image: A. VerMeulen [CC BY-SA 4.0]
Priya’s Shakti is about a mortal woman and a goddess who fight gender-based sexual violence in India and around the world.
The college recently purchased panels of the comic which have been indefinitely installed on the second floor of the Library along the long wall with the window seat across from the last row of Stacks shelves.
image: Magnetic Fridge Poetry by Steve Johnson [cropped from original] / https://flic.kr/p/86i9j2
Need help getting started? Check out (literally) this selection of books about writing poetry available in the SMCM Library collection!
Want more? Try searching poetry AND (creative writing OR authorship) OR poetics using the search for words in… subject dropdown option on the search page in the St. Mary’s Catalog.
How poems think by Reginald Gibbons. Ebook
Poem-making: ways to begin writing poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston. Call number: LB 1576 .L578 1991
Today you are my favorite poet: writing poems with teenagers by Geof Hewitt. Call number: PN 1101 .H46 1998
Helping students learn to write poetry: an idea book for poets of all ages by Joyce C. Bumgardner. Call number: LB 1576 .B889 1997
Next word, better word: the craft of writing poetry by Stephen Dobyns. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .D63 2011
The poetry home repair manual: practical advice for beginning poets by Ted Kooser. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .K66 2005
Twentieth-century American poetics: poets on the art of poetry edited by Dana Gioia, David Mason, and Meg Schoerke with D.C. Stone. Call number: PS 323 .5 .T87 2004
Thirteen ways of looking for a poem: a guide to writing poetry by Wendy Bishop. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .B58 2000
Blue notes: essays, interviews, and commentaries by Yusef Komunyakaa; edited by Radiclani Clytus. Call number: PS 3561 .O455 .Z463 2000
Rules for the dance: a handbook for writing and reading metrical verse by Mary Oliver. Call number: PE 1505 .O37 1998
Trying to say it: outlooks and insights on how poems happen by Philip Booth. Call number: PS 3503 .O532 .Z475 1996
Poemcrazy: freeing your life with words by Susan G. Wooldridge. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .W66 1996
A poetry handbook by Mary Oliver. Call number: PE .1505 .O35 1994
Writing poems by Peter Sansom. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .S36 1994
Getting the knack: 20 poetry writing exercises by Stephen Dunning and William Stafford. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .D86 1992
Poem-making: ways to begin writing poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston. Call number: LB 1576 .L578 1991
Writing light verse and prose humor by Richard Armour. Call number: PN 1042 .A7 1971
The sounds of poetry: a brief guide by Robert Pinsky. Call number: PN 4151 .P55 1998
Today we’re launching a new series “Beyond JSTOR” where we’ll periodically highlight different databases available through the SMCM Library. Find out both the content as well as a few targeted tips and tricks through screenshot tutorials and expand your searching horizons.
Note: SMCM Library databases are found by: 1. going to the library homepage (dev-library-smcm.pantheonsite.io/); 2. clicking the “Databases” icon; and searching by name or browsing by A-Z letter.
Accessible online through the Literature Criticism Online database, the Poetry Criticism series encompasses over 100 volumes, each volume featuring 3-6 poets and/or featured works from all eras and locations around the world.
Each volume has a standard format including:
The online version available through Literature Criticism Online, has powerful search, browse, and entry table of contents features highlighted below. Use the linked text to jump to the relevant screenshot sections.
1. Limit your search to Poetry Criticism Online sources, by selecting it from the “by Product/Services” dropdown, under “More Options” in the search screen.
2. Forget to select it before starting your search? You can always limit search results to Poetry Criticism Online sources but selecting it under the “Publication Title” filter in the left column.
1. Browse the volumes of Poetry Criticism by following “What’s Inside” (on any page), and selecting “Literature Criticism Online”…
2. …then expand the list under “Poetry Criticism” to see all available volumes.
3. Browse volume by table of contents, search within a single volume, or search within all volumes of Poetry Criticism!
Entry table of contents feature
1. Easily view the available content on a poet by selecting “Entry Table of Contents” in the right hand column.
2. Jump to a specific section or critical work using the linked titles.
Limit your search to Poetry Criticism Online sources, by selecting it from the “by Product/Services” dropdown, under “More Options” in the search screen.
Forget to select it before starting your search? You can always limit search results to Poetry Criticism Online sources but selecting it under the “Publication Title” filter in the left column.
Browse the volumes of Poetry Criticism by following “What’s Inside” (on any page), and selecting “Literature Criticism Online”…
…then expand the list under “Poetry Criticism” to see all available volumes.
Browse volume by table of contents, search within a single volume, or search within all volumes of Poetry Criticism!
Easily view the available content on a poet by selecting “Entry Table of Contents” in the right hand column.
Jump to a specific section or critical work using the linked titles.
Celebrate National Poetry Month’s Poem in Your Pocket Day (on April 21) AND Earth Day (on April 22) with a nature or environmental themed poem.
Need a suggestion? Check out (literally) this selection of nature/environmental poetry and criticism available in the SMCM Library collection!
Want more? Try searching poetry AND (nature OR ecology) using the search for words in… subject dropdown option on the search page in the St. Mary’s Catalog.
Sustainable poetry: four American ecopoets by Leonard M. Scigaj. Call number: PS 310 .N3 .S38 1999
Can poetry save the earth?: a field guide to nature poems by John Felstiner. Call number: PS 310 .N3 .F45 2009
Mountain home: the wilderness poetry of ancient China selected and translated by David Hinton. Call number: PL 2658 .E3 .M65 2005
Greening the lyre: environmental poetics and ethics by David W. Gilcrest. Call number: PS 310 .N3 .G55 2002
Black nature: four centuries of African American nature poetry edited by Camille T. Dungy. Call number: PS 591 .N4 .B49 2009
Urban nature: poems about wildlife in the city edited by Laure-Anne Bosselaar. Call number: PS 595 .N22 .U63 2000
Wild song: poems of the natural world edited by John Daniel; illustrations by Deborah Randolph Wildman. Call number: PS 595 .N22 .W55 1998
Poems for a small planet: contemporary American nature poetry edited by Robert Pack and Jay Parini. Call number: PS 595 .N22 .P63 1993
Pterodactyl Rose: poems of ecology by William Heyen. Call number: PS 3558 .E85 .P74 1991
Rivers to the sea by Sara Teasdale. Ebook
A chime of windbells: a year of Japanese haiku in English verse. Translations with an essay by Harold Stewart. Call number: PR 6037 .T4645 .C5
The haiku anthology: haiku and senryu in English edited by Cor van den Heuvel. Call number: PS 593 .H3 .H34 1999
SMCM students! Complete the library survey for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate to Bollywood Masala. Check you email for the survey link; it’s open until March 20th.
Starting Friday, March 11, the Library and Media Center will have different hours during Spring Break.
Of course, the Library website is open for business 24/7 if you need access to databases or e-books during the break!
(BTW: you can totally check out a Kindle for all your beach reading needs. I highly recommend The Martian if you’re going to be doing a lot of flying/spending time in airports, but there are tons of other great titles to choose from on each and every Kindle!)
Friday, March 11: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Saturday, March 12 – Sunday, March 13: CLOSED
Monday, March 14 – Thursday, March 17: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday, March 18 – Saturday, March 19: CLOSED
Sunday, March 20: 2:00 pm – 1:00 am
Monday, March 21: Library and Media Center return to regular hours
Friday, March 11: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Saturday, March 12 – Sunday, March 13: CLOSED
Monday, March 14 – Thursday, March 17: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday, March 18 – Sunday, March 20: CLOSED
Monday, March 21: Library and Media Center return to regular hours
Our Laptop and Chromebook Policies Have Changed (effective 2/26/16)
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please contact Conrad Helms, Patron Services Librarian, at cahelms@smcm.edu or 240-895-3214.
For our last Black History Month post, we’ve got a mini bibliography (what we’re calling a mini-bib) of children’s books in the SMCM Library collection. Grab one (or a stack) and take a break from those scholarly sources!
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, call number: PZ7.K2253 Sn
The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy, call number: PZ7.F667 Pat 1985
Aunt Martha and the Golden Coin by Anita Rodriguez, call number: PZ7.R6188 Au 1993
The Faithful Friend by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Brian Pinkney, call number: PZ8.1.S227 Fai 1995
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears: a West African Tale retold by Verna Aardema, pictures by Leo and Diane Dillon, call number: PZ8.1.A213 Wh 1978
image by Nikolas Coukouma [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons
Learn about Octavia Butler’s life in Credo Reference
Looking for some background information on Butler? The Credo Reference database provides online access to a number of high quality reference encyclopedias and dictionaries with entries on Butler.
Using the entry in the Encyclopedia of African-American Writing found in Credo Reference, can you name the prestigious science-fiction writing awards Butler won during her lifetime?
Read Octavia Butler’s novels, find them with the St. Mary’s Catalog
Experience Butler’s award winning sci-fi novels, featuring African-American female protagonists, first hand by checking them out of the SMCM Library!
Contained in one volume, Parable of the Sower; Parable of the Talents; and Kindred, three of Butler’s most well known works are available for check out. The first two works, which make up the Parable series, are set in California in the 2020s and present a dystopian future where corporate greed and lack of environmental stewardship lead to political and social collapse. The stand alone novel Kindred follows a 20th-century African-American woman who travels back in time to 19th century Maryland, where she meets her ancestors.
Find this collection under call number PS 3552. U827 P37 1999 in the second floor Stacks.
Want more? Search the USMAI catalog to borrow other Butler books from other Maryland libraries!
Research the scholarly response to Octavia Butler’s works in MLA International Bibliography and Project Muse
Maybe now you’ve learned a little about Octavia Butler’s life, read a couple of her novels, and are interested in doing research in the literature for a paper or project. While you might start you research using OneSearch (or *cough*googlescholar*cough*), how about giving a more targeted subject specific database like MLA International Bibliography or Project Muse a try?
Produced by the Modern Language Association (of MLA citation style fame) the MLA International Bibliography contains over 1.8 MILLION citations for books, journals, dissertations and theses, dating back to 1926! A search for “Octavia Butler and Kindred” turned up 38 highly relevant results. As the name suggests, results the MLA International Bibliography are mainly citations, but you can access the full text – if available – in one of the library’s other databases, or through Interlibrary Loan.
Looking to get your hands on full-text sources right away? The Project Muse database has full-text sources from over 400 titles. A search for “Octavia Butler and Kindred” turned up 117 full-text articles from journals ranging from literary criticism to women’s studies!
Homepage image credit: Containment Zone by L.E. Spry (CC BY 2.0) via flic.kr/p/3d9TcK
ARTstor is a library database containing nearly one-million high quality images. A perfect place to research art and architecture, ARTstor is also a great place to explore works by both well known and new artists.
Search by artist name, artwork title, and keyword or browse images by geographic location or type of art.
By creating an account, you can save images to specific folders and download images individual, in groups, or directly to PowerPoint presentations!
In honor of Black History Month, use ARTstore to explore more works by the four contemporary Black artists highlighted below.
Iona Rozeal Brown‘s painting combine Japanese and hi-hop iconography as a commentary on race and culture.
image: Off the Dome: don’t front, you know we got you open, by Iona Rozeal Brown; photo by Cliff via https://flic.kr/p/5vx9P8
Kehinde Wiley‘s larger than life portraits combine old and new by referencing or recreating Old Masters paintings with contemporary figures as a way to address the image and status of young African-American men in contemporary culture.
image: Kehinde Wiley, A New Republic, Brooklyn Museum; photo by Garrett Ziegler via https://flic.kr/p/r2VqeD
Nick Cave is a sculptor, dancer, and performance artist most well know for his “Soundsuits” – wearable sculptures made of fabric and other materials.
image: Nick Cave, Soundsuit, 2010; photo by Sharon Mollerus via https://flic.kr/p/ocTio6
Kara Walker is best known for her large scale silhouette installations through which she explores themes of race, gender, sexuality, violence, and identity.
image: work by Kara Walker; photo by Phillip Merritt via https://flic.kr/p/4gVDka
