witchcraft and burned its inventors at the stake. For those of us who were there--who had never played, let alone seen, a video game--we knew we were witnessing something extraordinary, a groundbreaking achievement in home entertainment. However, none of us knew that we were participating in the birth of a revolution.”
― Devin C. Griffiths, Virtual Ascendance: Video Games and the Remaking of Reality
Check it out here!
Selector: Emily Brush
"For all children, it is time to know and acknowledge the truths of history. Only then will they come to have the understanding and respect for each other that now, more than ever, will be necessary for life to continue."
- Oyate "About Us"
Check it out here!
