Seasonal reads...

 

If you call in to The Griffith Library at Dynevor, you'll find a gorgeous winter-themed display of books & DVDs next to our counter! These items are all available to borrow if you want to get into the spirit of the season - titles include 'The Snowman' by Raymond Briggs, 'The Polar Express' by Chris Van Allsburg and on DVD 'It's a Wonderful Life' starring James Stewart.

Have you heard the one about...?

Today sees the announcement of the funniest joke of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so it seems an apt time to unveil Townhill Library’s Comedy display! Your Swansea Met library might not be the first place you’d think to go for some laughs, but we have quite a selection of funny DVDs and books available for loan. Some of the highlights have been gathered together for your perusal at Townhill Library, so do call in and have a look. From the classic Monty Python’s Meaning of Life to David Walliams’ Mr Stink, we’ve quite a range to offer you! Remember, due dates are extended over the summer vacation, so if you borrow something now you won’t have to bring it back until the 4^th October.

(In case you were wondering, the funniest joke is by Rob Auton, who's heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. It could be a Chinese Wispa.)

Happy 4th July!

Photo by Denise Krebs (mrsdkrebs),
available from Flickr under Creative Commons licence

Yes, it’s the 4^th July, also known as American Independence Day. Take a look at our database Oxford Reference Online to find out more about the history of the day and to see how it’s celebrated in the USA today picnics and fireworks!). You could also brush up on your American history by browsing the shelves in Townhill Library at shelf mark 973. For a more British perspective, try looking at some of our books on George III, who was monarch when America won its independence. George III, of course, is famous as the ‘mad’ king in Alan Bennett’s play The Madness of George III and the later film The Madness of King George. You can find the play script in Townhill Library at 822.914/BEN (not much mention of America, to be honest, but it is a good play!).

If novels are more your thing, you’ll find all sorts of classic American fiction at Townhill. The Great Gatsby had its show-stopping release in cinemas this year, but the original novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes some beating. If you’re more interested in 1950s and 1960s counter-culture, try Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and The Big Sur. For the ultimate American novel, though, perhaps we need look no further the Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, full to the brim with adventure, friendship and freedom.

If all this gives you a taste for travel and exploration, pop in to Swansea Business School Library to take a look at their travel guides. You’ll find a whole host of countries covered, including the USA, so you’ll have no trouble planning a trip to rival Kerouac’s!

If that’s a bit beyond your budget, or your planning expertise, you could always watch other people living, and struggling with, the American dream. Griffith Library at Dynevor has a whole host of American movies on DVD: Once Upon a Time in the West, Thelma and Louise, American Beauty, Malcolm X, Bowling for Columbine, The Social Network and loads more are available to borrow for free! Remember, we’re into the summer loan period now, so even two-day loans will be issued out until the 4^th October.

Happy birthday Mr Shakespeare!

Shakepeare's Birthplace and garden in Stratford-Upon-Avon
(photo by Hannah Meiklejohn at Townhill Library)

Yes, today is William Shakespeare’s birthday. Well, the 23^rd April is the date traditionally given as his birth. It’s a bit hard to check the records for the 16^th century! We do know that he was baptised on 26^th April 1564, so he’d be 449 this year. Expect to see some special events across the country to mark his 250^th birthday next year! (Incidentally, the 23^rd April is also the day he died, but we won’t dwell on that!) If you’d like to find out more about Shakespeare’s life, our database Oxford Reference Online, where we found this information, is an excellent place to start.

We have lots of books and other resources if you’re a Shakespeare fan, or think you’d like to be. Take a look at our catalogue to see what’s about! You’ll find the bard’s plays mostly on the ground floor of Townhill Library, though there are a few up on the first floor in the Teaching Practice collection too. We’ve even got a few which have been adapted forchildren, so if you fancy Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Henry V or Romeo and Juliet, but you aren’t quite up to the original, give those a go! If you don’t even feel up to that, you could always take a look at our DVDs. (You’ll see Shakespeare in Love in our collection too!)

There are also lots of resources online for you. Our databases Literature Online and JSTOR are excellent places to find journal articles about Shakespeare and his work. You’ll even find online links to his poetry and plays on Literature Online! On the web, you might like to take a look at the RoyalShakespeare Company’s website. There’s a fab section of Education resources where you’ll find material for early years right through to grown-ups!

Read a good book lately? Librarywales.org wants to hear about it!

Librarywales.org is the website for everything you need to know about Welsh libraries. They’ve recently set up a blog (‘Read a good book lately?’) that lets members of the public, book groups and schools share their reviews of books. So if you’ve read a fantastic novel recently and would like to let others know about it, head to librarywales.org and submit your thoughts. Everyone is welcome to contribute to this bank of reviews, so it should develop into an excellent place to get some inspiration for your next read!

Did you know that you can also rate the books and DVDs that you borrow from Swansea Met libraries? Our catalogue now has a feature that lets you give a star rating to any of our items. To do this, just head to our new catalogue (you might see it called Prism 3), log on to ‘My Account’, then use the search box to find your book or DVD and click on the star rating you think it deserves. This is a great way to let your fellow students know which books are most helpful, and also which ones aren’t so good!

 

Looking for a scary movie or a spine-chilling book?

Happy Halloween everyone! It’s the scariest time of the year again – ghosts, ghouls, witches, and probably some assignment deadlines looming! Pop into your Swansea Met library to borrow something suitably creepy to get you in the mood.

Last week, we put the spotlight on the black cat / Halloween display in Townhill Library’s Teaching Practice collection, but we’ve lots more to offer too! Search for horror fiction on our catalogue and see what takes your fancy. If you’re looking for a recommendation, Edgar Allan Poe is surely the king of the spooky story, especially with all those Simpsons tributes through the years which seem to have have linked him inextricably with Halloween.

And we’re not just about books! Speaking of The Simpsons, you’ll find the seventh series in Townhill Library at 791.457 SIM, so you can re-visit some old adventures, including Treehouse of Horror VI  to continue with our Halloween theme. Griffith Library on the Dynevor campus has an excellent selection of DVDs which includes genre classics from kitsch Hammer Horrors to modern chillers like The Ring.

Remember, you can ask for books and DVDs to be sent between our four libraries, so you don’t need to miss out if the item you want is on another campus. Just ask staff for a request form. And don’t have nightmares!

(If it's your assignment deadline keeping you up at night, you might want to take a look at some of our study skills books!)

Fiendish fiction and devilish DVDs at SMU Libraries

It's Halloween on Monday. Get yourself in the the mood with a suitably spooky book or DVD from your SMU Library. There's plenty of horror fiction to read at Townhill Library, from Bram Stoker's Dracula to Daphne du Maurier's Don't Look Now. For younger readers, or young at heart adults, how about Winnie the Witch, or Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak? You'll also find Hammer Horrors and Hitchcock classics in the film sections (that's 791.4372, Dewey Decimal fans) of Townhill Library and the Griffith Library on the Dynevor campus. Mount Pleasant staff and students needn't miss out as you can visit and borrow from any SMU library, or ask to have items sent between libraries for you to collect.

We're not the only ones thinking about a good read for Halloween. Author Neil Gaiman is encouraging people to give scary books as a Halloween gift. You can read about his plan in this blog post from the Guardian. You can also borrow some of his books from your SMU library!

Let us know if you have any favourite creepy reads. I like a bit of Edgar Allan Poe myself.

Happy Independence Day!

Hot on the heels of Canada Day on Friday, today is American Independence Day. Fourth of July celebrations will be taking place today in the United States and all over the world. Once again you can get yourself in the mood for the festivities with the help of your SMU Library. We have an extensive collection of American literature in Townhill Library: Herman Melville, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac, Alice Walker... We've got them all! Dynevor Library has a superb collection of DVDs, so you can enjoy Hollywood classics like 42nd Street or more modern thrillers such as The Bourne Identity. (Remember, during the summer vacation, even the two-day loans will be issued out to 6th October 2011!) As ever, Owen Library is the place to go for tourism resources, so head to Mount Pleasant for travel guides and information on the USA and its cities and states. Go on, tuck into some of mom's apple pie and immerse yourself in some American culture. (Please don't get any pie on our resources, though!)

Nothing on the telly?

Are you a film buff? Fed up of paying astronomical prices at the cinema? Did you know that SMU libraries have lots of DVDs available to borrow for free? You’ll find a selection at shelf mark 791.4372 in each of our three libraries. Choose from vintage classics, foreign-language favourites or more mainstream films. Don’t forget, any items borrowed now won’t have to be returned until the 30th September, so you’ll have a whole month to enjoy your movies. You’ll have to supply the popcorn yourself, though!